Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong FRSL (born 14 November 1944) is an English author of numerous works on comparative religion, who first rose to prominence in 1993 with her highly successful A History of God. A formerRoman Catholic nun, she asserts that, “All the great traditions are saying the same thing in much the same way, despite their surface differences.” They each have in common, she says, an emphasis on the transcendent importance of compassion, as epitomized in the so-called Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Awarded the $100,000 TED Prize in February 2008, she called for drawing up a Charter for Compassion in the spirit of the Golden Rule, to identify shared moral priorities across religious traditions, in order to foster global understanding.[1] It was unveiled in Washington, D.C. in November 2009. Signatories include Prince Hassan of Jordan, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sir Richard Branson.

In 1976, Armstrong became an English teacher at a girls’ school in Dulwich, but her illness caused so many days off work, that she was finally asked to leave in 1982. During this year she had published Through the Narrow Gate, a well-received account of her convent agonies. Largely on the strength of this, in 1984, Armstrong was commissioned by the British Channel Four to write and present a TV documentary on the life of St. Paul. Her subsequent stay in Jerusalem has been described by her as a “breakthrough experience”, which defied her prior assumptions. Armstrong describes in The Spiral Staircase how all her work since has, in a sense, flowed from that comparatively brief period in Jerusalem. In 1996, she published Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. A major influence on Armstrong’s whole approach to the world’s religions has been, as she implies in The Spiral Staircase, the work of the Canadian scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith The increasing interest in and debate surrounding Islamic issues has made Armstrong a popular speaker, causing some observers to credit her with being influential in conveying a “more objective” view of Islam to a wide public in Europe and North America. The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions, was published in March 2006, and a measure of her popularity came that same year when she achieved a British accolade of being invited to choose her eight favourite records for BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs programme.

In 2007, Armstrong was invited by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore to deliver the “2007 MUIS Lecture”.

Armstrong is a fellow of the Jesus Seminar. She has written numerous articles for The Guardian and other publications. She was a key advisor on Bill Moyers‘ popular PBS series on religion, has addressed members of the US Congress, and was one of three scholars to speak at the UN’s first ever session on religion. She is a vice-president of the British Epilepsy Association, otherwise known as Epilepsy Action.

Armstrong, who taught for a time at London’s Leo Baeck rabbinic college, says she has been particularly inspired by the Jewish tradition’s emphasis on practice as well as faith: “I say that religion isn’t about believing things. It’s about what you do. It’s ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.” She points out that religious fundamentalism is not just a response to but, paradoxically, a product of contemporary culture. “We need to create a new narrative, get out of the rat-run of hatred, chauvinism and defensiveness; and make the authentic voice of religion a power in the world that is conducive to peace.”

Taken from Wikipedia

Dr. John Esposito

University Professor as well as Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, John L. Esposito is Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Esposito has served as consultant to the U.S. Department of State and other agencies, European and Asian governments and corporations, universities, and the media worldwide. A former President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, Vice Chair of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, and member of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders, he is a member of the E. C. European Network of Experts on De-Radicalisation and an ambassador for the UN Alliance of Civilizations.

Esposito is recipient of the American Academy of Religion’s 2005 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion and of Pakistan’s Quaid-i-Azzam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies and the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University Award for Outstanding Teaching.

