Iqbal Akhtar

Bio

Dr. Iqbal Akhtar holds a dual-appointment in the departments of Politics & International Relations and Religious Studies at Florida International University, where he is the Director of the Jain Studies Program. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Edinburgh's New College School of Divinity on the history of The Khoja of Tanzania, an Indic Muslim merchant caste in East Africa. Currently, his research is focused on reconstructing the 18th century religious cosmology of the Sindhi Khoja. Through the ongoing interdisciplinary programme being pursued at FIU towards a Muslim Studies programme, Khoja Studies is emerging as an important component for international interdisciplinary scholarly cooperation.