Abdassamad Clarke is from Ulster and was formally educated at Edinburgh University in Mathematics and Physics, and in Cairo in Arabic and tajwid and other Islamic sciences. He accepted Islam at the hands of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi in 1973. In the 80s he was secretary to the Imam of the Dublin Mosque Shaykh Yahya Muhammad al-Hussein, and in the early 90s imam khatib of the Norwich Mosque, where he is again currently an imam and teacher.

In Dublin, he wrote as a freelance journalist for the the Irish Times, Irish Press and Sunday Press writing on Islam, the Middle East and other issues, for The Phoenix which published his satire on Salman Rushdie and an article on Mary Robinson's links to the Tri-Lateral Commission, for Common Ground to which he contributed a series of articles on banking, usury, and alternative currencies, and for The Aisling to which he contributed an article on Ivan Illich.

He has translated:

• the Muwatta of Imam Muhammad by Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani (jointly with Muhammad Abdarrahman), which was published by Turath Publishing at the end of July 2004
• al-Qawl al-mu'tamad fi mashru'iyyat adh-dhikr bi'l-ism al-mufrad by Shaykh al-Alawi on the standing in Shari’ah of using the divine name in dhikr, which was published by Diwan Press as first part of The Two Invocations and since republished by Madinah Press,
• The History of the Khalifahs (the chapters on the Khulafa ar-Rashidun from as-Suyuti’s Tarikh al-Khulafa),
• the Complete Forty Hadith (translation of Imam an-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith along with the Imam’s explanation of their fiqh and linquistic usages) and
• Kitab al-Jami’ by Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (published as A Madinan View),
• Rijal – narrators of the Muwatta of Imam Muhammad, all published by Ta-Ha Publishers of London,
• Kitab al-athar by Imam Abu Hanifah and transmitted by Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani (Turath Publishing 2006),
• The Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom (a translation of Jami' al-'ulum wa'l-hikam by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, published by Turath Publishing 2007).

• Traditions of the Sunnah (Athar as-sunan) by Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Ali an-Nimawi (jointly with Mawlana In'amuddin), to be published by Turath Publishing Ltd.

In addition he has edited:

• Aisha Bewley's translation of Ibn Hajar's abridgement of at-Targhib wa't-Tarhib,
• her translation of Imam an-Nawawi's Riyad as-Saliheen,
• Ibn Taymiyyah's al-Kalim at-Tayyib all of the above for the UK Islamic Academy,
• Dr Asadullah Yate's translation of al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah, published by Ta-Ha Publishers of London,
• and his The Islam of the School of Madina, his translation of Mufeed al-‘Ibad Sawaa’un al-‘Akifu feehi wa’l-Bad by Shaykh Ahmad ibn al-Bashir al-Qalaawi ash-Shinqeeti, his commentary on the Murshid al-Mu‘een.

In 2008, his revision of ‘Abd ar-Rahman I. Doi’s Shari‘ah: Islamic Law was published by Ta-Ha Publishers. It contains a great deal of revision of the original text, including sourcing all of the hadith and texts cited originally, in addition to a substantial amount of new translations, in particular from al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyyah of Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi and the tafsir of al-Qurtubi.

He is currently engaged with his wife Suád Østergaard on a translation of the Qur’an into Danish, the first volume of which translated in collaboration with Jakob Werdelin, comprising Surat al-Fatihah, Surat al-Baqarah and Surah Ali ‘Imran, was recently published as Den gavmilde Qur’an: en fremlægning of de tre første suraer by Havens Forlag of Copenhagen.

Among his unpublished translations are the Sciences of Tafsir comprising portions of Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi’s Qur’anic commentary at-Tashil li ‘ulum at-tanzil, in particular his introductory sections on the essential elements of the sciences necessary for tafsir.

He is author of a number of children’s books, all published by Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd.:

• The Year of the Elephant,
• The Great Victory and
• The Last Battle all of which are on the sirah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
as well as
• The Story of Stories about the Prophet Yusuf, peace be upon him, in which he drew a great deal on the commentary of Ibn Juzayy, may Allah be merciful to him.

NOTE: Abdassamad Clarke has never been co-author with Harun Yahya in any of his books. He has edited some of Harun Yahya’s books that were published by Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., with his remit being to make sure of the accuracy of the books and the readability of the English translations.

He has also a poem God is Dead published in the Minaret journal of Stockholm, Sweden, and an as-yet unpublished collection of short stories called Tales Are Like That, and a novel called The Wings of the Butterfly.

Abdassamad is a teacher of both adults and children in Qur'an recitation (tajwid) and meanings, Arabic language and the deen in general, having organised and taken part in a conference under the auspices of Islamic Events of London on the History of the Islamic Khalifate, and having given discourses in Peterborough, Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Manchester, Leicester and the University of Fez. He regularly teaches at the Deen Intensives organised by the New Muslims Initiative in Norwich. He is currently director of NCN – The Norwich Conference Network –  the think-tank of the Blackstone Foundation.

30 June, 2011 13:03