Dr. Khan is currently an Assistant Professor at Ashoka University (India). Before coming home, he studied in England, Syria and America. Dr. Khan writes a column in Urdu for the national daily Inqilab in India and has been writing columns and editorials for various English newspapers and magazines for a number of years. He also spends time lecturing in schools, colleges and universities as well as advising policy think-tanks on a wide-range of subjects including political, religious and security related issues in South Asia as well as greater West Asia (the Middle East). Dr. Khan speaks and conducts research in a number of languages and has appeared on English, Hindi and Urdu television programs and radio shows. He is a member of the Samajwadi Party and was one of the party’s national spokespersons from 2018-2019.

Dr. Khan obtained his doctorate in history from the University of Cambridge and he also obtained his MPhil from the University of Cambridge. He previously studied at the University of Damascus in Syria and Amherst College in the United States of America. It is Dr. Khan’s firm belief that a wider public engagement is of paramount importance in order to try and spread ideas beyond the academy. To this end, for the past 10 years, he has written for newspapers and magazines and has occasionally appeared on television and radio as well as lecturing and delivering keynote addresses in schools, colleges and universities around the world.

Using the pen name Ali Khan Mahmudabad, he has written for the Huffington Post, The Times of India, Outlook (India), Indian Express, Caravan Magazine , The Strait Times (Singapore) The Guardian (UK) and National Geographic, amongst other publications.