Lecturers

Mufti [Abu Abdillah] Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari is a young, traditionally trained scholar who studied in different parts of the world. Born in Leicester, UK, and raised under the guidance of his illustrious father, Shaykh Mawlana Adam, he started learning about Islam from a very young age and memorized the entire Qur’an at a very tender age of nine. He initially studied the Arabic language and various other traditional Islamic sciences including Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir), Hadith and Fiqh at Dar al-Uloom, Bury, UK, under many Shuyukh notably: Shaykh Muhammad Yusuf Motala and the late Shaykh al-Hadith Islam ul Haq, and thus received authorizations (ijazahs) in various books including the six major collections of Hadith. He also received Ijazah in Hadith from the late Grand Mufti of India, Shaykh Mahmud al-Hasan Gangohi, and underwent a one year course of specialization in the science of issuing religious verdicts (Fatwa).

After graduating from the Dar al-Uloom, he travelled to Karachi, Pakistan, where he studied under one of the greatest living scholars, Justice (Rtd) Shaykh Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani and others, and received authorizations. Later, he travelled to Damascus, Syria, where he increased in experience and knowledge by studying under the great Ulama there and received authorizations (ijazahs) from Shaykh Abd al-Razzaq al-Halabi, Shaykh Dr. Abd al-Latif Farfur al-Hasani and others.

His authored books include: Islamic Guide to Sexual Relations, Birth Control & Abortion in Islam, The Issue of Shares and Simplified Rules of Zakat. He has also published Shaykh Zakariyya Kandahlawi’s Wujub I’fa’ al-Lihya (The obligation of growing a beard) and Shaykh Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri’s Mabahith fi Aqa’id Ahl al-Sunna aka: Al-Muhannad ala‘l-Mufannad (Discussions in the beliefs of the Ahl al-Sunna), both with critical analysis and footnotes in Arabic. He is also widely known for his detailed and well-researched fiqh related articles which can be found at www.daruliftaa.com.

The Shaykh has taught many courses and lectured extensively on a range of topics, and continues to travel regularly teaching and lecturing both in the UK and abroad. Many of his lessons and lectures are available free in the Audio Visual section of the Darul Iftaa website, including the 22 part series on Islamic Manners conducted from Shaykh Abdul-Fattah Abu Ghudda’s Min Adab al-Islam, 18 part series on the Virtues & Fiqh of Ramadan and the 8 part series on the 10 Things of Natural Disposition (fitra). He has also released a 19 CD audio set titled: The Fiqh of Marriage, which is widely available.

Presently, he resides in Leicester, UK, where he is a teacher of various traditional Islamic sciences at Jamiah Uloom al-Qur’an, and Director and researcher at the Institute of Islamic Jurisprudence (Darul Iftaa, www.daruliftaa.com).  He is a Board Member of the Al-Qalam Shari’ah Scholars Panel, established to meet the growing demand from Muslim consumers and businesses for authentic, professional, Shari’ah based guidance, and an Advisory Member of the Islamic Medical Ethics Forum (IMEF). He is also a Shari’ah Advisor for Habib Bank AG Zurich, UK - Islamic Banking department.

Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera has been studying the traditional Islamic sciences and writing scholarly works for most of his life. He completed the bulk of his studies at Darul Uloom Bury, North England, where he memorized the Qur’an by the age of fifteen and thereafter went on to complete a rigorous, six-year Shari‘a program. He graduated from this program with authentic certifications (ijaza) in numerous Islamic disciplines, including Arabic, Islamic jurisprudence, and hadith (with particular emphasis on the six canonical collections of hadith (Sihah Sitta) and the Muwattas of Imam Malik and Imam Muhammad. His teachers at Darul Uloom Bury included Shaykh Yusuf Motala and other students of Shaykh al-Hadith Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi.

Upon graduation, he traveled to South Africa, where he attended Madrasah Zakariyyah part-time to gain specialized training in answering legal questions (ifta’) under Mufti Rada al-Haq. While in South Africa, he also completed a Bachelor or Arts (with honors) in Islamic Studies at Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, under the supervision of Professor Abdul Rahman I. Doi.

He then traveled to Syria, where he received a second certification in Qur’anic recitation and memorization, this time from Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Halabi, who possessed a short, unbroken chain of transmission (sanad) to the Messenger of Allah (upon him be peace). Additionally, he received a certification from Shaykh Adib Kallas after reading Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari’s Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar and attending lectures on other classical texts of Islamic creed (‘aqida).

After his trip to Syria, he traveled to Saharanpur, India, where he received a formal authorization to issue legal rulings (fatawa), which required a close study of part or all of a number of classical jurisprudential texts, including, among others, Ibn Nujaym’s Al-Ashbah wa ’l-naza’ir and ‘Allama Haskafi’s Al-Durr al-mukhtar (along with its gloss, Radd al-muhtar, by ‘Allama Ibn ‘Abidin al-Shami). During this time, Shaykh Abdur-Rahman also attended classes on the principles of hadith (usul al-hadith), studying ‘Allama Lakhnawi’s Al-Raf ‘ wa ’l-takmil fi ’l-jarh wa ’l-ta’dil and parts of Imam Suyuti’s Tadrib al-rawi.

Shaykh Abdur-Rahman attained additional certifications in hadith from such great scholars as Shaykh Muhaddith Habib al-Rahman al-A‘zami (through his student Shaykh Mufti Zayn al-‘Abidin), Shaykh Abu ’l-Hasan ‘Ali Nadwi, and Shaykh Muhammad al-‘Awwama. May Allah continue to bless those of his teachers who are still alive and have mercy on those who have passed on to the next.

To date, Shaykh Abdur-Rahman has authored the highly popular

(1996) and co-authored

(1995). He also published

(1996), a translation and commentary of the Arabic work Zad al-Talibin, a collection of short hadiths compiled by Mawlana 'Ashiq Ilahi from ‘Allama Tibrizi’s Mishkat al-Masabih. This work has recently been revised and republished in an extended edition. His latest published work is

(2004), a translation of Al-Istighfarat al-Munqidha min al-Nar, a collection of seventy prayers for forgiveness of Imam Hasan al-Basri. Additionally, Shaykh Abdur-Rahman has completed an unpublished translation of Imam Abu Hanifa’s Al-Fiqh al-Akbar, along with its commentary, written by ‘Allama Maghnisawi, with notes from Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari’s larger commentary (now published).

Sheikh Hasan was born and brought up in the West Midlands. His Islamic education began with the memorisation of the Qur'an followed by learning the Arabic language together with many other sciences. In 1997, after nine years of studying the Islamic Sciences, he completed his Aalimiyyah (MA Islamic Studies eqv), graduating from the famous Madrasah Qasim Al-Uloom, in Sylhet Bangladesh (Dargah Madrasah) where he came first in the entire regional board among thousands of candidates. Sheikh Hasan also has an MA in Educational Psychology from the Institute of Education, University of London.

Following his graduation, he served as the Imam of the London Islamic Cultural Society in North London for several years, where he set up the excellent Safar Academy, a weekend Islamic School which he still runs to this day. Between 2000 and 2003 he was the Imam, Head of Islamic Studies and Head of Arabic Studies at Yusuf Islam's Brondesbury College for Boys in Kilburn, North London. In 2003, he was among the founding team of scholars, who set up Ebrahim College in East London where he is now a member of the board of Directors, and also teaches Philosophy of Religion, Usul al-Fiqh, Tafsir of the Quran and Islamic History. He is also well known in the community for being an inspirational speaker on a wide range of topics at masjids, universities, colleges and in the media both in the UK and abroad.