نَبذةٌ عَن المُؤسِّس
About Al-Tibyaan Academy
Meet the scholar who established Al-Tibyaan — his journey, his vision, and the body of work he has dedicated to the service of Islamic knowledge.
Biography
Shaykh Dr. Abdullah ibn Yusuf al-Mujaddid
“Knowledge is not merely information — it is a light that illuminates the heart, disciplines the soul, and connects the servant to his Lord.”
Shaykh Dr. Abdullah ibn Yusuf al-Mujaddid was born in 1971 in Makkah al-Mukarramah to a family of scholars stretching back five generations. His father, Shaykh Yusuf al-Mujaddid, was a respected mudarris at Masjid al-Haram, and it was under his watchful guidance that Abdullah began memorising the Qur’an at the age of seven, completing it by twelve with full tajweed.
He pursued formal Islamic studies at the Islamic University of Madinah, where he graduated from the Faculty of Hadith with distinction, earning his licence (ijazah) in the six canonical hadith collections through an unbroken chain connecting to Imam al-Bukhari. He later completed a Master’s degree in Islamic Jurisprudence and a doctorate in Comparative Fiqh from the same institution.
Following his academic formation, Shaykh Abdullah spent seven years studying under senior scholars across the Muslim world — in Yemen under Shaykh Muqbil ibn Hadi al-Wadi’i, in Egypt under several luminaries of al-Azhar, and in Mauritania, where he mastered the Maliki tradition through the ancient oral pedagogical method known as mahadra.
Returning to the West in 2004, the Shaykh settled in Chicago where he recognised an acute need for authentic, structured Islamic education in the English language. In 2012 he established Al-Tibyaan Academy — an institution built on the principle that serious Islamic scholarship should be accessible to every Muslim, regardless of geography or native language.
Scholarly Credentials & Ijaazaat
Al-Qur'an (30 juz with tajweed)
Shaykh Yusuf al-Mujaddid, Makkah
Al-Qur'an (30 juz with tajweed)
Shaykh Yusuf al-Mujaddid, Makkah
Al-Qur'an (30 juz with tajweed)
Shaykh Yusuf al-Mujaddid, Makkah
Al-Qur'an (30 juz with tajweed)
Shaykh Yusuf al-Mujaddid, Makkah
Al-Qur'an (30 juz with tajweed)
Shaykh Yusuf al-Mujaddid, Makkah
Al-Qur'an (30 juz with tajweed)
Shaykh Yusuf al-Mujaddid, Makkah
Timeline
-
1971
Born in Makkah al-Mukarramah -
1983
Completed memorisation of the Qur'an -
1983
Completed memorisation of the Qur'an -
1983
Completed memorisation of the Qur'an -
1983
Completed memorisation of the Qur'an -
1983
Completed memorisation of the Qur'an -
1983
Completed memorisation of the Qur'an -
1983
Completed memorisation of the Qur'an
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
A Personal Message from the Founder
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
Dear brothers and sisters,
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon His final Messenger Muhammad ﷺ, his family, and his companions.
When I arrived in the West in 2004, I witnessed something that both saddened and motivated me in equal measure: a generation of Muslims hungry for knowledge, with hearts that yearned for the religion, yet cut off from the living tradition of Islamic scholarship by barriers of language, geography, and access. They were surrounded by information but starved of wisdom.
I had spent nearly two decades studying the Islamic sciences at the feet of scholars whose chains of transmission connected — link by unbroken link — to the Prophet ﷺ himself. I had sat in the circles of masters in Madinah, Cairo, Sana’a, and the ancient learning centres of Mauritania. And I knew with certainty that this knowledge was not meant to remain confined to those who could travel to its sources. The Prophet ﷺ himself said: ‘Convey from me, even if it is one verse.’
I had spent nearly two decades studying the Islamic sciences at the feet of scholars whose chains of transmission connected — link by unbroken link — to the Prophet ﷺ himself. I had sat in the circles of masters in Madinah, Cairo, Sana’a, and the ancient learning centres of Mauritania. And I knew with certainty that this knowledge was not meant to remain confined to those who could travel to its sources. The Prophet ﷺ himself said: ‘Convey from me, even if it is one verse.’
Al-Tibyaan Academy was born from this conviction. Tibyaan — ‘clarification’ — is a word taken from the Qur’an, where Allah says of His Book that it is a clarification of all things. We chose it as our name because our mission is precisely that: to bring clarity to Muslims in the English-speaking world — clarity about their creed, their worship, their character, and their relationship with the divine.
What distinguishes our approach is not innovation but fidelity. We teach what has always been taught, by those who have always taught it. Every course offered at Al-Tibyaan is rooted in the classical tradition, transmitted through scholars with unbroken chains, and delivered with the awareness that this knowledge carries an amana — a sacred trust — which must be handled with care.
To every student who has enrolled, every seeker who has written to us with a question, every parent who has entrusted us with the education of their child: I say to you, this academy exists because of you, for you, and in service of your deen. We ask Allah to accept our efforts, forgive our shortcomings, and make every lesson a light on your path to Him.
Shaykh Dr. Abdullah ibn Yusuf al-Mujaddid
Founder & Director, Al-Tibyaan Academy