Esposito is Editor-in-Chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (6 vols.); The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (4 vols.), The Oxford History of Islam, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, The Islamic World: Past and Present (3 vols.), and Oxford Islamic Studies Online. His more than 40 books and monographs include: The Future of Islam, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think (with Dalia Mogahed), Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Islam and Politics; What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, World Religions Today and Religion and Globalization (with D. Fasching & T. Lewis), Asian Islam in the 21st Century, Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk (with S. Hitchcock); Islam: The Straight Path; Islam and Democracy and Makers of Contemporary Islam (with J. Voll); Modernizing Islam (with F. Burgat) Political Islam: Revolution, Radicalism or Reform?, Religion and Global Order (with M. Watson), Islam and Secularism in the Middle East (with A. Tamimi); Iran at the Crossroads (with R.K. Ramazani); Islam, Gender, and Social Change and Muslims on the Americanization Path and Daughters of Abraham (with Y. Haddad); and Women in Muslim Family Law. Esposito’s books and articles have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Esposito’s interviews and articles with newspapers, magazines, and the media in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Guardian, The Times of London, CNN, ABC Nightline, CBS, NBC, and the BBC. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Dr. Jeanette P. Esposito.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Hamza Yusuf is a cofounder of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California. He is an advisor to Stanford University’s Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. He also serves as a member of the board of advisors of George Russell’s One Nation, a national philanthropic initiative that promotes pluralism and inclusion in America. In addition, he serves as vice-president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, one of the top jurists and masters of Islamic sciences in the world. Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as “the Western world’s most influential Islamic scholar” by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009).

Hamza Yusuf is one of the leading proponents of classical learning in Islam. He has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world. He has also been a strong advocate for social justice, peace, and conviviality among peoples and places. For several years, he has argued that the “them versus us” problem is fundamentally flawed, as he considers himself one of “them” as well as one of “us.”

Hamza Yusuf has served as an advisor to many organizations, leaders, and heads of state. He has been an innovator in modern Islamic education, founding the highly imitated Deen Intensives, and with Shaykh Ibrahim Osi-Afa, he started the first Rihla program in England, which has been running for over fifteen years. Dozens of young Muslims who were influenced by his call to reviving traditional Islamic studies in the West went to the Muslim lands in the nineties and early part of the current decade to study, many of who are now teachers in their own right.

With Eissa Bougari, Hamza Yusuf initiated a media challenge to the Arab world that resulted in a highly successful cultural religious program that he hosted for three years and was one of the most watched programs in the Arab world during Ramadan. Cambridge Media Studies stated that this program had a profound influence on subsequent religious programming in the Arab world. He has also been interviewed on BBC several times and was the subject of a BBC documentary segment The Faces of Islam, ushering in the new millennium, as it aired at 11:30pm on Dec. 31st 1999.

Hamza Yusuf has been a passionate and outspoken critic of American foreign policy as well as Islamic extremist responses to those policies. He has drawn criticism from both the extreme right in the West and Muslim extremists in the East. Ed Hussain has written that Hamza Yusuf’s teachings were instrumental to his abandoning extremism.

Hamza Yusuf has also authored several encyclopedia articles and research papers. His published books include The Burda (2003), Purification of the Heart (2004), The Content of Character(2004), The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (2007), Agenda to Change our Condition (2007), Walking on Water (2010) and The Prayer of the Oppressed (2010).

Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Imam of Masjid at-Taqwa in New York, is well known among Muslims in North America as a dynamic speaker and tireless supporter of Islamic causes. Imam Siraj Wahhaj accepted Islam in 1969. He received Imam training at Ummul Qura University of Makkah in 1978 and has gone on to become a national and international speaker on Islam. Imam Wahhaj has been Vice President of ISNA U.S. since 1997 and has served on Majlis Ash-Shura since 1987. He is a past member of ISNA’s Planning Committee and has served as a member of the Board of Advisors for NAIT from 1989 to 1993. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the American Muslim Council. Imam Wahhaj has appeared on several national television talk shows and interviews especially about his anti-drug campaigns. He received high praises from the media and NYPD for initiating anti-drug patrols in Brooklyn, New York in 1988. Imam Siraj Wahhaj is originally from New York. (Quoted from www.ImamSirajWahhaj.com)

