B.A., Arabic Studies and Chinese Studies, Williams College
Biography:
Khan Asfandyar Shairani was appointed Muslim Chaplain ad interim in Fall 2024. Khan is a research scholar specializing in the history of the Islamic tradition in the Indian Ocean world. He has digitized archives and translated texts in Chinese, Arabic, Persian and Urdu. His interests stem from the vibrant intellectual community of religious scholars in the Indian Ocean world who contributed to the making of an Islamic modernity. He has worked as an advisor to South Asian madrasa (Islamic seminary) students for research projects on Islamic tradition and served as a simultaneous Urdu translator at interdisciplinary Islamic Studies conferences hosted in Qatar and Nepal. He continues to study and learn from these scholars as they traverse the vast, heterogeneous Islamic tradition and transform and adapt for the challenges of the modern world.
Before his Ph.D., Khan studied Islamic Studies in Cambridge, MA at Harvard Divinity School, where he encountered the mystical works of Ibn Arabi and the Sufi tradition more broadly. This interest kindled a desire to know more about the Islamic tradition and he lived in Amman, Jordan for a year to study Classical Arabic at the QASID Institute. He has traveled and studied abroad in China, Jordan, Jerusalem, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Spain, Taiwan, Tajikistan, and the UK. Khan Shairani has received his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame in Peace Studies and History. He also holds a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University and a B.A. from Williams College in Arabic Studies and Chinese Studies.
Born in Pakistan, Khan immigrated to the US when he was a young boy. Growing up in Massachusetts, Khan is a fan of all Boston sports teams and enjoys playing basketball, a cup of hot chai, and reading novels of all varieties.
