Knowledge: An Elusive Pursuit

The title of “Distinguished Professor,” awarded to less than 3% of faculty members, was bestowed on Professor Virani for his research on Sufism, Ithna-‘ashari and Ismaili Shiism, Quranic studies, Islamic history and philosophy, and Muslim literatures in Arabic, Persian and South Asian languages. His publications include books, a documentary film, multimedia productions, a registered invention, a proposal to the Unicode Consortium, entries in the Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Encyclopaedia of Religion and numerous peer reviewed articles. This research has been translated into over 20 languages, and has received awards and recognition from the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Middle East Studies Association, the Foundation for Iranian Studies, Farabi International, the British Society for Middle East Studies, and two Iranian presidents. He has received over six million dollars in monetary awards and grants, including competitive research awards, pedagogical grants, collaborative grants, and others.