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Amina Inloes,
Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the Islamic College in London and also the Managing Editor of the Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies. 397 Answers
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Hamid Waqar,
Shaykh Hamid Waqar was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and converted to Islam at the age of sixteen. He started his Islamic studies in the year 2001 in Beirut and, a year later, moved to Qum where he has been studying since. He currently studies at the highest levels of Islamic jurisprudence, translates many books and runs the Muntazar website. 2 Answers
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Faiyaz Jaffer,
Shaykh Faiyaz Jaffer is the Associate Chaplain and Research Scholar at the Islamic Center at New York University. He attained an MA degree in Islamic Studies (UK), with a concentration on early Islamic history, after his undergraduate degree from SUNY Stony Brook University in Political Science and Religious Studies. In pursuing the classical course of Islamic education, Faiyaz has studied in the Seminary of Karbala, Iraq. 1 Answer
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Saleem Bhimji,
Shaykh Saleem Bhimji was born and raised in Canada. After completing his post-secondary education at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), he moved to Medina, New York, to study at the Imam al-Asr Theological Seminary. He later continued his religious studies at the Hawza of Qum. To date he has translated over 40 full-length books into English that have been printed worldwide. 15 Answers
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Ayub Rashid,
Shaykh Ayub Rashid is a graduate of the Islamic Seminary of Qom, Iran. He has a BA in Islamic law and MA in Islam and Community Studies from the UK and is also a qualified Muslim Chaplain from the Markfield Institute of Higher Education in Leicester. No Answers
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Vinay Khetia,
Shaikh Vinay Khetia has studied at various traditional Islamic seminaries in London, Iraq and Syria. He has an undergraduate degree in Religious and Near Eastern Studies from the University of Toronto and an M.A. in the History and Philosophy of Religion from Concordia University. He is a PhD Candidate in the department of Religious Studies at McMaster University with a focus on the intellectual history of Islam and specifically Shi'ism. 14 Answers
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Rebecca Masterton,
Dr Rebecca Masterton graduated with a BA in Japanese Language and Literature; an MA in Comparative East Asian and African Literature and a PhD in Islamic literature of West Africa. She has been teaching for seventeen years through different media, and has also worked in media for ten years, producing and presenting programs for several TV channels. 84 Answers
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Berak Hussain,
Berak Hussain is a Registered Psychotherapist (RP) in Canada. She has a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Educational Counseling from the University of Ottawa. She speaks on a variety of Islamic and psychological issues bridging the connection and misconceptions around Islam and mental health and Islam and women. She has worked locally and internationally on a variety of mental health initiatives working tirelessly to break the stigma around the topic within the community. 1 Answer
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Syed Nabi Raza Abidi,
Syed Nabi Raza Abidi is based in the US and has a PhD in Theology and Philosophy having attended Howzah in Iran for several years. His research was conducted under the guidance of Ayatollah Ja'far Subhani. He has also taught various subjects such as Usul, Fiqh, Philosophy, and Tafseer in different Islamic schools. 3 Answers
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Masuma Jaffer,
Dr Masuma Jaffer is a qualified dentist, with a Masters in Islamic Studies and has also attended Hawza in Qum. She obtained a PGCE - teaching qualification – and has taught Hawza studies at the Islamic College in London. She also has a Diploma in Counselling and is a Qualified Chaplain and worked with women prisoners at Holloway and with Hertfordshire Police advising them on Muslim matters. 10 Answers
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Fatemah Meghji,
Fatemah Meghji is based in Vancouver and has a BA in English Literature and Religious Studies from the University of British Columbia. She then studied at Jamiah al-Zahra in Qum, Iran, from where she completed her MA in Qur'anic Exegesis & Qur'anic Sciences with honours. She works on content development with Kisa Kids and has taught at the Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy, Islamic Literacy, and the Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre. 1 Answer
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Sayed Mohammad Saleh Qazwini,
Sayed Mohammad Saleh Qazwini has a BA from the University of Michigan and an MA from Wayne State University. He is a graduate of the Islamic Seminary of Qom, Iran. 3 Answers
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Zaid Alsalami,
Shaykh Dr Zaid Alsalami is an Iraqi born scholar, raised in Australia. He obtained a BA from Al-Mustafa University, Qom, and an MA from the Islamic College in London. He also obtained a PhD from ANU, Canberra. He has written and translated several Islamic texts and also prepared educational videos on Islamic rulings and practices. 350 Answers
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Nasim Walji Pirmohamed,
Nasim Walji Pirmohamed is a religious lecturer and a teacher in Islamic Religious Education, Holy Qur'an and Arabic language. She has translated works from Persian to English, and has been very active in working for the improvement of women’s condition and their mental health across many countries. 1 Answer
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Jaffer Ali Ladak,
Shaykh Jaffer Ali Ladak is from Milton Keynes in the UK and has studied at Jami'a Imam as-Sadiq (a) Hawza Imam al-Jawad (a) in Karbala and at Al Mahdi Institute in Birmingham. He is currently completing his Masters Degree in Islamic Law at the Islamic College in London. He has also authored a book on Lady Umm Kulthum, the daughter of Imam Ali (a). No Answers
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Sayed Mohammedhassan Alsheraa,
Sayed MohammedHassan Alsheraa attended the Hawzah in Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Thereafter he continued his Islamic studies in the Hawza of Karbala, Iraq. Alongside his Hawza studies, he is also a student of political science at the University of Michigan, USA. 1 Answer
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Seyed Saied Alavi,
Seyed Saied Alavi is a researcher based in Qom who has studied from the Howzah of Qom and also completed a Pastoral studies program. He is currently a university lecturer in the fields of Shia Theology and the History of Religions as well as other subjects. 9 Answers
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There is some discussion of this topic here: https://www.al-islam.org/ask/is-it-the-case-that-only-men-are-allowed-to...
The main reason why it is unlikely that a woman will become a marja' today is not theoretical, since there may be many approaches to Islamic law, but rather is practical. That is, there are social forces that would push a woman off of the path of becoming a marja', and women do not have the same networking, educational, or social support that men have and which people need to succeed in any field. (Although some Iranian women become mujtahids and there are structures in place in Iran to facilitate that, less so in other countries although it occurs in other countries also.) Furthermore, women who are religiously conservative are generally encouraged to avoid positions of public leadership or to avoid being publicly visible.
Maybe in the future it will be different.
However, it is worth considering that there are many forms of religious and spiritual leadership. While we focus mostly on the role of the marja' as the chief jurist, or chief legal expert, people require guidance and leadership in many areas of life, including family matters, spiritual guidance, ethics, politics, charitable work, and so forth. Some marja's do offer guidance in these areas also but not all do, as it is not possible for one person to specialize in every single thing or to do every single thing at one time. Furthermore, even within the Islamic sciences, there are other areas of expertise that are also important such as tafsir. So it is also valuable to become a leader or expert in other areas of religion, not only jurisprudence/law.