CV

Ziad, W., with Muhammad Farooq Malik Chamkani, Kashif uddin Chauhan, “The Bibis of Chamkani: Negotiating Female Spiritual and Financial Leadership in an Afghan Sufi order.” Accepted for publication by the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Ziad, W. (2019). The Sakra Sites and their Enigmatic Coins. Marg, 70(4), 62-69.
Ziad, W. (2019). Brahmi Legends on Umayyad Fulus: Interrogating Local Minting Practices and Numismatic Transculturation in Early Medieval Gandhara (ca. 750 c.e.). Afghanistan, 2(1), 153-165.
Ziad, W. (2018). Navigating Sindh and Central Asia through Kabul: The interconnected biographies of Makhdum Ibrahim Thattavi (d. 1810) and Bibi Sahiba Kalan (d. 1803). Sindh Antiquities, 1(4), 79-85.
Ziad, W. (2018). Hindustan or Mawarannahr kay Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Hazarat. Armaqan-i Imam Rabbani, 6, 78-93.
Ziad, W. (2016). ‘Islamic’ Coins from a Hindu Temple: Reconsidering Ghaznawid Policy towards Hindu Sacred Sites through new Numismatic Evidence from Gandhara. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 59, 618-659.
Ziad, W., & Others. (2015). Empowering Pakistan’s Civil Society to Counter Violent Extremism. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, 8(1), 188-214.
Ziad, W. (2014). Mufti ‘Iwāz and the 1816 “Disturbances at Bareilli”: Inter-Communal Moral Economy and Religious Authority in Rohilkhand. Journal of Persianate Studies, 7(2), 189-218.
Ziad, W. (2011). Abstracts from the Third Seminar on Early Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics in Memoriam Boris Kochnev: Islamic Coins from a Hindu Temple. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, 209(Summer), 7.
Ziad, W. (2006). Unpublished Shara‘i Dirhem of Aurangzeb. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, 188(Summer), 24.
Ziad, W. (2006). The Treasures of Kashmir Smast. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, 187(Spring), 14-33.
Ziad, W. (2004). Bronze Imitations of Indo-Greek Drachms from Swat- 4-6 C. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, 181(Fall), 20-21.
Ziad, W. (2004). A Recent Find of 18 AE Coins of the Jams of Sindh- 15th C. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, 181(Fall), 19-20.
 
 
iii. Book Chapters
 
Ziad, W. (2025) Where Genealogies of Texts Meet Genealogies of Saints: Concretizing Imami Sunni Sufism and Female Leadership in the Afghan Mujaddidi Lineage. In Genealogical History in the Persianate World, edited by Jo-Ann Gross and Daniel Beben, 233-260. New York: I.B. Tauris.
Ziad, W. (2018). Hazrat Jio Sahib: How Durrani Peshawar Helped Revive Bukhara’s Sanctity. In Sufism in Central Asia: New Perspectives on Sufi Traditions, 15th–21st Centuries, edited by Jo-Ann Gross and Devin DeWeese, 119–161. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Ziad, W. (2018). From Yarkand to Sindh via Kabul: The Rise of Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi Networks in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. In The Persianate World: Rethinking a Shared Sphere, edited by Abbas Amanat, 125–168. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Ziad, W. (2016). Transporting Knowledge in the Afghan Empire: A Case Study of Two Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi Manuals. In Afghanistan’s Islam, edited by Nile Green, 105–126. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Ziad, W. (2016). Sufism. In The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism (Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedias in Social Sciences), edited by A.D. Smith, X. Hou, J. Stone, R. Dennis, and P. Rizova, 1–3. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Ziad, W., with Aman ur Rahman. (2002). Coinage and Monetary System. In The Magnificent Mughals, edited by Zeenut Ziad, 281–301. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
 
