Khalili Team Members
At the heart of Eed-b-Eed is the family collective of five siblings from al-Khalil (Hebron). These are four sisters – A. Hroub, B. Hroub, R. Hroub, and S. Hroub – and their brother Ahmad Hroub.
They come from rural al-Khalil, and currently live across the Bethlehem and al-Khalil regions. Proud speakers of Khalili Arabic in its rural form, they are passionate about making their language thrive, amidst the linguistic pressures related to urbanisation, electronic communication, and AI, all of which lead to the gradual disappearance of local language varieties, and, subsequently, of the cultural traditions they carry.
All five siblings hold degrees from Palestinian universities, including Birzeit University, in fields including Arabic language and Literature, Law, and Economics.
For the past four years the siblings have been working as an institutionally contracted team in research projects led by Dr Jakub Zbrzezny at the University of Aberdeen, enabled by internal university funding and external grants from academic institutions such as the British Academy, Royal Society of Edinburgh, or Cornell University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies. Their work concerns pre-modern Arabic translations of Jewish and Christian Scriptures and their contemporary understanding among Muslim communities. You will see Ahmad co-presenting with Jakub at conferences and seminars, in person or online.
Building on Ahmad’s extensive experience in privately teaching Khalili Arabic, the siblings have started to develop didactic materials for Eed-b-Eed, thanks to grants from the Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund of the Scottish Funding Council and from the UK-based Al Tajir Trust, both administered by the University of Aberdeen. In due course, Eed-b-Eed learners will meet the siblings during live practice sessions. In future, the Hroub sisters will facilitate the recruitment of further local team members from among university-educated local women, and Ahmad’s training in economics will significantly help in making this model sustainable in the local ecosystem.
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Aberdonian Team Members
Eed-b-Eed is academically coordinated by Dr Jakub Zbrzezny, lecturer (teaching & research) in the School of Divinity, History, Philosophy and Art History at the University of Aberdeen (UoA) in Scotland.
Originally from Poland, Jakub completed Interdisciplinary Individual Studies in the Humanities at the University of Warsaw, and later gained a PhD in Divinity at the University of Aberdeen. In his doctoral research he investigated correlations between early textual traditions of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Scriptures. In his current research, he explores how the traditional knowledge and cultural intuitions of rural Arab communities in Palestine can shed new light on ancient biblical traditions associated with the region.
Jakub’s long-standing passion for the Scriptures led him first to Latin and Greek, then to Hebrew and Syriac, and ultimately to Arabic, in both its ancient and modern manifestations. Thanks to the linguistic hospitality of Ahmad Hroub, Jakub speaks Khalili Arabic and is passionate about its study. Indeed, he strongly believes that research on the “Holy Land” in antiquity should be attentive to the lives of its modern inhabitants across Israel and Palestine, Jews and Arabs alike.
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Eed-b-Eed is supported by a number of UoA students in various valuable roles.
Grant Coutts (History & Theology and Religious Studies) helps with managing our social media. Duncan Jackson (Philosophy), who learns Modern Standard Arabic, contributes to the development of our didactic materials, bringing the perspective of an Eed-b-Eed learner who wants to level up their Arabic.
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Other Aberdonian team members will be introduced soon.
Behind the scenes
International academic projects such as Eed-b-Eed are often associated with the researchers who lead or coordinate them. However, they would not be possible without the behind-the-scenes work of many colleagues from Professional Services across the University’s administration. Their efforts and professionalism are greatly appreciated both in Aberdeen and in al-Khalil.
