First Spring at Zaytuna

The Messenger of God s stated, “A group of 12,000 believers will not be defeated for lack of numbers.” This profound prophetic promise is the driving force behind the College’s 12000 Strong program, which seeks to grow and reward its community of monthly supporters. It is a truly community-driven initiative, because Zaytuna College belongs to the community. In recognition of Rabi‘ al-Awwal, the birth month of the Holy Prophets, Zaytuna launched its First Spring lecture series. The inaugural program consisted of a four-part video series on the Cardinal Virtues of the Sirah, in which the prophetic biography was examined through the lens of the foundational four virtues. “The idea behind that,” explained President Hamza Yusuf, “is an understanding of our tradition—and the Western tradition, interestingly enough…. The moral virtues hinge upon these four fundamental virtues. And you can see these fundamental virtues actualized in the four caliphs of our Prophet s because he is the source of these four extraordinary virtues that are so needed in the modern world.”

Citing the great Spanish Mālikī scholar Qādī Abū Bakr ibn-al-Arabī, Shaykh Hamza elaborated that courage is exemplified by Sayyidunā Abu Bakr, justice by Sayyidunā ‘Umar, temperance by Sayyidunā Uthman, and wisdom by Sayyidunā ‘Alī, may God be pleased with them all. “But all of the four are perfectly balanced and embodied in our Prophet s.” A pair of Zaytuna faculty members and a second pair of talented guest lecturers delivered the four lectures. The program opened with Dr. Mona Hassan of Duke University addressing wisdom. She was followed by Ustadha Hosai Mojaddidi, who presented on temperance. Dr. Ali Ataie and Dr. Abdullah Ali, of the Zaytuna faculty, spoke on courage and justice, respectively. The series included a special livestream event by President Yusuf, titled The Praised One s in World Scriptures. He drew upon the classical works of tafsir and scriptural references of past dispensations to showcase prophecies of the advent of the Last Prophet s. He also presented a wealth of other sources, including comparative religion studies by classical Muslim scholars, to bring a neglected— but essential—area of study to the general public. The livestream garnered widespread appreciation, and due to the overwhelming positive response, Zaytuna offered a second streaming of the talk at the close of the month that included a live introduction and Q&A by President Yusuf. The First Spring program series reached over 350,000 viewers, by the grace of God, and will remain an annual feature of the College’s public programming initiatives.

Ustadha Hosai Mojaddidi Dr. Ali Ataie filming for the First Spring lecture series.