Imam Khalid Shahu was born in Morocco, in 1971. He earned his B.A. in Arabo-Hispanic Linguistics & Literatures from Mohamed Ben Abdullah University, Fez, Morocco (1994); his M.A. in Arabo-Hispanic Linguistics from Mohamed V University, Rabat, Morocco (1995);
another M.A. in Philosophy of Language (2011), and his Ph.D. in Sociology of Language, with a concentration on Language Policy & Planning in Post-Colonial North African Countries (2014), from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (GC-CUNY).
Dr. Shahu has served as a foreign language instructor with the NY BOE (1998-2006); as an Arabic language lecturer at Brooklyn College, NY (2003-2006). He has also served as lecturer of Arabic & Spanish languages and cultures at Durham Technical Community College (2007-2008) and North Carolina Central University (2008-2009). He finally served as a Teaching Assistant Professor of Arabic with the Asian Studies Department at UNC-CHAPEL HILL, where he taught and coordinated different levels of Arabic language and Culture (2011-2020).
Dr. Shahu is the founder of Apex Mosque, in North Carolina, for which he served as an Imam from 2010-2020. During his stay at Apex Mosque, he launched a variety of community projects including Al- Ihssan Sunday School, Al-Manara Preschool, the Cross-Generations After School Qur’an Program, the Voyage Youth Program, the Annual Beloved Seerah Conference, the Annual Treasures of Quran, Leading Hajj & Umrah, and much more.
As the Imam of the Muslim Community of Knoxville (MCK), Dr. Shahu aims at raising a Prophetic Community that is spiritually oriented, well-organized, closely united and civically engaged in the American Society. A community that would serve as a model not only for Muslims in Knoxville, but also to Muslims in other parts of the US.
Among his publications:
– Qur’anic Arabic: Delve and Dive in the Language of Qur’an
– The Seekers’ Path to Discover the Perfection of the Best of Creation
– The Status of Languages in Post-Independent Morocco, PhD Dissertation, CUNY
– “The Teaching of Arabic as a Second Language in the American Context”
– “The Teaching of English in the Moroccan Higher Education System”
Dr. Shahu is currently working on other publications that form part of a comprehensive community project and he hopes to publish them in the near future, God willing.
