The connection between Cambridge, Islam and Scholarship goes back many centuries with many prominent scholars studying and teaching from within this historic university city.

In 1632, Cambridge University established the Professorship in Arabic by Sir Thomas Adam, and through the ages, many prominent scholars on Islam have taught at Cambridge including Edward Palmer, Edward Granville Brown, Reynold Nicholson and Arthur Arberry.

Reynold Nicholson taught Muhammad Iqbal at Cambridge. Nicholson also translated Kashf al Mahjub by Ali al Hujwiri and the Mathnawi by Jalaluddin Rumi. Arthur Arberry translated the Qur’an into English and his translation is regarded by many authorities as one of the best translations. Abdullah Yusuf Ali was also at Cambridge, as a student of law at St John’s College.

Shaykh Abdul Wadod Shalabi (1925-2008), former Deputy Shaykh al-Azhar, received his doctorate from Cambridge University in 1976. Chaudhry Rahmat Ali (1895-1951), founder of the Pakistan Movement and author of the Pakistan Declaration read law at Emmanuel College. Shaykh Ahmad Bullock, first English Imam, studied at Pembroke College during the Second World War.

Other Cambridge Muslim alumni include the economist Mahbub ul Haq, founder of the Human Development Report, and Yusuf Hamied, a pioneer in providing cheaper accutane medicines for the developing world.

The University of Cambridge is one of the leading educational institutions in the world, and today, the Islamic Society at the University numbers in the hundreds, with representation from British Muslim communities, as well as from across the world. There is also a sizeable presence of Muslim academics across the faculties of the University.

Cambridge is home to a growing and active Muslim community, including local residents, and students and visitors from all over the UK and the world. More than a thousand people regularly pray jum’ah at the city’s mosques, and student Islamic societies thrive at both Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin University. The City is also home to Europe’s first eco-friendly mosque, Cambridge Central Mosque, which was opened to the public on 24 April 2019.

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