What happens when a lifelong dream of becoming an FBI special agent leads, instead, to memorizing the entire Quran and devoting a life to helping others find their sense of purpose? On this episode of the Kianistan Podcast, host Tafhim Kiani speaks with Adnan Wood-Smith about his remarkable journey from an aspiring federal agent to an Islamic scholar and life coach.

Wood-Smith traces his path back to the eighth grade, when a family friend connected to the FBI suggested he study Arabic to fast-track a career in intelligence in the aftermath of September 11th. That practical decision led him to Dartmouth College as an Arabic major, and eventually to a study-abroad program in Jordan, where, after two months of study following his religious studies coursework, he took his shahada and converted to Islam.

The conversation traces his journey from that conversion through two FBI internships, his eventual realization that he could not continue toward a career he had prepared for since childhood, and the decade of what he calls existential searching that followed, before he found his way to memorizing the Quran, working with Zaytuna College, and ultimately pursuing a PhD in Islamic Studies at Harvard University.

Wood-Smith also discusses the distinction he draws between having religious purpose and having a genuine ‘sacred mission,’ a framework he now teaches to others through his coaching program Greater Why, helping people connect their faith to concrete, outward-facing service in the world.

Key Topics Discussed

An Unlikely Path to Arabic and Islam

Wood-Smith explains how a childhood dream of becoming an FBI agent, and a practical suggestion to study Arabic, unexpectedly opened the door to his eventual conversion.

• His aspiration from the eighth grade to become an FBI special agent
• A family friend’s advice, shortly after 9/11, to study Arabic to fast-track FBI recruitment
• Choosing Dartmouth College as an Arabic major over other options in the US and UK
• His first serious exposure to Islam through an undergraduate course on Arab culture

Growing Up Christian and Searching for Wholehearted Faith

Wood-Smith reflects on his upbringing across two different strands of Christianity and his growing sense that neither allowed him to fully commit himself.

• His experience in a formal, high-church Christian tradition alongside a more emotional evangelical school environment
• Difficult theological questions about salvation that left him unsatisfied with the answers he received
• His observation that few peers in either environment seemed to take their faith fully seriously
• How this search for wholehearted commitment shaped his eventual openness to Islam

Converting to Islam in Jordan

Wood-Smith recounts the pivotal summer study-abroad experience in Jordan where he converted to Islam after just two months.

• Studying Arabic through a University of Virginia program based at the University of Yarmouk in Irbid
• Meeting a Jordanian-American brother who became an early mentor and guide
• Taking his shahada roughly two months into his experience living in a majority-Muslim country
• His family’s mixed and largely low-key reaction to the news of his conversion

Two FBI Internships and a Difficult Realization

Wood-Smith describes his continued pursuit of an FBI career even after converting, and the eventual moment he decided to abandon that path entirely.

• Completing two FBI internships in Washington DC while continuing his studies
• His growing understanding of global power structures and geopolitics as a new Muslim
• The realization that he could no longer reconcile his faith and values with a future FBI career
• Roughly a decade of what he describes as existential searching that followed this decision

Memorizing the Quran and Finding Direction

Wood-Smith details his eventual path to memorizing the Quran and building a foundation in Islamic knowledge.

• His motivation to memorize the Quran after witnessing a fellow prisoner lose access to a shared religious text
• Completing his first full recitation to a teacher after roughly two years of dedicated study
• Working with Zaytuna College in Berkeley during a period of career uncertainty
• His ongoing, lifelong process of reviewing and maintaining his memorization a decade later

Defining a ‘Sacred Mission’ Through Greater Why

Wood-Smith explains the distinction he draws between religious purpose and a concrete, outward-facing sacred mission, and how he now teaches this framework to others.

• The difference between having a vertical purpose toward God and a horizontal mission toward serving others
• His coaching program Greater Why, which helps people identify their own sense of sacred mission
• Drawing on the Quranic story of Moses receiving both a call to worship and a mission to confront Pharaoh
• Now pursuing a PhD in Islamic Studies at Harvard while running the program and homeschooling his three children

Major Takeaways

• Adnan Wood-Smith’s path to Islam began indirectly, through studying Arabic in pursuit of a childhood dream of becoming an FBI special agent.
• He converted to Islam after roughly two months during a study-abroad program in Jordan, following a serious academic engagement with Arab culture and Islam at Dartmouth.
• Despite completing two FBI internships, he ultimately abandoned that career path after concluding it was incompatible with his faith and understanding of global power.
• He memorized the entire Quran over roughly two years, motivated in part by a fear of losing access to religious knowledge, a process he still actively maintains a decade later.
• Wood-Smith distinguishes between a ‘vertical’ sense of religious purpose and a ‘horizontal’ sacred mission oriented toward serving others.
• He now runs a coaching program called Greater Why while pursuing a PhD in Islamic Studies at Harvard University.

About Adnan Wood-Smith

Adnan Wood-Smith is an Islamic scholar, life coach, and PhD candidate in Islamic Studies at Harvard University. A convert to Islam, he studied Arabic at Dartmouth College and completed two internships with the FBI before dedicating his life to Islamic scholarship and community leadership.

He runs Greater Why, a coaching program that helps people, particularly within the Muslim community, identify and pursue their own sense of sacred mission in life, and has spent years working to build and inspire lay leadership within Muslim communities.

• Islamic conversion and spiritual development
• Quran memorization and Islamic education
• Purpose-driven coaching and community leadership
• Islamic studies and comparative religion

About Kianistan Podcast

Kianistan Podcast, hosted by Tafhim Kiani, is a geopolitics interview show that also makes space for personal stories of faith, identity, and transformation that speak to broader questions about meaning and purpose.

Conversations like this one with Adnan Wood-Smith reflect the show’s belief that understanding the world requires understanding the inner lives and convictions of the people shaping it, not just the headlines they generate.

By featuring guests with deeply personal journeys alongside its geopolitical analysis, Kianistan Podcast offers listeners a fuller picture of the human experiences behind today’s most pressing conversations about faith and identity.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Adnan Wood-Smith end up studying Arabic?

A family friend connected to the FBI advised him, shortly after 9/11, that studying Arabic or Persian would fast-track his path to a career as an FBI special agent, a goal he had held since the eighth grade.

When and where did he convert to Islam?

He converted to Islam during a study-abroad program in Jordan, taking his shahada roughly two months after arriving, following an earlier academic introduction to Islam at Dartmouth College.

Did he ever work for the FBI?

He completed two internships with the FBI but ultimately decided not to pursue a full-time career there after concluding it was incompatible with his faith and his understanding of global power structures.

What is ‘Greater Why’?

Greater Why is Adnan Wood-Smith’s coaching program that helps people identify their own sense of sacred mission in life, distinguishing between a purely religious sense of purpose and a concrete mission oriented toward serving others.

Conclusion

Adnan Wood-Smith’s conversation on Kianistan Podcast traces an unusual and deeply personal path from a childhood dream of FBI service to a life dedicated to Islamic scholarship and helping others find genuine purpose.

His story offers a compelling look at how a search for wholehearted commitment, whether to a career, a faith, or a mission, can lead someone down an entirely unexpected road, and how that road can ultimately become a source of guidance for others facing similar questions.

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