• About
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    In 2009, Zaytuna College was founded in Berkeley, California, with a mission that called for grounding students in the Islamic scholarly tradition as well as in the cultural currents and critical ideas shaping modern society.

  • Academics
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    Zaytuna College aims to educate and prepare morally committed professional, intellectual, and spiritual leaders who are grounded in the Islamic scholarly tradition and conversant with the cultural currents and critical ideas shaping modern society.

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  • Admissions & Aid
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    Our mission is to educate students to become morally, intellectually, and spiritually accomplished individuals ready to contribute to our contemporary world in ways that are proportionate to their gifts and to the needs of human society.

     

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  • Campus Life
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    Zaytuna’s campus is on Holy Hill and students enter the College as part of a cohort, a community of learners that travel together through the curriculum.

Faculty

Hosai Mojaddidi

Faculty; Tajwid Instructor

Hosai Mojaddidi

Hosai Mojaddidi
Faculty; Tajwid Instructor
Office Hours: By appointment

Ustadha Hosai Mojaddidi is an educator, writer, spiritual counselor, and mental health advocate who has served Muslim youth, families, and communities for more than twenty years. She was born in Afghanistan and moved with her family to the United States as refugees of war. She speaks English, Pashto, Dari/Farsi; is semi-fluent in Urdu and Arabic; and is conversational in French.

Her traditional Islamic education began in 1996 at the Islamic Studies School in Hayward, California, where she studied under Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. She went on to study at Zaytuna Institute (now Zaytuna College), training in Qur’anic memorization, Hanafi fiqh, seerah, aqeeda, tazkiyyah an-nafs, and other sacred sciences. She studied tajwid with Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi and completed her ijaza in tajwid with Qari Amar Bellaha. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts with a minor in Sociology and a Master of Science in Curriculum Design and Instruction.

In 2010, she co-founded MH4M (mentalhealth4muslims.com) with clinical psychologist Dr. Nafisa Sekandari. MH4M was created to address mental health in the Muslim community through both a spiritual and a clinical lens. It quickly built a global readership and grew to include contributing authors and a directory of Muslim therapists. Through MH4M and the many collaborations she made with other mental health professionals and organizations, Ustadha Hosai has spoken on mental and spiritual health for decades nationally and internationally.

Her community work centers on building strong sisterhood among Muslim women. She has led halaqas (spiritual study circles) and support groups; and has offered individual spiritual counseling, mentoring, and couples’ spiritual therapy. In Southern California, she co-founded Happy Hearts, a preschool co-op that served one of the largest Muslim communities in Irvine, California at the ICOI masjid. Additionally, she taught monthly halaqas, classes, and workshops; and she co-hosted the online radio program Insights: Muslim Women Unscripted on OneLegacy Radio. In 2017, she authored a children's book titled, Clear the Path: A Rhyme Book on Manners for Little Muslims.

In addition to teaching at Zaytuna College, Ustadha Hosai also teaches 7th and 8th grade Islamic Studies and speech/debate at Northstar School. Every month she leads private teen halaqas for high school girls and a women's halaqa through the MCC East Bay; and throughout the academic year, she offers workshops and talks at Islamic schools and masajid in the Bay Area and throughout northern California. She also offers talks and trainings online nationally for a variety of organizations. Ustadha Hosai is an active content creator on social media where she frequently shares her personal reflections and social commentary.