Kirmani Circle of Faith added to Cook Library in honor of campus imam

By Julianna Baker, Contributing Writer

Towson University dedicated a section of Cook Library to honor the legacy of Sanaullah Kirmani, a longtime professor and interfaith leader on campus who passed away in February 2024.

The Kirmani Circle of Faith, Spirituality & Peace is a space focused on promoting conversation among students about religious and spiritual understanding.

On Monday Oct. 6, Kirmani’s family, friends and colleagues gathered in front of the Kirmani Circle, on the second floor of the library, to share memories of his time as a husband, father, educator and mentor at Towson University.  

Kirmani was known for his deep commitment to interfaith engagement and guiding discussions that brought together students of various backgrounds to share their beliefs and values. Kirmani was an active member of Towson’s Muslim community for over 30 years.  

In addition to teaching, he served as faculty advisor to Towson’s Muslim Student Association, leading prayers by volunteering as the imam. During his time at Towson, Kirmani founded the first interfaith prayer room in the Union that is available to students for daily prayer.   

Patricia Bradley, vice president of the Office of Inclusion and Institutional Equity, described Kirmani as a peacemaker. 

“It all started with Dr. Kirmani,” Bradley said during her speech. “Interfaith dialogue, the Interfaith Prayer Room, and now the Kirmani Circle. He lives on.”  

Kirmani’s wife and Towson professor, Mubina Kirmani, spoke of her own interfaith relationship with her husband.  

“Sunny (Sanaullah) was a Sunni and I was a Shia, two different branches of Muslim religion,” Mubina Kirmani said in her speech.  

She recalls their early marriage where she enjoyed the traditions of religion while her husband leaned more towards spiritual connection.  

“He gave me, as he did everyone around him, the space, the love, the care, the patience and the understanding to find and follow our own ways,” Mubina Kirmani said in her speech.  

Their daughter, Rasmia Kirmani, shared how her father encouraged her to explore her own faith with openness and independence.  

“Something he would tell me from a very young age was that he was teaching me what he believed, hoping that it would be what I believed too, but it would be okay if it wasn’t exactly what I believed,” she said. “If I chose to have a relationship with God, that is between me and God, and nobody could come in between that.” 

She said that her father’s approach gave her both structure and freedom. 

“I felt very grounded in a belief system, but also the freedom to know that I could choose and still be a good person,” Rasmia Kirmani said.  

The Kirmani Circle will be made complete with his Interfaith Studies Collection, which are a collection of books from Kirmani’s own library to be added to Cook Library in the following months.  

“His collection was in many ways an extension of himself, and like its owner, it embraced complexity,” his son, Muneer Kirmani, said in his speech. “Imagine a shelf of historical poems, followed by smatterings of books on mathematics, written in French, no less, followed by British poetry.”  

Kirmani’s son, Nabeel Kirmani, said the conversation space deepens his personal connection to his father’s legacy.  

“I feel his spirit lives inside me, so this space, the Kirmani Circle, is a great extension now for me,” he said. “Especially as a Towson alumnus, to see our name and his vision and legacy being spread in a very concrete manner, that is really meaningful.”