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{{Short description|UCLA professor of law, Islamic studies}}{{like resume|date=August 2022}}

factoids

| birth_place = Kuwait City, Kuwait| death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = Yale UniversityPrinceton UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania Law School| school_tradition = Islamic Modernism, Liberalism and progressivism within Islam| occupation = Professor of Law, UCLA School of LawIslamic scholar| notable_ideas = | major_works = The Search for Beauty in Islam: Conference of the Books (2001)| influences = Muhammad al-Ghazali| influenced = | discipline = Philosophy| sub_discipline = Islamic philosophy}}Khaled Abou el Fadl (, {{IPA-arz|ˈxæːled abolˈfɑdl|IPA}}) (born October 23, 1963) is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law where he has taught courses on International Human Rights, Islamic jurisprudence, National Security Law, Law and Terrorism, Islam and Human Rights, Political Asylum, and Political Crimes and Legal Systems. He is also the founder of the Usuli Institute, a non-profit public charity dedicated to research and education to promote humanistic interpretations of Islam, as well as the Chair of the Islamic Studies Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.WEB,www.international.ucla.edu/person.asp?Facultystaff_ID=429,www.international.ucla.edu/person.asp?Facultystaff_ID=429," title="web.archive.org/web/20140102192648www.international.ucla.edu/person.asp?Facultystaff_ID=429,">web.archive.org/web/20140102192648www.international.ucla.edu/person.asp?Facultystaff_ID=429, dead, UCLA - International Institute ..::.. Error, January 2, 2014, www.international.ucla.edu, He has lectured on and taught Islamic law in the United States and Europe in academic and non-academic environments since approximately 1990.Abou El Fadl is the author of numerous books and articles on topics in Islam and Islamic law. He has appeared on national and international television and radio, and published in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Review. His work has been translated into several languages including Arabic, Persian, Indonesian, French, Norwegian, Dutch, Russian, Vietnamese and Japanese.

Education

Abou El Fadl holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic law from Princeton University. Abou El Fadl also has 13 years of instruction in Islamic jurisprudence, grammar and rhetoric in Egypt and Kuwait. After law school, he clerked for Arizona Supreme Court Justice James Moeller, and practiced immigration and investment law in the U.S. and the Middle East. He previously taught Islamic law at the University of Texas School of Law at Austin, Yale Law School and Princeton University.WEB,www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/all-faculty-profiles/professors/Pages/khaled-abou-el-fadl.aspx, UCLA School of Law Faculty Profile: Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, 2012-07-16, 2014-01-25,www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/all-faculty-profiles/professors/Pages/khaled-abou-el-fadl.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20140125223931www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/all-faculty-profiles/professors/Pages/khaled-abou-el-fadl.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20140125223931www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/all-faculty-profiles/professors/Pages/khaled-abou-el-fadl.aspx, dead,

Views

Abou El Fadl believes that the usuli tradition “naturally leads Islam” to an ethical humanism, or a set of ideas about justice and beauty that help to achieve God’s will.“Moral Hazard” by Franklin Foer| The New Republic| 18 November 2002 He has criticized puritanical and Wahhabi IslamThe Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists (Harper San Francisco, 2005) for, among other things, its lack of interest in morality, which the Wahhabis argue “shouldn’t affect the implementation of Koranic law.” He has strongly criticised the Saudi Arabian government and has accused them of systematic torture, murder, and failing to either understand or properly implement Islamic teachings.WEB, Watanabe, Teresa, 2006-08-27, Islamic Law Professor Fears Unseen Enemy,www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-aug-27-me-fadl27-story.html, 2023-09-08, Los Angeles Times, en-US, NEWS, Fadl, Khaled M. Abou El, 2018-11-12, Opinion {{!, Saudi Arabia Is Misusing Mecca |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/opinion/saudi-arabia-mbs-grandmosque-mecca-politics.html |access-date=2023-09-08 |issn=0362-4331}}WEB, Portrait Khaled Abou el Fadl: “God Does Not Have an Equal Partner” - Qantara.de,en.qantara.de/content/portrait-khaled-abou-el-fadl-god-does-not-have-an-equal-partner, 2023-09-08, Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World, 11 January 2005, en, Abou El Fadl has described the terrorism of September 11 attacks as the logical conclusion of “a puritanical and ethically oblivious form of Islam [that] has predominated since the 1970s” and been promoted by religious authorities in Saudi Arabia and other countries, including the U.S. and Europe. He supports religious and cultural pluralism, democratic values and women’s rights.Campo, Juan Eduardo (editor) (2009) “Abou El Fadl, Khaled” Encyclopedia of Islam Facts On File, New York, page 8, {{ISBN|978-0-8160-5454-1}}WEB, 2019-08-29, What the Islamic tradition can teach us about human rights,www.abc.net.au/religion/human-rights-and-the-islamic-tradition/11460814, 2023-09-08, ABC Religion & Ethics, en-AU, WEB, 2018-09-04, Islamic ethics for the modern world,www.abc.net.au/religion/the-pursuit-of-happiness-islamic-ethics-for-the-modern-world/10214278, 2023-09-08, ABC Religion & Ethics, en-AU, He would like to return to the “Golden Age of Islam” where “numerous traditions” emphasized that the “pursuit of knowledge is an act of permanent worship” and to abandon the current state of affairs where “rampant apologetics” of Muslim thinkers has “produced a culture that eschews self-critical and introspective insight and embraces projection of blame and a fantasy-like level of confidence and arrogance.” He has criticised a “culture of ugliness in modern Islam”.JOURNAL, El Fadl, Khaled Abou, 2002–2003, The Culture of Ugliness in Modern Islam and Reengaging Morality,heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ucjicneal2&id=37&div=&collection=, UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law, 2, 33, He is a vocal supporter of Palestine.WEB, el Fadl, Khaled Abou, 2014-08-08, The Tragedy of Great Power: The Massacre of Gaza and the Inevitable Failure of the Arab Spring,www.abc.net.au/religion/the-tragedy-of-great-power-the-massacre-of-gaza-and-the-inevitab/10099112, 2023-09-08, ABC Religion & Ethics, en-AU,

