About
English academic, theologian and Islamic scholar known for being a proponent of Islamic neo-traditionalism. He has translated several Islamic texts. He is the Founder and Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College, Professor of Islamic Studies both at Cambridge Muslim and Ebrahim College, and the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer of Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In the 2022 edition of The 500 Most Influential Muslims, he was ranked the 45th most influential Muslim in the world.
Before Fame
He became Muslim in 1979. He went to Westminster School and then graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1983 with a double-first in Arabic. He continued his studies in Cairo, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, after which he returned to England. He studied Turkish and Persian at the University of London.
Trivia
The Cambridge Muslim College was founded in 2009 in order to train British Imams. He writes book reviews which sometimes appear in the Times Literary Supplement. He wrote the booklet Bombing Without Moonlight in 2007, which was awarded the King Abdullah I Prize for Islamic Thought. He is a contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day. He opposes extremism.
Family Life
His parents were an architect and an artist. His younger brother is football writer Henry Winter.
Associated With
He is quoted as saying that Osama bin Laden and his followers were "un-Islamic, unqualified vigilantes who violate basic Islamic teachings".
