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    • Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Pakistan
      • Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Pakistan
        • Faculty
 

Zahra Sabri

Sessional Faculty​

zahra.sabri@aku.edu

Introduction

Zahra Sabri teaches Indo-Islamic History and Literatures. Her research focuses on Mughal history and the influence of the Persianate on Indo-Muslim languages, cultures, and traditions of learning, as well as on politics of identity centred around Urdu in South Asia. She is also a literary translator, and has translated Urdu prose and folk and classical poetry from numerous Pakistani languages into English.

Education

·       Master of Arts, Columbia University in the City of New York (2010), from the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies [focus on Indo-Islamic history and Persian and Urdu]

·       BSc Honours, LUMS, Lahore (2008), in Social Sciences [focus on History and Politics]

Current areas of teaching

Designed and taught courses on Urdu and Persian literature, historiography, Islamicate civilisations, South Asian history, nationalism, and Urdu-Hindi language politics. Currently teaching the following course(s) at AKU-FAS.

Rumi and his Words: Poetry, History, and Music

Experience

·       2024-2025 | Lecturer III, Department of Comparative Humanities, Habib University, Karachi

·       2021-2024 | Lecturer,  Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts, IBA-Karachi

·       2015-2020 | Course Lecturer, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Canada

·       2011-2016 | Course Lecturer, Humanities and Social Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi

·       2013          | Course Lecturer, The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi

·       2012          | Course Lecturer, Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi

Awards and honours

·       Margaret Edna Anderson Fellowship in Islamic Studies (2018-2019)

·       H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani Fellowship in Islamic Studies (2014-2015 & 2016-2017)

·       William Cantwell Smith Fellowship in Islamic Studies (2015-2016)

·       Graduate Excellence Award, McGill University (2013-2015)

·       Zubeida Mustafa Award for Excellence in Journalism (2013)

·       Fulbright Masters Scholarship to study at Columbia University (2008-10)

·       Ardeshir Cowasjee scholarship to read History at Girton College, University of Cambridge (2004-2005)

·       Oxbridge Karachi scholarship to read History at Girton College, University of Cambridge (2003-2006)

Publications

·       “Khusrau Ke Hindustani Farsi Par Tabsare” in an edited volume in celebration of Amir Khusrau’s 700th birth anniversary published by the Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu (October 2025)

·       “Zikr-i Mir Par Ek Aur Nazar” in an edited volume in celebration of Mir Taqi Mir’s 300th birth anniversary published by the Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu (October 2023)

·       “Khusrau Ke Hindustani Farsi Par Tabsare” in an edited volume in celebration of Amir Khusrau’s 700th birth anniversary published by the Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu (October 2025)

·       “Mir Taqi Mir’s Ẕikr-i Mīr: An Account of the Poet or an Account by the Poet?” in The Medieval History Journal at mhj.sagepub.com/content/18/2/214.abstract (October 2015)

·       Co-authored article “101 damnations: British Pakistanis, British cinema and sociological mimicry” with Dr. Marta Bolognani in South Asian Popular Culture at http://tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14746689.2011.569066  (July 2011)

·       “Karachi men Shadi ke Rivayati Git” in An Informal Festschrift for Shamsur Rahman Faruqi ed. Satyanarayana Hegde., at http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urduhindilinks/srffest (October 2010)

 

 Literary and Translation work

·       Folk and classical poetry from almost a dozen Pakistani languages for eleven seasons of the popular music programme Coke Studio, Pakistan (2012-2020), published online as YouTube captions, and partially archived at

https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/detail/coke-studio-pakistan-seasons-2-10-ebooks

·       “Two Translations from Kūzah”, in Harf: A Journal of South Asian Studies based at McGill University, Volume II (2017):

https://issuu.com/harfjournal/docs/harf_volume_two___final_online_pdf_

·       Kuzah: Naye Likhariyon Ki Kawishon Ka Intikhab, curated this volume of Urdu short stories culled from a country-wide short story competition organised by the Oxford University Press (2015):

https://oup.com.pk/academic-generalbooks/literary-fiction-literature/koozah.html

·       “A Sufi Saint”, a brief piece on recent politics around the term ‘Sufism’ in Festival, a collection of brief pieces from Pakistan writers, ed. Maniza Naqvi, Sheherzade Publications (2012):

https://www.academia.edu/5218036/A_Sufi_Saint

·       “Last Night” in Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Last Night: The Quatrains in Multiple Translations, Translated from the Urdu. ed. K.K. Mohapatra, Leelawati Mohapatra, and Paul H. St-Pierre (2011):

https://www.academia.edu/5218044/Last_Night

Journalistic work

 

Writings for Pakistan’s national press on diverse political and educational issues archived at: https://zsabree.wordpress.com/

Created on:02/18/2026 Last modified:02/18/2026

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