Humeira Iqtidar

Humeira's research brings together postcolonial theory, comparative political theory, and Islamic thought with a focus on modern South Asia. Thematically, her research has been concerned with questions of justice and tolerance, the place of religion in contemporary political imagination, the politics of knowledge, and the legacies of colonialism. Methodologically, she has argued for greater interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research.

After studying at Quaid-e-Azam University (Pakistan), McGill University (Canada), and the University of Cambridge (UK), she became a fellow of King’s College at the University of Cambridge and a Graduate Research Officer at their Centre of South Asian Studies. She joined King's College London in 2011. 

Humeira is a co-convenor of the London Comparative Political Theory Workshop and the Race and Racism in the Global South seminar series and editor of the McGill-Queens Studies in Modern Islamic Thought. In addition, she has held visiting positions at the Lahore University of Management and Sciences, Punjab University, and Princeton University. A key area of interest has been institutional development in the Global South: to promote this interest, she has supported faculty and curriculum development in various universities. She has also engaged with a range of organisations, particularly those focusing on marginalized and minority populations. These activities have ranged from organizing public events with the human rights group Reprieve regarding the impact of drone attacks on tribal areas of Pakistan, "Perspectives on Killings by Drones:" A discussion with victims of US drone strikes in Pakistan (podomatic.com), and a citizen’s report probing an attack on a Christian colony in Lahore titled “Burning Joseph Colony.” 

Humeira's research has been featured in interviews and articles in Al-Jazeera, BBC World Service, Voice of America, Der Spiegel, Social Science Research Council Online, The Dawn, The Guardian, Express Tribune, The Conversation, and Open Democracy.  articles in Al-Jazeera, BBC World Service, Voice of America, Der Spiegel, Social Science Research Council Online, The Dawn, The Guardian, Express Tribune, The Conversation and Open Democracy.

Grants and Awards

Britain and Ireland Association of Political Thought Mid-Career Prize 2021

Leverhulme Trust (with Dr Layli Uddin), Red Islam: Socialist Internationalism and Islam in South Asia, 1920-1978.

European Research Council, Principal Investigator, Tolerance in Contemporary Muslim Practice: Political Theory Beyond the West.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (with Dr David Lehmann) Secularisms Beyond the North Atlantic.

Selected Publications

Books and Edited Volumes

• Humeira Iqtidar, Secularising Islamists? Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Pakistan, University of Chicago Press, 2011 (South Asian edition Permanent Black, June 2011). Shortlisted for the American Academy of Religion: AAR Award for Excellence - Analytical-Descriptive Category.

• Justice Beyond Rights: Tribals, Refugees and The Idea of Haq, Cambridge University Press, Elements Series in Comparative Political Theory (under contract)

• Abul A‘la Maududi: Al Jihad fil Islam and Other Writings, Cambridge Texts in History of Political Thought (under contract)

• Humeira Iqtidar and Tanika Sarkar eds. Tolerance, Secularisation and Democratic Politics in South Asia, Cambridge University Press, 2018

• Humeira Iqtidar and David Lehmann eds., Fundamentalisms: Critical Concepts in Religions (4 Volume collection), Routledge, October 2011

Journal Articles

• Conservative Anti-colonialism: Maududi, Marx and the Question of Social Equality, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2022 32(2), 295-310 (open access; link)

• Is Tolerance LIberal? Javed Ahmed Ghamidi and the Non-Muslim Minority, Political Theory 2021, Vol. 49(3) 457–482. (open access; link)

• Jizya Against Nationalism: Abul 'Ala Maududi's Attempt at Decolonizing Political Theory, Journal of Politics, July 2021 Vol 83 Issue 3 (link)

• Thinking Across Traditions of Thought, Critical Times, 2020 Vol 3 Issue 3 (link)

• Theorising Popular Sovereignty in the Colony: Abul A‘la Maududi’s ‘Theodemocracy’ Review of Politics, Fall 2020, Volume 82 Issue 4.(link)

• Divine Sovereignty, Morality and the State: Maududi and his Influence, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society (with Oliver Scharbrodt) online first view 2021 (link)

• Texts don't talk back: Colonialism and Political Theory, Contemporary Political Theory, online first view 2020

• “How long is Life? Neoliberalism and Islamic Piety” Critical Inquiry, 43:4, Summer 2017 (link)

• “Redefining ‘Tradition’ in Political Thought” European Journal of Political Theory, October 2016, 15 (link)

• “Conspiracy Theories as Political Imaginary” Political Studies, March 2016, 64(1): 200-215 (link)

• “Secularism and Dilemmas of Citizenship for the ‘Majority’” Citizenship Studies, 2012, 16(8): 1013-1028

• “Secularism and Secularisation: Untying the Knots” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLVII No. 35, 2012

• “Secularism Beyond the State: The ‘State’ and the ‘Market’ in Islamist Imagination” Modern Asian Studies, 2011, 45(3):535-564 [reprinted in Osella, F and C. Osella eds., Islamic Reformism in South Asia Cambridge University Press, 2013]

Book chapters

• “Representative Democracy and Religious Thought in South Asia” in Karen Barkey and Sudipta Kaviraj, Democracy and Religious Pluralism, Oxford University Press, 2021.

• “Searching for Tolerance in Islamic Thought” in Leigh Jenco, Murad Idris and Megan Thomas eds. Handbook of Comparative Political Theory, Oxford University Press, 2020.

• “Post-Islamism in Pakistan: Islamist Spin-offs and their Contradictory Trajectories” in Asef Bayat ed., Post Islamism: How Political Islam is Changing, Oxford University Press, 2013.

• “Cosmopolitanism, Religion and Inter-Civilizational Dialogue” in Gerard Delanty ed. Cosmopolitanism, Routledge, pp.198-209, 2012 (reprint 2018).

• “Colonial Secularism and the Genesis of Islamism in North India” in Gareth Stedman-Jones and Ira Katznelson eds., Religion and the Political Imagination, Cambridge University Press, pp.235-254, 2010.

• “Jama‘at-e-Islami Pakistan: Learning from The Left” in Naveeda Khan ed., Beyond Crisis: Re-evaluating Pakistan, Routledge, pp 245-273, 2010.

• “Muslim Cosmopolitanism: Contemporary Practice and Social Theory” in Bryan Turner ed., Handbook of Globalization, Taylor & Francis, pp.622-635, 2009.