Zaytuna College

History and Background

Zaytuna College was founded in 2009 by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir, and Hatem Bazian. Bazian is chairman of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), which allegedly has ties to anti-Israeli organizations. ⁵ The college grew out of the non-profit Zaytuna Institute, founded in 1996 as a community organization. ⁶

By 2015, the college received accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and completed its relocation to the neighborhood of Holy Hill, a suburb of Berkeley, California, where the college owns three buildings. ^{7 4 8} Zaytuna also has a second location in Berkeley with eight other buildings. ⁴  As of 2024, Zaytuna College claims to have roughly 70 students enrolled with the school employing 27 faculty members. ^{2 3 9}

An undergraduate education at Zaytuna College claims to combine liberal arts education with the study of Classic Islamic authors as well as classes in Islamic law and language.  ¹⁰ The school’s graduate program combines a Master of Arts degree with the study of Islamic texts and law. ¹¹

Controversies

Hamza Yusuf

In 1995, Zaytuna College co-founder Hamza Yusuf claimed Judaism was a “racist religion.” ¹² In 1996, at Islamic Circle of North America conference, he claimed the United States “…is a country that has little to be proud of in its past and less to be proud of in the present…I became Muslim in part because I did not believe in the false gods of this society whether we call them Jesus or democracy or the Bill of Rights.” ¹³ In a 1998 interview, Yusuf also complained about “…what happened in the 19th century with the abdication of Islamic Law and the usurpation of its place by Western legal systems.” ¹⁴

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Yusuf retracted several of these statements. In October 2001, he claimed that members of the Muslim community
are treated better in the U.S. than in most Muslim countries.” He also claimed he had been mistaken in making several prior statements based “in Islamic discourse.” ^{15 16}

In 2016, Yusuf denounced the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its religious violence, referring to ISIS terrorists as “stupid young boys” who were damaging the reputation of both Islam and Muslims around the world. ¹⁷

Zaid Shakir

In 1992, Zaytuna co-founder Imam Zaid Shakir claimed that the Muslim world must “use…weaponry against the enemies of Islam.” ¹⁸

In 2009, Shakir made a statement claiming, “Islam doesn’t permit us to hijack airplanes filled with civilian people…[but] if you hijack an airplane filled with the 82nd Airborne, that’s something else.” ¹⁹ Shakir also claimed that the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 by Lebanese-based political group and registered terrorist group Hezbollah was not a terrorist attack. ²⁰

Shakir has previously promoted conspiracy theories related to the 9/11 terror attacks, claiming the attacks “occurred under dubious circumstances that have yet to be thoroughly investigated.” ²¹ He also accused the U.S. of “demonizing” Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi, and Hugo Chavez, and depicted Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and terrorists in Iraq and Chechnya as fighters against imperialism. ^{22 21}

In 2006, it was reported that “he said he still hoped that one day the United States would be a Muslim country ruled by Islamic law.” ²³ In 2013, he preached that “if Islam rules” the world, Christians and Jews “won’t be equal with the Muslim.” ²⁴

Hatem Bazian

Zaytuna co-founder and professor Hatem Bazian previously raised money for a KindHearts, a pro-Palestinian fundraising group that, as of 2024, has its assets frozen by the federal government amid allegations that it provided “support for terrorism behind the façade of charitable giving,” specifically for allegedly providing aid to the terrorist organization Hamas. ²⁵

Bazian was one of two featured speakers at a 2004 KindHearts fundraising dinner in California, with the other speaker being Mohammed el-Mezain, who would later be sentenced in 2009 for his connections to the Holy Land Foundation, a grantmaking organization whose leaders were convicted of providing financial support to Hamas. ^{26 27}

In December 2014, Bazian spoke at an event sponsored by a U.K.-based charity Interpal, which the U.S. Treasury Department designated as a terrorist entity in 2003 for providing financial support for Hamas. ^{28 29}

Bazian is also the co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an anti-Israeli organizations with chapters found on U.S college campuses. He is a supporter of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which supports the  anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. ³⁰

Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks against the state of Israel, Bazian made a post on X (formerly Twitter) claiming the attack shows “[p]alestinians are calling for freedom, dignity and true expression of solidarity!” ³¹

Leadership

Hamza Yusuf is one of the co-founders and president of Zaytuna College as of 2024. Yusuf holds a B.A. in religious studies from San Jose State University and a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the Graduate Theological Union. In addition to his role as president of Zaytuna College, Yusuf also teaches several classes at the school. Yusuf has published several books and translations and is a member of the Supreme Fatwa Council. He also serves as vice president for the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, an international program that studies radicalism and militancy in Islam. ³² As of 2024, Hamza Yusuf was listed as the 25th most influential Muslim in the world according to the yearly publication, The 500 Most Influential Muslims. ³³ In 2018, CNN also designated Yusuf as one of its top 25 most influential American Muslims. ³⁴

Zaid Shakir is a co-founder of Zaytuna College where he also teaches and is a board member as of 2024. ³⁵ Shakir was born in Berkeley, California and converted to Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He has a B.A. in international relations from American University and a M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Shakir later co-founded Masjid Al-Islam (renamed New Brunswick Islamic Center as of 2024), the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee. ^{36 37} Shakir previously taught Arabic and political science at Southern Connecticut State University and was an interfaith council chaplain at Yale University. In 2001, he graduated from Abu Noor University in Syria after studying Arabic, Islamic law, and the Qur’an. He has translated several works from Arabic to English. He was named “one of America’s most influential Scholars” in the West by the 2009 edition of The 500 Most Influential Muslims, a yearly publication that tracks prominent Muslim intellectuals. ³⁷

Hatem Bazian is a co-founder and professor at Zaytuna College. He received a B.A. in speech and communication and in international relations from San Francisco State University and holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern studies from University of California, Berkeley. ³⁸ Bazian also serves as the chairman of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). ^{39 40 27} He is also a co-founder of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an anti-Israel student protest group. Bazian is also a supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, an international campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel through economic isolation. ⁴¹

Finances

In 2023, Zaytuna College reported $18,359,667 in revenue, $15,209,142 in expenses, and $42,577,802 in net assets. ⁴²