Shahab Ahmed
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شہاب احمد
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| Born | (1966-12-11)December 11, 1966 |
| Died | September 17, 2015(2015-09-17) (aged 48) |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
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| Discipline | Islamic studies |
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| Notable works | What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic |
Shahab Ahmed (Urdu: شہاب احمد; December 11, 1966 – September 17, 2015) was a Pakistani[1] scholar of IslamatHarvard University. Professor Elias Muhanna of Brown University described Ahmed's posthumous work What Is Islam? as "a strange and brilliant work, encyclopedic in vision and tautly argued in the manner of logical proof, yet pervaded by the urgency of a political manifesto".[2] The work was also listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the eleven best scholarly books of the 2010s, chosen by Noah Feldman.[3]
Ahmed's parents were Pakistani doctors who were living in Singapore at the time of his birth. He was born at Mount Alvernia Hospital, educated at Anglo Chinese School, Singapore and Caterham School, before studying at International Islamic University Malaysia.[4] After work as a journalist in Afghanistan, he gained a master's degree at the American University in Cairo and his PhD at Princeton University.[5] He was a junior member of the Harvard Society of Fellows (2000–2003), and served as a Visiting Lecturer and Research Fellow at Princeton University (2004–2005), Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Harvard University (2005–2014), Higher Education Commission of Pakistan Visiting Scholar at the Islamic Research Institute in Islamabad (2007–2008), and Lecturer on Law and Research Fellow in Islamic Legal Studies at Harvard Law School (2014–2015).[6][7][8]
Apolyglot who was "master of perhaps 15 languages",[6] Ahmed's broad field of study was Islamic intellectual history, with a special interest in the Satanic Verses incident and the supposed evaluation of its historicity by Islamic scholars of the medieval period.[9][10]
He died of leukemia on 17 September 2015,[4] at the age of 48.[11]
In a posthumous presentation about him, Shahab Ahmed's sister highlighted her brother's fondness and appreciation for good wine. In this regard, she noted that "he felt very much in good company with Jahangir, with Ghalib, and with other writers [...] he adored."[4]
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