I come from an educated family. My great great grandfather was awarded his freedom due to his knowledge of medicine. A year or two later he had earned enough money to buy my great great grandmother’s freedom. So my family was free when many were still in bondage and my family recognized that education played a major role in achieving and maintaining it. So it has always been a foundational matter in my life. My grandfather was a master golfer. He and a few of his friends traveled around the United States challenging the clubs for membership. They would say, “Play us” If we lose we will not come back. If we win change your rules for admittance to include Negroes (as they were called in those days). We all have trophies from my grandfather. And he instilled in us the obligation of serving your society. On his spare time he was a fireman and then a cop. My father was a Garvyite my mother loved Martin Luther King. Debate was high in our house. My mother was an English teacher turned Principal. My father a politician whose appointments changed with each election. Did I mention that opinions were strong in our house? This is the background that forged me and prepared me to face the world. A love for education, language, my view of what the truth should be, and a firsthand view of politics.
I joined the Marine Corps and received an education in military ethics and as a member of the legendary group known as 2nd force recon I learned how politics are played out on an international level. Deeply affected by the many marines that refused to fight, I too refused to fight. During my time on special duty in Japan, I met Imaam Medhat elshamy who taught me the fundamentals of the deen and sent me on the road of the students of knowledge. On that path I still travel. I have been able to take my military education and extract what coincides with Islam and benefit. I have met and studied with many scholars and activists and duaat. Learning what I could from all, even when it meant learning what not to do from someone’s good example of it.
I have studied all over the world taking this and that and piecing together the deen and its application in my life. Some of the names include my father, my grandfather, my Aunt Pat, Candy, and Josephine, Siraaj Wahhaj, abdul Quddoos, RamaDaan, Hasan Ali, abdus Saboor, Sayid Mumeet, Mikaaeel, and my father in law Sulaymaan elHaadi from The Last Poets. These are some of my teachers from Zoo York. From them I learned Character, History, as well as the flaws of deviant groups and clichés. My mother, my aunt Rosa-Lee, Dr. Sha’baan, Dr. Jitmoud, Dr. Cometa, Umm Saleemah, a host of early education teachers, every Shaykh I have ever studied with, and most of the students have taught me the craft of teaching.
I learned the Qur-Aan from:
Abdul kareem as suudaani
Ustaadh khaalid khadir alHindi
Shaykh muqri alhindi
Abdul azeez Ture’ as-Senegaali
Shaykh bubakr djob al fulaata
Ustaadh Khaalid Rislaan alMisri
Shaykh Sa’d alGhannaam atTanTaawi
Ustaadh aHmad Husayn ash-Sheeni
Shaykh Muhammed al Faarooq alMisri
Abdul adheem alBadawi
Reciting to them all from memory
I learned Arabic from Shaykh muhammed saalum “adood” ash ShinqeeTi.
I learned Aqeedah, Minhaaj and Hadeeth from Shaykh Salahudeen abdul Maujood, Dr. Majdi Sultaan, and Shaykh Muhammed Faarooq all from Egypt.
I learned Usool al fiqh from Shaykh adood and others like abu bakr djob and Shaykh, Dr. Ahmed Loh as Senegaali and there are others that I have studied with or visited and benefited from but this is all I will mention as a summary.
I have been given permission by my teachers to speak on basic subjects of this deen and I possess specific ijaazaat on the particular things I studied with them.
I have written the English commentary for Riyaadh Saaliheen, and Buloog al maram, I have edited the audio Quraan in the arabic-English form, I wrote the audio stories called, “the Golden series of the Companions of the Prophet”, I am the voice of baba salaam, a game teaching english and arabic. These are just some of the works I did for Daarus salaam publications. And this should be enough as an introduction.
walHamdulillaah
