Asif Iftikhar is a MGHSS teaching fellow at LUMS. He is an Honorary Fellow at al-Mawrid Foundation for Islamic research (Lahore, Pakistan), a well-known institution of learning and research. Fellowship is the highest research position at the institute, which is granted on recommendation of established scholars. Iftikhar is also a member of the Academic Review Committee of the foundation, which committee supervises academic research and its publication. Earlier, Iftikhar had served at the foundation as its vice president as well as the editor of its monthly research journal, Renaissance. He edited most of the initial translations of Ghāmidī’s tafsīr (Qur’ānic exegesis), al-Bayān and Ghāmidī’s work on Islamic law and jurisprudence, Mīzān. He was also responsible for developing curricula for language teaching at Mus‘ab Public School, at that time a project of al-Mawrid for modern education in Islamic setting.
Iftikhar has a teaching experience of more than 30 years at university level at some of the best known institutions of learning in Pakistan including Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Punjab University (PU), Pakistan College of Law (PCL), Civil Services Academy, to name a few. He has regularly given talks at other well-known institutions of learning as National Institute of Public Administration, Pakistan Administrative Staff College, and National Defence University. He also taught as course lecturer and teaching fellow at McGill University and was on teaching panel in some conferences on religion and world peace under the auspices of Tony Blair- McGill foundation. At these institutions, he has taught courses or talked on topics related to Islamic law, discourses on jihad in South Asia, Islamic modernism in Pakistan, Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic ethics in business and commerce, Islamic banking and finance, Islamic history in South Asia, Qur’ānic studies, Islamic studies, history of religions, Bible and Qur’ān narratives, Islamic civilization, Islamicate poetry in South Asia (in Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi), Urdu language and culture, and classical Arabic. At LUMS, he remained faculty coordinator for Berkeley Urdu language Program in Pakistan (BULPIP) for US grad students (in collaboration with American Institute of Pakistan studies or AIPS) for about six years. He remained a member of the Academic Review Committee of LUMS for three years as well as the stream leader for religious studies during this period.
Iftikhar has published widely in the journal of al-Mawrid foundation on topics related to the above mentioned areas (see http://www.al-mawrid.org/index.php/team). His translations include among other works a collection of his on Islamicate poetry in South Asia (from Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Persian and Arabic). Some of these translations have already been published in the Foundation journal. His work on Jihad and the establishment of Islamic global order has been cited in numerous books and journals and his contributions have been acknowledged by many authors. Iftikhar also hosted numerous television programmes on Islamic discourses including Geo Ghāmidī (for about one year) and Viewpoints (with Aaj TV). In Montreal, he founded Karvan-e Adab Society as its president for promotion of Urdu and Punjabi poetry and remained an active contributor to the society as a poet for about four years until his return to Pakistan. He served for some time as Sharia Advisor to United bank Limited (a commercial bank) and Innovative Bank (an investment bank) in Pakistan and to Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital (member of the hospital ethics committee for about three years). He is presently a member of the Editorial Team of Renaissance and a member of the Experts Team of National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA) of Pakistan. Iftikhar holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce (with specialization in accounting), a master’s degree in business administration (with specialization in finance), and a master’s degree in Islamic studies (Deans Honor Roll; focus on discourses on jihad in South Asia. His present research focuses on Islamic traditionalisms, Islamisms, and Islamic modernisms in Pakistan. Iftikhar has studied the Qur’ān and Ḥadīth under well-known and meritorious ‘ulamā’ of Pakistan for about thirty years (in all) including Riḍwān Allāh, Sājid Ḥamīd, Javed Aḥmad Ghāmidī, and Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī (d. 1997).