Bin Hamid Ali

‘Abdullah bin Hamid ‘Ali begun studying Islam in his early teens. Born to Muslim parents who found their way to Islam via the NOI, he would eventually start learning the fundamentals of Islam from newfound friends of the Sunni tradition in West Philadelphia. He, however, would not begin a rigorous study of Arabic, Islam, and the Qur’an until close to the age of 17 beginning with his first Arabic teacher from Eritrea known by Philadelphia locals as Imam Aberra. More than a year later, he would begin a five-year journey studying Arabic language, tajwid, and Islamic Studies at the Quba Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies under the tutelage of Imam Anwar bin Nafi Muhaimin and his brother, Anas bin Nafi Muhaimin. In earlier years, Abdullah received religious instruction in the basics of Islam from their father Shaykh Nafi Muhaimin as well. During his time as a student in computer science at Temple University (1995-1997), he met Dr. Khalid Blankinship, and joined his graduate seminars in Islamic Studies and Islamic Jurisprudence. In the privacy of his office, Dr. Blankinship would guide Abdullah in the reading of the Sirah of Ibn Ishaq and Al-Nafrawi’s commentary on the Risalah of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani. He later went on to become the first American to attend and graduate from the Faculty of Shariah at the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco (2001).

During his four year degree, his teachers included: Shaykh Muhammad at-Ta‘wīl, mufti, scholar and professor of ‘Usūl al-fiqh; Dr. Abdullah Ghāzīwī, Professor of ‘Usūl al-fiqh; Dr. Muhammad al-Sarrār, Professor of Fiqh al-Hadith; Dr. Muhammad ‘Abdal- Wahhāb Abyāt; Ustadh Muhammad ‘Alamī, Professor of ‘Usul al-fiqh; Shaykh Ahmad Zwetin, Professor of Fiqh al-Hadith and Dr. Hasan ‘Azūzi, Professor of ‘Ulūm al-Qur’an, Ustadhah Rashīdah Nāsir, professor of Family Law, Ustadha Na’īmah Bennīs, professor of Inheritance Law, and many others.