Author’s Preface

I’d always kept a running chronological list of things Sheikh Hamza had said about his life.  At one point, pondering on some inconsistencies, I started jotting down the different events he had spoken of.  The rest, as they say, is History and what you see before you.

I had collected this information much earlier, and debated publishing this biography for a while.  But there is a lot of interest in this data, and the dawah impact is great, so I decided to move forward.

The bio is 100% based on the public domain (Typically from his speeches, but also Internet articles), and mostly footnoted below.  I don’t know Shaykh Hamza and have only met him in public venues (ie shaking his hand when he walked by).  In terms of the details, only items that could be corroborated were included.  Guesses, rumors or innuendo were ignored. I tried to keep personal information (i.e. about his family) out of this bio for obvious reasons. The dates will be improved as the data is researched.   Reach me through the contact page if you have any questions, concerns, comments.  Jazakullah.

Life as Poetry

“I dont know anybody that knows English Poetry better then my father does.  He was somebody, who as far as I can tell, had a religious experience at Columbia University, taking classes with a man named Mark Van Doren[1].  Who was also, one of the teachers of John Barryman (an expert on Shakespeare).

Van Doren was a teacher of literature.  He taught the Great Literature of Western Civilization, and my father sat in his classes for 3 years at Columbia University, then audited his classes, (after he'd finished all the courses he could take with him). 

I don't think he ever said anything in any of his classes, but he he told me many stories, and he actually named me after Mark Van Doren (Mark Hanson).  I was his first born son, and I think that tells you the impact, this man had on his life.

My father actually wrote a commentary on an Elizabethan treatise on Verse.  So I grew up hearing (a lot of poetry) and also just hearing his discussions of these things.

But I didn't appreciate any of it until I had a great teacher.  And that occurred in the Middle East.  And he was from West Africa.”[1]

In the Beginning

“Talent hits a target no once else can hit.  Genius hits a target no one else can see.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

“He is like Ocean’s, wherever you look, you fill find precious things.” -Shaykh Abdullah Kadi

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf was born Mark Hanson, in Walla Walla, Washington, 1960. 

His family, from both sides, are Americans with a long history of residing in America.  They’ve been in the US for generations, and can be traced back to Scottish, Greek, and Northern European blood.

Shaykh Hamza’s paternal near-ancestry stems from Minnesota.  His father was born in Duluth, Minnesota and his great-grandfather, “Archibald Chisholm”, founded the city of Chisholm, Minnesota.[2]  Archibald was an Iron-Ore magnate and owned large parts of the Iron Range.  In 1901, he plotted the town and had it incorporated as a village.[3]

Of his great-grandmother, Shaykh Hamza has only said that she lived in a small town in Wisconsin (in 1882)[4]

Speaking of his Parents, Shaykh Hamza says,

“My father was a University Professor in Northern California.  On my mother’s side, actually they’ve been in California for over 100 years, so it’s an old Californian family.  And I was raised (with a) Christian background.“[5]

 “…Both my parents are University educated, are very broad minded people.  My father was a humanities professor, (he has) very philosophical inclinations in his world view. “ [6]

Sh Hamza states that his Mother is the original Environmentalist; recycling, eating organic food and being respectful of the Earth back in the early 70’s.  Thirty years before the current Environmental movement. 

“My mother went to Berkeley, and that says enough.  She was very active in the civil rights movement.  She took me when I was 12 to the Soledad Brother’s thing, to George Jackson’s prison trial, just to see what was happening, that there were political struggles going on in this country. 

She was very opposed to the Vietnam War.  So we did grow up, with a lot of social awareness…my close family is wealthy, my particular family is not wealthy at all, so I did not grow up wealthy, by any means, probably quite the other end.  But definitely the area we were in was quite wealthy, so I think my Mother wanted to make sure that we understood that this country has a lot of inequities.

My sister was in Salma, Alabama marching …that’s the type background we were raised in.  And the 60’s was a fascinating time.  Berkeley was right across the street, I grew up quite literally across the street.   It wasn’t far at all, and we were aware that there were big things happening, in the states.”[7]

Sh Hamza’s Grandfather on his Mother’s side was the President of the Orthodox Church in Marin County.  Most likely, the leading factor relating to Sh Hamza’s early education in the Orthodox Church.[8]

School Years

“I went to school here in California; I also went to school on the East coast.

…Teachers are such interesting figures in our lives and I was thinking about my first grade teacher, Mrs.Gilmore.  I remember her name I can see her black hair, very tall, thin lady.  She was almost a classic school Marm…

But, particularly, I remember my 3^rd grade teacher, Miss Williams, because there was an event that happened in 3^rd grade that had a very deep impact on me, and that was that I was falsely accused of something, and I remember the mortified state that I was in, when someone came into the classroom, and whispered into her ear.

And they both looked at me, in front of all these small children and then the teacher said, ‘Oh we don’t like boys that do that’, and I was completely non-plussed, I didn’t know what they were talking about.  And I was taken to the principal’s office, and wacked with a paddle. 

This was a complete case of false testimony by one of my arch-enemies in the playground.  That was my first real taste of injustice.  There I was, the arbitrary victim of false testimony, and I suffered the consequences.  And that taught me something about the nature of justice and injustice and that the sense that people feel when they are wronged.  When there is an injury, which is a beautiful word coming from the Latin Injuria, unjust. 

Then in fifth grade, things began to change radically.  I had a teacher named “Dennis Hasslinger”, and this was the beginning of Summerhill…This was the 1960’s and a lot of experimentation and we moved into a whole other realm of teaching.  I went from these very Old School Marms, to a very radical young man, who was dedicated on undoing that damage that had been done.  And he did his own damage, unintentionally.”[9]

Grade 7

In his 12th year, Shaykh Hamza spent the summer in Greece with his sister, at a “Greek Orthodox Camp”, to learn the Catechism of advanced Christian studies.[10]

Grade 8

Once back from Summer Camp, he started a new school,

“…8^th grade I went to an experimental school in Marin County which had 4 quads: Earth, Wind, Fire and Air.  …Based on testing, you were put into a Quad in order to enhance your natural aptitude.  So I was put into “Sea School” which was for people that were gifted with language. Reading and writing. 

