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Iqbal Akhtar

Iqbal Akhtar is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Politics & International Relations at Florida International University's Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs, where he serves as Founding Director of both the Western Indian Ocean Studies Program. He holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (New College, School of Divinity) and is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, with fieldwork in Tanzania and Pakistan. His first monograph, The Khōjā of Tanzania: Discontinuities of a Postcolonial Religious Identity (Brill, 2016), examines postcolonial religious identity in the Western Indian Ocean. His most recent book, Covenantal Pluralism: The Geopolitics of Interfaith Religious Freedom (Springer, 2026), develops a comparative framework synthesizing the Hebrew brit, the Medinan mīthāq, and Jain anekāntavāda. He works across Arabic, Swahili, Gujarati, Urdu, Persian, and Sanskrit. He is Executive Director of The East-West Foundation.

Why Arbaeen – the Shiite Muslim pilgrimage of mourning – has a deep significance that brings millions to Iraq each year

by Iqbal Akhtar August 3, 2026 0

This article was originally published at: https://theconversation.com/why-arbaeen-the-shiite-muslim-pilgrimage-of-mourning-has-a-deep-significance-that-brings-millions-to-iraq-each-year-288582... Read more.