Founder & Professor, Islamic Online University

Dr Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips is a Jamaican Canadian Islamic Scholar who converted to Islam in the early seventies after journeying politically and intellectually from Christianity to Communism. Shortly after his reversion to Islam, he embarked on a spiritual academic journey to the other side of the world seeking Islamic knowledge. This journey took him to Saudi Arabia where he completed a BA in Islamic studies in Madeenah, and an MA in Islamic Theology in Riyadh, then to the University of Wales, UK, where he completed a PhD in Islamic Theology in the early nineties.
After graduation from Madeenah, Dr Bilal became a teacher of Islamic studies for 10 years in an Islamic High School, Manaret Riyadh, and a lecturer of Arabic and Islamic studies in the American University in Dubai, UAE, for another 10 years. During his 10 years in the UAE, he founded and taught at the Islamic Information Center in Dubai, and during his subsequent 7 years in Qatar he has been an Islamic consultant and lecturer for the Islamic Information wing of Sh. Eid Charity.
Dr Bilal Philips has written, translated and commented on over 50 published books on various Islamic topics. He has also edited and published the 56 book Eemaan Reading Series for children and presented Islamic programs for a number of years on Riyadh Channel 2TV, Sharjah TV for ten years, as well as Peace TV, Huda TV, Islam Channel, UK, and the Deen Show, Chicago, USA.
“There is no time for holidays”, says Bilal Philips, “when you realise how little time there is, and how much work has to be done for Islam.”
In 2002 Dr Philips founded and headed the Islamic studies department of Preston University, Ajman, UAE, and in 2007 he founded and headed the Islamic Studies Academy, Doha, Qatar, while simultaneously launching the Islamic Online University (www.islamiconlineuniversity.com) which is currently offering free Islamic courses to over 30,000 registered students from over 177 different countries world wide, and for which he was included in the Jordanian publication, The 500 Most Influential Muslims (rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf). Dr Bilal subsequently founded and headed, in 2008, the English medium Islamic studies department of Knowledge International University (www.kiu.org), who’s Chancellor is Shaikh Dr. ‘Abdur-Rahman ibn ‘Abdil-Azeez Al Sudais and who’s President of the board of trustees is Shaikh ‘Abdul-Azeez ibn ‘Abdullah Al Shaikh, Mufti of Saudi Arabia. More recently, in 2009, Dr Bilal Philips founded and headed the College of Da’wah and Islamic Culture (English Section), Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan, and established and directed Preston International College (www.prestonchennai.ac.in) in Chennai, India. In March of this year (2010) Dr Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips launched, for the first time in history, an accredited tuition-free BA in Islamic Studies degree course at the Islamic Online University (bais.islamiconlineuniversity.com).

Chairman and CEO, Mercy Mission World

Dr Tawfique Chowdhury is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Mercy Mission. He started Mercy Mission through its first program – AlKauthar institute in 2005. Since then, Mercy Mission has flowered into one of the world’s fastest growing Muslim social enterprise.
Dr Tawfique excelled in his Islamic studies both classically from the scholars of Medinah as well as graduating from the college of Shariah from the Islamic University of Medinah. He is also an experienced business professional having been a CEO of a multinational IT company and is also a practising medical doctor in Australia. He is also a corporate trainer and business coach to many successful people worldwide.
Being a prolific speaker, Dr Tawfique has travelled internationally sharing his knowledge in many countries worldwide. He is well known for specialising in Islamic legal topics, particularly in Islamic finance, Personal law and Islamic Medical Ethics and his opinions in these matters are eagerly sought. He is also a well known media contributor on various TV Channels worldwide.
When he is not busy attending patients at the hospital or teaching a seminar, he likes to catch up with Mercy Mission team members across the world. He is a father of 5 children and his hobby is spending time with them. Dr Tawfique is currently based in Gold coast, Australia.