Sun school was for Mathematics.  They had Wood school which was for Arts and crafts, Hand type things, and then they had a music school.

And then something very radical happened, a major disruption in my education.  I went to a Prep-School on the East coast, and went into deep shock.   I had gone through 8 years of California and suddenly I was thrust into an institution on the East Coast that was founded in 1789 and it was run by Jesuits.  It was a very very difficult experience for me personally.  I remember having a lot of difficulty there, dealing with the East Coast children that were very different from the West Coast. 

There was a lot of bullying and I remember a novel that really impacted me, was a novel called a “Separate Peace”; I lived that experience, and that novel had a major impact on me when I was in 9^th Grade.  And the pain that was inflicted…this recent event of hazing, I think what was so troubling about that, not the hazing, hazing has been around in this country for a long long time.  But young girls were doing it.  I mean it’s like, Chris Rock said, ‘you know the world’s upside down when the best rapper is a white guy, and the best golfer is a black guy.’

The same case here, we’ve got young girls that are hazing brutally.  If that’s equality, I’m deeply worried about what we’re doing to these girls, because I think that making girls more like men is actually the wrong the way to go, it’s the other way around.  It’s actually the men that need to learn how to be more like those natural qualities that women have:  Mercy and compassion.  This is the humanization process.  We don’t call our schools alma-maters for nothing.  The nurturing mother.  That’s what a school is supposed to be, it’s supposed to give you your humanity. 

So in looking at my own education, I couldn’t take 2 years of that on the East Coast, and I went to an Augustinian school on the West Coast, which was much easier.  And that’s the difference, probably, between the Jesuits and the Augustinians.  One’s a militant order, and the other is less so.”[11]

Seeing the Light

In 1977, just after starting Junior College in Santa Barbara, California[12], Shaykh Hamza was involved in a serious Car accident.  A head-on collision causing serious injury, possibly bringing him close to Death.  The accident began a serious inquest on his part about life and death.  The search for meaning after the accident would take another year, culminating in his conversion to Islam.

Speaking of his conversion, he says,

 “…I think for me it was a confrontation with Death at an early age.  I was in a serious car accident, and that began a journey of reflection.  Just about death, and the nature of Life.  Also, coming to terms with the fact.

…Just the idea of mortality, is something that hit me very early on in life.  And looking death very close, up front, I think will give someone an introspective, perspective.  And that’s what happened to me.

I began a search.  Because I was in Catholic schools, I had been exposed to religions quite a bit.  Although I think there is a lot of positive things in religion, I think there are a lot of very negative things as well.

I became interested in what happens after death.  And I began to study what various traditions have to say.  …I was already disappointed with the Christian tradition in many ways…I find European history is really embarrassing for European Americans. 

If you look at comparative religion, traditionally you find that Islam has added more to the after death scenario, then any other tradition.

..(Christianity doesn’t) have a great detailed account literally of what takes place.  And what I find fascinating, is work like Raymond Moody’s “Life after Life” and different books.  And actually at 17, I went to see him lecture.  And I got interested in near death experiences because that’s really, kind of what I had.  And I find it fascinating that many of the experiences that people have, are very similar to what has been defined by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as what happens after death.  And one of the signs of the later days of the human experience, according to the Islamic tradition, is that people will be brought back from death.  This is in the Hadith literature, or the traditions of the Prophet.

…This is 1977, probably ‘76, ‘77, prior to the Iranian Revolution and what was happening then.  Islam is the last place that people look in the United States, traditionally.  You’d look at Buddhism, Hinduism, probably Shintoism or Daoism, before someone would think about looking at Islam.

Because there’s such a negative stereotypical image of Islam and the Muslims, and there’s also this incredibly anti-intellectual backlash. 

One of my father’s friends, who was a lawyer, an educated person in this country, they were just in conversation, and he mentioned that Islam is just an idiot’s religion.  And my father said, “Well, my son is a Muslim actually, and I don’t think he’s an idiot”[13]

As Shaykh Hamza studied more about Islam, the truth of the religion dawned on him.  At some point he had to make a serious choice. 

“…I didn’t want to become Muslim, Allah Ghalib, because I was very young, 18, I had not sowed my wild oats yet, as they say in America, which just means acting like a fool.  They say adolescent’s is schizophrenia with a good prognosis; That you go mad for a short time, but then you get well later.

But Alhamdulillah, I just realized it was right.  Like Winston Churchill 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.’

Well, I bumped into the truth a few times, and I had a choice to brush myself off and get on with it, or to become Muslim, and Alhamdulillah, by the Fadl of Allah, I chose to become Muslim.

…I didn’t bump into a Muslim; I bumped into a Qur’an, a translation of the Qur’an; that was the beginning.  I didn’t read that much (of the Qur’an) before I become a Muslim.  I read, in fact, a few chapters.  I just had some strong indications. 

One of them was, (when) I went to a play called, “Midsummer’s Night Dream,” when I was thinking about this.  And I bought from a hacker, a women out in front of the play, some tickets, and she was wearing a necklace.

I asked her “Oh what’s that?”

She said, “Oh, it’s from the Qur’an, it protects me”

I said, “Oh really? How does it protect you?”

She said, “Well that’s what this Egyptian man that sold it to me, said.” (Laughs)

“…Then I went in, and watched this play, which was all about being asleep and how you’re totally manipulated by the unseen, it’s a Shakespearean play.  The play actually had an impact on me, so it’s all Shakespeare’s fault…”[14]

The Pursuit of Knowledge

 “I actually became a Muslim a month or so before my 18^th birthday.  I spent a short time there (at College), about 6 months, and then after that I left (to England). 

I think initially when you do something that radical, like changing your life, your entire way of thinking (it effects you).  And Islam is not, Islam is quite Monolithic in its approach.

…I went to England, and I was with a community there, and was studying. 

