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Zaid Shakir is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggles, he has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work.

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 disinvestment from South Africa, and co-founded a local Islamic center, 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 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 graduated from Syria's prestigious Abu Noor University and returned to Connecticut, serving again as the Imam of Masjid al-Islam, and writing and speaking frequently on a host of issues. That same year, his translation from Arabic into English of The Heirs of the Prophets was published by Starlatch Press.

In 2003, he moved to Hayward, California to serve as a scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute, where he now teaches courses on Arabic, Islamic law, history, and Islamic spirituality. In 2005, Zaytuna Institute published Scattered Pictures, an anthology of diverse essays penned by Zaid Shakir.

He is a frequent speaker at local and national Muslim events and has emerged as one of the nation’s top Islamic scholars and a voice of conscience for American Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

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Mokhtar Maghraoui is one of the most well renowned scholars in North America and an instructor 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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http://www.themuslimwoman.org/images/ingrid_mattson_muslim_women_in_canada_muslim_women_leaders.jpgIngrid Mattson is Director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Director of Islamic Chaplaincy and Professor at the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT. Dr. Mattson earned her Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago in 1999. Her research is focused on Islamic law and society; among her articles are studies on slavery, poverty and Islamic legal theory.

Dr. Mattson was born in Canada, where she studied Philosophy at the University of Waterloo, Ontario (B.A. ’87). From 1987-1988 she lived in Pakistan where she worked with Afghan refugee women. In 2001 she was elected Vice-President of ISNA and in 2006 she was elected President of the organization. Dr. Mattson is the first convert to Islam and the first female to lead the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

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http://lh3.ggpht.com/_jAsmfOMrqcM/R-8QBCbXVNI/AAAAAAAAAeA/QwCHyOkttQ4/DSCN0261.JPGYaser Birjas was born in Kuwait in 1970. He grew up \ in Kuwait visiting different Masajid and leading different youth activities and programs. When he finished his high school he moved to Ajman in the UAE in 1988 where he started his studies in Electronic Engineering.He graduated as class valedictorian with the highest honors from University of Madinah’s College of Shariah (Fiqh and Usul) in 1996. He had the honor to interact and learn from a number of highly respected scholars such as Shaikh Ash-Shanqitee and Shaikh Al-Uthaimeen (rahimahumAllah).

After graduating from the University of Madinah, Yaser Birjas went on to work as a youth counselor and relief program aide in war-torn Bosnia. Thereafter, he immigrated to the U.S. where he served as an Imam (spiritual leader and advisor) at The Islamic Center in El Paso, Texas until 2009. He is currently serving as the director of Islamic education and outreach at the Orland Park Prayer Center in Orland Park IL, a Chicago suburb. He is also an instructor at AlMaghrib Institute, an organization that provides trademark double-weekend seminars leading its students towards a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies.

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Image 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 the Amir for Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA). 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.

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ImageHaroon Moghul is Executive Director of The Maydaan Institute. He holds an M.A. in Middle East and South Asian Studies from Columbia University, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate.  His field of study is the intellectual history of Islam in colonial India, the Indian Ocean economy and the intellectual and political development of the modern Muslim world.  He graduated from NYU in 2002, with a B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and Philosophy, and a minor in Arabic.

Haroon is a prolific speaker and writer.  He has spoken at numerous Muslim, Christian and Jewish institutions and has led educational and interfaith workshops to advance understanding and dialogue on the Islamic faith, Muslim thought, world politics and contemporary Muslim affairs.  His speaking engagements include Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, Clark University and the University of Minnesota, as well as guest appearances on CNN, ABC-7, WNYC Radio and NPR.  He has been interviewed or otherwise featured on UN Radio (Arabic), The New Yorker, TIME, Voice of America, the Guardian, al-Hurra and The National (Abu Dhabi).

Formerly contributing editor and end-page columnist for Islamica Magazine, Haroon also maintains a popular blog, Avari, which won several Brass Crescent Awards (in 2004 and 2005), including wins for Best Muslim Blog, Best Post and Best Writing.  His essays and articles have been published in a variety of international media, including Pakistan's Dawn and The Friday Times, as well as American media, including Tikkun and Religion Dispatches.  His first novel, "The Order of Light," was released by Penguin Global in 2006.  A French translation, published by Cherche Midi, was released in late 2007.  His research includes analytic briefs prepared for Tabah Foundation, including an analysis of the Changing Course Report, prepared in English and translated into Arabic.

