Khalid Yahya Blankinship (born 1949 in Seattle, Washington) is an American historian who specialises in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies.

Biography

He graduated (BA) in History from the University of Washington in 1973 and in the same year, while still in Seattle, converted to Islam. In 1975 Blankinship received an MA in teaching English as a foreign language from the American University in Cairo, in 1983 a second MA in Islamic History from Cairo University and in 1988 a Ph.D. in History from the University of Washington. He was an advisor for the PBS-broadcast documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2002), produced by Unity Productions Foundation. He has lived and traveled widely in the Middle East, including time in Egypt and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He is currently a tenured professor of religion at Temple University.