Year of Knowledge
Instructor Bios
Dr. Sh. Haifaa Younis
Dr. Sh. Haifaa Younis is an American Board Certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist with roots from Iraq. She is the founder and Chairman at Jannah Institute, and a resident scholar at Jannah institute and the Islamic Center of Irvine (ICOI). Dr. Younis graduated from the Mecca Institute of Islamic Studies and Al-Huda Qur’an Memorization School (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) where she completed the memorization of the Qur’an. Currently, she lives and works in the United States, and teaches various Islamic studies courses with a focus on purification of the heart (Tazkiyah).
Dr. Sh. Aysha Wazwaz
Guest Instructor
Dr. Sh. Ayshah Wazwaz has studied the Islamic sciences for nearly two decades and specializes in Fiqh. She has studied at Dar al-Hadith and Dar al-Quran, in Masjid al-Aqsa. Shaykha Ayshah went on to complete a Bachelors in Islamic Jurisprudence and Masters in Contemporary Islamic Science from al-Quds University, Palestine, and a Phd in Islamic Studies from Jinan University.
Shaykha has been a Lecturer at various Masajid and organizations for 17 years, and has been a lecturer at Islamic University of Minnesota for 4 years. She is the founder and CEO of Gems of Light.
Sh. Zaynab Ansari
Guest Instructor
Zaynab Ansari serves as an adjunct instructor at Boston Islamic Seminary and a full-time instructor at Tayseer Seminary, where she teaches classes on Islamic law, Qur’anic studies, Prophetic biography, American Muslim history, and women in Islam. She also serves on the boards of Tayseer Foundation and the Muslim Community of Knoxville.
Prior to joining the latter, Zaynab Ansari was based in Atlanta where she was active in interfaith dialogue and bridge-building through the award-winning Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta. A strong believer in women’s education and leadership training, Zaynab Ansari is a regular contributor to the Rabata curriculum, a pioneering online resource for women’s theological training. She studied in the Middle East, spending her formative years in Damascus, Syria, where she was introduced to the foundations of traditional Islam and the etiquette of seeking knowledge. Upon her return from the Middle East, she enrolled in Georgia State University where she focused on interdisciplinary studies in the humanities.
