Imam Yusuf Z.Kavakci,

  • The President of Islamic Tribunal from 2012 to 2014.
Dr. Yusuf Ziya Kavakci was born in 1938 in Hendek, Sakarya, Turkey. His rise to scholarship began early; by the age of 10, he memorized the entire Quran and became a certified Qari, or reciter. Dr. Kavakci obtained a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies from the Institute of Higher Islamic Studies, and a Law degree from the College of Law, Istanbul University. In 1967, he received his PhD in Islamic History and Culture from Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters. Thereafter, he worked as Assistant and Associate Professor at the Institute of Islamic Research, Istanbul University. Residing in Dallas, Texas, he serves as Scholar-in-Residence for the Islamic Association of North Texas (IANT), the largest mosque in north Texas. He continues to teach a host of programs there including  Fiqh (Nur al-Idah, Majalla and others), Aqida (grammatical analysis and translation of al-Fiqh al-Akbar by Abu Hanifa, Aqida of al-Tahawi, Aqa’id of Umar Nasafi), Hadith (Nawawi’s Forty Hadith, Ramuz al-Ahadith by Gumushhaneli Ziyaeddin Efendi), and Grammatical Analysis of the Quran. Dr. Kavakci is the founder of both Suffa Islamic Seminary and IANT Quranic Academy. Education:
  • Full Professor (1981) Thesis: "Comparative Study on the Shares of Man and Woman in Inheritance Law." School of Islamic Studies, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey (This is the first time in Modern Turkey's Universities' that a full-professorship officially held as independent academic career in Islamic Law after the fall of Ottoman Empire)
  • Associate Professor (1973) Thesis: " 'HISBA' Organization in Islamic Law and Culture." Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Assistant Professor (1969) Thesis: "Muslim Jurists of Qarakhanid Period in Transoxiana (XI-XII A.D. Centuries)." Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Ph.D. (1967) School of Letters, Institute of Islamic Research, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Esq. (1966) Board Certified Attorney, Turkey
  • LLB (1965) School of Law, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • B.A. (1965) Islamic Studies, Institute of Higher Islamic Studies, Ministry of Education, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Imam-Khatib School (1961) Istanbul, Turkey
  • Vefa Lycee (1960) Istanbul, Turkey
  • (1957) Passed the national examinations for becoming Mufti (Muslim Bishop, Certified authority to give fatwa/religious edict)
  • (1955) Passed the national examinations for becoming Waiz (preacher)
  • (1949-1954) Studied and trained in Tajwid, Qiraah, techniques of recitation of Qur'an, Arabic, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Siyar and allied Islamic Sciences, Hasircilar Qur'anic School, Sakarya, Turkey
  • (1948) Hifz al-Qur'an (memorization of the Holy Qur'an by heart)

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