Dr. Ronald Messier
Primer on Islam: facts and history

In this session, Dr. Messier presents the facts and history of Islamic religion and culture, and explains the origins, meaning and common misconceptions of Sharia and Jihad.

Ronald Messier is professor emeritus at Middle Tennessee State University, where he taught Islamic history and historical archaeology from 1972 to 2004. From 1992 to 2004, he was also adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University, and full time senior lecturer from 2004 to 2008.

He is the current president of the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Seminar (SERMEISS) and president of the advisory board for the Society of Universal Dialogue. His work focuses on Islam and the history and archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa. From 1987 to 1998, he directed the excavation of the ancient city of Sijilmasa in Morocco, and is currently directing an archaeology project at Aghmat, near Marrakech, Morocco. He is the co-editor of Jihad and its Times, and has written The Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad and Jesus: One Man, Two Faiths: A Dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Since 1992, he has been the lecturer for over twenty study tours that have included multiple tours of Morocco, Israel, Spain, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Mali and Timbuktu.