Prof. Akhtarul Wasey is recognized as a distinguished academic specializing in multidisciplinary study of Islam and Indian Muslims. He is an able administrator of many institutions concerned with socio-cultural affairs of the Indian Muslims; Editor of four Journals of repute in English, Hindi and Urdu widely respected in the academic/ intellectual circles the world over about myriad aspects of Islamic thought and history.
2. Born on September 1, 1951, at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Prof. Wasey received his education in the areas of Islamic Studies and Muslim Theology from the Aligarh Muslim University, where he taught for a brief spell. His association with Jamia Millia Islamia began in December 1977. He is currently Professor of Islamic Studies since 1991, and Honorary Director of Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic studies since 1999, at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He has held several senior academic and administrative positions in and outside the university, both in India and abroad. Currently he is the Vice Chairman of Delhi Urdu Academy; Member of the Executive Board of National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language; and President, India Interfaith Coalition on HIV/AIDS, apart from holding several other positions and assignments. Professor Wasey has also held positions like President, Dargah Committee of the world famous Chishti Sufi Shrine at Ajmer; Treasurer, Maulana Azad Education Foundation; General Secretary, South Asia Interreligious Coucil on HIV/AIDS, a body created by the UNICEF; and Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia.
3. Prof. Wasey is one of the foremost Muslim faces in the contemporaneously relevant inter-faith dialogue; and above all, one of the best known faces advocating protection and promotion of identity of Indian Muslims as adherents of a tolerant, peace-friendly faith seeking justice and equity for Indian Muslims as equal claimants to the fruits of growth and development. He has provided pro-active leadership to the Indian Muslims in preserving and protecting their ethos in the perspective of secular Indian nation. The public bodies that he has headed or been associated with as member have made significant socio-cultural contributions and enriched our composite heritage.
4. Prof. Wasey has been invited to 65 academic and semi-academic tours abroad including programmes organized/sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS, UNFP, UNHRC and Organisation of Islamic Conference.
5. Prof. Wasey is the recipient of the first Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Award for Interfaith Understanding, Aligarh Alumni Association, New York Tristate (USA), Maulana Mohd. Ali Jauhar Award in 1996, Award from Urdu Academy, Delhi and UP Urdu Academy on “Sir Syed Ki Taleemi Tehreek” in 1985. He has also been a recipient of a Fullbright Fellowship, awarded in 2008, the first ever to a member of the Jamia academic fraternity and the first in the field of Islamic Studies in India.
(Prof. Akhtarul Wasey can be reached at wasey27@gmail.com)