Book Chapters – in progress
 
Ziad, W. (2026) Sufism and Sacrality, a discussion between Jo-Ann Gross, Aziza Shanazarova, and Waleed Ziad. (I will be publishing this discussion, and working with the chief editor to edit the volume). Between Wilayah and Waqf: Sacrality, Sovereignty and Society in Early Modern Central Asia (tentative title)
Ziad, W. (2025) Introduction, to critical edition of Ghulam Rasul Sirhindi, Malfuzat al-Akabir. To be published in Matiari, Sindh, Persian with Sindhi translation.
 
iv. Conference papers
 
Bibis at Chamkani: Female Spiritual Authority at the Crossroads of the Afghan and Mughal Empires, and Independent Kohistan. Association for the Study of Persianate Societies conference, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 2025.
‘Rabi’a of the Age’ to ‘Second Fatima’: The Evolution of Female Spiritual Sovereignty in the Durrani Empire and Beyond, Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, October, 2023.
Sufism and Sacrality, Between Wilayah & Waqf: Sacrality, Sovereignty, and Society in Early Modern Central Asia, Princeton University, March, 2023.
Book talk: In the Treasure Room of the Sakra King: Votive Coinage from Gandharan Shrines, U.C. Irvine Interpreting Afghanistan Conference, October, 2022.
Writing Imami Sunni Sufism and Female Sainthood in the Afghan Empire. Genealogical History in the Persianate World – An International Symposium, The College of New Jersey and The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, Princeton University, April, 2021.
Brahmi on Umayyad Coppers, Kufic on Hindu Shah Coppers: Interpreting Numismatic
Transculturation in 8^th-9^th Century Gandhara and the Kabul Valley. Boris Kochnev Memorial Seminar on Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics, Hempstead, NY, March 2020.
Competing Orthodoxies in early 19th Century Peshawar. American Anthropological Association, Vancouver, BC, November, 2019.
Re-Centering Las Bela: New Pedagogical Approaches to the Study of Sacred Space. European Conference of Iranian Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, September, 2019.
Bibi Sahiba at Qandahar, Kabul, Sindh, and Bukhara: Conceptualizing Female Religious Leadership in the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi Order. Association for the Study of Persianate Societies conference, Tblisi, Georgia, March, 2018.
Navigating Sindh and Central Asia through Kabul. International Conference on Makli, Endowment Trust Fund, Makli, Sindh, January, 2018.
Mediating Bukhara’s 18th Century Revival through Peshawar. Central Asian Renaissance in the History of World Civilization conference, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, August, 2017.
Revisiting the Kashmir Smast: Problematics of Circulation, Minting, Political Authority, and Evidence. Boris Kochnev Memorial Seminar on Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics, Hempstead, NY, March, 2017.
Hazrat Fazl Ahmad of Peshawar. Middle East Studies Association, Denver, CO, November, 2015.
Hazrat Jeo Sahib Mujaddidi: Mediating Bukhara’s 18th Century Revival through Peshawar. Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference, Washington, DC, October, 2015.
The Transmission of Sufi Popular Authority in the Great Game Buffer States. Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, November, 2014.
Hazrat Jeo Sahib: How Durrani Peshawar Revived Bukhara’s Sanctity. From Sufis to Taliban: Trajectories of Islam in Afghanistan Conference, UCLA Program on Central Asia, Los Angeles, CA, October, 2014.
The Naqshbandi-Mujaddidiyya of Afghanistan and the Development of their Transregional Networks in the early 19th century. The Persianate World: A Conceptual Inquiry Conference, Yale University, New Haven, CT, May 2014.
Of Lions, Elephants, Swans, and other Chronological Conundrums. Boris Kochnev Memorial Seminar on Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics, Hempstead, NY, 2014.
Emerging Transregional Authority Amidst Political Fragmentation: The Mujaddidi Hazarat of Shor Bazaar, Kabul. Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2013.
The Nezak – Turk Shahi Transition: Evidence from the Kashmir Smast (mid 7th c.). Boris Kochnev Memorial Seminar on Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics, Hempstead, NY, 2013.
Turk Shahi AE Fractionals from the Kashmir Smast: Political Geography and Numismatic History of Kapisa-Gandhara in the 7^th-9^th C. Oriental Numismatic Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY, Jan. 2013.
‘The Disturbance at Bareilly’: Shared Religious Authority and Collective Action in Pre-Communal Hindustan. Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, Dec. 2011.
Islamic coins from a Hindu Temple: Habbarid and Ghaznawid AE Fractionals from the Kashmir Smast, Gandhara. Boris Kochnev Memorial Seminar on Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics, Hempstead, NY, Mar. 2011.
 