Dr. Sherman Jackson

Dr. Sherman A. Jackson is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Visiting Professor of Law and Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, Wayne State University and was recently offered a full professorship at Stanford University. From 1987-89, he served as Executive Director of the Center of Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo, Egypt. In addition to numerous articles, he is author of Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihâb al-Dîn al-Qarâfî (E.J. Brill, 1996), On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî’s Faysal al-Tafriqa (Oxford, 2002), Islam and Blackamerican: Looking Towards the Third Resurrection (Oxford, 2005), and, most recently, Islam & The Problem of Black Suffering (Oxford, 2009). He is co-founder of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM), a former member of the Fiqh Council of North America, past president of the Sharî‘ah Scholars’ Association of North America (SSANA) and a past trustee of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). He is featured on the Washington Post-Newsweek blog, “On Faith,” and is listed by Religion Newswriters Foundation’s ReligionLink as among the top ten experts on Islam in America.

Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini

Imam Hassan Qazwini, from a prominent religious family, was born in Karbala, Iraq. He joined the Islamic Seminary in Qum, Iran in 1980 and graduated in 1992. He pursued the highest Islamic studies in Jurisprudence, fundamental of Jurisprudence and Qur’anic commentary. During his studies, Imam Qazwini ran an Islamic Journal – “Annebras” (The Eternal Light).

He has been honored to attend academic lectures of great scholars such as: Ayatollah Waheed Khorasani, Jawad Tabrizi and Muntazari and has authored and published two books including Meditation in Sahehain and Prophet Mohammad: The Ethical Prospect. The Imam speaks three languages including English, Arabic, and Farsi.

In 1992 he migrated to the USA and directed the Azzahra Islamic Center in Orange County, California. In 1997 he moved his wife and three children to Detroit and joined the Islamic Center of America, founded by Imam Mohammad Chirri, to become the religious leader.

Imam Zaid Shakir

Born in Berkeley, California, he accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He obtained a BA with honors in International Relations at American University in Washington D.C. and later earned his MA in Political Science at Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, he led a successful campaign for divestment from South Africa, and co-founded New Brunswick Islamic Center, formerly Masjid al-Huda.

After a year of studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, he settled in New Haven, Connecticut and continued his community activism, co-founding Masjid Al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee. As Imam of Masjid Al-Islam from 1988 to 1994, he spear-headed a community renewal and grassroots anti-drug effort, and also taught political science and Arabic at Southern Connecticut State University. He served as an interfaith council Chaplain at Yale University and developed the Chaplaincy Sensitivity Training for physicians at Yale New Haven Hospital. He then left for Syria to pursue his studies in the traditional Islamic sciences.

For seven years in Syria, and briefly in Morocco, he immersed himself in an intense study of Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and spirituality with some of the top Muslim scholars of our age. In 2001, he was the first American to graduate from Syria’s prestigious Abu Noor University. That same year, he began writing and speaking frequently on a host of issues. He translated from Arabic into English Ibn Rajab’s The Heirs of the Prophets, published by Starlatch Press.

In 2005, Zaytuna Institute published Scattered Pictures: Reflections of An American Muslim, an anthology of diverse essays penned by him. In 2008, Imam Zaid authored an award-winning text, Treatise for the Seekers of Guidance, a translation and commentary on Imam Harith al-Muhasibi’s work, Risala al-Mustarshideen. In 2009, he co-founded Zaytuna College, where he now teaches Islamic law and history. NID Publishers 2010 release entitled, Where I’m Coming From: The Year In Review is a collection of his essays concerning ideas and personalities shaping the news.

Trained in both the academic and religious intellectual traditions, Imam Zaid is uniquely qualified as a commentator on the substantial issues of our time. And, he brings clarity of mind and engaging honesty to even the most controversial issues. Imam Shakir has been invited to lecture at several prominent universities including Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, Rutgers, and Temple University. As a compelling force for the improvement of race relations in America, and amongst the most respected global Islamic scholars, The New York Times describes him as a “leading intellectual light”. He has served as an advisor to many organizations and influential leaders. And, is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, it has become an important interfaith dialogue initiative between Christians and Muslims. As a gifted author and lecturer, Imam Zaid Shakir recently was ranked as “one of the most influential Scholars” in the West; by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009).

