Mawlana Imam Cheikh Tidiane Cisse

Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu

Professor & Author

Ustaz Zachary Wright

Zachary is associate professor in residence at Northwestern University in Qatar, with joint appointments in history and religious studies. Wright received his PhD (history) from Northwestern University, with a dissertation focusing on the history of Islamic knowledge transmission in West Africa. He also has an MA in Arabic studies, Middle East history, from the American University in Cairo, and a BA in history from Stanford University.

He teaches classes on Islam in Africa, modern Middle East history, African history, Islamic intellectual history and Islam in America. His book publications include “Living Knowledge in West African Islam: the Sufi Community of Ibrahim Niasse” (Brill, 2015), and “On the Path of the Prophet: Shaykh Ahmad Tijani and the Tariqa Muhammadiyya” (AAII & Faydah Books, 2005, 2015). He has also translated a number of West African Arabic texts into English, with publications such as “The Removal of Confusion concerning the Saintly Seal” (Fons Vitae, 2010, and reprint forthcoming), “Pearls from the Flood” (Faydah Books, 2015), and “Islam the Religion of Peace” (Light of Eminence, 2013). His current research concerns eighteenth-century Islamic intellectual history in North Africa.

Umm Zakkiya

Umm Zakiyyah was born in 1975 in Long Island, New York to parents who converted from Christianity to Islam shortly after they married. She graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was named amongst Who’s Who for her academic and leadership achievements. Umm Zakiyyah is an author who writes about the interfaith struggles of Muslims and Christians, and the intercultural, spiritual, and moral struggles of Muslims in America. She is the internationally acclaimed author of more than fifteen books, including the If I Should Speak trilogy, Muslim Girl, His Other Wife and the newly released self-help book for Muslim survivors of parental and family abuse: Reverencing the Wombs That Broke You, with contributions by Haleh Banani, behavioral therapist. Her books have been used in universities in America and abroad including Indiana University-Bloomington, Howard University, University of D.C. and Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Imam Mansoor Sabree

Imam Mansoor Sabree is the former Director and Imam of the Atlanta Masijd of Al-Islam, Atlanta’s oldest and largest indigenous muslim community in the U.S.A. He is a grassroots community leader focused civic engagement in the American muslim community. Imam Mansoor Sabree is currently the director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network -Atlanta (IMAN)Imam Mansoor Sabree is a first generation born Muslim who is the former director and Imam of the Atlanta Masijd of Al-Islam and a graduate of the 1st W. Deen Mohammed High School of Atlanta, GA . As a dedicated student of the late Honorable Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Imam Sabree was selected by Imam Mohammed to study Arabic and Shari’ah at the Abu Nour Shari’ah Institute in Damascus, Syria under the tutelage of the late Grand Mufti, Shiekh Ahmed Kuftaro.Upon returning to his home community in Atlanta, GA, Imam Sabree became an Assistant Imam under Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam Resident Imam, Plemon T. El-Amin. He shares his knowledge and skills with a community of approximately 3,000 members through Jumu’ah Khutbahs and by teaching Arabic and Islamic Studies classes during the week.Being committed to sharing the Muslim-American experience with the world, he has been blessed to travel and visit several countries. They include: Palestine, Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, and the U.A.E. He has also performed Hajj and Umrah.

Imam Saafir Rabb (DC)

Saafir Rabb II has long worked with members of the US and international communities to represent and promote an effective interface between profitable business and corporate social responsibility.
As CEO of Interculture, Inc. he is a social entrepreneur, community developer, and high-level business advisor who leads a team of problem solvers in work that focuses at the intersection of community and international development. Saafir maintains a strong commitment to social

change and urban revitalization. He served as COO for I Can’t We Can (ICWC), a celebrated community development and drug-rehabilitation organization that has received over 100 awards and citations from state and local officials and peer organizations since its founding more than fifteen years ago.He served as a consultant to the Obama administration’s transition team for public diplomacy, participates in the Brookings Institute’s US-Islamic World Forum, is a Senior Advisor to the dean of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, is a member of the Pacific Council, and a board Member of Educate Girls Globally and Kanye West’s Donda’s House. Saafir completed a two-year program in Islamic law at the Abu Nour Institute in Damascus, Syria and is a Columbia University Rothschild Fellow for interfaith relations. He holds a BA from the University of Maryland, and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. Saafir primarily resides in Baltimore, Maryland, and frequents the Middle East

Cheikh Diery Cisse

Cheikh Seydi Ali Tidjani Cisse

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik has served as the Director of Outreach at the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center, the first Muslim Chaplain at Howard University (HU) and is the former Head of the National Association of Muslim Chaplains in Higher Education. The imam has also served as the chair of government relations for the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) and was the founding President of the Muslim Advocacy Commission of Washington, DC. He continues to serve on the board of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, one of the nations first organisations of its kind with over 11 faith traditions.

