Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (Arabic: عبد الله أحمد النعيم) (born in 1946) is a Sudanese-born Islamic scholar who currently lives in the United States and teaches at Emory University. He is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, associated professor in the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, and Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion of Emory University.

An internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human rights and human rights in cross-cultural perspectives, Professor An-Na'im teaches courses in international law, comparative law, human rights, and Islamic law. His research interests include constitutionalism in Islamic and African countries, secularism, and Islam and politics. Professor An-Na'im directed the following research projects which focus on advocacy strategies for reform through internal cultural transformation:

Professor An-Na'im's current research projects include a study of Muslims and the secular state, and of human rights from state-centric to people-centered. He continues to further develop his theory advanced in his book Islam and the Secular State.

An-Naim was born in the Sudan, where he was greatly influenced by the Islamic reform movement of Mahmoud Mohamed Taha. He is a naturalized American citizen, but retains Sudanese citizenship.

An-Naim earned a PhD (Law) from University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in 1976; LLB (Honours) and Diploma in Criminology at University of Cambridge (England), 1973; LLB (Honours) at University of Khartoum (Sudan), 1970.

In February 2009, An-Na`im received an Honorary Doctorate from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve) and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U. Leuven, Leuven), Belgium. He also serves as Global Legal Scholar at the Law School, University of Warwick, UK (until November 2009); and Extraordinary Professor at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (until November 2009).

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