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

Yasir Qadhi was born in Houston, Texas and completed his primary and secondary education in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, after which he was accepted as a student at the Islamic University of Madinah. After completing a diploma in Arabic, he graduated with a B.A. from the College of Hadith and Islamic Sciences. Thereafter, he completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology from the College of Dawah.

His published works include Riya’a: The Hidden Shirk, Du’aa: The Weapon of the Believer, and An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an.

Yasir Qadhi is currently pursuing his doctorate, in Religious Studies, at Yale University in New Haven, CT. At AlMaghrib Instiute he teaches the Light of Guidance and the Light Upon Light seminars, which focus on aqeedah.

Dr. Tariq Ramadan

Named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the 21st century, Tariq Ramadan occupies a unique place among leading Islamic thinkers. Representing a new generation of Islamic reformers, Dr. Ramadan advocates the exploration and application of Islamic traditions and values within a modern pluralistic context, calling on Western Muslims to embrace Western culture rather than reject it. A Swiss national, he is a well-respected professor of philosophy at the College of Geneva and Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Fribourg. In fall 2004 Ramadan was appointed Henry R. Luce Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.

Ramadan has written more than twenty books exploring the difficult issues of reinterpretation and reform within Islam itself and between the Islamic world and its neighbors around the globe. His books include Western Muslims and the Future of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003), Islam, the West, and the Challenges of Modernity (The Islamic Foundation, 2000), To Be a European Muslim (The Islamic Foundation, 1998), and Jihad, Violence, War and Peace in Islam (in French only, Tawhid, 2002). He has also published a total of 700 contributions or articles in collective books, academic reviews, and magazines.

Ramadan serves as an expert in various commissions linked to the Brussels Parliament, and is a member of several working parties concerned with Islam in the world and on the continent: Deutsches Orient Institute, British Council, Vienna Peace Summit, The Parliament of the World’s Religions 2004 in Barcelona, and the “Laïcité et Islam” commission of the French Educational League.

Dr. Merve Kavakci-Islam

Kavakci Islam is a Lecturer of International Relations George Washington University. She was elected to the Turkish Parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1999. However she was prevented from serving her term by the secularists because she wears a headscarf. Kavakci’s political party was closed down and her Turkish citizenship was revoked, banning her from politics for a period of five years. She took her case to European Court of Human Rights and won in 2007.

A widely recognized international public figure, Kavakci addressed the British Parliament House of Lords, United Nations Commission on Human Rights, US Congress Helsinki Commission and Interparliamentary Union. She has lectured at myriad of American, European and Canadian Universities including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Cambridge, Berlin, Milan, Insburg and Ottowa universities.

Kavakci is recognized among the World’s Most Influential 500 Muslims. She was recognized among “Women of Excellence” by NAACP and GWU in 2004. She was awarded the Public Service Award in Tribute and in Recognition of efforts for the advancement of human rights and Muslim Women’s empowerment by International Association for Women and Children in 2000. She was awarded Service to Humanity Award by Haus Der Kulturellen Aktivitat und Toleranz in Vienna, Austria in 1999. She was granted Mother of the Year Award by Capital Platform of Ankara and National Youth Organization in 1999.

Kavakci holds a Ph. D in political science from Howard University, an MPA from Harvard University and a BS in Software Engineering from University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to that Kavakci attended the Medical School of Ankara University however was not permitted to continue due to the headscarf ban.

Kavakci is a consultant for US Congress on the Muslim world and a columnist for Turkish daily Vakit newspaper. She sits at the Editorial Board of Mediterranean Quarterly. She is the author of six books and numerous articles.

Kavakci is the author of Basortusuz Demokrasi (Turkish) which has been translated to Arabic and Persian and also forthcoming in English and French. She is mother of two, Fatima and Mariam.

Membership:
2008-Present: Editorial Advisory Board, Mediterranean Quarterly
2009: Member, Islamic Resource Bank