Logo for InfluenceWatch InfluenceWatch

Donate
Person

Zaid Shakir

Nationality:

American
Occupation(s):

Imam & Religious Scholar

Co-founder & teacher, Zaytuna College
Born:

May 24, 1956
Website:

newislamicdirections.com/new_nid/

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Zaid Shakir, formerly Ricky Mitchell, is an American Muslim imam and religious scholar from Berkeley, California. He is a co-founder, teacher, and board member at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California and has worked at several Muslim organizations including the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) and United for Change. 1 2

Shakir has also founded and led several Muslim mosques, including what became the New Brunswick Islamic Center in New Jersey; Masjid Al-Islam in New Haven, Connecticut; and the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, California. 2

Shakir has a history of making radical statements, including those in support of Islamist terrorism and in opposition to the United States in favor of sharia law ruling the West. 3 4 5

Education

Zaid Shakir was born in Berkeley, California and converted to Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from American University and a master’s in political science from Rutgers University. 6 While at Rutgers during the 1980s, Shakir began his activism and led a campaign that culminated in the university divesting from South Africa. 7

After a year of studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, Shakir moved to New Haven, Connecticut. After spending time in Connecticut, he moved to Syria for seven years, and lived briefly in Morocco. There, Shakir studied Arabic, Islamic law, the Qur’an, and Islamic spirituality with prominent Muslim scholars. In 2001, he graduated from Syria’s Abu Noor University with a bachelor’s in Islamic Sciences and returned to Connecticut, to become the imam of Masjid al-Islam. 7

Educational Influence

Zaytuna College

Zaid Shakir is a co-founder of Zaytuna College, where he also teaches and is a board member as of 2024. 1 Zaytuna College is an educational institution that claims to be the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States. 8 It is based in Berkeley, California and has approximately 70 students enrolled across its undergraduate and graduate level programs as of 2024. 9 10 The college claims to combine the liberal arts tradition of the West with the “Muslim classics.” 11

The college was founded in 2009 by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, Shakir, and Hatem Bazian. 12 The college grew out of the nonprofit Zaytuna Institute, founded in 1996 as a community organization. 13 Shakir began working with the Zaytuna Institute in 2003 when he moved to Hayward, California to serve as a scholar-in-residence and lecturer, where he taught courses on Arabic, Islamic law, history, and Islamic spirituality. In 2004, he initiated a pilot seminary program at Zaytuna, which helped it refine its Islamic Studies curriculum and its educational philosophy. For four years, students in the pilot program were engaged in the study of contemporary and classical texts, as well as the foundations of the social sciences. 2

The founders of the college, including Shakir, have been accused of radicalism, antisemitism, and support for terrorism and anti-Israel organizations. 14 15 16

United for Change

Shakir was the co-founder and chairman of United for Change starting in 2009. A now-defunct organization, United for Change sought to bring scholars from various orientations together to create awareness of the most pressing issues affecting the Muslim population in America and abroad. His most recent individually authored book as of 2024, an anthology of his essays from 2010 entitled Where I’m Coming From: The Year in Review, comes from his work with United for Change. 2 17

Shakir’s other notable publications include and anthology of essays entitled Scattered Pictures: Reflections of An American Muslim; Treatise for the Seekers of Guidance; and a translation and commentary on Imam Harith alMuhasibi’s work, Risala al-Mustarshideen. 18

Other Educational Roles

During his time in Connecticut before leaving for Syria, Zaid Shakir continued his community-based educational activism, co-founding the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee. Shakir also taught political science and Arabic at Southern Connecticut State University from 1988 to 1994. Shakir worked as an interfaith council Chaplain at Yale University and developed the Chaplaincy Sensitivity Training for physicians at Yale New Haven Hospital. 2

Religious Influence and Mosque Founding

Zaid Shakir has an extensive history of founding mosques and influencing the Muslim faith in America. During his time at Rutgers University, Shakir co-founded Masjid al-Huda which would grow to become the New Brunswick Islamic Center. 7 He also founded Masjid Al-Islam and was head imam there after studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt. Once he returned from his studies in Syria and Morocco, Shakir returned to his role as Imam of Masjid Al-Islam from 1988 to 1994 during which time he spear-headed a community renewal and an anti-drug effort. 7

After moving to California, Shakir founded the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland in 2003. He was also imam there. 2

In 2016, Shakir presided over the funeral of boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville, Kentucky. 19

Other Organizations

In addition to his work directly with mosques and Muslim higher education in America Zaid Shakir has been involved in left-of-center climate activism and has received recognition for his prominence in American and international Muslim communities. He has also maintained a popular YouTube channel and has worked at and led several other Muslim organizations. 20 21

