Not to be confused with the letter ع, which has a similar looking initial form.

Hamza (Arabic: الهَمْزة‎, (al-)hamzah) (ء) is a letter in the Arabic alphabet, representing the glottal stop [ʔ]. Hamza is not one of the 28 "full" letters, and owes its existence to historical inconsistencies in the standard writing system. In the Phoenician and Aramaic alphabets, from which the Arabic alphabet is descended, the glottal stop was expressed by aleph (), continued by alif (  ) in the Arabic alphabet. However, alif was used to express both a glottal stop and a long vowel /aː/. To indicate that a glottal stop, and not a mere vowel, was intended, hamza was added diacritically to alif. In modern orthography, under certain circumstances, hamza may also appear on the line, as if it were a full letter, independent of an alif.

Hamzat waṣl[link]

The hamza letter on its own always represents hamzat qaṭʿ (همزة قطع); that is, a phonemic glottal stop. Compared to this, hamzat waṣl or hamzatu l-waṣl (همزة الوصل) is a non-phonemic glottal stop produced automatically at the beginning of an utterance. Although it can be written as alif carrying a waṣlah sign ٱ, it is usually indicated by a regular alif without a hamza. It occurs, for example, in the definite article al-, ism, ibn, imperative verbs and the perfective aspect of verb forms VII to X, but is not pronounced following a vowel: (e.g. al-baytu l-kabīru for written البيت الكبير). It occurs only at the beginning of a word following a preposition or the definite article.

Orthography[link]

The hamza can be written alone, as if it was a letter, or with a carrier, in which case it becomes a diacritic:

• Alone: (only one isolated form, the same form being also sometimes used in initial positions without perching it over an alif, and without joining with any following letter like most Arabic letters in initial positions):

• By itself as a high hamza (not used in Arabic language; only one isolated form, but actually used in medial and final positions where it will be non joining), after any Arabic letter (if that letter has an initial or medial form, these forms will be changed to isolated or final forms respectively:

• Combined with a letter:

Summary[link]

• Initial hamza is always perched over or under an alif, or sometimes over a dotless yāʾ. Otherwise, surrounding vowels determine the seat of the hamza – but, preceding long vowels or diphthongs are ignored (as are final short vowels).
• i- over u- over a- if there are two conflicting vowels that “count”; on the line if there are none.
• As a special case, āʾa, ūʾa and awʾa require hamza on the line, instead of over an alif as you would expect from rule #1. (See III.1b below.)
• Two adjacent alifs are never allowed. If the rules call for this, replace the combination by a single alif-madda.

Detailed description[link]

• Logically, hamza is just like any other letter, but it may be written in different ways. It has no effect on the way other letters are written. In particular, surrounding long vowels are written just as they always are, regardless of the “seat” of the hamza – even if this results in the appearance of two consecutive waws or yaas.
• Hamza can be written in four ways – on its own (“on the line”) or over an alif, waw, or yaa, called the “seat” of the hamza. When written over yaa, the dots that would normally be written underneath disappear.
• When, according to the rules below, a hamza with an alif seat would occur before an alif which represents the vowel ā, instead a single alif is written with the madda symbol over it.
• The rules for hamza depend on whether it occurs as the initial, middle, or final letter (not sound) in a word. (Thus, final short inflectional vowels do not count, but when –an is written as alif + nunation, it does count and the hamza is considered medial.)

I. If the hamza is initial:

• If the following letter is a short vowel: fatḥah (a) (as in أفراد ʾafrād) or ḍammah (u) (as in أصول ʾuṣūl), the hamza is written over a place-holding alif; kasrah (i) (as in إسلام ʾislām) the hamza is written under a place-holding alif. This is called "hamza on a wall".

• If the letter following the hamza is an alif itself: (as in آكل ʾākul) alif madda will occur.

II. If the hamza is final:

• If a short vowel precedes: the hamza is written over the letter (ʾalif, wāw, or yāʾ) corresponding to the short vowel.
• Otherwise: the hamza is written on the line (as in شيء šayʾ "thing").

III. If the hamza is medial:

• If a long vowel or diphthong precedes, the seat of the hamza is determined mostly by what follows:

• If i or u follows, the hamza is written over yāʾ or wāw, accordingly.
• Otherwise, the hamza wants to be written on the line. If a yāʾ precedes, however, this would conflict with the stroke joining the yāʾ to the following letter, so the hamza is written over yāʾ. (as in جئت)

• Otherwise, both preceding and following vowels have an effect on the hamza.

• If there is only one vowel (or two of the same kind), that vowel determines the seat (ʾalif, wāw, or yāʾ).
• If there are two conflicting vowels, i takes precedence over u, u over a, so miʾa "hundred" is written مئة, with hamza over the yāʾ.
• Alif-madda will occur if appropriate.

Not surprisingly given the complexity of these rules, there is some disagreement.

• Barron’s 201 Arabic Verbs follows these rules exactly (although the sequence ūʾū does not occur; see below).
• John Mace’s Teach Yourself Arabic Verbs and Essential Grammar presents alternative forms in almost all cases when hamza is followed by a long ū. The motivation appears to be to avoid two wāws in a row. Generally, the choice is between the form following the rules here, or an alternative form using hamza over yaa in all cases. Example forms are masʾūl, yaǧīʾūna, yašāʾūna. Exceptions:

• In the sequence ūʾū, e.g. yasūʾūna, the alternatives are hamza on the line, or hamza over yāʾ, when the rules here would call for hamza over wāw. Perhaps the resulting sequence of three waws would be especially repugnant?
• In the sequence yaqraʾūna, the alternative form has hamza over alif, not yāʾ.
• The forms yabṭuʾūna, yaʾūbu have no alternative form. (But note yaqraʾūna with the same sequence of vowels!)

• Haywood and Nahmad’s A new Arabic grammar does not write the paradigms out in full but in general agrees with John Mace’s book, including the alternative forms – and sometimes lists a third alternative where the entire sequence ʾū is written as a single hamza over wāw instead of as two letters.
• "Al-Kitaab fii Ta:allum ..." presents paradigms with hamza written the same way throughout, regardless of what the rules above say. Thus yabdaʾūna with hamza only over alif, yaǧīʾūna with hamza only over yāʾ, yaqraʾīna with hamza only over alif although this is not allowed in any of the previous three books. (This appears to be an over-generalization on the part of the Al-Kitaab writers.)

Encodings[link]

In Unicode, the letter is assigned to U+0621 ء arabic letter hamza (HTML: ء).

