1. Mustafa A Mustafa
From Sudan
Studied at the University of Khartoum
Studied Anthropology at Th University of Wisconsin Madison
Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization< Kula Lumpur 1996-2004
Lecturer International Islamic University Malaysia 2004-2005
Associate Faculty Associate - Arabic- University of Wisconsin - Madison 2007-now
2. Abdullah Younes
Abdoullah Yunous is from Palestine. He has lived in Madison since 1981 and works as a civil engineer.
3.Muhammad Asyraf Sadasivan bin Abdullah
Born on April 23,1965 in a Hindu family and given the name Aishwarya Kumar
His father, Sadasivan was a pioneer in the textile industry in Kerala, India, and was involved in the family business before he decided to travel to Malaysia.He became a contractor with the Jabatan Kerjaraya (JKR) and was instrumental on constructing the Parliament Road in preparation for Malaysia's Independence Day, 1957. His father passed away on May 2, 1990.
His mother,Saraswathy was born in KL and at present lives with his brother in Singapore.
His elder brother, Gopinathan graduated from the National University of Singapore and resides in Singapore.
He has two younger sisters, Saroginy and Sujatha who lives in Johor and KL respectively
He is married to Noryani Md Yusof who is pursuing her PhD in Comparative Education and is blessed with two daughters, Natasya and Misya Deanna.
His journey to seek God began when he was a teenager. His first experience with Hindus who were expressing their gratitude to God by carrying the "kavadi" and piercing themselves was intriguing and he felt he needed to experience it himself. For three years he followed in their rituals of fasting, piercing his cheeks and body, fire-walking and meditation in the hope that he could feel the presence of God. He was disappointed for he still felt the emptiness in him.
Feeling disillussioned, he left Hinduism and became an Atheist. A few years later, he met some Christian missionaries in Stamford College who preached the Bible to him. He became one of the strongest advocate of Christianity and believed in Jesus as God and Saviour. He became a staunch Christian and was ready to debate anyone on the divinity of Jesus Christ and the teaching of the church.
During one of his visit to the bookshop along Jalan Masjid India, he came acoss a book titled, "The Quran or the Bible: Which is God's Word" by the late Ahmad Deedat, a South African muslim. He was angry at the contents and wanted to prove Deedat wrong. He studied and researched every point that was brought up and and was surprised that everything was true. He rushed to get a copy of the Holy Quran (Yusof Ali English Translation) to verify his findings. When he read the opening chapter, Al-Fatihah and the chapter, Al-Ikhlas, he felt his journey to seek God was finally over..he felt peace and love filling his heart. He has found ALLAH and a wonderful mentor and friend in Muhammad(pbuh).After years of groping in the dark, finally there is light at the end of the tunnel. On November 22, 1991, he embraced Islam.
At present, his self-taught knowledge in the Christian and Jewish scriptures has put him on a mission to silence the criticism and misinterpretation of Islam by non-muslims, especially the Christians and Jews through a thorough and sincere understanding of the Bible without fear or favor.
He is also strongly against muslims who do not adhere to the teaching of the Quran and misrepresent Islam to non-muslims and muslims through their actions and deeds.He believes Muslims around the world need to wake up and face the reality that we are not united although we boast to have ALLAH, The One True God; Islam, the OneTrue Religion; Quran,The Final True Revelation and Muhammad(pbuh) the Seal of the Prophet and and the best of example to mankind.He is saddened that muslims are so engrossed in their in-fighting and internal discords that they have lost the ability to reason through patience and perseverence which is the teaching of the Holy Quran.
He believes strongly that the only way to eradicate the misconceptions,misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Islam is to sincerely seek within ourselves our true calling and our desire to change for the sake of ALLAH and only Him.
One of his favorite quote is from Mahatma Gandhi, " Be the change you want to see in the world."
4. Rohany Nayan
Rohany Nayan is a doctoral candidate in the Literacy Studies program in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests focus on immigrant families especially on Muslim families, literacy practices and identity development of Muslim children the United States. For four years, she worked as a principal at the local Islamic school - Madinah Academy of Madison. Currently she works at the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions as their Graduate Fellow. She is actively involved in organizing activities in local Muslim communities in the U.S. and encouraging dialogue among the various communities of faith.
