PEOPLE
Teaching at the college is by world-leading scholars and guest lecturers from the University of Cambridge and elsewhere, co-ordinated by the management team.
(T. J. Winter)
Chair of Trustees
The Cambridge Muslim College was the original vision of Abdal Hakim, who continues to oversee and contribute to its work. He was educated at Cambridge, Al-Azhar and London universities. He is currently the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer of Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University and Director of Studies in Theology at Wolfson College. He has published and contributed to numerous academic works on Islam, including as Director of the Sunna Project , and is a leading figure in inter-faith activity, notably as one of the signatories to the Common Word statement . He is well-known as a contributor to BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’.
Director
Dr. As'ad is an historian specialising in the history of the British Empire in the Middle East and South Asia. He studied for his BA and MA in History at the University of Portland, before receiving his MA in Near Eastern Studies and then his PhD from the University of Arizona. He went on to teach there as well as at the University of Texas at El Paso and Pima Community College, Tucson. He has extensive experience in teaching several aspects of world history and Islamic studies, as well as in community outreach, especially inter-faith initiatives.
Women's Officer
As well as her teaching duties, Lejla is available to support and advise the female students of the college about any academic or welfare issues.
Curriculum Development Coordinator
Mujadad gained his academic training in the social and philosophical sciences. He has studied at Royal Holloway, Mcgill (Canada), LSE and Oxford. He is currently reading for a PhD in the Philosophy of Education at Cambridge University.
Administrator
Course Convenor
British Islam Today
Dawud is currently Stone Ashdown Director at the Woolf Institute for Abrahamic Faiths in Cambridge. Previously he was Muslim Chaplain at the University of Warwick, where he also recently completed his doctorate in education.
Course Convenor
Islam& Religious Pluralism
Introduction to World Religions
Interfaith Dialogue
Lejla studied at Marmara University in Istanbul, and then at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, before completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge. She is currently a Research Fellow at Trinity Hall College, Cambridge. Her research focuses on respective Muslim and Christian understandings of the religious 'other', as expressed in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish theological writings.
Course Convenor
Effective Community Leadership
Sadek is currently Programme Leader in Muslim Youth Work at the University of Chester, where he is also studying for his PhD. He has extensive experience in both the statutory and voluntary sectors, including as director of the award-winning PeaceMaker youth project in Oldham. His ground-breaking work is directed at integrating Islamic values and generic youth work practices., equipping youth workers not only to empower young people from all backgrounds, faiths and cultures but also to have the specialist knowledge and skills to address the specific challenges facing British Muslim young people.
Course Convenor
Introduction to Astronomy
Usama is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, planetarium lecturer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, and a part-time Imam at Masjid at-Tawhid in Leytonstone, London. He has long experience in community and religious organisations, and besides his main academic work in engineering and information sciences, he has a particular interest in the history and practice of astronomy.
Course Convenor
Managing Mosques & Charitable Institutions
Course Convenors
Islamic Counselling
Abdullah has been a counsellor for more than 15 years and through his company Stephen Maynard & Associates has helped develop the first accredited courses in Islamic Counselling. Sabnum is a Senior Partner at Stephen Maynard & Associates and specialises in learning and development, counselling and diversity. They have both been involved in a number of projects across the commercial, educational and community sectors.
Course Convenor
Islam and Gender
Amra is an academic and community activist with over 20 years' experience of community work. She has a BA in Arabic Studies from Leeds University, and an MSc in Islamic Studies from Birmingham University, where she subsequently worked as a lecturer in Islamic Studies. She was the first chair of Coventry City Circle and serves on the Birmingham Shariah Council. She is currently finishing her PhD on Quranic exegesis and gender.
Guest Lecturers for 2009-10 have included:
Dr. Thomas Graumann
Senior Lecturer in Early Church History at the Divinity Faculty at the University of Cambridge
Dr. Rasjid Skinner
Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Bradford Community Health Trust
Dr. Gregor Schwarb
The Mu'talizite Manuscript Project
Dr. Chris Allen
The Institute of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham
Dr. Elizabeth Poole
Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Staffordshire
Dr. Rabia Malik
Chairwoman of City Circle and a practising systemic psychotherapist
Dr. Nora Berend
Lecturer in Medieval European History at the History Faculty, University of Cambridge
Ajmal Masroor
Broadcast journalist and community development advisor
Mufti Adam al-Kawthari
Director of The Institute of Islamic Jurisprudence
Abdal Haqq Bewely
Translator and Writer of Islamic texts
Professor Jack Goody
Emeritus Professor Social Anthropology (University of Cambridge)
Dr Jonathan Gorsky
Lectuer in Jewish Studies, Heythrop College
Professor Bruno Guiderdoni
Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research and Director of the Observatory of Lyon
Professor Salim al-Hassani
Emeritus Professor Mechanical Engineering and Chairman ‘1001 Inventions’ initiative
Professor Julius Lipner
Professor of Hinduism and the Comparative Study of Religion, University of Cambridge
Dr Diana Lipton
Lecturer in Hebrew Bible & Jewish Studies, Kings College
Dr Susan O’Brien
Principal, Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology
Dr Sara Slivistri
Director, Globalising Justice, Equality and International Law programme, VHI, St Edmund's, University of Cambridge
Ahmed El Sharkawy
Co-ordinating Chaplain, Prisoners Chaplaincy Services