Sebastian Maisel is Assistant Professor of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mchigan. He has researched and written extensively including books and essays on social, political, and religious issues in Arabia and his other field of expertise, the ethno-religious minority of the Yezidis. Among his books are "The Customary Law of the Bedouins in Northern Arabia" (2006) and "Yezidism Religion and Life" (co-author, 2008).