v. Podcast episodes
 
Podcast / interview by Shershah Khan, November, 2024.
Podcast episode, Dymystifying Sufism, Afikra Podcast, January, 2024.
Podcast episode, How Sufi Networks Connected South-Central Asia, KabulCast, November, 2023.
Podcast episode, Hidden Caliphate, Muslim Focus, May, 2023.
Podcast episode, Pax Pamir with Waleed Ziad, Table Top, May, 2023.
Podcast episode, Hidden Caliphate – A Conversation with the Author, Coffee with Friends, December, 2022.
Podcast episode, In the Treasure Room of the Sakra King, American Numismatic Society’s The Planchet, host Andrew Reinhard, November, 2022.
Podcast episode, Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and the Indus, New Books Network, host Shahnaz Haqqani, September, 2022.
Podcast episode From ‘Failed States’ to ‘Hidden Caliphs’: How Muslim Scholar-Saints became Pillars of Social Order, Akbar’s Chamber – Experts Talk Islam, host Nile Green, December, 2021.
Podcast episode, The Guide: Bibi Sahiba, in collaboration with leading Pakistan-Afghan musicians Zeb Bangash and Shamali Afghan. What’s Her Name Podcast, https://www.whatshernamepodcast.com/bibi-sahiba/ , February, 2021. (over 10,000 independent downloads)
 
vi. Other Publications (includes op-eds, book reviews, commentaries)
 
Book and Archival Reviews
 
Ziad, W. (2016). Review of the Peshawar University Library, Pakistan. Dissertation Reviews.
Ziad, W. (2016). Review of the Iqbal Mujaddidi Collection, Punjab University. Dissertation Reviews.
Ziad, W. (2015). Review of The Divine Flood: Ibrahim Niasse and the Roots of Twentieth-Century Sufi Revival by Rudiger Seesemann. Comparative Islamic Studies, 9(1), 122-125.
Ziad, W. (2015). A Review of the National Archives, Kabul, Afghanistan. Dissertation Reviews.
Ziad, W. (2014). A Review of the Ganj Bakhsh Library, Iran-Pakistan Institute of Persian Studies, Islamabad, Pakistan. Dissertation Reviews.
Ziad, W. (2012). Review of Revealed Grace: The Juristic Sufism of Ahmad Sirhindi by Arthur Buehler. Der Islam, 89(1–2), 188-193.
 
