Nuh Ha Mim Keller (born 1954) is an American Islamic scholar, teacher and author who lives in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

. He is a translator of a number of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic books.

Life and scholarship

Keller studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Keller converted to

from

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

in 1977. He has cited Islamic philosopher

Seyyed Hossein Nasr Seyyed Hossein Nasr (; fa, سید حسین نصر, born April 7, 1933) is an Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University. Born in Tehran, Nasr completed his education in Iran and the United St ...

's writings as one of the reasons for his conversion to Islam. He then began a prolonged study of the Islamic sciences with prominent scholars in Syria and Jordan and was authorized as a

shaykh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliteration of Arabic, transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonl ...

in 1996. He joined the

Shadhili The Shadhili Order ( ar, الطريقة الشاذلية) is a tariqah or Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by al-Shadhili in the 13th century and is followed by millions of people around the world. Many followers (Arabic ''murids'', "seekers") ...

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

order, becoming a disciple of the Sufi poet Sheikh ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

(from whom he received his authorization) from 1982 until his death in 2004. His English translation of ''Umdat al-Salik'', ''

Reliance of the Traveller Umdat as-Salik wa 'Uddat an-Nasik (''Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper'', also commonly known by its shorter title ''Reliance of the Traveller'') is a classical manual of fiqh for the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. ...

'', (Sunna Books, 1991) is a

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

manual of

Shariah Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

. It is the first Islamic legal work in a European language to receive the certification of

Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

. Keller released a translation of the Quran titled ''The Quran Beheld'' in 2022 which strives to provide readers with a unique sense of the high eloquence and beauty of the Quran while also maintaining the linguistic and rhetorical accuracy. In the translator's own words, "Seven key areas of meaning" were "neglected by previous translations. Such gaps result in crucial elements of the Quran’s themes, logic, arguments, message, and meanings being lost. ''The Quran Beheld'' thus uncovers matters of Arabic meaning in the Quran for the first time in English." Keller has also written numerous articles and was a regular contributor to ''

Islamica Magazine ''Islamica Magazine'' was a quarterly magazine in the United States with editorial offices in Amman, Jordan; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and London, UK, dedicated to presenting various perspectives and opinions on Islam and the Muslim world. It i ...

'' and the website masud.co.uk. Currently, Keller lives in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, where he established a '' zawiya'' (seminary) in the early 2000s. At its height, the community attending the institution is believed to have amounted to around 60 families. However, following Keller's ordering the closure of a community school in light of an internal abuse investigation, the size of the community shrank to around 20 families, according to former members. He is married to Besa Krasniqi, a scholar who is the daughter of

Mazhar Krasniqi Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi (1931–2019) was a New Zealand Muslim and Albanian community leader of Kosovar Albanian descent, businessman and human rights activist. He was both the first president of the New Zealand Albanian Civic League and Federati ...

Works

Author

* ''Evolution Theory'' ''and Islam: Letter to Suleman Ali'', 1999. *''The Concept of Bidʻa in the Islamic Shariʻa'', 1999. *''The Shadhili Tariqa: Notes from the Hashimi-

Darqawi The Darqawiyya or Darqawi Sufi order is a revivalist branch of the Shadhiliyah brotherhood which originated in Morocco. The Darqawa comprised the followers of Sheikh Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823) of Morocco. The movement, which becam ...

Order of the Tariqa of Imam Abul Hasan al-Shadhili'', 1999. *''Port in a Storm: A

Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...

Solution to the

Qibla The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the s ...

of North America'', 2001. *''Becoming Muslim'', 2001. *''Sufism and Islam'', 2002. *''Sea Without Shore: A Manual of the Sufi Path'', 2011.

Translator

* Yaḥyā Ibn-Šaraf an-Nawawī, ''Al-Nawawi's Manual of Islam (Maqāṣid)'', 1996 (latest edition in 2009). *Aḥmad Ibn-an-Naqīb al-Miṣrī, ''

: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law (ʻUmdat al-salik)'', 1994 (latest edition in 2015).
''The Quran Beheld'': ''An English Translation from the Arabic''
2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Nuh Ha Mim Place of birth missing (living people) 1954 births 20th-century scholars 21st-century scholars Asharis Sunni Sufis American Sufis Shafi'i fiqh scholars American former Christians Converts to Sunni Islam from Catholicism American expatriates in Jordan Living people Shadhili order People from Amman University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Chicago alumni 20th-century American translators 21st-century American translators