…I spent a few a years in that community, I was studying very seriously.  But then, at some point, I realized that I wanted to learn Arabic.  Because I wanted to get into the sources.  To really experience Islam from its sources, and I think being at that age, about 22, for me it was still one of these things that could go either way.  There were a lot of people dabbling in religion in the 60’s and 70’s; you become a Buddhist for a few years etc. So people did their religion thing.”[15]

 “I decided I want to seek knowledge, and I said, ‘where do I go?’ 

Well I got an opportunity, from a wonderful man, named Shaykh Abdullah Ali Mahmoud.  Who was a man from Sharja, in the Emirates.  And he was an older man who remembered, he actually rode by camel around the Nejd.  I mean that’s the era he came out of.  And he was a Faqih and he was a very spiritual and sincere person.  And he met me in London, and I had just learned some words in Arabic, I was trying to put them together.

I had a little book, I was trying to learn how to speak Arabic, and I said to him, “Kayfa Ha Looka.  Ana min America, Ismi Hamza”

And I’m calling ‘Hamza’, It’s actually a letter, it’s not a name.  So he, “Jazakullah Al Kharan” he said, you have to come and study, and I’ll facilitate that for you.”  [16]

The Arabian Educational System - Al-Ain

The subtext of that encounter would be that Shaykh Abdullah communicated with his contacts in the UAE, arranging a Scholarship, entrance to a school and some method of travelling there.

Once arrangements were complete, Sh Hamza travelled to the small city Al-Ain, and there he was enrolled in a school named ‘Ul-Mahad al-Islami’.[17] 

As he didn’t know Arabic, he was placed in the 3rd grade, and sat in the back of the classroom with all the other 20 year old African students.  (The Arab students sat at the front.)[18]  As he states himself, it was a good experience because he saw first-hand the horrendous pedagogy practiced in Muslims countries.  Going so far as to say that his high school education was better then his University education.[19]

 “By good or by bad fortune, I went to extremely good schools in the United States.   I went to a private Jesuit school.  So I was used to a very high standard of education in the West. 

When I went to Mahad ul-Islami, I found and it was a good experience for me, because I learned a lot of words immediately, like “Ya Himar”, “Ya Ghabbi”, “Ya Washi”, “Ya Ahmuk“.  And the Arabs know what it means, and most of you who don’t speak Arabic know what it means, because this is what the teacher used to say to the Student constantly. 

‘O Donkey’, ‘O Jackass’, ‘O Fool’, ‘O Idiot’.  So I learned those words very quickly, because you learn things you hear all the time.

Now, I had never see that, because I grew up in a place where the teachers actually respected you.  Really we should actually be crying, because we know now what that type of attitude does to children.”[20]

“…The punitive measures that were used in that school, the humiliation, just horrendous pedagogy that was practiced by these teachers.  (They) inherited the same style (of teaching) from their prior teachers, and this is what happens. 

Niche says ‘We recreate ourselves we just keep giving the next generation the same problems that we too had.’”[21]

“What I saw basically was a gross pale imitation of western education, it was really at the lowest levels of Western education.  The school was started by a very righteous man, with very good intentions, but unfortunately, people of the best of intentions are still encumbered with the difficulties and the problems that exist, from the post-colonial trauma of the Muslim Ummah.”[22]

Shaykh Abdullah Ould Siddiq

“Now, after a very short time there, and I was learning Arabic more and more rapidly, I met a West-African scholar, from Mauritania. The first thing I recognized is the man had light on his face.  Unlike a lot of the people that were teaching me at the Mahad (they actually appeared sometimes dark to me.)

I went up to him and I asked him where he was from, he said Mauritania, I said, ‘I’m looking for someone who knows how to teach Islam in a traditional way’, and he said, ‘Well that’s the way I learned, and I’m a Mufti at the Shariah court, and you can come anytime to my house, that you want to, day or night.’ 

That’s what he told me.  He gave me his number and he gave me his address.  And I started going to this man’s house, and he would sit there and he would say, “What do you want to study?”

And then I would ask him questions, he would answer them, he would tell me, this this and this.

And he would say, you should memorize this, because that’s the only way to learn.  And, I noticed the people in that environment, other Mauritanians, coming, most of them memorized the Qur’an, they knew Fiqh, they were very clear in their understanding of Islam.  I was very affected by these people.  They affected me because I hadn’t seen people like them.  Now the secret of these people is simply one thing and one thing only, and I’m convinced of this now, after thinking about it for a long time.  These are people that the colonials never got to, because they were in the middle of the Sahara desert.  And Europeans tend to not like to be in conditions were they don’t have all the perks that go with staying there.  And Mauritania is an extremely difficult environment to stay in.  And like Solomon Nyang says, ‘Thank God for the Malaria Mosquito, because it really helped the West Africans out a lot against these Europeans.’”[23]

In another rendition, Shaykh Hamza provides more details of this monumental meeting and what happened there,“…in 1980, at a bookstore in Abu Dhabi, where I met Shaykh Abdullah Ould Siddiq of the renowned Tajakanat clan. I knew immediately he was from West Africa, given the dir’ah, the distinct West African wide robe he was wearing, as well as the turban, a rare sight in the Gulf at that time.

I had met scholars from West Africa when I was in Mali two years before and was interested in studying with them, so I asked the Shaykh if he knew anyone who taught the classical Maliki texts in the traditional manner. He affirmed that he himself was a teacher of that very tradition… 

I started to study with Shaykh Abdullah Ould Siddiq in addition to my required classes at the Islamic Institute in Al-Ain. Unlike most Mauritanian teachers, he did not emphasize rote memorization or use of the wood slate known as the lawh.  I studied directly from books. After a few years and much benefit from him and two other great Maliki jurists, Shaykh (ed: Mohammad Ahmad Al ) Shaybani (ed: Mufti of Abu Dhabi) and Shaykh Bayyah Ould Salik (ed: head of the Islamic court in Al-'Ain), my education took a major turn when I met a young electrician from the Massuma clan named Yahya Ould Khati. He was of the view that while these scholars were excellent, the truly illustrious man of his age was Murabit al-Hajj, who lived in a forgotten part of Mauritania, far away from civilization and the distractions of this world. He informed me that Shaykh Abdar Rahman, the son of Murabit al-Hajj, was now in the Emirates.”[24]

Calling others to Prayer

While Shaykh Hamza continued to study with Shaykh Abdullah Ould Siddiq, he also had to take care of his personal effects.  Feeling distracted at the dormitory he moved out, into alternative housing.

