Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (born Wymann-Landgraf; born 1948) is an American

Islamic theologian Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding ''ʿaqīdah'' (creed). The main schools of Islamic Theology include the Qadariyah, Falasifa, Jahmiyya, Murji'ah, Muʿtazila, Batin ...

, author, Sufi spiritual guide, and educator.

Biography

Umar Faruq Abd-Allah was born in 1948 in

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

to a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

family. He was raised in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Georgia, where both of his parents worked as tutors at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. He received his PhD on the origins of Islamic law from 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 ...

. Abd-Allah began his career as a teacher of Arabic and Islamic Studies and taught at different institutions in the United States and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He left America in 1982 to teach Arabic in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Two years later, he was appointed to King Abdul-Aziz University's Department of Islamic Studies in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

, where he conducted courses on Islamic studies and comparative religion for many years. He studied under numerous traditional scholars during his stay in Jeddah. In 2000, he returned to the United States to serve the Nawawi Foundation in Chicago, where he had spent over a decade. From 2002 to 2013, he taught Islamic Studies at Darul Qasim Institute in Chicago.

Works

* ''A Muslim in Victorian America: The Life of Alexander Russell Webb (2006)'' * ''Mālik and Medina: Islamic Legal Reasoning in the Formative Period (2013)''Reviews of ''Mālik and Medina: Islamic Legal Reasoning in the Formative Period'': * * El Shamsy, Ahmed (2014). Ilahiyat Studies, Volume 5, Number 1 * Syed, Mairaj. Islamic Law and Society 22(3):301-307 * Dean, J (2014) Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie religieuses Année 2014 94-4 p. 489 * Lucas, Scott C. (2017). Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 137, No. 3 (July–September 2017), pp. 627-629 * ''The Islamic struggle in Syria (1983)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abd‐Allah, Umar Faruq 20th-century Muslim theologians American religion academics American Islamic studies scholars American non-fiction writers 21st-century Muslim theologians Living people 1948 births Muslim scholars of Islamic studies

Biography

Works

See also

References