Shaykh Zaid Shakir
Shaykh
Zaid Shakir was born in Berkeley, California, and accepted Islam in
1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He obtained a BA
with honors in International Relations at American University in Washington
D.C. and later earned his MA in Political Science from Rutgers University,
where he emerged as an active leader in campus activities. After a year
in Cairo, Egypt, studying Arabic, he settled in New Haven, Connecticut
in 1988 where he co-founded Masjid al-Islam and also taught as an Adjunct
Professor of Political Science at Southern Connecticut State University
until his departure for Syria and Morocco to further his studies in
the traditional Islamic Sciences. After studying Arabic, Islamic law,
Quranic studies, and Islamic spirituality for seven years with some
of the top Muslim scholars of our age, he returned to Connecticut in
2001 to continue his work with the Muslim community in America. He is
a respected writer and popular lecturer on African-American issues and
Islam in the American context. He has translated three books from Arabic
into English, including "The Heirs of the Prophets" which was published
in 2001. In 2003, he moved with his family to Hayward, California where
he now serves as a professor and scholar-in-residence at the Zaytuna
Institute.