“…(I became a muezzin) at a Mosque, in Al-Ain, because I didn’t want to live anymore in the institute dormitory.  They (The other students) were very young, I don’t think a lot of them were as serious as I was. 

They were just young high school students, and I was a little older and probably more serious about what I was doing.  Not all of them, certainly there were some good people. 

But I didn’t like the environment, so I asked somebody who was at the Ministry of Religious Endowments, if they could work out a situation where I could be a Muezzin, and just live in the Mosque.  Because the mosques have, in those countries, living quarters for the Muezzin and for the Imam. 

I didn’t take money for what I was doing, I had a stipend from the Institute, not very much, but enough to get by.  So they let me do that, I was a muezzin, and I lived in the mosque.”[25]

“Shortly after, at the house of Shaykh Bayyah, an elder of the Massuma clan who had taken me under his wing and from whom I benefited greatly in my studies, I met Shaykh Abdar Rahman. Upon meeting him, I was struck by the otherworldliness of his presence, which is not unusual for Mauritanian scholars, but it was clearly pronounced in him. I remember thinking, ‘If this is the son, I must meet the father.’ I also began studying with his close friend and companion, Shaykh Hamid, after I helped him get settled and, with the help of Shaykh Bashir Shaqfah, another of my teachers and at that time the head of the Office of Endowments at Al-Ain, secure a position of imam for him in the main mosque of Al-Ain, where I was serving as a muezzin.

From Shaykh Hamid, I learned about the merits of memorization. Although I had studied several texts, and my Arabic was quite fluent by this time, Shaykh Hamid was adamant that without rote memorization, one was dependent upon books and did not really possess knowledge within oneself. Mauritanians, he told me, distinguish between daylight scholars and nighttime scholars. A daytime scholar needs light to read books to access knowledge, but a nighttime scholar can access that knowledge when the lights are out, through the strength of his memory and the retention of knowledge. Hence, he felt that I should start over. 

I had studied Ibn Ashir, al-Risalah, and sections of Aqrab al-masalik privately; I had studied the early editions of al-Fiqh al-Maliki fi thawbihi al-jadid, which were used at the Institute; and I had studied Hadith with Shaykh Ahmad Badawi, one of the great Hadith scholars of Sudan. But I had put little to memory other than what I naturally retained. Shaykh Hamid procured a slate for me and began teaching me the basics again, but with rote memorization. It was humbling, but edifying, to see how this tradition has been carried on throughout the ages with these time-tested models.”[26]

Leading the Salaat

“…After a year of doing that…I learned the last portions of the Qur’an; I could recite them well. So they let me become the Imam in another mosque that was near there.  And people were very generous to me, they would bring me food, and things like that. “[27]

“I was leading prayer for a community of mostly Afghan workers, who were sending their earnings back home to support families and the war effort against the Russians, who had invaded Afghanistan four years earlier. 

It was then that I began to have dreams in which I saw a great man, whom I learned later was Murabit al-Hajj. One of those dreams included an elderly woman whom I had also never seen before.” [28]

On to Bigger Things.  The Journey to Algeria

“I decided to leave my very comfortable and enjoyable life in the Emirates in 1984 and headed towards Mauritania via Algeria, where I planned on spending some months memorizing the Qur’an. I made this decision even though I was warned that there was a draught in Mauritania and living conditions were extremely harsh. Somehow, I felt compelled to go and nothing could deter me. 

After spending some months with Sidi Bou Said at his madrassa (Bilal ibn Rabah Madrassa[29]) in Tizi, Algeria, I traveled on to Tunisia, obtained a visa to Mauritania, and took a flight to Nouakchott, which lies on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara.”[30]

The Algerians were watching him though, and soon afterwards, he was arrested as a spy. "They didn't know what to make of this American who wanted to learn Arabic and study Islam," [31]  They expelled him from the country, and it was just as well, because he was to meet his destiny in Mauritania.

The Land of a Thousand Poets

“When I got to the Sahara, I was just so overwhelmed by a people that basically had no Ministry of Education so to speak.  They had no school system, they had no salaried teachers, and they had no budgets for books, nothing.  Yet these extraordinary schools exist out there.”[32]

“After spending some months with Sidi Bou Said at his madrassa in Tizi, Algeria, I traveled on to Tunisia, obtained a visa to Mauritania, and took a flight to Nouakchott, which lies on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara.

I arrived in that capital city, with its extremely primitive conditions and vast slums that surrounded a small city center, with no addresses and no specific plan, other than to find Murabit al-Hajj. 

I went to the marketplace and asked around if there was anyone from the Massuma clan, and was directed to a small shop where I met Abdi Salim, a very friendly man who was from the same branch of Massuma as my teacher, Shaykh Hamid. When I told Abdi Salim I wanted to find Murabit al-Hajj and study with him, his face lit up and he wholeheartedly endorsed the idea. He then took me to someone from Mukhtar al-Habib, the branch of the Massuma clan that Murabit al-Hajj was from, and they took me to the house of Mawlay al-Maqari al-Massumi, a small place made from tea boxes with open sewage in the back. Similar houses were all around, as far as the eye could see. Mawlay al-Maqari al-Massumi was one of the most hospitable and welcoming people I had ever met; I later learned he was loved by all who knew him. I stayed with him and his family for several days. 

