Professor Timothy Winter, better known as Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad, is one of the most respected Muslim intellectuals of the contemporary age. Born in London in 1960, he converted to Islam in 1979 and has since combined deep traditional learning, studying at Al-Azhar University and under prominent scholars in the Muslim world, with an academic career and community engagement that has influenced Muslims worldwide.

Academic: He is the Sheikh Zayed Lecturer of Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Divini­ty at Cambridge University and Director of Studies in Theology at Wolfson College. He has published and contributed to numerous academic works on Islam and among his best-known works are transla­tions from Imam Al-Ghazali’s Ihya’, a series of aphorisms (Commentary on the Eleventh Contentions) and his most recent book, Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe and editor of  The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology. His writings emphasise Islamic orthodoxy, spirituality, and the challenges of modernity.

Community: Sheikh Abdal Hakim is also the founder and Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College, which trains imams and scholars to engage with contemporary issues while rooted in traditional learning. He was a driving force behind the creation of Cambridge Central Mosque, Europe’s first eco-mosque, which opened in 2019 as a model of sustainable architecture and community engagement.

Educator: He has inspired a generation of English-speaking Muslims and is widely sought after in interfaith dialogue. He continues to play a pivotal role in bridging Islamic scholarship with the modern world, offering a vision of faith rooted in tradition yet responsive to the ethical challenges of today.