A New Chapter: Shaykh Fahad Tasleem & Imam Anwar Arafat
Shaykh Fahad Tasleem
It is with great honour that I announce two significant developments within Sapience Institute. Our beloved brother and Shaykh, Fahad Tasleem, will be transitioning to Yaqeen Institute, and Imam Anwar Arafat will now serve as Director of Sapience USA. Alhamdulillah.
I have known Fahad for over fifteen years. We worked together at iERA, both before and during my time as CEO there, and we have spent close to five years building Sapience Institute side by side. Fahad has been instrumental to our global and USA work. His contribution to developing our intellectual approach, expanding into the Bahasa region, building Sapience Academy, and mentoring our team has been outstanding.
When Fahad first told me of the possibility of joining Yaqeen Institute to lead their non-Muslim da‘wah department, I did not hesitate to tell him he had no choice but to accept. Our principle at Sapience Institute has always been that the vision for Islam is greater than any single organisation, and that the organisation itself is greater than any individual within it. This Allah-centred mindset is essential to our collective success in serving the vision of da‘wah. We are instruments in advancing it, nothing more.
On behalf of everyone at Sapience Institute, I pray that Fahad becomes an even greater asset for the da‘wah and that his new role brings immense impact. He remains part of our story. Fahad will continue working with us in a more limited but strategic capacity.
Imam Anwar Arafat
Alongside this comes our second announcement. Imam Anwar Arafat has been appointed Director of Sapience USA. Anwar has already distinguished himself through his work as an instructor, and he has hit the ground running in his new role, with a tour planned in Malaysia and an exciting new USA-based project that we will announce shortly, insha'Allah.
In addition to his directorship, Anwar contributes to teaching, research, and public education initiatives focused on Islamic theology, worldview analysis, and the intellectual challenges facing believers today.
Imam Anwar received his religious education both locally and abroad, earning a Bachelor's degree in Islamic Studies before completing a Master's degree in Islamic Leadership at the Islamic Seminary of America in Dallas, Texas. Alongside this academic training, Anwar has served as an Imam at masjids in Utah and Tennessee, where he was deeply engaged in teaching, delivering khutbahs, offering pastoral care, and building community.
These years of congregational leadership continue to shape his ability to address theological and intellectual questions with both scholarly rigour and pastoral sensitivity. His work bridges scholarship and public discourse, equipping audiences with frameworks that are intellectually rigorous and spiritually grounded for engaging thoughtfully with the religious and ideological debates of our time.
We pray that Allah accepts the efforts of both Fahad and Imam Anwar, and grants them success in this world and the next.
— Hamza Andreas Tzortzis | Founder & CEO, Sapience Institute“The vision for Islam is greater than any single organisation, and the organisation itself is greater than any individual within it.”