Sh Abdullah graduated with his Bachelors and Masters from the Islamic University of Madinah in Shariah and Comparative Fiqh. He currently serves as a Co-Imam at Masjid El Farouq. He holds multiple Ijazaat in books of Hadith, Fiqh, Recitation of the Quran, Tafseer and more.
Ustadha Farhat Ahmed Shamsi is the founder of Quran and Soul, and her journey began with the Qur’an after she first began feeling a sense of frustration at not being able to understand the Speech of Allah. By the Grace of Allah she was guided to a course of knowledge which centered on the language and understanding of every single ayah and surah in the Divine Revelation. Her journey became a passion and source of fulfillment; she had never imagined teaching anyone else what she was learning, except perhaps sharing it with her family. Her adult study circles grew as she also brought in Islamic educational reforms in her local community and introduced Qur’an Tafseer classes for high school and college students.
Her education background includes:
-Mishkah University, Bachelors in Islamic Studies
-Shariah Program Canada, One Year Intensive, Classical Arabic and Grammar
-Fiqh and Uloom ul Hadeeth courses with Alhuda University (Guidance College) and Arees Institute
-Alhuda International Institute Canada, Certificate Saheeh al-Bukhari, Translation and Fiqh
-Alhuda International Institute Canada, Diploma in Islamic Studies Two-year Intensive.
Areas of concentration: Complete Tafseer of the Qur'an, Quranic Arabic and Grammar, Tajweed, Seerah, Fiqh and Akhlaaq
Ustadha Safiya Ravat was born in Canada and raised in South Africa and the US, with British and Indian origins. She grew up in Houston, and is the founder and director of Suhbah Institute. She attained her degree in Journalism with a minor in Religious Studies at the University of Houston and went on to write for the Houston Chronicle. Ustadha Safiya studied under Shaykh Isam Rajab for two years at the Arees University, she then attained her Bachelor’s in Fiqh and Usul al Fiqh (Islamic Law and Jurisprudence) from the International Islamic University of Malaysia, and then a Masters in Pastoral Counseling in Marriage and Family Therapy from Liberty University in Virginia. She previously served as the main instructor of Arabic at the Bayyinah Dream Progam in Dallas, as well as the Female Religious Director at Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land. She currently serves as the chaplain for the Muslim Students Association at the University of Houston.
Shaykh Joe Bradford holds a Master of Islamic Law from the University of Medina, and is currently a PhD candidate at the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) where he is researching comparative legal theories focused on financial injustice. He works as an Ethical Finance Advisor to private funds, family offices, and individuals. He teaches with IOK, Suhbah Institute, and is the Resident scholar at the Islamic Dawah Center.
Imam Imran Ghani graduated from the University of Houston, and went on to study in Egypt, Bayyinah Institute, and attained his Bachelors of Arts in Islamic Law & Theology from Zaytuna College, as well as his Masters of Arts in Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union. He extends his dawah work through the arts and mental health through U-Turn Productions and BP Harmony . He also currently serves as the Imam at Dar ul Emaan in Katy, Texas.
Ustadh Fahad Tasleem is a research fellow and instructor at The Sapience Institute. He is the author of the book, "No Doubt: Finding Certainty in an Age of Uncertainty". Fahad's research areas at Sapience focus on Islamic Theo-Philosophy, Spirituality. He holds a BA in Economics from Michigan State University, an MSc in Business from the University of Southern California and Graduate Studies in Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on Islamic Theology from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently pursuing his Phd in Islamic Thought from the International Islamic University of Malaysia.
Ustadh Arsalan Majid is the Imam of Cypress Islamic Center and currently an instructor at Hamd and Suhbah. He is a Houstonian who has engaged himself in studying the religion from a young age. He memorized the Quran at Madrasah Islamiyyah in Houston, TX at the age of 20 and pursued multiple ijaazahs in Hafs thereafter. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology while minoring in biology from the University of Houston with plans to attend medical school but decided to pursue further Islamic Studies at the Islamic University of Medinah. For six years, he engaged in intensive study, both in a formal university setting with his required classes but also in the private and public classes of local scholars where he memorized and covered multiple classical texts in various sciences. He graduated with a Bachelors in Islamic Law and Legal Theory in 2018 and has been teaching Arabic, Fiqh and various sciences in Houston ever since.
Khalis Rashaad has served the Muslim community in a teaching capacity for thirty years. His current studies with his teachers consist of theology, jurisprudence, and spirituality. His teaching style focuses on empowering others to engage with the Islamic tradition and apply it in their lives in a practical way. Khalis explores real-world applications of God’s law with a commitment to solving issues relevant to western believers whilst also educating the Muslim and non-Muslim public alike on the religion of Abraham (millat Ibrahīm). He likes to connect grand religious ideas with our messy human reality and articulate theological points of view to challenge and deepen our thinking. His focus is on Qur’anic exegesis (tafsīr), narrative building, and applied theology in an American context. He is deeply interested in how faith can practically and constructively speak to western believers’ social, political, and ethical interactions today. Over the past three decades, he has been blessed to study with scholars in North America, Syria, Saudi Arabia, North Africa, and West Africa. Imam Khalis holds certificates (Ijāzah) in jurisprudence, Hadith and theology and spirituality.
Shaykh Ammar hails from Sudan via Queens, New York. It was in Sudan that Ammar began his studies in the Arabic language at an early age. After returning to New York he benefited from a local scholarship in a wide variety of Islamic Sciences. He continued his studies in Houston with renowned scholars such as Dr. Salah Al-Sawy, and completed an extensive study with Dr. Waleed Basyouni. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Islamic Sciences with AlMaghrib Institute. He is the author of “What the Pen Wrote" and the Content Director for Faith Essentials and FaithIQ.
Frank Harris began studying Modern Standard Arabic in college at Texas A&M University before graduating with his Bachelors in International Studies with a focus in the Middle East. During his studies, he spent time studying in Morocco and after graduating spent a brief time in Sudan. After returning to the US, he graduated at the top of his program in the Suhbah Quranic Arabic Seminary course, which allowed him to fill in any gaps left by modern Arabic and to focus on the Arabic of the Quran. He went on to TA for Suhbah, and eventually evolved into the main teacher for Arabic studies. His study of Arabic as a language and how it exists in poetry, speech and how it exists in the Quran is one of the major contributing factors to his conversion into Islam, believing that Arabic is a necessary step for all Muslims hoping to improve their relationship with their Creator.
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