She is a historical sociologist with substantive interests in sociology of religion, political sociology, human rights, and international law. Her first book, Politics of Desecularization: Law and the Minority Question in Pakistan, examines how the contentious relationship between Islam, nationalism, and rights of religious minorities has been debated and institutionalized in colonial India and Pakistan. Her current research focuses on the emergence and evolution of minority rights in international law. Saeed received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Previously, she held postdoctoral fellowships at the Maurer School of Law and Indiana University, Bloomington and Yale University.