SPEAKERS

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[accordion-item title="▽ Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia"]

Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia was born April 2nd, 1959 in Gujarat, India. His father, Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Musa was the spiritual and intellectual disciple of the illustrious polymath and academic-activist Shaykh al-Islām Ḥusayn Ahmad al-Madanī. Shaykh Mohammed Amin began his formal Islamic educational journey shortly after having completed his O-level studies in Gloucester, England. He traveled to Gujarat, India at the age of 16 where he attended a school in the small village of Taraj and completed there the memorization of the noble Qurʾān.

For higher Islamic studies he traveled to the southern Indian city of Bangalore where he enrolled in Dār al-ʿUlūm Sabīl al-Rashād and received his theosophical initiation and instruction from the venerated Mawlānā Muḥammad Mīrān. Later, Shaykh Amīn traveled to Karachi and enrolled in the Jāmiʿat al-ʿUlūm al-Islāmiyyah in Binnori Town where, due to his intellectual acuity, was able to condense several years of study. At 20, he traveled to Dār al-ʿUlūm Deoband to study under Qārī Muḥammad Ṭayyib al-Qāsimī.

After completing his studies and returning to his home in England, Shaykh Amin worked as a professional translator and book reviewer. He relocated to Chicago in 1984 and since his arrival has served as a Muslim scholar in various capacities: as a community leader, teacher, and as an advisor for Muslim schools, organizations, and the Council of Religious Leaders of Greater Chicagoland.

Shaykh Amin founded Darul Qasim, an Islamic institution of higher academic studies, in 1998. At Darul Qasim, Shaykh Amin presently serves as Director with a trained faculty studying under and serving alongside him.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Shaykh Hashim Ahmad (Tustin, CA)"]

A former musician by profession, he grew up in Los Angeles, CA and spent his teenage years there during the 1960’s in pursuit of his musical career. During the same era the urge to acquire spiritual development and perfection continued to become more and more predominant until he finally accepted Islam in Ethiopia in 1971.

He eventually took admission at the Jami'ah Umm al-Qura in Makkah Mukarramah where he completed a degree from the Faculty of Da'wah wa Usul al-Din with specialization in the Sciences of Quran and Hadith. He thereafter was deputed by Shaykh ‘Abd al-'Aziz Bin Baz, then Chief Mufti of Saudi Arabia, as a teacher at Jami'at al-'Ulum al-Islamiyyah, Binnori Town, Karachi. He served at the Jami'at al-'Ulum al-Islamiyyah teaching various Islamic subjects in the Arabic medium from 1985-1992. From 1992 onward he taught at Madrasah 'A'ishah Siddiqah for girls in Karachi, and later at one of its branches, Madrasah Maryam.

In 1997, he began to develop a company known as Al Khair Creative Quality Ware, which specializes in “beneficial products aligned with a healthy, meaningful lifestyle”. Presently, Shaykh Hashim lectures and presents on Islamic related issues at diverse venues, along with directing “Al Khair” as the CEO of the company. He also facilitates educational and commercial organizations in assisting them in visioning, strategic planning and time management.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Shaykh Tameem Ahmadi (Fremont, CA)"]

Shaykh Tameem Ahmadi is a San Francisco Bay Area native. After initially studying at San Francisco State University he went on to pursue the higher calling of sacred knowledge. Over the greater part of the next decade, Shaykh Tameem engaged in a rigorous curriculum of religious knowledge, studying under some of the foremost scholars of North America, Africa, & South Asia. During this span Shaykh Tameem was granted numerous ijazaat, surpassing the equivalent of a masters degree, in the Islamic sciences including Fiqh, Hadith, Aqidah, Tafsir, Usul, Arabic Grammar & its Branches, Spirituality, and more. In addition, he was granted ijazah with isnad in numerous books of ahadith including the Sihhah Sittah, the 6 most authentic collections of hadith.

