Teachers
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The scholars that are affiliated with Deen Intensive represent a variety of scholars from around the world who have dedicated their lives to the preservation and dissemination of the traditional Islamic sciences. Spending many years in intense study from the best of the scholars in the Muslim world, our teachers impart to us the richness of the tradition just as it was transmitted to them. They are devoted to the service of education and teaching and are a source of great blessings for those that are fortunate enough to learn from them. Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah
Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, hafidhu Allah, is an extremely well-known and well-respected scholar amongst scholars. In fact, he is a scholars' scholar since many of his students are actually now considered scholars in the Muslim world. Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah was born in Mauritania, West Africa, and is the son of a great scholar, Shaykh Mahfudh (may Allah have mercy on his soul). From a very young age, he showed extreme intellectual gifts and a profound ability to absorb vast amounts of information and text. He memorized most of the texts taught in the varying subjects including the Quran, Hadith, grammar, logic, rhetoric, semantics, philosophy and poetry. While still quite young, he was appointed to study legal judgements in Tunisia. When he returned to Mauritania, he became Minister of Education and later, Minister of Justice. He was also one of the Vice Presidents to the first President of Mauritania. However, due to the conditions in Mauritania and the military change of governments that took place, he began to teach and ended up going to Saudi Arabia to become a distinguished professor at The University of Usool al-Fiqh. Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah is also involved in writing. He has written several books and has delivered lectures all over the world. One of the areas of his expertise is in Fiqh al-Aqaliyaat, which is the juristic rulings related to minority Muslims. Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah is a member of several legal bodies worldwide, such as the European Council of Legal Opinion and the Supreme Fiqh Council. He resides in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with his family and teaches Islamic Legal Methodology, Quran and Arabic at the King Abdal Aziz University. He has graced our programs in the past with his blessed presence, sharing with us his vast wisdom and hikmah. He is fluent in Arabic and French, and delivers his lectures in Arabic with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf as his translator. Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah
Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Wymann-Landgraf) is an American Muslim, born in 1948 to a Protestant family in Columbus, Nebraska. He grew up in Athens, Georgia, where both parents taught at the University of Georgia. Dr. Abd-Allah did his undergraduate work at the University of Missouri with dual majors in History and English Literature. In 1969, he won a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and entrance to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York to pursue a Ph.D. program in English literature. Shortly after coming to Cornell, Dr. Abd-Allah read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which inspired him to embrace Islam in early 1970. In 1972, he altered his field of study and transferred to the University of Chicago, where he studied Arabic and Islamic Studies under Dr. Fazlur Rahman. Dr. Abd-Allah received his doctorate with honors in 1978 for a dissertation on the origins of Islamic Law, Malik's Concept of 'Amal in the Light of Maliki Legal Theory. From 1977 until 1982, he taught at the Universities of Windsor (Ontario), Temple, and Michigan. In 1982, he left America to teach Arabic in Spain. Two years later, he was appointed to the Department of Islamic Studies at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, where he taught (in Arabic) Islamic studies and comparative religions until 2000. During his years abroad, Dr. Abd-Allah had the privilege of studying with a number of traditional Islamic scholars. He returned to Chicago in August 2000 to work as chair and scholar-in-residence of the newly founded Nawawi Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. In conjunction with this position, he is now teaching and lecturing in and around Chicago and various parts of the United States and Canada, while conducting research and writing in Islamic studies and related fields. Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi
