He has a deep commitment to students, and holds the distinction of being the only male to serve as Dean of Women at University College, University of Toronto. Before coming to California in 1997, Amir taught courses in religious studies at several universities in Canada. He is active in academic groups such as the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion and the American Academy of Religion (where he is co-chair of the Contemporary Islam consultation, and serves on the steering committee of the Religion in South Asia section). He is on the editorial boards of two scholarly journals, Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Life and Comparative Islamic Studies. Amir is also interested in areas such as religion and music, religion and literature, religion and film and religion and popular culture. In 2008, he was appointed as a fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities.

Prior to his appointment at Loyola Marymount University, Amir taught at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) from 1997 to 2005. Amir won a number of awards at CSUN, both for his teaching and research. In 2001 he was selected for the outstanding faculty award by the National Center on Deafness. For the academic year 2003-04, he was selected as the Jerome Richfield Memorial Scholar. In 2008, Amir was chosen by vote of LMU students as the Professor of the Year. Amir's new book is an introduction to Islam for North Americans entitled "Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God" (Kelowna: CopperHouse, an imprint of Wood Lake Publishing, 2006). He is currently working on a scholarly book on Islam in Canada entitled "Canadian Faces of Islam"; and a textbook entitled "Muslims: Islam in the West in the 21st Century"."