Azim Nanji is a

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

n-born professor of

Islamic studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

. From 1998 until 2008, he served as director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, England. He is also on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of the

Global Centre for Pluralism The Global Centre for Pluralism () is an international centre for research, education and exchange about the values, practices and policies that underpin Pluralism (political philosophy), pluralist societies. Based in Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canad ...

a joint partnership between His Highness the Aga Khan and the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

Biography

Born in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, Nanji attended schools in Kenya,

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, and

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, and received his master's and doctoral degrees in Islamic Studies. Nanji has held academic and administrative appointments at various American and Canadian universities. Since 1998, he has been with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, a research institute which aims to promote scholarship and learning of

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

cultures and societies, with a view towards attaining a better understanding of Islam and its relationship with other societies and faiths. In 1988, he was Margaret Gest Visiting Professor at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

, Pennsylvania, US, and a visiting professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, California in 2004. Nanji has served as co-chair of the Islam section at the American Academy of Religion and on the editorial board of the Academy's Journal. He has also been a member of the Philanthropy Committee of the Council on Foundations and has been the recipient of awards from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

, the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

, and the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

. Within the Aga Khan Development Network, Nanji has served as a member of the Steering Committee and Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and as a task force member for the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations (AKU-ISMC), and continues as Vice Chair of the

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 ...

-based Early Childhood Education Programme in East Africa.

Publications

Professor Nanji has authored, co-authored and edited several books including: *''The Nizari Ismaili Tradition'' (1976), *''The Muslim Almanac'' (1996), *''Mapping Islamic Studies'' (1997) *''The Historical Atlas of Islam'' (with M. Ruthven) (2004) In addition, he has contributed shorter studies and articles on religion, Islam and Ismailism in journals and collective volumes including the ''Encyclopædia of Islam'', ''Encyclopædia Iranica'', ''Oxford Encyclopædia of the Modern Islamic World'', and ''A Companion to Ethics''. He is also the Associate Editor for the revised Second Edition of ''The Encyclopaedia of Religion''. As of 2007, he was preparing a ''Historical Dictionary of Islam'' to be published by Penguin.

References

External links

1995 Baccalaureate Address at Stanford University

2004 Birks Lecture at McGill University

The Great Lecture Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanji, Azim Kenyan Ismailis Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom Stanford University staff British Islamic studies scholars Makerere University alumni McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Kenyan people of Indian descent British people of Indo-Kenyan descent