Sheikh Hamza Yusuf: NY Times Article (Earth, tradition, America, bible)

[Cordoba]

Peace and Greetings to All:

This is an article in today's New York Times on Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hansen and Sheikh Zeid Shakir, who teach at The Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California:

U.S. Muslim Clerics Seek a Modern Middle Ground

Every seat in the auditorium at the University of Houston was taken, and the crowd was standing in the back and spilling out into the lobby, straining to hear.

The two men onstage began to speak to the crowd in Arabic, with such flawless accents and rarefied Koranic grammar that some audience members gaped when they heard the Arabic equivalent of the king's English coming from the mouths of two Americans.

Sheik Hamza Yusuf, in a groomed goatee and sports jacket, looked more like a hip white college professor than a Middle Eastern sheik. Imam Zaid Shakir, a lanky African-American in a long brown tunic, looked as if he would fit in just fine on the streets of Damascus.

Both men are converts to Islam who spent years in the Middle East and North Africa being mentored by formidable Muslim scholars. They have since become leading intellectual lights for a new generation of American Muslims looking for homegrown leaders who can help them learn how to live their faith without succumbing to American materialism or Islamic extremism.

"This is the wealthiest Muslim community on earth," Mr. Shakir told the crowd, quickly adding that "the wealth here has been earned" — unlike, he said, in the oil-rich Middle East. As the audience laughed at Mr. Shakir's flattery, he chided them for buying Lexuses — with heated leather seats they would never need in Houston — and Jaguars, and made them laugh again by pronouncing it "Jaguoooaah," like a stuffy Anglophile. ...


The seminary is still in its fledgling stages, but Mr. Yusuf and Mr. Shakir have gained a large following by being equally at home in Islamic tradition and modern American culture.

Mr. Yusuf dazzles his audiences by weaving into one of his typical half-hour talks quotations from St. Augustine, Patton, Eric Erikson, Jung, Solzhenitsyn, Auden, Robert Bly, Gen. William C. Westmoreland and the Bible. ...

When it came time for questions, one young man stepped to the microphone and asked: "You said we have an obligation to humanity. Did you mean to Muslims, or to everyone?"

Mr. Shakir responded: "The obligation is to everyone. All of the people are the dependents of Allah."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/us/18imams.html?ex=1308283200&en=0e7bc45a0b83a46b&ei= 5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss


For more background, if of interest, this is the web site of Zaytuna Institute:

http://www.zaytuna.org/

All the best.

[Cordoba]

You can really connect with them

"Sheik Hamza and Imam Zaid have grown up here after having studied abroad, and you can really connect with them," said the New Yorker, Ebadur Rahman, who is 19.

Islamic studies experts say that what Mr. Yusuf and Mr. Shakir are teaching is traditional orthodox Islam, and that it is impossible to characterize their theology as either conservative or liberal.

(Quote from page 3 of the same article)

[Cordoba]

Comment on The NY Times Article

It’s a long piece but one that is very enjoyable to read.

I get the feeling that Goodstein invests a great deal of time in understanding the perspectives of her subjects. Whatever her method, it pays off. Her descriptive profile enables the reader to get a feel for these American-born clerics.

I was fascinated by little tidbits, such as Yusuf’s conversion from Greek Orthodoxy and upbringing in Marin County, Calif. Shakir converted while in the Air Force.

http://www.getreligion.org/?p=1691

[Cordoba]

NY Times Video: Home Grown Muslim Leaders

American-born Muslim converts, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir, are rising leaders of Islam in America, Laurie Goodstein reports.

A 5.50 min. video interview with Sheikh Hamza & Sheikh Shakir:

Homegrown Muslim Leaders

http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=a-50b1ce6f:10bf8fc9b9f:69ec&fr_story=0f7f2fbf0c39cd6 b6721c2775a3ce85f8caaf25a&st=1150852422781&mp=WMP& cpf=true&fr=062106_102058_w50b1ce6fx10bf8fc9b9fx69 ed&rdm=807017.0897286626

[Cordoba]

Changing the Tide:

A video of a recent talk by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf at the ICNA Conference:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7175238713795693949&hl=en

[Cordoba]

New Zaytuna Video Cast

Episode-1 with Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3953650718524963817&hl=en

[Cordoba]

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, has just released a new video on the war in Lebanon, which may be of interest:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-414666938360921249&hl=en

[Terrywoodenpic]

Originally Posted by Cordoba

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, has just released a new video on the war in Lebanon, which may be of interest:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-414666938360921249&hl=en

Every one should watch this video and truly listen to what he is saying.
Moslims...Christians...Jews the message applies to all.