A historian of Islam, Usman Hamid specializes in the study of early modern South Asia and its connections with Iran, Central Asia, and the Indian Ocean world. His research explores the significance of material culture in cultivating devotion to the Prophet Muhammad in Mughal India with a particular focus on relics and pilgrimage.
Hamid’s research has been supported by the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada. Previous to his work on Islam and religious materiality, he has published on the history of royal concubinage in late fifteenth century Iran and Central Asia and edited a collection of essays focusing on the circulation of Iranians in early modern South Asia.
He earned his masters from the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University and his doctorate from the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.
