Barkatulla, Abdul Kadir

Shari‘a Supervisor and Senior Imam, Finchley Mosque, London, United Kingdom Abdul Kadir Barkatulla is currently the senior Imam at Finchley mosque and maintainer of the Freefone Islamic Helpline. Mufti Barkatulla initially graduated in Islamic Studies at Darul Uloom (Deoband, India), where he was also trained as Mufti (issuing Islamic authoritative edict) in 1974. Moving to London in 1979, he pursued his studies at ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels, earning the B.Sc. (1985) and M.Phil (1992). As a director of the Islamic Computing Centre, Barkatulla published (1986) electronic databases of Qur’an, Hadith, seerah, and Islamic Law on CD-ROMs. As one of the Shari‘a Judges at the Islamic Shari‘a Council, Barkatulla has wide experience in dealing with socio-cultural issues of Muslims living in the United Kingdom and Europe. As a trustee of the world famous Finsbury Park Mosque, Barkatulla became a voice of moderate British Muslims denouncing the extremism of Abu Hamza, demanding his eviction from the mosque. Barkatulla has participated in radio interviews, talk shows, and documentaries, both in community media and mainstream media such as BBC television channels, BBC Radio, BBC London TV, Channel 4, and ITV London tonight. Barkatulla hosted a daily live phone-in talk show, “Deen-e-Islam” (Religion of Islam), on a community digital channel. Barkatulla is a member of the shari‘a supervisory panels for several Islamic financial institutions, including the United National Bank, Alburaq of Arab Banking Corporation London, Islamic Bank of Britain, and Lloyds TSB.