ISNA's 2020-22 Leadership Team

ISNA Presents its new 2020-22 Leadership Team

ISNA’s new 2020-22 leadership team was inducted during the ISNA’s 57th — and first virtual — Annual Convention.

Outgoing president Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed said, “We, as members of ISNA, celebrate the fact that no other Islamic organization in the world and no Muslim country has had uninterrupted and regular elections for choosing their leadership for more than half a century as ISNA has. This is a proud legacy of ISNA that we will reinforce for the future.”

Dr. Mohamad Rajabally served as the election committee chair.

The new team is composed of Safa Zarzour (president), Magda Elkadi (vice president-USA) and Mohammed Jalaluddin (vice president-Canada). The board members are Dr. Iqbal Unus, Dr. Affan Badar, Malika Khan and Mir Ziauddin Ali Khan.

Safa Zarzour, an educator, attorney and community activist, is cofounder of the ISNA Education Forum, superintendent of Universal Schools in Illinois and Indiana and principal of Zarzour Law LLC.

A former ISNA secretary general (executive director), he has worked with the Zakat Foundation of America (general counsel and COO), IQRA International Foundation (CEO) and Loyola Law School (adjunct law professor).

In addition, he is affiliated with CISNA (chairman), the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving (member and board of advisors), the Mosque Foundation (vice chair), Oak Lawn Community High School (board member) and the Syrian Forum USA (president).

Arabic, Qur’anic and Islamic studies and academics.

As head of Universal Academy of Florida and Tampa’s American Youth Academy (AYA) for 11 years each, she led them through two successful accreditation visits and gained International Baccalaureate Diploma School authorization for AYA.

Among her responsibilities are spearheading and overseeing strategic planning, marketing and fundraising, developing new school programs, training teachers and other administrators, as well as building relationships with regional schools and organizations. She has consulted with Islamic schools and with communities that want to open Islamic schools since 1998 and served on accreditation evaluation teams for both FCIS and AdvancEd (2009-15).

In 2014, she became president of Radiant Hands, a nonprofit social services organization that helps empower needy women and families.

Deeply involved with the community, she strives to empower others to achieve their full potential and help raise people’s awareness and knowledge of Islam and how much it values working for and serving all people.

Islamic finance and senior business management, he is founding member and president of Ansar Financial Group, Toronto, as well as vice chairman of the Islamic Cooperative Housing Corporation in Toronto and president of IMRC Canada.

Serving the community since 1970, Dr. Iqbal J. Unus has worked with MSA (president), ISNA (secretary general; member, ISNA al-Majlis Shura), ADAMS (vice president; trustee), AMSET (president), the Council of Muslim Organizations of Greater Washington (executive member) and as member or chair of several local and national committees. He is a trustee of Amana Mutual Funds Trust, directorat-large of the UN Association of National Capital Area and recipient of community

Magda Elkadi Saleh, in her 29th year as an Islamic school administrator, is head of school at Bayaan Academy, an innovative school focused on achieving excellence in

Vice President-Canada Mohammed Jalaluddin, an ISNA life member, has served MSA/ISNA since 1972 as a board member and secretary of AMSET and as a speaker and moderator at ISNA conventions.

With over 30 years of experience in

service awards from CAIR National (2011) and ISNA (2012).

Malika Khan, an active community member, has served on the Muslim Community Association’s (MCA) board, renovation committee, women’s committee and Senior Club of its board. She has sat on CAIR-SF Bay Area’s executive board, worked for MSA and ISNA, been chair of ISNA West Zone’s conference program and held other posts. In addition to helping establish mosques and Islamic schools, she has organized fundraisers and other events.

Khan, who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry (University of Madras, India) and a master’s degree in biological science (California State University at Fullerton), has been meeting with and writing to government officials on various local, state and national issues. She has also worked as a precinct captain during presidential elections and volunteered with her area’s Congress members and public officials.

M. Affan Badar, PhD, CPEM, has served on ISNA’s board (2014-18) and election committee (2014-17). He holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering (King Fahd Univ. of Petroleum and Minerals) and a doctoral degree in industrial engineering (Univ. of Oklahoma). Currently a tenured professor and former chair of Indiana State University’s Applied Engineering & Technology Management department, he was chair of the University of Sharjah’s Industrial Engineering & Engineering Management department (2016-18). He is also an ABET/ETAC commissioner and editor-in-chief of an InderScience journal.

Dr. Badar has also served on Jahangirabad Institute of Technology’s (201418) operations management board, as president of the Islamic Society of Greater Indianapolis (2012-14), immediate past president of AMSET, vice chair of METIndia N.A., a board member of Indian Muslim Education Foundation of North America, vice principal of Al-Ilm Weekend School, secretary of IAMC-Indiana and on a few boards in India.

Mir Ziauddin Ali Khan, popularly known as “Mir Khan,” has worked with ISNA since 1983 and has served on several convention committees as chair, vice-chair and co-chair of the ISNA Convention steering committees. He has played an important role in the convention outreach and media relations.

Khan has a bachelor’s of science degree (Osmania University, Hyderabad; Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago). An experienced IT professional with over 30 years of project management, he has led dozens of software-implementation teams at leading companies. He is a results-oriented individual with a track record of increasing operational efficiency and team building.

While studying at Northeastern Illinois University, Khan was MSA president. He served for almost a decade as a school board member at Chicago’s MCC Academy and later as board member and president of suburban Chicago’s Averroes Academy, a Muslim private school. He is also the founding member and president of Chicago’s “Glory of Hyderabad” organization. ih