Latin representations[link]

There are different ways to represent hamza in Latin transliteration:

• In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the sound of the glottal stop is represented by: ʔ.
• There is a tradition of using ', the simple apostrophe, whereas a reversed one, or backquote, represents `ayn (ع).
• Some standard transliterations such as DIN 31635, transliterate it with a modifier letter right half ring ʾ and others such as ALA-LC with the modifier letter apostrophe ʼ.
• Different unstandardized symbols, as 2 in Arabic chat alphabet.

See also[link]

• ʼ and ʾ
• Aleph
• Arabic alphabet
• Glottal stop (letter)
• Harakat
• Romanization of Arabic
• Arabic phonology
• Varieties of Arabic
• WP:IPA for Arabic
• ʻOkina

v t e Arabic عربي Overviews Language Alphabet History Romanization Numerology Influence on other languages Alphabet Arabic numerals Eastern numerals Arabic braille Diacritics Hamza Tāʾ marbūṭah Letters ʾAlif Bāʾ Tāʾ Ṯāʾ Ǧīm Ḥāʾ Ḫāʾ Dāl Ḏāl Rāʾ Zayn Sīn Šīn Ṣād Ḍād Ṭāʾ Ẓāʾ ʿAyn Ġayn Fāʾ Qāf Kāf Lām Mīm Nūn Hāʾ Wāw Yāʾ Eras Ancient North Arabian Classical Modern Notable varieties Standardized Modern Standard Arabic Regional Egyptian Iraqi Levantine Maghrebi Sudanese Arabian Yemeni Ethnic/Religious Judeo-Arabic Academic Literature Names Linguistics Phonology Sun and moon letters ʾIʿrāb (inflection) Grammar Triliteral root Mater lectionis IPA Quranic Arabic Corpus

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Hamza Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf at Doha Academy Education Conference in Qatar, 2010.
Born	Mark Hanson 1958 (age 53–54) Walla Walla, Washington, United States
Residence	Northern California, United States
Occupation	Islamic scholar
Religion	Sunni Islam[1][2]
Spouse	Liliana (Umm Yahya) Hanson
Website
Sandala.org

Hamza Yusuf Hanson is an American Islamic scholar^[3][4], and (with Zaid Shakir and Hatem Bazian) is co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States. He is a convert to Islam, and is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. He has described the 9/11 attacks as "an act of 'mass murder, pure and simple'". Condemning the attacks, he has also stated "Islam was hijacked ... on that plane as an innocent victim".^[5] The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that he "is arguably the west's most influential Islamic scholar" and added that "many Muslims find his views hard to stomach."^[6]

Biography[link]

Hamza Yusuf was born to two academics^[7] in Washington State and raised in Northern California. In 1977, he became Muslim and subsequently traveled to the Muslim world and studied for ten years in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, as well as North and West Africa.^[8] Hamza Yusuf spent four years studying in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere in the Middle East. Later he traveled to West Africa and studied in Mauritania, Medina, Algeria, and Morocco under such scholars as Murabit al Haaj; Baya bin Salik, head of the Islamic court in Al-'Ain, United Arab Emirates; Muhammad Shaybani, Mufti of Abu Dhabi; Hamad al-Wali; and Muhammad al-Fatrati of Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.^{[citation needed]} After more than a decade abroad, he returned to the United States and earned degrees in nursing from Imperial Valley College and religious studies at San José State University.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf is a co-founder of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California. He is an advisor to Stanford University's Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union.^{[citation needed]} He also serves as a member of the board of advisors of George Russell's One Nation, a national philanthropic initiative that promotes pluralism and inclusion in America. In addition, he serves as vice-president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Abdallah Bin Bayyah, one of the top jurists and masters of Islamic sciences in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world. He has also been an advocate for social justice, peace, and conviviality among peoples and places. For several years, he has argued that the "them versus us" problem is fundamentally flawed, and, in R. D. Laing’s term, a “knot” that will destroy people if they do not extricate themselves from it.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf has served as an advisor to many organizations, leaders, and heads of state.^{[citation needed]} He has been an innovator in modern Islamic education^{[citation needed]}, founding the highly imitated Deen Intensives, and with Ibrahim Osi-Efa, he started the first Rihla program in England, which has been running for over fifteen years. Dozens of young Muslims who were influenced by his call to reviving traditional Islamic studies in the West went to the Muslim lands in the nineties and early part of the current decade to study, many of who are now teachers in their own right.^{[citation needed]}

With Eissa Bougari, Hamza Yusuf initiated a media challenge to the Arab world that resulted in a highly successful cultural religious program that he hosted for three years and was one of the most watched programs in the Arab world during Ramadan.^{[citation needed]} Cambridge Media Studies stated that this program had a profound influence on subsequent religious programming in the Arab world. He has also been interviewed on BBC several times and was the subject of a BBC documentary segment The Faces of Islam, ushering in the new millennium, as it aired at 11:30 pm on December 31, 1999. Hamza Yusuf has been an outspoken critic of American foreign policy as well as Islamic extremist responses to those policies.^{[citation needed]}

He has drawn criticism from both the extreme right in the West and Muslim extremists in the East.^[9] He told The Guardian: "Many people in the west do not realise how oppressive some Muslim states are – both for men and for women. This is a cultural issue, not an Islamic one. I would rather live as a Muslim in the west than in most of the Muslim countries, because I think the way Muslims are allowed to live in the west is closer to the Muslim way. A lot of Muslim immigrants feel the same way, which is why they are here."^[10]

He and colleagues founded the Zaytuna Institute in 1996, which has established an international reputation^{[citation needed]} for presenting a classical picture of Islam in the West and which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam. Hamza Yusuf currently resides in Northern California with his wife and five children.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf has also authored several encyclopedia articles and research papers. His published books include The Burda (2003), Purification of the Heart (2004), The Content of Character (2004), The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (2007), Agenda to Change our Condition (2007), and Walking on Water (2010). Forthcoming are The Prayer of the Oppressed, and The Helpful Guide.^{[citation needed]}

Hamza Yusuf is the first American lecturer to teach in Morocco's prestigious and oldest university, the University of Al-Karaouine in Fes.^[11] He is married and has five children, all boys.

