Mohammed Adam El-Sheikh facts for kids
Mohammed Adam El-Sheikh (born January 1, 1945 – died April 14, 2024) was an important Sudanese-American leader. He served as the executive director for the Fiqh Council of North America, which is a group of Islamic legal scholars.
About His Life
Mohammed Adam El-Sheikh was born in Sudan.
His Education Journey
El-Sheikh finished his studies in Islamic law and general law at Omdurman Islamic University in Sudan in 1969. After that, in 1973, the Department of Justice in Sudan chose him to work as a judge in the Shari'ah Courts. During his time in Sudan, he was also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 1978, he received a special scholarship to come to the United States. He wanted to continue his higher education there. He earned a Master's degree in Comparative Jurisprudence from Howard University in 1980. Then, he got another law degree (LLM) from the National Law Center at George Washington University in 1981. Finally, he completed his Ph.D. in Comparative Jurisprudence from Temple University in 1986. His Ph.D. research focused on how Islamic laws about punishments (like qisas and diyah) were used in Sudan.
His Career and Leadership
From 1983 to 1989, and again from 1994 to 2003, El-Sheikh was an Imam (a religious leader) at the Islamic Society of Baltimore in Catonsville, Maryland.
In 1992, El-Sheikh played a key role in starting the Muslim American Society in the U.S. He worked with other former members of the Muslim Brotherhood to create this new organization. He explained that when they founded the society, their goals had changed. They no longer felt the need to operate secretly, as they had in other countries. He said the founders believed they should "cut relations with the [Brotherhood] abroad and regard ourselves as Americans." He added that they did not "receive an order from any organization abroad, and [they] have no authority to tell us what to do."
He also helped establish the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. He later served as the Imam of this mosque from August 2003 to May 2005. In 2004, he spoke about the killings of American hostages Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl. He stated that "beheadings are not mentioned in the Koran at all." He explained that while Islamic law allows for the death penalty for killers, it does not specify the method of execution. He emphasized, "we don't condone this. They are not following Islam. They are following their own whims."
In 2005, he left Dar Al-Hijrah to become the executive director of the Fiqh Council of North America. This council is a group of Islamic legal scholars. He also led the Islamic Judiciary Council of the Shari'ah Scholars' Association of North America (SSANA).
