Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson was born in Walla Walla, Washington and raised in Northern California. He became Muslim in 1977 in Santa Barbara, California and subsequently moved to the Middle East and studied Arabic and Islam for four years in the United Arab Emirates and later in Madina, Algeria, Morocco, and West Africa. He received teaching licenses in various Islamic subjects from several well-known scholars in those countries. After a ten year sojourn of studies abroad, he returned to the United States and took degrees in Nursing from Imperial Valley College and Religious Studies at San Jose State University. He is the co-founder of Zaytuna Institute , which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and sciences of Islam. He has translated several classical texts from Arabic and presently teaches at Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California.

From Transcript of Interview with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson by Michael Enright on the September 11 Tragedy

Shaykh Hamza: I don't think it is too dreamy-eyed and I think it's an absolute necessity, Michael, I don't think we have a choice anymore. We have to break down these barriers. We have to understand each other. I think we need to do a lot of introspection, I think the Muslim world needs to do a lot of introspection and I think we need to look at what it is, we can't keep blaming. I think if I look from a secular perspective -I heard the earlier commentator - from a secular point of view I agree with him, I think there's a lot of injustice in the Muslim world, etc. etc. but on the other hand I think the Muslim world really has to stop blaming the West for its problems. I just think it's the easy way out, it's not a Qur'anic world-view. The Qur'anic world-view is always to ask ourselves why is this happening to us? And I think that's for us as Americans to ask, we need to ask those questions as well. But in the Muslim world, we all need to really look in the mirror. I think the American people need to look in the mirror. We need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves have we done anything that warrants this type of hate? I don't think anything can justify what happened at all. Neither in a religious or a secular ideology because it's just a blatant disregard for human life and property but I really think that the Muslims need to become introspective and I think the West needs to understand. I would recommend for you and for listeners, The Essential Qur'an - I'm not paid to do this or anything - but Thomas Cleary translated and wrote. It's published by Harpers. It's a brilliant introduction to Islam and I think people really do need to find out about what the core teachings are. I think most Western people are going to be really surprised at how close the core values of Islam are to the core values of the West. And I came out of - my father was a humanities professor - I came out of the enlightenment tradition and I still believe in the best of the enlightenment tradition and I think that Islam confirms and enhances that tradition and really doesn't detract from it.

From Terrorists are mass murderers, not martyrs Interview with Shaikh Hamza Yusuf

How do you explain Palestinians and others celebrating the attacks in the streets?

When you see ignorant people in the streets, rejoicing -- the Prophet condemned it. It's rejoicing at the calamities of your enemies, and Islam prohibits that. They do have a lot of anger toward America, because America produces much of Israel's military hardware and so many American tax dollars go to support Israel. You have a lot of animosity in the Arab world. But the vast majority of Arabs are horrified by what's happened. There's animosity in the Muslim world toward American foreign policy. This is the unfortunate price of power and its exercise in the world, that you incur the resentment and animosity of a lot of people. But the majority of Muslims who I know don't have anger toward individuals or the American people.

What does Islam say about suicide?

Suicide is haram in Islam. It's prohibited, like a mortal sin. And murder is haram. And to kill civilians is murder.

From Proclaimer Urges Fellow Muslims: Reject State Schools, Look to Traditions by Steve Smith

"From the Muslim perspective, the purpose of education is to produce a human being who is safe to himself and to his society. The end result is a human being who knows his place in the universe and knows his purpose. He knows his rights and his responsibilities, with the emphasis on responsibility."