Safaa has served in the role of Administrative Coordinator for the Village of Bridgeview, Illinois. He is also the principal of Zarzour Law Offices, LLC. Mr. Zarzour focuses his law practice in the areas of Local Government, and Non-Profit Law. Mr. Zarzour holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Arkansas State University (December 1990), a Masters in Education from the University of Illinois in Chicago (May 1996), and a Juris Doctor degree from DePaul University School of Law (December 2003). He also holds teaching certificates from the States of Louisiana (1993) and Illinois (1994) a General School Administration Certificate in Illinois (1996) Mr. Zarzour is a member of the Bars of the State of Illinois, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is also a member of the Illinois State Bar Association. Upon his admission to the Illinois Bar in May 2004, Mr. Zarzour joined the law firm of Odelson & Sterk, Ltd., as an associate attorney. For the next three years at the law firm, Mr. Zarzour served as the prosecutor of several local municipalities and represented municipal clients in numerous civil law suits, labor hearings, negotiations, and arbitrations. Prior to his law career, Mr. Zarzour was an educator for over 12 years. He taught Mathematics for three years in Louisiana and Illinois and served as a Principal of the Universal School, one of the largest PreK-12 independent Islamic Schools in the United States. During his tenure the school tripled its enrollment and became a leader among Islamic schools in North America. Mr. Zarzour continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the Universal School today.

Mr. Zarzour has served in various capacities in his village including as a Zoning Commissioner, and an elected public library trustee. He was elected Commissioner of the Bridgeview Park District in 2006. In addition Mr. Zarzour actively served on a variety of non-profit boards. He was the Chairman of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Chicago, the Chairman of the Council of Islamic Schools in North America, Program Chairman of the ISNA Education Forum, Vice Chairman of Muslim Educational Resources, Information, and Training, a member of the Catholic-Muslim Education Project, member of the Board of Advisors of Play for Peace, member of the Board of Advisors of the Bernadine Center at the Catholic Theological Union, and a member of the Board of Advisors of the School of Education at St. Xavier University. Mr. Zarzour has participated as a presenter at numerous educational conferences in several states in the U.S. as well as in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. He has conducted workshops on legal as well as educational issues including school governance, legal compliance, curriculum, staff and program evaluation for educators. Mr. Zarzour’s work has been featured in many media including 60 Minutes, PBS Front Line, Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine and many others.

Dr. Ghazi has built a strong foundation in education by pursuing and obtaining degrees from prestigious Universities from across the globe including the following: M. A. Alig (AMU, Aligarh); M. Ed (Allahabad); Academic Diploma in Education (London); Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies, (Harvard); Ph. D. Language Arts (Minnesota) She is the co-founder of IQRA’ International Educational Foundation and currently serves as the Director of Curriculum Development.

Dr. Tasneema Khatoon Ghazi belongs to a notable family of Uttar Pradesh in India, who had, in Mughal times, excelled in their professionalism and leadership skills. They were also quick to accept the political change that came with British rule. Dr. Tasneema’s family accepted the invitation of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the great reformer and educator, to accept Western education and support the establishment of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (later named as Aligarh Muslim University).

In spite of opening the doors to modern education for men, ladies of traditional families remained deprived of similar opportunities. It was for Dr. Tasneema to break this restriction when her father agreed to send her to Aligarh and Allahabad for higher education. During the course of her studies, she accepted the wedding proposal of a promising young graduate of Aligarh Abidullah Ghazi, who had won a covetous fellowship at Princeton (1960). Their engagement resulted in marriage and a lifelong partnership that slowly changed the scene of Islamic education in North America and worldwide. Drs. Abidullah and Tasneema Ghazi constitute a rare partnership that has scored great academic success in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They also produced five brilliant children, who in their own right are successful professionals.

