Speakers

Fazrul Ismail

Fazrul Ismail is a consultant, coach and trainer. He has advised and worked with organizations and individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and professions in Malaysia. Currently he is in Los Angeles, doing personal research while his wife is attending University of Southern California. His interest is in Systems Thinking. Several modules has been developed to help people managing life much more holistic and systemic. One of the famous module is Master PIES (physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual capacity).

Sheikh Omar Baloch

Sheikh Omar Baloch in his capacity as the Scholar in Residence for Al-Furqaan Foundation is responsible for all activities and material relating to communicating the Message of the Qur’an to Muslims and non-Muslims. His expertise on the Message of the Qur’an makes him a well-respected speaker at lectures and events across the country. His knowledge of world religions allows him to engage in dialogue across many faiths and is often a speaker at many dawah events. His aggressive Khutba schedule takes him around the US, where he not only focuses on reviving the spirit of Dawah through the Qur’an, but also raises funds for the purpose of delivering a copy of the translation of the Qur’an to everyone in America. His fluency in Arabic, English and Urdu makes his khutbas, lectures and speeches unique and well attended.
Born and raised in Chicago, Sheikh Omar has a Shahada from Jamia thul Azhar (Al-Azhar University) in Egypt. He got his Shahada in 1994 with an emphasis on the Arabic Language and Minhaj ad Dawah. Prior to that he studied in Pakistan at Jamia Thul Ahlul Hadith. He is a student of Dr. Israr Ahmad and Abdur Razaq sahib. He has attended study circles with Shaikh Muhammad Jibreel (the Famous Egyptian Qari) and Sheikh Kishk. Apart from his religious education, his secular education has taken him to Georgetown University to pursue his graduate studies on the Psychology of religion. Prior to joining Al-Furqaan Foundation he has held many positions in the IT industry as a network professional. He has served as an Imam at Hagerstown, MD and has also taught at Al-Huda Islamic School. He is extremely good at engaging the youth and is a frequent lecturer and speaker at many campus events.

Dr Azly Rahman

Born in Singapore, grew up in Kampong. Melayu Majidee, Johor Bahru, Dr. Azly Rahman was a pioneer of Maktab Rendah Sains MARA/MARA Junior Science College (MRSM) Kuantan, a Malaysian school system modeled after amongst others, The Bronx School for the Gifted in Science (in New York City). He has had the experience of teaching in the MRSM school system and heading the English Department as well as a Gifted and Talented program. He co-wrote two English Language textbooks for the Malaysian Ministry of Education and was involved in teacher training projects in the area of Teaching Thinking Skills. He has been an invited contributor to several book chapters that analyze specifically the Malaysian General Election of 2008 and Malaysian socio-political change in general. 

Before pursuing his studies, Dr. Rahman taught the courses Foreign Policy, Introduction to Thinking, and Ethics. He coordinated the Universiti Utara Malaysia's (UUM) Thinking Skills Program, was appointed as the Coordinator of UUM's Technology Learning Unit, and subsequently served as its director. He helped establish the Center for Innovations in Education. For his contribution to the university, he was awarded the university's Service Excellence Award in 1997. He also served as member of UUM's Senate. He started a multidisciplinary journal called PRAXIS, of the School of Languages and Scientific Thinking. He helped coordinate publication of articles in the fields of education, language, and literature. 

Dr. Rahman was a consultant of Creativity and Mind Development to several state governments and corporations. He lectured widely on creativity, critical thinking, and education in Malaysia and was also a weekly radio guest in Radio Alor Setar's series on "Pemikiran" 

Before leaving for his doctoral studies, he completed seven research projects in the fields of Human Development and Creativity, Political Science, Management, Brain Science, and Linguistic-Corpus Studies. Though accepted in 1997 into the Ph. D program at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education, he has chosen to pursue his doctorate in International Education Development at Columbia University New York by virtue of Teachers College's world-renowned status as a comprehensive and the number-one ranked graduate school of education, as well as to take advantage of the multiculturalism of New York City's educational setting. 

Nasir Abdul Razak

Firdaus Hasim