Shaykh Zaib Talat
﴿ربّ اني لما انزلت الي من خير فقير﴾
Shaykh Zaib Talat was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1981 and raised in Kuwait where he completed his secondary education. He then returned to the United States and graduated with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech in 2003 and more recently, a Masters in Analytics from his alma mater in 2022. Shaykh Zaib started the pursuit of Islamic knowledge and Islamic spirituality in 2004 under the aegis of Shaykh Husain Sattar Thereafter, along with holding down a full time job in the IT industry, Shaykh Zaib formally enrolled in the part-time Alim course under Mufti Mohammad Khalid Qasmi in Dar ul Uloom Atlanta 2010 where, over the course of the years, he completed up to the 7th year of a traditional 8-year course. During this time he also completed Hifz of the Qur’an in 2011, under Mufti Khalid during his daily commute to work.
In 2014, Shaykh Zaib traveled overseas to complete the final year of ‘Alamiyyah degree and received authorization to narrate and teach the 6 canonical books of hadith and Tahawi. During this time, he also received formal authorization in the Islamic science of spiritual purification. Subsequently, Shaykh Zaib completed an additional postgraduate year specializing in the sciences of hadith, studying Tadreeb-ur-Raawee of Imam Suyuti under the tutelage of Mufti Mohammad Sharief Dalal.
Shaykh Zaib currently resides in the greater metro Atlanta region with his wife and four children where he works in the Supply chain logistics industry as a Data Science Manager. During his free time he teaches and lectures on various subjects of Islamic knowledge and also serves as an instructor at Masjid Omar and in the Sacred Learning program.
Alimah Syeda Afshan
Alimah Syeda Afshan was raised in U.A.E. and immigrated to the U.S in 1999. At the age of 13, she dedicated herself to the study of the traditional Islamic sciences at Ma’had Taleemul Islam (I.I.E) in Chicago from which she graduated with an Alimah degree in 2004. After graduation, she served as a student and lecturer at IIE, as well as the head instructor at the IIE Weekend Shariah Program until the year of 2008. She has completed a year and half in college majoring in psychology.
After moving to Atlanta, Alimah Afshan has served as the head instructor at a local seminary, teaching Hadith, Fiqh, Arabic, Tajweed and Quran. Currently she serves as instructor at Masjid Omar Bin Abdul Aziz and delivers regular motivational and educational talks in the Atlanta area imparting the knowledge and spirituality that she inherited from her teachers to the next generation of young muslimahs.
