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. Between 2002 and 2007, Hatem Bazian also served as an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also an advisor to the Religion, Politics and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley. In 2009, he 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. Hatem Bazian is also a visiting professor in Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s College of California.

Hatem Bazian is known for being an “organic intellectual,” a term used for academics whose work extends beyond the ivory tower to include active participation in the practical life of communities in order to affect social transformation. His book Jerusalem in Islamic Consciousness aims to contribute to a better understanding of Muslim attachment to the sacred city and to inform political attitudes toward Palestine. Hatem Bazian is currently working on two books: Silicon Rush: Documenting Muslim Communities in the Silicon Valley and Virtual Internment: Muslims and the War on Terrorism. His 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, Hatem Bazian has played a significant role in numerous local, national, and international human and civil rights movements, including the defense of affirmative action in California, the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, anti-apartheid and anti-globalization movements, and Central American solidarity struggles. Hatem Bazian received his PhD in Philosophy and Islamic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

He is the first American lecturer to teach in Morocco’s prestigious and oldest university, the Qarawiyin in Fes, and he has translated several classical Arabic texts into modern English. He travels all over the world speaking about Islam.

Born in Washington State and raised in Northern California, Hamza Yusuf embraced Islam in 1977. He subsequently traveled to the Muslim world and studied for the next ten years in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as well as North and West Africa. After receiving teaching licenses in various Islamic subjects from esteemed scholars in several countries, he returned to the United States and earned degrees in religious studies and health care. He resides in Northern California.

Suhail Obaji has a keen interest in clinical research and is dedicated to providing excellent, honest medical care. He loves community service, traveling, and reading. Since he was a teenager, Suhail Obaji has also pursued his interests in spiritual purification and traditional Islamic sciences. He has studied Qur’an, fiqh, and aqidah with several esteemed scholars in Syria, where his primary teachers were Mohamad Salkini, Abdel-Kader Eissa, and Abdullah Siraj. In addition to mentoring and teaching young children about Islam, Suhail Obaji is also active in interfaith initiatives.

He previously served as vice-president for USA Group. Hamed Omar volunteers as a member of the Hamilton County United Way Advisory Board, the management committee of the Indianapolis Muslim Community Association, and as technical advisor to the Information Technology Executive Committee (ITEC).  He also sits on the Majlis Shurah of Masjid al-Fajr in Indiana.

He is a founding and current member of the Board of Trustees at the Muslim Community Center of East Bay, one of the largest Muslim centers in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is president and CEO of Epicor Software Corporation, one of the largest enterprise resource planning companies in the world. He has previously served as director, vice president, general manager, and chief operating officer at Epicor (previously Activant Solutions and Triad Systems). He has also held technical and management roles at Harvest Software, Metaphor Computer Systems, Hewlett Packard, and IBM.

Pervez Qureshi has a Master’s degree in business administration from the Colgate Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Lowell in Massachusetts.

He completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, his medical training at West Virginia University, and his internship in internal medicine at George Washington University. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at the State University of New York and his fellowship at Johns Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute. He is a member of several medical societies including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He is also a member of the Islamic Medical Association (IMA) and ADAMS Center. Born in Philadelphia and raised on the East Coast of the United States, Tayyib Rana spent eighteen months studying Islam in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He currently lives in the DC area.

He lectures frequently and has been 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.

He is also a guest lecturer at the Saint Mary’s College MBA program and has been a featured speaker at various MSA forums and Islamic awareness activities.

Syed Mubeen graduated in 1997 with Dean’s Honors from the University of California at Irvine with an economics degree and a focus on management. He subsequently joined the telecommunications strategy consulting division of Andersen Consulting (currently Accenture LLP) where he assisted in the successful launch of BellSouth Mobility’s CLEC/Wireless project. He then joined NightFire Software (currently Neustar, Inc.). He has worked in the international telecommunications industry since 2000 and has contributed significantly to the successful domestic launch of Wireless Number Portability by identifying and solving issues within the wireless and intermodal carrier processes. He completed his MBA from St. Mary’s College of California in 2006.

In 2005, he released the essay anthology Scattered Pictures through Zaytuna Institute. He is widely regarded as an articulate voice on Islam and African-American issues and is frequently called upon to speak on those subjects at major events.

Born in Berkeley, California, Zaid Shakir embraced Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He then earned a Bachelor’s degree with honors in international relations at American University in Washington, DC, and later a Master’s degree in political science at Rutgers University, where he co-led a successful South Africa divestment campaign and co-founded a local Islamic center, Masjid al-Huda. After studying Arabic for a year 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 intensive study of Arabic, Islamic law, Qur’anic 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 relocated to Hayward, California.

In 2006, she became the director of the Deen Intensive Foundation, which has hosted summer Rihla programs around the world including Medina, Spain, and most recently Turkey.  The foundation is also actively involved in curriculum development for its core courses and frequently hosts weekend teaching intensives. Aisha Subhani is also an active board member for the Kinza Academy, a home schooling and children’s education initiative. She currently resides in Florida.