Prof. dr. Maurits S. Berger, LLM, is a lawyer and Arabist. He is professor of Islam and the West and holds the Sultan of Oman Chair for Oriental Studies at Leiden University. He is also a senior research associate with the Clingendael Institute for International Relations in The Hague. He has worked as a lawyer in Amsterdam, and as a researcher and journalist in Cairo and Damascus. Professor Berger currently teaches the following courses: BA: Islam: Europe and the Middle East; Politics of the Middle East; Modern Trends and Thinkers in Islam; MA: Sharia in the West. He is also responsible for the education program ‘Islam in the Modern World’ at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in the Netherlands. Professor Berger is frequently invited for consultations and presentations at international forums like the European Parliament and the OVSE, and in the Netherlands by Parliament, various Dutch Ministries and municipality councils, the lawyers union and the public prosecutor’s office. He acts as an expert for media and writes regularly for newspapers. He teaches courses at Leiden University and is involved in various international forums. We are honored to have Prof. Dr. Maurits Berger as a member of the Euro MENA Initiative for Democracy and Development (ARDD Europe) Board since its establishment in 2024.