Op-Eds and Editorials
 
Ziad, W. (2015). Untapped Potential: Afghanistan’s Traditional Civil Society. Foreign Policy, April 16. (Photo Essay)*
Ziad, W. (2014). Equipping Pakistan’s Civil Society Against the Taliban. The Hill, December 24.*
Ziad, W. (2014). Six Things about Afghanistan that May Surprise You. Foreign Policy, October 27.*
Ziad, W. (2014). Afghans Get Busy Helping Themselves. Wall Street Journal, September 2.*
Ziad, W. (2012). Pakistan’s Bid for Tolerance. Foreign Policy, September 26. (Photo Essay)*
Ziad, W. (2012). Out-recruiting Pakistan’s Extremists. Foreign Policy, February 29.*
Ziad, W. (2011). Evicting the Taliban from Swat. Foreign Policy, November 2.*
Ziad, W. (2011). Pakistan’s Most Powerful Weapon. Foreign Policy, October 21.*
Ziad, W. (2011). The Battle for Pakistan’s Soul. Foreign Policy, September 1.*
Ziad, W. (2009). Defeating the Taliban in Pakistan. The Hill, November 3.*
Ziad, W. (2008). Repatriation of Crimean Tatar Youth: The Experience of Ali Chabuk. International Committee for Crimea (Washington, DC), May.
Ziad, W. (2008). Reasonable Accommodation: Imam Omar Kone on the Bouchard-Taylor Commission. Alternatives International Journal (Montreal), May.
Ziad, W., and Laryssa Chomiak. (2008). Islamic Organizations and Challenges in Crimea. International Committee for Crimea (Washington, DC), April.
Ziad, W. (2008). In Pakistan, Islam Needs Democracy. New York Times, February 16. Reprinted in International Herald Tribune.
Ziad, W., and Laryssa Chomiak. (2007). A Lesson in Stifling Violent Extremism. Christian Science Monitor, February 20.
Ziad, W., and Laryssa Chomiak. (2006). An Interview with Mustafa Jemilev. International Committee for Crimea (Washington, DC), December.
Ziad, W. (2005). Jihad’s Fresh Face. New York Times, September 16. Reprinted in International Herald Tribune.
Ziad, W. (2004). Against All Odds: How Karachi’s Orangi Welfare Project Transformed a Community. Chowrangi Magazine (New York), Winter.
Ziad, W. (2004). Rising to the Challenge: Former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S., Ashraf Jahangir Qazi. Chowrangi Magazine (New York), Winter.
Ziad, W. (2004). How the Holy Warriors Learned to Hate. New York Times, June 18. Referenced in the 9/11 Commission Report and reprinted as The Shallow Roots of the Mujahideen in International Herald Tribune.
Ziad, W. (2004). Madaris in Perspective. The News, February.
Ziad, W. (2004). Ideologies for Sale. The News, February.
Ziad, W. (2004). The Jihad Industry. The News, February.
 
* co-authored with M. Farooq
 
B. Research Funding:
 
Primary Investigator for “Endangered Archives from Sufi Shrines of the Afghan-Pakistan Frontier,” with UNC Religious Studies, and UNC Library. Modern Endangered Archives Program, through UCLA. 2021-2025. $50,000.
Endangered Archives from Sufi Shrines of the Afghan-Pakistan Frontier | Modern Endangered Archives Program
International Dissertation Research Fellowship, Social Science Research Council. For archival research in US, UK, Uzbekistan, Pakistan (Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). 2014-2015. $19,500.
MacMillan Dissertation Fellowship, 2014-15. $19,000.
American Institute of Pakistan Studies. For research at al-Beruni Institute of Oriental Studies, Tashkent. 2014. $15,000.
Smith Richardson World Politics and Statecraft Fellowship. For research in UK, Uzbekistan. 2014. $7,500.
MacMillan Center South Asian Summer Research and Language Study Award. For historical research in eight provinces of Afghanistan, 2013. $5,000
MacMillan Pre-Dissertation Grant, 2012. Research at Afghanistan Archives; British Library. $5,000.
Oxford Barakat Trust Award, 2013. Documenting khanaqahs (Sufi monasteries), Afghanistan. ₤2,000.
Oxford Barakat Trust Award, 2012. Documenting khanaqahs in Pakistan and digitizing manuscripts. ₤2,000.
MacMillan Center South Asian Summer Research and Language Study Award, 2012. For numismatic research in the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. $3,000.
Sutherland and George H. Douglas Fellowship, 2010-11.
MacMillan Center South Asian Summer Research and Language Study Award, 2011. For research on Naqshbandi Sufism in Pakistan and Indo-Persian studies. $4,000.
Richter Fellowship, Yale, 2002. Arabic Language Study at American University of Cairo. $2,000.
Linck Summer Fellowship, Yale, 2001. For research on politics of the Middle East. $2,000.
 
