Confronting the Difficult Questions - My Moment of Conviction

Dr. Ahmed Khater is a distinguished Islamic scholar, educator, and community leader, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a second B.A. in Islamic Sciences and Arabic Language from Al-Azhar University. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic Law and Legal Theory from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Additionally, he has received ijazat (licenses) in various Islamic sciences, including authorization to teach and narrate the Hanbali school of law.

Dr. Khater currently serves as a lecturer of Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union and as an adjunct associate professor at Saint Mary’s College in California. He is also the founder of Zidni Institute, where he teaches traditional Islamic sciences. His previous academic roles include assistant professor and dean of the Department of Islamic Studies at Guidance College, assistant professor and dean of the English Faculty of Shariah at the Islamic University of Minnesota, and faculty member at Mishkah University. He has also lectured in Arabic language at the University of California, Berkeley.

Beyond academia, Dr. Khater contributes to the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) by answering legal questions for their fatwa services and serving as an Islamic law consultant, Resident Fatwa Committee secretary, translator, editor, and lecturer. He has worked with Al-Azhar University’s English Department of Islamic Studies to edit scholarly works and has been a senior fellow with the Yaqeen Institute. Dr. Khater is also the resident scholar at Masjid Annur Islamic Center in California, where he continues to educate and inspire the Muslim community.