Arif Mohammad Khan (born 18 November 1951) is an Indian politician currently serving as Governor of Bihar since 2025. He is a member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP), and previously served as

Governor of Kerala The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the President of India, and holds office at the President's pleasure. The governor is ''de jure'' head of the govern ...

from 2022 to 2025, and as a

Union minister The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...

who has held several portfolios ranging from energy to civil aviation.

Early life and education

Arif Mohammad Khan was born on 18 November 1951 in

Bulandshahr Bulandshahr, formerly Baran, is a city and a municipal board in Bulandshahr district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bulandshahr district and part of Delhi NCR region. According to the Governme ...

. He was educated at Jamia Millia School, Delhi,

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

and at Shia College, University of Lucknow.

Ex-MLA Asif Muhammad Khan is his younger brother. Arif Mohammad Khan translated

Vande Mataram Vande Mātaram (Bengali language, Original Bengali: বন্দে মাতরম্‌ ''Bônde Mātôrôm'' Devanagari script: वंदे मातरम्; , Transcreation: I Bow to Thee, Mother) is a poem that was adopted as the nati ...

into

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. It can be read in Urdu (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

script)

Political career

Khan started his political career as a student leader. He was the President of Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union in the year 1972-73 and also its honorary Secretary a year earlier (1971–72). He contested the first legislative assembly election from Siyana constituency of Bulandshahar on Bharatiya Kranti Dal party's banner but was defeated. He became a member of the legislative assembly of UP in 1977 at the age of 26. Khan joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party and was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

in 1980 from

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

and 1984 from

Bahraich Bahraich is a city and a municipal board in Bahraich district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Located on the Saryu River, a tributary of the Ghaghara river, Bahraich is north-east of Lucknow, the state capital. The districts of B ...

. In 1986, he quit the

due to differences over the passage of Muslim Personal Law Bill which was piloted by

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

in the

. He was against the legislation to enable Muslim men to avoid giving their divorced wife or wives any maintenance after the

iddah In Islam, ’''iddah'' or ''iddat'' (; "period of waiting") is the period a woman must observe after the death of her husband or after a divorce, during which she may not marry another man. One of its main purposes is to remove any doubt as to ...

period as per the Quran and resigned because of differences with

on this issue. Khan joined the

Janata Dal Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...

and was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989. During the

rule Khan served as Union Minisster of Ministry of Civil Aviation and

Energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

. He left the

to join the

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...

and again entered the Lok Sabha in 1998 from

. Khan held ministerial responsibilities from 1984 to 1990. In 2004, he joined the

(BJP) and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election that year from Kaiserganj constituency. Later BJP appointed Arif as the Governor of Kerala and later was appointed as the Governor of Bihar.

Jain Hawala Case

Journalist Sanjay Kapoor, in his book "Bad Money, Bad Politics" has claimed that Khan received an amount of 7 crores of

Hawala Hawala or hewala ( , meaning ''transfer'' or sometimes ''trust''), originating in India as havala (), also known as in Persian, and or in Somali, is a popular and informal value transfer system based on the performance and honour of a hug ...

money. As per the CBI charge sheet, he was accused of being paid this amount of money when he was Union Minister, but he was later acquitted in the case.

Political views

Reformation in Islam

Arif Mohammad Khan has always supported reformation within Muslims. He resigned from position of Minister of state protesting against Rajiv Gandhi Congress Government stand on Shah Bano case in 1986.Ajaz Ashraf
Arif on Shah Bano case: 'Najma Heptullah was key influence on Rajiv Gandhi'
Scroll.in, 30 May 2015. He defended Supreme Court judgement on

Shah Bano case ''Mohd. Ahmad Khan v. Shah Bano Begum'' 985 commonly referred to as the Shah Bano case, was a controversial maintenance lawsuit in India, in which the Supreme Court delivered a judgment in favour of providing maintenance to an aggrieved divorce ...

in Parliament. Khan opposed triple talaq in India and said that it should be punishable with 3 years in jail. Khan has asserted that Muslim men are still allowed to be polygamous and can also give a divorce easily by paying paltry sums. Khan welcomed the Karnataka High Court's judgement upholding that the

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

is not an essential garment according to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

during the 2022 Karnataka hijab row, stating that enforcing the wearing of a hijab is a conspiracy to push back Muslim females into the four walls of their homes and reduce their career prospects - he gave an example of imagining a female IPS officer who is responsible for controlling law and order in a district, who cannot do so wearing a hijab. On being asked for a reaction about the murder of Kanhaiya Lal in

Udaipur Udaipur (Hindi: , ) (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura'') is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of t ...

by reporters, Khan responded that

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s teach that

blasphemy Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

should be punished by beheading and demanded that what is taught there should be examined.

Current activities

Khan has been deeply involved in writing since his student days. He is the author of the best-selling book of the year 2010 ''Text and Context: Quran and Contemporary Challenges'', published by Rupa & Co. Now Arif Mohammad Khan is actively involved in writing articles and columns related to Islam and

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

. He has advocated abolishing of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Arif Mohammad Khan also supported the Supreme Court of India's Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum to make the right to maintenance of a divorced Muslim wife absolute.

Governor of Kerala (2019 - 2024)

Khan was appointed the

on 1 September 2019 by the order of the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

, Ram Nath Kovind. He took charge as Governor on 6 September 2019 from P. Sathasivam he continued in office till 24 December 2024. He was then appointed as the Governor of Bihar. The political controversy regarding the appointment of vice-chancellors of backgrounds from SFI/CPIM to the universities of Kerala had put him in the spotlight. He wasn't given a proper farewell by the Kerala state government owing to various controversies between the office of the governor and the government. His farewell wasn't attended by the Chief Minister

Pinarayi Vijayan Pinarayi Vijayan (; born 24 May 1945) is an Indian politician who has served as the List of chief ministers of Kerala, Chief Minister of Kerala since 25 May 2016. A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), politburo ...

nor any of the cabinet ministers.

Governor of Bihar (2024-Present)

Khan was appointed by the president as the Governor of Bihar on 24 December 2024. and assumed office on 2 January 2025.