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He was appointed as the Director of the Raja Zarith Sofiah Centre for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science, and Civilization (RZS-CASIS), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), effective from 1 July 2024. He obtained his Ph.D. from RZS-CASIS with a study titled “An Analysis of Legal Person Using Taklīf and ’Itibārī in Islam.” He also earned an M.Phil. from the same center with a study on the economic thought of Ḥanafī scholars in Kitāb al-Mabsūṭ by Imām al-Sarakhsī (d. 1090).
He holds a Bachelor’s degree (with honors) in Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Islamic Banking and Finance from the Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIiBF), IIUM.
He is a co-founder of the Himpunan Keilmuan Muslim (HAKIM) and was one of the early initiators of the Wacana Pandangan Alam Islam (WISE) program, which has since expanded to Cairo, Egypt, and Stockholm, Sweden. Within the WISE program, he also serves as a lecturer and tutor.
He has also been involved in the Islamic banking industry as a member of the Shariah Advisory Committee of Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad (2014–2022) and OCBC al-Amin (2022–present).
Among the books he co-edited are Islam and the Environment with Zaini Ujang and Muhammad Zainiy Uthman, and Thinking Framework with Muhammad Zainiy Uthman and Sulaiman Boayao. He also co-translated with Muhammad Zainiy Uthman the book The Historic Judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Riba.
His writings include:
“Al-Taftāzānī’s Sources of Knowledge in Sharḥ al-Talwīḥ ‘alā al-Tawḍīḥ li Matn al-Tanqīḥ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh”
“Commercial Partnership in Islam: A Brief Survey of Kitāb al-Muḍārabah of al-Mabsūṭ by al-Sarakhsī”
and numerous scholarly articles in newspapers and magazines.
He is a Senior Lecturer at RZS-CASIS, and previously served as a lecturer at the Department of Islamic Understanding and Thought, Centre for Core Studies, Islamic University Selangor (UIS). He obtained his Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Mathematics from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, and later pursued a Master’s degree in the same field at the National University of Malaysia (UKM).
He has served as a mathematics lecturer at UiTM and as a research assistant at USM, UM, and UKM. He later pursued a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Islamic Thought and Civilization at the Centre for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science and Civilization (RZS-CASIS), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Muhammad Zainiy Uthman. His thesis was titled “Mathematisation in Ibn Sīnā–al-Bīrūnī Correspondence and Sīrāfī–Mattā Debate.”
He was one of the first cohort participants of the WISE program and has since been actively involved in HAKIM as a fellow, including serving as a tutor in the WISE program in Malaysia, Sweden, and Egypt since 2014. Among his writings is “Mathematics and Reality: An Examination of the Definitions of Mathematics,” which was published in the TAFHIM journal. He is also a lifetime member of the Malaysian Mathematical Sciences Society (PERSAMA) and was actively involved in training the Malaysian team for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) and the International Philosophical Olympiad (IPO).
Professor Dr. Alparslan Açikgenç is now a professor at the School Of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy, İbn Haldun University, He completed his undergraduate education at Ankara University (1974). He received his MA from the University of Wisconsin (1978) and his PhD from the University of Chicago (1983). In 1983, he started to work at METU Department of Philosophy. He became Assistant Professor in 1984, Associate Professor in 1987 and Professor in 1993. He worked at the University of Chicago in 1985 and at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Malaysia between 1995-99. Afterwards, he served as Vice Rector and faculty member at Fatih University between 2006-2009, and then held administrative and academic positions at Yıldız Technical University. Since 2017, he has been continuing his academic studies at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul, Turkiye. His main interest of research is the history of scientific traditions of diverse civilizations, primarily Islamic and Western. In addition to numerous articles and books on religion and science, particularly on epistemology and sociology of science, he is the author of Veri Felsefesi (Philosophy of Data) (1992), Being and Existence in Sadrā and Heidegger: A Comparative Ontology(Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), 1992); Bilgi Felsefesi İslam Bağlamında Bilgi Bilimden Sistem Felsefesine (Philosophy of Knowledge: From Science to System Philosophy in the Islamic Context) (Istanbul, 1992); Islamic Science: Towards a Definition (Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), 1996); Kavram ve Süreç Olarak Bilginin İslamileştirilmesi (Islamization of Knowledge as Concept and Process) (1998); Scientific Thought and Its Burdens (Istanbul, 2000); İslam Medeniyetinde Bilgi ve Bilim (Knowledge and Science in Islamic Civilization) (Istanbul, 2006). His most recent work, Islamic Scientific Tradition in History (Kuala Lumpur, 2014) won the national science book award of Malaysia for the year 2014. Currently Professor Açıkgenç is the president of Asian Philosophical Association.
He is also teaching history of philosophy at the Chair of Civilization Studies, Institute for Alliance of Civilizations, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University, Istanbul.
Professor Bilal Kuşpınar is the Director at the International Rumi Center for the Study of Civilizations, concurrently a Professor at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Head of the Department of Philosophy at the Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Türkiye. Professor Kuşpınar received his B.A. in Theology from Selçuk University, Konya, his M.A. in Philosophy, Logic and History of Science from the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, his first Ph.D. in the History of Philosophy from Selçuk University, and his second Ph.D. in Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism from McGill University. He specializes in the history of medieval philosophy and mysticism. His research investigates various philosophical and spiritual traditions that flourished in Islamic civilization, especially within the context of the Ottoman intellectual milieu. Prior to joining Konya Necmettin Erbakan University, he taught at several academic institutions and universities, including Selçuk University, International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), Kuala Lumpur, and Concordia and McGill Universities, Montreal, and Ahlia University, Bahrain. He has also participated in many international conferences and seminars. In addition to his extensive contributions to the field of philosophy and taṣawwuf studies with his many articles, he has so far published three books: The Lamp of Mysteries (Misbāh al-Asrār): A Commentary on the Light-Verse of the Qur'an: Arabic text critically edited, translated, and annotated (Oxford: Anqa publishing, 2011), Ismā'īl Ankaravī on the Illuminative Philosophy: His Izāhu'l-Ḥikem, Its Edition and Analysis in Comparison with Dawwānī's Shawākil al-Ḥūr, together with the Translation of Suhrawardī's Hayākil al-Nūr (Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), 1996), Ibn Sina'da Bilgi Teorisi (Avicenna's Theory of Knowledge). 2nd ed. Istanbul: MEB, 2001 (1st ed. in 1995).