Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ali S. Asani is Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University. After completing his high school education in Kenya, he attended Harvard College, with a concentration in the Comparative Study of Religion, graduating summa cum laude in 1977. He received his Ph.D. in 1984. Prof. Asani holds a joint appointment between NELC and the Study of Religion. He has taught at Harvard since 1983, offering instruction in a variety of languages such as Urdu/Hindi, Sindhi, Gujarati and Swahili as well as courses on various aspects of the Islamic tradition. His books include The Bujh Niranjan: An Ismaili Mystical Poem, The Harvard Collection of Ismaili Literature in Indic Literatures: A Descriptive Catalog and Finding Aid, Celebrating Muhammad: Images of the Prophet in Muslim Devotional Poetry (co-author), Al-Ummah: A Handbook for an Identity Development Program for North American Muslim Youth, Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, and Let's Study Urdu: An Introduction to the Urdu Script and Let's Study Urdu.

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