Farhat Jacob Ziadeh (April 8, 1917 – June 8, 2016) was a Palestinian scholar of Islamic law, a lawyer, and an expert in Arabic grammar who played a major role in the development of Middle East studies in the United States.
Due to his inability to return to Palestine during World War II, he emigrated to the United States and started working as an Arabic instructor in the Army Specialized Training Program at Princeton University under Philip K.
Within four years of his arrival at the University of Washington, Ziadeh expanded the Near Eastern studies program, created a new department called the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literature in 1970, and served as its inaugural departmental chair.
[1] Although Ziadeh retired from the University of Washington in 1987, he continued to work in the discipline of Middle Eastern studies.
He was given the MESA Mentoring Award in 1997 "in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the education and training of others in Middle East studies,".