About

Dr. Micah Ben David Naziri is a prolific author, scholar, educator, community activist, martial arts instructor, and spiritual leader. He has penned numerous academic articles. He has served as an editor for works on Martial Arts and Eastern Medicine, transcribing and creating numerous titles for some of his teachers and authoring several martial treatises of his own.

Originally in school for art education, Micah switched to a religious studies and history background at the urging of his Islamic studies professor, who would later go on to chair the committee for his first master’s thesis, People of the Book: What the Religions Named in the Qur’an Can Tell Us About the Earliest Understanding of “Islam” (2012).

As the founder of the non-profit organization, the Hashlamah Project Foundation, Micah uses his education in Near Eastern languages and linguistics, religions, and historical models of building bridges between Jewish and Muslim communities to help reconcile and unite Jews and Palestinian Muslims in face-to-face study and dialogue groups. He is currently training for Rabbinical s’mikhah ordination under Rabbi Yehudah Mosheh Benlewi.

The son of a multitude of peoples—Ashkenazi, Sefardic, Melungeon, Native American, and others—Micah has often described himself as having “one foot in the masjid and the other in shul.”

He considers his understanding of Judaism to be “Judeo-Sufi,” or “Istislam,” as described by Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paqudah (c. 1050–1120 CE), the subject of his undergraduate honors thesis (2009). Rabbeinu Bachya’s Judeo-Arabic work “The Book of Guidance to the Duties of the Hearts” (Al-Kitab Al-Hidayat ila Faraid al-Qulub) made use of quotes from the Historical Muhammad and `Ali while fully embracing the Torah as the framework of religious practice for the Jewish people. It was translated into Hebrew by Yehudah ibn Tibbon in the late 12th century, under the title Hebrew: Chovot Ha’Levavot (חובות הלבבות), which is still taught in Orthodox Yeshivot today. This work, perhaps more than any other Judeo-Sufi manuscript, exemplified the religious orientation of the Tariqat `Isawiyah martial and meditative order.

Micah, along with his brother Rabbi `Oseh of Gaza, are the current lineage-holders of the Tariqat `Isawiyah. Micah has been honored as the Tariqah’s official “Keeper of the Light,” the title for official `Isawiyah historians from generation to generation, and is charged with releasing a number of orally transmitted histories and teachings in written form as part of his sworn life’s work, including (but not limited to) the voluminous Sefer Ha’Ruach Bebesar (ספר הרוח בבשר).

In addition to such an honor, to date, Micah has been the only non-African male initiated into the Alafia “Voodoo” lineage. He is also the only source for the “Magen David” system of Krav Maga outside of Israel and teaches private and semi-private lessons by invitation only (or lengthy vetting).

Micah was awarded his second master’s degree for his pilot study in Jerusalem, The New Constitution of Medina: An Equilateral Constitutional Federation, Based Upon Shared Principles of Judaism and Islam (2015). His doctoral dissertation, Persistence of Jewish-Muslim Reconciliatory Activism in the Face of Threats and “Terrorism” (Real and Perceived) From All Sides (2019), was an outgrowth of this study and the interdisciplinary culmination of his research, in concert with his activism and journalism with Political Blind Spot and Counter Current News.

In addition to his academic work and activism, Micah has been a martial arts instructor for the past two decades. Having first begun his martial journey in 1994, he obtained Black Sash Instructor rank in multiple systems over the years. The first of these was Yang Family Taiji in 2005, followed by formal Daojiao “Taoist” discipleship and lineage in 2006. He then obtained instructorship in Cheng style Baguazhang and Chen, Pan-Ling style Tajiquan in 2008 (no belt ranking system). He earned Black Sash Instructorship in both Northern Shaolin Kuo Shu “Kung Fu” and Xingyiquan in 2009 from separate schools, trained in concurrently. He received the same from Chen Village Taijiquan in 2010 and Krav Maga in 2017. In 2023 he was awarded fifth-degree instructor level in Filipino Kali/Escrima, and in the summer of 2025, he earned a Black Sash as a Guru in the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat.