Building Bridges Seminar

Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem is the King Fahd Professor of Islamic Studies and director of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University, as well as editor of the Journal of Qur’anic Studies. Born in Egypt, he learned the Qur’an by heart during childhood. Haleem has published two translations of the Qur'an: The Qur'an: English Translation with Parallel Arabic Text (2010) and The Qur'an: A New Translation (2004). He has also published several other works in this field, including Understanding the Qur’an: Themes and Style (2001) and, together with Elsaid M. Badawi, Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage (2008).

Amin Abdullah is a professor of philosophy at Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where he previously served as rector. He was vice chairman of Muhammadiyah's governing board from 2000 to 2005. He is the author of numerous books, including Religious Education in a Multi-Cultural and Multi-Religious Era. In his work Abdullah distinguishes normative Islam from historical Islam and advocates a new path in Islamic philosophy of knowledge that is open to dialogue and integration with many different sources of knowledge. His Ph.D. in Islamic philosophy is from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and he has conducted postdoctoral study at McGill University.

Alparslan Acikgenc is director of postgraduate studies at Yildiz Technical University. He previously was professor of philosophy and dean at Fatih University in Istanbul, Turkey. He has also taught at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, the University of Chicago, Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Kuala Lumpur, and the University of Jordan. He earned his B.A. at Ankara University, his M.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Turkish Philosophical Association and an honorary member of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences.

Asma Afsaruddin is a professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, Bloomington. She specializes in the religious and political thought of Islam, Qur’an and hadith, Islamic intellectual history, and gender. In addition to numerous articles, her books include Contemporary Issues in Islam (2015); Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought and Praxis (2013); Islam, the State and Political Authority: Medieval Issues and Modern Concerns (2011); and The First Muslims: History and Memory (2008). Afsaruddin is a member of the academic council of Georgetown's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and of the American Academy of Liberal Education's board of trustees. She has received research funding from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York, which named her a Carnegie Scholar in 2005. Afsaruddin earned her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University and previously taught at the University of Notre Dame and Harvard University.

Seyed Amir Akrami is an Iranian scholar with research interests that include​Islamic philosophy and interreligious relations. Currently based at the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (Tehran), he was a visiting professor at the Eastern Mennonite University Center for Interfaith Engagement from 2012 to 2015. He has also been a lecturer at the Al-Mahdi Institute in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and a member of the Iranian Institute of Philosophy. Akrami holds a B.A. in Islamic studies, M.A. in religion and mysticism, and Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion.

Denis Alexander is emeritus director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge. As a molecular biologist, Alexander previously served as an associate professor of biochemistry at the American University of Beirut and in a variety of senior positions at the Babraham Institute, including chair of the Molecular Immunology Programme; he also worked for the Imperial Cancer Research Laboratories (now Cancer Research UK). He is the editor of the journal Science Christian Belief, as well as the author of Rebuilding the Matrix: Science and Faith in the 21st Century (2001) and Beyond Belief: Science, Faith and Ethical Challenges (2004, with Robert White). Alexander holds a Ph.D. in neurochemistry from the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London.

John Azumah is a professor of world Christianity and Islam and the director of international programs at Columbia Theological Seminary. He specializes in Islam and Christian-Muslim relations and is interested in Islamic and Christian theology of religions, missions, and missiology. Previously the director for the Centre of Islamic Studies at the London School of Theology, he has taught in theological seminaries in India, South Africa, and Ghana and was a research fellow at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Ghana. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Azumah earned his Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham.

Osman Bakar is a distinguished professor and the director of the Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Centre for Islamic Studies at University Brunei Darussalam. His interests include Islamic theology and philosophy, as well as interfaith dialogue. An emeritus professor of philosophy of science at the University of Malaya's Department of Science and Technology Studies, he also founded the university’s Center for Civilizational Dialogue and served as a deputy vice chancellor. Other previous positions include the Malaysia Chair of Southeast Asian Islam at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and deputy chief executive officer of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies in Malaysia. He was a member of the Council of 100 Leaders of the World Economic Forum's West-Islamic World Initiative for Dialogue. Bakar earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of London and doctorate in Islamic philosophy from Temple University.