Critical reception[link]

Jordan's Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre placed him on its list of the top 50 most influential Muslims in the world.^{[citation needed]} The magazine Egypt Today described him as a kind of theological rock star, "the Elvis Presley of western Muslims."^[12] Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as "the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar" by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009).^[13]

Publications[link]

Books Authored[link]

• The Burda The Burda (2003)
• Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart (2004)
• The Content of Character (2004)
• The State We Are In: Identity, Terror, and the Law of Jihad (contributing Author) (2006)
• The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi (2007)
• Agenda to Change our Condition co-authored with Zaid Shakir (2007)
• Walk on Water: The wisdom of Jesus Walk on Water: The wisdom of Jesus (2010)
• Educating your Child in Modern Times

Books with Foreword or note[link]

• Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning
• The Prophetic Invocations By Mostafa Al-Badawi

Book Edited with Zaid Shakir[link]

• Submission Faith and Beauty Submission Faith and Beauty, The Religion of Islam by Joseph Lumbard (2009)

Papers[link]

• Caesarean Moon Births Part 1
• Caesarean Moon Births Part 2
• Climbing Mount Purgatorio
• Religion, Violence, and the Modern World
• Generous Tolerance in Islam and its Effects on the Life of a Muslim
• Chess in the Light of the Jurist
• Who are the Disbelievers?

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hamza Yusuf

Websites[link]

• Sandala.org – Official website of Hamza Yusuf
• Zaytuna.org – Zaytuna College
• Sheikhhamza.com – Contains list of books recommended by Hamza Yusuf and a biography

See also[link]

• Zaytuna College
• Zaid Shakir

Pervez Hoodbhoy
Born	(1950-07-11) July 11, 1950 (age 61) Karachi, Sindh Province, West-Pakistan
Residence	Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory
Citizenship	Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Fields	Nuclear Physics
Institutions	Quaid-e-Azam University National Centre for Physics
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Known for	His work on the Parton distribution functions, Field Theory, Phenomenology, supersymmetry and Abstract algebra
Influences	Abdus Salam, George Bernard Shaw[1]
Notable awards	UNESCO Kalinga Prize (2003) Fulbright Award (1998-99) Faiz Ahmed Faiz Award (1990) Abdus Salam Award (1984) Baker Award for Electronics (1968)

Dr. Prof. Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy (Urdu: پرویز ہودبھائی; born 11 July 1950), is a Pakistani nuclear physicist, essayist and political-defence analyst. He is the professor of nuclear and high-energy physics, and the head of the Physics Department at the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU). He graduated and also received PhD from MIT and continues to do research in Particle physics. He received the Baker Award for Electronics in 1968,^[2] and the Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics in 1984.^[3] He has authored various scientific research papers in peer-reviewed journals.^[3]

Hoodbhoy is also a prominent environmental and social activist and regularly writes on a wide range of social, cultural and environmental issues. He is the chairman of Mashal, a non-profit organization which publishes Urdu books on feminism, education, environmental issues, philosophy, and modern thought. Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy is a strong and avid supporter for peaceful use of nuclear technology in Pakistan, nuclear non-proliferation, and nuclear disarmament; and criticizing the United States, Israel, Pakistan's and India's nuclear program in many national and international forums.

Biography[link]

Youth and Academic Career[link]

Hoodbhoy was born into an Ismaili household. However, with time he rebelled as he believed the system to be exploitative. His beliefs eventually got influenced by reading George Bernard Shaw and subsequently has drawn a strong line of separation between science and religion.^[4].

Hoodbhoy did O and A-Level from Karachi, Sindh. While in Pakistan during his college studies, Hoodbhoy was tutored by Nobel Laureate in Physics Professor Abdus Salam in Mathematics and Physics.^[5] Hoodbhoy showed great interest in Electronics and Mathematics, and his love for science led him to travel to United States to pursue his education.^[5] In United States, Hoodbhoy studied for his double major and gained his double Bachelor of Sciences in Mathematics and Electrical engineering, followed by M.S. in Solid-State Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973.^[6]

He went on to obtain a D.Phil. in Nuclear Physics in 1978 from the same institution.^[5] During his doctoral studies, Hoodbhoy had worked with numerous Manhattan Project scientists (who had worked closely in the development of a first implosion device— Fat Man atom bomb in the 1940s) to the field of nuclear physics.^[5] Later, he remained a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Washington.^[6] Hoodbhoy, joined Institute of Physics, later Department of Physics as professor of Physics, since 1973.^[6] He engaged his research career extensively on Quantum field theory, Particle Phenomenology, and Supersymmetry in that arise in the theory of Particle physics.^[6] Hoodbhoy currently teaches at Lahore University of Management Sciences, and is a visiting professor of Mathematics at the Carnegie Mellon University, and visiting professor of physics at both University of Maryland at College Park, and remained senior visiting scientist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.^[6] Hoodbhoy also occasionally lectures at various topics in Mathematics and Physics at American and European research institutions. Hoodbhoy is a prominent sponsor of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, representing the Pakistan's delegation.^[7] Hoodbhoy is also a senior member of Pakistan Atomic Scientists Federation (PASF). He also serves on the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Doha Center. After receiving his doctorate in physics, Hoodbhoy, at MIT, met with renowned dr. Abdus Salam and Riazuddin where Salam to attend Salam's lecture on Particle physics. Hoodbhoy then traveled to Trieste where he became research associate at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).^[8] At ICTP, Hoodbhoy began his research in particle physics that was supervised under by Professor Salam.^[8] In 1999, Hoodbhoy with Ishfaq Ahmad and Riazuddin, played a major and influential role in the establishment of National Centre of Physics (NCP). With its establishment, Hoodbhoy became among one of the earliest academic scientists to join the NCP since its inception.

Defence and Political views[link]

Apart from his specialist field of research, Hoodbhoy extensively writes and speaks on general topics ranging from science in Islam to education and nuclear disarmament issues around the world.^[9] He is author of Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality, that has been translated into 5 languages.^[3] In his book, Hoodbhoy outline the history of Pakistan, implications of theocracy and military dictatorships in Pakistan, and the abstract textbook system in education system of Pakistan. His articles on various issues related to science and social issues are often published in international media. Nowadays, Dr. Pervez A. Hoodbhoy is considered one of the prominent and renowned scientist who had published his work in every aspect of live. His publications repeatedly published in both technical and non-technical papers.^[3] Hoodbhoy widely writes about the role and modernization of Pakistan Armed Forces, particularly the defence budget spending by the Government of Pakistan on Pakistan Armed Forces. While he is critical to the role of Pakistan Armed Forces in politics, Hoodbhoy gives much criticism to the Pakistan Army for imposing unlawful Martial Law. Hoodbhoy heavily criticizes the militant and fundamental Islam, while avidly supporting Pakistan Armed Forces to initiate their operations against the Islamic extremism in his country. Hoodbhoy was among the first activist who rose their support for the Pakistan Armed Forces Operation Black Thunderstorm, as part of conflict in West-Pakistan.

In an interview on secularism he mentioned that obsession with scientific-religious Apophenia may have caused lack of scientific advancement among Muslims in recent years^[10].