Born in Damascus, Shaykh Muhammad descends from a family whose lineage goes back to the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam, through his grandson Sayyiduna al-Hasan, radiya Allahu 'anhu. His ancestors also include some of the greatest scholars of Syria. His father, Shaykh Ibrahim al-Ya'qoubi (d. 1985/1406 H.), was one of the greatest scholars Syria saw in the past 50 years. As a little boy, Shaykh Muhammad crawled in the Grand Umayyad Mosque and the Darwishiyya Mosque, where his father was an instructor for 40 years, and sat in the laps of some of the greatest scholars. Under his father's tutelage, Shaykh Muhammad followed a solid traditional curriculum since the age of four, studying the major classical works on the various disciplines of the Shari'ah as well as the instrumental disciplines. He received ijazas in Hadith from several of the most prominent scholars in Syria. Shaykh Muhammad pursued his academic studies at the University of Damascus, Faculty of Shari'ah. He also received a degree in Arabic literature in 1987 and completed a two-year study of philosophy at the Arab University of Beirut. In 1991, Shaykh Muhammad joined the PhD program of linguistics at Gothenburg University in Sweden, Department of Oriental Studies, where he also worked as a researcher and a teacher of classical Arabic literature. He worked in Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah in Kuwait in 1990 as Research Editor and later as Assistant Director for Research and Studies. In Sweden, Shaykh Muhammad served the Muslim community of Gothenburg as Imam, where he struggled for the establishment of Islam in the country. In 1999, the Swedish Islamic society in Stockholm chose him as the Mufti of Sweden. Besides working in Syria and Sweden, Shaykh Muhammad participated in conferences, delivered lectures, and gave Friday speeches in the Middle East, Europe, Canada, and the United States. Shaykh Muhammad taught his first class at the age of eleven in Quran and Tajweed, delivered his first public speeches at the age of twelve, and gave his first Friday khutba at the age of fourteen and a half. Shaykh Muhammad is married and has three children and currently resides in Damascus, Syria. Imam Zaid Shakir
Imam Zaid Shakir is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggles, he has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work. Born in Berkeley, California, he accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He obtained a BA summa cum laude in International Relations at American University in Washington D.C. and later earned his MA in Political Science at Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, he led a successful campaign for divestment from South Africa, and co-founded New Brunswick Islamic Center formerly Masjid al-Huda. After a year of studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, he settled in New Haven, Connecticut and continued his community activism, co-founding Masjid Al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee. As Imam of Masjid Al-Islam from 1988 to 1994 he spear-headed a community renewal and grassroots anti-drug effort, and also taught political science and Arabic at Southern Connecticut State University. He served as an interfaith council Chaplain at Yale University and developed the Chaplaincy Sensitivity Training for physicians at Yale New Haven Hospital. He then left for Syria to pursue his studies in the traditional Islamic sciences. For seven years in Syria, and briefly in Morocco, he immersed himself in an intense study of Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and spirituality with some of the top Muslim scholars of our age. In 2001, he was the first American to graduate from Syria’s prestigious Abu Noor University and returned to Connecticut, serving again as the Imam of Masjid al-Islam, and writing and speaking frequently on a host of issues. That same year, his translation from Arabic into English of The Heirs of the Prophets was published by Starlatch Press. In 2003, he moved to Hayward, California to serve as a scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute, where he now teaches courses on Arabic, Islamic law, history, and Islamic spirituality. Imam Zaid has also authored numerous articles on a wide range of topics. In 2005, Zaytuna Institute published, Scattered Pictures: Reflections of An American Muslim„ an anthology of diverse essays penned by Zaid Shakir. In 2008, he authored an award-winning text, Treatise for the Seekers of Guidance, a translation and commentary on Imam Harith al-Muhasibi’s work, Risala al-Mustarshideen. He also co-founded Zaytuna College this same year. In 2010, Where I’m Coming From; The Year In Review, is a compilation of his essays written in response to the ideas and personalities shaping the news. He is a frequent speaker at local and national Muslim events and has emerged as one of the nation’s top Islamic scholars and a voice of conscience for American Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Imam Zaid has served as an advisor to many organizations, and influential leaders. Recently, Imam Zaid was ranked as “one of America’s most influential Scholars” in the West; by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009). His latest published work published in 2010, "Where I'm Coming From: The Year In Review." Ustadh Abdel Hadi Honerkamp
