PROF. DR. CHE ZARRINA BINTI SA'ARI

Che Zarrina Sa’ari, who graduated from the University of Malaya (Bachelor's and Master's degrees) and Edinburgh University (PhD), is currently the Professor at the Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia, working in the Department of Aqidah and Islamic Thought. She served several times as the Head of the Department of Aqidah and Islamic Thought and as the Deputy Director (Development and Research) at the same Academy, and currently she is the Deputy Director (Research) until December 2024. She was also a visiting scholar at Leiden University (2004) and Edinburgh University (2010). Dr. Che Zarrina’s broad academic and research interests involve Sufism, Islamic Psychospiritual, Islamic Psychotherapy, and Islamic Ethics. She has produced over 300 publications, including books, chapters in books, articles in journals, short articles in mass media, and conference proceedings that were presented nationally and internationally. Dr. Che Zarrina has been invited many times by national as well as international universities to deliver lectures or talks on Islamic Psychospiritual and Psychotherapy. She has also been invited to be a keynote speaker, plenary speaker, or invited speaker in seminars, conferences, and workshops nationally and internationally in her area of expertise. She has presented papers in seminars and conferences and delivered motivational talks as well as religious talks to the public from time to time, and written short articles in magazines and newspapers. Dr. Che Zarrina has produced about 50 master's students and 53 doctorate students in her field. The graduates, national and international, became her successors in the dissemination and enhancement of their expertise and have contributed to the academic world, government, and community, especially in spiritual and mental well-being. In research, she has been awarded about 105 internal and external research grants, for instance, ERGS, FRGS, MAIS Fatwa Research Grant, IIRG, MRUN, JAKIM Fatwa Research Grant, RACE, USM, JAIS Fatwa Research Grant, GP LPPKN, UMRG Project, and UMRG Programme. The outputs of the research could be seen through the graduation of graduate research assistants, publications, curriculum designs, and reviews for new courses or module improvements. In addition, those outputs have also been utilized to assist government institutions. For example, in developing modules, manuals, guidelines, policies, and fatwas. Furthermore, many of the outputs of Islamic Psychospiritual and Psychotherapy have been applied and carried out publicly by the community and non-governmental associations (NGO). To impart this knowledge to the relevant communities, Dr. Che Zarrina has been invited to facilitate the training of the trainers (ToT) workshops and intervention sessions that are usually organized by the government, such as JAKIM, Malaysian Ministry of Health, Jabatan Perpaduan Negara dan Intergrasi Nasional, state religious councils and departments, non-governmental organizations, and the public. In the professional field, based on her expertise and involvement with the stakeholders, she has gained their trust and has been appointed to one of JAKIM’s prestigious committees as an Expert Panel for Aqidah (PPA) with terms of reference to respond to current issues of `aqidah and school of thought in society and give an initial view on the issuance of a fatwa for Muzakarah Jawatankuasa Fatwa, Majlis Kebangsaan Bagi Hal Ehwal Ugama Islam Malaysia (MKI). She has been involved in various committees and has been appointed as an expert panel, among others in Expert Panel for Programme Standards: Islamic Studies by Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA), Expert Panel of the Field of Aqidah and Sufism, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Top Management Committee for KSKCare Centre JAKIM, and Dini Curriculum Development for Ministry of Education Malaysia. In academic linkage, Dr. Che Zarrina has been involved as an academic advisor for several local universities, journals editor-in-Chief, advisory board member, member of journal editorial boards, postgraduate external examiner, and member of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES). She is the Editor in Chief for AFKAR: Journal of Aqidah & Islamic Thought, indexed in WoS-ESCI and SCOPUS. She has also been appointed Editor in Chief for Qalbu: International Journal of Sufism published by PERTAMA, the advisory board for the Journal of Islamic Theology Pakistan and the Journal of Islamic Research Turkey, and has become a reviewer for WoS and SCOPUS journals. She also contributes to society through her involvement with several national and international non-government organizations (NGO) such as the Islamic Psychospiritual Association Malaysia (IPSA) as Deputy President, Majlis Dakwah Negara, Persatuan Kaunseling Syarie Malaysia, and the International Association of Islamic Psychology. She has obtained several certificates as a certified practitioner, such as Psychological First Aid, Mental Health Coach, and Crisis Intervention and Trauma Counseling. Among her significant contributions to the country is her involvement from the beginning in setting up the KSKCare Centre@MTMZA JAKIM which is a community referral center that provides professional and free services to the community.  Since then, she, who leads the Islamic Psychospiritual Team, has always performed training of the trainers (ToT) managed by JAKIM and others for related persons.