Nuclear weapons in South Asia[link]

Hoodbhoy remains one of the leading and vocal critic of the nuclear weapons, especially the on-going nuclear weapons expansion in South Asia.^[11] Hoodbhoy openly criticizes the United States' foreign aide to expand the Indian nuclear programme, and held India responsible for Pakistan's symmetric nuclear weapons programme as part of Pakistan's self credible deterrence after country was dismembered in 1971 by India.^[11] While, he agreed that Pakistan's nuclear deterrence programme had protected and avoided Pakistan in numerous war threatening situations with India and the present relations with the United States.^[11] Hoodbhoy remains staunch supporter for Pakistan's nuclear energy programme exclusively devoted for the industrial and economical use and human welfare.^[11] According to Hoodbhoy, Pakistan puts tremendous and extreme science efforts to developed its deterrence programme which was developed in extreme secrecy under Munir Ahmad Khan.^[11] If the same the finance and efforts on economical and technological progress, Pakistan would be equivalent to that of either Japan or South Korea.^[11] In his recent article, Hoddbhoy gave a vehement and vigorous criticism to India's 1974 nuclear test (Smiling Buddha) and the second nuclear tests (Operation Shakti) in 1998. According to Hoodbhoy, India nuclear tests forced and pushed Pakistan to jump into nuclear arena in 1974, and again in 1998, after war-threatening statements were made by Indian government to Pakistan; Pakistan equalized (see Chagai-I and Chagai-II) this magnitude over the nuclear edge that same month, a fact that India now surely regrets.^[11]

Science research[link]

Hoodbhoy made an important contributions in physics, particularly in particle physics. Many of the Hoodbhoy's lecture shown at the Urduphysics.com, sponsored by National Center for Physics. Hoodbhoy lectures in Newtonian Mechanics, Einsteinian Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Vibration and Waves, among others.^[12] At NCP, Hoodbhoy engaged his research in different aspect of particle physics, and pioneered his studies in modern physics and its extension to mathematical and nuclear physics. In 2006, Hoodbhoy published his brief mathematical description on Generalized Parton Distributions or GDP. In 2007, Hoodbhoy re-published the work of Jens Lyng Peterson the on Maldacena conjecture where he contributed mathematically in the theory. A Maldacena conjecture is a conjectured equivalence between a string theory and gravity defined on one space, and a quantum field theory without gravity defined by one or less dimension.^[13] The same year, he also re-published the work Edward Witten on Anti de Sitter space and its extension to the field of Holography. While, the paper was published experimentally in 1998 by Witten, Hoodbhoy provided the brief mathematical proofs and description to understand, logically, the subject of Sitter space— a scalar curvature in general theory of relativity.^[14]

On 14 April 2001, it was announced that Dr. Hoodbhoy would be receiving Sitara-i-Imtiaz from the former President, General (retired) Pervaiz Musharraf which he refused to accept. His refusal prompted the Friday Times to interview him.

I am reasonably [satisfied] with my (scientific) work... I do not think it is earth-shaking or... that it deserves any kind of [award]. On the other hand, receiving an [award] – even if it is a high national award – would give me absolutely no sense of achievement or satisfaction... because it carries no credibility or prestige in professional circles. Such things do not indicate that you have done good work in your field. Therefore I decided to refuse the award

—Pervez Hoodbhoy, issued the statement on The Friday Times, 2001, ^[15]

Documentary films[link]

He produced a 13-part documentary series in Urdu for Pakistan Television on critical issues in education, and two series aimed at popularizing science. In 2004, he made a documentary film 'Crossing the Lines: Kashmir, Pakistan, India' along with Dr. Zia Mian.^[16] The Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies. University of California, Irvine. 11 May.^[3] Documentaries of his are heavily emphasized on the issues of education, public health and scientific revolution in Pakistan.

In his documentaries, Dr. Hoodbhoy heavily criticized Pakistan and India's nuclear weapon program. He also pointed out the seriousness of the Talibanization in Pakistan and its immediate effects on the South Asia. His documentaries also pointed out that Americans and NATO forces in Afghanistan didn't help the Afghan people's life and there was no reforms in Afghanistan's social and public sector instead the insurgency and corruption grew which also destabilized Pakistan's western front.^[3]

Filmography[link]

• Crossing the Lines: Kashmir, Pakistan, India (2004)
• The Bell Tolls for Planet Earth (2003)
• Pakistan and India Under the Nuclear Shadow (2001)

Pervez Hoodbhoy on Higher Education Commission (HEC)[link]

Hoodbhoy was a harsh critic of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) while it was headed by Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman. This led to numerous print and television media debates.

The administrative competency of HEC was called into question. The achievements of the HEC initiative which involved the development, staffing and management of universities, with the aim of attracting foreign academics to Pakistan, were described as ‘dismal’. In the case of UESTP-France, in Karachi, out of an expected faculty strength of between 450 to 600, no French faculty or administrative staff actually arrived.

The data used to support the positive appraisal of HEC’s activities was questioned in a series of communications between Hoodbhoy and HEC Chairman Atta-Ur-Rehman. It was claimed by the latter that in mathematics, Pakistani authors received 20% more citations than the worldwide average. Hoodbhoy questioned this on several grounds including the number of self-citations these publications received and said that this was a crucial aspect that the HEC left out of its interpretation.

Criticism was levelled by Hoodbhoy at the practice of hiring those foreign academics in local universities who were said to have difficulty in communicating and teaching, although they contributed to boosting the number of research publications originating from Pakistani universities.

An article published in ‘Nature’ on 3 September 2009 was the source of much debate. While it reported many achievements and showered much praise on the activities of the HEC, Hoodbhoy asked that the education system be assessed on the changes in quality of teaching in public universities, procedures for selection of students, and on whether campuses began to see greater academic freedom, greater transparency and less violence from extremist groups.

Awards and honours[link]

• An Executive member of the board of Riazuddin National Center for Physics.
• Member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
• Awarded UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science in Pakistan.
• His TV serials and film The Bell Tolls for Planet Earth won honorable mention at the Paris Film Festival.
• A member of the Editorial Board of Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies.

