About Imam Hamdani

Ibrahim Hamdani, Imam (Religious Leader) of the Islamic Center of Sacramento hineaf.net and for the Muslim Community of Northern California since 1975. He was born in a religious Hamdani Syed family at Bilavil; district Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1943 and his full name is Peerzada Shah Sultan Ibrahim Hamdani, his family roots go to Prophet Mohammad – Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him, his family and all those who follow him, through Shah-e-Hamdan Amir e Kabir Syed Ali Hamdani and Shah Sultan Bilavil Syed Ahmed Kabir Hamdani. (Detail family line and related information is found in “Our Caravan” in English and “Karawan Hamara” in Urdu by Ibrahim Hamdani.)

He completed his elementary Islamic and school education at Bilavil. He completed his high school education at Government High School Mianwali in 1960.  He took his B. A. Degree in Islamic Studies and Persian from Punjab University at the historical city of Lahore in 1966 and later took Master's Degree in Education in 1973 from the Institute of Education and Research (IER), Punjab University (PU), Lahore.

He learnt Tafseer-e- Quran initially from his uncle Hazrat Syed Pehlwan Shah Hamdani, Hazrat Moulana Hajji Qazi Nazir-ur-Rehman of Bilavil and later (Dora-e-Tafseer) from Hazrat Moulana Sheikh-ul-Quran Ghulam-ullah Khan of Madrissa Tahleem-ul-Quran Raja Bazar Rawalpindi.  He learnt Arabic and Farsi from Hazrat Moulana Sufi Hussam-u-Din of Mundwal, district Rawalpindi. He learnt Arabic, Hadith and Islamic Jurisprudence in the traditional Madrissas (Islamic Schools) with a number of renowned teachers including Hazrat Moulana Qazi Mohammad Noor, who was a graduate of Darul-Uloom Deoband, India and a student of Hazrat Moulana Anwar Shah Kashmiri.

He benefited from the lectures of Moulana Malik Allah Yar Khan of Chikrala, Moulana Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi, Moulana Omer Ichhrawi, Moulana Arif-ullah Shah Qadri, Moulana Mufti Mehmood, Moulana Ehsan Ehlahi Zaheer, Shorish Kashmiri, Moulana Obed-ullah Anwer, Moulana Justice Malik Ghulam Ali and Moulana Gulzar Ahmed Muzahari.

He studied all the writings of Abul Ala Maududi, a great Islamic scholar and the founder of Islamic movement in the Indian sub-continent,  including “Tafeem-ul-Quran”, “Four Basic terms of the Quran”, “Sunnat Ki Aaeini Haysiet”, “Revivalist Movements in Islam”, and “Khalifat-o-Malukiat”. He also had the unique honor to attend daily open question / answer sessions of Abul Ala Maududi during 1970 to 1974 while he was Imam at Jamia Masjid Araian, Pakistani Chowk, Ichhra and Principal of Ichhra Model School and Pak College, Ichhra Lahore.

Ibrahim Hamdani has also acquired Professional Clear Multiple Subjects California Teaching Credential from California State University Sacramento, California, USA in 1988. He taught in Sacramento Public schools for two years. He developed and held his own “Arabic language Class” for high school credit at the Islamic Center of Sacramento for four years 1990-1994. For a brief video intro go to: