Date Of Birth: 17 July 1947
Kingston, Jamaica
Religion Islam
Nationality Canadian
“Denomination Sunni Jurisprudence Hanbali Creed Athari Movement Salafism”
Notable quote of Founder of International Open University
Alma mater: The Islamic University of Medina (BA) King Saud University (MA) The University of Wales (Ph.D.)
Profession Islamic Scholar
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Dennis Bradley Philips is a Canadian Islamic professor, lecturer, author, founder, and chancellor of the International Open University, who lives in Qatar. Philips was born in Kingston, Jamaica to high school teachers Bradley Philips and Joyce McDermott. Philips has a brother and sister as well as a foster brother.
Philips was raised a Christian, his mother an Anglican, and his father a Presbyterian. Philips spent the first 11 years of his childhood in Jamaica, before moving to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended the Jarvis Collegiate Institute for high school and Northview Heights Collegiate Institute for high school. Philips moved with his family to Sabah, in eastern Malaysia, in 1964, as his parents were part of Columbus’ plan.
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He proceeded to Simon Frasier University in Vancouver from 1967 to 1970, where he studied biochemistry when he converted to communism. Philips had confronted Islam many times during his travels, but the book that enticed him was Islam, The Misunderstood Religion, by Muhammad Qutb.
He changed to Islam in February 1972, giving the shahada in the presence of Abdullah Hakim Quick. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Islamic University of Medina and his Master’s in ʿAqīdah (Islamic theology) at King Saud University in Riyadh, then at the University of Wales, St. David’s University College, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David) Then at the Lampeter campus, he completed his doctorate in 1993. thesis, Exorcism in Islam.
CAREER
Philips taught Islamic studies for a decade at the Manarat al-Riyadh School in Riyadh and was also a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the American University in Dubai for 10 years. He also teaches at Ajman University (AU) in the United States. Emirates. in 2002 Philips founded a department of Islamic studies at Preston University in Ajman and established the Academy of Islamic Studies in Qatar in 2007.
During the First Gulf War, Philips held Islamic religious revival meetings for American troops stationed in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, during which (according to Philips) more than three thousand soldiers converted to Islam. According to counter-extremism author J.M. Berger, some of the American soldiers who participated in his revival program were later recruited as volunteer trainers during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. Philips established and was a teacher at the Dubai Islamic Information Center as part of the Dar al Ber Society, and in Qatar was an Islamic consultant and speaker for the Islamic information wing of the Sheikh Eid Charity.