Born in 1963 in Mosul, Republic of Iraq, H.E. Prof. Rayan Tawfiq Khalil received traditional scholarly authorizations (ijāza) from the late eminent scholars such as Sheikh Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud Al-Banjawini (1993), Sheikh Muhammad Yasin Abdullah, former Mufti of Mosul (1993), and Sheikh Abdul Karim Al-Mudarris (2003, may Allah have mercy on them all).

His Eminence obtained a Master’s degree in Sharia, specializing in Comparative Fiqh, from the College of Islamic Sciences at the University of Baghdad, with a thesis titled “Principles for Distinguishing the Rulings Issued by the Prophet PBUH as a Human, Legislator, and Leader.” His Eminence later earned a Ph.D. in Comparative Fiqh from Imam Al-Aʿzam Abu Hanifa University, with a dissertation titled “The Theory of Currency in Islamic Jurisprudence.” Additionally, He has held several key positions, including Faculty member at Imam Al-Aʿzam University in Nineveh, Head of the Fatwa Council in Nineveh Governorate. He has been teaching the traditional sciences of scholarly authorization (ʿulūm al-ijāzah al-ʿilmiyyah) for over thirty years.

H.E. Prof. Rayan Tawfiq Khalil was appointed as a representative member of the Republic of Iraq in the Council of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy in 2024.