Haroon Moghul has been selected as one of 300 global Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, and participated in the Third Annual Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference in Doha, Qatar (2009).  In 2009, he was nominated for the Presidential Award for Best Teaching by a Graduate Student at Columbia University, which includes all departments at that university.

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ImageKhalid Latif was appointed the first Muslim chaplain at NYU in 2005 where he began to initiate his vision for a pluralistic future on and off campus for American Muslims. He was also appointed the first Muslim chaplain at Princeton University in 2006. Spending a year commuting between these two excellent institutions, he finally decided to commit full-time to New York University’s Islamic Center where his position was officially institutionalized in the spring of 2007. Under his leadership, the Islamic Center at NYU became the first ever established Muslim student center at an institution of higher education in the United States. Imam Latif’s exceptional dedication and ability to cross interfaith and cultural lines on a daily basis brought him recognition throughout the city, so much so that in 2007 Mayor Michael Bloomberg nominated Imam Latif to become the youngest chaplain in history of the New York City Police Department at the age of 24.

Imam Latif has not only managed to solidify the basis of a strong Muslim community at NYU that seeks to emphasize inclusiveness and understanding of others without compromise, but has also worked tirelessly to foster dialogue with people of other faiths in order to clarify misconceptions and encourage mutual education. Through his work Imam Latif has demonstrated not only an exceptional dedication to gaining and disseminating religious knowledge and values, but has begun to carve out a much-needed space for young American Muslims to celebrate their unique identity and have their voices heard in the larger public sphere. He is a sought after speaker, having lectured throughout the United States and in various parts of the world and has been quoted, featured and appeared in numerous media outlets including BBC, NPR, CNN, the NY Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, BET and GEO TV. Amongst many awards and distinctions for leadership and community service over the last few years, Imam Latif was most recently named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world in 2009 by Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talaal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. 

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ImageMusa Syeed is an independent filmmaker and writer. His most recent film BRONX PRINCESS was in competition at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam and the Berlin International Film Festival, and the film won Best Documentary Short at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The film will be broadcast on the PBS series POV this fall. Musa recently completed production on THE CALLING, a miniseries about young religious leaders in America. The program will be broadcast on PBS next year.

His previous film, “A Son’s Sacrifice”, won Best Documentary Short from the Tribeca Film Festival and the International Documentary Association Awards in 2007. He was selected to represent the US at the 2008 International Public Television Conference in South Africa. He currently is producing a narrative feature about environmental problems in Kashmir. As writer/director, Musa received the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Production Award for his screenplay.

Musa was a Fulbright Fellow in Cairo, Egypt, where he focused on experimental filmmaking and Muslim identity. As a writer, he produced original theatrical work for the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Musa has worked as an educator in schools, community centers, and prisons. He was an adjunct professor of cross-cultural documentary production at Williams College last fall and is an alumnus of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies Department. 


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ImageMadeeha Mir is a fifth year Counseling Psychology doctoral student at New York University, volunteering time on a regular basis to provide counseling services through the Islamic Center at NYU. She currently externs at Barnard College Counseling Center and has completed externship training at Bellevue Hospital Center and CUNY Baruch College Counseling Center. She has worked with young adults and children in both outpatient and inpatient settings and has an emphasis on providing counseling to college-aged students on a variety of areas, including relationships, marriage, identity, family conflicts, substance use, and other mental health issues.

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ImageMaryum Khwaja is a licensed social worker, who is currently working at St. Luke’s Hospital Center. Maryum graduated with a Master’s in Social Work from New York University in 2001. Since her graduation, she has worked at New York Foundling Hospital with children who have been abused or neglected and their families. At her current employment, she works with seriously and emotionally disturbed children and adolescents and their families. She has also completed extensive training in working with victims of trauma, and also in marriage and family therapy.

Through these positions and various training programs, Maryum has acquired the skills to provide counseling to children, adolescents, parents, couples and families on issues such as trauma, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicide, substance abuse, sexuality, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, developmental disabilities, poverty, racism and discrimination, immigration and other mental health issues.

Through the Islamic Center at NYU, Maryum works to provide counseling and mental health services to the student body and the community at-large increases awareness and understanding about mental health and other life through workshops and other educational forums. 


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Ali Shehata is an instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute. He studied under many scholars in the U.S and Egypt and currently practices medicine full-time as an Emergency and Family Medicine physician currently living in the Florida area.

