His Excellency Professor Sano completed his primary, middle and secondary schooling in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa and also obtained the Higher Diploma of the French Language (Diplôme Supérieur de Langue Française) from the Ministry of Education in France. He also studied the sciences of Arabic language, hadith and tafsir under scholars of the Great Mosque in Makkah Al-Mukarramah. Prof. Sano then joined King Saud University in Riyadh, where he graduated in 1989 from the Faculty of Education with a bachelor's degree in "Jurisprudence and its Principles" with excellence and first-class honours, being elected first in that year. In 1992, he obtained his Master’s degree with excellence in the "Fundamentals of Jurisprudence".
He received his PhD in Law (subspecialty: Principles of Jurisprudence) with distinction from the Faculty of Law at the International Islamic University of Malaysia in 1996. He also obtained a postgraduate degree in Islamic Finance and Banking from the Centre for Economics at the same University in 1998 and a second PhD in Islamic Sciences (Islamic Finance) with a very honourable distinction from the Higher Institute of Theology of al-Zaytuna University, Tunis, in 2001.
He was awarded a chair at the International Islamic University of Malaysia in 2001 to become the youngest professor in the history of the university, at the age of just thirty-five.
Professor Sano has authored more than 24 books and dozens of scientific research articles and has also supervised both Masters and PhD students. His published works include the first modern encyclopedia in Arabic and English on Hajj and ‘umrah; a study of the epistemological foundations of the theory of jurisprudence in Islam; a critique of extremist ideologies; and a study of the social, educational, economic and political role of women according to Shari’ah principles and guidelines.