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Dr Shehzad Saleem

Dr Shehzad Saleem Islamic Scholar Al Mawrid

About

Dr Shehzad Saleem (Urdu: شہزاد سلیم ), born in 1966, is an Islamic researcher. He has a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from UET Lahore, Pakistan and holds a Ph.D. in the History of the Quran from the University of Wales, UK.

Dr Shehzad Saleem studied religion under the tutelage of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi. He remained Associate Fellow from 1992-2008 and Fellow from 2008 till date of Al-Mawrid, A Foundation for Islamic Research and Education, Lahore, Pakistan (www.al-mawrid.org).

Dr Shehzad Saleem has authored books on Islam, Quran, Hadith and Character Building. He has also translated some works of famous Islamic scholars and exegetes Amin Ahsan Islahi and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi into English.

Books Authored

  1.  A New Economic Framework
  2. Common Misconceptions about Islam
  3. Playing God: Misreading a Divine Practice
  4. Islam and Women: Misconceptions and Misperceptions
  5. Essays on Character Building, Lessons on Character Building
  6. Qur’an Workshops on Character Building (including a separate Teachers Guide)
  7. Lessons on Character Building
  8. Selections from the Qur’an
  9. Selections from the Bible
  10. Selections from the Hadith
  11. Introduction to the Quran: Insights from Javed Aḥmad Ghamidi
  12. A Treasury of Prayers from Quran and Ḥadith
  13. The Good Human (Essays on Self-Improvement)
  14. Modern Challenges to Parenting: Reflections of a Concerned Parent
  15. History of The Qur’an a Concise Study
  16. History of the Quran: A Critical Study
  17. From the Core of My Heart (poems)
  18. پيغمبر انسانيت کےاخلاق و عادات

He has also compiled a modular textbook on Qur’anic Studies, which was taught by him to graduate students (1999-2001). The textbook is available in course format at www.studying-islam.org.. It comprises course topics as: Revelation of the Qur’an, Theme of the Qur’an, History of the Qur’an, Arrangement of the Qur’an, Language of the Qur’an, Interpreting the Qur’an.

Translations

He has translated some works of Amin Ahsan Islahi (d. 1997) and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi into English. These include:

  1. Al-Islam (Islam: A Concise Introduction)
  2. Volumes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Tadabbur Qur’an.
  3. Selected Essays of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi
  4. Mizan (Islam: A Comprehensive Introduction)
  5. Al Bayan (Annotated Qur’an translation)

Questions & Answers

His answers to various questions received about Islam can also be accessed at the Renaissance website Here.

Online Work

  1. Dr Shehzad Saleem is the Founding Editor of the monthly Islamic journal, Renaissance which was initiated in 1991. In 1999, its website www.monthly-renaissance.com. was launched. Besides regular issues, special issues on Islam and Non-Muslims: A New Perspective, Islam and Women, Political Directives of Islam, Economic Directives of Islam, Understanding Islamic Punishments and Collection of the Qur’an have been published.
  2. He founded an Islamic Query Service (IQS) in 1997-2003, an email based service meant to answer questions on or about Islam. By 2003, more than 3000 questions had been answered by this service.
  3. In 1998 Dr Shehzad launched a comprehensive distance learning program for Al-Mawrid . It was well received in an era where online religious education was not that common.
  4. He also launched the Studying Islam www.studying-islam.org. website in 2003, which offers online courses on Islam in English and in Urdu. Currently, there are over fifteen thousand registered students from around the globe and about 50 courses on Islam in English and Urdu.
  5. He also set up websites about the life and works of the Qur’anic scholars Hamid Uddin Farahi www.hamid-uddin-farahi.org. and Amin Ahsan Islahi www.amin-ahsan-islahi.org. in 2010 and 2004 respectively
  6. Dr Shehzad launched a website Tadabbur i Qur’an www.tadabbur-i-quran.org on the exegesis of Amin Aḥsan Iṣlaḥi (1904-1997), a Qur’anic scholar of the sub-continent in 2013.
  7. He also founded a website on the Biblical scholar Abdus Sattar Ghauri (1935-2014). www.abdus-sattar-ghauri.org. in 2014

Presentations

Dr Shehzad Saleem has lectured in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Pakistan. Some important topics include:

  1. Critical History of the Quran
  2. Misconceptions about Women in Islam
  3. Interfaith dialogue
  4. Selected Biblical Verses
  5. Question on the Quran by Serious Students
  6. Misconceptions about Islam
  7. Muhammad (sws): The Misunderstood Prophet of Islam
  8. Marriage and Married Life
  9. Basic Morality
  10. Islam and Islamic Welfare State
  11. Misconceptions about Divorce in Islam
  12. Misconceptions regarding Jihad of the Companions of the Prophet (sws)
  13. Imbalanced Religious Attitudes
  14. Intellectual Freedom and Critical Thinking
  15. Parenting
  16. Challenges faced by the Youth of Today
  17. The Mind of a Muslim Militant

He has also conducted several activity-based Quranic Workshops for adults and sessions on Character Building and Personality Development for teenagers. Topics include:

  1. Charity
  2. Pride and Arrogance
  3. Remembering God
  4. Civic Sense
  5. Kindness to Parents
  6. Gratitude
  7. Forgiveness
  8. Moral Courage
  9. Truthfulness
  10. Showing Off
  11. Humility
  12. Sympathy
  13. Sinful Speech
  14. Honesty
  15. Justice

Special Area Of Interest

Dr Shehzad Saleem recently (2018) completed an eighteen year research work on the History of the Quran, a part of which constituted his doctoral thesis (the thesis portion is available Here).The work addresses some nagging questions related to the revelation, collection and transmission of the Quran. These questions include narratives found in our legacy on the alleged incompleteness of the Quran, scribal errors found in it, its variant readings, chronology of its compilation, order of the surahs, and manuscript studies.