Timothy Winter

Conversion to Islam

Murad converted to Islam in 1979. Reflecting on his early religious thinking, Murad has said that as a teenager he began questioning materialist explanations of beauty, concluding that it was “not something that can be explained away just as an aspect of brain function”. In the same context, he contrasted Christian and Islamic views of sexuality, stating that while in Christianity it is often understood as a consequence of the Fall, in Islam it is seen as “an anticipation of paradise”.

Cambridge Mosque Project

Murad is the founder and leader of the Cambridge Central Mosque project which has developed a new purpose built mosque in Cambridge to cater for up to 1,000 worshipers. The mosque is an "eco-mosque" with substantial reliance on green energy and an almost-zero carbon footprint. Regarding the project, Murad stated, "This will be a very substantial world class landmark building in what is considered by some to be a down-at-heel part of Cambridge."

Views on Islamophobia

Murad has criticised the term "Islamophobia" for its implication that hostility to Islam and Muslims is based on race or tribalistic fear rather than enmity against their religion itself. Nonetheless, he has decried the rising hostility to Islam in Europe, and suggested that it is fuelled by the loss of faith and tradition within Europe itself, which he says results in Europeans formulating their identity by contrasting themselves with a Muslim Other.

Views on extremism

Murad is a traditionalist and considers the views of extremists like al-Qaeda as religiously illegitimate and inauthentic. He decries the failure of extremists to adhere to the classical canons of Islamic law and theology and denounces their fatwas. He unequivocally rejects suicide bombing and considers the killing of noncombatants as always forbidden, noting that some sources consider it worse than murder. According to Murad, Osama bin Laden and his right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri were entirely un-Islamic, unqualified vigilantes who violate basic Islamic teachings.

Murad is critical of Western foreign policy for fuelling anger and resentment in the Muslim world. He is also equally critical of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi ideology, which he believes gives extremists a theological pretext for their extremism and violence.

Traditionalism

Murad has expressed agreement with Julius Evola's views on modernity, although he disagrees with his racist views.

Books written

• Piper at the Gates: A Theology of the Embodied Muslim Subject (Cambridge: CMC Press, 2026)
• Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe (Cambridge: The Quilliam Press, 2020)
• Gleams from the Rawdat al-Shuhada: (Garden of the Martyrs) of Husayn Vaiz Kashifi (Cambridge: Muslim Academic Trust, 2015)
• Montmorency's Book of Rhymes Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert (California: Kinza Press, 2013)
• Commentary on the Eleventh Contentions (Cambridge: Quilliam Press Ltd, 2012)
• XXI Asrda Islom: Postmodern Dunyoda qiblani topish (Tashkent: Sharq nashriyoti, 2005)
• Muslim Songs of the British Isles: Arranged for Schools (London: Quilliam Press Ltd, 2005)
• Postmodern Dünya’da kibleyi bulmak (Istanbul: Gelenek, 2003)
• Co-authored with John A. Williams, Understanding Islam and the Muslims (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2002)
• Understanding the Four Madhhabs: Facts About Ijtihad and Taqlid (Cambridge: Muslim Academic Trust, 1999)

Books edited

• The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) ISBN 978-0-521-78058-2
• Islam, Religion of Life by Abdul Wadod Shalabi (USA: Starlatch Press, 2006) ISBN 1-929694-08-3
• Co-edited with Richard Harries and Norman Solomon, Abraham’s Children: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Conversation (Edinburgh: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2006)

Translations

• Imam al-Busiri, The Mantle Adorned (London: Quilliam Press, 2009)
• Al-Asqalani Ibn Hajar, Selections from Fath Al-Bari (Cambridge: Muslim Academic Trust, 2000)
• Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Disciplining the Soul and Breaking the Two Desires (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1995)
• Roger Du Pasquier, Unveiling Islam (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1992)
• Imam al-Bayhaqi, Seventy-Seven Branches of Faith (London: Quilliam Press, 1990)
• Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1989)

Articles

• “The Last Trump Card: Islam and the Supersession of Other Faiths.” Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 9/2 (1999): 133–155.
• “Pulchra ut luna: some Reflections on the Marian Theme in Muslim-Catholic Dialogue.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 36/3 (1999): 439–469.
• "Muslim Loyalty and Belonging: Some Reflections on the Psychosocial Background." In British Muslims: Loyalty and Belonging, edited by Mohammad Siddique Seddon, Dilwar Hussain, and Nadeem Malik (Leicester: Islamic Foundation; London: Citizens Organising Foundation, 2003).
• “Tradition or Extradition? The threat to Muslim-Americans.” In The Empire and the Crescent: Global Implications for a New American Century, edited by Aftab Ahmad Malik (Bristol: Amal Press, 2003).
• “Readings of the ‘Reading’.” In Scriptures in Dialogue: Christians and Muslims Studying the Bible and the Qur'an Together, edited by Michael Ipgrace (London: Church House Publishing, 2004), 50–55.
• "The Poverty of Fanaticism." In Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition, edited by Joseph Lumbard (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2004).
• “Bombing Without Moonlight: the Origins of Suicidal Terrorism.” Encounters 10:1–2 (2004): 93–126.
• “The Chador of God on Earth: the Metaphysics of the Muslim Veil.” New Blackfriars 85 (2004): 144–157.
• "Qur'anic Reasoning as an Academic Practice." Modern Theology 22/3 (2006): 449–463; reprinted in The Promise of Scriptural Reasoning, edited by David Ford and C. C. Pecknold (Malden: Blackwell, 2006).
• "Ishmael and the Enlightenment's Crise de Coeur." In Scripture, Reason, and the Contemporary Islam-West Encounter, edited by Basit Bilal Koshul and Steven Kepnes (New York: Palgrave, 2007).
• "The Saint with Seven Tombs." In The Inner Journey: Views from the Islamic Tradition, edited by William Chittick (Ashgate: White Cloud Press, 2007).
• "Ibn Kemal (d. 940/1534) on Ibn 'Arabi's Hagiology." In Sufism and Theology, edited by Ayman Shihadeh (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007).
• “Poverty and the Charism of Ishmael.” In Building a Better Bridge: Muslims, Christians, and the Common Good, edited by Michael Ipgrave (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2009).
• “Jesus and Muhammad: New Convergences.” Muslim World 99/1 (2009): 21–38.
• “America as a Jihad State: Middle Eastern Perceptions of Modern American Theopolitics.” Muslim World 101 (2011): 394–411.
• "Opinion: Bin Laden's sea burial was 'sad miscalculation" CNN.com (9 May 2011).
• “Scorning the Prophet goes beyond free speech – it’s an act of violence” Daily Telegraph (17 Jan 2015).