Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller was born in the northwestern United States in 1954.  He read philosophy and classical Arabic at the University of Chicago and UCLA, and became Muslim in 1977. He was a disciple in the Shadhili order of the Sufi master and poet Sheikh ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri of Damascus from 1982 until the latter’s death in 2004, and was authorized as a sheikh in the order by Sheikh ‘Abd al-Rahman in 1996. He has studied Shafi’i and Hanafi jurisprudence, hadith, and other subjects with traditional scholars in the Middle East, and in the 1980s, under the tutelage of Islamic scholars in Syria and Jordan, produced Reliance of the Traveller, the first translation of a standard Islamic legal reference in a European language to be certified by al-Azhar, the Muslim world’s oldest institution of higher learning. Among his works and translations are Becoming Muslim, Sufism in Islam, al-Maqasid: Imam Nawawi’s Manual of Islam, Invocations of the Shadhili Order, Port in a Storm: A Fiqh Solution to the Qibla of North America, an illuminated calligraphic edition of Dala’il al Khayrat, and Sea Without Shore. He has traveled and lectured on Islam extensively, and he writes and teaches in Amman, where he has lived since 1980.

This biography was taken from Sea Without Shore.

Dr. Ashraf formally began his Shari’a studies in Damascus in 1997, and graduated with honors from the Mahad al-Fath in 2003, as well as privately studied several books in methodology & Hanafi fiqh with Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi; Hanafi fiqh, hadith and hadith sciences with Shaykh Adnan Darwish; Hanafi fiqh with Shaykh Abdul Rahman Arjan; tenets of faith with Shaykh Mustafa al-Turkmani; hadith with Dr. Nureddin al-’Itr; and hadith sciences with Shaykh Bassam al-Hamzawi. Later in Amman, he completed studying inheritance law with Shaykh Ali Hani.

In 2006, he received his MA in Islamic Studies (Problems in Family Law for Muslims in the United States) with honors from Imam al-Ouzai, Beirut, and in 2008, his PhD with distinction in Islamic Studies (Effects of Family Law on Muslims in the United States). With his wife, Hedaya Hartford, he has co-authored Your Islamic Marriage Contract; a critical edition and commentary of Risala al-Birgivi in Arabic; and Birgivi’s Manual Interpreted in English.

Dr. Ashraf was recognized in 2010 as a certified Shariah auditor and advisor by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). This is the highest certificate given by AAOIFI, the most notable authority in the field of Islamic finance.

Dr. Ashraf has decades of work experience in addition to being a senior instructor of the Islamic sciences. As a civil engineer in Cairo, Egypt, he worked for Bechtel and multiple projects for the United States for International Development (USAID).  He served as the Academic Director of the Qasid Institute for Classical Arabic in Amman from 2004-2007.  He currently lives in Amman, where he is a senior instructor and academic adviser for Qibla.com.

This biography was taken from Qibla.com.

Born and raised in New Zealand, and of Albanian descent, Umm Sahl left with her family to live in Turkey in 1982, where she met her first sheikh in tasawwuf, Ihsan Effendi of Zeytinburnu, Istanbul, whose student she remained until his death in 1991. In 1983, she traveled to Egypt to study Arabic, where she lived for three years. In 1986, she married her husband Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller and moved to Amman, Jordan.

She studied Hanafi Fiqh and hadith terminology with Sheikh Shuayb Arnaut; Hanafi Fiqh and ‘Aqida with Sheikh Ahmad al-Jammal; Tajwid with Sheikh Ibrahim Rumana; and for the last 10 years, she has been studying Tafsir, Arabic grammar, Balagha, and Islamic Inheritance with Sheikh ‘Ali Hani. In 1992, she joined the Shadhili tariqa of Sheikh Abdur-Rahman ash-Shaghouri, and was his student until his death in 2004. At present, she studies and teaches, aids her husband in his translation projects, and helps run the Zawiya of Abul Hasan ash-Shadhili in Amman.

This biography was taken from thesilainitiative.org.

Ustadha Hedaya Hartford is known for her Sharia expertise on women’s issues regarding the fiqh of menstruation, lochia, marriage, divorce, and modern social issues. Born and raised in California, she holds a Bachelors of Arts in Arabic and Islamic History & Culture from the University of California, Berkeley. She converted to Islam in 1981.

In Egypt, Ustadha Hedaya studied for many years with Azhari scholars. She completed the second year of Shariah at al-Azhar; studied Hanafi fiqh with Dr. Abdul Aziz Izzat and Shaykh Fahmi Abdullah; and studied Aqida with Shaykh Abdul Aziz Batishti. In Damascus, Syria, she studied several books in Usul & Hanafi fiqh including the Risala al-Birgivi (Imam Birgivi’s manual on menstruation) with Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi; Hanafi fiqh, hadith and hadith sciences with Shaykh Adnan Darwish; Hanafi fiqh including Risala al-Birgivi with Shaykh Abdul Rahman Arjan; and menstruation and related issues according to the Shafi’i madhab with Shaykh Hussein Darwish, Anisa Hanan Da’doosh and Dr. Mustafa Khin. In Amman, Jordan, she studies Hanafi fiqh with Shaykh Ahmad al-Jammal and tafsir with Shaykh Ali Hani.

A teacher and translator, Ustadha Hedaya currently lives with her husband Shaykh Ashraf Muneeb in Amman, Jordan, where she is a senior instructor for Qibla.com. She has written Islamic Marriage; Your Islamic Marriage Contract; a critical edition and commentary of Risala al-Birgivi in Arabic; and Birgivi’s Manual Interpreted: Complete Fiqh of Menstruation & Related Issues in English. Her major areas of interest are fiqh concerning women issues, marriage and divorce; inheritance law; and personal counseling.

This biography was taken from Qibla.com.

BIRMINGHAM, UK

• University of Wales College of Medicine, Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
• MRCGP (Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners) (London)
• DCH (Diplomate of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) (London)
• DRCOG (Diplomate of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) (London)
• Chairman of Trustees of The Birmingham Shadhiliya Trust

HYDERABAD, INDIA

• Osmania University, Nizam College, BA
• University of London, LLB
• Barrister-at-Law (Lincoln’s Inn)
• Member of Parliament (MP), India Lok Sabha
• President,  All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen

Lahore, Pakistan

• B.A. Economics and Political Science (Michigan/London School of Economics)
  Juris Doctorate (Harvard)
  Advocate High Court
• Islamabad High Court Bar Association
  Punjab Bar Council
  New York Bar Association

TORONTO, CANADA