EXPLORING ISLAM IN A NEW LIGHT

Abdur Rab is basically an economist. Except for a brief stint as a Lecturer in Dhaka University, he held research and consulting positions throughout his career with numerous organizations, including the Bangladesh and former undivided Pakistan governments. He served the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics as a Staff and Research Economist, the Pakistan Tariff Commission as a Member, and the Bangladesh Planning Commission as Section Chief and Senior Consultant. He was an Industrial Economist with UNIDO, Financial and Monetary Advisor for the Uganda government under a World Bank assignment, and a Senior Industrial Economist for the Qatar government under a UNIDO assignment. He also offered his consulting services to various development projects of Bangladesh supported by USAID, the World Bank, UNDP, and the Asian Development Bank. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Dhaka University and a PhD from Harvard.
 
Born and brought up in a traditional Bengali Muslim family, Abdur has been a devoted follower of the traditional teachings and rituals of Islam since his very childhood. However, when he went to college, he came into close contact with a versatile spiritual teacher Shah Aksaruddin Ahmad and underwent a paradigm change in his religious approach. Inspired by him, Abdur closely studied the Quran to learn about genuine Islam. Afterwards he studied also the Hadith and relevant literature of modern Islamic scholars. He came to the United States in December 1999. His original book on Islam has taken more than four years.