Shahab Ahmed

Abstract

When I arrived at Harvard as a doctoral student in Islamic studies in 2005, the then-chair of my department, in an attempt to orient me, mentioned a certain Shahab Ahmed. He had been ofered a faculty position, but was spending the year at Princeton completing a post-doctoral fellowship. I asked: “What does he specialize in?” He replied: “Everything.” When I met Shahab the following fall at a department cocktail party, he approached me and said, “I read your fle. I should be your supervisor.” I asked: “What do you specialize in?” “Everything,” he replied.