Her Story

Salihah Central is a motivational space that has been the brainchild of Amina Sayeed since 2000.  After returning back to the States from a life changing experience  in studying the Islamic Sciences overseas in Syria and Pakistan, Amina sought to spread the lessons of her teacher, founder of peacespesctives.org, and to mold it to the specific circumstances of the American Muslim Woman.  Through her M.Ed. from DePaul University with a specialty in Educational Leadership, she worked for over a decade as a Middle School Teacher, Principal, and Chicago Public School District Administrator.  In the midst of her professional career, she was the director of Camp Busy Bees Summer Camp, Weekend Bees Sunday School, conducted weekly talks for women, and ultimately memorized the Holy Quran.  As a recent Law School admit for Fall 2021, her next adventure awaits. She loves sports namely volleyball and softball.  She was captain of intramural volleyball at Loyola University of Chicago, where she won two championship medals. She has raised 4 children with her husband and currently resides in the Northside Suburbs of the Chicagoland Area.

Asia Owais is a researcher at Northwestern University.  Her research focuses on disease mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders. She grew up in the Middle East and attended medical school at Dow University of Health Sciences in Pakistan. After medical school, she channelled her energies into her son with special needs while also enrolling in  Salihah Central classes for three years. Inspired by her teacher, founder of Salihah Central, she also completed three years of tajweed from the Ribaat Academy. She recently completed her masters in Neurobiology from Northwestern University and will be starting a PhD in life sciences this Fall 2021. She is a regular teacher of Tajweed and Introductory Arabic at Salihah Central.  She is a living example of excelling in the Islamic Sciences, all within the internet, while deeply investing in her profession.

Amina has a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Not liking to be limited to one area of study, she further developed aptitude in the subjects of education, philosophy and art history via her academic institutions. Amina spent 6 formal years of Islamic education in the women’s full time Alima program, Zaynab Academy Online, building proficiency in Quranic tafsir, the hadith sciences, Islamic jurisprudence and history. This was the culmination of 12+ years of tutelage by her teachers, Sh Husain Sattar and Hafidha Amina Sayeed.

Amina currently works as a therapist in the Chicago area  and is training to teach and supervise other therapists within her profession. In her spare time she is devoted to helping other women discover their faith via classes and motivational talks at Salihah Central. She enjoys spending time with her 4 children and when possible, grabbing some planks of wood and a saw to build something.

Maryah is a Chicago native who continues to live in the city with her family. While she earned her bachelor’s degrees in public policy and in economics from the University of Chicago and her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Northwestern University, her most life changing education has been with traditional Islamic scholars in Chicago and online. Through Salihah Central, she’s had the priceless opportunity to learn the Islamic sciences directly from traditional female scholars and share it forward with other women and girls. She has a private practice serving women and couples, and is clinical faculty training new therapists at Adler University. When time allows she enjoys reading and spending time in nature.

Yasmeen was born and raised in Chicago, where she graduated from the University of Chicago with a focus in Nonprofit Management. She worked for  several years for a well-established non profit focused on providing social services to children in the Chicago Public School System. She subsequently left work to raise her three children. Since becoming a mom, Yasmeen continues to take classes both online and at her local masjid. She currently serves as admin and tech support for the Salihah Central Scholars Academy. She also leads the ‘Her Story’ section and is excited to gather the unique narratives of some of the amazing women in the community.  While the mommy-life has its demands, she feels blessed to support efforts that build women’s spirituality.

She feels blessed to be able to focus on her little ones but also have the opportunity to “use the other side of her brain” through online womens classes. She loves experimenting new recipes making ‘clean eating’ taste good.  She currently resides in Lincolnwood with her family.