Executive Director & Resident Scholar
Dr. Yahya Suufi
Dr. Yahya Suufi was born in Somalia where he completed Memorization of the Holy Quran at the age of [9], as has been a customary tradition in the upbringing of children in Somalia. While he was a teenager, his family gained refugee status in the United States due to the civil war raging in Somalia, and he and his family were relocated to Seattle, Washington where - as one of the few members of the local community who had memorized the entire Qur’an - he was appointed to be the Imam of the Islamic Center of Tacoma, although he was still in high school. During this time he graduated from Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington.
After graduating from high school- and having experienced instances where he realized a need for a level of Islamic understanding and knowledge he did not have - Dr. Yahya Suufi decided to seek Islamic knowledge and began advancing his Islamic understanding by attending the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences (IIASA) in Fairfax, Virginia (a campus of the Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) for 3 years.
From there he embarked on an 11 year journey of seeking Islamic knowledge in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. He initially graduated from the Islamic University of Madinah receiving an Associates in Advanced Arabic Sciences and then proceeded to obtain a Bachelors degree in Islamic Law, with high honors from the Faculty of Sharia. After this, he continued his studies to receive a Master’s degree in The Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence with the Master’s Thesis Titled “The Effects of Legal Maxims on Muslim Minority Law” with a recognition of high distinction from the faculty of Sharia. He also has a PhD from Graduate Theological Foundation (GTF) with his dissertation titled “Legal Hermeneutical Principles and Their Application to Rulings Pertinent to New Muslims.”
Upon his return to the United States, Dr. Yahya Suufi functioned as Imam of Masjid Al-Ansar in Houston, Texas for approximately two years after which he was obligated to returned to Seattle to address the needs of the youth in his community. Currently, he is the Resident Scholar of Masjid Tawhid in West Seattle. He is also the President of Washington Dugsi Association (WDA) an umbrella of a non-profit organization for Quranic Madrassa, and the Executive Director of the Muslim American Youth Foundation (MAYF), which is a non-profit organization that is geared to create an accessible refuge to address the needs of the Muslim youth residing in the greater Seattle area and beyond.