User talk:Theresearcher101

Shaykh Ahmed Babikir Ahmed Babikir is a Sunni Islamic scholar, preacher and is the Religious Director of Yusuf Islam’s Islamia Primary School in North London, England.

Shaykh Ahmed Babikir Ahmed Babikir was born in the city of Al-Ubayyid, central Sudan, in 1957. He traces his lineage to Abbas ibn Muttalib, the paternal uncle and companion of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wassalaam, through his father’s side. From his mother’s side, he descends from Sayyidunna Abu Bakr As-Sidiq, one of the first people to accept Islam during the Prophetic mission.

Shaykh Ahmed studied in traditional madrassas in Sudan, under the auspices of learned scholars such as Shaykh Abdullah Ibrahim, Faqih al Ahmed, Shaykh Warrag and Shaykyh Muhammad Qaribullah. He was also taught by renowned scholars such as the Egyptian, Shaykh Abdul Ghani Salih al Jaafri and Shaykh Othman Bashir Othman Bashir from Madina and the prominent Sunni scholar, Sayyid Muhammad Alawi al Maliki, from Makka.

It was under the aforesaid scholars that Shaykh Ahmed mastered the religious sciences of Tafsir, Fiqh, Hadith, Seerah and Tassawuf. Shaykh Ahmed Babikir received ijazas, or a license, to teach from all of these scholars and first began teaching at his local mosque in Al-Ubayyid at the age of 13.

In 1977, Shaykh Ahmed left Sudan for England to pursue studies in Business Management, in London. During his studies, the shaykh led regular religious circles in London’s Central Mosque, where he taught the foundations of Islamic worship to Muslims that had recently embraced the faith and the local Pakistani and Bengali Muslim communities.

Shaykh Ahmed soon became popular in London, both for his knowledge of the Islamic religious sciences and for his charismatic personality. It was during this period that he first met and became close friends with Yusuf Islam, the singer/songwriter, formerly known as Cat Stevens.

Following his studies, the shaykh returned to Sudan, with the intention of remaining in his country of birth. However, his teacher, Shaykh Faith Qaribullah persuaded him to return to England so that people may benefit from his knowledge of the Islamic faith.

Thus he returned to England in 1980 and continued his teaching circles in London’s Central Mosque. Aside from teaching the Islamic religious sciences, Shaykh Ahmed Babikir also called many people to embrace Islam and to date almost a thousand people have accepted the religion through his hands.

After working in various capacities, the Shaykh realised that his heart lay in teaching. To commit himself to this profession, he obtained a degree in Mathematics from the University of Greenwich, in 1992. Two years later Yusuf Islam asked Shaykh Ahmed to become the Religious Director of his Islamia Primary School in Brent, North London; a post that he fulfils to this day. The school, founded in 1983, was the first of its kind to provide British Muslim children with both a secular and Islamic religious education and was the first Muslim School in Britain to receive government recognition and state funding.

Aside from his role at Islamia School, Shaykh Ahmed is actively involved in many initiatives. One example of this is Ulfa Aid, a charity founded by the shaykh himself in 2004 to provide homes and shelter for the world’s most needy. The word “Ulfa” is an Arabic term, derived from the Qur’an, which means to “bind hearts” together. Shaykh Ahmed is also a board member of the Mosaic Network, a non-profit organisation launched by HRH Prince Charles in 2007, to raise the aspirations of young Muslims in British society.

In addition to this, Shaykh Ahmed is regularly invited by Muslim communities across Britain and around the world to lead and participate in religious and spiritual gatherings. The shaykh himself is the head of the Sammani Sufi Order, in Britain. The Sammani Tariqa is the largest Sufi order in Sudan, with adherents numbering in the millions.

Shaykh Ahmed Babikir is married with two children and resides in North London.