He is also the recipient of:

• Baker Award for Electronics, British Association of Electronics and Radio Engineers (1968).
• Student-of-the-Year, Pakistan Students Association of America (1972).
• Rockefeller Mauze Fellowship for graduate studies (1973).
• Abdus Salam Award for Mathematics (1984).
• Associate of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (1986–1994).
• Faiz Ahmed Faiz Award, for contributions towards the cause of education in Pakistan (1990).
• “Book of the Year Award”, awarded by the National Book Council Of Pakistan (1993).
• Fulbright Award (1997–1998) for research at the University of Maryland, College Park.
• Selma V. Forkosch Prize (2003)
• International Advisory Council of the Brookings Doha Center.
• Civic Courage Award- 2007.
• 2010 Joseph A. Burton Award (2010)

Publications[link]

Books[link]

• Education and the State – Fifty Years Of Pakistan, Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0-19-577825-0
• Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality; Zed Books, London, 1992. ISBN 978-1-85649-025-2 (Translations in Arabic, Indonesian, Malaysian, Turkish, Japanese, and Urdu)
• (Co-Edited with A. Ali), Proceedings of the School on Fundamental Physics and Cosmology, World Scientific, Singapore, 1991.
• (With A. H. Nayyar), Rewriting the History of Pakistan, in Islam, Politics and the State: The Pakistan Experience, Ed. Mohammad Asghar Khan, Zed Books, London, 1986. ISBN 978-0-86232-471-1

Scientific papers and articles[link]

• Two-Photon Effects in Lepton-AntiLepton Pair Photoproduction from a Nucleon Target using Real Photons, Authors: Pervez Hoodbhoy, Phys.Rev. D73 (2006) 054027
• Probing Quark Distribution Amplitudes Through Generalized Parton Distributions at Large Momentum Transfer, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Xiangdong Ji, Feng Yuan, Phys.Rev.Lett. 92 (2004) 012003
• Explicit Proof that Electroproduction of Transversely Polarized Vector Mesons Vanishes in Perturbative QCD, Pervez Hoodbhoy (University of Maryland and Quaid-e-Azam University), Phys.Rev. D65 (2002) 077501
• Does the Gluon Spin Contribute in A Gauge Invariant Way to Nucleon Spin? Pervez Hoodbhoy, Xiangdong Ji, Phys.Rev. D60 (1999) 114042
• Nucleon-Quarkonium Elastic Scattering and the Gluon Contribution to Nucleon Spin, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Phys.Rev.Lett. 82 (1999) 4985-4987
• Implications of Color Gauge Symmetry For Nucleon Spin Structure, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Xiangdong Ji, Wei Lu, Phys.Rev. D59 (1999) 074010
• Quark Orbital-Angular-Momentum Distribution in the Nucleon, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Xiangdong Ji, Wei Lu, Phys.Rev. D59 (1999) 014013
• The Spin Structure of the Nucleon in the Asymptotic Limit, Ji, J. Tang (MIT), P. Hoodbhoy (Quaid-e-Azam, Pakistan), Phys.Rev.Lett. 76 (1996) 740-743
• Helicity-Flip Off-Forward Parton Distributions of the Nucleon, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Xiangdong Ji, Phys.Rev. D58 (1998) 054006
• Wavefunction corrections and off-forward gluon distributions in diffractive J/psi electroproduction, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Phys.Rev. D56 (1997) 388-393
• Relativistic and Binding Energy Corrections to Direct Photon Production In Upsilon Decay, Mohammad Ali Yusuf, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Phys.Rev. D54 (1996) 3345-3349
• Beyond The Colour-Singlet Model For Inelastic J_psi Photoproduction, H. Khan, P. Hoodbhoy, Phys. Lett. B382 (1996) 189
• The Spin Structure of the Nucleon in the Asymptotic Limit, X. Ji, J. Tang (MIT), P. Hoodbhoy (Quaid-e-Azam, Pakistan), Phys.Rev.Lett. 76 (1996) 740-743
• Novel approach to decays, gluon distributions, and fragmentation functions of heavy quarkonia, Rafia Ali, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Phys.Rev. D51 (1995) 2302-2310
• Quark fragmentation functions in a diquark model for proton and $\Lambda$ hyperon production, Muhammad Nzar, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Phys.Rev. D51 (1995) 32-36
• Systematic gauge invariant approach to heavy quarkonium decays, Hafsa Khan, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Phys.Rev. D53 (1996) 2534-2540
• Twist-Four Distributions in a Transversely-Polarized Nucleon and the Drell-Yan Process, Pevrez Hoodbhoy, Xiangdong Xi, Phys.Rev. D50 (1994) 4429-4435
• Detecting Two-Photon Exchange Effects in Hard Scattering from Nucleon Targets, in Mathematical Physics: Proceedings of the 12th Regional Conference, Islamabad, Pakistan 27 March - 1 April 2006, World Scientific, Singapore, 2007. ISBN 978-981-270-591-4
• Abdus Salam: Past and Present- The News (29 January 1996)
• Generalized Parton Distributions, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Quaid-e-Azam University ,Islamabad

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• A complete repository of Pervez Hoodbhoy's articles in the making
• Profile, QAU
• Pervez Hoodbhoy's recent articles for Z Magazine
• Pervez Hoodbhoy's articles for the website Chowk.com
• Pervez Hoodbhoy's research papers
• Science and the Islamic world—The quest for rapprochement, Pervez Hoodbhoy, American Institute of Physics, August 2007
• Video Presentation: "Sacred Terror: Theirs and Ours." Professor Hoodbhoy speaking at the University of Illinois, October 2007.
• Pakistan's westward drift - article by P Hoodbhoy lamenting the rising tide of militant Islam in Pakistan
• Islamic Failure - 2002 article by P Hoodbhoy, first published in The Washington Post and reprinted in Prospect

Sami Yusuf
Yusuf in 2011
Background information
Born	July 1980 (age 31) Tehran, Iran
Genres	Spiritique
Occupations	musician, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter
Instruments	piano, keyboard, violin, tar, santour, tombak, oud, tabla
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Awakening Records 2003–2009 ETM International 2009–Present
Associated acts	Ian Brown, Sezen Aksu, Conner Reeves
Website	SamiYusufOfficial.com

Sami Yusuf is a British singer-songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist musician of Azerbaijan origin.^[1]

In 2003 Yusuf released his first album "Al-Mu`allim" at the age of 23, selling over two million copies. Following the release of his second album "My Ummah" in 2005, Yusuf was heralded as "Islam's Biggest Rock Star" by Time magazine for his success in attracting a relatively young fan base from diverse regions across the world, many of whom were of Muslim backgrounds. Yusuf has sold over 9 million albums.^[2] In October 2010, following a five-year hiatus, Yusuf’s third official album "Wherever You Are" was launched, manifesting his self-coined genre “Spiritique”. Yusuf is involved in humanitarian initiatives, supporting, among others, Islamic Relief and Save the Children.