Before teaching as a professor of reading and language arts as well as child development at Governor State University (Illinois) and University of Illinois at Chicago, she taught in several elementary and senior high schools for 15 years in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Dr. Tasneema Ghazi is a pioneer in the establishment of Islamic Sunday schools as well as full-time schools in North America since 1968. Tasneema Ghazi has devoted most of her time to the development of a positive and contemporary curriculum in Islamic Studies for young children. She has authored more than 100 textbooks and workbooks, has helped establish a number of full-time and weekend Islamic schools and conducted numerous teachers’ training seminars and workshops. Dr. Tasneema Ghazi has been active in interfaith relations, particularly in the area of interfaith education. She is a member of the Chicago Committee on Interreligious Learning and currently sits on the board of the internationally renowned Interfaith Youth Core.

She is a co-founder of IQRA’ International Educational Foundation and the chief editor of its educational programs. Her work for the development of primary education for Singapore Madrasah system is being implemented with great success. She is much sought after speaker, an educational trainer and lively conversationalist who is popular in the community for her advice and wisdom. She has received the Islamic Society of North America’s prestigious Life Time Achievement award in 2007.

Farhat Siddiqui is the Program Director for IQRA Leadership Academy. The aim of the academy is to transform schools by working with principals, administrators, aspiring school leaders and religious studies teachers to refine leadership, management and teaching skills for greater impact and to meet the challenges of the new millennium.

Farhat obtained her B.A degree in Elementary Education from Northeastern Illinois University and subsequently her M.Ed. degree from Loyola University, specializing in school leadership and administration.

Farhat is the founder and president of Allied educational Services, a consulting firm that works with Islamic Schools to identify and address their needs. Farhat works to provide Comprehensive Needs Analysis and Strategic Planning, Staff Development and Performance Assessment, Vision/Mission Development and Implementation, Accreditation and Compliance, Data Analysis and Strategic Planning, Program and Policy Review and Development, Instructional Design and Implementation, and Curriculum Review, Design, and Implementation.

Farhat is committed to the advancement of educational institutions to provide success for students. She is a Certified Chair for AdvancED; NCA Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement and serves as a committee member for school site visits for accreditation. She is an Educational Speaker and Trainer for the Illinois State Board of Education and conducts professional development training for staff and mentoring and coaching for school leaders. She has been invited to speak both nationally and internationally on topics of strategic planning, school improvement practices, professional development for teachers, and numerous other topics in education. She served as a member of the Board for ISNA National Educational Forum for nearly a decade, held annually in Chicago and a member of the Board for CISNA – Council of Islamic Schools of North America, for several years. She is the Co-Founder for CIS – Council of Islamic Schools of Illinois. She is a contributing author for educational publications.

Farhat worked as a classroom teacher for nearly a decade at one of the largest Islamic Schools in the United States, Universal School, where she was awarded the highest recognition – “Teacher of the Year”, for her commitment to excellence in education. She was appointed as a lead administrator, an Assistant Principal and eventually a Principal, where she served until 2009. During her tenure she was recognized for her efforts to streamline the school functions and raise the academic status of the school by receiving accreditation with the leading independent school accrediting agency, AdvancEd. Farhat was recognized with the service award in 2004 and 2009 for her commitment to best practices in education. In June of 2005, Universal School was featured in TIME magazine as “The Model School, Islamic Style”.

Farhat Siddiqui served as the Principal of College Preparatory School of America from 2009 to 2013, where she worked with a dedicated team of teachers and staff to raise student achievement scores and received recognition from the Washington Post in 2013, as the most academically challenging school in Illinois.

Habeeb Quadri is an Educator, Author, Youth Activist and a faculty member of IQRA Academies. He has a Bachelor in Teaching of History and a Masters in School Administration. He currently is taking a few courses a year at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education – Principal Center, where he works as part-time staff in their professional development programs.

In addition to his teaching and administrative experience in public and private schools, Habeeb has delivered hundreds of lectures throughout the United States, Canada and abroad on Islam, society, and social problems confronting Muslim youth and the community at large for the last 15 years. He has started his own educational consulting company called High Quality Educational Consulting. Mr. Quadri has conducted workshops for the U.S Department of State, weekend and full-time Islamic schools, public schools and universities around the world. His Consulting Company has partnered up with IQRA Foundation to initiate the first National Islamic Studies Standardized Test and National Islamic Studies Benchmarks.

