SherAli K Tareen Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Department Chair of Religious Studies
Intellectual Biography
SherAli has been teaching at F&M since 2012. He received his PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University in 2012. His research focuses on Muslim intellectual traditions and debates in early modern and modern South Asia. He has also written extensively on the interaction of Islam and secularism. His book Defending Muhammad in Modernity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020) received the American Institute of Pakistan Studies 2020 Book Prize and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book Award. Listen to a podcast interview on the book here. And see this link and this link for recent online symposia on the book with essays by leading scholars of Islam and South Asia.
His second book called Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship after Empire is appearing in August 2023 in Columbia University Press' prestigious Religion, Culture, and Public Life series. His various articles have appeared in the Journal of Law and Religion, Muslim World, Political Theology, Islamic Studies, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, ReOrient, among many other journals. His academic publications and talks are available here.
SherAli also co-hosts the popular podcast New Books in Islamic Studies that operates online through the New Books Network and features interviews with authors of important new books in the broader field of Islamic Studies. See link below to access this wonderful resource.
https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/religion-faith/islamic-studies/
His teaching menu includes courses such as RST 114 Islam, RST 275 Islam, Tradition, and Modernity, RST 370 Islamic Law and Ethics, RST 371 Sufism, RST 375 Islamic, Law, Gender, and Sexuality, RST 376 Reading Islamic Texts in Arabic, RST 273 Hindus and Muslims, RST 375 Religion and Secularism, and the Connections Course Islam in North America.
Scholarly Publications
Monographs
Defending Muhammad in Modernity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020).
Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship after Empire (Columbia University Press, 2023).
Edited Books
Edited Journal Volumes
“The Deoband Madrasa.” Special Edition Muslim World, Blackwell Publishing, Volume 99, Number 3, (July 2009).
“Imagining the Public in Modern South Asia” (with Barton Scott and Brannon Ingram) South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Taylor and Francis Publications, Volume 38, Number 3, (September 2015).
“Beyond Revival and Reform: Reorienting the Study of South Asian Islam” (with Teena Purohit) ReOrient Journal July 2020.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
-“Normativity, Heresy, and the Politics of Authenticity in South Asian Islam.” Muslim World, Blackwell Publishing, Volume 99, Number 3, (July 2009), pp. 521-552. Special Edition on “Deoband Madrasa.” Served as Guest Editor.
-“Competing Political Theologies in Islam: Intra-Muslim Polemics on the Limits of Prophetic Intercession.” Political Theology, Equinox Publishing, Volume 12:3 (June 2011), pp. 418-433.
-“The Polemic of Shahjahanpur: Religion, History, and Miracles.” Islamic Studies Journal, Islamic Research Institute, Volume 51, Number 1, (July 2013), pp. 49-67.
-“The Hermeneutics of Reconciliation: Haji Imdadullah’s Faysala-yi Haft Mas’ala (A Resolution to the Seven Controversies).” Sagar: A South Asia Research Journal, University of Texas at Austin South Asia Institute, Volume 21, (May 2013), pp.1-16.
-“The Perils and Possibilities of Inter-Religious Translation: Mirza Mazhar Jan-i Janan on the Hindus.” Sagar: A South Asia Research Journal, University of Texas at Austin South Asia Institute, Volume 21, (May 2014), pp.43-51.
-“Narratives of Emancipation in Modern Islam: Temporality, Hermeneutics, and Sovereignty.” Islamic Studies Journal, Islamic Research Institute, Volume 52, Number 1, (September 2015), pp.5-28.
- “Contesting Friendship in Colonial Muslim India.” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Taylor and Francis, Volume 38, Issue 3, (September 2015), pp. 419-433.
-“Revolutionary Hermeneutics: Translating the Qur’an as a Manifesto for Revolution.” Journal of Religious and Political Practice, Taylor and Francis, Volume 3, Numbers 1-2, (March 2017), 1-24.
-“Translating the ‘Other’: Early Modern Muslim Understandings of Hinduism.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Cambridge University Press, Volume 27, Number 3 (July 2017), pp. 435-460.
-“Muslim Political Theology Before and After Empire: Shāh Muḥammad Ismāʿīl’s Station.of.Leadership (Manṣab-i Imāmat).” Political Theology, Taylor and Francis, Volume 21:1 (January 2020), pp. 1-22.
-“Beyond Revival and Reform: Reorienting the Study of South Asian Islam” (with Teena Purohit) ReOrient Journal, Pluto Journals, Volume 5, Number 2 (July 2020), 134-136.
