Fellows - International Society for Science & Religion (ISSR)

Dr Usama Hasan PhD, MA, MSC

Head of Islamic Studies
Quilliam

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Biography

Sheikh Dr Usama Hasan is currently Head of Islamic Studies at the think-tank Quilliam, where he focuses on reconciling Islamic theology with the modern world, of which science and technology is an important part. Usama is a trained imam, having memorised the Qur'an aged 11 and led mosque prayers for over 25 years, as well as being a scientist with a PhD, MA and MSc in theoretical physics and artificial intelligence from the Universities of Cambridge and London (KCL and Imperial College), and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He worked in UK industry for about a decade, and spent another decade as a university lecturer teaching these topics in Pakistan and the UK. Between 2006 and 2008, he was Planetarium Lecturer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
Usama has translated a number of Islamic texts from Arabic and Urdu into English, including the Islamic Foundation's "Way of the Prophet" (2009). His latest academic papers address Islamic thought, law, human rights, gender-equality and scientific ethics. In 2015, he served as the Convenor of Muslim-Science.com's International Task Force on Islamic Theology and Science: The Big Questions. In 2013, he was the organiser and host, of the international workshop on Islam and Science: A Reasoned Approach, London, in partnership with the Universite Interdisciplinaire de Paris, the American University of Sharjah and Muslim-Science.com. Usama has lectured regularly on issues of Islam and science, being hosted by the science festivals at Cheltenham, the British Academy, the Science Museum (London) and the Cambridge Festival of Ideas. He also taught the courses in astronomy, science and scientific ethics at the Cambridge Muslim College (2010-15). He has also written about science and Islam for the Guardian newspaper, and consulted on the IoP Einstein Year Moonwatch Project (2006-current).

Honoraria Titles

Major Prizes

Religion, Philosophy & History Interests

Ethics, History of Religion, History of Science, Islam, Philosophy of Religion, Theology

Science & Technology Interests

Cosmology, Evolution, Genetics, Human Origins, Information Technology, Mathematics, Medicine & Health, Neuroscience, Physics, Psychology

Website

http://unity1.wordpress.com

Publications

'Health, Sickness, Medicine, Life and Death in Muslim Belief and Practice'

Hayward 2012
Volume:19(5)
Pages:241-5

'The Triumph of Traditionalism (Can Islam Be Reconciled With Science?)'

Volume:November 2009
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/27/islam-science-ghazali

One minute with: Usama Hasan (on Islam and evolution)' by Michael Bond

2011
Co-authors: M. Bond
Volume:210 (2808)
Pages:29

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2010

Islam and Science: The Big Questions (Theology)

Muslim World Science Initiative 2016
Editors:Usama Hasan, Athar Osama, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
http://www.muslim-science.com/Islam-and-Science-Report

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