C. Invited presentations
 
Book talk: The Extraordinary, Enchanted Lives of the Female Sufi Masters in the Afghan Empire,Lusail Museum, Doha, November, 2025.
Sovereignty and Coinage in Sindh workshop, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, November, 2025.
Hidden Caliphate Book talk and launch of Endangered Archives project, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, November, 2025.
Female Political and Religious Leadership in the Mughal Era, with Zeenut Ziad, Indus Conclave, Lahore, October, 2025.
Hidden Caliphate Book talk and launch of Endangered Archives project, Indus Conclave, Lahore, October, 2025.
Book talk: The Extraordinary, Enchanted Lives of the Female Sufi Masters in the Afghan Empire, Hast-o-Neest, Islamabad, July, 2025.
Book talk: Hidden Caliphate, and Archival Project Launch, Hast-o-Neest, Karachi, July, 2025.
Book talk: The Extraordinary, Enchanted Lives of the Female Sufi Masters in the Afghan Empire, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Nafi Baba Merkezi, Istanbul, March, 2025.
Book talk: The Extraordinary, Enchanted Lives of the Female Sufi Masters in the Afghan Empire, El-Serkal and Emirates Literary Festival, Dubai, October, 2024. (postponed, due to illness)
Book talk: The Extraordinary, Enchanted Lives of the Female Sufi Masters in the Afghan Empire, Embassy of Pakistan, Abu Dhabi, October, 2024.
Book talk: The Extraordinary, Enchanted Lives of the Female Sufi Masters in the Afghan Empire, NYU-Abu Dhabi, October, 2024.
Book talk: Hidden Caliphate, Asian Study Group, Islamabad, January, 2024.
Sufi Masters of the Afghan Empire, ThinkFest, Lahore, January, 2024.
Book launch: Hidden Caliphate, Mohatta Palace Museum Distinguished Lecture Series, Karachi, January, 2024.
The Extraordinary, Enchanted Journey of a Female Scholar Saint in the Afghan Empire, McGill Institute of Islamic Studies, Montreal, November, 2023.
The Enchanted Journey of Bibi Sahiba, Yale Law School Abdallah S. Kamel Center for the Study of Islamic Law and Civilization, New Haven, CT, November, 2023.
Book talk: Hidden Caliphate, Yale Center for Middle East Studies, New Haven, CT, November, 2023.
The Extraordinary, Enchanted Journey of a Female Scholar Saint in the Afghan Empire, Royal Asiatic Society, London, October, 2023.
Book Talk: In the Treasure Room of the Sakra King, Silsila: Center for Material Histories lecture series, New York University, April, 2023.
Post-Custodial Archives from Sufi Shrines of the Afghan-Pakistan Frontier, Middle East Librarians Association Social Justice Lecture Series, December, 2022.
The Enchanted Journey of Bibi Sahiba: Scholar-Saint of the Afghan Empire, Alhamra Lecture Series, Lahore Arts Council, Lahore, December, 2022.
Book talk: Hidden Caliphate, Allama Iqbal Open University, Faculty of Arabic & Islamic Studies, Islamabad, December, 2022.
Bibi Sahiba: The Female Scholar-Saint of the Afghan Empire, Asian Study Group, Islamabad, December, 2022.
The Enchanted Journey of Bibi Sahiba: Scholar-Saint of the Afghan Empire, introduced by Dr. Sayed Shafqat Ali Shah, former Sindh Education Minister, Mohatta Palace, Karachi, November, 2022.
Book talk: Hidden Caliphate, UCLA CISA Speakers Series, October, 2022.
