Where I'm Coming From: The Year in Review (Volume 1)

About the author

Zaid Shakir: Zaid Shakir (b. 1956 CE) is one of America's most respected Muslim scholars and educators, best known as a co-founder, alongside Hamza Yusuf and Hatem Bazian, of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States, established in 2010. Born Ricky Mitchell in Berkeley, he embraced Islam in 1977 while serving in the U.S. Air Force, later taking the name Zaid Shakir. His path joined Western academic training with classical Islamic learning. He earned degrees in political science and international relations from American University and Rutgers University, then studied Arabic in Egypt before turning to the traditional sciences, law, Qurʾanic studies, and spirituality with leading scholars in Syria and Morocco. In 2001 he became the first American male to graduate from Abu Nur University in Damascus. Over the years he helped found several mosques and Islamic centers, taught as a scholar in residence at the Zaytuna Institute, and emerged as a thoughtful public voice on faith, social justice, and the life of Muslim communities in the West. He is a signatory of A Common Word Between Us and You. His writings include Scattered Pictures, Where I'm Coming From, and Agenda to Change Our Condition (with Hamza Yusuf), and his translations include Treatise for the Seekers of Guidance and The Heirs of the Prophets.