Dr. Mohammad Hashim Kamali

Born in Afghanistan in 1944, Mohammad Hashim Kamali is currently Professor of Islamic law and jurisprudence and Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. He studied law at Kabul University where he also served as Assistant Professor, and subsequently as Public Prosecutor with the Ministry of Justice. He completed his L.L.M. in comparative law, and Ph.D. in Islamic law at the University of London, 1972 and 1976 respectively. Following a period of employment with the BBC World Service, Dr. Kamali served as Assistant Professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University in Montreal, and later as a Research Associate with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He was a Visiting Professor at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio where he served as a member of International Legal Education team in 1991. He was a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study Berlin, Germany, 2000 -- 2001. He served as member of the Constitutional Review Commission of Afghanistan, May-September 2003, during which period he was appointed as member of its Executive Board and subsequently as its Interim Chairman. He is a Fellow of the International Institute of' Islamic Thought, and is currently on the International Advisory Board of nine academic journals published in Malaysia, USA, Canada, Kuwait, India and Pakistan. In May and June 2004 he served as consultant on constitutional reforms in the Maldives. He is currently a Shari’ah advisor with the Securities Commission of Malaysia. Professor Kamali has participated in over 100 national and international conferences, published 13 books and over 80 academic articles. He delivered the Prominent Scholars Lecture Series No. 20 at the Islamic Research and Training Institute in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1996. His books, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge, and K.L., 1991 & 1998); Freedom of Expression in Islam (Cambridge, and K.L., 1997 & 1998) and Freedom, Equality and Justice in Islam (Cambridge, and K.L., 2002) are used as reference books in leading English speaking universities worldwide. He received the Isma'il al-Faruqi Award for Academic Excellence twice, in 1995 and 1997, and he is listed in leading Who's Who in the World.