Meet Our FacultyMeet Our Faculty

Dr. Hassan Lachheb is the founder and president of Tayseer Seminary. He holds a Ph.D in Religious Studies from the University of Indiana, Bloomington, with a focus on theory of religion and Islamic studies. His research is focused on the intellectual history and religiosity of the Muslims in the Maghreb and Andalus.

Dr. Lachheb completed his M.A. in Islamic Theology, Islamic Legal Theory, and Maliki Jurisprudence at Dar al-Hadith al-Hassaniyyah for Higher Islamic Studies in Rabat, Morocco with honors in 2000. In addition, he completed his B.A. with distinction in Arabic Language and Literature at Mohamed V University in Rabat.

He also attended the Madrasa of Shaykh Abdullah al-Talidi in Tangier, Morocco where he extensively studied several disciplines including Principles of Jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh), Arabic Grammar, Philology, and Literature. He has also received many ijazaat (licenses to teach) from prominent scholars in Hadith, Comparative Jurisprudence (fiqh), and the Sciences of Qur'an. He has studied under several of the foremost Islamic scholars in Morocco.

Dr. Lachheb is a resident scholar of the Muslim Community of Knoxville.

Ustadha Zaynab has served as a member of the core faculty of Tayseer Seminary and women's scholar-in-residence since 2014. Originally from Atlanta, Ustadha Zaynab relocated to Knoxville, TN to take on this pioneering role for a Muslim community. As a full-time instructor at Tayseer Seminary, Ustadha Zaynab teaches courses in Islamic law, Qur'anic sciences, Qur'anic exegesis, Prophetic biography, American Muslim history, women in Islam, and reading and interpretation of Arabic texts.

Ustadha Zaynab also serves as an adjunct instructor at several distinguished institutions, including Boston Islamic Seminary, Rabata, and Jannah Institute. Prior to her joining Tayseer Seminary, Ustadha Zaynab spent many years in the burgeoning field of online Islamic education as a consultant, writer, volunteer, and instructor.

Ustadha Zaynab was blessed to have studied in the Middle East, spending her formative years in Damascus, Syria, where she was introduced to the foundations of traditional Islam and the etiquette of knowledge and spiritual purification. Upon her return from the Middle East, she enrolled in Georgia State University where she focused on interdisciplinary studies in the humanities with an emphasis on history and Middle Eastern Studies.

Dr. Michael Abdullah Dann joined the faculty of Tayseer Seminary in 2020. He earned his Ph.D. in Religion at Princeton University in 2015, and his B.A. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2006. Dr. Dann studied the traditional Islamic sciences in Egypt with scholars from Al-Azhar University and in Morocco at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University. He has studied and received ijazas in hadith with scholars from throughout the Muslim world.

Prior to joining the faculty at Tayseer, he served as an Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He also served as an Instructor of Arabic at Fawakih Institute and of the Islamic sciences at Nakhla Institute in Trenton, NJ and currently serves as a chaplain in local prisons. He is the translator and editor of several works from Arabic to English. His academic research and publications are focused on hadith and the early history of the Sunni-Shi'i divide.

Ustadh Nadeem Siddiqi grew up in Knoxville where he has lived since 1977. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Economics in 2002 and from Tayseer Seminary in 2016 in its first class. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Muslim Community of Knoxville, Annoor Academy of Knoxville, Tayseer Seminary, and the Association of Muslim Chaplains. He serves on the faculty of Tayseer Seminary where he teaches a course in community activism.

Ustadh Nadeem serves as a Muslim Chaplain in the local prisons and at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for the Muslim Student Association.

Ustadh Nadeem is a local investor and advisor to businesses ranging from healthcare, IT services, real estate, and hospitality industries.

Dr. Salmaan Toor serves as the Director of Student Services and Mental Health Support at Tayseer Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a focus on cultural competency in mental health services. His research examines the intersection of Islamic spirituality and psychological well-being in Muslim American communities.

Dr. Toor completed his M.A. in Experimental Psychology at William & Mary, where he developed innovative approaches to understanding religious identity and mental health. He has served as a Clinical Psychologist at The Family Center of Knoxville since 2012, where he specializes in culturally sensitive therapeutic practices.

At Tayseer, he integrates traditional Islamic concepts of mental and spiritual health with contemporary psychological best practices, helping students navigate the challenges of intensive religious study while maintaining psychological and spiritual well-being. Dr. Toor regularly presents at conferences on Islamic psychology and works to develop resources for Muslim mental health professionals.

Dr. Khalid Shahu serves as the Director of Arabic Studies at Tayseer Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Language from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, focusing on Language Policy & Planning in Post-Colonial North African Countries. He earned his M.A. degrees in Arabo-Hispanic Linguistics from Mohamed V University and Philosophy of Language from CUNY.

Before joining Tayseer, he served as Teaching Assistant Professor of Arabic at UNC-Chapel Hill and founded Apex Mosque in North Carolina, where he served as Imam from 2010-2020. Dr. Shahu has authored several works including "Qur'anic Arabic: Delve and Dive in the Language of Qur'an" and "The Seekers' Path to Discover the Perfection of the Best of Creation."

His extensive teaching experience includes positions at Brooklyn College, Durham Technical Community College, and North Carolina Central University. At Tayseer, he combines his academic expertise in Arabic linguistics with his practical experience in Islamic education and community leadership. Dr. Shahu continues to work on publications that form part of a comprehensive community education project.

The Muslim Community of Knoxville (MCK) is the principal masjid serving the Knoxville area and a founding partner of Tayseer Seminary. Several of Tayseer's faculty serve the MCK community, and Dr. Hassan Lachheb is its resident scholar.

MCK provides the local congregational and community anchor for the seminary, with daily prayers, Jumu'ah, and community programming that complement Tayseer's classroom instruction.

Midad is an Arabic language institute partnering with Tayseer Seminary to strengthen students' command of classical Arabic, the gateway to the Islamic sciences.

The partnership supports Tayseer's Arabic curriculum with specialised language instruction, helping students build the linguistic foundation required for advanced study of Qur'an, hadith, and fiqh.

Annoor Academy of Knoxville is an Islamic school and a community partner of Tayseer Seminary. Members of Tayseer's faculty serve on its Board of Directors.

The partnership connects Tayseer's seminary-level training with K–12 Islamic education in the Knoxville area, supporting a continuous pathway of Islamic learning across the community.

The University of Prince Mugrin is a distinguished university based in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, the blessed city of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Through its Global Center for Teaching Arabic Language to Non-Native Speakers, it stands among the most cherished centers of Arabic and Islamic learning in the world.

In 2026, Tayseer Seminary signed a formal service agreement with the University of Prince Mugrin, establishing a partnership in Arabic language programs for non-native speakers. The collaboration unites Tayseer’s Arabic education and outreach across the United States with the university’s academic standing in Madinah, expanding access to authentic, high-quality Arabic instruction.