GreenFaith and Climate Activism

While continuing his work with Zaytuna College, Imam Zaid became a GreenFaith partner in 2017. 2 The organization’s seeks to mobilize faith leaders from diverse religious backgrounds to commit to left-of-center environmentalism and climate activism in their communities. 22

Zaid Shakir is also one of many signatories to a 2016 statement prepared by religious leaders from around the world who presented the United Nations Secretary General with a declaration in support of the Paris Climate Agreement, an international commitment to halting the global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius through a number of left-of-center policies such as the abolition of fossil fuels. 23

Muslim Organizations

Shakir is also one of the signatories of A “Common Word Between Us and You,” an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. 24 25

From 2020 until 2022, Shakir was president and director of the Muslim Alliance in North America, a national network of mosques, Muslim organizations, and individuals founded by African-American Muslims to address certain needs within Muslim communities and to advance the interests of African-American Muslims in the United States. 2 26 27

YouTube Channel

One of Shakir’s central means of reaching his audience is through his official YouTube channel which boasts over 14,000 subscribers across more than 100 videos with an accumulated total of nearly half a million views. His videos include sermons and lectures delivered on a variety of Muslim subjects and are published under the name of Shakir’s own organization, New Islamic Directions, which he also began in 2009 as an educational resource for Muslims. 21 Shakir also publishes several of his own essays through the New Islamic Directions website. 2

Controversial Views

Support for Terrorism and Anti-American Rhetoric

In 1992, Zaid Shakir claimed that the Muslim world must “use […] weaponry against the enemies of Islam.” 28

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.” 3 Shakir also claimed that the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 by Lebanese-based political and terrorist faction Hezbollah was not a terrorist attack. 16

Shakir has previously promoted conspiracy theories related to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, claiming the attacks “occurred under dubious circumstances that have yet to be thoroughly investigated.” 14 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. 29 14

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.” 4 In 2013, he preached that “if Islam rules” the world, Christians and Jews “won’t be equal with the Muslim.” 5

Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel Comments

In addition to his connection to anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian organizations through Zaytuna College, Zaid Shakir has published several explicitly anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian essays. In August 2024, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an address in front of a joint session of the United States Congress, Shakir wrote an article calling Netanyahu “the war criminal, the child murderer, the Butcher of Gaza.” Shakir continued, saying that Netanyahu was intentionally perpetuating “Gazan genocide.” He also claimed that Netanyahu produced no evidence of Iran’s financial and military support for Hamas and other pro-Palestinian entities in the conflict, calling the claim a “Zionist” hoax. 30

In May 2024, Shakir authored another blog post that criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for her commitment to support for Israel in its defensive war against Hamas. Shakir argued that the special American-Israel relationship would soon come to an end. 31

Opposition to LGBT Interests

In July 2023, Zaid Shakir published an essay defending the conservative Muslim stance related to the LGBT movement in the West. He upheld the dignity and value of people who identify as LGBT, but also defended the Muslim orthodoxy that opposes the LGBT movement as a political faction, particularly in America. Shakir argued that “the LGBTQ community, collectively, happens to be one of the most powerful and influential political groups in this country and it is using that power to advance a revolutionary socio-political project,” one that opposes the teachings of Islam. He also opposed Pride parades, and said shouting things like “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children” crosses the line from tolerance to “evil.” He wrote, “it is evil to expose children to a form of social engineering that could possibly lead millions of them, unnecessarily, into a lifestyle that poses these health risks.” 32

