Welcome to Sapience Institute!
Academic and intellectual pursuits have the power to transform the world. The modern era pays testimony to their impact. Ideas are the lifeblood of civilization and they begin the moment ink has been spilled. However, thoughts are not imprisoned on the paper they are written on, they penetrate the hearts and minds of people, subsequently changing their behaviour. A cursory glance at the history of ideas is enough to show how powerful they are.
Ideas take time to develop and filter down to the general population. They require inspired minds and liberated hearts to share them to all levels of society. In the perennial war of ideas, they also require defending. Sapience Institute was created to dedicate itself to articulate message of Islam using intellectual and academic methods, with a focus on developing and creating intellectual and academic activists and leaders to engage in this important work.
Sapience is dedicated in living up its values of compassion, truth and tolerance.
Sapience means wisdom, insight, great intelligence or knowledge. The name is inspired by the following Qur’anic verse: Say, “This is my way; I invite to God with deep insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is God; and I am not of those who associate others with Him.” The Qur’an, Chapter 12, Verse 108
Our People / Our Instructors
Shaykh Mohammad Idrissi
Shakyh Mohammad Idrissi began his Islamic studies in Morocco and completed them at the Institute of Islamic Education in England in 2013. He completed the memorization of the Quran and graduated in Arabic and Islamic Studies, specializing in Fiqh. He received Ijazah in the authentic books of Hadith and in the Seven Qira’at. He acquired his teacher's endorsement from Bradford College in England. Upon returning to Seville in 2014, he founded Al-Andalusia Education, which is the first center for Arabic and Islamic Studies and Dawah in Andalusia.
Hamza Andreas Tzortzis
Hamza Andreas Tzortzis is the author of 'The Divine Reality: God, Islam and The Mirage of Atheism'. He has an MRes, MA and a PgCert in philosophy from the University of London. He is a PhD candidate focusing on the Qur'an and the multiplicity of readings approach in understanding verses pertaining to natural phenomena. Hamza has studied Islamic thought and theology under qualified scholars.
Dr. Osman Latiff
Dr. Uthman Lateef is Senior Researcher and Instructor at Sapience Institute. He has a BA in History, an MA in Crusader Studies, and has completed a PhD in the 'Place of Fada'il al-Quds (Merits of Jerusalem) and Religious Poetry in the Muslim effort to recapture Jerusalem in the Crusades'. His book on the crusades, ‘The Cutting Edge of the Poet’s Sword: Muslim Poetic Responses to the Crusades’ was published by Brill in 2018. He has also written and continues to write academic articles and book chapters in the field of history.
Fahad Tasleem
Fahad Tasleem holds a BA in Economics, Graduate Studies in Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on Islamic Theology and an MSc in Business. He is a student, researcher and teacher of various Islamic sciences. His areas of interest include Islamic Theology, Dawah, History, Economics, Entrepreneurship and Quranic Studies. Fahad studied Arabic at Georgetown University and the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Safaruk Chowdhury
Dr. Safaruk studied Philosophy at Kings College London completing it with the accompanying Associate of Kings College (AKC) award. He then travelled to Cairo studying the traditional Islamic Studies curricula at al-Azhar University. He returned to the UK to complete His MA at the School of Oriental and African studies with distinction. His current just published is entitled Islamic Theology and the Problem of Evil (New York and Cairo: AUC Press, 2021) which is the first work in Islamic studies to treat the topic within the analytic theology approach. Safaruk is currently the project researcher at the ‘Beyond Foundationalism’ project sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation at Cambridge Muslim College.
Jake Brancatella
Jake Brancatella aka The Muslim Metaphysician is a revert to Islam from Catholicism. Jake holds a Bachelor's degree in philosophy and is trained in Analytic philosophy. He also has studied various Islamic sciences such as fiqh, usul al fiqh, and aqeedah with traditional ulema. Jake is also a public speaker and debator that typically debates Christian scholars on the highest level.
Yusuf Ponders
Yusuf Ponders has a 1st class degree in Philosophy and has specialised in Nihilism. He is the manager of Sapience Institute's Lighthous Mentoring service and has delivered educational programmes on Nihilism and the meaning of life. Yusuf runs a Youtube channel called "Pondering Soul", which focuses on Philosophy and Theology, and he is the a co-host of the "Thought Adventure Podcast".
Imran Hussein
Imran Hussein is a student of Islamic thought, and is currently in the processe of completing his MA in Islamic studies. His areas of specialism are nihilism, existentialism and atheism.
Adnan Rashid
Adnan Rashid is a historian with a specialty in the history of Islamic civilisation, comparative religion and Hadith literature. He has an honors degree in history from the University of London and is currently pursuing further studies. He has also gained Ijazah’s in Hadith from a number of scholars. He also takes a keen interest in Islamic numismatics and ancient manuscripts. He has debated many high profile figures in the field of politics, history and Christian/ Islamic theology. Adnan Rashid loves history, poetry, travelling, antiquities, books and numismatics.