I still remember my first encounter with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. I was an 18yr old newly-minted convert attending a Nawawi Foundation event in Chicago. Initially unsure of what to expect, I sat spellbound; absorbed in an absolutely riveting lecture. In addition to his deep erudition, which somehow blended quotations from Rāghib al-Isfahānī, Neil Postman, and Bob Dylan, I found the stream-of-consciousness style with which he effortlessly moved through his talking points artistically inspiring. It was like listening to the virtuosity of Charlie Parker or Dizzy Gillespie but then he hit a sour note. Discussing the cultural decadence of America—which I later learned was a favorite topic of his—he preached: “what happened to us? We were once a people of eloquence and brilliant rhetoric. Many of our young people can barely form cogent sentences now. The other day I was attempting to engage one in conversation and he looked at me and responded, [insert: oafish shoulder shrug and incomprehensible gibberish]. And I said ‘What!’ I don’t know what you’re saying, young man! I don’t speak hip hop!”
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