Ovamir Anjum Explained
Ovamir Anjum is a Pakistani-American academic. He is the Imam Khattab Chair of Islamic Studies at the Department of Philosophy, University of Toledo.[1] He is the editor-in-chief at the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic studies and the founder of the Ummatics Institute. He studies the connections between theology, ethics, politics, and law in classical and medieval Islam, with an emphasis on its comparisons with western thought.[2] His related fields of study include Islamic philosophy and Sufism.[2]
Early life and education
One of the formative influences on me growing up was to be shaken by the burning of Karachi in the ’80s, which began in the name of ethnic discrimination, and I saw the city go to flames. I have hated ethnic riots and demagoguery with a passion since.[3]
Anjum was born in
Karachi, Pakistan, into a family of
Muhajir background and grew up in the
Persian Gulf region before moving to the United States at age 18.
[4] He completed a masters in social sciences from the
University of Chicago and a masters in computer science from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
[2] He obtained his Ph.D. in Islamic intellectual history at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation, published in 2012 by
Cambridge University Press, is entitled
Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment.
[5]
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
He believes that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is heretical and run by poorly educated imams stating that "their claim of being a caliphate is a joke" and that "If you’re actually learned in the Islamic tradition you would know that these people are heretics. It’s like saying the KKK is Christian."[6]
Work
Books
- Politics, Law and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Movement (CUP, 2012)
Translations
- Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Ranks of the Divine Seekers: A Parallel English Arabic Text (Madarij al-Salikeen) (Brill, 2020)
Papers
- "Is Contagion Real? Giving Context to Prophetic Wisdom" (Yaqeen, April 16, 2020)[7]
- "Who Wants the Islamic Caliphate?" (Yaqeen, October 31, 2019)[8]
Notes and References
- Web site: Religious Studies Faculty, Department of Philosophy. University of Toledo. 10 May 2013.
- Web site: Ovamir Anjum Biography. University of Toledo. 10 May 2013.
- https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/download/812/140/1011
- Book: Ovamir Anjum. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 35:1. 21 February 2018. International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). 66–68. GGKEY:K67P7GX8KKT. ...I was born in Pakistan and grew up in the Gulf before coming to the US at eighteen. My ancestors came from Northern India where they had come, if one is to trust the tradition of family names, from Arab heritage..
- Book: Anjum, Ovamir. Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment. 2012. Cambridge University Press. 978-1107014060.
- https://www.toledoblade.com/Religion/2015/11/22/Clerics-challenge-ISIS-view-of-Islam.html Toledo Blade: "Clerics challenge ISIS’ view of Islam - Local imams denounce terrorism" by Tom Troy
- Web site: Anjum . Ovamir . Is Contagion Real? Giving Context to Prophetic Wisdom . Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research . 23 December 2020.
- Web site: Anjum . Ovamir . Who Wants the Caliphate? . Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research . 23 December 2020.
