Hisham Hellyer

Dr. Hisham A. Hellyer is an internationally respected Islamic scholar, author, and academic. He earned his legal degree from the University of Sheffield and completed multidisciplinary doctoral studies in the social sciences at Warwick University. Alongside his Western academic training, Dr. Hellyer pursued traditional Islamic scholarship in the Arab world, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa, studying under renowned figures such as Tan Sri Sayyid M. Naquib al-Attas and the late Shaykh Seraj Hendricks. Following his training, Dr. Hellyer became the first and only senior scholar of South Africa’s Azzawia Institute, as designated by Shaykh Seraj Hendricks. He later joined the Centre for Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge and went on to serve as the inaugural professorial fellow in Islamic Studies at Cambridge Muslim College under Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad. In addition, he has been a fellow at the Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, and a Council Member of the British Board of Scholars and Imams. Dr. Hellyer has held academic and research roles at prestigious institutions including Harvard University, the American University in Cairo, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Brookings Institution, and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). He has written extensively, authoring seven books on topics ranging from European Muslims to Sufism, human rights, and modern Middle Eastern politics. Notable works include *Muslims of Europe: The ‘Other’ Europeans*, *A Sublime Way: The Sufi Way of the Sages of Makka*, and *The Islamic Tradition and the Human Rights Discourse*. Born to an English father and an Egyptian mother of Sudanese and Moroccan heritage, Dr. Hellyer bridges diverse cultural worlds. For six consecutive years, he has been ranked among the most influential scholars in *The Muslim 500*. Throughout his career, he continues to shape Islamic thought through education, writing, and traditional scholarship.