State: New York
City: New York City
Campus: Columbia University (Columbia)
Najam Haider is the chair and a professor in the Department of Religion at Columbia University whose public record includes sustained anti-Israel activism, support for Hamas-aligned campus groups, defense of student protest language following October 7, and backing the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement during Israel’s war against Hamas.
As of September 2025, Haider was listed as a professor of religion and chair of the Department of Religion at Columbia University. His research focuses on early Islamic history, Islamic law, and Shi‘ism.
Haider is a member of Columbia’s Center for Palestine Studies and the Middle East Institute. He has been active in Islamic academic circles and affiliated with the Islamic studies organization INEKAS.
Haider received a PhD from Princeton University in 2007.
In October 2023, following the Hamas attacks of October 7, Haider signed “An Open Letter from Columbia University and Barnard College Faculty in Defence of Robust Debate About the History and Meaning of the War in Israel/Gaza.” He also signed a letter defending student language and opposing the doxxing of students after October 7.
In November 2023, Haider publicly supported Columbia’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace after the university suspended them for policy violations. On October 9, 2023, Columbia SJP had expressed support for the Hamas attacks two days earlier.
As of January 2024, Haider was affiliated with Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine-CBT (FSJP-CBT), a campus group dedicated to Palestinian activism.
In April 2024, Haider condemned Columbia’s arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters, criticizing the university’s actions as violations of students’ freedom of expression and core academic principles. He signed “Defending Columbia University from the Congressional Assault on Higher Education,” opposing federal scrutiny of campus protest activity.
In September 2024, Haider participated in a faculty and alumni teach-in criticizing new campus conduct rules, arguing that administrators should not determine the limits of protest and speech related to Gaza demonstrations.
He also appeared in a Columbia Spectator photoshoot in solidarity with pro-Palestinian students and activists and criticized Columbia’s administration on X, describing their actions as “aggressive.”
In April and May 2024, Haider helped organize Columbia’s “People’s Graduation,” an alternative ceremony honoring pro-Palestinian students who were disciplined or barred from commencement. Haider described the event as a demonstration of faculty support for the students’ “courage” and “moral clarity” amid the university’s crackdown on Gaza-related protests.
In February 2025, Haider signed a petition urging the American Historical Association to allow a member vote on a resolution condemning Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s educational system, described in the letter as “scholasticide,” and accusing the association’s council of suppressing solidarity with Palestinians.
In September 2025, Haider participated in a case arguing that the U.S. government’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil based on his political speech and protest activity was unconstitutional and violated First Amendment protections.
Haider’s role as a department chair and senior faculty member places him in a position of institutional authority while he simultaneously advocates for Hamas-aligned campus groups, opposes disciplinary enforcement, and promotes activism that has repeatedly escalated into unlawful protests and campus disruptions.
