Teaching Faculty
Mufti Liaquat Ali Amod, Durban, South Africa
Mufti Liaquat was born in Howick on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa. At the age of fifteen he left South Africa for Pakistan in pursuit of sacred knowledge studying for seven years at Jami‘a Razvia, Rawalpindi. He undertook the study of various Islamic disciplines, such as Logic, Arabic Grammar, Morphology, Rhetoric, Legal Theory, Jurisprudence [Hanafi], Hadith Theory and Hadith. Some of the scholars and jurists he studied under were al-Sayyid Ghulam Muhyidin Shah Sahib, al-Sayyid Hasan Uddin Shah Sahib and Mufti Ghul Rahman. In 1978 he was accepted by Jami‘a Na‘imiyya in Lahore to embark on a Hifz and teacher training program. Upon successful completion of this he travelled to India to specialise in Ifta’ [Giving Legal Verdicts] in Manzare Islam. 1980 saw his return to Durban, South Africa, where he founded the Dar al-‘Ulum, ‘Alimia Rizvia’. Alongside teaching at ‘Alimia Rizvia he served as full time Chief Imam of Habiba Masjid for 17 years, and sat as an executive member of Jama‘atul ‘Ulema. In 2002 Mufti Liaquat became head teacher at Shah Jahan Mosque supervising the education of over 300 students. In conjunction with this he took the role of Head of Community Affairs. He works tirelessly serving the community as well as working alongside Local Authorities in education, prison service and others.
Mariam Amod, Durban, South Africa
Ustadha Mariam, daughter of Mufti Liaquat Ali Amod, was born in Durban, South Africa where she began her initial education in Qur'anic recitation. At the age of 10, she was sent to memorise the Qur'an at the Jami'a Aminah Zia-al-Banat in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. After returning to South Africa, she studied under her eminent father, Mufti Liaquat Ali Amod, and also pursued her studies of Prophetic etiquettes, Hanafi jurisprudence, tajwid and Islamic history at Crescent Girls' High school, a project initiated by Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. She furthered her study of Qur'ànic recitation in England with Shaykh Abdul Karim Morris, Ustadh Arif Abdullahi and Ustadh Tauofiq Gueddar. She has teaching experience spanning over seven years, including at the Shah Jahan Mosque, Horsell Lakeview Community Centre and continues to teach privately. She currently teaches Hanafi jurisprudence and Qur'anic recitation at the Ribat Institute.
Yasser Ahmed, Woking, UK
Ustadh Yasser began his initial religious education at the Abu Nur institute in Damascus, Syria. Initially he studied the one-year Arabic language program & thereafter for a further two years of the Arabic and Islamic Studies program. Whilst there his primary studies were supplemented with private studies in various disciplines. On returning to the UK he completed an MA in Islamic Studies from SOAS University & is currently studying a PhD in Divinity, at Cambridge University, focused on the formative period of Ash'ari speculative theology.
Mustafa Darr, London, UK
Ustadh Mustafa completed his initial Islamic education in Dar al-Ulum, Bury, Manchester, where he completed memorisation of the Qur'an by the tender age of sixteen. He subsequently enrolled onto the 'Alim program of Ebrahim College in east London, whilst also focusing on completing his A Levels. In 2007 he left the United Kingdom for Damascus, Syria where he spent three years focusing on the Arabic language, Hanafi jurisprudence, Qur'anic studies and Tajwid, which culminated with an authorised license (ijaza) in Qur'anic recitation from Shaykh Anas al-Hibri, with a certification from Shaykh Kurayyim Rajih, the Shaykh al-Qurra of Syria.
Umm Iman, London, UK
Umm Iman left the UK in 1998 with her family to study in Damascus, Syria. Her primary focus was the acquisition of Arabic and it’s various disciplines, and Tajwid. In 2001 She traveled with her family to Tarim, Yemen, where she studied at Dar al-Zahra and privately, her primary teacher being the daughter of the Mufti of Tarim, Habib ‘Ali Mash-hur b. Hafiz. She was in charge of coordinating the educational program of the Khadija Umm al-Mu’minin School of Qur’an Memorisation, working with the principal teacher of Qur’an, based on the Sudanese method of memorising utilising the wooden tablet method (al-lawh).
