Zakeri finished his Ph.D. studies in Near Eastern History at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City in 1987. The title of his Dissertation was Sasanian Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: the Origins of the 'Ayyaran and Futuwwa (an expanded revised version of this was published, Wiesbaden 1995). He taught medieval and Islamic history courses at the University of Utah (1984-1987). Working as a Research Fellow at the University of Frankfurt, he prepared the results of a research project published as Persian Wisdom in Arabic Garb: 'Ali b. 'Ubayda al-Rayhani (d. 219/834) and his Jawahir al-kilam wa-fara'id al-hikam. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2007 [Awarded the International Book Prize of Iran for the year 2009]. http://iranian-studies.stanford.edu/node/781