Assalamu alaykum, As I begin my own spiritual journey, I want to hear from those who have taken this path before me. This podcast focuses on them and listening to their stories - uninterrupted. My name is Hebah Masood. I invite you to reflect on the trajectories of their lives, and the guidance and blessings provided by Allah swt, along that journey. Before I started at Rutgers last year, my teacher in Toronto, told me his friend taught at a nearby masjid, the New Brunswick Islamic Center. NBIC not only welcomed me with open arms, but that friend happened to be the mosque's scholar in residence, Dr Shadee Elmasry, known to many as the founder of Safina Society and one of the hosts of the Safina Society podcast. In this episode, Dr. Shadee talks about how a collection of Hamza Yusuf cassette tapes led him to seek knowledge in Fez and Tarim. Though he gives an important critique of Islamic Studies in Western academia, he wrote an incredible dissertation about Imam Al-Haddad's works on dawah for his PhD from SOAS University of London. He talks about many important role models in his life and his story intersects with many familiar names: Habib Omar,