Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad was the primary figure who led the opening duas for the Fountain Bookshop in 2003, which was the official beginning of the Fountain Institute under this name.

He graduated with 1st class honours in Arabic in 1983 at the University of Cambridge. Thereafter he studied Islam under traditional teachers at Al-Azhar, Egypt. He went on to reside for three years in Jeddah, where he administered a commercial translation once and maintained close contact with Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad and other ulama from Hadramaut, Yemen.

In 1989, Dr Abdal Hakim returned to England and spent two years at the University of London learning Turkish and Farsi. Since 1992 he has been a doctoral student at Oxford University, specialising in the religious life of the early Ottoman Empire.

In 1996, he was appointed University Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge. In 2009 Dr Abdal Hakim helped to open the Cambridge Muslim College (CMC).

Dr Abdal Hakim is Professor at Ebrahim College and Cambridge Muslim College. He primarily focuses on his research and at EC specifically, he teaches a course called ‘Aspects of Islamic Civilisation’, and advises on curriculum, and research.