An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, he has formerly served as a Professor at his alma mater, and as a member of the drafting committee for National Education Policy 2020.
Asif was born on January 2, 1971, in Lahasaniya village, located within the Patahi police station area in the East Champaran district.
During his time as a student at JNU, he was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an organization affiliated with the RSS.
[3] Asif taught at Gauhati University between 1996 and 2017, and then joined the JNU's Centre of Persian and Central Asian (CPCA) Studies.
[1] At the time of his appointment to Jamia, he served as a professor at Centre for Persian & Central Asian Studies, at JNU.