Controversies

Amidst the 2024 Israel-Hamas war, Abou el Fadl was captured on video spreading misinformation during a Friday sermon, claiming that “Indian Hindu nationalists” were volunteering to join the Israeli army, and that some of the some of the worst massacres in Gaza were committed by them.NEWS, UCLA professor: ‘Hindus serve in IDF to kill Muslims, Israel broadcasts porn on Palestinian TV’,www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-783035, 2024-01-30, The JERUSALEM POST, en, NEWS, Hindu nationalists joining Israeli army to ‘kill Muslims’ in Gaza: UCLA professor, Fatima, Sakina,www.siasat.com/hindu-nationalist-joining-israeli-army-to-kill-muslims-ucla-professor-2960910/, 2024-01-30, The Sisat Daily, en, By Israeli law, only Israeli citizens are eligible for service in the Israeli military, and the only non-Israeli people eligible for citizenship are the Jewish diaspora.WEB, Joining IDF as a Non-Jewish Foreigner, Matas, Tevel,www.legalimmigrationisrael.com/joining-idf-as-a-non-jew/access-date=2024-01-30, WEB, Who Can Volunteer for the IDF?,www.mahal-idf-volunteers.org/about/join.htm, 2024-01-30,

Awards and appointments

Abou el Fadl was awarded the University of Oslo Human Rights Award, the Leo and Lisl Eitinger Prize in 2007,Previous winners of The University of Oslo’s Human Rights Award UiO, University of Oslo and named a Carnegie Scholar in Islamic Law in 2005.He has served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch. He continues to serve on the Advisory Board of Middle East Watch (part of Human Rights Watch) and works with human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (Human Rights First) in cases involving human rights, terrorism, political asylum, and international and commercial law. In 2005, he was listed as one of LawDragon’s Top 500 Lawyers in the Nation. He has been listed in the Arabian Business Power 500 List of the World’s Most Influential Arabs (2011, 2012).Arabian Business Power 500 List of the World’s Most Influential Arabs (2011, 2012) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810040730power500.arabianbusiness.com/power-500-2012/ |date=2012-08-10 }}

Publications

His recent works focus on authority, human rights, democracy and beauty in Islam and Islamic law. His book, The Great Theft, delineated key differences between moderate and extremist Muslims, and was named one of the Top 100 Books of the year by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. {{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Books

• The Prophet’s Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam , Volume II (Usuli Press, 7 April 2023) ISBN 978-1957063065
• The Prophet’s Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam, Volume I (Usili Press, 18 April 2022) ISBN 1957063025
• Reasoning with God: Reclaiming Shari’ah in the Modern Age (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2014) ISBN 0742552322
• The Search for Beauty in Islam: Conference of the Books (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006) ISBN 0761819495
• The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists (Harper San Francisco, 2005) ISBN 0061189030
• Islam and the Challenge of Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2004) ISBN 0691119384
• The Place of Tolerance in Islam (Beacon Press, 2002) ISBN 0807002291
• And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses (UPA/Rowman and Littlefield, 2001) ISBN 0761820841
• Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic law, Authority and Women (Oneworld Press, Oxford, 2001) ISBN 1851682627
• Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam (University Press of America/Rowman and Littlefield, 2001) ISBN 0761819495
• Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Cambridge University Press, 2001) ISBN 0521880521
• The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses (Dar Taiba, 1997) ISBN 1891226002

