Bilal Ismail

Sheikh Bilal Ismail was born in Durban, South Africa. He is one of three siblings and comes from a religious traditional hanafi family. 
 
He memorized the Quran while studying at school and went on to complete high school in 1998. Sheikh Bilal then went on to do a diploma in Computer Science in 1999, as well as qualifying as a Microsoft certified systems engineer. He was accepted into the Islamic University of Madinah in 2001 where he completed his Diploma in Arabic followed by a BA in Islamic Law from the faculty of Shariah. 
 
Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury says about him: "He was always one of the most studious people I have met and he never wasted time whilst in Madinah." Also: "Sheikh Bilal is a personal friend of mine and I would describe him to be a true student of knowledge - someone who speaks with knowledge and is of the highest adab and morals." 
 
After graduating, he returned to South Africa where he had been teaching Fiqh and Tafsir weekly classe