Bismillahir Rahman ar Rahim, 

 

We begin with praising Allah for He alone is the one who bestows all success and He alone has rained down all blessings. May endless peace and blessings be upon our Beloved Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم  ) to whom we are indebted for all that we are blessed with and our sacred knowledge teachers who are his saaw's inheritors.  

​

Duha Fatima Jalili was raised in the shade of the Zaytuna community in Hayward and homeschooled on an urban farm Muslim preschool called Peace Village. The educational vision at Peace Village was to fulfill the purpose of life itself, namely, treading the journey of falling in love with Allah and serving His creation as His devotee. All subjects were taught with this premise in a meaningful hands-on way as Duha spent her time tending to an edible garden, milking goats, raising chickens and playing with Leila the Lamb! Her priceless teachers had a tremendous role to play in establishing this educational foundation. She had the great blessing of being raised under the shade of our precious Bay Area teachers like Imam Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Rami Nsour, Shaykh Yahya Rhodus, Shaykh Tameem Ahmadi, Shaykh Nawaz, Sidi Murabit Benevidiz, Imam Dawood Yasin, Ustada Mona Elzankaly, Ustada Elizabeth Ackerly, Ustadha Ameena Ansari, Ustada Seena and Ustada Nethal Abdul Mumin.   

​

Thereafter, Duha moved to the blessed land of Shaam, Jordan for her secondary education. She spent her years immersed in the Arabic language, memorizing the Quran and the suhba of sacred knowledge teachers while being homeschooled. By the Grace of Allah, she was able to complete the memorization of the Magnificent Quran and prays Allah blesses her with His pleasure and tawfeeq to uphold it inwardly and outwardly. Meanwhile, with over a decade of studying Arabic she was able to test out of the most advanced level at the Qasid institute and speak like a native alhumdulillah. Allah (the Most Generous) gifted her the opportunity to learn from the example of spiritual giants and study subjects in Arabic with some of the greatest teachers in Jordan including Grammar, Rhetoric and Literature with Shaykh Ali Hani and Hanafi Fiqh with Shaykh Firas Shaheen (the Hanafi Mufti of Jordan).  

​

When she realized the void that exists in education and her passion became Early Childhood Education, she strove to use her proficiency in Arabic to build a foundational understanding of Prophetic tarbiyya. In this effort, she completed studying the masterpiece work of Muhammad Suwaid, Minhaj At-Tarbiyya an Nabawiyya lil Tifl.  Thereafter, she mentored under Ustadha Khadija al Abrash, a seasoned scholar and mother of seven children, who taught her the practical application of this outstanding book. Duha was soon to discover the breathtaking wisdom of Shaykh Ramadan al Buyuti on education by studying his book with his granddaughter and son in law. Furthermore, she studied books written by other great scholars on the subject, including Shaykh Ratib al Nabulsi’s ‘Awladuna’ and Shaykh Awn al Qaddoumi’s ‘Al Uloom Al Nabawiyya’. In her quest to receive practical training, she trained under the current educational methodologies being developed by Muslims in Jordan.  She completed her certification for the An-Nus curriculum developed by Maha Shahada and taught for the organization.  She received mentoring from the famous Hud Hud Arabic language curriculum developers, and she observed the application of the curriculum in the classroom. 

​

In a land of love and poetry, Duha was gifted with the opportunity to study the rare art of maqamaat in singing Arabic qaseedas and the playing of the duff (hand drum) with the intention of bringing this traditional beauty to her teaching. She also connected with the rich history of Islam in Jordan, Egypt as well as the spiritual history of the great Ottoman Sultans in Turkey through on-site historic workshops. During this time, she enriched her canvas with learning calligraphy and the Ottoman art of marbling.  

​

Having built this educational and experiential foundation from the Prophetic saaw’s lens, Duha is now deepening the educational vision of Peace Village with the team at The Rose Garden by contextualizing and weaving in the best methods developed by Western educational philosophies. Duha has received her Early Childhood Education from DVC. She is working on her AMS Montessori certification and is scheduled to take relevant courses in both Forest School outdoor education as well as some Waldorf education courses. She has an ongoing relationship with her sacred knowledge teachers and hopes to regularly study with them in person in her quest for self-improvement.  

​

Duha has a diverse and rich tapestry of teaching experience for the last 7 years. She has taught Arabic Immersion for 6 years to non-native children under seven. She has worked for An-Nus organization teaching Maha Shahade’s curriculum in both Arabic and English. She pioneered a summer program for English and Arabic speaking children to teach the Shamail creatively with Arabic immersion. She also developed and taught an online Muslim mommy and me program during the pandemic.   

​

Duha's dua is that The Rose Garden become a haven where the young child's fitra can bloom into a rose whose sweet fragrance can bring joy to the Garden Rose....our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم  ) Ameen!