About us – Oasis

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About us

Our Mission

OASIS organizes forums of education, engagement and devotion in order to improve the understanding of Islamic spirituality in America.

Our Vision

To be a restorative and reformative destination for those on the path of Islamic Spirituality, united by sacred knowledge and service.

Join Us in Growing OASIS: A Space for Learning, Faith, and Belonging

Open Alliance for the Study of Islamic Spirituality (OASIS) is designed to provide nourishment to those seeking Islamic Spirituality It currently operates a third space and supports community educational programming.

Our People

Mustafa Ahmed

Physician. Mentor. Community
Facilitator

Maryam Rahman

Surgeon-Scientist. Mentor.
Community Advocate.

Dr. Omer Awass

Virtual Scholar in Residence

Sajid Hasan

Technology Leader. AI Educator.
Community Organizer.

Sarah Gowayed

Author. Social Activist.
Community Organizer.

Dr. Omer Awass is a dynamic seeker who has dedicated his life to the pursuit and harmonization of traditional and modern knowledge. He completed his university education at SUNY Buffalo where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a bachelor’s degree political science. Upon completion of his undergraduate university education, he traveled abroad for a period of six years pursuing traditional Islamic knowledge in the Muslim world. His journeys in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding took him to Malaysia, Syria, Turkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In Malaysia, he engaged in graduate studies in the history of Islamic thought and heritage. In Syria, he spent four years studying in the Faculty of Theology at Al-Fatih Islamic College, where he graduated majoring in Usul al-Din with a specialization in Hadith and its Sciences. During his time in Syria, he also engaged in private study with numerous scholars in Damascus reading the subjects hadith, ‘ulum al-hadith, fiqh usul al-fiqh,‘ulum al-quran, and nahw with numerous Damascus scholars including, Shaikh Muhammad Al-Yacoubi, Shaikh Adeeb Al-Kalas, Shaikh Abu Anas, and Shaikh Badi Al-Laham. He
continued his traditional Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University in Cairo where he majored in the field of Tafseer and Quranic Sciences. He also in the same period spent significant time in Istanbul, Turkiye
where he pursued studies in Arabic morphology (sarf) as well as independent research on globalization with Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu, Former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkiye. In Saudi, he
performed Hajj (1999 and 2001) during which he studied hadith in Medina (2001) with Shaikh Muhammad Mamoun Al-Mauritani. Upon his return to the United States in 2001, Dr. Awass continued his education earning a Master’s degree in Education at SUNY Buffalo. During this tenure in Buffalo, he persisted in his traditional Islamic education studying privately with the faculty of Dar Al-Uloom Al-Madania in Buffalo, where studied Hanafi fiqh with Mufti Hussein Memon and Qawa‘id al-fiqh with Mufti Amer Nazir. From 2005-2014, he resided in Philadelphia, PA where he pursued graduate degrees in Religious Studies in the Religion Department at Temple University. He obtained a master’s degree in religion and
completed his PhD in Religious Studies with a focus in Islamic Law and comparative religion. Since his initial return from the Muslim World to the United States in 2001, he had several occasions to
go back abroad and engage in traditional studies of Islam and Muslims. In Yemen, he furthered his
scholarship in usul al-fiqh with Shaikh Hasan Al-Ahdal. In Turkiye, he deepened his study of ‘ulum al- hadith with Shaikh Nour al-Din al-‘Itr. In India, he studied‘ulum al-Quran with Shaikh Atieg al- Bastawi. Along with numerous university degrees and certificates, Dr. Awass holds several ijazaat in the fields of hadith, ulum al-hadith, fiqh, and usul al-fiqh. Omer has held multiple academic appointments at American institutions of higher education: Hartford International University, SUNY Buffalo, Temple University, and most recently at the American Islamic College as Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies. During his latest academic tenure, he published a book with Cambridge University Press titled: Fatwa and the Making and Renewal of Islamic Law (2023). His deep international engagement informs his latest book with Bristol University Press (2026) titled: Imposing Modernity in the Global South-Studies of Coloniality and Decoloniality in Muslim Societies and States. He is currently working on his next book titled: Negotiating Modernity: Ethics, Law, and Legal Discourse in the Postcolonial Muslim World.