Academic Advisory Board

The Advisory Board of Muallimah University brings together senior scholars, jurists and academics across the disciplines we teach: uṣūl al-fiqh and iftāʾ, Qur'an, and for our language department where we teach Arabic and Somali. Their guidance keeps our curriculum and our standards anchored in the scholarly tradition.

Senior board

Prof. Dr. Muḥammad Muṣṭafā al-Zuḥaylī

Senior Advisor – Fiqh & Uṣūl

One of the foremost living authorities in Shāfiʿī fiqh and uṣūl al-fiqh.

PhD in Comparative Fiqh, al-Azhar University, first-class honours (1971)
Ranked first in Syria in the Sharīʿah secondary certificate
Degrees in both Sharīʿah and Law, Damascus University; MA in Law, Cairo University
Dean, College of Sharīʿah and Islamic Studies, University of Sharjah
Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs, Faculty of Sharīʿah, Damascus University
Professor at seven institutions across Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and the UAE, including Kuwait University and the University of Jordan
Expert, International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Jeddah
Founding member, Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America
Member, Permanent Fatwa Committee of the Emirate of Sharjah
Chairman, Permanent Sharīʿah Committee, General Secretariat of Awqāf
Member of the committee that drafted the UAE Personal Status Law
Editor-in-Chief, University of Sharjah Journal of Sharīʿah and Legal Sciences
Board of Trustees, University of Tripoli, Lebanon
Author of 58 books, including al-Muʿtamad fī al-Fiqh al-Shāfiʿī (5 vols.), al-Wajīz fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh and al-Qawāʿid al-Fiqhiyyah
Editor of al-Shīrāzī's al-Muhadhdhab (6 vols.) and Ibn al-Najjār's Sharḥ al-Kawkab al-Munīr (4 vols.)

Dr. ʿAlī Ismāʿīl al-Qudaymī

Senior Scholar – Iftāʾ

PhD in Uṣūl al-Fiqh. He trained in Shāfiʿī fiqh in Yemen, then spent five years studying with the Shinqīṭī scholars of Mauritania, receiving a comprehensive ijāzah from Shaykh Muḥammad Fāl al-Shinqīṭī. A prolific poet, he is the author of many well-known manẓūmāt across the Islamic sciences. He has one of the largest collections of recorded explanations of the sciences, with over 4,000 lessons online covering all of the Islamic sciences. He supervises our advanced iftāʾ levels.

Judge Hazzaʿ ʿAbdullāh al-Yūsufī

Senior Scholar – Qaḍāʾ & Iftāʾ

Member of the Supreme Court of Yemen with the rank of Deputy President, currently residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Former Secretary-General of the Supreme Judicial Council, with more than four decades on the bench. He holds a degree in Sharīʿah and Law (Sanaʿa University, with honours) and postgraduate diplomas in civil and criminal judiciary.

Dr. Saʿīd ʿAbduh Yaḥyā al-Waṣābī

Arabic Language & Shāfiʿī Fiqh

PhD and MA in Arabic Grammar and Morphology, both graded Excellent, from the University of the Holy Qur'an and Islamic Sciences, Sudan. Raised in the scholarly city of Zabīd and holding ijāzāt from senior Yemeni scholars, he has taught for over two decades in Yemen and Somalia. He is the author of seven works in tafsīr, Shāfiʿī fiqh, uṣūl and grammar.

Head of the Qur'an Department

Shaykha Amal ʿAbdullāh

Head of the Qur'an Department

Founder and head of Al-Qadah Schools, Shaykha Amal ʿAbdullāh is a leading expert in educational pedagogy with over 15 years of experience teaching women the Sharīʿah and the Qur'an. Her methodology is known to be strict, and it produces strong students. She oversees every student's Qur'an component.

Somali Language & Heritage Advisory

Dr. Hibo Moumin Assoweh

Somali Language & Heritage Advisor

PhD in General and Comparative Literary Studies from Paris-Sorbonne. A former Minister of Youth and Culture of Djibouti and an award-winning author specialising in Somali literature, culture and heritage.

Academic mentors

Each student is designated an academic mentor who writes her student reports and answers her questions. Students have full-time access to their mentor.

Ustadha Sireen

Academic Mentor

MA in Uṣūl al-Fiqh, Omdurman Islamic University. She gives students academic guidance and support throughout their studies.

Ustadha Maryam Khālid al-Muṭayrī

Academic Mentor

MA in Uṣūl al-Fiqh, Umm al-Qurā University, Makkah. She supports students with their studies and academic progress.

Qur'an Department

Every ʿĀlimiyyah student is tested on a minimum of four juzʾ, memorised and recited with proficiency, under Shaykha Amal ʿAbdullāh.

Advanced Iftāʾ Levels

Students engage directly with Dr. ʿAlī al-Qudaymī and Judge Hazzaʿ al-Yūsufī on real masāʾil that require a practising mufti.

Why we exist

Two problems we set out to answer

The standard of seeking knowledge

Scholars from Muslim countries have repeatedly stressed the need for students of knowledge to raise their standards, and the gap in the West is particularly noticeable. Serious Islamic study requires structure, discipline, strong foundations and a clear path of progression.

Opportunities for women

There are very few female-only Islamic institutes, and fewer still that provide a complete pathway for a sister to begin with no previous studies and progress towards becoming a capable researcher and teacher. For those who reach and successfully complete our Iftāʾ level, this pathway extends into advanced Islamic scholarship.

Our philosophy

Women teaching women

Muallimah University is a fully online, female-only Islamic studies institute offering a complete pathway from Level 0 through to Iftāʾ.

Our aim is not simply to provide more classes. Our aim is to produce muallimāt.

With the support of our team and the scholars overseeing our work, we aim to supply Muslim communities across the West with knowledgeable and capable female teachers. Women who can teach other women, understand the realities they face, and have the academic grounding and competence to address the needs and issues of their communities.