# Who is Dr Khalil Andani and how did he come to study Islam academically?

*The guest's journey: from accountancy to a Harvard PhD in Islamic studies*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/xznxiyp0b5s/s/2/
- Date: 2020-07-03 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Prof. Dr Khalil Andani | The Oral Text & the Ontology of The Quran | Mindtrap with Mufti #28 (3:01–6:48)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xznXIYp0B5s&t=181s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/xznxiyp0b5s/

**Topics:** Guest conversations; How to study Islam

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The guest describes leaving a career in accountancy to study Islamic studies at Harvard, where he finished a PhD and now teaches religion at a US college.

## Longer summary

Asked about his journey, the guest says he was born and raised in Canada and became interested in high school in the historical, academic study of Islam, reading published books on Islamic political thought, theology, metaphysics and mysticism for fun. He trained as an accountant and CPA, then about twelve or thirteen years ago left his financial career to do a master's and then a PhD in Islamic studies at Harvard, finishing at the end of the previous year. He now teaches religion, Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim interfaith studies at a liberal arts college in the US, and mentions the challenge of learning classical Arabic and Persian coming from a maths background. The segment ends with a sound check prompted by viewers' comments.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Khalil Andani (guest)
- Harvard University

## Transcript (machine tier, 3:01–6:48)

[2:30] But the holiday is today so. Nice. So. Those of you that are not familiar uh with Professor Khaleel uh Professor from Canada but currently teaching as a professor in the United States. His background and expertise is in Islamic theology, Islamic studies, history, the diverse kind of denominational kind of developments throughout Islam as well.

[3:00] Professor, in your words, tell us a bit about your journey uh to this whole this this wealth of uh of knowledge. Sure. So, uh as you said, I'm from Canada uh you know, born and raised. And uh I would say uh when I was in high school and that's about 20 years ago now uh I became really interested in in uh learning more about Islam and religion but from a more historical academic point of view uh like many Muslims, you know, I was raised with uh you know, probably the the more sort

[3:39] of common somewhat mythical notions of religion and faith and things like that. So, I was always curious to sort of see well, what's what's the story behind the story. Uh so, from from high school, I would be picking up you know, buying academic published books on the history of Islamic political thought and theology and things like this um metaphysics, mysticism and I would just read these things for fun.

[4:08] And like a good uh South Asian boy at that time uh I went into accounting and finance. So, I'm actually a uh CPA uh by training. At least that was my first education. Um but I I always kept up this this reading interest. So, you could say I was like this sort of self-read amateur um you know, reader of uh academic Islamic studies.

[4:34] Uh but I I fell so much in love with the subject uh and these sort of ideas that I was learning about that I made the decision about 12, 13 years ago to leave my financial career and uh go do a master's degree in Islamic studies, which I had I was dreaming of doing that and I finally just took the plunge and I left a well-paying job to do this.

[5:00] And um I did that and I followed that up with the a PhD. Uh so, these this was all done at at Harvard. And 8 years, 9 years later um I have a PhD now. So, I finished at the end of last year and now I'm a assistant professor of religion. So, I basically I teach courses on religion, uh Islamic studies a little bit as well uh and interfaith Christian-Muslim interfaith studies uh at a uh college or liberal arts college in the US.

[5:34] So, that's sort of like the quick story. Uh of course, there was a lot of work uh in between. Uh it's a big shift especially starting when you come from a math background like me, uh it's interesting to start learning classical Arabic and classical Persian. It's it's a different game uh in a sense. But yeah, that's that's my journey in a nutshell. Uh and and you shouldn't try it at home.

[5:58] [laughter] You know, uh just just to double-check with some of our viewers that I I saw some comments about sound saying there's sound issues. I'm just doing a quick sound check. Uh guys, is the sound I did refresh the mic right now so when I saw that comment. So, let me just check the YouTube mi gente as well. You need to fix up the guest Mufti Saab.

[6:23] You need to fix up your sound. I need to fix up my sound. [laughter] It's like fix yourself, god dammit. Mufti, what's wrong with you? That's the story of my life, people. It's the story of my life. Uh is it is there all right now? I've refreshed it. Uh what's going on? Mi gente, let's see. Mufti Saab is saying uh I'm incorrect. Okay, thanks.

[6:47] Uh guys, chill chill chill now. Chill chill chill. Shanti shanti. Right. So, those of you that are familiar with this whole discussion of the nature of the Quran. Uh it's caused quite a bit of confusion amongst a lot of people. What is the essence um and is it something that is in my definition of it is something static?

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment xznXIYp0B5s/s/2. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/xznxiyp0b5s/s/2/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.