Dr. Ali, as he is known to many, has acquired ijaazahs in several core Islamic texts including al-Aqeedah al-Waasitiyah and The Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi among others. He has taught courses in the Forty Hadith as well as in Madaarij as-Salikeen (Purification of the Soul text written by Ibnul Qayyim). He is also the author of Demystifying Islam - Your Guide to the Most Misunderstood Religion of the 21st Century and The Trade that Shall Never Fail.

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http://www.redroom.com/files/imagecache/USER_PICTURE_PROFILE_PAGE/u4/u3156/picture-3156.jpgG. Willow Wilson is an American author and essayist who divides her time between Egypt and the US. Her articles about modern religion and the Middle East have appeared in publications including the Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine and The Canada National Post.

Willow was born in New Jersey in 1982, and later moved to Colorado. She began her writing career at 17, when she freelanced as a music and DJ critic for Boston’s Weekly Digg while a student at Boston University. After graduating with a degree in History and coursework in Arabic language and literature, Willow moved to Cairo, where she became the first western writer to interview Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the current Mufti of Egypt and one of the most influential clerics in modern Islam. She was a regular contributor to the Egyptian opposition weekly Cairo Magazine until it closed in 2005.

Willow is a convert to Islam and her commentary often addresses Islamic and interfaith issues. An avid supporter of new and alternative media, Willow has written for politics and culture blogs from across the political spectrum, including Eteraz.org and Dean’s World.

Since the age of eleven, when she first picked up a copy of The Uncanny X-Men, Willow has been a dedicated reader of comics and graphic novels. Today she writes both for DC Comics and its literary imprint, Vertigo.


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http://rude_write.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341cc4e053ef0120a6200655970c-320wiOmar Mullick was born and raised in London, after which he attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He then moved to New York where he learned photography from fashion photographer Alex Chatelain.   He spent six years in fashion photography and the film industry, shooting music videos and commercials before turning to documentary photography. His works have shown at the Safe-T gallery in Dumbo, along with recent publication in the National Geographic’s book ‘One World, One Day.’ His first solo show “Can’t Take it With You” was hosted by Gallery CFB and is a selection of photographs from years documenting American Muslims. Pulled from his numerous road trips through Muslim communities, the exhibit shows unparalleled access to halfway houses, artists, Balkan immigrants, veiled music producers, a Chicago funeral in the African American Muslim community, Muslim school children at play, Sufi gatherings to American madrasahs and more — all places and events to which Mullick was often the only person allowed to take photographs.

 

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Ali Reza Malik is a graphic designer based out of Brooklyn, NY. He attended New York University as a Finance and Marketing major in the Stern School of Business, but switched his career path upon graduation to follow his true passion. He works as a freelancer, with his field of work involving photography, typography, video editing, logo design and identity creation, and other graphic design elements. He has worked with American Express, Teliris Telepresence, Cornell, and several NYU clubs and organizations, as well as non-profit institutions around the Tri-State area and in Pakistan.

 

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Raymond Brock-Murray  is currently completing his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Seton Hall University. He has been working with the ICNYU-Social Services team since May 2009 as a volunteer psychological and programing consultant. Currently, Raymond is also a consultant with the Rutgers-Newark Counseling Center and serves as adjunct faculty for the Psychology Department at Montclair State University.

 

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Aman Ali is a writer and the co-creator of  30 Mosques in 30 Days, the Ramadan adventure exploring New York City's Muslim community. He's been featured on NPR and CNN and in the New York Times and USA Today for his work as both a writer and a performer.







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Image Bassam Tariq bio forthcoming

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Image Shahed Amanullah is an award-winning journalist who writes regularly about the challenges and opportunities facing Islam in America and is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com. Named one of ten "Muslim visionaries" by Islamica Magazine, Shahed's work and writings have been featured in magazines (Newsweek), newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune), radio shows (BBC News, National Public Radio, and major websites (BeliefNet.com). Television appearances include "Nightline with Ted Koppel", CNN Headline News, the "Today Show", and "Hannity & Colmes".

Shahed is the founder of Halalfire Media, a network of Islamic-themed websites with nearly 6 million visitors annually. Along with altmuslim.com, signature properties include zabihah.com, salatomatic.com, halalapalooza.com, and unitedmuslims.org. He has also served as a board member for the United Muslims of America, the Muslim Public Service Network, and the Muslim Youth Camp of California. He is a general partner in Zakat Community Ventures, a startup "venture philanthropy" fund dedicated to promoting Islamic charitable values.

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