Presenters

The Prominent and distinguished Speakers this year are: Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Sh. Yasir Qadhi, Nouman Ali Khan, Suzy Ismail, Sh. AbdulNasir Jhangda, Dr. Jamal Badawi and others.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, currently the Imam of Masjid Al-Taqwa in Brookyn, New York, 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 1989-1993. 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 patrol in Brooklyn, New York in 1988. Among other achievements, Imam Wahhaj was the first person to give an Islamic invocation to the United States Congress. Imam Siraj Wahhaj is originally from New York.

Sh. 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.

Nouman Ali Khan

Nouman is the founder and CEO of Bayyinah, as well as the lead instructor for a number of Bayyinah courses including the ‘Fundamentals of Classical Arabic’ and ‘Divine Speech’. His first exposure to Arabic study was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he completed his elementary education. He continued Arabic grammar study in Pakistan, where he received a scholarship for ranking among the top 10 scores in the national Arabic studies board examinations in 1993. But his serious training in Arabic began in the United States in 1999 under Dr. Abdus-Samie, founder and formal principal of Quran College, Faisalabad, Pakistan who happened to be touring the US for intensive lectures in Tafsir and Arabic studies. Under Dr. Abdus-Samie, Nouman developed a keen methodical understanding of Arabic grammar. He further benefited from Dr. Abdus-Samie by internalizing his unique teaching methods and later translating his work into English for the benefit of his own students. Nouman served as professor of Arabic at Nassau Community College until `06 and has taught Modern Standard and Classical Arabic at various venues for nearly 7 years with over 10,000 students nationwide. Currently he has dedicated himself to a seven-year-long project, of conducting a linguistic & literary focus Qur’anic Tafseer series in English. Recordings of sessions conducted so far can be downloaded at www.bayyinah.com/dream.

Suzy Ismail

Suzy Ismail is currently a Visiting Professor in the Communication Department at DeVry University in North Brunswick and DeVry University Online. She received her Bachelor’s in English, Communication and Middle Eastern Studies, her Master’s in Communication and Information Studies, and was previously a Ph.D. student in the School of Communication at Rutgers University. She has been an active member on the Noor Ul-Iman School Board of Directors for the past five years. She is the author of “When Muslim Marriage Fails,” “The BFF Sisters” and several other pending middle-grade novels. She currently resides in New Jersey with her amazing husband of twelve years and her three young children.

AbdulNasir Jangda

portrait_anj AbdulNasir Jangda graduated from the rigorous 7 year program in 2002 at the top of his class and with numerous Ijaazaat (Licenses) in various Islamic Sciences from Jamia Binoria, Karachi Pakistan. Along with the Alim Course he concurrently completed a B.A. and M.A. in Arabic from Karachi University. He taught Arabic at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2005 to 2007. He has served as an instructor and curriculum advisor to various Islamic schools and Islamic studies programs. He currently serves as a full time Imam in the Dallas area where he teaches regular classes and seminars/workshops. He is the executive chair and founding member of Qalam Institute, a Quranic studies project in DFW. He is also the founder and chairman of Mansfield Islamic Center. His specialties include Hanafi fiqh, Tafseer, and Arabic language.

AbdulNasir joined Bayyinah in 2009 and teaches the 10 day Fundamentals of Classical Arabic course, Arabic grammar follow ups, and his own course which he designed – Meaningful Prayer.

Dr. Jamal Badawi

Dr. Jamal Badawi is “Professor Emeritus” at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where he served as Professor of both Management and Religious Studies. During its May, 2008 Convocation, Saint Mary’s University granted him an Honorary Doctorate of Civil law in recognition of his promotion of ” a better understanding of Islam” and contribution ” to civil society around the world” He completed his undergraduate studies in Cairo, Egypt and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Dr. Badawi is the author of several works on Islam, including books, chapters in books and articles. Some of his works are available also on the internet including Gender Equity in Islam