ICNA Relief Southern California
Verily with Hardship comes Ease
An Islamic Mental Wellness Conference on
Hope and Resilience
Sponsors
Location
Sunday, May 5th, 2024
Islamic Society of Orange County
9752 13th Street
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA)
9AM- 7PM
Our Speakers
Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui
Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi is the imam and religious director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, Garden Grove; he also chairs the Fiqh Council of North America and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. Siddiqi has previously led the Religious Affairs Committee of the Muslim Students Association, Department of Religious Affairs at the Muslim World League Office to the UN and the United States, Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., and Islamic Society of North America. He is also a founding member of the World Economic Forum’s Community of West and Islam Dialogue (C-100). Siddiqi is a frequent participant in interfaith events, authors commentary and issues fatwas through the internet hub IslamOnline.net, and lectures widely on Islamic law. Siddiqi was one of the signatories in October 2007 of A Common Word Between Us and You. He is a graduate of the Islamic University of Medina, Birmingham University, and Harvard University.
Dr. Altaf Husain
Dr. Altaf Husain serves as an Associate Professor and chair of the Community, Administration and Policy Practice concentration in the Howard University School of Social Work, in Washington DC. He has primary teaching responsibilities for the Displaced Populations field of practice specialization, which includes social work practice with immigrants and refugees. He holds a joint appointment as a Research Fellow in the Center for the Study of American Muslims and the Center for Global Health at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in DC. Dr. Husain received his Ph.D. in Social Work from Howard University and his M.S. in Social Administration with a specialization in Community Development and Non-profit Management from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. His research interests include displaced populations (homelessness, victims of disaster, immigrants and refugees), mental health and psychosocial well-being of adolescent immigrants and refugees of color in the U.S.; immigration policy and its impact on the family; cultural competence; and the development of social service agencies in the Muslim community. An invited lecturer on Islam and Muslims in the US, Dr. Husain has delivered keynote addresses on college and university campuses and communities throughout the US and Canada. His professional involvement includes serving as a co-chair of the Islam and Muslims track of the Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), co-chair of the Race, Ethnicity and Immigration cluster of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), and as a founding member of the CSWE Religion and Spirituality Working Group. Dr. Husain’s community involvement includes serving as Vice President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Vice President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research (YIIR) and a former two-term national president of the Muslim Students Association of the US and Canada. He also serves as an advisory board member of the Peaceful Families Project (PFP), dedicated to preventing domestic violence.
Maqsood Ahmed, CEO
Maqsood Ahmed, an esteemed Islamic leader with four decades of dedication, brings extensive experience as an elected member of the Central Shura of the Islamic Circle of North America. His solid educational foundation, including a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan, complements his leadership role.
Actively committed to social welfare and development projects, Maqsood focuses on humanitarian efforts, community development and educational initiatives. Proficient in nonprofit organizations, executive management, leadership, and public speaking, he played a pivotal role as the CEO of ICNA Relief USA. For 30 years, Maqsood’s dedication has significantly contributed to advancing the organization’s mission, reflecting his commitment to humanitarian efforts within the Islamic framework.
Dr. Amber Haque
Dr. Amber Haque is the Director of Muslim Family Services ICNA Relief USA. Formerly, he was a professor and Director of Clinical Psychology Master’s programs at UAE University, UAE, and Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar. He was also the Head of the Psychology Department at International Islamic University Malaysia. He was also a visiting scholar at Cornell University and UPenn, and served as an adjunct faculty at Aligarh Muslim University in India. Before his academic career, he practiced psychology in Michigan and New York for over 12 years. Dr. Haque earned his Ph.D. in psychology from Western Michigan University and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Haque is currently engaged in research activities at the Muslim Mental Health Consortium, Department of Psychiatry, Michigan State University. His literary contributions include nine edited books and more than one hundred publications.
Deana Helmy, LMFT, MBA
Deana Helmy is a Licensed Marriage and Therapist and is the Director of Counseling Services at ICNA Relief’s Crescent Counseling Center in Fullerton. She also works in Behavioral Health Training Services for the County of Orange Health Care Agency. Deana holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Social Behavior and a teaching credential from UC Irvine, a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Cal State Fullerton, an MBA from UC Irvine at the Paul Merage School Of Business, and is pursing a PHD. Deana was born in Southern California and has been very involved in the Muslim community. Her passion is in positive psychology and personal development, and she uses her skills to not only promote positive mindsets and lifestyles, but to empower her community to create a new narrative for American Muslims – one built on mutual respect, understanding, and connectedness.
Dr. Marwa Azab
Marwa Azab, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of psychology and human development at California State University, Long Beach. She is also a Stanford Continuing Studies Instructor. She studied psychology for many years and completed a masters in counseling from Toronto, Canada and her Ph.D. in neuroscience from University of California, Irvine, where she taught in the biology department. She has given five TEDx talks, including “The Logical Vs. The Reflexive Brain: Only One Wins” & “Highly Sensitive? Should you change?”. She is the author of “An Update on Anxiety Disorders.” and has a blog on Psychology Today.
Shaykh Mohammed Faqih
Shaykh Mohammed traces his roots back to the ancient city of Harar in the Horn of Africa. Originally from Yemen, his forefathers immigrated to East Africa and played a central role in the Islamic history of the region. He completed a B.A. in Islamic Studies from the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America in Fairfax, VA, and graduated in Qur’an Memorization and Recitation from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
He was the Imam at the Islamic Community Center of Laurel in Laurel, MD, at the Islamic Center of San Diego in San Diego, CA, and at the Islamic Institute of Orange County, otherwise known as Masjid Omar AlFarouk.
He is an instructor with AlMaghrib Institute, an organization that provides trademark double-weekend seminars leading students towards a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies. Shaykh Mohammed currently serves as the Imam and Religious Director at Memphis Islamic Center.
Ustadha Menahal Begawala, LMHC
Menahal Begawala is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who is inspired by her clients as they heal, grow, and develop resilience through adversity. Menahal is passionate about bringing about awareness of mental, emotional, and physical wellness through an Islamic lens to the community through lectures and workshops. Menahal has received marriage counseling training through the Gottman Institute, and authored the Islamic Reference Guide for the Gottman Method. She has also pursued a specialization in treatment of trauma. Currently, Menahal has a private practice in New York for counseling individual, couples, and families. Her current pursuit of knowledge is in the field of integrative nutrition so that she can continue to work on treating the whole person in her work both with individuals and with the community.
Shaykh Furhan Zubairi
Shaykh Furhan Zubairi was born in 1983 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Shortly thereafter, he moved and spent most of his youth in Southern California, graduating from high school in Irvine in 2001. He began his pursuit of Islamic knowledge and spirituality at the Institute of Knowledge (IOK) in 1998, where he started the memorization of the Qur’an and studied the primary books in the Islamic Sciences and Arabic language. After starting college, he took a break and went to Karachi, Pakistan, for 9 months to complete the memorization of the Qur’an at Jami’ah Binoria. He returned home and completed his B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine in 2005.
He then traveled to Egypt to further his studies of the Arabic language. Thereafter, his pursuit of Islamic knowledge led him back to Pakistan, where he completed a formal ‘Alamiyyah degree (Masters in Arabic and Islamic Studies) at the famous Jami’ah Dar Al-’Ulum in Karachi. He has obtained numerous ijazat (traditional licenses) in the six canonical books of hadith, as well as the Muwata of Imam Malik and Imam Muhammad, and has also received certification in the field of Islamic Finance. Shaykh Furhan Zubairi serves as the Dean of the Institute of Knowledge Seminary and Extension Programs at the Institute of Knowledge in Diamond Bar, CA, Seminary Instructor at the same institute, and University Chaplain at the University of California Irvine. He has authored a number of books, on topics such as tafsir, hadith commentary, and introductions to foundational Islamic disciplines, as part of the IOK Curriculum Series. He regularly delivers sermons and lectures at various Islamic Centers and events in southern California.
Shaykh Ahmed Billoo
Born and raised in Southern California and by Allah’s grace, he memorized the Quran at a young age. He studied in Cairo, Egypt in 2006 and in 2007 was granted a scholarship to study at the Islamic University of Madinah. He completed a degree in the Arabic language and then went on to graduate from the College of Shariah. He is currently a Seminary instructor at the Institute of Knowledge in Diamond Bar, California as well as an instructor at the California Islamic University in Anaheim, California. He also serves as the Religious Director at the Islamic Center of Cypress.
Maryam Rasouli, LMFT
Maryam is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Maryam has worked in various organizations dealing with issues such as trauma, abuse, domestic violence, depression, anxiety, premarital and marital matters for the past ten years. Maryam currently is a Clinical Supervisor at ICNA Relief Counseling Center overseeing graduate students and associates who are working towards their licensure, sees clients in private practice part time, and works as a Behavioral Health Care Manager for Health Net Behavioral Health.
Ustadh Tabari Zahir, ACSW, RADT
“Advocating for the weak facilitates your inner strength; giving your voice to the voiceless guarantees you will be heard in perpetuity!” Tabari Zahir
From 2004-2016, Zahir passionately worked within the federal prison system helping to promote a variety of educational initiatives amongst inmates. This vulnerable population needed life skills services, personal coaching, secular and spiritual curriculums which Zahir helped to operationalize by personally teaching while at the same time working with chaplains and program directors.
He continues similar work today counseling the formerly-incarcerated population and facilitating their societal success by connecting them to the varied reentry services they desperately need. He is also a CA Registered Alcohol and Drug Technician (RADT-CA)
In 2016, Zahir began to mentor inner city youth in several SoCal organizations by helping them to implement their personal action plans toward solving current social justice issues.
He currently teaches 2nd and 3rd generation immigrant youth instructing them via a spiritual curriculum infused with civic and social justice awareness.
In 2019, Zahir entered a Master’s of social work program to professionalize his advocacy work amongst the justice-impacted.
His first year internship was working as a mental health intern in a dual diagnosis residential clinic conducting client assessments, bio-psycho-socials, treatments plans, and advanced case management.
His second year internship consisted of working with the justice-impacted providing one-on-one counseling, facilitating therapeutic groups and developing a healthy family relationships program.
Zahir has given interviews, presentations, run workshops, and written articles highlighting the intersections between mental health, substance abuse and recidivism. He has also has published his Master’s thesis entitled: “Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Recidivism: Perceptions of Key Justice Stakeholders in Southern California”.
He is now a registered associate clinical social worker (ACSW) and intends to continue working with the justice-impacted population as a mental health and substance abuse professional. He is the founder of Lamps of Light Project and is a Chaplain at UCLA with IOK.
Dr. Sabena Panhwar
Huma Din, LMFT
Huma holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Antioch University and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Her focus is working within the Muslim community. Her goal in therapy is to promote the growth and well-being of couples, individuals, and families who seek help for stressful situations or new transitions in life. By seeing the individual as the leader in the therapeutic process provides the framework to create tools that can bring the individual awareness to their thought process, feelings, and behavior.
Programming
Main Program
Youth Program
*Interactive, fun, and engaging talks will be given on hope, resilience, and the tafsir of Surah Al-Sharh by Amina Defrawi, Lujain Almahdi, and Khalil Ahmed.
*Parents must pick up their children for lunch break; lunch will not be served within the youth program.
Parent and Me Room
Enjoy the program with the privacy and comfort of a Parent and Me Room!
Vendors