Providentially, Shaykh Abdar Rahman soon arrived from the Emirates to visit his mother and father and, not surprisingly, it was his wont to stay with Mawlay al-Maqari whenever in the capital. He would accompany me to his family’s school in Tuwamirat, but the journey required camels. A message was sent to the encampment of Murabit al-Hajj via the government radio announcements, which was how people in the capital communicated with the nomads in the desert. The message stated that Shaykh Abdar Rahman and Hamza Abdul Wahid (my given name when I converted and used at that time) would be arriving in the town of Kamur on such-and-such a date and were in need of camels there to take them to their village, Tuwamirat. We then set out on a rather unpleasant journey in a truck to Kamur, which was several hundred kilometers inland into the Sahara desert. The road at that time ended at Bou Talamit, and two-thirds of it was simply rough desert track worn down over time by loaded trucks and jeeps. It was the bumpiest, dirtiest, and most difficult road journey I had ever taken in my life. 

After two grueling days, we arrived in a beautiful town known as Geru, which at the time had no technology, and the buildings there were all a lovely adobe. Hundreds of students studied at seven madrassas, called mahdharain Geru. At night, with the exception of a few flashlights, candles, and kerosene lamps, all was dark so the Sahara night sky could be seen in all its stellar glory. The entire town was filled with the soothing sounds of the recitation of Qur’an and other texts. 

We stayed with Shaykh Khatri, the brother of Murabit al-Hajj’s wife, Maryam, and a cousin of Murabit al-Hajj. While in Geru, I came to know a great saint and scholar, Sidi Minnu, who was already an old man at the time. He memorized all of the Hisn al-Hasin of Imam al-Jazari and recited it every day. His other time was spent in praying for the entire Ummah. Once, we were sitting on the sand and he picked some up with his hand and said to me, “Never be far away from the earth, for this is our mother.” He then said something that struck me to the core: “I have never regretted anything in my entire life, nor have I ever wished for anything that I did not or could not have, but right now I wish that I was a young man so that I could accompany you on this great journey of yours to seek knowledge for the sake of God.” 

After a few days, we set out for Kamur, which we had passed on our way to Geru, and then took camels and set out for Murabit al-Hajj; by nightfall we arrived in Galaga, a valley with a large lake that rises and lowers with the rainfall and the seasons. After breakfast the next morning, we set out for the upper region some miles from where Murabit al-Hajj’s clan was encamped. 

As we came into Tuwamirat, I was completely overwhelmed by its ethereal quality. It was the quintessential place that time forgot. The entire scene reminded me of something out of the Old Testament. Many of the people had never seen a white person before and the younger people had only heard about the French occupation, but never seen French people or other foreigners for that matter. I entered the tent of Murabit al-Hajj. 

My eyes fell upon the most noble and majestic person I have ever seen in my life. He called me over, put his hand on my shoulder, welcomed me warmly, and then asked me, “Is it like the dream?” I burst into a flood of tears. I had indeed experienced a dream with him that was very similar to our actual meeting.[33]

Murabit al-Hajj

It was 1985, and the most life-changing part of Shaykh Hamza’s life would occur over the next 3 years.  He sat at the school of Murabit al-Hajj and studied not only the sacred sciences, but also the traditional bedu way of life. 

“Murabit al-Hajj’s birth name is Sidi Muhammad ould Fahfu al-Massumi, and he was nicknamed Hajj Umar by his mother after the great scholar and warrior, “Umar Tal of Senegal”.

During the blessed time that I was fortunate to have lived with him in his own tent, I observed his daily routine: He would usually awake at about 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning and begin the Tahajjud or night prayers.  He would often recite for a few hours, and I heard him repeat verses over and over again and weep.  Just before dawn, he would sit outside his tent and recite Qur’an, and then when the first light of dawn was discernible, he would walk to the open-air mosque and call the adhan.  He would then pray his nafilah and wait for a short period and then call the iqamah.  During that time, I never saw anyone else lead the prayer, and he would almost always recite from the last 60^th of the Qur’an as is the Sunnah for a congressional Imam to do so according to Imam Malik.

After the sun rose and reached the level of a spear above the horizon, he would pray the sunrise rak’ahs and then return to his tent where he would have some milk brought fresh from a cow.  He would then teach until about 11:00 in the morning and nap for a short while.  After that, students would start coming again, and he would continue to teach until about 1:00pm at which time he would measure his shadow for the time of the midday prayer.  He would then call the adhan at the time his shadow reached an arm’s length past the post meridian time as is the Maliki position on the midday prayer, if performed in congregation, to allow for others to come from their work after the heat dissipates.  He would always pray four rakahs before and after the midday prayer and then return to his tent where he would teach until afternoon.  He would usually have a small amount of rice and yogurt drink that is common in West Africa.  Then, he would measure his shadow for the afternoon prayer, and when he ascertained its time, he would proceed to the mosque and call the adhan.

After Asr, Murabit al-Hajj would return to his tent and usually resume teaching and sometimes listen to students recite their Qur’an lessons from memory and he would correct their mistakes.  During any lulls in his teaching, anyone in his presence could hear him say with almost every breath, “La ilaha illa Allah,” or he would recite Qur’an.  At sunset, he would go and call the adhan, pray Maghrib, and then sit in the mihrab and recite his wird until the time of the night prayer.  He would call the adhan, lead the pray and return to his tent.  He would usually have some milk and a little couscous and then listen to students recite Qur’an or read Qur’an by himself.  At around 9:00 pm he would admonish himself with lines of poetry from Imam Shafi’s Diwan and other well-known poets.  He would often remember death with certain lines that he repeated over and over again, especially the following that I heard from him many times:

O my Lord, when that which there is repelling alights upon me,

And I find myself leaving this adobe

And become Your guest in a dark and lonely place,

Then make the host’s meal for his guest the removal of my wrongs.

A guest is always honored at the hands of a generous host,

And You are the  Generous, the Creator, the Originiator.

Surely kings, as a way of displaying their magnanimity

Free their servants who have grown old in their service.

And I have grown old in Your service,

So free my soul from the Fire

He often repeats these lines for what seems like an eternity, his voice penetrating the hearts of all those within earshot.  He once admonished me with lines of poetry, one after another, until I wanted the earth to swallow me.  He said to me, “And what is man other than a comet that flashes brilliant light for a moment only to be reduced to ashes.”