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DR. RAIHANA BINTI ABDUL WAHAB

Raihana Abdul Wahab's main research interest is on the Islamic Astronomy, particularly in Observational Astronomy.. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Shariah major in Islamic Astronomy from the University of Malaya and holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Astronomy from University Malaya in 2014.  Since 2015, she appointed as a Senior Lecturer for Islamic Astronomy Programme under the Department of Fiqh and Usul, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya. She has a particular interest in the Quranic and Hadith Research related to Astronomy. She has been invited to deliver talks about several topics in Islamic Astronomy Research in Malaysia. Her completed research project is a Sky Brightness Research for Determination of Early Fajr Prayer Times funded by University of Malaya. Furthermore, she was the Principle Investigator of the fatwa research grant that was awarded by JAKIM for the Reevaluation of the Sun’s Altitude for Determination Beginning of Fajr Prayer Times in Malaysia. The findings of this research was presented to Fatwa Research and Management Committee, JAKIM and National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs of Malaysia (MKI). At the end of November 2019, several states announce earlier compared to other states on changes of beginning for Fajr prayer time to average 8 minutes later than the existing prayer time calendar. On April 21, 2020, the State of Kelantan announced the changes of the early Fajr prayer time. Therefore, all states in Malaysia have adopted the parameters of this research. She has also awarded a community research grant entitled Bringing Astronomy Community to Educate People under the University of Malaya Community Engagement Center (UMCares) research fund from 2018-2020. Her current research is Application of The Digital Imaging Techniques in the Observation of the Young Crescent Moon from the Perspective of Shariah and Astronomy.  She has written more than 10 articles in international and local journals. Due to her extensive experience in the research work that has been carried out, she has been appointed by the Perak State Mufti Department as one of the members of the Falak committee for the State of Perak from 2018 until present. She also has been appointed as Islamic Astronomy Expert Panel for Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) from 2024-2025.

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PROF. DR. SANJAY RAMPAL A/L LEKHRAJ RAMPAL

Dr Rampal is a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. He is a Public Health Physician and heads the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. He also chairs the National Conjoint Committee for Public Health Postgraduate Medical Program, Malaysia. He is a leader in Public Health Education and NCD Research. Dr Rampal was medically trained in India and served in the Ministry of Health Malaysia from 1998 to 2005. The clinical experiences from his early medical career helped him realize that treating one patient at a time was not sufficient and more could be done by intervening at a population level. He improved his basic epidemiology and biostatistics knowledge by completing an MPH degree in 2004 from Harvard University. He joined the University of Malaya in 2005 with the idea that intervening at the graduate level would improve the research skills of the medical and public health community. He completed his PhD in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University in 2014. He was Certified in Public Health (CPH) by the US National Board of Public Health Examiners in 2013. Dr Rampal’s research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular disease, with an emphasis on nutrition, obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and dyslipidemia. He is particularly interested in elucidating their roles as upstream factors utilizing common major pathways leading to the different Non Communicable Diseases. He is also actively investigating the role of Obesity and Diabetes on the prognosis of Dengue Severity. He hopes to further leverage this information to design and implement better prevention programs that ultimately reduces the number of new patients seen by our healthcare system. His methodological interest includes improving research methodology, biostatistics, epidemiological designs, regression models, causal inference, multiple imputations, measurement error, and propensity scoring. Dr Rampal actively lectures in the fields of epidemiology, biostatistics, and research methods. He has supervised 3 Doctoral and numerous Master candidates to completion. He actively supervises 10+ doctoral students. He has provided numerous methodological and biostatistical consultations to graduate students and clinical researchers. Dr Rampal has published 80 peer-reviewed research papers, of which 73 are ISI indexed, and has an h-index of 24 with 6000+ citations.   Dr Rampal is the chairman for the Public Health Society, Malaysian Medical Association, and is a member of various international associations such as International Epidemiology Association, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, Society for Epidemiology Research. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia and was the past honorary secretary for the College of Public Health Medicine from 2006-2009. He has been an executive committee member for the College of Public Health Medicine since 2016.

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