Ustadha Khola Hasan (Office Director/Counsellor)

Background

• I was born in Saudi Arabia, attended primary school in Kenya, and have lived in London for most of my life.

• My writing and public speaking career began very early.  My first short book entitled “The crumbling minarets of Spain” was written at the age of 17, was later published in England, and then translated into Arabic and Urdu abroad.

• I am also a broadcaster for television and radio. A debate that I took part in 2005 with Irshad Manji for Radio 4 on “Women in Islam” later won the Sony Gold prize for Best Speech programme. I also took part in one of the renowned Doha Debates on the issue of equality for women. Sadly, I was on the losing side of the debate!

• For eight years, I worked as an Intervention Provider for the Home Office, working closely with the police, prison and social services dealing with young people being radicalized into violent extremism.

• I work at the Islamic Shariah Council, Europe’s first Shariah Council, which is based in Leyton, London.

• I contribute a blog to Imams Online.com and also have my own blog page at: Kholahasan.wordpress.com.

• I have recently enrolled into the five-year Alimiyyah programme at the As Salam Institute, which trains male and female students in the Islamic sciences, enabling them to become Imams, Islamic judges and religious leaders.

Publications include:

• “The crumbling minarets of Spain”, Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd, circa 1986.

• Translation from Urdu of “The many shades of Shirk”, Al Quran Society, 1988.

• “Social and Medical effects of consanguineous marriages within the British Mirpuri community”, Albatross Consultancy Ltd, 2009.

• An article entitled “Hijab: a symbol of Modesty or Seclusion?” in “Islam and the Veil”, edited by Theodore Gabriel and Rabiha Hannan, 2011.

• A biographical article entitled “My British Hijab” in the Muslim Institute’s journal Critical Muslim Vol. 05, January 2013.

• “The Islamic Shariah Council’s response to Baroness Cox’s Arbitration and Mediation Bill”, The Islamic Shariah Council, February 2014.

• “A Coursebook in Islam, (Volume 1)” 7th ed, Al Quran Society, 2014

My teachers include:

• Sheikh Suhaib Hasan Abdul Ghaffar

• Dr Muhammad Abdel Haleem

• Dr Masood Baderin

• Sheikh Akram Nadwi

• Dr Salah Al Ghobashi

• Professor Lynn Welchmann

• Professor Werner Menski

• Dr Ahmad Barouni