Over the years Hisham has become a staunch believer in the social responsibility of business organizations to the community they operate in and benefit from. To this end, at a business level, he has introduced financial concepts and business models within Xenel which have led to the creation of opportunities for the younger generation to develop their skills and pursue values and concepts leading to human betterment. At the community level, Hisham remains actively involved in facilitating those who have a thirst but not the means to acquire quality education. This is done mainly through specific and general grants and/or scholarships, enabling many students to acquire education through premier US universities.

Hisham’s belief in the importance of providing Saudi Arabian youth with an innovative and high-quality education has led to the establishment of Dar Al Fikr Schools, an independent, not-for-profit, private school in Jeddah, which has been in operation now for over two decades and is the only private school in Saudi Arabia allowed to follow its own curriculum. Several students from this school have been selected for higher education by Ivy League schools in US.

Hisham is also one of the principal founders of Dar Al-Hekma College, the first private not-for-profit women’s college in Saudi Arabia.

At a global and spiritual level, the thrust of Hisham’s charitable work has been towards creating the environment and facilities to develop innate human capabilities and a conscious relationship with the Divine. To this end, a charitable not-for-profit organization, The Book Foundation (BF), was set up and funded by Hisham and other like-minded individuals and organizations. This foundation has been responsible for promoting better understanding between East and West, promoting Islamic Art and philosophy, and the development of a universal curriculum intended to integrate man’s understanding of God, the universe and his own nature.

Hisham was schooled at Falah Schools in Jeddah and Wellington College in England, and thereafter studied Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley (1969), and obtained a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia University (1971).

Before establishing Xenel with other family members, Hisham worked in the early 1970s for Charterhouse (London), Morgan & Cie (Paris), and Morgan Stanley (New York).

From 2002 till 2007, Dr. Bazian also served as an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He teaches courses on Islamic Law and Society; Islam in America: Communities and Institutions; De-Constructing Islamophobia and Othering of Islam; Religious Studies; and Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to Berkeley, Dr. Bazian is a visiting Professor in Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s College of California and adviser to the Religion, Politics and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley, as well as Academic Affairs Chair at Zaytuna College of California. In Spring 2009, Dr. Bazian founded the Berkeley Center for the Study and Documentation of Islamophobia, a research unit dedicated to the systematic study of the othering of Islam and Muslims.

Dr. Bazian is known for being an “organic intellectual,” a term used for academics directly connecting their research to the people, rather than looking down from the ivory tower. Dr. Bazian’s published book, Jerusalem in Islamic Consciousness, is a reflection of his desire to contribute to a better understanding of Muslim attachment and informed political attitudes toward the Sacred City and Palestine in general. Currently, Dr. Bazian is working on two books: Silicon Rush: Documenting Muslim Communities in the Silicon Valley, and Virtual Internment: Muslims and the War on Terrorism. Dr. Bazian’s most recent publications are a chapter contribution in French on Islamophobia and an entry to Oxford University’s Encyclopedia of Human Rights covering Human Rights under the Palestinian Authority.

As an activist, Dr. Bazian has played a significant role in almost every human and civil rights movement in the Bay Area, nationally and internationally, including the defense of Affirmative Action in California; the Americans with Disabilities Act; the Anti-Apartheid, Anti-Globalization Movement; and Central American Solidarity struggles.

After ten years of studies abroad, he returned to the USA and earned degrees in Religious Studies and Health Care. He has traveled all over the world giving talks on Islam. He also founded Zaytuna Institute, which has established an international reputation for presenting a classical picture of Islam in the West and which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam. Hamza Yusuf is the first American lecturer to teach in Morocco’s prestigious and oldest University, the Qarawiyin in Fes. In addition, he has translated into modern English several classical Arabic traditional texts and poems. He currently resides in Northern California with his wife and five children.

He arrived at Zaytuna in 2009 from the high-tech industry and has more than 15 years of experience at Cisco Systems and Microsoft in product management, planning, and the architecture of emerging technologies such as Mobile and Voice over IP.  He is also the co-founder of MobiZim, a parental control software provider for cell phones.

