Ibish was a distinguished scholar whose interests spanned both pre- modern and modern Islamic culture and societies. His particular field of specialisation was pre-modern Islamic political thought, but his interests and expertise ranged far. His professional life was spent teaching, at the American University in Beirut, Cambridge and Amherst. He leaves a legacy of some 30 books: bibliographies and documentation of Arab politics, treatises on Islamic political theory, analyses of Muslim society and biographies. Among his most important later works in Arabic is an invaluable concordance to the Koran, listing references to each verse from the 20 most significant commentaries, spanning many centuries and schools of thought.
