Hamza Yusuf was born in Washington State to academic parents and raised in Northern California. After reflecting on religion during his school years, he converted to Islam in 1977 after realizing he was only Christian due to being born into a Christian family. He spent over a decade traveling to the Middle East and West Africa to study Islam under renowned scholars. Upon returning to the US, he obtained degrees in nursing and religious studies. He has since become a prominent American Islamic scholar, founding the Zaytuna Institute and giving influential talks worldwide on establishing traditional Islam in the modern world.

1.  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.

2.  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,
 FAMILIY TREE :
Greek, and northern Europian blood.
 Sheikh Hamza’s great-grandfather  His father was a humanities professor
entered the US in 1896 through Ellis in Northern California .
Island.  Her mother was a very active women in
the Civil Rights Movements so all
 This same grandfather was the siblings grew up with a lot of social
awareness .
President of the Orthodox Church in
 His mother was at the same time,an
Marin County. environmentalist as early the
60’s;recycling,eating organic food and
being respectful of the earth

3.  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.

4.  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.”

5. 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.

6.  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 .

7.  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
 Sheikh Hamza strated to transition in 1996 which has established an
from full-time worker to part-time international reputation for presenting
a classical picture of Islam in the West
lecturer and then finally full-time and which is dedicated to the revival
imam.For an unknown duration of of traditional study methods and the
time,Shikh Hamza became the sciences of Islam.
Imam at the Muslim community  Basically,the academy has been given
association of the bay area and Santa Islamic lectures with the harmony of
Clara,California. west and east synthesis..

8.  His journey of reflection, prompted by a fateful  His talks have inspired confidence in
car accident, took him to many parts of the many young Muslims disillusioned with
Middle East over a ten-year period where he the West and further disillusioned by
received numerous teaching licenses, or ijazas, other Muslims insisting on a suffocating
from the some of the greatest remaining scholars
of traditional Islam. interpretation of Islam.
 Having travelled to the UAE, Madinah, Algeria,
Morocco, and West Africa. He eventually returned  He advocates a refreshing tolerance that
to the US where he took degrees in nursing and
religious studies from Imperial Valley College and counteracts the cancerous intolerance
San Jose State University, respectively. crippling the Muslim community, and
promotes a sincerity and purification of
the heart that will necessarily permeate
 He has since travelled to numerous countries and purify societies.
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.