The Translator

Zafarul-Islam Khan (born 12 March 1948) is an Indian scholar. He studied in Indian madrasas, Al-Azhar and Cairo universities in Egypt and the UK, where he obtained his PhD from Manchester University in Islāmic Studies in 1987 with a dissertation on the "Concept of Hijrah in Islām." He worked as a translator-editor with the Libyan Foreign Ministry during 1973-1979. Later, he served as a senior research fellow at The Muslim Institute, London, during 1979-1992. He is the director of the Institute of Islāmic & Arab Studies, New Delhi. He was the editor of Muslim & Arab Perspectives since 1993 and Majallah al-Tarīkh Al-Islāmī/Journal of Islāmic History (1995-97). He was the editor of the Indian Muslims' leading English publication, The Milli Gazette, from its inception in January 2000 to December 2016. He remains the editor of its online publication until now.

He is the author and translator of over 50 books in Arabic, English, and Urdu, including Tārīkh Filasṭīn al-Qadīm (Beirut 1973), Al-Haj Ḥikmah wa rumūz (London 1981), Haj in Focus (London 1986), Hijrah in Islām (Delhi 1996), Dalīl al-Bāḥith (Amman/Beirut 1996), Palestine Documents (New Delhi 1998), and Mushawarat Documents (Delhi, 2015). He has contributed eight articles to the Second Edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islām (Leiden) on Indo-Muslim subjects.

Dr Khan attended dozens of conferences and seminars and has delivered keynote addresses at many universities in India and abroad. He organised several international conferences in London and Delhi, including the International Dialogue between Islām and Oriental Religions in Delhi in February 2010. He is a trustee and member of a number of Indian and foreign organisations. He frequently appears as a commentator on Islāmic, Arab and South Asian issues on radio and TV channels in India and abroad.

Dr Khan was the President of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat for three two-year terms (2008-2009, 2012-2013, and 2014-2015). Since September 2021, he is the director of the Shibli Academy, the oldest and most respected Muslim research institution in the Subcontinent, and is the editor of its monthly journal, Ma'ārif. During 2017-20, he served as the Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission.