Shaykh Muhammad Shareef with archivist Shaykh Muhammad Al-Amin digitizing the library of the Waziri Junayd History Bureau

 Shaykh Muhammad Shareef was born in the United States, in Los Angeles California in 1959. His parents joined the Nation of Islam, when he was a young boy, and he embraced Sunni Islam while a teenager. He is the founding director of the Sankore’ Institute of Islamic-African Studies and is well known for his
scholarly translations, commentaries of classical Arabic manuscripts from Black Africa, and dynamic speeches calling for the renewal of Islam and justice for oppressed peoples. He studied Arabic, Aqida, Maliki Fiqh, Ahadith, Tasawwuf with Shaykh Abd’r-Rahim al-Burai’, Shaykh Muhammad al-Qudsi, and Shaykh Muhammad an-Nur. He has received ijaazas from Shaykh Hassan Qaribullahi of Omdurman, Shaykh Muhammad al-Faatih al-Burai` in Medina, Shaykh Abd’l-Qadir al-Jayli ibn Shaykh Muhammad al-Bukhari al-Mahi in Medina, Shaykh Muhammad Abu Bakr al-Idrisi, and his teacher and beloved guide Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya`qoubi. He studied the works of Shaykh Uthman ibn Fuduye, Shaykh Abdullahi ibn Fuduye, Sultan Muhammad Bello ibn Uthman ibn Fuduye, and many other scholars of the