-“South Asian Qur’an Commentaries and Translations: A Preliminary Intellectual History” ReOrient Journal, Pluto Journals, Volume 5, Number 2 (July 2020), 233-256.
-“Thinking the Question of Religious Minorities in Colonial India: Some Notes on Intra-Muslim and Hindu-Muslim Encounters” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Duke University Press, Volume 41, Number 3 (December 2021), 370-377.
Editor Reviewed Journal Articles
-“Islam, Democracy, and the Limits of Secular Conceptuality.” Journal of Law and Religion, Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, Volume 29, Number 1, (January 2014), pp.1-17.
-“Debating Islam and Secularism in Pakistan.” Journal of Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press, Volume 76, Number 2 (May 2017), pp. 457-461.
-“Tragedies and Ambiguities of Islam in Pakistan.” Islamic Studies Journal, Islamic Research Institute, Volume 58, Number 2, (October 2019), pp. 245-253.
Editor Reviewed Book Chapters
-“Revival and Reform in Islam.” Co-authored with Ebrahim Moosa. Islamic Political Thought: An Introduction, Ed. Gerhard Bowering. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 202-219.
-“Secularization and South Asian Islam.” Indian Religions, Ed. Arvind Sharma. Springer Press, September 2017.
-“Struggles for Independence: Colonial and Post-Colonial Orders.” Blackwell History of Islamic Civilization, Ed. Armando Salvatore. Blackwell Publishing, 2018.
-“Disrupting Secular Power: Saba Mahmood and the Study of Religion.” Cultural Approaches to Studying Religion: An Introduction to Theories and Methods, Ed. Sarah Bloesch and Meredith Minister. Bloomsbury Press, 2018, pp. 155-174.
Forthcoming Journal Articles:
-“Teaching Theory without Theory Talk in an Introductory Islam Course,” The Wabash Center Journal on Teaching.
Under Review after Submission:
--“Competing Genealogies of Reform in Modern South Asian Islam: The Aligarh Deoband Divide,” under review with Modern Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press.
Editor Reviewed Online Scholarly Articles
-“Sovereignty and its Afterlives in Muslim South Asia,” Response to University of Notre Dame Contending Modernities Forum on SherAli Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity, 2021.
-“Sovereignty and Secularism in Modern Islam,” Response to Marginalia Review of Books Forum on SherAli Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity, 2022.
Peer-Reviewed Bibliographic Articles
-“Deoband Madrasa.” In Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies. Ed. Tamara Sonn. New York: Oxford University Press, April, 2014.
-“Sayyid Abu’l ‘Ala Mawdudi.” In Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies. Ed. Tamara Sonn. New York: Oxford University Press, April, 2014.
Encyclopedia Articles
“Mahmud Ahmadenijad” Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Ed. Michael Fischbach. Gale Publishing House, Volume 1, pp. 26-30, November 2007.
-“Park 51” Frequencies: A Genealogy of Spirituality. Curated by John Modern and Kathryn Lofton. (New York: SSRC, December 2011).
“Charity,” Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, Princeton University Press, Ed. Gerhard Bowering. December 2012.
“Nadwat al-‘Ulama.” The Encyclopedia on Islam and Law, Ed. Jonathan Brown. Oxford University Press, April 2014.
Book Reviews
Review of Nile Green Making Space: Sufis and Settlers in Early Modern India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012) in Journal of Islamic Studies, Cambridge University Press, Volume 25, Number 1, (January 2014), pp. 62-65.
Review of Teena Purohit The Aga Khan Case: Religion and Identity in Colonial India (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012) in Islamic Studies Journal, Islamic Research Institute, Volume 52, Number 1, (August 2015).
Review of John Turner Inquisition in Early Islam: The Competition for Political and Religious Authority in the Abbasid Empire (London: IB Tauris, 2013) in Islamic Studies Journal, Islamic Research Institute, Volume 52, Number 2, (February, 2016).
Review of Adil Khan From Sufism to Ahmadiyya (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014) in Nova Religio, Volume 21, Number 2 (November 2017).
Review of Seema Alavi Muslim Cosmopolitanism in an Age of Empire in International Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 15, Number 1 (January 2018).
Review of Gregory Lipton Rethinking Ibn ‘Arabi (NY: Oxford University Press, 2018) in Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society, Number 65 (August 2019), pp. 95-99.
Talks and Presentations
Invited Talks - Past Five Years
Response to Author Meets Critics Book Panel on Anand Taneja’s Jinnealogy American Academy of Religion Conference, Denver, CO, November 2018.