He told me several times, “Hamza, this world is an ocean, and those who drown in it are untold numbers. Don’t drown.”

I have never seen anyone like him before him or after him, and I don’t think that I ever will.  May Allah reward him for his service to this din and his love and concern for the Muslims.  He was never known to speak ill of anyone.  Once when a student was studying Khalil with him and asked what a certain word meant in the text, he explained to him that it was a slow and clumsy horse.  The student then said, “like so-and-so’s horse?” At this Murabit al-Hajj suddenly became upset and said, “I don’t spend much time with people because they backbite, so if you want to study with me, you must never speak ill of anyone in my presence.” It is not well known by Muslims that to speak ill of someone’s animals falls under the ruling of backbiting. 

Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj is a master of the sciences of Islam, but perhaps more wondrous than that, he has mastered his own soul.  His discipline is almost angelic, and his presence is so majestic and ethereal that the one in it experiences a palpable stillness in the soul.  As the Arabs says, “the one who hears is not as the one who has seen.” I was told by many people from his family that had I seen him in his youth, I would have been even more astonished at his devotional practices.

He is recognized in Mauritania as being one of the last great scholars, and his fatwa is highly respected among the people of West Africa who know of him, and they are many.”[34]

USA – Coming Back Home

After 10 years overseas, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf wrapped up his affairs and flew back to the United States, moving to Southern California, where he studied Homeopathy. 

From 1988 to 1992 Shaykh Hamza would complete his nursing degree from Imperial Valley College[35].  With degree in hand, he worked in the Cardiac Care Unit of a Hospital[36].  And much of Sh Hamza’s experience in medicine, and his familiarity to Doctors and heart medicine was from this time period.

After some time working, he re-enrolled in University and completed his Religious Studies / Comparative Religions degree at San Jose University[37].  Soon afterwards he would enroll again for a Masters Degree at Stanford, which either did not start, was rejected or was aborted partway[38].  Sh Hamza also got married around this time. (He would have 5 boys in total).[39]

Establishing the Zaytuna Institute

After extensive work in the community, as Imam of Santa Clara Mosque, and extensive work giving talks and lectures around the country, Shaykh Hamza put his plan in place.  And In 1996, he joined with Dr.Hesham Alalusi to found “The Zaytuna Institute”. 

It would not be until 1998 that they broke ground in Hayward California and established a physical building.  The building was purchased for $750,000 and needed a lot of work for use.[40]

In its own words: “Zaytuna Institute is a non-profit, educational institute and school founded and run by people committed to reviving time-tested methods of educating and transforming human beings. It is our belief that Islam offers a cohesive understanding of the world and a praxis for it that is able to cut through the illusion of contemporary nihilism and materialism.”

Moving into High Speed - 9/11 and the world after

“My initial reaction was, "Whoever goes into the places where Rulers are, they will have tribulations.  That's a Hadith, and I proved it right…again" - Sh Hamza[41]

And then 2 airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center.  Many events occurred both before and after 9/11, too many to chronologically lay out and explain.  But the simplest was that Shaykh Hamza did what he could during that chaotic time period.  He has been attacked roundly by Non-Muslims and Muslims the world over for his actions and statements during that time.  (Some of his own acquaintances would express shock at some of his statements.)

The first of those events, would be his meeting with President Bush, seven days after the Twin Towers fell:

“It was a very difficult trip.  I was asked by somebody I know.  People probably know, he’s working in the White house.  He’s a Muslim, son of a very prominent Muslim. 

He called me up and said, ‘they’re asking for somebody to come and talk to the President, and represent the Muslims’.  And he said, he thought that, “I would be the best person, in my estimation, so can you do that, can you come?”

I talked to Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah.  And he said it was a Fard on me.  “You have to go.”

I went, and I was part of about 30 religious leaders there.  The Head of the Mormons was there, Head of the Franklin Ministries, his son Franklin Graham.  The Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Archbishop of the Catholic Church in America.  Just a lot of prominent religious leaders (were there): The Tibetan lama, there was one of the Heads of one of the National Sikh Organizations and a Methodist Bishop, a lot of different people.

From that group, a handful, six of us, were asked to meet with President Bush in the Oval Office. 

I put forward 4 points.  We were given quite a bit of time, I was allowed to say all the points that I wanted to say. 

I gave a copy of the “Essential Qur’an” and I had spent the night before going through it and putting stick’ems on all the verses that I thought were the most pertinent.  I said, ‘I know you’re very busy, so if you don’t have time to read the whole thing, read these verses.’

And then I gave him a book, “Thunder in the Sky”, which is a book that Thomas Cleary translated on the humanistic use of power.  How to use power to benefit humans and not to harm them.  I also gave him a piece of Calligraphy that Mohammed Zakariya did (he did the Eid stamp). 

When I called him (Mohammed Zakariya), he’s in Virginia, he lives a few miles away from the Pentagon, he was writing what’s called a Hilya in calligraphy, from the Shifa of Qada Yad, and it was a description of the Prophet SAW from Amr bin Al-Aws. When he heard the explosion, he told me the sentence he was literally writing was, “He would never repel an evil with another evil.  But he forgave and he condoned.”

The beauty of this, is that only Allah can do this.  That’s for Mohamed Zakariya, because Allah is the Author of this. Allah is the one who has decreed all of this.  And that was for Mohamed Zakariya.  It was a moment for him, and then it was related to the present.

That’s our teaching, that’s his description, and that’s why we know that no matter what America has done to Muslims anywhere, our teaching is that we don’t pay evil for evil.  And that’s Islam, it’s not all this rage and anger that’s out there.  That is Islam, and it’s a hard thing to do, but when you remember, that this is dunya, and you’re looking at Infinity, you’re not looking at dunya, you’re not looking at 50, 60, 70 years, you’re looking at infinity.  And you want Allah to forgive you for your own evil. 

Isn’t that what we all want? We just want forgiveness on Uom al-Qiyyama, because we’re all guilty.

