In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Sh. Mustapha Khattab. We talked about his life story as well as what inspired him to write the new English translation of the Quran: Clear Quran.
Dr. Mustafa Khattab is a Canadian-Egyptian authority on interpreting the Quran. He was a member of the first team that translated the Ramadan night prayers (Tarawîḥ) live from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina (2002-2005). Dr. Khattab memorized the entire Quran at a young age and later obtained a professional ijâzah in the Ḥafṣ style of recitation with a chain of narrators going all the way to Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ.
He received his Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in Islamic Studies in English with Honors from Al-Azhar University’s Faculty of Languages & Translation. He lectured on Islam at Clemson University (OLLI Program, 2009-2010), held the position of Lecturer at Al-Azhar University for over a decade starting in 2003, and served as the Muslim Chaplain at Brock University (2014-2016).
He is a member of the Canadian Council of Imams, a Fulbright Interfaith Scholar, and an iERA-Canada Outreach Specialist. He has served as an Imam in the U.S.A. and Canada since 2007 and is the translator of The Clear Quran (2015), the author of The Nation of Islam (2011) and Outfoxing Fox News (2017), and contributor to the Encyclopedia of Muslim American History (2010). His forthcoming works include Qamus-ul-Quran (The Clear Quran Dictionary), The Clear Quran for Kids, and Shukran (children’s story). He's currently the senior Imam of the Anatolia Islamic Centre, Mississauga, Canada.