Dr. Obaji strongly believes in delivering the best and most honest medical care to his patients. He also has a keen interest in clinical research. He loves community service, traveling, and reading. Since age 13, Dr. Obaji has had a thirst for traditional Islamic sciences and spiritual purification.  He had the opportunity to study Quran, fiqh, and aqidah with many well-known scholars in Aleppo, Syria, where his primary teachers were Shaykh Mohamad Salkini, Shaykh Abdel-Kader Eissa, and Shaykh Abdullah Siraj. Dr. Obaji has participated in many interfaith meetings and has been mentoring and teaching young children about Islam.

In addition to his position at Sallie Mae, Hamed also volunteers his time as a member of the Hamilton County United Way Advisory Board, the Management Committee of the Indianapolis Muslim Community Association, the Technology Advisory Committee, ITEC; he also sits on the Majlis Shurah of Masjid al-Fajr in Indiana.

He previously served the same role at Activant Solutions Inc., which along with Epicor, is being operated as a combined business following the acquisition of both companies by funds advised by Apax Partners in 2011. He has over twenty years of management experience at IBM, Hewlett Packard, and other high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. He is on the board of Internet Auto Parts Inc. (IAP) and a founding board member of the Muslim Community Center of East Bay in Northern California.

He completed his residency in ophthalmology at the State University of New York and his fellowship at Johns Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute. Tayyib is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery; he currently runs an active medical practice in the Washington DC area.

Tayyib spent 18 months studying Islam in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He is a member of various organizations including the Islamic Medical Association (IMA), ADAMS Center, and many Medical Societies. He is the current representative for the Association for Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA) in Virginia and is a founding member of the Islamic Society of the Appalachian region. He serves as a faculty advisor to various MSA branches in the DC area and is also a pioneer member and advisor to Unity Productions. He currently lives in the DC Area with his wife.

In 1998, he was recruited directly out of university to join the strategy consulting division of Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture LLP) where he assisted in the successful launch of BellSouth Mobility’s CLEC/Wireless project. He subsequently joined NightFire Software (now known as Neustar, Inc. – NYSE: NSR) where he is the Regional Director of Customer Relations and Business Development.  He has been distinguished on numerous occasions for commitment, dedication and high quality performance. He has served as a productive member of the international telecommunications industry since 2000 and has contributed heavily to the successful domestic launch of Wireless Number Portability by identifying and solving issues within the wireless and intermodal carrier processes. He lectures frequently and has been featured as a keynote speaker at both domestic and international telecommunications forums, and he Chairs two committees at the Alliance of Telecommunications Industry Standards (ATIS) and sits on numerous panels hosted by the Local Number Portability Association (LNPA), CTIA, the FCC, and others.

Since 1997, Syed Mubeen has taken classes with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, Imam Zaid Shakir, and many other visiting scholars, and maintains his Islamic studies. In the past he has served as Zaytuna Institute’s President, and as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s assistant.  He is currently the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Zaytuna College.

He is a guest lecturer at the Saint Mary’s College MBA program and has been featured as a speaker in various MSA forums, Islamic awareness activities and has conducted Islamic sensitivity training programs for ER Physicians in California. Syed Mubeen has been mentoring and teaching male youth at the San Ramon Valley Islamic Center (SRVIC) since 1994, and has participated in the San Ramon Valley Interfaith Council.

Syed Mubeen resides in Northern California with his mother, wife, and two children.

After a year of studying Arabic in Egypt, he settled in New Haven, Connecticut, where he co-founded Masjid al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee. As Imam of Masjid al-Islam from 1988 to 1994, he spearheaded a community renewal and grassroots anti-drug effort in the local neighborhood; during this time, he also taught Political Science and Arabic at Southern Connecticut State University. For seven years in Syria, and briefly in Morocco, he immersed himself in an intense study of Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and Islamic spirituality with some of the top Muslim scholars of our age. In 2001, he graduated from Syria’s prestigious Abu Noor University and returned to Connecticut.

In 2003, he moved to Hayward, California to serve as a scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute, where he now teaches regular courses on Arabic, Islamic Law, History, and Islamic Spirituality. He has translated several works from Arabic into English, including The Heirs of the Prophets, published by Starlatch Press in 2001. In 2005, he released Scattered Pictures, an anthology of diverse essays, through Zaytuna Institute. He is widely regarded as an articulate voice on Islam and African-American issues and frequently speaks at major events on those subjects.