Suhaib Webb

Suhaib Webb is an American Islamic activist, speaker, and religious scholar, known for his rapport with American Muslim youth.

Biography

Early life

He was born William Webb in 1972 in Oklahoma, where he grew up in a Christian family. During his youth, he lost interest in religion and got into some trouble with the law before going on to becoming a successful local Hip-Hop DJ, making records with various artists.

Conversion to Islam

He first encountered Islam through Muslim contacts in the music industry. After a three-year period of exposure to Islam through local Muslim acquaintances, he became a Muslim himself in 1992 at the age of twenty, and took the name Suhaib.

After conversion, he left his career as a DJ and studied at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Education. He also studied privately, learning enough to become a community leader in Oklahoma City, where he was hired as Imam at The Islamic Society to Greater Oklahoma City as well as a teacher at the Mercy Islamic School.

Career

After studying Islam in the USA and working as an Imam and teacher, he moved in 2004 with his wife and children to Cairo, where he studies at Al-Azhar Islamic University. Besides studying, he often gives lectures in the United States and elsewhere, and records commercial Islamic lecture series. During his time off he stays in the Silicon Valley and is employed by Muslim American Society of the San Francisco Bay area.

Suhaib Webb is an active member of the Muslim American Society and a its youth department for the last ten years. It is through the Muslim American Societies scholarship program that he was sent to Egypt to focus on Islamic studies.

Reputation

Suhaib Webb is popular for his familiarity with American youth culture and accessible personality. Webb's notability comes from his moderate approach to Islam, which he makes without shying away from Islamic orthodoxy. This combination has made him highly attractive to English-speaking Muslims all over the world, who are seeking a balanced, traditional Islam which does not sacrifice tradition and orthodoxy, and at the same time, uses the orthodoxy to reject extremism and violence.

Webb's teaching has consistently attempted to propagate the understanding amongst Western Muslims that they are Western, and Muslim at the same time, and that this is not a need for conflict, but a reality which obligates the performance of social services by American and European Muslims to help people from all backgrounds living in their societies. What has impressed Muslims is his ability to be moderate, while adhering to orthodox Islamic thought.

In addition, the UK government officials were recently quoted in The Guardian defining Webb as a “moderate leader” along with the likes of Hamza Yusuf and Amr Khaled [ [http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7801 et - Full Story ] ]

Al-Azhar

Imam Suhaib Webb is currently studying in Al-Azhar University, one of the world's oldest universities and the highest seat of Islamic theological and legal studies in the world as well as the world's most prestigious Islamic Seminary. He will finish his studies there in 2010.

External links

* [http://www.suhaibwebb.com/blog/ Suhaib Webb's Official Website]
* [http://www.halaltube.com/suhaib-webb Suhaib Webb Video and Audio lectures] from Halal Tube
* [http://www.altranslators.com A blog for which Suhaib Webb frequently contributes]

References

[1] http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7801