• Revert Muslims Directive

(The Holy Qur'an: 30:30)  

Sr. Jennah Heydari -Executive officer presiding over the Revert Muslims Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Now living in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two children, Sr. Jennah originates from Montreal, Quebec. Jennah  briefly studied in marketing and then moved on to study  in the Arts and graphic design. Since 2005 she has taken part in various on-line Islamic study programs including,  Spring Education - Islamic studies program. Co-Operates, along with her husband, Nafe Heydari, a website and graphic design business, "An-Artistic-Design" as well as being the administrator and founder of the Revert Muslims Association, creating the organization in 2005. On-going projects covering her Artistic endevours to further express her desire to enlighten peoples views on Islam, art series include "The inner jihad" and "Karbala, the everlasting stand".  Lectures on and offers support council in areas such as: Racism and Discrimination in Islam, Becoming a Muslim, Dawah and Hijab. Sr. Jennah's Reversion story can be found here: http://www.revertmuslims.com/revertstories13.html  An article written about her by the Khorasan News Daily, Iran

Sr. Fatima Ali -Assistant Executive officer presiding over the Revert Muslims Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Fatima Ali,  Sr. Fatimah is a 10th Generation Canadian, born and raised in Montreal. Allah (swt) "introduced" her to His deen through the penmanship of Alex Haley & the autobiography of Hajj Malik Al Shabazz (Malcolm X).  Sr. Fatimah reverted to Islam 1995  and has been a follower of the Ahlul Bayt (as) ever since.

She has a diploma in Special Care Counselling and is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature.  She also works full-time in the Quality Assurance Dept for a well-known cosmetic company.  Her spare time is spent doing community work in the Montreal Muslim community and presently she holds as Chairperson of a newly developed organization for Reverts and Canadian Muslims called, The Path of Light.

Sr. Fatimah resides in Montreal with her 11 year old son, Muhammad.

Br. Nafe Heydari -Board Member - Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Raised in Qum, Iran later moved with his family to the United Kingdom, now living in Ontario, Canada with his wife Jennah Heydari and her two children.  Br. Nafe seeks to complete his education by beginning his University studies 2009.  Influenced by a rich Islamic upbringing and by his attendance at a popular  Islamic College in London, England Br.Nafe continues to study his faith over the Internet.  He recently began to develop an on-line store, preparing to sell Islamic apparel/items www.modestmuslims.com  . As well he has begun developing a website to promote Islamic Artwork/posters and graphic designs "Islamic-Artistic-Designs". Br. Nafe is currently developing  various Islamic art pieces with his wife Sr. Jennah. Br. Nafe has a technical background and uses this to help maintain the Revert Muslims Forums and various areas of the website administration.

Shaykh Mohammad Zakaria,  UK - Board Member - Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Qualifications  

Graduate of Hawza Ilmiyyah (1989-1996), MA in Islamic studies (1996) Jamiatul Muntazar

MA in Islamic studies (2006) Sayyid Behesti University, Doctorate in Education (2006-present) Brunel University

Employment

1. Lecturer A’Level Islamic studies and Sociology (1999-present) the college of North West London . 2. Lecturer in Research Methodology, Islam in Europe and contemporary issues in Muslim societies, Undergraduate programme (2007- present) Islamic college for advanced studies. 3. Lecturer in Research Methodology and Islamic studies, Postgraduate programme (2007-present) Birkbeck University . 4. Director of Spring Education 2003-present

Specialist Interests

Feminist hermeneutics . Race and Religion, Racism and Education, The Sociology of Education

Writings

1 -Racism and education, Black masculinity, Street culture and exclusion from education (2006).

2- Racism and education a time line(2006)

3 -Teaching Islamic studies to high school studies(2006)

4 -The Quiet Revolution, perceptions of the Shi’a and GCSE Religious Studies Syllabi(2003)

5 -The history of Religion in Europe (2006)

6 -Muslims in Britain a Historical and Theological approach(2005)

7 -The Shi’a and Religious Education Teacher Training(2005)

8 -The problem with Ershad Manji (current)

9 -Natural Theology in the classroom( 2006)

Shaykh Saleem Bhimji, Canada - Board Member - Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee  

Born in the North West Territories in Canada’s Arctic region, Shaykh Saleem grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. After completing his post-secondary education as an Electronic Technician, in 1995, he and his wife moved to Medina, New York to study in the Imam al-Asr Theological Seminary. Shortly thereafter, they shifted to Qum, Iran to continue religious studies in the Hawza Ilmiyyah (Theological Seminary) of Qum.

Returning back to Canada in 2000, Shaykh Saleem worked for three years with a prominent Canadian non-profit faith based charity as a muballigh (propagator and teacher of the faith of Islam), translator, writer, web-designer and graphic artist. He then spent two years working with a international non-profit faith based charity located in the United Kingdom as their Director of Publications and Translator of Religious Texts before starting his own publication house, The Islamic Publishing House (www.iph.ca) and launching his own website dedicated to the dissemination of religious teachings, Al-Fath Al-Mubin Publications (www.al-mubin.org).

Shaykh Saleem currently works full-time with Canada’s largest designer and manufacturer of ‘SmartPhones’ and utilizes his spare time to translate and publish Islamic literature in English for Muslims of all ages – most of which can be found at www.al-mubin.org.

