Rafia Khader is a writer and researcher with over fifteen years of experience working in the faith-based nonprofit sector. She is passionate about cultivating a flourishing community of Muslims in America.
Most recently, Rafia served as the first non-Christian Director of Religion Programs at the historic Chautauqua Institution. During her tenure, she revived the once dormant Abrahamic Program for Young Adults (APYA). Her work was featured in the PBS documentary, Chautauqua at 150: Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise, and was recognized by Interfaith America with its 2024-2025 Interfaith Innovation Fellowship.
Rafia served as the inaugural Managing Editor of The Journal of Muslim Philanthropy & Civil Society published by Indiana University Press. She has co-authored academic articles on religion and civil society and on the role of religion in giving for a fundraising textbook published by Wiley. Her writing has also been published in Christian Century, New America (Blog), The Tempest, State of Formation, Patheos, Interfaith America (Magazine), About Islam, Blue Minaret, and The Aerogram.
Rafia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Benedictine University and a Masters of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago Divinity School, where she founded My Body & Soul, an interfaith dialogue group for women of faith on the intersection of religion and women’s bodies. She was the 2015 recipient of the Bridge-Builder Award from the University of Chicago.
Rafia Khader 