Meir M. Bar-Asher is Max Schloessinger Professor  of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and current chair of the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at this university. 

His research interests include Quran exegesis and religious communities in Islam (especially Twelver Shi'ism and Nusayri-'Alawi religion), as well as religious and historical contacts between Judaism and Islam.

Among his extensive publications are Scripture and Exegesis in Early Shi'ism (Leiden and Jerusalem 1999) and The Nusayri-'Alawi Religion: An Enquiry into Its Theology and Liturgy (Leiden 2002 [with A. Kofsky]), He is the editor of several books among which is Le Shi'isme Imamite: quarante ans après: Hommage à Etan Kohlberg (Turnhout 2009 [with M.A. Amir-Moezzi and S. Hopkins]). Meir Bar-Asher was the editor of Sefunot (Studies and Sources on the History of Jewish Communities in the East), (Jerusalem: The Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem) and is currently a joint editor of Cathedra for the history of Eretz Israel and its Yishuv, The Yad Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem).

Apart from his research and teaching activities, Prof. Bar-Asher has served in a number of administrative positives: He was the Director of Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2004-2006); Chair of the Senior Professional Committee for the Teaching of Arabic at the Ministry of Education (2011-2012); and, Director of The Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East (2012-2014).  He is currently a member of a number of important committees at the Hebrew University and other institutions in Israel.