Imam Abu Eesa Niamatullah, Director of 1st Ethical interviews professional footballer Freddie Oumar Kanout on his reversion to Islam, his charity projects, his football career and his favourite memories.

Rediscovering the Quran

Shaykh Abu Eesa Niamatullah is famous for his ‘real talk’, straight-forward attitude, extremely dark sense of humour and above all else, his Pathan kufi. Somehow connected to all four madhahib through his numerous teachers, Shaykh Abu Eesa (a.k.a the Big Easy or ‘AE’) has a rich grasp on Fiqh and Hadeeth.

Born in London, England, he tracks his roots to the Naser Kheil tribe of the North West Frontier in Pakistan. He studied both Pharmacy and Anthropology at the University of Manchester and later studied Arabic, Islamic Law and the Qur’an with its memorisation from scholars in a diverse array of locations.

Shaykh Abu Eesa is the Resident Scholar of the 1st Ethical Charitable Trust in England, an organisation dedicated to civic engagement and Islamic legal and financial education; he was the original founder of ‘Prophetic Guidance’ (PG) and the main teacher presenting PG’s classes, including the ‘al-Adab al-Mufrad’ show which is aired on many Islamic TV channels.