Javed Mohammad, Chairman

Javed comes from IT & Telecommunications industry where has spent his working life. Following his graduation, he joined what was then British Telecom Research Laboratories to work in the Computer Communication division. Having represented ‘The Labs’ in many standardisation bodies in the field of computer communication, he moved into the design area working on some of the leading products for the company.

Javed was sponsored by BT for a Masters in Telecommunications where he specialised in Computer Communication. On return to work, he became involved in an initiative alongside senior managers from the Marketing arms of BT, to direct the corporate research funds into areas closer to the needs of BT’s large corporate customers. This evolved into the launch of then newly emerging Internet based services including Intranets which were to play a key role within all major businesses.
Javed then moved into BT Global working on the marketing and then the product management with full responsibility for the profit and loss. All this resulted in developing key capabilities to define, agree and deliver services needed by major businesses in a fast-moving industry with increasing (business) customers’ demand which in turn were being driven by increasing expectations by their users (usually consumers).
He has worked on several consultancy assignments for some of the major players in the IT and Telecommunications industry. Javed is an enthusiastic sportsman and holds several honours. He believes in working hard but enjoying the things we do.

Faisal Mohammed, Managing Director

Faisal has had a passion for learning and education from a very early age. He completed his A Levels with top results at his school and among the highest in the country (Sri Lanka). This earned him a scholarship to study engineering and computer science at the University of Melbourne in Australia. After that he completed a professional qualification in management accounting with Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) UK and then went on to do a Masters degree in engineering at the Open University in UK.

Since graduating from Melbourne University Faisal moved to UK with his family to work as a Software Engineer in the mobile telecommunication sector. After working for six months for a consulting company in 2001 he joined the research and development facilities of Motorola Inc in Cambridge (formerly TTPCom plc) which he continued until 2007. He has been involved in both technical and management roles while at Motorola. Since resigning from Motorola Faisal has been focusing on the health food business that he had developed and also on management consulting work for some clients in the Gulf region.

Faisal has had a keen interest in learning about Islam and dawah from his college days. He has been an active member of the Melbourne University Islamic Society holding its presidency for 2 years. He has also been engaged in organising lecture tours and seminars in Australia with scholars and speakers from around the world. After moving to the UK he has been attending classes on various Islamic sciences and holding study circles in the local mosque, as well as engaging in community dawah projects. In 2010 Faisal founded the Muslim Education & Outreach Cambridge (MEOC) along with his family and friends in Cambridge to formalise and distribute the Islamic educational events and dawah or outreach activities. After Faisal met Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi in the same year MEOC started organising seminars of Shaykh Akram in Cambridge on a monthly basis. This grew into organising courses at a national level throughout the UK and also internationally via online delivery platform.

Faisal lives with his family in Cambridge. He has 3 sons and 2 daughters all of whom are home educated by his wife Fathima. In addition to organising courses of Shaykh Akram Nadwi Faisal attends his classes on regular basis.

Zafar Ahmed, Operations Director

Zafar completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from Bangalore University, India in the year 2000. He has worked in the software engineering field for ~14 years in multinational companies like Intel and ARM Ltd. He gets a wealth of professional experiences in project management, people management, leading large and small teams from his professional experience from the software sector.

He moved to Cambridge, UK in the year 2008 for work, where he met the vibrant and active Muslim community of Cambridge. It is here in Cambridge he met the MEOC team and Shaykh Akram. He has been studying Islamic Studies under Shaykh Akram for the past 3+ years and understands, shares the same vision of Shaykh Akram towards the Muslim ummah. He has been working with Cambridge Islamic Sciences Worldwide for past the 3 years as volunteer and over the last 2 years has been managing the operations side of CISW. He is an active member in Cambridge Muslim community and is well known for his work in the field of Dawah to Muslims and non-Muslims.

Awais Ahmed, Director Public Relations

Awais is Software Engineer by profession. He did his Masters in Philosophy degree from the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He had the honour of receiving a full scholarship from the University of Cambridge for his research on Computer Networks. He has presented his research in reputed international conferences. Prior to joining Cambridge University he received a scholarship to complete a MPhil degree in the top ranked Engineering Institute in Pakistan. He completed his Software Engineering degree with distinction.

After completing his MPhil at Cambridge, Awais has been working in some of the world renowned multinational software companies like IBM and Experian. He has several years of experience in the operations departments of multinational companies. He works as an automation consultant and manages the software releases for real time systems. He has a rich experience in automation technologies and operations.

Since very early age, Awais has been involved in Islamic education and have been an active member of the community. He has a keen interest in learning the Quran and has been involved in studying the Quran from a very early age. He has been part of the Muslim Education and Outreach Cambridge as a volunteer since 2011. He has been studying with Shaykh Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi for past 3+ years. Awais has also been working with the Cambridge Islamic Sciences Worldwide for past three years as a volunteer.