[Sohel]

A bit about the institute in its own words: -

"Zaytuna Institute is a non-profit, educational institute and school founded and run by people committed to reviving time-tested methods of educating and transforming human beings. It is our belief that Islam offers a cohesive understanding of the world and a praxis for it that is able to cut through the illusion of contemporary nihilism and materialism.

We recognize ignorance as the greatest weapon of the dark forces working in the world and believe that the light of true knowledge is the only weapon to dispel that darkness. This is our struggle, and our efforts are directed at spreading the light and wisdom of prophetic truths everywhere and to all peoples. Our aim is to teach the tools individuals need in order to live lives of guidance and adherence to sacred order and to restore broad-based pluralistic and true scholarship to its proper place as a first priority of Muslims."

Web: http://www.zaytuna.org/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaytuna_Institute

A bit about Sheikh Hamza Yususf: -

"Hamza Yusuf Hanson is a traditionalist Islamic scholar and teaches at the Zaytuna Institute in California.

Yusuf was born as Mark Hanson in Walla Walla, Washington and was raised in Northern California in a Greek Orthodox family, the son of a US academic father and activist mother. At the age of 17, in 1977, Hanson became a Muslim in Santa Barbara, California, after having a near-death experience in a car accident which led him to read the Qur'an and eventually to convert to Islam ...

"Shaykh Hamza is the first American lecturer to teach in Morocco's prestigious and oldest University, the Karaouine in Fes. In addition, he has translated several classical Arabic traditional texts and poems into modern English. [1] He is married and has five children - all boys."

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamza_Yusuf