Ustadh Usama Canon

Born and raised in California, Usama Canon embraced Islam in 1996. Since then he has had the honor of studying various Islamic Sciences both at home and abroad under some of today's foremost scholars. Currently, Usama serves as an instructor at Zaytuna Institute and as a Muslim Chaplain for the State of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Having established and directed an Outreach Program at Zaytuna Institute, Usama maintains an active role in various facets of Islamic outreach and education, concentrating on issues facing Muslim youth, assisting converts, and developing support systems for Muslim ex-offenders. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife and children.

Ustadh Yahya Rhodus

Ustadh Yahya was born and raised in America's midwest. At the age of 19 he became Muslim in the San Francisco Bay Area and began studying with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and distinguished scholars visiting from Mauritania, Shaykh Khatry & Shaykh Abdullah Ould Ahmadna. In 1998, he left for Mauritania to further his studies of the Islamic sciences. There he spent over two years sitting with some of Mauritania's great scholars, including Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj, one the great scholars of our age.

In 2000, he moved to Tarim, Yemen to continue his studies at the prestigious Dar al-Mustafa. There he studied with renowned scholars Habib 'Ali al-Jifry, Habib 'Umar bin Hafiz, and other local scholars. In 2005, he returned from his studies overseas to serve as a full-time teacher at Zaytuna Institute.

Shaykh Naeem AbdulWali

Naeem Abdul Wali was born Gary Edwards in Crossville, Tennessee, USA, and grew up in Indiana. He embraced Islam while attending Purdue University where he received a Bachelor of Science in Entomology.

In 1991 he moved to Medina, Saudi Arabia, to begin a series of studies in Islamic disciplines. After two years he pursued further studies in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey under various traditional scholars including his spiritual director Sh.Mahmud Ustaosmanoglu (popularly known as Mahmud Effendi).

Since receiving his traditional certication (Ijaza) to teach the disciplines and texts he studied he has taught in the United Kingdom, Western Europe,United States, Canada and Australia.

Visit Shaykh Naeem's personal website here.

Ustadh Faraz Khan

Ustadh Faraz Khan has spent the last five years studying traditional Islamic sciences in Amman, Jordan. His coursework includes Islamic Law, Hadith Studies, Theology and Logic. He completed the Arabic Program at the Qasid Institute, where he taught for the last four years.

He has also taught classes for Sunnipath's on-the-ground initiative in Amman. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin.

He recently translated and annotated the classical Hanafi primer “Ascent to Felicity” (Maraqi ‘l-Sa`adat) by Imam Shurunbulali, recently published by White Thread Press.