Dr. R. Kevin Jaques' primary research focus on various forms of biography (tarjamah), which is one of the most important genres of medieval Muslim historiography. Dr. Jaques also has a secondary interest in Islam in Indonesia, especially the stories of the Wali Songo, the nine saints of Javanese Islam that are popularly thought to be responsible of the Islamization of Java in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
I am interested in the study of medieval Islamic theology and law, especially in how medieval Muslim historians understood and depicted the development of theological and legal institutions between the death of Muḥammad in 632 CE and the late sixteenth century. I primarily focus on various forms of biography (tarjamah), which was one of the most important genres of medieval Muslim historiography. I also have a secondary interest in Islam in Indonesia, especially the stories of the Wali Songo, the nine saints of Javanese Islam that are popularly thought to be responsible for the Islamization of Java in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