Abdel Hadi Honerkamp teaches Modern Standard Arabic and in-depth Arabic textual study at the University of Georgia in Athens. He is also involved in researching Arabic manuscripts, particularly those found in the less well-known manuscript collections of Morocco. His interest lies in the integral and complementary relationship of the shariah and Sufism. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf is a cofounder of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California. He is an advisor to Stanford University's Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union. He also serves as a member of the board of advisors of George Russell's One Nation, a national philanthropic initiative that promotes pluralism and inclusion in America. In addition, he serves as vice-president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, one of the top jurists and masters of Islamic sciences in the world. Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as "the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar" by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009). Hamza Yusuf is one of the leading proponents of classical learning in Islam. He has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world. He has also been a strong advocate for social justice, peace, and conviviality among peoples and places. For several years, he has argued that the "them versus us" problem is fundamentally flawed, as he considers himself one of "them" as well as one of "us." Hamza Yusuf has served as an advisor to many organizations, leaders, and heads of state. He has been an innovator in modern Islamic education, founding the highly imitated Deen Intensives, and with Shaykh Ibrahim Osi-Afa, he started the first Rihla program in England, which has been running for over fifteen years. Dozens of young Muslims who were influenced by his call to reviving traditional Islamic studies in the West went to the Muslim lands in the nineties and early part of the current decade to study, many of who are now teachers in their own right. With Eissa Bougari, Hamza Yusuf initiated a media challenge to the Arab world that resulted in a highly successful cultural religious program that he hosted for three years and was one of the most watched programs in the Arab world during Ramadan. Cambridge Media Studies stated that this program had a profound influence on subsequent religious programming in the Arab world. He has also been interviewed on BBC several times and was the subject of a BBC documentary segment The Faces of Islam, ushering in the new millennium, as it aired at 11:30pm on Dec. 31st 1999. Hamza Yusuf has been a passionate and outspoken critic of American foreign policy as well as Islamic extremist responses to those policies. He has drawn criticism from both the extreme right in the West and Muslim extremists in the East. Ed Hussain has written that Hamza Yusuf's teachings were instrumental to his abandoning extremism. Hamza Yusuf has also authored several encyclopedia articles and research papers. His published books include The Burda (2003), Purification of the Heart (2004), The Content of Character (2004), The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (2007), Agenda to Change our Condition (2007), and Walking on Water (2010). Forthcoming are The Prayer of the Oppressed, and The Helpful Guide. Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad
Abdal Hakim Murad graduated from Cambridge University with a double-first in Arabic in 1983. He then lived in Cairo for three years, studying Islam under traditional teachers at Al-Azhar, one of the oldest universities in the world. He went on to reside for three years in Jeddah, where he administered a commercial translation office and maintained close contact with prominent ulama from Yemen. In 1989, Shaykh Abdal Hakim returned to England and spent two years at the University of London learning Turkish and Farsi. Since 1992 he has been a doctoral student at Oxford University, specializing in the religious life of the early Ottoman Empire. He is currently Secretary of the Muslim Academic Trust (London) and Director of the Sunna Project at the Centre of Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge University, which issues the first-ever scholarly Arabic editions of the major Hadith collections. Shaykh Abdal Hakim is the translator of a number of works, including two volumes from Imam al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al-Din. He gives durus and halaqas from time to time and taught the works of Imam al-Ghazali at the Winter 1995 Deen Intensive Program in New Haven, CT. He appears frequently on BBC Radio and writes occasionally for a number of publications, including The Independent; Q-News International, Britain's premier Muslim Magazine; and Seasons, the semiacademic journal of Zaytuna Institute. Ustadh Walead Mohammed Mosaad
Walead Mohammed Mosaad was born in New York City in 1972 and grew up in New York and central New Jersey. He attended the Rutgers College of Engineering and obtained his B.S. in electrical engineering in 1994. During his university years, he was active in the Islamic Society of Rutgers University for which he served as president. After graduation, he worked as a communications and network engineer in New Jersey and later in New York City. In the summer of 1997, he departed for the Middle East to study Arabic and Islamic sciences. After studying some of the Arabic sciences with a scholar from Dar Al-'Ulum in Cairo, he enrolled in Mahad Al-Fatah in Damascus. Ustadh Walead then completed a degree in Arabic Language and Literature from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. He has also studied the Islamic sciences, including Quranic exegesis, marriage and divorce law, law of transactions, hadith methodology and commentary, juristic methodology, and spiritual sciences with notable scholars such as Shaykh Bakri Al-Tarabishi a Quranic scholar with the highest Quran ijaza in the world, Ustadh Ali Hamidullah, one of the foremost Arabic grammarians , Shaykh Kurayyim Rajih, the grand shaykh of Quran reciters in Damascus, Shaykh Ahmad Taha Rayyan, the foremost Maliki Shaykh in al-Azhar, and Shaykh Ali Jumua, the grand mufti of Egypt. Additionally, he has been given written authorization, or ijaza, from the current Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shaykh Ali Jumua to transmit and teach the sacred sciences. He also received written authorization to teach Quranic recitation with the highest chain of authorization to the Prophet (SalAllahu wa alayhi wa salam), from Shaykh Bakri al-Tarabishi of Damascus. Upon returning to America, he taught at an Islamic school, served as a Muslim chaplain at Rutgers, and was an associate Imam at Dallas Central Mosque in Richardson, TX. Since 2005, Walead has been working at the Tabah Foundation to tackle problems of global concerns for Muslims. Most notably, he was a key member of the delegation to Denmark following the cartoon crisis, where along with other scholars, he engaged in dialogue with the people of Denmark and the Muslim minority of Denmark. He also oversees dawah projects in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He has participated in deen intensive programs in California at the Zaytuna Institute, New Mexico, South America, and in the UK. He currently lives in Abu Dhabi with his family and 5 children. Ustadh Yahya Rhodus
Ustadh Yahya Rhodus was born in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of 19, he embraced Islam in Santa Clara, California. He began his study of Islam with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and visiting Mauritanian scholars such as Shaykh Khatri wuld Baybba and Shaykh Abdullah wuld Ahmadna. In 1998, Ustadh Yahya traveled to Mauritania to pursue a full-time course of study, where he learned from some of Mauritania's greatest scholars, including the distinguished, Murabit al-Hajj. He also spent an interim period in Damascus, Syria where he received formal education in the Arabic language, grammar, and Qur’anic recitation. In 2000, Ustadh Yahya moved to Tarim, Yemen to continue his studies at the prestigious learning institute, Dar al-Mustafa. There, he spent his formative years studying with the renowned scholars, Habib 'Umar bin Hafiz and Habib ‘Ali al-Jifri, along with other local scholars. He studied various sciences including Tafsir, Hadith, theology, jurisprudence, legal theory, the Prophetic biography, and Arabic poetry. In the latter part of 2005, Ustadh Yahya returned to the U.S. and served as a full- time teacher at Zaytuna Institute. He subsequently returned overseas to further his studies while he also participated in religious programs worldwide, lecturing, teaching, and translating. In 2008, he was the official translator for Habib ‘Ali al-Jifri at the Common Word Conference held at Yale University and he has translated for Habib 'Umar bin Hafiz at speaking engagements internationally. In 2010, Ustadh Yahya returned to California and completed his Bachelor of Arts in Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He travels regularly teaching, lecturing, and conducting weekend seminars with institutes such as the Deen Intensive Foundation. He also offers on-line instruction through Seeker’s Guidance and teaches locally at Taleef Collective. Currently, Ustadh Yahya is a full-time instructor at Zaytuna College and is pursuing a Masters Degree in Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He lives in San Ramon with his wife and three children. Ustadh Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch
Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch is an imam at the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, California , and an instructor at ILM Tree, a home-schooling cooperative in Lafayette, California. He also teaches at Zaytuna College's annual Summer Arabic Intensive program in Berkeley, California. He is one of five students who comprised the first graduating class of the Zaytuna seminary program. Born in El Paso, Texas and raised in the south, Abdul Latif embraced Islam in 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia when he was 20 years old. He subsequently traveled throughout the Muslim world and, in 2002, relocated with his family to the San Francisco Bay Area to take advantage of the resources of knowledge and the community that had formed around Zaytuna Institute. There, he spent his initial year of studies under the tutelage of Shaykh Salik bin Siddina. In 2004, he was accepted as the first of three initial students into Zaytuna's pilot seminary program. He studied at Zaytuna with several teachers, including Imam Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Abdur Rahman Taahir, Qari Umar Bellahi, Shaykh Abdullah Ali, and Shaykh Yahya Rhodus, until he graduated in 2008 with an ijazah in the basic sciences of Islam. |
