Sheikh Hamza Yusuf seemed to be what thousands of audience members had been waiting for when he took the main stage of the 47th annual Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention Saturday night.

Yusuf was met with cheers that a celebrity might expect. To many American Muslims he is a star, an eloquent speaker and knowledgeable scholar who gets them.

Raised in California, Yusuf embraced Islam at 17 and started a life of traditional scholarship, traveling around the world and studying under some of the most revered spiritual teachers in the Islamic world.

On Saturday, he spoke of the intense power of religion in the world today and of how such power can be dangerous if it is misunderstood and if there is not a platform to promote sound scholarship and proper education within it.

Emphasizing the importance of stifling radical extremists, he reminded the audience of how much the Prophet Mohammed loved human beings, animals and the environment, proclaiming, “Our religion is a beautiful religion and it is being made ugly by the acts of fools.”