SherAli K TareenProfessor of Religious Studies
Intellectual Biography
SherAli Tareen is Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College and was a member in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ during academic year 2024-25. His scholarship focuses on early modern and modern South Asian Muslim intellectual thought and debates, in close and active conversation with the premodern heritage of Islamic knowledge traditions beyond South Asia. His first 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. With thirty-three reviews to date since its publication, Defending Muhammad is the most reviewed book in Islamic Studies of the last three decades. 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 (Columbia University Press, 2023) was selected as a finalist for the 2024 American Academy of Religion Book Award in the Textual Studies category. It has so far been the subject of twenty-seven reviews in various major journals including being featured for special book forums in the Marginalia Review of Books, ReOrient: Journal of Critical Muslim Studies, and the Political Theology Journal. His third book Shah Waliyullah: Aspirations and Tensions of Islamic Cosmopolitanism, published in Oneworld Publications’ Makers of the Muslim World series in August 2026, extends the arc of his research into the eighteenth century, and provides the first detailed biography and intensive reading of the major Arabic and Persian texts of arguably the most panoramic and influential modern South Asian Muslim thinker Shah Waliyullah (d. 1762). Tareen isalso the author of twenty- eight (until August 2026) peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, in addition to numerous public facing online scholarly essays.
From 2012-2024, Tareen co-hosted 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. As part of this endeavor,
he interviewed 100 authors of new books in Islamic Studies. See link below for access
to this wonderful resource:
https://newbooksnetwork.com/search?q=tareen
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, RST 330 The Qur’an and the Connections
Course Islam in North America.
Scholarly Publications
Monographs
Shah Waliyullah Dihlavi: Aspirations and Tensions of Islamic Cosmopolitanism: (Oneworld Academic, August 2026, Makers of the Muslim World Series; 208 pages).
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 and Book Chapters (chronological)
-“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.
-“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.
-“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.
-“Revival and Reform in Islam.” Co-authored with Ebrahim Moosa. Islamic Political Thought: An Introduction, Ed. Gerhard Bowering. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 202-219.
-“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), pp. 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.
-“Secularization and South Asian Islam.” Indian Religions, Ed. Arvind Sharma. Springer Press, 2017,
pp. 607-618.
-“Struggles for Independence: Colonial and Post-Colonial Orders.” Blackwell History of Islamic Civilization, Ed. Armando Salvatore. Blackwell Publishing, 2018, pp. 521-542.
-“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.
-“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 of Critical Muslim Studies, Pluto Journals, Volume 5, Number 2 (July 2020),
pp.134-136.
-“South Asian Qur’an Commentaries and Translations: A Preliminary Intellectual History” ReOrient: Journal of Critical Muslim Studies, Pluto Journals, Volume 5, Number 2 (July 2020), pp. 233-256.
-“The Problems and Perils of Translating Sufism as ‘Moderate Islam.’” Modern Sufis and the Shadow of the State: Rethinking Islam and Politics in South Asia and Beyond, Ed. Katherine Ewing and Rosemary Corbett, Columbia University Press, 2020, pp. 174-183.
-“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), pp. 370-377.
--“Historicizing the Miraculous: Muslim Traditionalism and Colonial Modernity,” Journal of Urdu Studies, Brill Publishing, Volume 3, Issue 1-2 (July 2023), pp. 154-167.
-The Conduct of the Sufi Path: Naqshbandi Meditation in Early Modern India,” Journal of the Institute of Sufi Studies, Volume 2, Number 2 ( January 2024), pp. 251-264 (Open Access) https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/3565767
-“Teaching Theory without Theory Talk in an Introductory Islam Course,” The Wabash Center Journal on Teaching, Volume 5, Issue 1 (March 2024), pp. 62-65. (Open Access) https://serials.atla.com/wabashcenter/issue/view/356/SherAliTareen
-“The Theological Foundations of Muslim Modernism and Traditionalism in South Asia,” Modern Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press, Volume 58, Issue 2 (October 2024), pp. 357-385.
-“Perilous Intimacies and Critical Muslim Studies,” ReOrient: Journal of Critical Muslim Studies, Pluto Journals, Volume 9, Number 2 (June 2025), pp. 14-25.
