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.

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.

Dr. Albakri Ahmad is dean of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, MUIS) Academy and senior director of capacity building for MUIS. Ahmad has previously served with the council in a variety of capacities, including as director of corporate development and education and director of religious development and research. He also represents MUIS on Singapore's Working Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony. Ahmad holds a Ph.D. in cybernetics from Liverpool 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.

Dr. Syed Farid Alatas is professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore, where he has been since 1992. His areas of interest are sociological theory, the philosophy of social science, the sociology of religion, and interreligious dialogue. Alatas previously taught at the University of Malaya in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies. A Malaysian national, he obtained his Ph.D. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University in 1991.

Dr. Clare Amos is a director and trustee for the Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association. In early 2018 she retired from her role as program executive for interreligious dialogue and cooperation with the World Council of Churches. She is also a former coordinator of the Network for Inter Faith Concerns in the Anglican Communion (NIFCON) and has worked for the Middle East Council of Churches and the Near East School of Theology. In 2012, the-Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams awarded her a Lambeth Doctorate in Divinity.

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.