Invited Talk: “Polemical Encounters: Debating the Prophet in Colonial South Asia.” University of Florida Department of Religion, February 2019.
Invited Talk: “Defending Muhammad in Modernity: Some Perspectives from South Asia.” McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies Annual Graduate Student Conference Keynote Talk, April 2019.
Respondent “Author Meets Critics Book Panel on SherAli Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity and Brannon Ingram’s Revival from Below.” Annual South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2019.
Invited Talk: “Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship in Colonial India,” Princeton University Near Eastern Studies Department, August 2020.
Invited Talk: “Muslim Political Theology after Empire,” Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, September 2020.
Invited Talk: “Miracle Wars: Interreligious Polemics in Colonial South Asia,” Exeter University and Habib University Islam in South Asia Speakers Series, October 2020.
Respondent “Author Meets Critics Book Panel on SherAli Tareen’s Defending Muhammad in Modernity.” American Academy of Religion Conference, Virtual, November 2020.
Invited Talk: “Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship after Empire.” University of Cambridge, Center of Islamic Studies, April 2021.
Invited Talk: “The Promise and Peril of Hindu-Muslim Friendship.” University of Michigan Pakistan Studies Conference on “Religious Landscapes,” April 2021.
Invited Talk: “Decolonial Studies and Defending Muhammad in Modernity.” Institute of Policy Studies Islamabad (Talk Delivered in Urdu), August 2021.
Invited Talk: “Sovereignty and its Afterlives.” SIO Kerala India, September 2021.
Invited Talk: “Debating Inter-religious Friendship after Empire.” International Institute of Islamic Studies Annual Al-Faruqi Memorial Keynote Address, American Academy of Religion, San Antonio TX, November 2021.
Invited Talk: “Non-Liberal Logics of Tolerance in Modern Islam: The Case of Hajji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (d. 1899.” Markfield Institute UK, November 2021.
Invited Talk: “What is Secularism,” Hamdard University Delhi India, November 2021.
Invited Talk: “Competing Movements in Muslim South Asia: The Aligarh-Deoband Divide.” Darul Qasim College, December 2021.
Invited Talk: “Shifting Conceptions of Sovereignty in South Asia” (Bar-i Saghir Mayn Hakimiyyat ke Badaltay Huway Tasawurrat) Hast o Neest Institute Lahore (talk delivered in Urdu), December 2021.
Invited Talk: “The Cow and the Caliphate: Hindu-Muslim Friendship in Colonial India.” Columbia University South Asia Institute Speakers Series, January 2022.
Invited Talk: “The ‘Ulama’ and Imperial Muslim Political Theology,” Keynote Speaker Ummatics Colloquium, January 2022.
Invited Talk: “The Qur’an and Economic Justice,” Keynote Speaker International Qur’an Conference, January 2022 (Talk Delivered in Urdu).
Invited Talk: “Religious Minorities and Imperial Political Theologies in Pakistan,” Keynote Speaker, University of Pennsylvania Annual Pakistan Studies Conference, February 2022.
Invited Talk: “Discussion on Defending Muhammad in Modernity,” Center for Islam and Global Affairs Istanbul, March 2022.
Invited Talk: “Secularism Kyā Hay? (What is Secularism?),” Ibn Khaldun Institute Lahore, March 2022 (Talk Delivered in Urdu).
Invited Talk: “The Politics of Prophetic Love in South Asia,” Center for the Study of Law and Religion Emory University, April 2022.
Invited Talk: “Discussion on Defending Muhammad in Modernity,” Keynote Speaker Peshawar Literature Festival, May 2022 (Talk Delivered in Pashto).
Invited Talk: “Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship after Empire,” University of Oxford Political Thought Seminar Series, November 2022.
Invited Talk: “Prophetic Politics in Modern South Asia,” The Center for Islamic Theology Tuebingen University, January 2023.
Invited Talk: “Perilous Intimacies Book Talk,” Keynote Speaker Peshawar Literature Festival, February 2023 (Talk Delivered in Pashto).
Invited Talk: “Response to Salman Sayyid’s talk Still Recalling the Caliphate?” Ummatics Colloquim, March 2023.
Invited Talk: “Contests over the Boundaries of Hindu-Muslim Friendship,” Cambridge University, April 2023.
Conference Presentations
Conference Organized:
“Imagining the Public in Colonial India: Print, Polemics, and the People.” (with Barton Scott and Brannon Ingram) Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill, May 16-17, 2014.
Panels Organized (last 5 years):
“Beyond Reform and Revival: Alternative Archives of South Asian Islam.” Annual South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2017.
