Bin Laden family sponsors Oxford academic

An academic is being sponsored by the bin Laden family to study Islamic religion and politics in Oxford, it emerged today.

US anthropologist Dr Dale Eickelman is the latest of many scholars financed by a fellowship in memory of Osama bin Laden’s father.

The grant gives Dr Eickelman £4,000 to study at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, a source at the centre said.

The fellowship was set up by the bin Laden family after patriarch Muhammad died in 1989, to give exceptional scholars from abroad the chance to do research at the Oxford University-affiliated centre.

Dr Eickelman’s research is believed to be on religious and political leadership within Islam, including the role of Osama bin Laden, it was reported.

The scholar, on leave from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, is this term’s bin Laden Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.

Dr Eickelman told the New York Times his title had taken on an unfortunate resonance since the attacks on September 11 but he had no plans to return his grant.

‘‘I’ve worked for 30 years in the Middle East,’’ he said.

‘‘One is used to dealing with extended families, the different parts of which are not necessarily in close contact.’’

Dr Eickelman was visiting Japan for a conference today and was unavailable for further comment.

A source at the Centre For Islamic Studies said: ‘‘The bin Laden family is a large family and I can’t see why the wrongdoing of one member should have any bearing on other members of the family.

‘‘The fact that Muhammad, father of Osama bin Laden, has died does not enable us to change the name of the fellowship, neither would we wish to.’’