President Ibrahima Ciss

Poet, Teacher & Social Activist

Amir Sulaiman

Amir is a poet, recording artist, Harvard Fellow, actor, screenwriter and producer born in Rochester, New York. His poems cross subjects of love, tragedy as well as what it means to reconcile humanity with the unprecedented trials of modernity. He has performed his works across the US as well as many other countries including England, Belgium, Senegal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Australia, Iran and the Netherlands, and continues to tour worldwide. His recently published book of poetry, “Love, Gnosis & Other Suicide Attempts” met with critical acclaim, in addition to his latest album “The Opening,” the third in a unique trilogy project, following “The Meccan Openings” (2011) and “The Medinan Openings” (2012). Amir was first introduced to a National audience in 2005 when he was featured for two seasons on Russell Simmons’ groundbreaking series Def Poetry Jam on HBO.

The Eminent Ansah Jamson (Ghana, Africa)

Shaykh Ibrahim Hakim

Imam Fakhruddin Owaisi

Shaykh Fakhruddin Owaisi al-Madani grew up and began his traditional training in the Islamic sciences in the blessed city of Madina al-Munawwara under many ‘ulema of the Hijaz, including Shaykh Sayyid Muhammad ‘Alawi al-Maliki. He then studied for a Bachelor’s in Islamic Theology at ICOSA (recognized by Al-Azhar University). He obtained a Bachelors with Honors in Religious Studies, and Masters Degree in Islamic Studies, from University of Cape Town. He has ijazāt from numerous renowned scholars from the Hijaz, Morocco, Syria, Senegal and Egypt. He has worked in various mosques of Cape Town as Imam and teacher in the past, and currently lectures in the subjects Tafsīr and Hadīth at the International Peace College of Southern Africa, and teaches various texts in Hadith, Tazkiyah, Usul al-Fiqh and History at the Madina Institute.

Dr. Talib M. Shareef

Dr. Talib M. Shareef is President and Imam of the historic, Nation’s Mosque, Masjid Muhammad, in Washington, D.C., dating back to the mid-1930s. Imam Shareef, is a retired U.S. Air Force member with 30+ years of service; he has a Doctorate Degree from Global Oved Dei Seminary and University, an MBA from American Intercontinental University, a Diploma from the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, and the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Arabic and Middle East studies. He is a student of the late Imam W.D. Mohammed, Muslim-American Spokesman for Humanity.

Imam Shareef served as Imam in five U.S. cities and seven military locations around the world. Under the high patronage of His Majesty Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco, Imam Shareef received the Kingdom’s highest Royal Medal and honor for his outstanding interfaith leadership. He was the first Imam with military service to open a session of the U.S. Congress with prayer. He led an interfaith delegation to Italy meeting with the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Co-organized, spoke and led the historic first Islamic congregational prayer at the Washington National Cathedral. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to speak in several cities and meet with various local, national and international leaders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He offered the opening prayer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for the 50th Anniversary of Dr. King’s March on Washington; key speaker at former President George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light Conference’s Faith Summit; Spoke at the South African Embassy celebration of Nelson Mandela’s life; led historic delegation to and addressed over 500,000 in South Africa; Hosted Press Conference/Panel for Presidential Candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders at the Nation’s Mosque to address religious bigotry. Spoke at Sojourner Douglass College memorial honoring human rights activist, Coretta Scott King. He addressed the ills of Human Trafficking on Capitol Hill. One of the leading voices speaking out for against terrorism and countering violent extremism. Facilitated Peace Forum at the Global Peace Convention in Manila, Philippines. He established the first Islamic Dietary Nutrition site for elderly members of all faiths in D.C. Councilmember for the National Summit on Non-Violence; member of the D.C. Mayor’s Interfaith Council and is President of the Interfaith Conference based in the nation’s capital.

Joseph Hill, PhD

Ph.D. (Anthropology), Yale University (2007)
B.A. (Honors Humanities and Anthropology), Brigham Young University (1999)
My fieldwork in West Africa, especially Senegal and Mauritania, focuses primarily on Islam—and specifically Sufi (spiritualistic or mystical) Islam—and its place in contemporary society, politics, and culture. Conceptually, I am interested in how significant religious and social changes are made to seem natural through new performances of religiosity that reconfigure prevalent norms, bringing about change with little open debate. Another theme in my research is how people accommodate mutually contradicting truths, demands, and points of view they face in life, especially through esoteric language and practice.

Research

Since 2001, my field research has focused on global Sufi Islamic movement, the Fay?a Tijaniyya. I have examined how discourses and practices of mystical knowledge and authority not only accommodate contradictions and paradox but productively highlight them. In looking at these questions, I draw especially on linguistic and semiotic theories of multiplicity, simultaneity, and hybridity, showing how ancient Sufi ideas are reimagined to provide answers in a globalizing and urbanizing world.

My Senegalese student collaborators and I have interviewed leaders and lay disciples in dozens of sites in the movement’s cradle of Senegal and Mauritania, with secondary research in other parts of West Africa, New York City, and Cairo. In addition to over two years in numerous sites in Senegal, I have studied Arabic texts with Bedouin Sufi scholars in the Mauritanian Sahara.

I am actively conducting two larger research and writing projects within this research on the Fay?a Tijaniyya Sufi movement:

• Gender and Islamic authority:

I am researching the little-known phenomenon of women Islamic leaders in Senegal who exercise forms of Islamic authority typically reserved for men. Some women act as spiritual guides for men and women, some teach the Qur?an, and others perform Sufi chant in large meetings. These women draw on apparently contradictory strategies, both undermining and taking advantage of prevalent gender distinctions. For example, they define themselves as honorary “men” but also locate religious authority in conventionally feminine qualities such as motherhood, cooking, submission, and wifely devotion. I am interested in how these women work within and between multiple established idioms to expand the possibilities available to them. One book on women leaders, Wrapping Authority: Women Sufi Leaders in an Islamic Movement in Senegal, is currently being reviewed for publication, and I am completing another, Women Who Are Men: The Emergence of Women’s Leadership in a Sufi Movement in Senegal.

• Religious performance (vocal, musical, and social) and change:

Since 2014, I have researched hip hop artists, Sufi chanters, and others who use singing, chanting, and other kinds of performance as forms of Sufi religious practice and communication. I am interested in how these performers mediate social change and how they manage—or in some cases fail—to establish themselves as legitimate religious performers despite potential controversies surrounding the religious acceptability of their performances.

One conceptual focus of research is the political, social, and religious implications of mystical discourses of simultaneous truths, which Sufi Islamic speech juxtaposes in terms of apparent (?ahir) and hidden (ba?in) realities. Through discussing Sufis’ paradoxical approach to plural truths, I draw attention to larger issues of how people negotiate contrasting hegemonic regimes (secular states, global religious authority networks, transnational development institutions), coexistence with cultural others within a global community, and multiple claims of authority within the same religious community. I am particularly interested in how people’s social performances use discourses and practices in ways that assert hidden meanings that undermine their apparent meaning.

Geographic interests

West Africa, Middle East and North Africa; global networks

Thematic interests

• Gender
• Performance and social change
• Politics of Language and Semiotics
• Knowledge traditions and authority
• Transnationalism, Globalization, and Cosmopolitanism

Ieasha Prime

Ieasha Prime converted to Islam more than 20 years ago, after being an International Youth Ambassador to Morocco and Senegal. It was during this time in her youth that she officially began studying Islam. The year she returned from the youth ambassador’s program, she took an Islamic Studies course at the Islamic Center in Washington D.C. from the professor and scholar Mohammad Arafat. It was during this course, that Ms. Prime formally took Shahadah (profession of the Islamic faith). Since that time, she has spent her life as an educator, artist, activist and entrepreneur committed to the goal of empowering Muslim women to rise above their challenges to maximize their full potential of being female servants of Allah and vicegerents on this earth

After having participated in several circles of knowledge in the US, Ieasha decided to pursue religious studies abroad. She studied Arabic, Quran at the Fajr Institute and general Islamic studies in other institutes in Cairo, Egypt. After two years in Egypt, she moved to Hadramaut, Yemen and enrolled in Dar al Zahra, an Islamic University for Women. There she studied Aqeedah, Quran, Hadith, Arabic, Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Islamic law, Purification of the Heart and other religious related learning. Her lineage of scholarship from whom she received direct education can be traced directly back to the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu alaihi wa Salaam)

from Husseini lineage. Under the tutelage of her professors, she has established several circles of knowledge and continues to teach and lecture across the United States and abroad.

In 1994, her passion to educate and empower Muslim women to be leaders in America led her to the creation of the non profit organization, Sisterhood In Action. SIA is an international women’s organization devoted to helping women rise above social challenges to actualize their full potential in life and society. The expansion of SIA gave Ieasha Prime access to a worldwide network of women and like minded organizations. Thus, her work and studies began to expand internationally. She has lectured and facilitated workshops for Muslim women, youth, and interfaith groups in high schools, universities, college campuses, churches, community centers and Masaajids around the country and the world. She served as the director of Islamic Studies at El- Iman Learning Center and Khadijah Academy, is the former Vice Principal at Al-Qalam Academy in Springfield, VA. and is now the Executive Director of Barakah, Inc. empowering women and youth with a foundation of Islam.

Shaykh Ibrahim Ahmed Dame Niass