Sheikh Sulayman Van Ael is an Islamic scholar, counsellor, motivational speaker, and convert to Islam. He has worked as a chaplain and religious counsellor at several universities in London, including the Imperial College, SOAS, and the London School of Economics. He currently teaches at Cambridge Muslim College.
Early Life and Education
Born into an atheist Dutch family in 1976, Sulayman converted to Islam at the young age of 18 after swiftly being disillusioned with the conceptual errors of atheism. Later, he studied classical Arabic and other Islamic disciplines in Belgium, Sudan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. He also learned and memorised the Qur’an in Sudan.
He studied under numerous scholars and received Ijazat in the ten Qira’at (recitations) and transmitting the books of hadith.
He also received a BA in Theology and an MSc in Islamic Counseling from Rotterdam University.
Career
In addition to serving as an Imam and preacher at the Ghufran mosque in Jordan, he taught Islamic sciences at the Islamic University of Rotterdam. He was the first European to be hired by the Jordanian ministry of Islamic affairs to preach on Fridays.
Sheikh Sulayman, who was just recognised by The Muslim 500 as one of the most important Muslims in the world, appeals to both young and old.
Sulayman Van Ael’s website: www.imamvanael.com
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