Audit Classes

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.

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.

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 has translated and edited several works of Imam Abdessalam Yassine and portions of the tafsīr of Shaykh al-Sha'rawi. His academic research and publications are focused on hadith and the early history of the Sunni-Shi'i divide.

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.

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.

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.