The Extraordinary, Enchanted Journeys of a Female Sufi Saint from Kabul to Matiari, University of Art, Design, and Heritages, Jamshoro, Sindh, June, 2022.
Introduction to Hidden Caliphate, Keynote speaker, 19^th Annual Duke-UNC Middle East & Islamic Studies Graduate Student Conference, Space and Place: Religion, Politics, and Power in the Middle East, Durham, NC, March, 2022.
Book Launch: In the Treasure Room of the Sakra King: Votive Coinage from Gandharan Shrines, UNC Persian Studies, Chapel Hill, NC, December, 2021.
Book Launch: Connected Histories in Central Asia: 18^th-20^th centuries. Pre-publication book launch for Hidden Caliphate, hosted by the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University and the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, Princeton, NJ, March, 2021.
The extraordinary, enchanted journey of a Female Scholar-Saint in the Persianate World, Persian Studies Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke Islamic Studies, Durham, NC, July, 2020.
Women’s Leadership in Sufi Orders of the Persianate World, Sulook Series, Islamabad, May, 2020.
From Qandahar to Mazar-i Sharif – Bibi Sahiba and the Women Scholar-Saints of the Mujaddidi Order, Iranian Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, February, 2020.
Bibi Sahiba, ‘The Second Fatima’: Female Religious Leadership in 18th-19th Century Afghanistan, University of North Florida, February, 2020.
The Doors of Perception: Accessing the Unseen in the Islamic Tradition, Adab Festival Pakistan, Karachi, February, 2019.
Hindustan or Mawarannahr kay Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Hazarat, Principle presenter (in Urdu) at Imam Rabbani conference, Lahore, Pakistan, November 2017. (With several hundred religious scholars and Sufis in attendance from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkey.)
Disturbances at Bareilli: Inter-Communal Moral Economy and Juristic-Saintly Authority in Early Colonial India, Yale Law School Kamel Center, April, 2017.
How Peshawar Revived Bukhara’s Sanctity, Yale South Asian Studies Council, New Haven, CT, February, 2016.
The Remarkable Story of Hazrat Jio Sahib Peshawari (d. 1816), SOAS, New Research on Central Asia and the Persianate World, London, November, 2015.
Latest Methods of Research in Oriental Studies, Punjab University and Imam Rabbani Foundation, Lahore, May, 2015.
From Yarkand to Sindh via Kabul: The rise of Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi Networks amidst Political Fragmentation in 18th-19th Century Afghanistan, NYU Hagob Kevorkian Center Research Workshops, New York, NY, April, 2014.
Rethinking the Ghaznawid Invasion Narrative through New Numismatic Discoveries from the Pakistan-Afghanistan Frontier, Department of Religious Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, November, 2013.
The Treasures of the Kashmir Smast: Reconstructing Gandhara and the Kabul Valley in Late Antiquity through Numismatic Evidence from a Saiva Cave Temple, Center for South Asian Studies Lecture, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2013.
Deconstructing Fundamentalist Politics in South Asia, Columbia Political Union, Columbia University, New York, NY, Apr. 2006.
The Ideological Metamorphosis of the Deoband movement, Islam in the Modern Day Colloquium Lecture, Yale University, New Haven, CT, Apr. 2002.
 
