Khaled Abou El Fadl
“Ultimately, in every case, all thought and all knowledge must reduce itself to a prayer.”
―
Early Life:
Khaled Abu el Fadl, born October 23, 1963 (age 60), is a distinguished scholar in Islamic jurisprudence and human rights. He serves as the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law, where he teaches a range of courses, including International Human Rights, Islamic jurisprudence, National Security Law, Law and Terrorism, Islam and Human Rights, Political Asylum, and Political Crimes and Legal Systems.
In addition to his role at UCLA, he founded the Usuli Institute, a non-profit public charity dedicated to research and education that promotes humanistic interpretations of Islam. Abu el Fadl is also the Chair of the Islamic Studies Program at UCLA. Since approximately 1990, he has been actively involved in lecturing on and teaching Islamic law in various academic and non-academic settings across the United States and Europe.
Khaled Abu el Fadl holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic law from Princeton University. He also completed 13 years of study in Islamic jurisprudence, grammar, and rhetoric in Egypt and Kuwait. Following 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 has previously taught Islamic law at the University of Texas School of Law at Austin, Yale Law School, and Princeton University.
Awards and Publications:
UCLA School of Law Professor Khaled Abu el Fadl was honored with the American Academy of Religion’s Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion during a virtual ceremony. The prestigious award was presented to Abu el Fadl in recognition of his “extraordinary, relevant, broad-reaching contributions to the public understanding of religion” and his significant “influences both inside and outside of the academy.
Abu el Fadl is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law, where he has been a faculty member since 1998. He is a globally recognized expert on Shari’ah, Islamic law, and Islam, and is also a distinguished scholar in human rights. Celebrated for his pioneering work in these areas, he is the founder of the Institute of Advanced Usuli Studies (The Usuli Institute), a nonprofit educational organization committed to ethics, beauty, and critical thinking within the Islamic intellectual tradition.
His recent work explores themes of authority, human rights, democracy, and beauty within Islam and Islamic law. In his book The Great Theft, Dr. Abu el Fadl distinguished key differences between moderate and extremist Muslims, and the book was honored as one of the Top 100 Books of the Year by The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper.
Dr. Abu el Fadl is the author of several influential books on Islam, Islamic law, and Shari’ah. Reading any of his works offers a profound education on the beauty, sophistication, and complexity of the faith and its jurisprudential traditions. Each book, however, presents a unique approach, caters to a distinct audience, and features its own style.
Usuli Institute
The Usuli Institute, established by Dr. Khaled Abu el Fadl, is a distinguished nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and promotion of Islamic thought with a focus on ethics, aesthetics, and critical inquiry. Named after the usul (principles) of Islamic jurisprudence, the institute is committed to advancing a humanistic interpretation of Islam that emphasizes intellectual rigor and moral reflection. It offers a range of educational programs, seminars, and publications aimed at deepening understanding of Islamic law, philosophy, and culture.
The institute serves as a platform for scholars, students, and the broader community to engage with complex issues in Islamic jurisprudence and ethics.
It seeks to bridge the gap between academic scholarship and public knowledge, fostering meaningful dialogue and promoting a nuanced appreciation of Islam’s rich intellectual and ethical traditions. Through its work, the Usuli Institute strives to challenge simplistic narratives and encourage thoughtful discourse on the role of Islam in contemporary society.
- https://www.usuli.org/
- https://www.searchforbeauty.org/
- https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/khaled-m-abou-el-fadl
