Guest Scholars

In addition to the core scholars, ALIM’s guest scholars are a vital part of our faculty and they teach many of the integral courses at the ALIM Summer, Winter, and mini programs providing our students with an important spectrum of discourse in Muslim-American studies. ALIM has been fortunate and grateful to have the support of some important leaders and scholars in America.

Below is a list of some of our guest scholars who have taught at past ALIM Programs:
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IMAM MOHAMED HAGMAGID ALI
Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali came to the United States in 1987 and is currently the Imam and Executive Director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, VA and the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). He was born in Sudan, the son of a leading Islamic scholar who was an Azhar graduate that served as the Mufti of Sudan. Imam Magid served as Vice President of the Islamic Society of North America for a number of years...
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IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Imam Zaid Shakir is among 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 and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work on race and poverty issues. 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...
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DR. HADIA MUBARAK
Hadia Mubarak is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Queens University of Charlotte. She previously taught Religious Studies at Guilford College and served as a Research Fellow at New York University-Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), where she wrote her monograph, Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Quranic Commentaries. Mubarak completed her Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Georgetown University, where she specialized in...
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MOHAMMED TAYSSIR SAFI
Mohammed Tayssir Safi is a doctoral candidate at Ibn Haldun University where he specializes in Ḥadīth Studies. His dissertation focuses on the rational and epistemological foundations of the critical ḥadīth apparatus. In conjunction with his academic studies at the university, Mohammed has been a long-time student of the Islamic Sciences in traditional educational circles. To that end, he has spent years studying...
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ZAYNAB ANSARI
Zaynab Ansari spent a decade studying Farsi, Arabic, and traditional Islam, sitting with male and female scholars in seminaries in the Middle East, including traditional scholars in Damascus in the 1990s. Upon her return to the United States, she earned degrees in history and Middle Eastern Studies from Georgia State University. Since 2014, Zaynab Ansari has served as a scholar-in-residence for Tayseer Foundation, offering enrichment courses...
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DR. UMAR FARUQ ABD-ALLAH
Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Wymann-Landgraf) was born in 1948 to a Protestant family in Columbus, Nebraska. He grew up in Athens, Georgia, where both parents taught at the University of Georgia. His father taught Veterinary Medicine and Organic Chemistry, while his mother’s field was English. In 1964, his parents took positions at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where his grandfather had been a professor emeritus of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Abd-Allah did his undergraduate...
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DR. ZAINAB ALWANI
Dr. Zainab Alwani is the Founding Director and the first Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Howard University School of Divinity (HUSD). She is also the chair of the Master of Arts (Religious Studies) program at HUSD. Dr. Alwani received her Ph.D. in Islamic Sciences and Islamic Jurisprudence from the International Islamic University in Malaysia. Her Ph.D. dissertation focused on the implementation of the higher aims of Islamic law...

USTADH SHAD IMAM
Shad Imam is a past Board Member of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society and holds an MBA from the University of Maryland.  He organizes educational programs with visiting national and local scholars through the Qurtuba Institute and has dedicated himself to being a student of knowledge since 2000 under Imam Mohamed Magid. Professionally, Shad works as a Senior Director for Public Sector Presales at MuleSoft (a Salesforce company). He resides in Sterling, VA with his wife and four children. He attended the ALIM Summer Program in 2000 studying under Dr. Sherman Jackson, Imam Muneer Fareed and Shaikh Ali Sulaiman Ali.

DR. JONATHAN BROWN
Dr. Jonathan AC Brown is an Assistant Dr. Jonathan AC Brown is an Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He received his BA in History from Georgetown University in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2006. Dr. Brown has studied and conducted research in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Indonesia and Iran. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations...​

​DR. OVAMIR ANJUM
Dr. Ovamir Anjum is Imam Khattab Chair of Islamic Studies at the Department of Philosophy, University of Toledo. His work focuses on the nexus of theology, ethics, politics and law in classical and medieval Islam, with comparative interest in Western Thought. His interests are united by a common philosophical focus on epistemology or views of intellect/reason in various domains of Islamic thought, ranging from politics (siyasa), falsafa (Aristotelian Islamic philosophy) and spirituality (Sufism, mysticism, and asceticism). He brings this historical knowledge to bear on issues...