After completing the highly regarded Dars Nizami curriculum and being granted the Shahadah Alamiyyah (recognition of Islamic scholarship), Shaykh Tameem immersed himself in the study of the Islamic Spiritual Sciences of the Heart under the private tutelage of one of the most honorable Spiritual Masters of our time, focusing on the subject of tazkiyah & tarbiyah. Since his return to the Bay Area, Shaykh Tameem has dedicated himself to teaching and benefiting the community with what he had mastered abroad. The respected Shaykh currently heads many scholastic efforts and is a counselor and mentor for religious seekers of all ages, teaching both the dedicated student of knowledge and the casual learner. He currently resides in Fremont, CA with his family.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Shaykh Omar Hussaini (Tampa, FL)"]

Shaykh Mohammad Omar Hussaini was born in Park Ridge, IL in 1978. He grew up in the Chicagoland area where he completed the memorization of the Qur’an at the Ma’had Ta’lim ul-Islam in 1996. During his high school and college years, he concurrently began studying Arabic language and classical Islamic sciences at Ma’had Ta’lim ul-Islam. Upon graduating with a B.A. in Psychology in 2000, Shaykh Omar took nearly two years off to study sacred knowledge. In 2002, he matriculated at the UIC School of Medicine. At this time he also began his formal training in the science of spiritual purification.

Prior to his final semester in medical school, Shaykh Omar traveled to Darul Uloom Zakariyya, South Africa to further pursue Islamic studies. There in South Africa, he completed the final year of the Shari’ah course studying under such luminaries as Shaykh Radha ul-Haq, one of the leading Muftis of South Africa. In 2006, he received degrees in both Shari’ah studies and Medicine.

From 2007 to 2013, Shaykh Omar completed his medical residency in St. Louis.  During this time, he was also received formal authorization in the Islamic science of spiritual purification. Shaykh Omar is currently a staff physician at the Moffitt Cancer Center and an Assistant Professor of Oncological Sciences at the University of South Florida in Tampa where he resides. He lectures at retreats, I’tikaaf programs, universities, local and national conferences, and mosques throughout the United States and abroad on various Islamic topics. He also teaches weekly online classes in Arabic, Islamic jurisprudence, and spirituality.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Shaykh Hassan Saleh (North Hudson, NJ)"]

Speaker bio coming soon.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Qari Mohammed Ilyas"]

Speaker bio coming soon.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed"]
Minhajuddin Ahmed serves as the Principal of the Academy as well as one of the institute’s directors. Born and raised in Illinois, he memorized the entire Qurʾān at a young age. Later in life, when he reached college age, he opted to dedicate his life to Islāmic Studies and traveled to South Africa.He studied the eight-year ʿālimiyyah and iftāʾ program graduating with teaching licenses and the permission to issue fatwā in the Ḥanafī School.

Upon returning to the United States, he served as the director of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis for several years before becoming involved at Masjid DarusSalam. He oversees the administration of the institute. His passion for knowledge and dedication to providing a high-quality institute to serve the North-American Muslim community is phenomenal. Along with imparting knowledge to students in the classroom, he envisages creating a brilliant beacon of knowledge that will inspire future generations by offering an opportunity to study Islām in a way that is relevant in contemporary contexts while holding fast to tradition. Along with teaching and overseeing the institute’s administration, he serves as the imām at Masjid DarusSalam.
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[accordion-item title="▽ Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed"]
Azeemuddin Ahmed serves as director of Masjid DarusSalam. He was born and raised in the Chicagoland area. At a tender age, he memorized the Holy Qurʾān. Thereafter, he traveled to South Africa where he studied a rigorous eight-year ʿālimiyyah and iftāʾ course. During his studies, he was blessed with the opportunity to spend extensive time in the company of one of the world’s elite jurists and scholars. After graduating with top honors from South Africa, he went on to earn a BA in Psychology from Elmhurst College. He served as the director of AIA Masjid in Frankfort, Illinois from 2006 to 2012.

Azeemuddin’s dedication and passion for Islāmic education is unparalleled. He is continuously in the service of both scholars and students. An individual with sincere love for scholarship, he strives to ensure that everyone at the institute is well and benefiting from the program. His love and enthusiasm bring the classes he teaches to life, every class conveys priceless points that enrich and benefit those in attendance. As well, he serves as an associate Imām at Masjid DarusSalam.
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