Faculty
The heart of the Zaytuna Summer Arabic Intensive program is our faculty. Our instructors hail from diverse geographic, cultural, and professional backgrounds, but all share a first-rate grounding in the Arabic language and a devotion to the traditional Islamic sciences. Zaytuna is pleased to introduce the following team of experienced full-time Arabic instructors and esteemed visiting scholars [CLICK HERE for Visiting Scholars page.].
Arabic Core Course Instructors:
Abdullah Ali
Abdullah bin Hamid Ali began his study of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the age of seventeen with Imam Aberra (may Allah show him mercy) of Eritrea, a well-known Private Teacher, in Philadelphia. He later studied Arabic, Qur'anic recitation (tajweed) and memorization (hifz), and other introductory topics with Imam Anwar bin Nafea Muhaimin and his brother Anas. He studied privately and as an undergraduate student at Temple University with Dr. Khalid Yahya Blankinship, and at the former Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in Fairfax, Virginia. In 1997, he departed for more intensive studies in the Islamic sciences at the University of Qarawiyyin of Fes, Morocco. In 2001, he graduated with a license from the Faculty of Shari’ah to teach Islamic Sciences (al-ijazah al-'ulya). Since returning to the U.S., he has written a number of articles on various Islamic topics; taught numerous classes, workshops, and seminars; and translated and annotated The Attributes of God (Amal Press), a work by the great scholar 'Abd Al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi. In October 2007, after five years of serving as full-time chaplain with the State Correctional Institution of Chester, Pennsylvania, he joined the Zaytuna staff as a resident scholar. He now lives with his wife and daughter in the Bay Area.
Dawood Yasin
Dawood Yasin studied international relations at SCSU (Southern Connecticut State University) in New Haven before being hired by Wilhemina Models of New York and spending five years living and working in Paris, London, New York, Milan, and South Africa. It was during his stay in South Africa that he embraced Islam and returned to the U.S. After making hajj in the following year, he began his informal studies of Islam and the Arabic language. He then pursued his formal studies of Islam and Arabic in Damascus, Syria, where he remained for approximately five years. Upon his return to the U.S., Imam Dawood helped form SHUKRONLINE and served as the Imam of Masjid al-Islam in New Haven, Connecticut. Imam Dawood also served as a teaching assistant of Arabic at Yale University. He currently lives in Dubai, UAE with his wife and two daughters.
Usama Canon
Usama Canon was born and raised in California. After embracing Islam in 1996, he traveled abroad to a number of Muslim countries, studying for a period of time in Morocco and Egypt. 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 the Zawiya 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 to Islam, and developing support systems for Muslim ex-offenders. Usama is also the head instructor for Zaytuna's quarterly Arabic program. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife and children.
Khalil Moore
Khalil Abu Asmaa (Christopher Moore) was born and raised in America as part of a practicing Christian family. While on the path to becoming a professional musician, he went through a deep spiritual and emotional journey that led to his conversion to Islam in the summer of 1994 at the age of nineteen. He later traveled to the Muslim world in search of sacred knowledge and a balanced understanding of the prophetic legacy. He has studied in the blessed city of Madinah (1996 to 1999), the deserts of West Africa, the Atlas Mountains of Southern Morocco, and the Hadramawt Valley of Yemen. He holds a B.A. in English, with a minor in Religious Studies, from George Mason University (2001) and an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland (2007). He has also studied Arabic-English translating and interpreting at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (2005).
Nethal Abdul-Mu'min
Ustadha Nethal Abdul-Mu'min was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the age of sixteen, she departed for Syria to learn Arabic and stayed there for eight and a half years. During her course of study in Damascus, she graduated from the Dawah College of Abi Nour University in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In addition to her studies at the university, she also received an ijazah (authorization) in tajweed (correct and sound pronunciation in recitation) of the Qur'an according to the Hafs narration of reading from Ustadha Samar Abu Ghaidah (a student of the Grand Sheik of Damascan reciters Sheikh Krayim Rajih) and two ijazah, one in Hafs and a second in Warsh, from Ustadh Anis Al-Hibri (a life long student of the great Damascan reciter Sheikh Muhammad Sukkar). Since the completion of her studies abroad, she has offered classes in tajweed to students of all ages and has also offered instruction in other subjects, such as Shafi'i fiqh and marriage. Ustadha Nethal now resides with her husband, Dawood Yasin, and their two daughters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Qari Amar Bellaha
Qari Amar is a well-known and esteemed Hafiz, the term distingushing one who has committed to memory the Quran in its entirety. Raised in Morocco, he memorized the Quran at the age of 17 from Madrasat Imam Nafia. He has ijaza (Islamic teaching licenses) for both the Hafs and Warsh forms of Quranic recitation. In 1994 and 1995, Qari Amar was awarded top prizes in the National Moroccan Tajweed Competition, a competition of the best Quran reciters in all of Morocco. He is recognized for the beauty, clarity, and excellence of his recitation. Since his arrival in the United States, he has taught Sunday School at UC Berkeley, has led Ramadan's Tarawih prayer at the Berkeley Masjid, and currently teaches full-time at Zaytuna's Imam Warsh Quran School for children.
And more teachers to be added soon insha'Allah.
