Arif Mohammad Khan (born 18 November 1951) is an Indian politician representing the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. He currently serving as the

Governor of Kerala The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the president of India for a term of five years and holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is ''de j ...

& the Chancellor of all State Universities in Kerala. He is a former Union Minister. He has held several portfolios ranging from energy to civil aviation.

Early life and education

Arif Mohammad Khan was born on 18 November 1951 in

Bulandshahr Bulandshahr, formerly Baran, is a city and a municipal board in Bulandshahr district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bulandshahr district and part of Delhi NCR region. According to the Governmen ...

. He was educated at Jamia Millia School, Delhi,

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...

and at

Shia College Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

Political career

Khan started his political career as a student leader. He was the President of

Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union (AMUSU) is the official Students' Union of the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union is the university-wide representative body for students and is ...

in the year 1972-73 and also its honorary Secretary a year earlier (1971–72). He contested the first legislative assembly election from Siyana constituency of

Bulandshahar Bulandshahr, formerly Baran, is a city and a municipal board in Bulandshahr district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bulandshahr district and part of Delhi NCR region. According to the Government ...

Bharatiya Kranti Dal Bharatiya Kranti Dal was a political party in India, formed by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Charan Singh. The party was founded at a meeting in Lucknow in October 1967. After the 1977 general election, the successor party of the BKD, Bharat ...

party's banner but was defeated. He became a member of the legislative assembly of UP in 1977 at the age of 26. Khan joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

party and was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

in 1980 from

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

and 1984 from

Bahraich Bahraich is a city and a municipal board in Bahraich district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Located on the Saryu River, a tributary of the Ghaghara river, Bahraich is north-east of Lucknow, the state capital. The districts of Barab ...

. In 1986, he quit the

due to differences over the passage of Muslim Personal Law Bill which was piloted by

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

in the

. He was against the legislation to enable Muslim men to avoid giving their divorced wife or wives any maintenance after the

iddah In Islam, ''iddah'' or ''iddat'' ( ar, العدة, al-ʿidda; "period of waiting") is the period a woman must observe after the death of her husband or after a divorce, during which she may not marry another man. One of its main purposes is to r ...

period as per the Qur'an and resigned because of differences with

on this issue. Khan joined the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 ...

and was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989. During the

rule Khan served as union Minister of

Civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work ...

and

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

. He left the

to join the

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), alon ...

and again entered the Lok Sabha in 1998 from

. Khan held ministerial responsibilities from 1984 to 1990. In 2004, he joined the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

(BJP) and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election as a

candidate that year from Kaiserganj constituency. Later BJP appointed Arif as the new Governer of Kerala.

Jain Hawala Case

Journalist Sanjay Kapoor, in his book "Bad Money, Bad Politics" has revealed that, Khan received an amount of 7 crores of Hawala money. As per the CBI Chargesheet, he was paid this amount of money when he was Union Minister but he was later acquitted in the case.

Political views

Reformation in Islam

Arif Mohammad Khan has always supported reformation within Muslims. He resigned from position of Minister of state protesting against Rajiv Gandhi Congress Government stand on Shah Bano case in 1986. He defended Supreme Court judgment on

Shah Bano case ''Mohd. Ahmad Khan v. Shah Bano Begum'' 985 (1) SCALE 767 = 1985 (3) SCR 844 = 1985 (2) SCC 556 = AIR 1985 SC 945 commonly referred to as the Shah Bano case, was a controversial maintenance lawsuit in India, in which the Supreme Court delivered ...

in Parliament. Khan opposed

triple talaq in India ''Triple talaq'' (instant divorce) and ''talaq-e-mughallazah'' (irrevocable divorce) are now banned means of Islamic divorce previously available to Muslims in India, especially adherents of Hanafi Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence. A Musl ...

and said that it should be punishable with 3 years in jail. Khan has asserted that Muslim men are still allowed to be polygamous and can also give a divorce easily by paying paltry sums. Khan welcomed the Karnataka High Court's judgement upholding that the

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

is not an essential garment according to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

during the 2022 Karnataka hijab row, stating that enforcing the wearing of a hijab is a conspiracy to push back Muslim females into the four walls of their homes and reduce their career prospects - he gave an example of imagining a female

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

officer who is responsible for controlling law and order in a district, who cannot do so wearing a hijab. On being asked for a reaction about the

murder of Kanhaiya Lal Kanhaiya Lal Teli was a Hindu tailor who was murdered by two Islam in India, Muslim terrorists on 28 June 2022 in Udaipur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The assailants captured the attack on camera and circulated the video online. Lal was ...

Udaipur Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic capit ...

by reporters, Khan responded that

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

s teach that

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

should be punished by beheading and demanded that what is taught there should be examined.

Current activities

Khan has been deeply involved in writing since his student days. He is the author of the best selling book of the year 2010 ''Text and Context: Quran and Contemporary Challenges'', published by Rupa & Co. Now Arif Mohammad Khan is actively involved in writing articles and columns related to Islam and

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

. He has advocated abolishing of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Arif Mohammad Khan also supported the Supreme Court of India's judgment in Shah Bano case to make the right to maintenance of a divorced Muslim wife absolute.

Governor of Kerala (2019 - present)

Khan was appointed the

on 1 September 2019 by the order of the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

. He took charge as Governor on 6 September 2019 from

P. Sathasivam Palanisamy Sathasivam (born 27 April 1949) is an Indian judge who served as the 40th Chief Justice of India, holding the office from 2013 to 2014. On retirement from his judicial career, Sathasivam was appointed the 21st List of governors of K ...

. The latest political controversy regarding the appointment of Vice chancellors of universities of Kerala has put him in the spotlight.