Abd Al-Rahman bin Abdallah al Shashi (Arabic: عبد الرحمن بن عبد الله شاشي‎) (b. 1829 - 1904), popularly known as Shaykh Sufi, was a 19th century Somali scholar, poet, reformist and astrologist.

Shaykh Sufi was born in Mogadishu, where he founded the Qadiriyyah congregation, an Islamic school of thought or tariqah whose disciples included colleagues of his such as Uways al-Barawi. He studied astrology and wrote extensively on the future of Mogadishu and religious sciences, and authored popular books such as Shadjarat al Yakim ("The Tree of Certitude").

Besides his scholarly career, Shaykh Sufi was known as a great mediator between merchants and shop keepers in the coastal cities. As a reformist, he is credited with having put an end to what he considered to be the urbanites' immoral dancing rituals. In private, he also wrote many poems, which would eventually be taken up by fellow scholars such as Abdallah al-Qutbi in their books.

After his death in 1904, Shaykh Sufi's resting place became a site of annual pilgrimage for the faithful from across Somalia and East Africa. A cemetery would eventually be constructed around his mausoleum, where prominent Somali ministers, entertainers and Presidents would also be buried.

Hamza Yusuf Hanson is an American Islamic scholar, 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".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."

Hamza Yusuf was born to two academics 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. 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]}

Husayni (Arabic: الحسيني‎ also spelled Husseini) is the name of a prominent Palestinian Arab clan formerly based in Jerusalem. Several members of the clan held important political positions such as Mayor and Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and founded and led many Palestinian Arab Islamist groups such as the Holy War Army, the Palestine Arab Party and the Arab Higher Committee. Conflicts involving these groups included, the 1920 Palestine riots, the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, 1948 Arab-Israeli War. One member of the al-Husayni clan, Hajj Amin al-Husayni would under threat from the British in WWII eventually leave the then British Mandate of Palestine and head via Syria to Iraq then Iran and eventually to Italy and then finally arriving in Berlin. In Berlin, Hajj Amin al-Husayni was photographed with many important Nazi leaders including Adolf Hitler and Husayni went to the Balkans on behalf of the Nazis to give speeches to recruits of the 13th Waffen SS division. Hajj Amin al-Husayni also broadcasted pro-Axis statements into the Middle East on Nazi radio stations.