We think that we’re independent of Allah.  We’re all guilty from that perspective.  But the point is, here he is writing that, and I told him (President Bush) that, “this is what he was writing, when the Pentagon was struck, ‘That he does not repel an evil with an evil.’”

That’s the beauty of our Deen.  That’s a true story, it’s not made up.  Because, Mohammed Zakariya is a true Sadiq, He’s Truthful, he doesn’t lie.  And I believe him, I don’t need any witnesses, the angels were the witnesses.  Those are our two Just witnesses. 

The points that I made, the first was emphasizing and that it had to be reiterated again and again that Islam does not have anything to do with this.  That this is not the teaching of Islam, it’s the religion that teaches mercy, compassion and when it uses martial force, it uses it with just laws.  Non-combatants are never involved. 

It’s based on legitimate authority, not on vigilantism.  We don’t believe in vigilantism, we don’t believe in outlaws. 

We don’t believe in Robin Hood.  It’s kind of interesting: in this culture, Robin Hood is a hero.  He stole from the rich and gave to the poor

Then even more bizarre, and I told them this on 60 minutes, I doubt they’ll put that on there.  I said Samson is the first suicide bomber, and he’s in the Bible.  If you don’t know the story of “Shamsoon”, Samson was in the temple of the Philistines, he was an Israeli.  He asked, ‘where are the pillars that hold the temple up?’, and he goes and in chains, he pushes them, killed himself and everybody else.  As revenge for the Israeli’s against the wrongs of their enemies.

 I was taught that as a child, he was a hero.  That’s not in the Qur’an, it’s conspicuously absent from the Qur’an. 

The second point was the danger of Polarization.  That this could polarize the world.  And we could get a self fulfilling prophecy of Samuel Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’: China, Islam vs. the West.  Nobody wants that, there is no benefit in that, except for warmongerers.  People that make money off of the Death of other people. 

And then the idea of consensus.  I had already talked to Sh Abdullah bin Bayyah, and I also conveyed that to some Arab Ambassadors, that I felt that there should be a summit meeting of the most prominent Muslim Ulema in the Muslim world to declare Terrorism as inconsistent with the teachings of Islam and that it is prohibited by Ijma and that there should be an Ijma of that. 

This should be rejected, and I also suggested that there should be one done of the Abrahamic religions in somewhere like Rome or Jerusalem or somewhere there’s a declaration that it is not consistent with the teachings of the Prophets the taking of Innocent lives, whether it is State Terrorism or individual terrorism, it is rejected by religion, and let them be seen as what they are: political means to political ends.

That’s not what the Prophet’s came to teach.  They came to teach Prophetic means to Prophetic ends.

The last was about oppression. That this country had a responsibility in creating just regimes because of the power this country has.  That we have to recognize the oppression and extreme circumstances in the Muslim world that breeds the type of extremism that exists in some parts of the Muslim world. 

I think that Muslims are incredibly moderate.  I think the Iraqi’s have displayed incredible patience and perseverance and lack of animosity and hatred.  I think the Muslims are a testimony.  One thing, Ismail Faruqi said, he was in debate once, and I heard this from somebody that was present and a man he was debating was just saying how terrible the Muslims were and Ismail Faruqi said, “You see the Muslims now with their corruption, and you go to their countries and you can laugh at how corrupt these countries are and despicable, but have you seen us suffer?  Have you seen what happens to us when we get afflicted with pain and suffering?  Then you’ll know who we are”. 

He said “because when we lose all our money we don’t jump out of buildings”.  We say “Mashallah, La Kuwata illa Billah”.  And that’s the truth.  You know the Muslims have been incredibly patient in the light of all this….

…I was asked to be the guest that night, of the First Lady, and I was told that there was going to be a speech, I had no idea that it would be, the way it was, I really didn’t.  But that’s the situation I was in.  And my intentions in it were trying do what I could do, in this type of crisis.  I mean you just you have to do what you think is the right thing and the best thing for the overall benefit and I would say not just for Muslims but for everybody.  Al-Mas lahul-ama.  Because we have a concern for humanity in general, and certainly for the Muslims in particular. 

Always, the Ummah is paramount, but we’re also supposed to be caretakers of humanity.  That’s a task that we’re given by Allah.  So we should not act without the rest of humanity in our considerations. 

Something that I really want to emphasize here, I thought that the most profound person and the one that seemed to be the most genuine person of all these people that I met, was Rabbi Joshua Habberman.  What he said to Bush, he defended Islam. 

I looked over at him, we were In this room, it was the Roosevelt room or something, and there was all these (dignitaries there)…Mayor Giuliani was there, and the Governor of New York, and the chief of staff and all these big (people), and he was sitting in a corner reading something in Hebrew.  Everybody else was smoozing and doing all that. 

I went over and sat next to him and said “What are you reading?” 

He said, “I was reading the Psalms.” 

He was, he just seemed like a genuine person. We spoke quite a bit, He felt most comfortable (with me) I think. 

He just said “You know the tragedy of this, is that American’s are so ignorant of Islam.  And they don’t know the greatness of the Civilization, they don’t know history and they really think this represents in anyway, Islam.” 

He said, “This is the real tragedy” and he said “And I’ll tell you, I know as somebody who has studied Islam, the easiest religion for a Jewish person to convert to is Islam.“

Wallahi, that’s what he said to me. 

“Your Shariah is not that different from what Musa was given”, Moses he said, “was given.“

And there’s good people out there.  You know, that person was a genuine, that’s what I got from him, and I asked him, are you a student of Martin Luber, he said “Yes”.

And that’s what Martin Luber was about, having real regard for other human beings.  I think that as, we Muslims need to inculcate that in our relations with these other people…

…One of the Bishops said to the President, in the Oval Office, “You have to remind the American people what the Bible tells us, ‘Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord”.  That’s what he said, “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord”.  Don’t make this vengeance.  Because that’s what people want, they want vengeance, and vengeance is not from any of the Prophetic traditions.

