Many readers of The Spectator will never have heard of John Esposito, who died in Philadelphia on 15 July. Why should they? At various times he was a professor of religious, international, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, first at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and then at Georgetown University in Washington DC, where he was also director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. As a side-hustle, he was editor-in-chief of – inter alia – The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam and The Oxford History of Islam. Another packed, worthy and pro bono academic career, you might think, even if much of it was spent labouring for little thanks in the stony interfaith vineyard.
You might very well think that. But, as the ballad singer in Brecht’s Dreigroschenoper puts it:
Denn die einen sind im DunkelnUnd die andern sind im Licht.Und man siehet die im LichteDie im Dunkeln sieht man nicht.
You see the ones in the spotlight: those in the dark, you don’t. But those are the ones you really need to watch. Esposito, for all his academic diligence, was a wilier operator behind the scenes than in the spotlight. And he ensured he was amply thanked by those he helped.
