Hanson, Hamza Yusuf

Hamza Yusuf Hanson, better known as Hamza Yusuf, is a prominent American shaykh, public intellectual, and educator. He regularly features in the Muslim 500 as among the most influential Muslims in the world. First emerging as a Muslim public figure in the mid-1990s, his impact on Muslims in the East and West has been far and wide. Yusuf cofounded the United States’ first accredited Muslim college, Zaytuna College, and set up pedagogical institutions that promote classical Islamic education, such as the Rihla program. In 2019, Yusuf was selected as a member of the Commission on Unalienable Rights convened by the Trump administration’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. Yusuf was also appointed as the vice president of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies and the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, both of which were founded by his shaykh, Abdallah bin Bayyah, and under the auspices of the United Arab Emirates. There, Yusuf also serves as a member of the Fatwa Council.