Selected academic articles

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• “The Language of the Age: Shari’a and Natural Justice in the Egyptian Revolution” in: Law in the Aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution of 25 January (Harvard International Law Journal online, April 25, 2011). The Language of the Age by Khaled Abou El Fadl| Harvard International Law Journal| April 25, 201
• “Fascism Triumphant?” Political Theology 10, no. 4 (2009), pp. 577–581 “Fascism Triumphant?”| Political Theology Journal (2009)| Khaled Abou El Fadl.
• “The Crusader”, Boston Review 28, no. 2 (March/April 2006).“The Crusader” Boston Review 28, no. 2 (March/April 2006)
• “Speaking, Killing and Loving in God’s Name”, The Hedgehog Review 6, no. 1 (Spring 2004) WEB,scholarofthehouse.stores.yahoo.net/skiandloingo.html, “Speaking, Killing and Loving in God’s Name,” The Hedgehog Review, Spring 2004 (Article Included), Scholar of the House,
• “The Death Penalty, Mercy and Islam: A Call for Retrospection” in: A Call for Reckoning: Religion and the Death Penalty (eds. Erik C. Owens, John D. Carlson & Eric P. Elshtain. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004, pp. 73–105).WEB,scholarofthehouse.stores.yahoo.net/depemeandisc.html, The Death Penalty, Mercy and Islam: A Call for Retrospection, Scholar of the House,
• “The Modern Ugly and the Ugly Modern: Reclaiming the Beautiful in Islam” in: Progressive Muslims (edited by Omid Safi. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2003, pp. 33–77) “The Modern Ugly and the Ugly Modern: Reclaiming the Beautiful in Islam” {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102101459www.oneworld-publications.com/pdfs/Progsv_Muslims.pdf |date=2011-01-02 }}
• “The Orphans of Modernity and the Clash of Civilisations”, Global Dialogue, vol. 4, no. 2 (Spring 2002), pp. 1–16.WEB,scholarofthehouse.stores.yahoo.net/orofmodandcl.html, The Orphans of Modernity and the Clash of Civilisations (Article Included), Scholar of the House,
• “Introduction” in: Shattered Illusions: Analyzing the War on Terrorism, London: Amal Press, 2002, pp. 19–44.
• “Peaceful Jihad” in: Taking Back Islam (edited by Michael Wolfe. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 2002, pp. 33–39) “Peaceful Jihad” in: Taking Back Islam (edited by Michael Wolfe. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 2002.
• “Islam and the Challenge of Democracy”, Boston Review 28, no. 2 (April/May 2003).WEB,bostonreview.net/BR28.2/abou.html, “Islam and the Challenge of Democracy”, Boston Review 28, no. 2 (April/May 2003), 2012-07-18,bostonreview.net/BR28.2/abou.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20070119153747bostonreview.net/BR28.2/abou.html,">web.archive.org/web/20070119153747bostonreview.net/BR28.2/abou.html, 2007-01-19, dead,
• “Islam and Tolerance: Abou El Fadl Replies”, Boston Review 27, no. 1 (February/March 2002): pp. 51.WEB,bostonreview.net/BR27.1/islam.html, “Islam and Tolerance: Abou El Fadl Replies”, Boston Review 27, no. 1 (February/March 2002), 2012-07-18,bostonreview.net/BR27.1/islam.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20130522081144bostonreview.net/BR27.1/islam.html,">web.archive.org/web/20130522081144bostonreview.net/BR27.1/islam.html, 2013-05-22, dead,
• “The Place of Tolerance in Islam”, Boston Review 26, no. 6 (December 2001/January 2002): pp. 34–36.WEB,bostonreview.net/BR26.6/elfadl.html, “The Place of Tolerance in Islam”, Boston Review 26, no. 6 (December 2001/January 2002), 2012-07-18,bostonreview.net/BR26.6/elfadl.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20120819142538bostonreview.net/BR26.6/elfadl.html,">web.archive.org/web/20120819142538bostonreview.net/BR26.6/elfadl.html, 2012-08-19, dead, Translated into Arabic for publication in Al-Rashad.
• “Islam and the Theology of Power”, Middle East Report 221 (Winter 2001): pp. 28–33.“Islam and the Theology of Power”, Middle East Report 221 (Winter 2001)
• “What Became of Tolerance in Islam” in: Beauty for Ashes (Edited by John Farina. New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2001, pp. 71–75).WEB,scholarofthehouse.stores.yahoo.net/whatlosantim.html, “What Became of Tolerance in Islam?” Los Angeles Times, September 14, 2001, Scholar of the House,

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• Facebook Page
• Khaled Abou El Fadl, UCLA Faculty Page
• Fresh Air Interview, 2003 (NPR)
• {{IMDb name|1496109}}

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