Imam Zaid is widely celebrated as a respected scholar, writer, and speaker. He accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force and completed a BA in International Relations and an MA in Political Science. He dedicated himself to an intense study of the Islamic sciences in Egypt, Morocco, and the prestigious Abu Nour University in Damascus, Syria. Currently, Imam Zaid is a resident scholar at Zaytuna Institute in California. He has authored several works on Islam in America and has translated Ibn Rajab’s masterpiece Heirs of the Prophets and al-Muhasibi’s Treaties for The Seekers of Guidance. His unique qualifications and insight have made him an invaluable scholar.

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Shaykh Ramzy is the founder and director of Dar al-Marifa and the Risala Foundation. He began studying the Islamic sciences abroad in 1995. His teachers include several renowned scholars such as Shaykh Muhammad Yaqoubi, Shaykh Ramadan al-Bouti, and Shaykh Nur al-Din Ittar—in addition to studying at Abu Nour University in Damascus, Syria. His studies continued in West Africa becoming one of the first Westerners to be admitted to the ancient madrassa of Tanalat in the Atlas Mountains of southern Morocco (Madrassat al-Hajj Muhammad al-Habib). There, he would complete several texts and receive ijazas in fi qh, aqida, Arabic grammar and morphology

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Shaykh Zahir was raised in Toronto and completed a degree in Zoology with a minor in history at the University of Toronto. During his years on campus he was actively involved with the Muslim Student Association assisting in organizing many important events such as hosting the Mayor of Sarajevo during the tumultuous years of genocide against Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovinia. Upon graduation In 1996 he left for Amman, Jordan to study Arabic. The following year he enrolled in the Arabic program at the University of Damascus and it is in Damascus that he would spend the next six years of uninterrupted study. In the years he spent in Damascus, Shaykh Zahir had the blessing of meeting and sitting in the company of some of the premier scholars of Damascus, learning Hanafi fiqh, aqida (science of beliefs), mantiq (logic), usul (critical intellectualism), hadith, and tafsir.

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Shaykh Talal Ahdab was born in Tripoli, Lebanon. He spent his childhood attending Quran classes with the imam at his local masjid. At the age of 19, he moved to Montreal, Canada, escaping the Lebanese Civil War. After obtaining a degree in Computer Engineering from École de Polytechnique, he completed a Masters degree at the University of Ottawa. He would spend over 15 years studying the Islamic sciences with local scholars in the Montreal and Ottawa regions. Shaykh Talal has an ijaza (authorization to teach) in tajweed. He’s also studied hadith, fiqh, usul al-fiqh, aqida, mantiq, tafsir, sarf, nahw, and balagha with Shaykh Salah al-Idilbi, Shaykh Humaid al-Hami, and Shaykh Abd al-Kareem Tattan.

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Shaykh Jawad holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Religious Studies. After completing his MA from the University of Georgia-Athens, he studied the Islamic sciences in Syria (Damascus and Aleppo) for four years before settling in Chicago where he continues his studies. Shaykh Jawad is also a doctoral student in Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School.

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As a teacher in Saudi Arabia, Shaykh Omar studied various Islamic Sciences with Shaykh Abdallah al-Kadi and Shaykh Salman Abu-Ghuddah. He continued his Islamic studies in Damascus, Syria at Ma’had al-Tahdhib wa-l-Ta’lim and privately with local Damascene scholars such as Shaykh Hussain Darwish. Currently Shaykh Omar is an upper school science teacher at Morgan Park Academy in Chicago. In addition to teaching, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education and Comparative Education at Loyola University Chicago.

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Over the course of six years, Ustadha Saiema studied the science of tajweed, Shaf’i fi qh, Arabic grammar, aqida, and methodology of hadith. She studied under some of the distinguished scholars of Damascus attaining written permission to teach the Islamic sciences. She then returned to the University of Toronto and completed the Bachelor of Education program. She currently resides in Brampton where she continues to teach the Islamic Sciences as well as being a full-time teacher in the public school board.

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