Early life[link]

An ethnic Azeri born in Tehran, Yusuf was raised in London from the age of three.^[3] He initially began composing simple melodies starting at the age of three,^[4] and performing on stage for the first time around the age of nine.^[5] His “defining moment”^[6][7] musically occurred when his father loaned him a book on the basics of the Tombak [Persian instrument]. Upon returning from a tea break, his father found that the young Yusuf had mastered the book that had taken months for his students to finish.^[8] As a teenager he was a devotee of classical music and classical icons like Chopin and Mozart, admitting that he listened to Classic FM radio station for hours in a day.^[9] He went on training professionally in several other instruments including the santoor, piano, violin, oud, setar, tar, and daf under the guidance of traditional teachers, as well as professional musicians. While producing and demo-recording for another singer, he became aware of his own singing abilities which were further developed by the encouragement of his family. Divided between pursuing a musical career or studying law at King’s College London, Yusuf opted for music while committed to “doing something dignified and respectable”.^[9] Though he claimed to having been always spiritual, he reconnected with his Islamic faith through a “religious awakening”^[10] at the age of sixteen. He then set out to share his experience with the other young British Muslims he felt were direly in search of an identity especially post 9/11. Yusuf self-produced and released his debut album “Al-mu’allim” at the age of 23, pioneering an innovative trend other Muslim artist would seek to emulate and promote, termed "Islamic pop".^[11]

Professional career[link]

(2003–2004) – Al-Mu'allim[link]

Shortly before traveling to Egypt to study Arabic, Sami Yusuf released his debut album Al-Mu`allim in July 2003 and 2004, a primarily percussive album comprising eight tracks.^[12] The radiant cube and purple background of the album cover symbolized “the light of the Prophetic message illuminating the darkness of the night”.^[12] Its feature song, "Al-Mu’allim", became an instant hit in the Middle East, North Africa, and South-East Asia topping the charts in Egypt and Turkey for twelve consecutive weeks, selling over two million copies worldwide.^[13] Believing that music can be a "powerful medium to promote ideas and establish dialogue within society”,^[14] he coalesced Eastern percussive instrumentation and Western melodies in “Al-Mu’allim” with a focus on the English and Arabic languages. The last track, “Supplication”, was used in the Golden-Globe award-nominated film, “The Kite Runner”.^[15] Though the album was described as a “project to define British Muslim identity”^[16] in a post 9-11 period — with explicitly religious themes praising the Prophet Mohammad and Allah in songs like “The Creator” and “Ya Mustafa” — it reached the ears of unexpectedly diverse range of listeners, constituting of various nationalities, ages, and races.^[12] Redirecting the current of Muslim music through his songs and professionally produced music videos (“Al-Mu’allim” and “Supplication”), Yusuf had “unintentionally” cultivated grounds for a fresh genre of music coined "Islamic Pop"^[11] by setting a new benchmark in the religious music industry. The journal Transnational Broadcasting Studies analyzed the main causes of his success by attributing it to Yusuf’s ability to blend “a religious worldview with a mainstream form of entertainment, and in doing so, [communicating] a personable, accessible expression of the Islamic faith that is in harmony with the modern world and incorporated into the mundane activities of daily life”.^[17]

(2005–2009) – My Ummah[link]

Performing at Royal Concert Hall Glasgow, April 2006

Yusuf gained worldwide recognition following the release of his second album, My Ummah, in July 2005. This album appeared in both musical and percussive versions and includes fourteen tracks. The album’s thematic elements include empowerment of women in “Free”, raising awareness of the plight of victims of conflict-laden regions like Palestine and Darfur in the respective tracks of “Try Not to Cry” (featuring Outlandish) and “Make A Prayer”; “Muhammad” was dedicated to the victims of the 2004 Beslan school massacre, whereas “We Will Never Submit” protested against acquiescence to oppression.^[18] The album, both Eastern and Western in sound, utilized wide-ranging musical instrumentation from classical instruments like piano, violin, flute and drums to ethnic instruments like oud, santour, tar, drums, tombak and more. "My Ummah" was an embodiment of Yusuf’s "utopia for the Muslim World or humanity at large".^[19] Considered a breakthrough album^{[by whom?]}, it sold over four million copies globally and was received enthusiastically by a diverse range of listeners, particularly young people, who identified closely with the topics included therein.^[20] Transnational Broadcasting Studies discussed the exposure of Muslim youth to a new dawn of Islamic “art with purpose”, accrediting this opening to Yusuf’s music that had the power "to both preserve core cultural identity and promote spiritual and material progress“.^[17] Yusuf's music video featuring the Afghan folklore “Hasbi Rabbi” became a regional hit in Egypt, and was used to launch Vodafone Egypt’s value-added-service (VAS) platform Vodafone Live.^[21] The video portrays Yusuf in multiple characters and locations: as a practicing Muslim businessman in London, a teacher playing soccer and tutoring in Taj Mahal, then a professional Volinist jubilantly laughing and chatting with his bandmates in Turkey, and finally as a jovial carpenter in the lively bazaar's of Egypt. Recognized by The Independent as the "Voice of Islam",^[22] Yusuf emphasized that he was not a "preacher",^[23] rather a musician with a message^[24] who believes in the urgent need for “a wave of people to come along and bridge the gaps, because we have so much in common, so much to learn from each other”.^[20] A major addition to his artistic repertoire was Oscar-winning director Marc Forster's proposal to Yusuf to compose a credit-piece for the Golden Globe award-nominated film, The Kite Runner.^[25] Due to time constraints on both sides however, the credit piece was never realised but “Supplication”, a track from Yusuf’s debut album, was used to voice one of the film’s climactic scenes.^[26] Reluctant to be dubbed as “Islam’s Biggest Rock Star” by Time, Yusuf later explained that he does not "want to be a rock star ... a popstar. ... I just want to make good music, and do what I feel I’m confident in doing ... and that’s music”.^[11]

(2005–2009) Dispute with Former Label[link]

In a contractual dispute lasting from 2008 to 2009, Yusuf legally separated from his former record label Awakening. He claimed the "third" album, Without You, released by Awakening in January 2009, was released without his prior “blessings nor consent”. He stated: “I therefore wish to make it perfectly clear that an album comprised of any such recordings could only be put on to the market against my wishes and without my approval”.^[27] In mid-2009, he signed a five-album contract with the UK-based record label ETM International.^[28]

(2009 – present) – Wherever You Are Pre-Release[link]

