I specialize in medieval and early modern South Asian history. My research interest is intellectual and cultural history of Islam and Muslim Societies in India with a focus on the flows of concepts/ideas and texts across the Islamicate World. My areas of interest/specialization include Islam in South Asia, intellectual history of Islam, history of Muslim societies, history of Sufism and history of emotions.
I received my primary and secondary education in Islamic seminaries (madrasahs) which gave me a firm grip of Islamic studies and the classical languages of the Perso-Arabic world, such as Arabic, Persian (Farsi) and Urdu. At the tertiary level, I switched over to Western style secular education, and obtained the degrees of B.A., M.A. and M.Phil. in History from Jamia Millia Islamia, one of the premier institutions of India. My studies at Jamia Millia Islamia were partially supported by its merit scholarship programme. My doctoral thesis titled "Loving the Master? The Debate on Appropriate Emotions in North India (ca: 1750-1830)" earned me the degree of Dr. Phil. from Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany with magna cum laude. My research was supported by a full scholarship from Centre for the History of Emotions, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
I commenced my teaching career at Presidency University in April 2013. I teach courses on medieval South Asia, History of Islam, Sufism and supervise research in the above mentioned fields.
BA History (Jamia Millia Islamia, 2000)
MA History (Jamia Millia Islamia, 2002)
M.Phil History (Jamia Millia Islamia, 2006)
D.Phil History (Freie Universität, 2012)
Please see above (under the segments titled 'About' & 'Qualifications') and refer to the CV available on this page.
My research is primarily in the fields of socio-religious and intellectual history of Islam and Muslim societies in the late medieval and early modern periods. I have written articles on Sufism, domestic service in Mughal South Asia, music and emotions in South Asian Islam.
At present, I am the Head of the Department of History and member of various committees in the department.
Teachings Experience: 11 Years
I have been teaching at the Department of History, Presidency University, Kolkata since April, 1, 2013. I teach courses on medieval and early modern South Asian history and socio-religious thoughts and movements in medieval South Asia. My areas of interest/specialization include Islam in South Asia, intellectual history of Islam, history of Muslim societies, history of Sufism and history of emotions.
I teach/have taught the following coureses:
(UG Courses)
1. History of India (c. 1206-1526)
2. History of India (c. 1526-1707)
3. History of India (c. 750-1206)
4. Early Modern South Asian Culture
5. The Mughals, Safavids and Ottomans (1600-1750)
6. The Twentieth Century World
(PG Courses)
7. The Eighteenth Century in India History
8. Regligion and Society in Medieval South Asia
9. State, Society and Culture in the Central Islamicate Lands (6th to 16th Centuries)
10. Socio-Religious Thoughts and Movements in South Asia
I also deliver/have delivered guest/invited lectures on history of Islam in South Asia, Islamic thoughts, Islamic philosophy and Sufism in the following institutions:
• Invited Lectures for UG and PG Courses, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata(2016-2018)
• Guest Faculty, Department of Islamic History and Culture, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, (2019-till Present)
• Extension Lectures, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Al-Barkaat, Aligarh (2013-Till Present)
My current responsibilities include supervision of MA dissertations on a wide range of topics. I also supervises three PhD candidates, working on the following themes:
• “Kashmiri Sufi Tradition and Political Islam in the Twentieth Century”
• “Political Violence under the Mughals (1526-1707)”
• “The Pir Katha Tradition and Literary Marginalization in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Bengal”
• Member, Executive Council of the Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India,(CASTEI), Kolkata, West Bengal (2022-)
• Member, General Council of the Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India,(CASTEI), Kolkata, West Bengal (2022-)
• Member, BoS, Department of History, Aliah University, Kolkata (2020-2023)
• Member, Expert Advisory Committee Archaeological Survey of India, Kolkata Circle, June, 2017-2020)
• Member, Social Science Panel, National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, MHRD, Govt. of India, New Delhi (NCPUL) 2016-2018
• External Examiner for Ph.D. thesis, Department of History Jamia Millia Islamia, 2019
• External Examiner for M. Phil. dissertation, Department of History, Jamia Millia Islamia, 2019
• External Examiner for M. Phil. dissertation, Department of History, University of Delhi, 2016
• External Examiner for M. Phil. dissertation, Department of History, University of Delhi, 2015
• Publisher’ Referee, National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, (Wrote expert opinions on three books published by the council)
Articles in Refereed/ Peer-Reviewed Journals
• “Music, emotions and reform in South Asian Islam: perspectives from the eighteenth to the twentieth century”, South Asian History and Culture, 9:3, 2018, 340-363, DOI: 10.1080/19472498.2018.1488368 [Reprinted in Soumen Mukherjee and Christopher Harding (eds), Mind, Soul and Consciousness: Religion, Science and Psy-Disciplines in Modern South Asia (with a Foreword by J. N. Mohanty) (London & New York: Routledge, 2019); ISBN 9780367218485].
• “Reinterpreting Sufi Concepts (A Study of Shah Wali-Allah’s Altaf al-Quds)”, Indo-Iranica,(Vol. 70, Nos. 1-4, (March, June, September and December, 2017), pp. 69-157 [ISSN: 0378-0856]
Chapters in Peer-Reviewed Books
• “Domestic Service in Mughal South Asia” in Nitin Sinha, Nitin Varma and Pankaj Jha, (eds.), Servant Pasts, 16th to 20th centuries, Vol. I (Orient Blackswan, New Delhi) July 2019, pp. 105-131 [ISBN 978-93-5287-664-8]
• “Piri-Muridi in the Writings of Shah Wali-Allah” in Kazi Sufior Rahaman (eds.), Dimensions of Islamic Spirituality in South Asia and Beyond, (Calcutta University Press, Kolkata, October, 2022, pp. 273-299 [ISBN 978-93-`5759-845-3]
Edited/Translated Books:
• Risalah Mahwiyyah (Treatise on the Effacement of the Self), Annotated and Translated from Persian into English, Published by Shah Abdul Aleem Aasi Foundation, Delhi, December, 2022 [ISBN 81-951779-0-5]
• Rafiq al-Arifeen, Translated from Persian into Urdu, Published by Shah Abdul Aleem Aasi Foundation, Delhi, 2022 [ISBN 81-95177-93-X]
Urdu Articles in Edited Volumes
• “Imam Ahmad Raza and Ilm-i-Tarikh-i Islam” (Imam Ahmad Raza and Muslim Historiography), in Faizanul Mustafa Qadiri and Tariq Mibahi (eds.), Musannif-i-Azam Number (A Commemorative Volume on the Occasion of the Centenary Anniversary of Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Barelwi), Published by The PaighameShariat Monthly, New Delhi, October, 2018
• “Khaqahun Ka Zawal: Maghribi Ahl-i-Qalam Kin Nazar Mein” (The Decline of Sufi Hospices in the Writings of Western Scholars), in Aikiswin Sadi Mein Tasawwuf: Alami Buhran Ke Hal Ki Talash, edited and compiled by Khushtar Noorani, All Indian Ulama wa Mashaikh Board, March, 2016, pp. 263-280
• “Hazrat Aasi, Tasawwuf Aur Tasawwuf Mukhalif Tahrik: Aik Tazjiyati Mut‘alah” (Hazrat Aasi: Sufism and Anti-Sufism Movement: An Analytical Study) in Bustan-i Aasi, Volume One, edited and compiled by Abrar Raza Misbahi, published by Shah Abd al-Alim Aasi Foundation, Dehli, February, 2015, pp. 214-262
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