And the other thing, and I did say about ‘Infinite Justice’, it’s an Attribute of God.  It’s like saying You’re God.  And he was shocked, and he said, ‘We don’t have any theologians down at the Pentagon, and they name this stuff.’  And they changed the name. 

Alhamdulillah, but see that’s the thing.  Demystify power and a lot of it, is just a lot of ignorance.

…He seemed to be listening very attentively to what I had to say…when I mentioned a couple things, he confirmed it, said ‘Absolutely I agree whole heartedly with that.’  I was told, he had mentioned to one of the aids there, the presentation and points made and explanations were useful.  I was told that.

Four or five times he specifically came up to me, shook my hand very firmly and thanked me in what seemed to me a very hearty thanks for just coming.  And edifying him…

…That was my take on it. I was impressed.  There were only 3 of us that spoke in that meeting.  Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, said a very short thing that he was willing to go wherever to service the troops, if there was going to be a war.  The Jewish man said that he really hoped that the President would reconsider that, that he felt that war was the worst thing to do.  And he was emphatic about that.  But I did feel that he did listen, and that he asked people to pray.  He asked the people there to go back to their communities to really ask people to pray…

…Afghanistan, I did mention Afghanistan to him.  I said that I felt that the Afghani’s have been so hard hit and there’s been so much death and destruction there, that they can’t take anymore.  And that the vast majority of those people are innocent people.  I mentioned that more Innocent blood is going to further polarize the world, and there is going to be more Muslims that view America as inherently belligerent towards the Muslims.  And that it’s going to turn into a Christian-Muslim type thing. 

He said that it was a major fear of theirs.  He said, “I was rebuked for using the word  Crusade.” 

He said, “When I said it, I didn’t mean it in a religious connotation.”  But it was the first word that came to him, because it is an English word that indicates that.  If you look it up in the dictionary that’s what it means.  So, there seemed to be a real serious concern there. 

And I think the deliberation here, because it looked like they were just going to go and bomb like crazy.  And it seems like, and I’m really hoping and praying to Allah SWT, that it doesn’t escalate.  But it is slowing down a little bit…”[42]

Well it did escalate, and they did bomb like crazy, and the rest would go down in history.

The 21^st Century

Shaykh Hamza has taken on a larger role in the Post 9/11 world.  Where before he was at the forefront of re-educating Muslims at a personal level, he has moved forward to present his Dawah to the World. 

Among his many numerous activities in the past several years have been the creation of an Islamic Educational TV show for the Arab world entitled “Rihla” (Journey).  The focus for the show has been to overshadow Arab Soap Opera’s that premiere specifically during Ramadan.  With 3 years behind it, and a very high ranking, the show is doing quite well in the Middle East.  Many Muslims now recognize Shaykh Hamza on the streets of the Middle East due largely in part to this show.

At the international level, Shaykh Hamza has broken into the ranks of the UN.  “He is a member of the C100, a division of the world economic forum, a high level group to strategize in ways which bridges can be built between the West and the Muslim world.  He was also a special advisor to the United Nations high level committee, “The Alliance of Civilizations” and was a discussion leader at the UN’s meeting in Doha.”[43]

A Newsletter from the Davos meeting of the C-100 had this to say:

Council of 100 Leaders: West Islamic World Dialogue

C-100 Discourse on What Are Our Differences and How Do They Make a Difference?

Davos, 25 January 2006

Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Chairman and President, Zaytuna Institute, USA, gave his critical insight as the second challenger. He rejected the notion that philosophical issues have been resolved in the West. And whereas the Americans think the Muslim governments are fundamentalist, he argued that they are in fact quite secular. The notion of the individual is clear in both, even though the concept of community is more important in Muslim societies. The Muslim World did not go through the centuries-long process of bloody revolutions, religious wars, enlightenment and industrial revolution; it all came rather quickly. Wars in the Muslim World were much more about politics than religion, whereas in the West the secular state arose from religious intolerance.^[44]

Endnotes

Bibliography

Gatto, John T., and Hamza Yusuf Hanson. "Educating Your Child in Modern Times Set." Educating Your Child in Modern Times Set.

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "Americas Tragedy An Islamic Perspective." Americas Tragedy An Islamic Perspective. Zaytuna Institute, Haward, California. 11 Oct. 2001.

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "Converting to Islam." Converting to Islam. California. 1995.

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "Key to Our Unity." Key to Our Unity. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Toronto. 01 Jan. 2001.

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "What Do Muslims Believe." What Do Muslims Believe. California. 1995.

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "Another Mother of the Believers." Zaytuna Institute & Academy. Zaytuna Institute. 05 May 2009 <http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=124>.

KAUFMAN, JONATHAN. "'Rock Star' of New Muslim Generation Also Happens to Be White Suburbanite." Wall Street Journal [HAYWARD, California] 15 Feb. 2002, US ed., Business sec.

"Why I Came to Islam: Hamza Yusuf." Interview with Hamza Yusuf Hanson and Dr. Nazir Khwaja. American Muslim Hour. IIS, Altadena, CA. 1995.

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "Reviving the Islamic Spirit 2006." Reviving the Islamic Spirit. Toronto Conference Center, Toronto. 25 Dec. 2006.

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "Traditional Education in an Age of Terror." Traditional Education in an Age of Terror. England, Oxford. 5 Apr. 2004.

 

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. Fatwa Concerning the Obligation of Following rightly guided scholars. San Fransisco: Zaytuna Institute, 2001.

 

Hanson, Hamza Yusuf. "Islam and the Western World." Islam and the Western World. Capital Hill, Washington. 1 June 2009.

"Chisholm, Minnesota -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 20 June 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chisholm,_Minnesota#History>.

ISNA 2009. Washington. 7 July 09. Youtube. 7 July 09. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XKHs9jrJiQ>.

"C-100 Discourse on What Are Our Differences and How Do They Make a Difference?" Council of 100 Leaders: West Islamic World Dialogue 1 (25 Jan. 2006): 1. World Economic Forum. United Nations. 1 June 2009 <http://www.weforum.org/pdf/C-100/Newsletter1.pdf>.