Professor Jasser Auda is a scholar of Islamic legal theory, especially the higher purposes (maqasid) of the Islamic law. He is the President of Maqasid Institute Global, a think tank registered in the USA, UK, Malaysia and Indonesia, a Visiting Professor at the Centre for the Study of Islam at Carleton University, Canada, a Visiting Professor at the Rule of Law Institute, Faculty of Law, Loyola University Chicago, and Al-Shatibi Chair for Maqasid Studies at the International Peace University in South Africa.
He is a Founding and Board Member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, an Executive Member of the Fiqh Council of North America, a Member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, and a Fellow of the Fiqh Academy of India. He has a PhD in the philosophy of Islamic law from the University of Wales, UK, and a PhD in systems analysis from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Early in his life, he memorized the Qur’an and undertook traditional studies at the Study Circles of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt. He worked previously as a professor at the universities of Waterloo and Ryerson in Canada, Alexandria University in Egypt, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Qatar, American University of Sharjah, UAE, and University of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei. Professor Auda lectured on Islam and its law in dozens of countries, and wrote 25 books in Arabic and English, some of which were translated to 25 languages.’