Selected Invited Presentations on Contemporary Issues
 
Promoting Peace and Stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA, Apr. 2015.
Countering Violent Extremism in Pakistan: Opportunities and Obstacles for Civil Society, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, Feb. 2015.
Co-chaired roundtable discussion with senior US policymakers and academics on roadmap for engaging civil society in peacebuilding, Brookings, Washington, DC, Feb. 2015.
Co-convener and co-chair, Empowering Pakistan’s Civil Society to Counter Violent Extremism Working Group, 2014 Brookings U.S.-Islamic World Forum, Doha, Qatar, Jun. 2014.
Civil Society in Afghanistan: Spark or Stumbling Block for Stability?, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, Feb. 2014.
Leveraging Civil Society in Afghanistan, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, Feb. 2014.
Mosques, Madrasas, and Khaniqahs: Countering ‘Talibanization’ in Pakistan within a Religious Paradigm, Center for Middle East Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, Oct. 2012.
Developing the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, USAID, Washington, DC, Dec. 2009.
with Director General for Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, Muslim-Jewish Relations from a Historical Perspective, McGill University / Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Nov. 2006.
Analyzing the Relationship between Muslims, the West and the Jewish People, Islam’s Global Impact Conference, Palm Beach, FL, Jan. 2006.
 
D. Editorships, Editorial Boards, and Reviewing Activities
 
Editorships and Reviewing Activities
 
Book Review editor, Monsoon: Journal of the Indian Ocean Rim, Duke University Press (2025-)
Grant reviewer for Modern Endangered Archives Program, UCLA (2023)
Editorial Board Member, book series, Sources on Persianate History (Brill), with Abbas Amanat (2020-present)
Journal article and book peer reviews (2017-2023)
Peer review of two journal articles for Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient.
Peer review of journal article for Afghanistan.
Peer review of book for Cambridge University Press.
Peer review of two books for Oxford University Press.
 
Conferences/Symposia organized
 
Organizing committee member, Indian Ocean Symposium, Georgetown-Qatar, exp. 2027.
Organizing committee member, Poullada Symposium Between Wilayah & Waqf: Sacrality, Sovereignty, and Society in Early Modern Central Asia, Princeton University, March, 2023.
Organizer for Connected Histories in Central Asia: 18^th-20^th centuries, Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University and the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, March, 2021.
Director, Re-centering Las Bela symposium, Karachi, March 2018.
 
4. TEACHING, MENTORING, AND ADVISING
 
A. Teaching Activities
 
Georgetown University-Qatar
HIST 1308-70: Modern South Asia, 2025
HIST 4610-70: Sufism: A Social History, 2025
HIST 3611-70: Shaping of Modern Iran, 2024, 2025
HIST 1099-72: Writing Lives of Muslim Women, 2024, 2025
 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
RELI 181: Modern Muslim Societies, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024
RELI 289: Muhammad and the Quran, 2020, 2021
RELI 581: Sufism, 2021, 2023
RELI 582: Islam in South Asia, 2020
RELI 583: Iran, Religion and Culture, 1500-Present, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024
 
Sacred Geographies II: Re-Centering Las Bela, 2019
Hikma, 2018, 2019
Numismatics, Epigraphy, and History, Ancient Sindh, 2019
Sacred Geographies I: Re-Centering Las Bela, 2018
Pakistan and Modern South Asia, 2017, 2018
Modern World Religions, 2018
The Making of the Modern Middle East, 2017
 
Yale University (as Teaching Fellow)
Modern Middle East, 2014
Islamic Theology and Philosophy, 2014
The Cold War, 2013
 
B. Mentorship
 
Graduate
Doctoral advisor, Shamim Hossain, UNC-Chapel Hill Religious Studies, on agrarian revolts in early Colonial Bengal, 2023-24.
Doctoral and MA thesis committee, John Miller, UNC-Chapel Hill Religious Studies. “Religion and the Light of Reason.” Thesis defense October 17, 2022.
On dissertation committee for Rachel Cochran, UNC-Chapel Hill Department of History. “Political Thought & Millenarian Cosmologies in the Eighteenth Century Persian Cosmopolis.” Prospectus defense August 14, 2020.
On dissertation committee for Nulran Kabdylkhak, UNC-Chapel Hill Department of History. “Islamic Transformation of the Kazakh Steppe under the Tsars.” Prospectus defense December 16, 2020.
 
Undergraduate
Faculty mentor, CRF Grant, Hafsa Daud, Georgetown-Qatar, 2025.
Faculty mentor for IHIST major, Omar Mousa, Georgetown-Qatar, 2025.
Honors thesis second advisor, Liam Cuppett, UNC-Chapel Hill Religious Studies, on Sufism and resistance, title to be decided, 2025.
Honors thesis advisor, Charlsie Doan, UNC-Chapel Hill Religious Studies, “God’s Orders’: Islamism in Afghanistan, 1979-2001.” 2022-2023.
Honors thesis committee, Taylor Cox, UNC-Chapel Hill PWAD, “Do Drones drive Violence: How U.S. Drone Strikes Impact Tehrik-i Taliban Attacks against Civilians in Pakistan.” 2021.
Honors thesis advisor, Maisam Haider, “Jam vs qazi: mapping out the historical contribution and contemporary influence of sacred and royal authority of Bela, Baluchistan.” 2019.
Honors thesis advisor, Nisa Khurram Hafeez, “Lasbela’s sacred soundscape: Mapping Hindu and Muslim musical tradition.” 2019.
Secondary honors thesis advisor, Umrat Khan, “Calligraphy, a Science for the Ages? In conversation with my Ustaad.” 2019.
 
