HAMZA YUSUF :

Hamza Yusuf was born to two academics in Washington State and raised in Northern CaliforniaMark Hanson in Walla Walla, Washington 1960.

He is the eldest boy ,and the middle of seven children, he grown up on the Suburban West Coast .

Hamza Yusuf Hanson is an American Islamic scholar.

ROOTS : Sheikh Hamza traces his roots to

various Europian sources. His family has a rich American history

,some of his ancestors reaching north America in the 1700’s.

His lineage links back to Scottish, Greek, and northern Europian blood.

Sheikh Hamza’s great-grandfather entered the US in 1896 through Ellis Island.

This same grandfather was the President of the Orthodox Church in Marin County. 

FAMILIY TREE :

His father was a humanities professor in Northern California .

Her mother was a very active women in the Civil Rights Movements so all siblings grew up with a lot of social awareness .

His mother was at the same time,an environmentalist as early the 60’s;recycling,eating organic food and being respectful of the earth

During his school years ,Hamza Yusuf began reflecting on religion and God. Like the cave of Hira He states, this reflection period ,preceded his life-changing conversion.

When he was his 16 , He came to the very realization that the only reason he was a Christian, was because he was born in a Christian familiy .

He describes : “ The only reason I’m a Christian, is because my parents taught me that

Jesus was my saviour,bla,bla bla.. That’s the only reason I thought , ‘ If I was born in Sri Lanka ,I would be a Buddisth . because my parents would tell me, ‘ Here is your God and pray to him ,you’ll get what ever you want .I remember that ,very clearly ,that realization. “

Hamza Yusuf started reading about other religions and thinking about all these other religions when he took his class on World Religions, at a college by Houston Smith . Hamza Yusuf got attracted to Islam as soon as he realized that Islam has million of followers and this make him wonder what do the Muslim people worship. To find the answer, he purchased a Quran and begin to read the first chapter.

REFLECTIONS :

Just After starting Juniour collage at ventura Hamza Yusuf was involved in a serious car accident. It was a head- on-collision ,causing serious injuriy ,bringing him close to Death.It was a sudden confrontation with his own mortality that Hamza Yusuf has described as being the defining moment that gave " someone who was introspective, perspective.“

Speaking of his conversion : “… I think for me it was a sudden confrontation with death at an early age. I was

in a serious car accident ,and that began a journey of reflection. Just about the nature of Death and the nature of Life .Also coming to terms with the fact. I became interested in what happens after death. And I began to study what various traditions have to say.

After seaching He hit the Islam.. According to the Islamic tradition, the dead will be brought back from death to meet their Lord. He found this facts fascinating.That was because no other religion has got any information about death and hereafter except Islam.

In 1977 ,Hamza Yusuf became a Muslim and took a serious step into learning Islam. He compares himself What Winston Churchil said: I’ve bumped into the truth a few

times in my life and I quickly get up and brush myself off and get along with it. “ Hamza yusuf states: “Well I bumped into the truth a few times,and had a choice to brush

myself off and get on with it,or to become Muslim and Alhamdulillah, I chose to become a Muslim.”

CONVERSION INTO ISLAM :

After conversion,He subsequently traveled to muslim world and studied for ten years in the United Arap Emirates,Saudi Arabia, as well as North and West Africa.Later He traveled to West Africa and studied in Mauritania, Medina, Algeria, and Morocco, under such scholars as Murabit al-Haaj: Baya bin Salik,head of the islamic court in Al-Ain in UAE: Muhammed Shyabani,Mufti of Abu Dhabi: Hamad al-Wali : and Muhammed al-Fatrati of Al-Azhar university in Cairo,Egypt .After more than a decade abroad,determined to come back to home.

HIS JOURNEY OF IL'M

After 10 years ,Sheikh Hamza wrapped up his affairs and flew back to the united states.The barakah in his time overseas is apparent ,as it seems he lived through 7+ Countries and studied under multiple teachers in each.

There are no details on why Hamza Yusuf came back to U.S but presumably he wanted to settle down and had completed his studies , or was told to do so by his teachers.

He moved to a place called Imperial in California. Sheikh Hamza Yusuf then, studied Nursing and English, gaining a degree in Nursing from Imperial College. During studying, he was also working on a post-graduate degree as a student of homeopathy, with the Devon School of Homeopathy which is located England, so presumably the work was completed through correspondence.

After finishing his degree, Sheikh Hamza worked in the Cardiac Care Unit of a Hospital . After some time working, he re-enrolled in University and completed his Religious Studies / Comparative Religions degree at San Jose University .

COMING HOME:

AMERICAN IMAM :

Sheikh Hamza strated to transition from full-time worker to part-time lecturer and then finally full-time imam.For an unknown duration of time,Shikh Hamza became the Imam at the Muslim community association of the bay area and Santa Clara,California.

ISNA(Islamic Society of North America)

AND ZAYTUNA INSTITUTE

Sheikh Hamza has also actively involved in giving speech at conference such as at National ISNA conferences to exemplary and unifying Islamic organization in North America . Apart from that he was also personally involved in Deen Intensives and Rihla’s. Sheikh Hamza and his colleagues founded Zaytuna Instittute in 1996 which has established an international reputation for presenting a classical picture of Islam in the West and which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam.

Basically,the academy has been given Islamic lectures with the harmony of west and east synthesis..

STRUGGLE ON ISLAM : His journey of reflection, prompted by a fateful

car accident, took him to many parts of the Middle East over a ten-year period where he received numerous teaching licenses, or ijazas, from the some of the greatest remaining scholars of traditional Islam.

Having travelled to the UAE, Madinah, Algeria, Morocco, and West Africa. He eventually returned to the US where he took degrees in nursing and religious studies from Imperial Valley College and San Jose State University, respectively.

 He has since travelled to numerous countries around the world giving talks on various topics on Islam, with his video and audio recordings selling by the thousands. His amazing ability to move many to tears, both of laughter and humility, have ensured his popularity with many, but only someone who speaks from the heart will have any lasting impact upon it-and it is in this aspect that he has left his greatest impression.

His talks have inspired confidence in many young Muslims disillusioned with the West and further disillusioned by other Muslims insisting on a suffocating interpretation of Islam.

He advocates a refreshing tolerance that counteracts the cancerous intolerance crippling the Muslim community, and promotes a sincerity and purification of the heart that will necessarily permeate and purify societies.