References

  1. Zaid Shakir. Zaytuna College. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://zaytuna.edu/faculty-details/Zaid-Shakir
  2. “About Imam Zaid Shakir.” New Islamic Directions. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://newislamicdirections.com/new_nid/about/
  3. “CAIR Speaker to Muslims: OK to Attack Fort Bragg.” WorldNetDaily. November 11, 2009. Accessed December 8, 2024. http://www.wnd.com/2009/11/115687/
  4. Goodstein, Laurie. “U.S. Muslim Clerics Seek a Modern Middle Ground.” New York Times. June 18, 2006. Accessed December 8, 2024. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/us/18imams.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&amp
  5. Mauro, Ryan. “Zaid Shakir: If Islam Rules, Non-Muslims Won’t be Equal.” The Clarion Project. August 15, 2013. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20160423215039/http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/us-islamists-enlist-interfaith-partners-strategic-asset
  6. “Zaid Shakir.” The Muslim 500. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://themuslim500.com/profiles/imam-zaid-shakir/
  7. “Imam Zaid Shakir.” American Learning Institute for Muslims. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.alimprogram.org/imamshakir.html
  8. Zoll, Rachel. “US scholars planning Islamic college.” AP. May 17, 2009. Accessed December 8, 2024.  https://web.archive.org/web/20130930144854/https://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/8512092
  9. “Zaytuna College.” Niche. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.niche.com/colleges/zaytuna-college/
  10. “Zaytuna College, Graduate School.” Niche. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.niche.com/graduate-schools/zaytuna-college/
  11. “About.” Zaytuna College. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://zaytuna.edu/about
  12. Korb, Scott. “Welcome to Zaytuna, the Nation’s First Muslim Liberal Arts College.” Religion & Politics. May 15, 2023. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://arcmag.org/welcome-to-zaytuna-the-nations-first-muslim-liberal-arts-college/
  13. Marklein, Mary Beth. “Muslim college carves niche in USA.” USA Today. June 1, 2013. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/06/01/muslim-college-usa/2379261/
  14. “Zaid Shakir: Co-Founder, Zaytuna College.” Investigative Project. Accessed December 8, 2024. ”https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/501.pdf
  15. Mauro, Ryan. “New York Times Whitewashes Islamist Zaytuna College [incl. Hatem Bazian].” Middle East Forum. April 29, 2013. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/new-york-times-whitewashes-islamist-zaytuna-20796
  16. “Jihad: A Just Struggle or Unjust Violence? – Zaid Shakir.” IslamOnDemand YouTube channel. March 13, 2011. Accessed December 8, 2024. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IjxFVLoPKY&feature=share&list=PL16A2C88FB6FF398A
  17. “About Us.” United for Change. Accessed December 8, 2024. http://www.unitedforchange.com/
  18. “IMAM ZAID SHAKIR – Official Bio.” New Islamic Directions. May 5, 2020. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.newislamicdirections.com/images/Imam%20Zaid%20Shakir-Bio-Medium.pdf
  19.  “Muhammad Ali’s Celebration of Life.” Muhammad Ali Center. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://alicenter.org/meet-ali/celebration-of-life/#:~:text=Ali%20wanted%20his%20memorial%20to,Louisville%20and%20around%20the%20world.
  20. [1] “About Imam Zaid Shakir.” New Islamic Directions. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://newislamicdirections.com/new_nid/about/
  21. “About – Imam Zaid Shakir Official Channel.” YouTube. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/c/ZaidShakir
  22.   “Home.” Green Faith. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://greenfaith.org/
  23. “Interfaith_Climate_Change_Statement_Final.pdf.” InterfaithClimateStatement2016.org. April 18, 2016. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/bhumipledge/pages/146/attachments/original/1461116647/Interfaith_Climate_Change_Statement_Final.pdf?1461116647
  24. “VIDEO: Imam Zaid Shakir Offers Eid Al-Adha Sermon, Signs Memorandum of Understanding.” Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. September 23, 2015. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.hartfordinternational.edu/news-events/news/video-imam-zaid-shakir-offers-eid-al-adha-sermon-signs-memorandum-understanding
  25. “Signatories.” A Common Word. October 13, 2007. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.acommonword.com/signatories/
  26.  “MANA.” Muslim Alliance in North America. Accessed via Web Archive. October 5, 2011. Accessed December 1, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20111005173325/http://mana-net.org/subpage.php?ID=about.
  27. “Most Popular Questions.” Muslim Alliance in North America. Accessed November 29, 2022. https://manajustice.org/faqs/.
  28. Mauro, Ryan. “Prominent U.S. Imam: New Caliphate Should Wage Jihad.” Middle East Forum. December 25, 2012. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/prominent-us-imam-new-caliphate-should-wage-jihad
  29. “Somali Pirates: More of the Same or New Way Ahead,” New Islamic Directions. May 6, 2009. Accessed December 8, 2024. http://www.newislamicdirections.com/nid/print/somali_pirates_more_of_the_same_or_a_new_way_ahead/
  30. Shakir, Zaid. “Bibi’s Useful Idiots.” New Islamic Directions. August 7, 2024. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://newislamicdirections.com/new_nid/note/bibis_useful_idiots
  31.  Shakir, Zaid. “The Looming Demise of a “Special” Relationship.” New Islamic Directions. May 12, 2024. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://newislamicdirections.com/new_nid/note/the_looming_demise_of_a_special_relationship
  32. Shakir, Zaid. “#SocietyA Response To Wajahat Ali: American Muslims And The LGBTQ Political Project.” Muslim Matters. July 18, 2023. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://muslimmatters.org/2023/07/18/a-response-to-wajahat-ali-american-muslims-and-the-lgbtq-political-project/
  See an error? Let us know!