Shaykh Dr Ridhwan Saleem

The needy slave of Allah, Ridhwan Ibn Muhammad Saleem, graduated in Medicine from Kings College, London, in 1997. He subsequently went on to pursue his studies in the Islamic sciences, by the grace of Allah, for seven years until February 2005, when he returned to the UK and began teaching what he had learnt.

He studied with the erudite scholar, Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya'qoubi of Damascus, who issued him several written ijaazas (licences) to teach all the sacred disciplines, and transmit the prophetic hadiths.

In the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, 1426 H, during a graduation ceremony at Hounslow Jami'a Mosque, West London, Shaykh Ridhwan also had the blessing of being granted ijaazah by the noble Shaykh, Habib 'Ali al-Jiffry, thereby giving him the privilege of receiving from both the blessed Hassani and Hussayni lines.

Shaykh Ridhwan's studies took him to Fez, Damascus, and Liverpool, where he had the honour of studying Islamic Jurisprudence with the noble scholar and hadith-master, 'Allamah Shaykh Siraj al-Islam Chawdry (may Allah protect him).

He also studied a traditional syllabus of classical texts in Grammar, Etymology, Logic, Rhetoric, Principles of Jurisprudence, Theology, Hadith, Exegesis of Quran, Prophetic Biography, Inheritance Law, and Purification of the Soul.

Some of the other outstanding scholars and men of Allah that Shaykh Ridhwan had the honour of studying under include Shaykh 'Abdul-Wahhab Najib of Syria, Shaykh Khaleel al-Sabbagh of Syria, Shaykh Muhammad Ba Shu'ayb of London, Shaykh Adnan Majd of Syria, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf of America, and Shaykh Mur'i al-Rasheed of Syria (may Allah protect them all for the benefit of the Ummah). Several of these respected teachers gave him permission to teach.

Shaykh Ridhwan presently resides in Hounslow, West London, with his wife and three children, and is a practising psychiatrist, and the founder of the West London School of Islamic Studies.

Finally, all praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and the mercy of Allah be upon the Final Prophet, his family, his Companions, and all righteous scholars and saints until the Last Day.