Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, director of the Islamic Studies Programof the UCLA International Institute, was awarded the 2014 American Muslim Achievement Award at the Pasadena Convention Center on March 15.
The award honors Muslims who have achieved excellence in their field and have made outstanding contributions to society. It was presented by the Islamic Center of Southern California, a leading Islamic organization in the United States that seeks to integrate Muslim Americans into pluralistic American society.
The Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor in Islamic Law at UCLA School of Law, Professor Abou el Fadl is one of the world’s pre-eminent scholars of Islam and Islamic law, as well as a recognized human rights scholar.
His many honors include the University of Oslo Human Rights Award and the Leo and Lisl Eitinger Prize, both awarded in 2007. In 2005, he was named a Carnegie Scholar in Islamic Law. Professor Abou El Fadl was appointed to the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (2006–2007) by President George W. Bush. He has also served as a member of the board of directors of Human Rights Watch.
Professor Abou El Fadl joined the UCLA Law faculty in 1998, where he teaches courses on a wide variety of topics, including international human rights, Islamic jurisprudence, national security law, law and terrorism, Islam and human rights and political asylum.
His scholarly works include over 14 books and over 50 articles; they have been translated into numerous languages, including Arabic, Persian, French, Norwegian, Dutch, Ethiopian, Russian and Japanese.
Professor Abou El Fadl holds a B.A. in political science from Yale University, a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic law from Princeton University. He is also an Islamic jurist and scholar, having received 13 years of systematic instruction in Islamic jurisprudence, grammar and eloquence in Egypt and Kuwait. After law school, he clerked for Arizona Supreme Court Justice James Moeller, and practiced immigration and investment law in the United States and the Middle East.
