Okasha Kameny is the Founder and Executive Director of Al-Hirz Institute. He also serves as the lead instructor at the institution and has been at the forefront of teaching various sciences of this religion for many years. Okasha Kameny studied at Azhariyah under different scholars who took him as their private student and mentee due to him being an A+ student, and winning first place in contests in which he participated.
At 9, he had memorized the Qur'an, knowing the rules of Tajweed, Tafsir, and other books. The then-Saudi ambassador to Ghana invited him to his office and presented him with a special gift.
He went on to study with world-renowned scholars in different fields from different countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan. Some of his teachers are Shaykh Mubarak Al Mughrabe (Madina), Shaykh Abdul Razzaq Ishaaq (Madina), Shaykh Usamah Tahir (Sudan), Shaykh Atiyyah al Misry (Azhar), Shaykh Ali Abu Hashim (Azhar).
He never missed a class in the course of 11 years, spending 16 hours a day including weekends; he started teaching Quran, Hadith, Arabic, Aqeedah, and Fiqh with his teachers' permission at 13. After which he became a "Marji'3" or reference source for his teachers. That means if they needed any proof from the Quran, Hadith, or Arabic poetry, he could complete it for them from memory by hearing a word or two.
At 15, he had memorized over 100 lectures in Arabic verbatim. Some of his ُEgyptian teachers nicknamed him Ghulam Hashimi (the Hashim boy), referring to Abdullah Ibn Abbas, the Prophet's cousin and the great scholar renowned for how knowledgeable he was from a young age. May Allah protect, preserve, and elevate our Shaykh - Allahumma Aameen
By the favor of Allah, Okasha Kameny is an Imam in the Qur'anic Sciences, Hadith, and Arabic language. Moreover, he has memorized (with immaculate accuracy and precision) dozens of major classical books, including Sahih Bukhari and Muslim, Ash-Shatibiyyah and similar works in the sciences of Quran, Al Jazariyyah and similar works in the field of tajweed, and At-Tahawiyyah and similar works in the field of 'Aqeedah, and Alfiyyah ibn Maalik and similar works in the field of Arabic, to mention a few.
Imam Okashah Kameny is an author and a Consultant; former Imam of Bronx Muslim Center, New York; Central Mosque of Chester, Pennsylvania; Islamic Center Lympia, Washington; founder of Masjid Al-Wasatiyyah, Al-Wasatiyyah School in Philadelphia; Founder of INK TV, New Jersey; and INK Institute in North Carolina; Al-Hirz Institute (Texas); and a former Trustee of Al-Minhaal (New Jersey).
He has dedicated himself to making Al-Hirz the primary resource for people worldwide to benefit from the classical knowledge Allah has empowered him to teach.
Official Engagements:
As of 2022, Imam Okasha Kameny has lectured and led prayers in over 58 countries and 604 cities worldwide, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Morocco, UAE and Turkey.
He has had official invitations and meetings with several religious and political figures around the globe, notably with the late Sultan Qaboos of Oman, may Allah have mercy on him (2017), the Mufti of Oman (2017 and 2022), President and Vice President of Liberia (2017) Ministers of Endowment for Kuwait and Oman (2022), and Mustafa Salih of Saudi Arabia (2022)
