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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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