Dr. Iqbal Akhtar is the Program Director of the Covenantal Pluralism Initiative at Templeton Religion Trust. He has taught at Florida International University as an associate professor in the Departments of Religious Studies and Politics & International Relations. Iqbal completed his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on the early modern religious history of Indian Ocean mercantile networks, with fieldwork experience in Pakistan and Tanzania. His first monograph is entitled The Khōjā of Tanzania.