Berkley Center

Moulana Abul Kalam Azad is an Islamic scholar and community development activist with over 20 years of experience in the Islamic interfaith community. He served as the founding chairman of the Masjid Council for Community Advancement and as the secretary general on the Council for Interfaith Harmony, Bangladesh. He was also a country representative for the Islamic Fiqh Academy, as well as a member of the National Shariah Council and the Bangladesh National Social Welfare Council. In March 2010, Azad represented the Muslim community at the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance’s global summit on “High-level Religious Leaders in HIV Prevention.” As a scholar, Azad has spoken and written extensively on a range of issues related to interfaith dialogue. In 2007 he received the Gandhi Peace Award. Azad is a member of Jamaat-e-Islami and was sentenced to death in absentia in 2013 for crimes committed during the Bangladesh liberation war; since he remains at large the sentence has not been carried out.