Our Story

The Muraqaba School is the dream project by founders Wadud & Leiya. They both grew up in the North Dallas area of Collin County, and as a young husband-wife team, quickly found their calling in education. From leading Sunday and Summer Programs to co-founding three different Islamic schools in the DFW area, they have always been passionate about teaching and mentoring our youth. With an eye for continuous development and researching the latest best practices, they created a unique, project-based Prophetic Tarbiyah curriculum for kids and a certification course for teachers. After training over a hundred schools and organizations globally, including USA, Canada, South Africa, and Australia, they decided it’s time to dream big and launch their own school - an environment of Ihsaan, integrating research, innovation, and our authentic Islamic traditions of teaching and learning to enable children to reach the best version of themselves academically, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Our 20+ Years Journey

Youth Leaders

Grew up in Collin County. Love for education and youth leadership for Masjid Sunday & Summer schools (1995-2004). Started 1st Islamic School in Plano in 2004.

School Leadership

Wadud served as the Assistant Principal and Leiya College Guidance Counselor for 4 years at local Islamic school from 2007 - 2013

Accreditation

Wadud & Leiya were part of the original founding team in 2009 for another Islamic school now based in Plano. Later Wadud spent 2 years there as Principal and helped the school become re-accredited in 2023.

Harvard, Vanderbilt, and AT&T

Wadud & Leiya received their Leadership Training from Harvard in the summer of 2012. They graduated from Vanderbilt University with Masters in Education (Leadership LOP) and MBA in 2015. Wadud became a certified Mindfulness/EQ coach through SIY which started at Google and Leiya became a Marketing Director at AT&T.

Define360

Define360 was founded and launched in 2016 to serve the community with curriculum for teaching children Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence through an Islamic framework. It evolved beyond Sunday & Summer school into a global teacher training program in 2019. Successfully implemented in VRIC (2018-2020) and Frisco communities (2023-2024).

Muraqaba

Launched Muraqaba app in 2023 for “Developing Mindful Muslims” - at the intersection of Science and Islamic Psychology + Spirituality. Founded Muraqaba Institute in 2024 to bring all our services under one brand, including The Muraqaba School.

Youth Leaders

Grew up in Collin County. Love for education and youth leadership for Masjid Sunday & Summer schools (1995-2004). Started 1st Islamic School in Plano in 2004.

Our 20+ Years Journey

Youth Leaders

Grew up in Collin County. Love for education and youth leadership for Masjid Sunday & Summer schools (1995-2004). Started 1st Islamic School in Plano in 2004.

School Leadership

Wadud served as the Assistant Principal and Leiya College Guidance Counselor for 4 years at local Islamic school from 2007 - 2013.

Accreditation

Harvard, Vanderbilt,
and AT&T

Define

Define was founded and
launched in 2016 to serve the community with curriculum for teaching children Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence through an Islamic framework. It evolved beyond Sunday & Summer school into a global teacher training program in 2019.
Successfully implemented in VRIC (2018-2020) and Frisco
communities (2023-2024).

Muraqaba

Launched Muraqaba app in 2023 for “Developing Mindful Muslims” - at the intersection of Science and Islamic Psychology + Spirituality.
Founded Muraqaba Institute in 2024 to bring all our services under one
brand, including
The Muraqaba School.

Meet The Team

Wadud Hassan

Principal & Academics Officer (Founder)

20+ years in School & Curriculum Leadership, Teacher Training, & Consulting

Leiya Hasan

Operations Officer (Founder)

20+ years in School Management, Corporate Marketing, & Strategy

Mona Hammad

Instructional Excellence Coach

15+ years in Curriculum Design, Teacher Training, and Prog. Manager for Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth

Sumaia Michel (Renske)

Curriculum Design Co-Lead

10+ years in Curriculum Development, School Leadership, & Teacher Training

Maneeza Dawood, PhD.

Research Director

Postdoc at Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence 10+ Years of Program & Curriculum Assessment, Development, & Thought-Leadership

Farheen Ahmad

Curriculum Design Co-Lead

20+ years in Teaching, School Leadership, Curriculum Design, & STEM Specialization

Farah Ahmed

Prophetic Tarbiyah Counselor

Degree in Psychology with specialization in Neuroscience & Religious Studies

Abdullah Haq

Tech Lead

Tech leader for all management systems, devices, and security for ICF & School

Mayte Gutierrez

School Experience Manager

Communications degree, performing arts background, and administrative experience at Zaytuna College

Rafia Shaikh

Kindergarten Teacher

10+ years teaching experience for PreK & KG in Plano ISD & Islamic Schools

Ashley Ilboudo

Grade 1 Teacher

Veteran teacher with public & private schools & pursuing Masters in Elementary Education

Shehla Dhar

Grade 2 Teacher

MS in Science & 7+ years elementary teacher experience

Sharmina Zaidi

Grade 3 Teacher

Masters in Human Development & Early Childhood Disorders and Prosper ISD experience

Sara Azmat

Grade 4 Teacher

Completing teacher certification, Tajweed certified, & Qalam seminary experience

TBD

Grade 5 Teacher

TBD

Ust. Khadicha Sultonova

Qur’an Teacher

Hafiza with 2 ijaza, winner of international Qur’an competition, 3 years teaching experience

Eman Pardesi

Qur’an Teacher

Tajweed certified with several years experience teaching Qur’an & Islamic Studies

Mina Djeffal

Arabic Teacher

6 years experience teaching Arabic at Islamic school & fluent in Arabic, English and French

Afshan Usman

Teacher Aide

Masters in Theological Studies & experience teaching Islamic Studies & ESL

Shahid Chowdhury

Physical Education Coach

20 years experience as Islamic schools’ coach & former Team Captain for Bangladesh National Soccer Team

Staff Bios can be read here