Dr. Timothy Winter (Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad)

Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge

Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

Faculty of Divinity

Scholar portrait

Biography

Timothy Winter, also known as Sheikh Abdul-Hakim Murad, is the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Divinity and Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College. A prominent scholar of Islam, his research focuses on Muslim-Christian relations, Sufism, and computerized hadith databases. Through his academic and institutional work, he aims to shape a new generation of educated Muslim faith leaders.

Winter studied Arabic at Cambridge, Turkish and Persian at SOAS, and Islamic studies at Cairo's Al Azhar University. His writings appear in numerous scholarly publications, and he is particularly noted for bridging traditional Islamic scholarship with contemporary issues.

His book Bombing Without Moonlight won the King Abdullah I Prize for Islamic Thought in 2007, and he received the Pilkington Teaching Prize from Cambridge in 2003. In 2015, he was nominated for a British Muslim Award for Services to Education. A regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's "Thought for the Day," Winter is frequently cited as one of the world's most influential Muslims. While best known for his efforts to foster interfaith understanding, he is highly regarded for his engagement with modern social and ethical issues within the Islamic tradition.

Books

  • Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe (2025)
  • Commentary on the Eleventh Contentions (2012)
  • Understanding the Four Madhhabs (1999)
  • Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (editor, 1990)