Instructor, Almaghrib Institute

Hailing from Montreal, Quebec Sh Navaid is a man of many cultures and flavours. He completed an associate’s degree in Commerce and Social Sciences before heading to the illustrious Islamic University of Madinah.
Sh. Navaid went on to complete a diploma in the Arabic language as well as a bachelors in Shari’ah (Islamic Law), with a specialization in Fiqh and Usul Al-Fiqh. Upon returning to North America Sh. Navaid joined the speakers circuit and has travelled the world lecturing and teaching. He is the founder of http://www.myspiritualfix.com a modern day approach to spirituality. He serves the Muslim community as a family and youth counselor.
As a strong advocator for a bright Muslim future he is the Islamic editor for Recess Kids magazine in North America and Little Explorers magazine in the United Kingdom. If Sh. Navaid is not found lecturing he will more than likely be found updating his Facebook status, reading a book in his personal library, or taking some of the brothers to school on the basketball court.

Instructor, AlKauthar Institute

Ustadh Yahya Ibrahim was born in Waterloo, Canada. In his quest for authentic, classical Islamic knowledge, he travelled to meet and study under some of the most prominent scholars of our era. While attending the University of Toronto, he would travel regularly during his free time to further his knowledge of Islam.
Being proficient in Arabic and English, he grew up translating live for English audiences Arabic lectures delivered by visiting Islamic dignitaries from all around the world. Yahya Ibrahim began memorising the Qur’an at the age of 16 and finished 20 months later, receiving an ijazah (certification). He began lecturing at the main mosques in Toronto at the age of 17 and has been involved in the Islamic community as a lecturer and translator since 1995, alhamdulillah.
Ustadh Yahya is blessed now to be living in Perth, Western Australia with his wife and two children – Shireen and Omar. He is a regular lecturer to Muslim and non-Muslim audiences their and around the world. He travels in Australasia, Africa, South East Asia, Europe and Canada to deliver lectures on Islam and Muslims to a variety of audiences. He is committed to spreading a message to Muslims that empowers them spiritually and helps them integrate into the broader community. He is born in the west, raised in the west and lives in the west. A message of anti-militancy, religious tolerance, and moral universality are a part of his outlook.
Since arriving in Australia, Ustadh Yahya was a religious adviser and later a Deputy Principal of the largest Islamic school in the Australia. Presently, Yahya is attached to Curtin University as an Islamic Chaplain. He is also a director of a retail company that has grown to 13 Halal food outlets based in shopping centres around Perth and soon, insha Allah, expanding nationally and internationally.
He is currently an instructor of AlKauthar Institute.

Director of Public Relations, Mercy Mission World & Instructor, AlKauthar Institute

Sh Alaa ElSayed is the Director of Public Relations at Mercy Mission and one of the instructors of Mercy Mission’s AlKauthar Institute.
His motto is “whatever it takes” and his work for Mercy Mission is characterized by that passion for this vision. Whether it be recording video content for Ramadan TV, or fundraising for Mercy Mission Canada, or speaking to a packed audience at the Mercy Mission Annual Islamic Conference in Australia or losing his voice teaching “Home Sweet Home” in Birmingham, he has done it all for Mercy Mission since joining in 2010.
Sheikh Alaa was born in Cairo and lived in Egypt until he was 15 years old. During his youth, he spent his time as the goalie for the Junior National Team and moved to Canada in the late 1970’s.
He worked as a Vice-President of Business Development for an international company, and during this time he competed and placed first in the 1992 Bermuda Triathlon.
Sheikh Alaa has studied for his Bachelors in Shari’ah from the American International University, and has earned a scholarship from the Shari’ah Academy in Egypt/Florida. He has also received his Ijazah of Qur’an recitation for Hafs ‘an Asim, studied comparative religion for five years through the IPCI in South Africa, and was on the board of director of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth.
Sheikh Alaa currently lives in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada – with his wife and three children. He is a member of Canadian Council of Imams; he’s also a member of Horizon Interfaith Communication Media Council. Prior to this, he was an Imam for Muslim Council of Calgary and acted as its media spokesperson. He was also a member of the Calgary Multi-Faith Committee, and a member of the Muslim Christian Dialogue Committee. He has hosted Vision of Islam, a weekly television show which runs throughout Alberta, Canada. He also appeared as a speaker on Islam on various television channels.
Sheikh Alaa received the Alberta Centennial award by the Alberta Government in 2005, granted to him for his outstanding service to the Alberta community.
Currently Sheikh Alaa doubles up as the Director of Religious Affairs for the Islamic Centre of Canada – ISNA. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director for the Canadian Islamic Congress.