-“Meat and Religious Difference in Colonial India: The Courage and Contradictions of Sayyid Ahmad Khan,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Brill Publishing, Volume 68 (October 2025), pp. 970-983.
-“Friendship, Sovereignty, and Political Theology,” Political Theology, Taylor and Francis, Volume 26, (November 2025), pp. 892-900.
Translation Based Book Chapters:
-“Rethinking Muslim Political Theology” translation from Urdu of Ammar Khan Nasir’s “Islāmi Mazhabī Siyāsi Fikr Kī Tashkīl-i Naw” in Engaging the Madrasa: Education and Islamic Thought in a Changing World, Ed. Ebrahim Moosa and Joshua Lupo, University of Notre Dame Press, 2026.
“The Problem of the Qur’an’s Esoteric Interpretation (Taʾwīl): An Examination of Classical and Modernist Thought with Special Reference to Ibn Rushd” translation from Urdu of Waris Mazhari’s “Mas’ala-yi Ta’wil” in Engaging the Madrasa: Education and Islamic Thought in a Changing World, Ed. Ebrahim Moosa and Joshua Lupo, University
of Notre Dame Press, 2026.
Review Essays
-“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 Online Scholarly Articles
-“Rethinking Biopolitics: A Forum on Jasbir Puar’s The Right to Maim,” Marginalia Review of Books, 2022.
-“Barton J. Scott’s Slandering the Sacred: Forum Introduction,” Marginalia Review of Books, 2024.
-“The Politics of Intimacy and the Intimacy of Politics,” Response to Marginalia Review of Books Forum on SherAli Tareen’s Perilous Intimacies, 2025.
“Dwelling in Loss: An Introduction,” Forum on Rajbir Judge’s Prophetic Maharaja in And und für sich, 2025.
-“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
“Modernity,” The Immanent Frame Social Science Research Council Universe of Terms Series, 2020.
“Qurʾān translations in North India and Pakistan after Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlāwī
(d. 1762)” Encyclopedia of the Qur’an Online special Issue on “Translations of the
Qur’an,” Ed. Johanna Pink, June 2025.
“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 Farhat Haq’s Shari‘a and the State in Pakistan: Blasphemy Politics (NY: Routledge, 2019) in Religious Studies Review, Vol. 46, Number 2 (June 2020), pp. 243-244.
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.
Awards and Fellowships
Institute of Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies Membership (Fellowship), August 2024-July 2025, Princeton, NJ, 2024.
Finalist, American Academy of Religion Book Award for Excellence, Textual Studies
Category, 2024.
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.
Public Facing Online Essays (Since 2017; links provided where available)
“Liberal Fundamentalists and Imranophobia,” Global Village Space, 2017
https://www.globalvillagespace.com/liberal-fundamentalists-and-imranophobia/
“Is Secular Fundamentalism the Answer to Religious Fundamentalism? A Response to Pervez Hoodhboy,” Global Village Space, 2018.
https://www.globalvillagespace.com/is-secular-fundamentalism-the-answer-to-religious-extremism/
“Dear American Media: How Not to Talk About Muslims,” Religious Studies News, 2018
https://rsn.aarweb.org/articles/dear-american-media-how-not-talk-about-muslims
“Beyond Religious Bigotry and Secular Freedom,” The News on Sunday, 2018
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/566305-beyond-religious-bigotry-secular-freedom
“The Aspirations and Ambiguities of Decolonial Politics,” Public Seminar, 2019
https://publicseminar.org/essays/the-aspirations-and-ambiguities-of-de-colonial-politics/
“Prophetic Politics as the Antidote to Fascist Racism,” Samaa News Online, 2019
https://www.academia.edu/
“On the Follies and Failures of Secular Convictions Part I” The News on Sunday, 2020.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/566968-follies-failures-secular-convictions
“On the Follies and Failures of Secular Convictions Part II” The News on Sunday, 2021.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/567004-follies-failures-secular-convictions-ii
“Imran Khan and Islamophobia,” Samaa News Online, 2020
https://www.academia.
“Imran Khan’s Battle for Sovereignty,” ReOrientations, 2023
https://criticalmuslimstudies.co.uk/imran-khans-battle-for-sovereignty/
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 Only (Native Fluency)