STUDIES IN ISLAMIC SOCIETY: CONTRIBUTIONS IN MEMORY OF GABRIEL BAER

On 22 September 1982 Professor Gabri el Baer passed away unexpectedly. Th is volume of articles writte n by his stude nts in recen t yea rs is dedicat ed to his memory. Gabriel Baer was born in Berlin in 1919. He ca me to Palestine in 1933 and sett led in Haifa. Living in close co ntac t with Arabs in that mixed city mo tivated him to learn about Ara b society. its history and culture. He specialized in these subjects at the Hebrew Un iversity of Jerusalem a nd at the American Universit y of Beirut. When in 1954the Hebrew University established a Department for the History of the Middl e East . Baer was among the first facult y members. From that year on he pla yed a maj or ro le in the development of Middle Eastern Studies as a un iversity discipline. Gabriel Baer 's main resea rch interes t focused on social chan ge. He investiga ted such problems as Bedou in sedenta riza tion, agrarian relat ions. the decline of urban gui lds, the position of women, urbanization, popula r revo lts, rural-u rban relat ion s. social legislation a nd the socia l and eco nomic as pects of Muslim waq f. His major works attes t to his pioneering ro le in the field an d the great impact he has mad e on it.