Ustadha Zaynab Ansari serves as an adjunct instructor at Boston Islamic Seminary and a full-time instructor at Tayseer Seminary, where she teaches classes on Islamic law, Qur’an & Hadith studies, and Prophetic biography, American Muslim history, and women in Islam. She also serves on the boards of the Tayseer Foundation and the Muslim Community of Knoxville. Prior to moving to Tennessee, Zaynab Ansari was based in Atlanta where she was active in interfaith dialogue and bridge-building through the award-winning Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta.
In addition to her work in her local community, she spent many years in the pioneering field of online Islamic education as a consultant, writer, volunteer, and instructor. A strong believer in women’s education and leadership training, Zaynab Ansari is a regular contributor to the Rabata curriculum, a comprehensive online resource for women’s theological training. She 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 seeking knowledge. 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.