Abu Yusuf Uthman Ibn Farooq Khan Yusufzai (born 3 July 1977) is an American Islamic scholar. He is best known for his work with the One Message Foundation (OMF), a platform aimed at inviting people to Islam through interfaith dialogue and public outreach.[2] Uthman gained widespread recognition for his street dawah efforts in Balboa Park, San Diego, where he engages in religious discussions and debates, primarily with Christians and atheists.[3] His videos on YouTube have garnered millions of views, making him a key figure in modern Islamic outreach efforts in the West.[3]
Early life and education
Uthman was born in Ramadhan 1396 of the Hijri Calendar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, of the Afghan-PashtunYusufzai Tribe. He moved to Manchester in the UK with his parents as a child (around the age of 6 or 7) before moving to the United States at the age of 8.[4][5] His parents divorced during his childhood and Uthman was bought up by his mother, who was a law graduate that nonetheless had to work two jobs to survive.[6] He grew up in San Diego, California, where he was exposed to the gang life. He became an associate of a Mexican gang (East Side San Diego; with links to the Cartel in Tijuana and a component of the Sureños) in San Diego at the age of 12 after he and his friend were implicated in a fight with 18th Street gang members. He would become a high-ranking member (despite his youth and non-Mexican origins) due to his intelligence and strategy.[6] Born in a non-religious and nominally Muslim family, he began to be heavily influenced by religion in his late teens, reading about Christianity, Islam and other religions. He regularly attended Church, even being a Muslim, given his friends were also sent to Church by their families and despite being gang members were religious Christians. He also left gang life around the age of 18/19 altogether given that he realised the futility of gang life after his close friend was killed in his place in a set up by a rival gang.[6][7][8] As he grew older and became religious and active in dawah, he travelled to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates to study under traditional Islamic scholars.[4][8]
Uthman serves as the Imam at Masjid Al-Ribat in San Diego, California. In addition to his role as an Imam, he has dedicated much of his life to dawah (Islamic outreach). In 2014, he founded the One Message Foundation, a platform that focuses on educating people about Islam through debates, lectures, and street dawah.[13]
One of his most notable contributions has been his street dawah sessions at Balboa Park, where he regularly engages with passers-bys, including Christians, atheists, and people from other faith backgrounds. His debates, often centered around theological and philosophical topics, are filmed and posted on YouTube, where they have gained significant viewership. Uthman's dawah mainly focuses on Christians and Atheists (given they are the main religious groupings in the West). However, Uthman does at times engage with other religious groups such as Hindus, Sikhs, and Jews. He has also aimed to expose perceived and alleged contradictions in the Bible and other religious books.[14]
One Message Foundation:
The One Message Foundation (OMF) was established as a non-profit organization in 2014 with the mission of spreading the message of Islam through education and outreach. Sheikh Uthman has claimed and asserted that the foundation is rooted in the principles of peaceful dialogue and interfaith engagement. The foundation's YouTube channel features videos of live dawah interactions, including debates and discussions with people of other faiths. The content aims to address common misconceptions about Islam, covering topics such as the concept of God in Islam, the authenticity of the Qur’an, and comparative religion.[2][3]
The success of the One Message Foundation is attributed to its accessibility, as the videos reach a global audience through social media. Supporters of Uthman argue that his calm and methodical approach to engaging in religious debates has earned him respect both within the Muslim community and among interfaith audiences.
Controversy
On 24 March 2022, Uthman was stabbed by a purported Islamophobe who allegedly watched Uthman's content after Uthman's attacker followed him and confronted him at a Gas Station. Nonetheless, in spite of the stabbing, Uthman was in a stable condition and was immediately out of hospital. The assailant was later arrested for assault and hate crimes.[15][16][17] However, critics of Uthman such as Ahnaf Kalam have claimed that the stabbing was a hoax to convey false narratives to the public and attract supporters to their cause by portraying themselves as the “victimized underdog” in a world of “oppressors." They have also claimed that Uthman is spreading hate speech whilst playing victim and doing so under the pretext of fighting Islamophobia.[18][19][20] Uthman has nonetheless dismissed the claims of Ahnaf Kalam and asserts that he is truthful.[21]
In April 2022, during the month of Ramadhan, Sheikh Uthman had an interview with Mufti Tariq Masood, a Pakistani Deobandi Muslim scholar.[22] However, whilst the meeting itself was cordial, it sparked criticism from certain Salafis, specifically Madkhalis, who have criticized Sheikh Uthman for praising someone they considered to be a deviant and heretic and having an inconsistent stance regarding Deobandis, forcing Sheikh Uthman to retract and defend himself against criticism.[23][24][25]
In November 2022, during an Authentic Ilm Mission (AIM) conference in Aurora, Colorado, there was controversy when Sheikh Uthman and Karim Abu Zaid confronted Daniel Haqiqatjou over Haqiqatjou's support for the Deobandi movement (whom Uthman and Abu Zaid as Salafis considered as deviants). They also confronted him regarding his virulent and public criticism of Muslim rulers and disrespect and slander vented towards Muslim women. This controversy has been received with mixed reviews with some defending the Deobandi movement and Haqiqatjou from negative allegations, criticising the confrontation as an inquisition of Haqiqatjou as well as it undermining Uthman's commitment to non-sectarianism and Muslim unity; Others defended Sheikh Uthman and Abu Zaid against Haqiqatjou, asserting that the latter was a deviant and rightfully criticised by the former.[18][21][26][27][28]
In 2023, Sheikh Uthman was accused by Bradford-based Deobandi scholars Maulana Abdul Haleem and Maulana Usman of AlIslam Productions of not being an actual qualified Islamic scholar, insulting Islamic scholars of earlier generations such as Al-Baqillani, and not being able to read Arabic and the Qur'an correctly. They have also challenged Uthman to a debate, to which Uthman has allegedly not responded to.[29]
In June 2024, during a Dawah trip in the Caribbean, Uthman was denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago when he and eight members of his group landed at Piarco International Airport as he and his group was deemed as being undesirable and controversial. This move was criticized as being a discriminatory act by Dawah Association president Asad Yacoobali.[30]
Personal life
Uthman ibn Farooq got married in 2001 to a Pashtun woman hailing from a religious family from Pakistan.[14] He has two sons (Yusuf and Musa) and two daughters.[4][8] He lives in San Diego, California, where he is actively involved in community service. His children help Uthman in his dawah and his wife also privately and behind the scenes helps Uthman's dawah.[14][31] In addition to his dawah efforts, Uthman regularly conducts classes and lectures on Islamic theology and practice at Masjid Al-Ribat.[13] Furthermore, Uthman has a day job in the Medical Devices and Consulting industry, currently at Khan Quality Consulting, which is his main source of income.[11]
