Madina Kids is founded by Shaykh Dr. Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Ninowy, the Founding Director of Madina Institute.
Madina Kids has two project teams: Kids Dhikr and Once Upon A Rhyme.
The Once Upon A Rhyme Series Project Team has multi-disciplinary team members as follows:
The Editor – Ustadh Dhakir C. Braun
Dhakir C. Braun is a Canadian convert to Islam and a graduate of Madina Institute’s full-time Usul al-Din program, where he studied under different scholars, notably Dr. Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Ninowy. He is also a graduate of the prestigious University of Toronto, where he studied Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, as well as Philosophy and History. In Canada, he would frequently give khutbahs, many of them relating to spiritual and character refinement. He would also teach on a weekly basis. He has taught in Canada, USA, UK, and Norway. He is now living in England and is part of the Madina UK team.
The Illustrator – Ms. Aimee Ayres
Aimee Ayres was born and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa – a city that will forever have her heart. She studied Multimedia Design at the University of Johannesburg and works as a full-time freelance artist and illustrator, as well as a mentor for artists learning digital art through CANVAS Academy. Aimee loves creating meaningful art that tells stories of the people and places around her. Her next big goal is to create her own illustrated book of biographies as well as host her own art exhibition. exhibition. “I loved the experience of working on this amazing project. I was overjoyed at the opportunity to help kids around the world see representation of themselves and their beliefs in children’s books format and to help make these stories and fun rhymes come to life.” Find Aimee and her work on the following platforms: https://www.instagram.com/art_intheayres/ and https://www.facebook.com/upintheayres/
The Author – Dr. Ustadha Fatima Hendricks
Fatima is an Occupational Therapist and Educationist living in the USA. As author of Once Upon A Rhyme book series, she facilitates the kids workshops as the loveable and animated character Mama Maktabah. Fatima is a graduate of Madina Institute, South Africa (2015) and Islamic Peace College, South Africa (2019).
Instructional Designer – Ms. Aaysha Jaffer
Aayshah Jaffer works as an instructional designer for an online learning and publishing organisation in Cape Town. She has a Bachelor of Art in English and Linguistics from the University of South Africa and a certificate in dress design and sewing. She boasts an ever-growing exotic sock collection and enjoys baking, painting and word puzzles.
Speech and Language Therapist – Ms. Fatemah Camroodien-Surve
Speech and Language skills development is the single most determining factor for your child’s later academic success. As a speech therapist, I advocate early intervention (not only detecting and intervening early when a delay is suspected), but also enhancing and enriching your child’s current language abilities from a young age. What better way to do this, than through joint book reading with your child? The ‘Once Upon a Rhyme’ series of rhyme books not only allows your child to learn about the Quran, but at the same time it has all the tools to stimulate your child’s language development. These tools, to name a few, include the use of new vocabulary, repetition of words and importantly the use of rhyme, which are precursors for literacy development. I highly recommend the ‘Once Upon a Rhyme’ series of books.
Early Intervention Therapist – Ustadha Zaheera Cajee
Zaheera works as an Early Intervention Therapist for Bamboo Kids and has worked in the field of Autism and special needs education for the past 9 years. Zaheera has an honours degree in Psychology and looks forward to pursue a Masters degree in Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Zaheera is also a graduate of Madina Institute South Africa and continues to pursue her studies in the Islamic Sciences on a part time basis. She is particularly interested in the field of Islamic Spirituality and its role in leading a purposeful and conscious life. In her free time, Zaheera loves reading, spending time in nature and enjoying the company of kids.
Kids Dhikr – Dr Bahia Lagardien
Bahia is originally from Johannesburg, now living in Cape Town. Qualified as Medical Doctor in 2005 at UCT (University of Cape Town). Is Married and a Mom of 5 kids. An eldest daughter and 4 sons. She is part of Madina Social Media as well as Ladies Dhikr teams. Her eldest daughter Nuriya after attending Ladies Dhikrs wanted to know why there was no Kiddies Dhikr, alhamdulilah inspired by her enthusiasm Sister Bahia and a group on moms started the Madina Kids Dhikr circle.
Kids Dhikr – Speech & Language Therapist – Ms Aeysha Ebrahim
Aeysha is a Speech and Language Therapist (University of Cape Town) with a special interest in pediatrics, inspired by children with special needs. Her practice centers around treating children with a range of speech, language, literacy and auditory processing difficulties. She has volunteered on the Madina Kids Dhikr Team since its inception and is excited to continue the Madina Kids journey.