SherAli Tareen received his PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University in 2012. His research focuses on Muslim intellectual traditions and debates in early modern and modern South Asia. He has also written extensively on the interaction of Islam and secularism. His book Defending Muhammad in Modernity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020, Folio Books 2023) received the American Institute of Pakistan Studies 2020 Book Prize and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book Award.

His second book titled Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship after Empire  was published in September 2023 in Columbia University Press’ prestigious Religion, Culture, and Public Life series. It was selected as a finalist for the 2024 American Academy of Religion book award.

In 2024/25, SherAli served as a fellow in the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton NJ. He is Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall College