Hamza Yusuf

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Not to be confused with Humza Yousaf.
Hamza Yusuf
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Hamza Yusuf at Doha Academy Education Conference in Qatar, 2010.
Personal Details
Title Shaykh
Born Mark Hanson
(1960-01-01) January 1, 1960 (age 64)
Walla Walla, Washington, United States
Era Modern era
Occupation Islamic scholar, author
Religion Islam
Denomination Sunni[1]
Jurisprudence Maliki[2]
Movement Sufi[3][4]
Sufi order Shadhili[5]
Website www.sandala.org
Personal Information
Residence Northern California, United States
Nationality United States
Education San Jose State University[6][7][8]

Hamza Yusuf (born Mark Hanson, January 1, 1960)[9] is an American Islamic scholar,[8][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and is co-founder of Zaytuna College.[6][17] He is a proponent of classical learning in Islam and has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world.[18]

He is an advisor to the Center for Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.[19] 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 Abdallah bin Bayyah.[20][21]

He is one of the signatories[22] of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that "Hamza Yusuf is arguably the west's most influential Islamic scholar."[14] Similarly, The New Yorker magazine reported that Yusuf is "perhaps the most influential Islamic scholar in the Western world".[23]

Early life

Yusuf was born as Mark Hanson to two academics in Washington State and raised in Northern California.[6] He grew up a practicing Greek Orthodox Christian and attended prep schools on both the east and west coasts. In 1977, after a near-death experience and reading the Qur'an, he converted to Islam from Christianity[6] (he seemed destined for the Greek Orthodox priesthood at his early age).[24] Yusuf has Irish, Scottish and Greek ancestry.[14]

Education

After being impressed by a young couple from Saudi Arabia who were followers of Abdalqadir as-Sufi - a Scottish convert to Islam and leader of the Darqawa Sufi order and the Murabitun World Movement - Yusuf moved to Norwich, England to study directly under as-Sufi.[25][26] In 1979, Yusuf moved to Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates where he spent the next four years studying Sharia sciences at the Islamic Institute, more often on a one-on-one basis with Islamic scholars.[25] Yusuf became fluent in the Arabic language and also studied Qur'anic recitation (tajwid), rhetoric, poetry, law (fiqh) and theology (aqidah) among other classical Islamic disciplines.[25]

In 1984, Yusuf formally disassociated himself from as-Sufi's teachings and moved in a different intellectual direction having been influenced by a number of Mauritanian scholars residing in the Emirates. He moved to North Africa in 1984 studying in Algeria and Morocco, as well as Spain and Mauritania.[27] In Mauritania he developed his most lasting and powerful relationship with Islamic scholar Sidi Muhammad Ould Fahfu al-Massumi, more famously known as Murabit al-Hajj.[25]

Career

Zaytuna

He and other colleagues founded the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, California, United States, in 1996,[6] dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam.[28] In the early 2000s he was joined by additional colleagues Zaid Shakir and Hatem Bazian in further establishing what was then Zaytuna Institute. Eventually, in the fall of 2010 it would open its doors as Zaytuna College, a four-year Muslim liberal arts college, the first of its kind in the United States.[23] It incorporates Yusuf's vision of combining the classical liberal arts - based in the trivium and quadrivium - with rigorous training in traditional Islamic disciplines. It aims to "educate and prepare morally committed professional, intellectual, and spiritual leaders."[29] The Zaytuna Institute became the first accredited Muslim campus in the United States after it received approval from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.[30][31] Yusuf stated that "We hope, God willing, that there will be more such Muslim colleges and universities to come".[30]

Views

Yusuf has taken a stance against religious justifications for terrorist attacks.[32] He described the 9/11 attacks as "an act of 'mass murder, pure and simple'". Condemning the attacks, he has also stated "Islam was hijacked ... on that plane as an innocent victim".[14]

Influence

Jordan's Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre currently places him 36th on its list of the top 500 most influential Muslims in the world.[33] The magazine Egypt Today described him as a kind of theological rock star, "the Elvis Presley of western Muslims."[34] In its 2016 edition Yusuf is described "as one of the foremost authorities on Islam outside of the Muslim world" by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin.[35]

Publications

Books and pamphlets authored

  • Prayer of the Oppressed (2011) - with CD[36][37]
  • The Burda (2003) [38]
  • Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart (2004) [39][40]
  • The Content of Character (2004) [41]
  • The State We Are In: Identity, Terror, and the Law of Jihad (contributing Author) (2006)[42][43]
  • Educating your Child in Modern Times[46][47]

Books with forewords and notes

  • Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning [48]
  • The Prophetic Invocations By Mostafa Al-Badawi [49]

Book edited with Zaid Shakir

Papers

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ "Prominent Malikis in the American milieu include the founder of the Zaytuna Institute Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson". Jocelyne Cesari, Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States, p 23.
  3. ↑ Pew Research Center: "Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe - Sufi Orders September 15, 2010
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ The Muslim 500
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Carnegie Workshop Biographies | Graduate Theological Union
  20. ↑ Introducing global center for renewal and guidance « Bin Bayyah
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Signatories | A Common Word Between Us and You
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 Grewal, Zareena Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority p 160-171
  26. ↑ Ukeles, Raquel The Evolving Muslim Community in America: The Impact of 9/11 p 101
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Daniel Brumberg, Dina Shehata, Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World: Challenges for U.S Engagement, p 367
  29. ↑ ZAYTUNA COLLEGE | About > Our Mission
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ The 2016 Edition is Here!
  34. ↑ Elmhurst College: Modern Lessons from an Ancient Faith
  35. ↑ The 2016 Edition is Here!
  36. ↑ The Prayer of the Oppressed: Imam Muhammad b. Nasir al-DarÏ, Hamza Yusuf
  37. ↑ The Prayer Of The Oppressed: Amazon.co.uk: Imam Muhammad b. Nasir al-Dar'i, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf: Books
  38. ↑ The Burda: The Poem of the Cloak (CD Audio Book): Amazon.co.uk: Imam Salih Sharaf ud-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Hasan al Busiri, Hamza Yusuf: Books
  39. ↑ Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart: Amazon.co.uk: Hamza Yusuf: Books
  40. ↑ Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart. By Hamza Yusuf
  41. ↑ The Content of Character: Ethical Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad: Amazon.co.uk: Books
  42. ↑ Amal Press
  43. ↑ The State We are in: Identity, Terror and the Law of Jihad: Amazon.co.uk: Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Tahir Abbas, Yahya Birt, H.A. Hellyer, Aftab Ahmad Malik: Books
  44. ↑ The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi: Amazon.co.uk: Hamza Yusuf: Books
  45. ↑ The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi: Hamza Yusuf. Treatise on muslim belief
  46. ↑ Educating Your Child in Modern Times: Amazon.co.uk: John Taylor Gatto, Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Dorothy Sayers, Nabila Hanson: Books
  47. ↑ Educating Your Child in Modern Times - Raising an intelligent, sovereign & ethical human being: 4 CD set - Hamza Yusuf, John Taylor Gatto
  48. ↑ Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning: Amazon.co.uk: Imam al-Zarnuji, Hamza Yusuf, Gustave E. von Grunebaum: Books
  49. ↑ Amazon.com: The Prophetic Invocations (9781929694105): Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi, Hamza Yusuf: Books

External links

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