From the 2014 RIS Knowledge Retreat site. A description of this year's shuyukh. Note: prices increase on December 1st.
SHAYKH ABDALLAH BIN BAYYAH
One of Islam's greatest living jurist. An extremely well-known andwell-respected scholar, he is considered a "scholars' scholar"since many of his students are actually considered ulama in their own right. Shaykh Abdullah grew up in one of the eastern provinces of the West African nation of Mauritania. From a very young age, he showed extreme gifts intellectually and a profound ability to absorb a lot of information and a lot of the text. One of the areas of expertise that he has is in what is known as fiqh al-aqaliyaat which is the fiqh or juristic rulings related to Muslims living as a religious minority with a dominant alien territory. Because the Muslims tended to prefer hijra to countries where Muslims were the majority, there are not a lot of scholars that work in the area of dealing with how Muslims in minority areas should actually live their lives and how they should behave when confronted with issues that often are in contradistinction to their deen.
SHAYKH ABDAL HAKIM MURAD
ABritish Sunni Muslim shaykh, researcher, writer and academic. He is the Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College, Director of Studies (Theology and Religious Studies) at Wolfson College and the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Cambridge University. His work includes publications on Islamic theology and Muslim-Christian relations. In 2003 he was awarded the Pilkington Teaching Prize by Cambridge University and in 2007 he was awarded the King Abdullah I Prize for Islamic Thought for his short booklet Bombing Without Moonlight. He has consistently been included in the "500 Most Influential Muslims" list published annually by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre and was ranked in 2012 as the 50th most influential.
IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
[FONT=Times-Roman, serif]Zaid Shakir is chairman of the board, co-founder, and senior faculty member at Zaytuna College. In 1983, while at Rutgers University, NewBrunswick, NJ., he co-founded New Brunswick Islamic Center formerlyMasjid al-Huda. In 1987, he settled in New Haven, CT. and continued his community activism co-founding Masjid Al-Islam. Zaid Shakir moved to Hayward, California to serve as a scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute in 2003. He co-founded the Lighthouse Mosque, Oakland, CA. in 2007. He co-founded Zaytuna College in 2009, where he now teaches Islamic law and history. Zaid Shakir is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. Known to the world as Imam Zaid, he has authored numerous articles on a wide range of topics, becoming a voice of conscience for American Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Recently, hewas ranked as "one of the western world's most influential Scholars" by The 500 Most Influential Muslims.[/FONT]
DR.SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR
Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran, Iran on April 7, 1933. He received his education in Iran and the United States and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He returned to Iran in 1958 and was professor at Tehran University until 1979. In addition to teaching at Tehran University,he served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chancellor ofthe University and Chancellor of Aryamehr University. He also founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy and served as its first president. Since 1984, Dr. Nasr has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies. Professor Nasr has written over twenty-five books and five hundred articles in Persian, English,Arabic, and French. His works have been translated into many languages including German, Spanish, Bosnian, Turkish, and Urdu.
SHAYKH HAMZA YUSUF
Hamza Yusuf is president and co-founder of Zaytuna College, which is dedicated to the Islamic sciences and the revival of traditional study methods, which has established an international reputation for presenting classical Islam in the West. He is the first American lecturer to teach in Morocco's prestigious and oldest university, the Qarawiyin in Fes, and he has translated several classical Arabic texts into modern English. He travels all over the world speaking about Islam. Born in Washington State and raised in Northern California, Hamza Yusuf embraced Islam in 1977. He subsequently traveled to the Muslim world and studied for the next ten years in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as well as North and West Africa.
SHAYKH MUHAMMAD NINOWY
Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Al Ninowy, Senior Scholar of Al Madina Masjid in Atlanta, GA. Sheikh Muhammad bin Yahiya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy began his study under his father, Sayyed Yahya, memorizing the Glorious Qur'an and acquiring knowledge in many of the Islamic disciplines, such as Tawheed, Hanafi/Shafi'i Fiqh, Usool, and Ihsaan. Sheikh Dr.Muhammad is the senior Scholar of Al Medina Masjid in Atlanta, Georgia, where he delivers weekly Khutba's and regular courses in Tawheed, Ihsaan, and Hadith sciences.
SHAYKH MOKHTAR MAGHRAOUI
Shaykh Mokhtar Maghraoui is one of the most well renowned scholars in North America and is a foundation scholar for Al-Madina Institute. Originally from Algeria, he is thoroughly versed in the Islamic sciences and holds a doctorate joined between the fields of physics and engineering. His expertise includes the disciplines of Tazkiyah and Fiqh, and he is best known for his enlightening retreats and seminars empowering Muslims on their spiritual quest.
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