His most acclaimed translations include: Secrets of the Hajj; The Islamic Moral System: A Commentary of Suratul Hujurat; An Introduction to the Science of Tafseer of the Qur’an; and The Last Luminary and Ways to Delve into the Light. His future publications include: The Fundamentals of Islamic Management; Weapon of the Believer; A Year with the Prophet Muhammad and an in-depth commentary of the 29th Section of the Noble Qur’an.

Sr.Masooma Diana Beatty USA -Board Member - Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Sr. masooma was born, raised and resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She has a degree in physics and a masters degree in education.  She teaches mathematics and statistics at the high school level in the public education system.  Her conversion story was published by the World Islamic Network http://www.winislam.com/web/welcome.html a decade ago and is available online at http://www.al-islam.org/reflectionsnewmuslim. She currently writes articles for Islamic Insights http://islamicinsights.com/ and keeps a blog at http://masooma.blogspot.com.

Sr. Roshni Hafeez, Scotland, UK. - Board Member - Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Born and Raised in a strict Christian family, Roshni Reverted to Islam when she was only 15 years old, and over the subsequent 11 years, has played an important role in a comprehensive range of Islamic and dawa activities, most recently, joining the board of Directors of RMA. A trained journalist, Roshni has worked for the BBC and a range of international broadcasters, as a producer, presenter and researcher. More recently though, Roshni has left the world of journalism and works mainly within a range of non-governmental projects, spanning equality and diversity training, policy development, environmental justice and leads on a range of projects tackling sectarianism for the Scottish government. Roshni is also the Scotland representative of Transatlantic 2020, (A British Council initiative designed to build and strengthen relations between the US and Europe post 9/11 and 7/7), and she is also vice chair of the Shia Council for Scotland.

As a visually impaired person, Roshni is especially passionate about improving access to Islamic knowledge for disabled Muslims. This year (2008) at the International Revert Conference, she will lead a unique workshop challenging perceptions of disability and empowering participants to take action in their local masjids and communities, she is also leading on a new interfaith project based in Scotland which will bring faith leaders together to tackle discrimination and poverty through spirituality.

Sr. Zainab Rezvi, England, UK. - Board Member - Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Born in the UK in 1961, Zainab reverted to Islam in 1980 after searching for a more comprehensive and satisfying way of life. She has spent the intervening years raising her seven children, whilst continuing to study informally at home. Once her youngest child went to school, Zainab also attended classes at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies and the Hawza Ilmiyah in London. Zainab is particularly concerned with helping new reverts 'find their feet' and longer term reverts manage the various stages of life. She is especially interested in how Islamic Spirituality, for example ma'arifat-un-nafs (self-knowledge) and tadhkiyah-tun-nafs (purification of the self), can help with this. She is also interested in Interfaith work and Environmental issues."

Sr.Monira Kayhan -Canada Board Member - Board of Directors/International Revert Conference Committee

Monira Kayhan resides in Ontario with her husband and 3 children. Born in Montreal , QC to a Muslim father and Christian mother she was brought up with strong family values but lacked religious guidance. In her mid-teens, Monira started a search for religion and began practicing Islam at the age of 18. She holds a B.Sc. in Public Health and is currently working PT in Food Safety. 

Monira has been active in various Islamic communities, Montreal , Toronto and Ottawa . She has worked extensively with youth and women to improve Islamic services, activities and education. She currently helps run a youth club for Muslim girls. 

Monira has given numerous presentations about Islam to non-Muslim audiences (city Police, RCMP ( Canada 's National police force, Public Health inspectors) and has appeared on broadcasted discussion shows. She is fully bilingual English/French and speaks some Arabic. Her husband Mohamad is the founder of the Dawah and Tabligh Association (DTA) which aims to distribute Islamic books and literature to libraries, schools, prisons and individuals looking for information about Islam. As a means to financially support DTA's activities, the couple also sells Islamic books in many languages.   

Sister Smiley, a.k.a. Natalie, a.k.a. Mahdiya, is a single mom to two boys and a Civil Engineer.  She reverted to Islam December 31, 2004, after reading the Quran and finding no fault in it.  Natalie is a moderator on the RMA forum, and also on the popular shiachat forum.  She is passionate about opposing injustice of all types, and about family and children's issues, and is studying Arabic on her own hoping to someday, God willing, be able to read the Quran in Arabic with good understanding.  In her community, she participates in Cub Scouts with her two boys, and volunteers at the local soup kitchen, time permitting.

Sr. Natalie's Reversion story can be found...here

Tareq is a member of the Polish Shi'a organisation, the Muslim Unity Society, the editor of its quarterly magazine 'Al-Islam' and an important contributor to 'Muslim Annual', a scholarly journal published by the MUS. He has translated around 100 Islamic articles and 4 books into Polish and is currently working on new translation projects as well as his own writings.

Manager of Youth Volunteers and Assistant Graphic Designer and Media: Brother Ali Imran, was born in Pakistan, lived in Saudi Arabia for 11 years and then moved to Canada in 2000. Brother Ali is very active at  the local community mosque "Al Mahdi Islamic Centre" (CIG: www.cig.ca). Ali keeps busy with studies as a University student. Brother Ali is also a full time administrator at GTAShia on line, moderator at Shiachat, as well as Revert Muslims Association online forums. He has a wonderful talent for reciting and regularly recites eulogies. The R.M.A are pleased to have his ongoing assistance with the administration of the forums as well as calling on his skills with graphics design.