Graduate Profile: Sultan Ahmed Khan, MDiv '24

How I've Changed  

HDS has challenged and transformed me in remarkable ways. The richness and diversity of faith traditions at HDS have been formative in my thought process and approach to ministry, broad-based organizing and pursuit of a just world. 

Memorable Moment 

I am profoundly grateful to have experienced several events. I am sharing two here. Firstly, as the First-ever interfaith intern at the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Ramadan (April 2022) I had the honor and privilege to organize Fourth Presbyterian’s first-ever Ramadan Iftar event. Though there are several highlights perhaps the most pertinent one is how Christian hosts from the Fourth surprised our Muslim guests by fasting all day and coming together for Iftar. It was beautiful. 

Secondly, the Ramadan Iftar at the Harvard Divinity School is another most dear memory of my MDiv experience. With the fantastic help of OSL/ORSL and amazing interns, the HDS Muslims Association hosted Harvard University’s first-ever graduate Iftar at the Harvard Divinity School, in March 2024. The Iftar brought together not only students, staff, and faculty from all graduate schools at Harvard University but also nearly a dozen faith traditions. It was a phenomenal and surreal moment in the James Room. 

Favorite Class or Professor 

This is such a difficult question to answer. I have had the immense privilege of taking many transformative and amazing courses. I want to acknowledge two classes and a program central to my growth and learning as an MDiv at HDS. 

Professor Teren Sevea’s “What is Lived Islam” and Professor Mohsen Goudarzi’s “Exploring the Quran” classes have contributed in significant ways to how I approach ministry, spirituality, and big “I” Islam. 

In addition, I want to share my deeply felt appreciation for directors Susie Hayward, Diane Moore, and Fellow Mike Delaney, of the Religion and Public Life Program (RPL). The RPL Certificate in Humanitarian Action has been an eye-opening experience not only prompting intense and productive self-reflection but also facilitating incredibly meaningful engagement with the humanitarian development world vis a vis “Religious Literacy.”  

Message of Thanks  

I am wholeheartedly grateful for the whole tribe of HDS that has so decisively influenced my journey at HDS. Yes, it took a tribe to help me get to this side of the finish line. I am grateful to all my friends, especially from the meaning-making class, the MDiv cluster, notably Nicholas Fawaz, and RPL’s first cohort, notably Camila Gray, and HDS Muslims Association, for their phenomenal insight and constant support at HDS. 

I am indebted to the mentorship, coaching, and guidance of Chaplain Imam Khalil, MDiv advisor Professor Teren Sevea, MDiv teaching fellow Abtsam Saleh, RPL directors Susie Hayward and Diane Moore, Fellow for Humanitarian Action Mike Delaney, the OMS staff, notably Clarissa Flores and Dean Laura Tuach, and meaning-making guide Patricia Simpson. 

I am thankful to directors Katie and Kerry from OSL and ORSL for their more than wonderful support for the entire HDS community, especially the HDS Muslims. I want to acknowledge and share thankfulness for Reverend Burns Stanfield and Martine Miller without whom both my field-eds would have been incomplete. 

Lastly, I am most of all deeply appreciative and grateful to both my mothers, and siblings, who have been the cornerstone of my support, learning and success in life. 

What I Hope to Be Remembered By 

I hope to be remembered for my relationships, humor, and as a friend of the HDS community.  

Future Plans 

I hope to contribute to the humanitarian development world.