Umm Iman also founded and runs the Hearts of Light project for girls between 7 and 15.
Abdul Karim Morris, Liverpool, UK
Shaykh Abdul Karim was born in Liverpool, England. After successfully completing a MSc in computer science and also a PGCE, in 1998 he embarked upon the pursuit of the Islamic disciplines, studying for over seven years in the blessed land of Damascus, initially at the Abu Nur Institute. Whilst there he undertook the study of a number of classical disciplines, including Tajwid, Arabic Language, Grammar, Morphology, Rhetoric, Hadith, Jurisprudence and Theology. He studied Tajwid under Shaykh Anas Al-Hibry and Shaykh Mahir Munajjad.
Yahya Rhodus, California, USA
In 98 Ustadh Yahya traveled to Mauritania to learn from some of Mauritania's greatest scholars, including the erudite, Murabit al-Hajj. He also spent a period in Damascus, undertaking the study of Arabic language, grammar, and Qur’anic recitation. Thereafter Ustadh Yahya moved to Tarim, Yemen to further his studies at Dar al-Mustafa, studying under Habib 'Umar b. Hafiz and Habib ‘Ali al-Jifri, to mention a few. He undertook various disciplines including Hermenuetics, Hadith, Theology, Jurisprudence, Legal Theory, Prophetic biography, and Arabic. In 2005, he returned to the U.S. to teach at the Zaytuna Institute. At present Ustadh Yahya is an instructor at Zaytuna College and is pursuing a Masters Degree in Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
Fa’iz Qureshy, London UK
Educational Director
In 1998 Ustadh Fa'iz left the UK to study in Damascus, Syria, focusing on the Arabic language, Grammar, Morphology, Rhetoric, Tajwid and Hadith Terminology. In 2001 he furthered his studies in Tarim, Hadramaut, Yemen. Whilst in Yemen he studied several disciplines including Jurisprudence, Arabic, Logic, Legal Theory, Hadith and Theology. His teachers include Shaykh Salim b. Ahmad al-Khatib, Habib Kazim al-Saqqaf, Habib Hashim b. Sahl, and Shaykh Muhammad Amin al-Chinquite and the noble Habib 'Umar b. Hafiz.He has taught for the Greensville Trust and Crawley Education Institute, and has carried out pastoral work for the Prison Service. He worked for almost three years with long-term sufferers of mental health illnesses, and is currently the Imam to undertake spiritual and pastoral care in Broadmoor Hospital.
Athir Waheed, Sialkot, Pakistan
Ustadh Athir graduated with a B.Sc (Hons) in Accounting & Finance Management at the University of Surrey. He has actively pursued the acquisition of the Islamic disciplines, privately, for a number of years. His focus has been on Qur'anic studies and Arabic. He has studied tajwid with a number of teachers, including Shaykh Abdul Karim Morris, Ustadh Tauofiq Gueddar and Ustadh Zaheer of the West London School of Islamic Studies (WLSIS). He has also been studying Arabic language, grammar and morphology with Faiz Qureshy and Shaykh Abdul Karim Morris since 2006. Alongside this he is augmenting his studies in Hanafi Jurisprudence with Shaykh Yazdani Misbahi. He is an active member of his community and currently teaches Qur'anic studies at the Ribat Institute.
Teaching Assistants
Mu'azzam Zaman, Aisha Arif, Zameer Zaman, Mariam Rashad, Farah Sheikh, Areeba Rashad, Khalil Nazir, Ambar Rashad, Zeshan Qureshi, Khadija Faiz
Our teaching assistants (TA) support our teachers during the children's classes. They also support the Institute in other areas. They do a wonderful job.
