The Enduring Legacy of John Esposito

Washington Watch

July 27, 2026

Dr. James J. Zogby ©

President

Arab American Institute

Dr. John Esposito Helped Millions Understand and Appreciate Islam.  
 

Dr. John Esposito, the preeminent scholar of Islamic Studies in the US, passed away on July 15th. When my oldest son learned of John’s death, his immediate reaction was, “Oh no! He was so great. I first learned about Islam from reading his books that were assigned to me as a student. He made it so understandable.” One of my grandchildren had much the same reaction. What struck me was not just the impact John had on two generations of my offspring, but the larger story conveyed by their reactions. 

For decades now, through the classes he taught, the books he wrote, the lectures he gave, and the institutions he created, John educated millions of Americans about the realities and complexities of the Middle East and the broader Muslim World. Although the US had long been invested in that region, we knew so little about the more than one billion souls who populated the expanse from North Africa to Southeast Asia and the millions of immigrants from these regions and their descendants who had become Americans. 
 
Too often, what we thought we knew about these countries and their peoples had been shaped by myths and negative stereotypes. While this had long been the case, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim propaganda spawned an industry of hate that worked overtime to weaponize the stereotypes generating bigotry and division. It took a heavy toll. There was violence, threats of violence, and acts of discrimination in employment, housing, and public spaces. The US Civil Rights Commission invited me to testify on this backlash. For my testimony, I documented hundreds of frightening examples (including death threats against me and my family) that occurred in just the first few weeks after 9/11. 
 
John entered into this harrowing divide as an educator, a calming voice, and a healer. A tireless lecturer, an institution builder, and a prolific writer, he built a body of literature and founded centers of learning that helped replace ignorance, prejudice, and hate with understanding.   
 
John and I had been together at Temple University where we both received our doctoral degrees studying under the Islamic scholar Ismail al Faruqi. After Ismail and his wife Lamia were brutally murdered in their home in 1986, John and I, together with another fellow student, Anis Ahmad, were asked to deliver eulogies at the memorial service held in Washington. The choice of the three of us was interesting because of the different paths we had taken since our time together at Temple University. Anis was a prominent administrator at the Islamic University in Pakistan; John was teaching religion at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts; and I was running the Arab American Institute in Washington, promoting the political interests of Arab Americans. We had been students of Ismail and had taken paths that reflected the various aspects of his life’s work. Ismail had been an administrator, an academic, and a political activist. 
 
In the past 40 years, our careers took the three of us to different places, but none of us went as far on our chosen path or did as much as John. He became a full professor at Georgetown University and founded its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and The Bridge Initiative of Protecting Pluralism and Ending Islamophobia. He authored 55 books on Islam and Muslim societies worldwide and edited several projects for Oxford University. 
 
There were times that John and I spoke about how, early on, Ismail had opened doors for us. And how, even years after his murder, when we were being introduced before a speaking engagement, when they would come to the line in our biographies “and he received his PhD from Temple University where he studied under Ismail al Faruqi,” there would be a murmur of approval from the audience. Invariably, after our talks, some would come forward not to ask a question about what we had said, but to speak about how important Ismail had been in their lives. 
 
That’s why the reactions of my son and grandchild were so important to hear. They were reminders of how John’s work had informed and deepened the understanding of two generations. And like the mentor we shared, John’s legacy—the books he wrote, the lectures he delivered, and the institutions he created—will live on, continuing to touch lives all over the world.