Uthman ibn Farooq

Abu Yusuf Uthman ibn Farooq Khan Yusufzai is a Pakistani-American Islamic preacher and da'i, born as Uthman Khan Yusufzai in 1977 in the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan, who moved to the United States at the age of eight. He is an educator at Masjid Al-Ribat in San Diego, California, and the founder of the One Message Foundation (2014), known for street dawah and recorded discussions and debates with Christians and atheists, notably at Balboa Park. ¹

He was born to a Pashtun Yusufzai family in Pakistan and grew up in the United States with a single mother. As a child he received a religious education under Awad al-Garguri, and later travelled to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates in search of knowledge. ^{1 2}

Alongside Islamic studies he studied information technology and technology management. A profile in The Muslim Voice, Nigeria, reports a bachelor's degree in information technology, an executive MBA in technology management, ijazat (accreditations) in classical Islamic texts from scholars including Yusuf Misha'al and Sadiq al-Manna of Umm al-Qura University — including books of Hanbali fiqh, usul al-fiqh, hadith and mustalah al-hadith — and a master's degree in the sciences of hadith. The English Wikipedia article's education field lists the Islamic University of Madinah, National University (MBA) and the International Islamic University, Islamabad (M.Phil.). ^{1 2}

Uthman serves as an educator and imam at Masjid Al-Ribat in San Diego, and has dedicated much of his life to dawah. In 2014 he founded the One Message Foundation, a nonprofit organisation focused on Islamic education and outreach through debates, lectures and street dawah. ¹

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

The reported stabbing (2022). On 24 March 2022, Uthman said he was stabbed at a San Diego gas station by a man who had reportedly stalked him there and called him a terrorist. The San Diego Union-Tribune covered the story, and CAIR San Diego condemned the attack and called on the public to provide information. ¹

Denied entry to Trinidad and Tobago (2024). In 2024 he was denied entry to Trinidad and Tobago, as authorities deemed him and his group undesirable, citing controversy over his preaching. ¹

Banned from the United Kingdom (2025). In 2025 the UK Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, banned him from entering the UK, citing public-order concerns over some of his views, notably his claims that sex with captives is lawful, as reported by The Telegraph. ¹

His published work includes The Preferred Opinion Regarding the Issue of Raf' al-Yadayn (Dar al-Kutub, 2014). ¹

He married in 2001 and has four children, two sons and two daughters. This museum does not publish family details beyond what is needed to understand his work. ¹

The One Message Foundation's YouTube channel had about 1.40 million subscribers and about 746.4 million views — platform figures dated 25 September 2026, which change constantly. ¹

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.