In July 2009, Yusuf was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in recognition of his “extraordinary contributions to the field of music” by Roehampton University in southwest London.^[29] Earlier in the year, he was selected to serve as the first Global Ambassador of HH Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser’s (Qatar's First Lady) initiative, Silatech, which seeks to engage “the public, private and civil society sectors to promote large-scale job creation, entrepreneurship and access to capital and markets for young people”.^[30] Ranked in the “Top 500 Influential Muslims of 2009 (and 2010) ”, a publication edited by Georgetown University’s John Esposito and Ibrahim Kahlin, Yusuf was described as an “internationally popular British singer-songwriter whose music has revolutionized the nasheed industry. ... He is also known for his extensive involvement in charity work”.^[31] Yusuf released his video single, “You Came To Me,” in four languages (English, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian) in the summer of 2009.^[32] Rolling Stone magazine called the style by which Yusuf sung the track’s lyrics “touching”, listing it as one of the key tracks of the “Wherever You Are” album.^[33] SamiYusufOfficial.com announced the release of “Wherever You Are”, Yusuf’s third official album, in March 2010, introducing it as “A renaissance. A Rebirth. A New Beginning”.^[34] Meanwhile in the following summer, Yusuf shared his music video “Healing” sung in English and Arabic that was created in cooperation with the KSA-based International Medical Center.^[35] It was also listed as another key track by Rolling Stone magazine.^[33] In reference to the song’s underlying philosophy of generosity in lines like “Heal and you will be healed/…Give and you will receive/It’s nature’s order”, Yusuf’s wrote on his blog: “I hope it helps, albeit in some small way, in showing that every single one of us can be a healer”.^[36] Amidst the torrential monsoons that wreaked havoc in Pakistan and affected 20 million lives in the summer of 2010, he promptly released a charity single entitled “Hear Your Call”, performed in English and Urdu, to raise funds for the displaced Pakistanis in a joint-effort with the UN-sponsored charity organization Save the Children.^[37][38] The song was featured on a short film by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA)^[39] appealing for renewed donations towards the relief effort. Prompted by the protests and clashes that transpired in Egypt in February 2011, Yusuf released a free track entitled “I’m Your Hope”, dedicating it to the “Shabaab” or youth.^[40] The lyrics are in English and Arabic.^[41] Sami Yusuf has expressed keen interest on initiating his own “record company to help artists and talents that are not supported” in the near future.^[42]

(2009–Present) Wherever You Are: “New Chapter” and“Spiritique”[link]

Performing live in the Maida Vale Studios,^[43][44] Yusuf explained that “It's 2009, I have different challenges, I've got different issues and I will not sing religious-themed music just for the sake of business – it's got to be what I feel”. After a five-yearlong hiatus, Yusuf released his third, official studio album named Wherever You Are in October 2010, welcoming what he termed a “New Chapter” in his professional career and music.^[45] "Spiritique" is Yusuf’s self-coined musical and philosophical classification of his music. Spiritique, according to Yusuf, is a blend of both the “oriental and occidental” sounds, underpinned by spirituality that “will utilize music as a facilitator for spiritual appreciation, regardless of race and religion”. Yusuf considers it his new sound and “something [he] wants to stand for from now”.^[46] With the exceptions of songs like “No Word is Worthy”, “You Came To Me” and "Salaam" (though the latter is more of a 'humanitarian ode' than religiously themed) the 12 track-set album purposely draws less upon religious content^[47] leaving room for interpretation for listeners of all backgrounds. Yusuf maintains, however, that it follows the “same principles and ingredients [of] honesty, [and] sincerity”.^[48] Introducing the album in its official trailer as a “mini diary of events”^[49] that occurred from 2007 to 2010, Yusuf emphasized that the content is essentially a reflection of his worldview: “This third album is about who I am and the reality of the day and age we are living in. It talks about the hypocrisy. ... it’s quite dark”.^[47] Songs like “Give the Young A Chance”, featuring lyrics by Ian Brown, incorporate heavy usage of metaphors, likening the youth to “jewels” and allusions to “gardens where birds will sing lullabies” and “sweet scents fill the air”.^[50] British singer-songwriter Conner Reeves and Turkish singer Sezen Aksu also collaborated with Yusuf in the track “Without You”.^[51] “In Every Tear, He Is There” song, another track collaboration with Conner Reeves, concludes with an African choir singing “In Every Tear/ That is where/He is There” repeatedly in Zulu.^[52] “Fragile World”, Yusuf’s admittedly own favorite track,^[53] is reflective of the “dark”^[47] experiences he underwent throughout the years.^[54] Though predominantly performed in English, several tracks include verses in Arabic, Malaysian, Persian and Urdu. It has been given 3.5 stars out of 4 by Rolling Stone magazine, and commended as a “beautifully produced album”.^[55] Sami Yusuf has visited Turkey, UAE, and Qatar to promote “Wherever You Are” and is due to travel to Egypt, Singapore, Malaysia, and Jordan in the near future,^[56] plus an upcoming European tour scheduled for spring 2011.^[57] The video for "In Every Tear He Is There" has been released and that for "Make Me Strong" was released on 6th April 2012.^[58]. Sami Yusuf has also announced his forth upcoming studio album called "Salaam" which is featuring Siti Nurhaliza, the pop-star of Malaysia. Sami Yusuf will release it soon.^[59].

Notable Tours/Concert Performances[link]

Yusuf arrives in the Netherlands on tour in 2006

Yusuf’s tours and concert performances throughout the past eight years have been extensive. His more notable^{[by whom?]} tours include sold-out concerts in the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Concert Hall in the UK in 2006, in addition to a comprehensive Germany tour in 2007. He performed to crowds of thousands in Bosnia, Canada, France, Belgium, Finland, Austria, Greece, and the Netherlands (which he considers one of his favorite concerts).^{[citation needed]} He toured the United States in 2006 and 2007, singing at venues in Los Angeles, Detroit, Dallas, Chicago, and New Jersey in venues like the LA Shrine Auditorium.^{[citation needed]} In the Middle East and Asian regions, he performed to tens of thousands in Egypt’s Cairo and Alexandria, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Algeria, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Tajikistan, and Saudi Arabia. He received a record crowd of 250,000 in Istanbul, Turkey earning the name “Islam’s Biggest Rock Star” in Time magazine. In an early concert in Azerbaijan, Yusuf experienced what he likened to a “hero’s welcome” in his ancestral homeland.^{[citation needed]} Over 50,000 people attend his shows in the Casa Music Festival in Casablanca, Morocco in 2007, exceeding by double the venue’s space limit.^{[citation needed]} In the highly publicized concert at Wembley Arena [dubbed the press as the “Muslim Live Aid”^{[citation needed]}], which served as a milestone event where approximately two million pounds were raised for the relief effort in Darfur, Sudan. It was warmly received by a thank-you video message by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.^{[citation needed]} Performing in The Velodrome in Capetown, Durban, and Johannesburg in his 2008 South Africa Tour, Yusuf accompanied the Agape Children Orphanage’s choir, singing along with their feature song “We Are Together” – the title of a multi-award winning HBO film on the Agape Children’s Orphanage. After performing in the Moroccan Fez Wold Sacred Music Festival in 2009, he agreed to do a free concert for the locals that drew in approximately a hundred thousand attendees, with one day’s notice.^{[citation needed]} Packing venues again in Faruma Arena, Denmark, Grugahalle in Germany, and De Doelen in Netherlands, Yusuf introduced his forthcoming album, “Wherever You Are”.^[60] Sami Yusuf has visited Turkey, UAE, and Qatar^[56] to promote “Wherever You Are” and is due to travel to Egypt, Singapore, Malaysia, and Jordan^[56] in the near future. An upcoming European tour is scheduled for spring 2011.^[57]

