George Makdisi was a professor of oriental studies. He studied first in the United States, and later in Lebanon. He then graduated in 1964 in France from the Paris-Sorbonne University.He taught in the University of Michigan and Harvard University before reaching the University of Pennsylvania in 1973, as a professor of Arabic. Here he remained until his retirement in 1990, when he held the post of director of the Department of Oriental Studies. He became a Professor Emeritus of "Arab and Islamic Studies" in the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.He was particularly interested in issues around higher education in the world.He published the work al-Wadih fi Usul al-fiqh (The Fundamentals of Principles of Jurisprudence) in three volumes, published in Stuttgart, Germany by Steiner Verlag.He was a member and honorary member of numerous professional scientific organizations. Among other honors, he was twice a Guggenheim fellow.[2] In 1977, he served as the President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, now based in Tucson, Arizona, United States.
