Abdassamad Clark – scholar, translator, Muslim convert
Abdassamad Clarke, who converted to Islam in 1973, is now one of the UK’s most renowned Muslim translators, writes Bogvaerker.
The birthplace of Abdassamad Clark is Ulster, one of the four historical provinces of Ireland. He graduated from the oldest university in Great Britain – the University of Edinburgh – with a degree in Physics and Mathematics. In 1973 he converted to Islam thanks to the sheikhAbdulkadir al-Sufi, and later went to Cairo, where he studied Arabic, Tajweed and other Islamic sciences. Religious education allowed him to hold positions in the Islamic structures of Great Britain. In the 1980s, he was the secretary of the imam of the Dublin Mosque, Sheikh Yahya Muhammad al-Hussein, and in 1991 he became the acting imam-khatib of the Norwich mosque. At the same time, Abdassamad Clark worked as a freelance journalist for publications such as the Irish Times, Irish Press and Sunday Press, covering the Middle East, Islam and other topics. The Phoenix magazine published his satire on Salman Rushdie and an article about Mary Robinson, Ireland’s first woman president. Since then, he continued to write various articles on contemporary issues, which are regularly published on the Internet on Muslim sites. He also runs his own blog.
Abdassamad Clarke is one of the most famous Muslim translators from Arabic to English, he also edits and writes books on Islam himself. For his tireless work on this path in 2016, he was awarded the Assembly Prize “Contribution and Achievement of British Imams and Scholars” (British Imams and Scholars Contributions and Achievements – BISCA). Abdassamad Clark is a member of the Council of this organization.
Abdussamad Clark. “A clear victory” / Source: onlineislamicbook.com
The scholar has translated many Islamic books from Arabic, making it possible for English readers to get acquainted with them. Among them, one can mention Imam Malik’s Muwatta, Abu Hanifa’s Kitab al-asar, chapters from Tarih al-Khulaf al-Suyuti, Imam al-Nawawi ‘s Forty Hadiths with commentaries and many others. In collaboration with Jacob Verdelin, Abdassamad Clark translated into Danish a portion of the Qur’an, including the suras al-Fatiha, al-Bakara and Ali Imran. The translation was published in Copenhagen .
Abdassamad Clark is currently the director of Diwan Press, a Muslim publishing house founded in 1975 that publishes classical and contemporary works on Islam and Sufism. It operates in North America, England and Australia, and sells its products online across the world from Brazil to India and Japan.
Abdassamad Clarke also teaches the basics of religion for adults and children, teaches them to read the Koran (tajwid), the Arabic language. Some of his books, such as “In the Year of the Elephant”, “Clear Victory”, “The Last Battle”, are dedicated to children, in which stories from the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) are told in a language understandable for young Muslims.
The scientist has lectured in cities such as Peterborough, Cambridge, London , Edinburgh, Dublin, Copenhagen, Jena, Stockholm, Lancaster, Manchester, Leicester, as well as at the University of Fez in Morocco.
Islamosphere