Acclaim/Recognition[link]

• “Islam’s Biggest Rock Star” – Time Magazine (2006)^[20]
• “Biggest Star in the Middle East” – Guardian (2006)^[61]
• “King of Islamic Pop” – Al-Jazeera (2007)^[11]
• IOL Star of 2009 (2009)^[62]
• 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2009 (2009)^[63]
• BBC’s 30 More Famous Britons (2009)^[64]
• First Global Ambassador of Silatech (2009 – Present)^[65]
• Doctor of Letters Award – Roehampton University (2009)^[66]
• 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2010 (2010)^[63]

Collaborations[link]

• Outlandish – Try Not to Cry, I’ve Seen (2005)
• Erkan Mutlu – Wherever You Are (2010)
• Sezen Aksu – Wherever You Are (2010)
• Ian Brown – Wherever You Are (2010)
• Conner Reeves – Wherever You Are (2010)

Charity Work/Humanitarian Initiatives[link]

• Charity Event for Disabled Children – Cairo, Egypt (2005)^[67]
• Evening of Inspiration – Islamic Relief/UK Tour (2006)^[68]
• Evening of Inspiration – Islamic Relief/US Tour (2006)<refname=time1/>
• Evening of Inspiration – Islamic Relief/US Tour (2007)^[69]
• Wembley Arena – UK (2007)^[70]
• Agape Children’s Orphanage concert – South Africa (2008)^[71]
• Telethon Fundraiser for Gaza (2009)^[72]
• Gaza Rally – Istanbul, Turkey (2009)^[73]
• First global ambassador of Silatech (2009)^[74]
• “Hear Your Call” – Save the Children, Pakistan (2010)^[75]
• “I’m Your Hope” (2011)^[76]
• “In Every Tear, He Is There” – Haiti, South Africa (2011)

Discography[link]

• Al-Mu`allim (2003) – 3 Million^[77]
• My Ummah (2005) – 4 Million^[2]
• Without You (2009)
• Wherever You Are (2010) – N/A

Soundtracks (Singles)[link]

• "Supplication" – Adapted in “The Kite Runner” (2007)
• "Palestine Forever" (2009)
• "Anything For You" (2009)
• "You Came to Me" (2009)
• "Healing" (2010)
• "Hear Your Call" (2010)
• "I’m Your Hope" (2011)
• "In Every Tear, He Is There" (2011)
• "The Source" (2011)
• "Forgotten Promises" (2011)

Music Videos[link]

• Al-Mu’allim – Dir. Hani Osama
• Supplication – Dir. Hani Osama
• Hasbi Rabbi – Dir. Hani Osama
• Mother – Dir. Hani Osama
• Asma Allah – Dir. Hani Osama
• Healing – Dir. Jacob Viit Kusk
• You Came to Me – Dir. Jacob Viit Kusk
• In Every Tear He Is There – Dir. Jacob Viit Kusk
• Hear Your Call – Dir. Daniyal Noorani
• I’m Your Hope – Dir. Kareem Shaaban
• Forgotten Promises - Dir. Siros Kerdouni
• Make Me Strong – Dir. Jacob Viit Kusk

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sami Yusuf's Official Website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)

Hamza El Din (July 10, 1929 – May 22, 2006) was a Nubian composer, oud player, tar player, and vocalist.

Early life[link]

Born in the village of Toshka, near Wadi Halfa in southern Egypt, he was originally trained to be an electrical engineer. After working in Cairo for the Egyptian national railroad, El Din changed direction and began to study music at the Cairo University, continuing his studies at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome; he also studied in Ibrahim Shafiq's Institute of Music and the King Fouad Institute for Middle Eastern Music, and traveled in Egypt on a government grant collecting folksongs. His performances attracted the attention of the Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan in the 1960s, which led to a recording contract and to his eventual emigration to the United States. Like much of Egyptian Nubia, his home village of Toshka was flooded due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s.

Career[link]

Following his appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, he recorded two albums for Vanguard Records released 1964–65; his 1971 recording Escalay: The Water Wheel is recognized as one of the first world music recordings to gain wide release in the West, and was claimed as an influence by some American minimalist composers, such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley as well as Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart.^[1] He also performed with the Grateful Dead, most famously during their Egypt concerts of 1978. In this period, he also mentored a number of musicians, including Sandy Bull. Later, he released albums for Lotus Records and Sounds True. His album Eclipse was produced by Mickey Hart. He performed with the Kronos Quartet on an arrangement of Escalay in 1992. His pieces were often used in ballet performances and plays.

El Din held a number of teaching positions on ethnomusicology in the United States during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (in Ohio University, University of Washington, and the University of Texas at Austin), eventually settling in the Oakland, California after studying the biwa in Tokyo, Japan during the 1980s. In 1999, he released his last album, "A Wish".

Death[link]

He died on May 22, 2006, after complications following surgery for a gallbladder infection at a hospital in Berkeley, California. He is survived by his wife, Nabra.

Discography[link]

• 1964 – Newport Folk Festival 1964. Evening Concerts, Vol. 2. "Desse Barama [Peace]"
• 1964 – Music of Nubia
• 1965 – Al Oud
• 1971 – Escalay: The Water Wheel
• 1978 – Eclipse
• 1982 – A Song of the Nile
• 1990 – Journey
• 1990 – Nubiana Suite: Live in Tokyo
• 1992 - Pieces of Africa. "Escalay: The Water Wheel" with Kronos Quartet
• 1995 – Lily of the Nile
• 1996 – Available Sound: Darius
• 1996 – Muwashshah
• 1999 – A Wish

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Official web site
• Allmusic biography
• Afropop bio
• World Music Central biography

Obituaries[link]

• Obituary from The New York Times, May 25, 2006
• Obituary from the San Francisco Chronicle, May 26, 2006
• Obituary from the Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2006
• Obituary from The Guardian, May 30, 2006
• Memoir by Joseph Rowe, a student and friend of Hamza El Din
• Washintunes - In Memoriam: Hamza El-Din, May 25, 2006

Video[link]

• Hamza El Din videos from Robert Garfias site