Shaykh Yahya Rhodus is the Founding Director of Al-Maqasid. His path of sacred learning began at the school of Murabit al-Hajj in Mauritania shortly after his conversion to Islam, and continued at Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen, where he studied under the renowned scholar and spiritual guide Habib Umar bin Hafiz. He subsequently pursued advanced academic study in the United States, culminating in a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge.

Shaykh Yahya has dedicated his life to teaching and to helping students bring their knowledge into practice. His approach to religious life is grounded in love, mercy, purity of heart, remembrance of God, and concern for all of creation. Through Al-Maqasid, he aims to transfer the living heritage of Islam to coming generations.

Shaykh Auzair Khilwati was born and raised in the United States. From a young age he pursued the sacred sciences, studying under local scholars before traveling to Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen, where he spent nearly a decade studying under Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Shaykh Umar Husayn al-Khatib, and others. He graduated with certification in multiple disciplines, with a specialization in Shāfiʿī fiqh and authorization to issue fatwa. He currently serves Al-Maqasid as Director of the Fatwa and Research Department.

Ustadh Amjad Tarsin was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Islamic Studies at the University of Michigan, followed by an intensive year of study at Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen, under Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Habib Ali Abu Bakr, Habib Muhammad al-ʿAydarus, and others. He then completed a Master of Arts in Islamic Chaplaincy at Hartford Seminary in 2012, and subsequently served as Muslim Chaplain at the University of Toronto for seven years before joining the Al-Maqasid faculty in 2019.

Ustadh Amjad hosts SoulFood FM, a podcast on practical spiritual refinement. He has also translated several works authored by Habib ʿUmar bin Hafiz, including Sufism: Its Essence and the Traits of Its People and Sacred Knowledge: Aims and Objectives.

Ustadh Hasan Petrus was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. His pursuit of sacred knowledge took him first to South Africa, where he focused on Quranic studies, and then to Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen. There he studied various Islamic sciences under Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Habib Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Aydarus, Habib Hashim bin Aqil, Shaykh Umar bin Husayn al-Khatib, and others. He returned in 2015 to join the Al-Maqasid faculty, where he leads the Classical Arabic Program.

Sayyid Abdal Fattah Ba Alawi was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and traces his lineage to Tarim in the Hadramawt Valley of Yemen. He began memorizing the Quran with his mother at the age of five, completing his memorization at the Madrasa of Shaykh Ali Sufi. He subsequently traveled to Tarim, where he continued his studies at Dar al-Mustafa. Sayyid Abdal Fattah holds numerous formal authorizations (ijāza) in various modes of Quranic recitation and has taught the Quran extensively in Yemen and the United States. He serves as Resident Imam at Al-Maqasid.

Ustadh Omar Popal was born and raised in northern Virginia. He began studying the Islamic sciences at the age of 16, devoting himself to Quran memorization at Madrasah Inʿaamiyyah in Durban, South Africa. His studies continued at Madinatul Uloom in Virginia, Dar al-Qasim in Chicago, and most significantly at Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen. He has continued pursuing knowledge throughout his life, including a period of intensive study in Istanbul. In 2018, he founded Tanwir Institute in the Washington DC metropolitan area. He teaches Arabic and Islamic studies at Al-Maqasid.

Ustadh Yusuf Weltch embraced Islam in 2008. He subsequently traveled to study the principles of daʿwa in Mecca, Medina, Bangladesh, and India, before enrolling at Darul Uloom New York for four years of study in the sacred sciences. He then spent three formative years at Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen, where he completed memorization of the Quran and the Forty Hadith of Imam al-Nawawī, and studied multiple texts in fiqh and the Islamic spiritual tradition. He returned to North America in 2019, teaching with SeekersGuidance in Toronto before joining the Al-Maqasid faculty in 2021.

Ustadh Fazal Ali began his study of the Islamic sciences in 2009. He spent several years at Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen, studying Arabic grammar, morphology, rhetoric, Islamic law, theology, and spirituality under esteemed Yemeni and Syrian scholars. He holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UCLA. Alongside his teaching at Al-Maqasid, he works as a translator of classical Arabic poetry and texts, bringing precision and accessibility to his renderings of the scholarly tradition.

Ustadh Omar Waley was born and raised in England before relocating to the United States in 2016, where he completed his studies at Al-Maqasid Seminary. He subsequently returned to the United Kingdom to complete a BA in Islamic Studies at Cambridge Muslim College, during which time he also studied under Shaykh Ahmed Saad al-Azhari and Shaykh Maan al-Dabbagh. He continues to pursue his studies while serving as a teacher at Al-Maqasid.

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