Hamza Yusuf - The Arts of Understanding

About this lecture

In this inaugural Harvard-Zaytuna Symposium lecture, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf presents a compelling case for the liberal arts — the Trivium (Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric) and the Quadrivium — as indispensable prerequisites for engaging seriously with the Islamic scholarly tradition. Drawing on the Mauritanian pedagogical tradition, classical Muslim philosophers like al-Tusi, parallels with Thomas Aquinas, and vivid personal memories of his own teachers, he demonstrates how sequential mastery of these disciplines is essential not just for scholarship, but for wisdom, civilization, and the spiritual life. The lecture is followed by a rich Q&A covering artificial intelligence, the Western academy's approach to Islam, memorization, diversity of thought, political engagement, and the question of God's existence.