Hesham Alalusi was born and raised in Iraq. In 1965, he received a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Universtiy of Baghdad. In 1966 he received an M.S., and in 1970, a Ph.D from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught various topics at the University of Baghdad from 1971 to 1979. In 1980 he left Iraq and came to the San Francsico Bay Area of California, where he has been since then

In 1996 he co-founded the Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California. He also participated in founding several non-profit, community-service oriented organizations in the Bay Area. The latest, Alalusi Foundation, was established in 2001.

In 2007, Hesham Alalusi was presented with a "Philanthropist of the Year" award by the Islamic Networks Group.