5. SERVICE
 
i. Department/Unit
 
Georgetown University-Qatar, International History
Member, International History Curricular Group, 2024-2025
 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Religious Studies
Media and Communication committee, 2023
Undergraduate Studies committee, 2019-2023
Religious Studies library liaison, 2020-2021
Islamic Studies hiring committee, 2019-2020
Donor relations, 2019-2022
 
Karachi, Lasbela
Creator, Sacred Geographies multi-disciplinary field-based course, partnering with Las Bela Agricultural University in Balochistan, a pioneering project in the region, 2017-2019
Designed and implemented pioneering critically oriented Islamic Studies curriculum for higher education, Pakistan, Habib University & Las Bela Agricultural University, Balochistan, 2017-2019
 
ii. University
 
Georgetown University-Qatar
Delivered university convocation speech, 2025
Chair, CIRS Faculty Advisory Committee, 2025
Member, New Academic Programs Task Force, 2025
Member, Research Review Committee, 2025
Chair, Promotion Review Committee, International Economics, 2025
Member, Indian Ocean Committee, 2024-2025
Member, CIRS Review Committee, 2024-2025
 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Board member, NC Consortium for the Middle East, 2023
Organizing member, Persian Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, 2021
Organizing member, UNC-Chapel Hill Central Asia Working Group, 2020-2021
 
Public or community Service
Laajverd and Peshawar Museum; led a team of archaeologists in Chamkani, mapping historic sites and material remains associated with female Sufi lineages to assess revitalization, restoration, and development of sites, 2025.
Librarians, Sufis, and historians community building on the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, 2021-2025.
The endangered archive grant for which I have applied with UNC Library required building a community of librarians, bibliophiles, local scholars, Sufis, and historians in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, long isolated and deprived of resources for archiving, preservation, cataloguing, and digitization.
 
Outreach and Media
Selected by Wondrium (Great Courses) to produce course on the “The Great Tours: The Silk Road”.
Featured article: Patty Courtright, Preserving endangered manuscripts – College Arts & Sciences Magazine (unc.edu), on Endangered Archives Project (see above), Fall 2022.
Wilson Center – Countering Violent Extremism in Pakistan: Opportunities and Obstacles for Civil Society. Televised, Feb. 2015.
CSPAN – Leveraging Civil Society in Afghanistan, Feb. 19, 2014.
Voice of America – Pashtu. Afghanistan Beyond 2014. TV interview, 2014.
“Journeying into a War Zone to Study the History of Sufism”. Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Voice of America – Radio Ashna, Afghanistan. TV interview on the development and potential of Pakistan civil society, and religious politics in South Asia, 2012.
Voice of America – Serbian. TV interview on Sunni ideological rifts in South Asia, 2011.
 
6. PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP
 
Treasurer, Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 2018-2021
Member, Association for the Studies of Persianate Societies, 2013-
Member, Oriental Numismatic Society, 2010-
Member, Central Eurasian Studies Society, 2014-
Member, American Anthropological Association, 2019-2020
Member, Middle East Studies Association, 2011-
Member, American Institute of Pakistan Studies
 
7. LANGUAGE STUDY
 
English (native speaker)
Urdu (native speaker)
Persian, Dari, and 18th-19th century Indo-Persian (advanced study)
Arabic (advanced study)
French (advanced study)
Sindhi (intermediate)
Uzbek & Chaghatai (intermediate)
Romanian (intermediate)
Middle Brahmi, Bactrian, Sarada, Archaic Kufic (Numismatic epigraphy)