Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im facts for kids
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im was born in Sudan in 1946. He is a respected Islamic scholar who now lives in the United States. He teaches at Emory University, where he is a professor of law. He also works with the Center for the Study of Law and Religion.
Professor An-Na'im is known around the world for his work on Islam and human rights. He teaches about international law, human rights, and Islamic law. His research looks at how countries with Islamic traditions create their laws. He also studies the idea of a secular state, which means a state that is separate from religion.
He has led several important research projects. These projects aim to improve things through cultural change. Some of his projects include:
- Women and Land in Africa
- Islamic Family Law
- Fellowship Program in Islam and Human Rights
- The Future of Sharia: Islam and the Secular State
Currently, Professor An-Na'im is studying how Muslims relate to a secular state. He is also looking at human rights from a new angle. He wants to see human rights as something for all people, not just for governments. He continues to develop ideas from his book, Islam and the Secular State.
About Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im
His Early Life
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im was born in Sudan. He was greatly inspired by the ideas of Mahmoud Mohamed Taha. Taha was a leader who wanted to make Islamic thinking more open and modern. An-Na'im is now a citizen of the United States. However, he still keeps his Sudanese citizenship.
His Education Journey
An-Na'im studied law at several universities. He earned his PhD in Law from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1976. Before that, he got his law degree (LLB) and a diploma in Criminology from the University of Cambridge in England in 1973. His first law degree was from the University of Khartoum in Sudan in 1970.
His Career and Work
In February 2009, An-Na'im received a special honorary doctorate. This award came from two universities in Belgium. These were the Université catholique de Louvain and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He also worked as a Global Legal Scholar at the University of Warwick in the UK. He was also a special professor at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