Chairman, iERA

Abdurraheem Green embraced Islam over 20 years ago and since that time has been active in the field of da’wah. Abdurraheem was educated in a Christian monastic school and although held strong Christian principles dabbled with other religions. This continual quest to find meaning to life eventually led him to Islam. He has been delivering talks in the UK and beyond for over two decades.He is a regular on Peace TV with many of his lectures widely watched on YouTube. Abdurraheem is a founding member and chairman of iERA.

President, Al Khadeem

Born into a Buddhist family, Hussein Yee embraced Islam at the age of 18. He pursued studies at the University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia majoring in Hadith.After graduating in 1978, Sh. Hussein joined the organization called ‘Perkim’, in Malaysia, which focuses on the well being of the new converts. Later he seconded as director of centre in Hong Kong. He then founded Al Khaadem with a group of volunteers in 1984. He also studied four years under Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, and has also had contact with the former Grand Mufti of Saudi-Arabia Ibn Baaz while studying at the University of Madinah.After studying in Saudi Arabia, Hussain Yee became involved in various organizations and now gives talks in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, which includes conducting summer camps by the invitation of local and international organizations. Furthermore, Hussain regularly appears on Peace TV whereby he gives many lectures.

Shariah scholars in Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh and FiqhMuamalat including Islamic Banking and Finance

Ustaz Dr. ZaharuddinAbdRahman possess both strong academic research background and hands on Islamic finance application in the Islamic banks. He obtained his first degree in Usuluddin from University Malaya of Malaysia, Master degree in Fiqh and UsulFiqh from Al-Yarmouk University, Jordan and PhD in Islamic Studies and Finance from University of Wales, United Kingdom.He has served RHB Islamic Bank Ltd, Malaysia a Senior Shari’ah Compliance Manager and later on joining Asian Finance Bank Ltd (a subsidiary of consortium lead by Qatar Islamic Bank) as Head of the Shari’ah Compliance until 2007. He has vast knowledge in each and every Islamic Banking products offered by the both South East Asia’s Islamic Bank and GCC’s Islamic Financial Intermediaries covering deposit products, Corporate, Consumer financing product, treasury product, Islamic Capital Market and structured products
He has written various 13 books in Arabic, English and Malay language covering various topics of fiqh issues. Additionally he produced numerous articles on Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic Banking and other Shari’ah issues in several magazines. He also appears in the local and international television Al-Jazeera, TV9, TV3, ASTRO and RTM lecturing on various Shari’ah issues especially with regards to the Islamic jurisprudence.He was also a columnist in leading newspaper in Malaysia on Fiqh issues.
When he was in the UK, he served The European Institute of Human Science, Wales as a visiting lecturer teaching UsulFiqh and Fiqh al-Mu’amalat. Apart from that, he is also a certified Islamic Finance’s trainer andAssociateLecturer at The Markfield Institute of Higher Education based in Leicester, United Kingdom.
Since year 2007, he has been appointed as one of the teaching staff at the Kulliyyah of Economics, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He currently is advising several Islamic Financial Institutions including the biggest Islamic banks in the world,Ar-Rajhi Banking and Corporation Malaysia Ltd and other companies in Malaysia and abroad.
In Malaysia, he is well known for his fresh idea and writing via his website www.zaharuddin.net which was awarded as the best Islamic individual website by JAKIM (Malaysian Islamic authority). On top of that, he also enjoy a strong support from his followers through his facebookfanpage which already reached 280,000 people.

Lecturer, International Islamic University Malaysia

Ustaz Dr. Maszlee Malik is currently serving as a lecturer in Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh at the International Islamic University of Malaysia since the year 2000. Among others, he has also served as a Member of Shariah Council for the Perlis State Fatwa Council and as the Shariah Advisor for Medical Interest Group.
Ustaz Dr. Maszlee has also received various different certifications in a range of different areas; to name a few, Certificate in Islamic Political Thought, Certificate in Risk Management and the United Nations certificate for completing the course for UNITARPOCI program on ‘Global Terrorism’ and ‘Conflict Resolution’.
He has vast experiences working with charitable NGOs in Lebanon and Jordan and has close relations with Arabic international media such as Al-Jazeera, al-Hiwar TV, al-Manar satellite channel, al-Risalah and al-Ahram magazine. He himself has published a few books Fiqh and Middle-East conflict, apart from numerous academic publications.