Shaykh Hamid Waqar was born into a non Muslim family and at the age of 16 converted to Islam. Before Islam he was involved in the Los Angeles gang scene and due to his affiliation with the gang spent two years of his life behind prison bars. Soon after he was released he traveled to Lebanon and then Iran pursuing Islamic studies in the Islamic Seminaries of Beirut and Qum (where he has spent the last 10 years).