Habeeb is currently on the National Advisory Board for MYNA (Muslim Youth of North America) , CISNA (Council of Islamic School of North America), Cook County Sheriff Muslim Advisory Board, Illinois Coalition of Non-Public School, IQRA Foundation and in the past for the Dean of Depaul School of Education . He has currently co-authored a few books entitled the “War within Our Hearts” (The Struggles of the Muslim Youth), “Thank God it is Jumuah”, “Parenting, Who Said it Was Easy”, “Wisdom of the Wise: Advice of Luqman (A), The Islamic School Resource Guide: Developing Schools and Educational Excellence and was the religious and cultural consultant for the children book “Under the Ramadan Moon by Sylvia Whitman. Habeeb also has several other books projects in the works “Boys to Men”, “Girls to Pearls”, Discovering Science: One Verse out a Time”.

Dilnaz Waraich is a teacher and parent workshop coordinator for IQRAWISE and a faculty member of IQRA Academies. The aim of the IQRAWISE project is to promote training for full-time and part-time educators as well as parent education for parents to develop a cultural change in the weekend and full time schools.

Dilnaz obtained her B.A. degree in Elementary Education from Loyola University and subsequently her M.Ed. degree from Northwestern University, specializing in Literacy.

Dilnaz was a teacher for 18 years in the elementary classroom, where she taught second to sixth grade classroom curriculum. During her teaching, Dilnaz was a leader in her team and mentored other teachers. Currently, Dilnaz works as an adjunct professor at Benedictine University and supervises student teachers in their senior year. Dilnaz also teaches at Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development for grades second-sixth grades. During her teaching at CTD, Dilnaz creates her own curriculum and differentiates for the gifted student.

Following her success in the classroom, Dilnaz went on to create an entrepreneur workshop after her family started an energy drink business in 2008. The workshop has been developed with the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business program for young adults. Subsequently, the entrepreneur workshop has also been hosted in numerous schools and libraries to promote creativity and passion in our youth.

Dilnaz is an Educational Speaker and conducts professional development training for staff on school improvement practices, professional development for parents and teachers on cutting edge educational topics internationally and locally. Her webinars have been developed to promote educational change in high achieving schools internationally.

Dilnaz is an active member of numerous boards, commissions and advisory councils including Family Action Network, Envision Consultants, Winnetka Interfaith Council, Wilmette Interfaith Religious Leaders, Muslim Community Center and Winnetka Caucus Library Board.

Dr. Sharifa Sheryl Steinberg Abukar was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She obtained her B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from Wayne State University, a Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from United States International University, Administrative Services Credentials (Tier I & Tier II) from the University of San Diego, and her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests focus on factors that impact Muslim American students’ educational experiences, identity, and sense of self worth.

Dr. Abukar worked for 10 years in San Diego Unified School District as a high school English teacher at Mt. Everest Academy. There, she was twice selected as ‘Teacher of the Year’ and served as the School Site Council Chairperson for over seven years. She was the founding principal of Iftin Charter School in San Diego, California and also of the Islamic School of San Diego where she currently works. As an instructional leader, she emphasizes School Culture, the development of Professional Learning Communities, and data informed decision-making.

Dr. Abukar has also done extensive work with the Accrediting Commission for Schools through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC) accreditation process. Through her various roles as a WASC team member, consultant, or Coordinator, she has facilitated the accreditation of all of the schools at which she worked. In addition, she was appointed by ACS WASC to serve on several Visiting Committee Teams that evaluated other schools undergoing the Self Study process.

In addition to her passion for teaching and learning, Dr. Abukar strives to build bridges of understanding between Muslim Americans and the general population in the wake of 9/11. She has been a guest lecturer at several California public schools, police officer trainings, Elderhostel, University of California, San Diego, San Diego State University, National University, University of San Diego, and the Islamic Teacher Education Program. She has also given conference presentations at American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), the Yale Bouchet Diversity in Graduate Education Conference, the World Conference for Curriculum and Instruction (WCCI), the California Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (CA-NAME), the Teaching Diversity Conference (UCSD), and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Education Forum. Moreover, Dr. Sharifa Abukar is a member of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), the Yale Bouchet Honor Society, the Islamic Speakers Bureau, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.