“Author meets Critics Panel on Irfan Ahmed’s Religion as Critique: Islamic Critical Thinking from Mecca to the Marketplace.” American Academy of Religion Conference, Denver, CO, November 2018.
“Borders and Boundaries in South Asian Islam.” Annual South Asia Conference, Madison WI, October 2019.
“Author Meets Critics: Jasbir Puar’s The Right to Maim.” American Academy of Religion Conference, San Diego, CA, November 2019.
Papers Delivered (last 5 years):
“South Asian Minorities and the Global Discourse of Religious Moderation.” Fifth Annual Sikh Studies Conference, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA, May 2017.
“What if God could Lie? Contesting Sovereignty in Early Colonial India.” Annual South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2017.
“Cow Sacrifice as a Symbol of Muslim Distinction.” Annual South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2017.
“Contesting Muhammad in Modernity: Power, Politics, Political Theology.” Center for Culture and Literature, Conference on Prophetic Politics as Alternative Political Theology, Berlin, Germany, June, 2018.
“South Asian Qur’an Commentaries and Translations.” Annual South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2018.
“Debating the Cow in Colonial India.” South Asia Muslim Studies Association, Annual South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2018.
“Utopic Strivings: Jihad, Sovereignty, Territory.” Annual South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2019. Panel Organizer.
“Qur’an Translations and Commentaries in South Asia.” International Qur’anic Studies Association, Society of Biblical Literature Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2019.
“The Promise and Peril of Hindu-Muslim Friendship.” University of Michigan Pakistan Studies Conference on “Religious Landscapes,” April 2021.
“Competing Rationalities of Reform in Muslim South Asia: The Aligarh-Deoband Divide.” South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 2021.
Awards and Fellowships
Finalist, American Academy of Religion Book Award for Excellence, Analytical-Descriptive Studies Category, 2021.
Winner, American Institute of Pakistan Studies Book Prize, 2020
American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Long-Term Senior Fellowship, 2020.
American Institute of Maghrebi Studies, Senior Research Fellowship, 2019.
American Institute of Pakistan Studies Publication Write-Up Grant, 2015.
Luce Visiting Fellowship Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies University of Notre Dame, 2015; funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.
National Endowment for Humanities Fellowship: Summer Institute on “American Muslims: History, Culture, and Politics” at George Washington University, 2015.
International Institute of Islamic Thought Residential Fellowship, 2015.
American Institute of Pakistan Studies Long-Term Senior Fellowship, 2015-16.
New School Institute of Critical Social Inquiry Fellowship, seminar on Secularism with Talal Asad, June 2015.
American Philosophical Society Franklin Research Grant, 2015-16.
American Academy of Religion Collaborative International Research Grant, 2015, awarded annually to five research projects in the study of religion involving international collaboration.
Wabash Center Teaching and Learning Summer Fellowship, 2015; funded by the Lilly Foundation.
American Institute of Pakistan Studies Summer Research Fellowship, 2014.
International Institute of Islamic Thought Research Fellowship, 2014, awarded annually to three scholars of Islamic Studies across the world.
American Academy of Religion Research Award Winner, 2014-15, awarded annually to six scholars of religion across the world.
Wabash Center Teaching and Learning Workshop Fellowship, awarded biannually to fourteen Pre-Tenure Religion Faculty at Colleges and Universities across the country; 2014-15; funded by the Lilly Foundation.
National Endowment for Humanities Fellowship: Summer Seminar on “The Late Ottoman and Russian Empires: Citizenship, Belonging, and Difference” at George Washington University, 2014.
Yale University Annual Modern South Asia Workshop Fellow, 2014.
National Endowment for Humanities Fellowship: Summer Institute on “The Centrality of Translation to the Humanities” at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013.
Franklin and Marshall College Hackman Summer Scholar Award with Kelseyleigh Reber, 2014.
Franklin and Marshall College Office of College Grants Resource Funds Award, 2014 and 2015.
Franklin and Marshall College Summer Seminar Fellowship on the “Status of the Humanities,” 2014.
Woodrow Wilson Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship for Religious Ethics and Values, 2010-11.
Foreign Languages
Arabic (Modern Standard): Speaking, Reading, and Writing (Near-Native Fluency)
Persian/Dari: Speaking, Reading and Writing (Near Native Fluency)
Urdu: Speaking, Reading and Writing (Advanced Native Fluency)
Pashto: Speaking and Reading (Advanced)
Punjabi: Speaking Only (Intermediate).