Born William Webb in 1972 in Oklahoma, Suhaib Webb grew up in a Christian household — his grandfather was a preacher — but by his early teens he had drifted away from faith entirely. He found his world instead in the streets, joining a local gang and eventually building a name for himself as a hip hop DJ and music producer.

His life took a decisive turn in 1992 when he embraced Islam. The conversion was total. He stepped away from his career in music and enrolled at the University of Central Oklahoma, graduating with a degree in education. Alongside his formal studies, he learned Arabic and the Islamic sciences privately under a Senegalese sheikh, developing enough depth to step into community leadership. He was appointed imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City and simultaneously taught at Mercy School, an Islamic K–12 institution in the city.

His scholarly ambitions eventually took him to Egypt, where he studied Islamic Law at Al-Azhar University — one of the oldest and most prestigious centres of Islamic learning in the world. During his time there, he served as Head of Translation at Dar Al-Iftaa Al-Misriyya, the world's largest fatwa office, issuing religious verdicts in both English and Arabic under the supervision of senior scholars including Emad Effat and Ali Gomaa.

After returning to the United States, Imam Suhaib settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked with the Muslim American Society and the Muslim Community Association. In December 2011, he was inaugurated as imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) — the largest Islamic centre in New England — a post that brought him to national prominence. He later served as Resident Scholar at the Islamic Center of New York University.

Throughout his career, Imam Suhaib has been a consistent voice for a grounded, principled American Muslim identity. He has spoken out against extremism and the radicalisation of Muslim youth, condemned Holocaust denial following a visit to Auschwitz with a group of imams in 2010, and helped raise $20,000 for the families of firefighters killed in the September 11 attacks. In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, he publicly condemned the attacks and joined interfaith clergy in calling for unity and reconciliation.

His reach extends well beyond the pulpit. He lectures frequently across the United States and Malaysia, and his online presence has earned him considerable recognition — his website was voted Blog of the Year at the 2009 Brass Crescent Awards, and he was named Best Muslim Tweeter in 2010. He has been listed among the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, and senior UK government officials have cited him, alongside scholars such as Hamza Yusuf, as a key moderate voice deserving of greater institutional support.

He is also the founder of the Suhaib Webb Institute for Sacred Studies (SWISS), an online institution dedicated to teaching the Islamic sciences to students around the world.