Shaykh Rafat Najm

New Zealand

Shaykh Rafat Najm is of Egyptian origin. He began his studies with a BA in Law & Islamic Law from Ain-Shams University in Egypt . Following this the Shaykh then embarked upon his studies in the faculty of Usool-ul-Deen at the prestigious Al Azhar University in Cairo

After graduating form Al Azahr Shaykh Rafat moved to New Zealand . He undertook many short courses in New Zealand to prepare himself for the dawah efforts for that environment. Through such courses he managed to further develop his teaching skills allowing him to be recognised as a professional “workshop style” tutor.

In New Zealand the Shaykh has been the Imam of Christchurch Masjid, Imam of Masjid Abu Bakr As-sidiq, Lecturer at North Shore Masjid, conducted voluntary work for the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind and the Shaykh is currently the Muslim Chaplain of Aukland University of Technology (AUT).

Shaykh Rafat visited the UK in 2008 and after seeing the dawah efforts of Al Hikma he was inspired to return to New Zealand and mirror such efforts there. As a result he has founded Al Hikma Trust ( New Zealand ) which does extensive work with Muslim youth in New Zealand and works to build bridges with the non-Muslim community there. Shaykh Rafat remains a senior advisor for Al Hikma (UK) and is also involved in the delivery of the Personal Development Plan of its volunteers. The Shaykh has spoken at a number of International conferences and universities in UK . He is also a tutor for the Islamic College of England.