Our Academy
Founders of Zaynab Academy.
Shaykh Mufti Kamaluddin Ahmed
Shaykh Mufti Kamaluddin Ahmed was born and raised in Manhattan, New York City. He received a BA in Political Science and Arabic & Islamic Civilization from the University of Chicago. Shaykh Kamaluddin then spent many years in Pakistan studying full-time classical disciplines of Islamic learning including tafsir of the Qur’an, Hadith, Arabic Grammar, law and legal theory. He received the ‘alimiyyah degree as well as formal authorization to transmit legal opinion (ifta). From 2005-2010, he was a lecturer of Islamic intellectual history, legal theory, spirituality, and ethics at one of the Pakistan’s leading universities. In 2012, he completed a Master’s degree from the University of Oxford and currently is a Doctoral Fellow in Islamic Intellectual History at the Berlin Graduate School.
For over twenty years, Shaykh Kamaluddin has formally guided seekers on the path to becoming closer to Allah SWT and regularly delivers talks and offers courses at universities, masjids, and institutions of learning in Pakistan and countries across the UK, Europe, and South Africa.
The Shaykh has established academies offering free education in classical Islamic learning and spirituality through both live and online courses for men and women around the world. In 2005, the Shaykh with his respected wife Alimah S. Ahmed, founded Zaynab Academy, and in 2009, he and his wife founded Zaynab Academy Online – the first all-women’s online Islamic educational institute. Later, Shaykh also founded Tazkiyah Academy-An online Islamic educational institute for men. Visit www.zaynabacademyonline.org and www.tazkiyahacademy.org to learn more. Also, many of the past recordings and live lectures of the Shaykh can be heard at www.islamicspirituality.org
Alimah S. Ahmed
Alimah S. Ahmed was born and raised in the United States and received her BA in Sociology and Arabic and Islamic Civilization with double honors from the University of Chicago and Masters of Education from the University of Illinois. In 1999, she migrated to Lahore with her husband following the early tradition of rihla, or journeying for the sake of seeking divine and sacred knowledge. In Lahore, she pursued an intensive full-time study of the classical disciplines of Islamic learning, known as Dars Nizami, for four years. In 2003, she was formally certified as an Alimah and was awarded the Alimiyyah degree, certifying her to teach the disciplines of Qur’an, Tafsir, Hadith, Arabic Grammar & Linguistics, Beliefs & Creed, and Islamic Law & Legal Theory (Fiqh & Usul).
For the past ten years, she has been tirelessly teaching classical Islamic learning and guiding women on the spiritual path to become closer to Allah SWT. To date, she has taught thousands of women live and online and has graduated over 50 women as alimahs.
Her students have included college and university students, young professionals, mothers, and homemakers. She has lectured and taught at masjids, universities, institutions, and private residences in the Unites States, across the United Kingdom, and in Pakistan where she maintains her home with her husband and four children.
In 2005, she and her husband founded Zaynab Academy, and in 2009, Zaynab Academy Online was founded becoming the first all-women’s online Islamic educational institute dedicated to classical Islamic learning and spirituality. To date, Zaynab Academy Online’s courses and programs have been attended by over one thousand students from over twenty countries across the world.