BIOGRAPHY OF ZAKIRA SHYROSE JAFFER DHALLA

EDUCATION
Zakira Shyrose Jaffer Dhalla, B.A (hons), M.Ed., is a graduate of York University (Toronto, Canada) and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Sociology and a Master’s Degree in the field of Education.

She is a polyglot and speaks several languages including English, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Kutchi, Swahili as well as some French, Punjabi and Sindhi.

She has spent the summer of 2015 in Qum, Iran studying at the world-famous women’s seminary “Jamiyat uz Zahra” under the supervision of the nation’s top published scholars and professors including Agha Mohamed Shomali.

PROFESSION
She lectures on Islam at mosques, universities, churches and interfaith gatherings and also recites majalises in Urdu, English and Gujarati.

A published freelance writer, playwright, motivational speaker and Anti-Racist Educational Counsellor by profession, she conducts workshops on Race and Cultural sensitivity and often appears on TV program panels and radio talk shows to speak on Race Relations.

She is a puppeteer and has appeared twice a week for 5 years on her TV show “Zakira Shyrose and the Puppets” on UK-based TV station Ahlulbayt TV. Her puppet shows appear regularly on Hidayat TV (UK), Ahlebait Channel (UK), Mainstay Foundation Channel, OCN Channel (Hyderabad), NASIMCO Channel (Toronto) and many others

She is a “Sanaakhwaan” and recites Islamic religious hymns and elegies and has studio-recorded 2 albums and travels internationally to recite “Milads” “marsiya” and “nawha”.

Shyrose is a politician in her Islamic community and has served as Executive Councilor for the North American Shia Ithnasheri Islamic Community Organizations (NASIMCO) representing Toronto in an organization that represents Shia mosques from around the world.

She has also served as World Federation’s Liaison for North America for the Women’s Needs Assessment initiative and has lobbied successfully for a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to cast their own vote in elections at their mosque’s congregations and to run for any position (including that of jamaat President) on the mosque’s Executive committee.

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE
She has a huge social media presence and has a massive following on Facebook. She also manages her own website and has a huge following on Twitter and Instagram.

AWARDS
Shyrose Jaffer Dhalla is an internationally well-known “Zakira” or Islamic lecturer and is the recipient of Ahlulbayt TV’s “2012 Award of Excellence” for her outstanding contribution to female public speaking. The award was presented to her at a prestigious event in London, England and was broadcast on LIVE TV around the world.

She is also recipient of the Islamic Centre of North America (ICNA) “Woman of Wonder” award (2017) as well as the “Woman of Inspiration” Award (2014) by Toronto’s Radio Pro-Learning program.

In January 2018, she was awarded an award in Mumbai, India for being “An Ocean of Inspiration” and was honoured at a glittering Gala Event organized to showcase her work with speeches, videos and slideshows. The event was held at a Banquet Hall and was covered LIVE by TV channels and social media and was attended by selected, high-profile female politicians, professionals and veteran volunteers.

She recently received the “Woman of Substance Award” (2018) in Mumbai, India where she inaugurated Khadija al Kubra Foundation’s first campaign, “Each one Teach one” to raise funds for education sponsorship initiatives for the needy children of Mumbai as well as for Syrian refugees.

She was the Guest of Honour at the Khoja Shia Ithnasheri Jamaat of Mumbai’s “Sports and Education Achievement” prize distribution ceremony where she was awarded a plaque as a Guest of Honour in commemoration for her services to the community.

AWARD NOMINATIONS
She has been nominated thrice for the World Federation’s “Fatema a.s Inspires” award for being a woman of inspiration and has also been nominated for York University’s “Award of Excellence in Teaching” as well as the “Alexander Lincoln Award” for her outstanding work on Race Relations as an Anti-Racist Educational Counsellor in Canada.

TV PROGRAMS
Zakira Shyrose appears twice a week on Hidayat TV on her own two TV shows entitled “Pearls of a Wisdom with Zakira Shyrose” and “Payame Zainab with Zakira Shyrose”

She also appears daily on her own TV show on Hyder TV entitled “Hour of Inspiration with Zakira Shyrose”

Zakira Shyrose has hosted her own daily TV talk show ‘Hour of Inspiration with Zakira Shyrose’ on Hyder TV in Shahr Ramadhan w she interviewed 30 famous and world-renowned personalities such as
Maulana Abid Bilgrami, Alima Zakia Batool Najafi, the Hashmi sisters, Nawhakhwaan Mohsin Raza Hashmi, Canadian government Member of Parliament Honourable Mark Holland, Shree Swamiji Sarang Maharaj, and many others.

NOTABLE LECTURES
Zakira Shyrose has spoken at a protest outside the White House in Washington, USA at a massive rally in June, 2018 to commemorate the tragic, oppressive, Saudi destruction of the Holy graves in Jannatul Baqi. Video clips of her speech have gone viral and have been viewed over 100,000 times on Facebook, Whatsapp and YouTube and shared over 2500 times on Facebook.

In 2015 she addressed an outdoor assembly of an estimated 10,000 people at an Ashura procession in Stockholm, Sweden. Video clips of the speech have gone viral and have been shared over 3000 times and have received over 200,000 views on various pages on Facebook as well as on YouTube.

In September 2017 she spoke outside the White House in Washington, DC at a massive outdoor assembly event entitled “Message of Hope” to dispel prevalent stereotypes about Islamophobia and to create awareness about the first successor of the Holy Prophet of Islam, the Shiite leader Imam Ali a.s The event was broadcast LIVE on several TV channels and on Social Media.

In September 2019, she spoke on the “Universal Message of Imam Hussein a.s” in front of a distinguished crowd of academics, students, non-Muslims and Muslims of various sects at the elite and prestigious, ivy league institution, Princeton University.

In October 2019, she addressed a procession of over 5,000 attendees at an Arbaeen Procession in downtown Toronto. Videos of her speech went viral on social media and Whatsapp and the speech was broadcast LIVE on several international networks and Islamic channels. She has spoken on the personality of Imam Ali a.s on the occasion of Eid e Ghadeer at an outdoor assembly in Chicago, Illinois in September, 2018. The event with pictures was covered in several major Urdu newspapers across USA.

In March 2018, she became the first female to report LIVE for a TV series of five 90 minute programs from inside the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali a.s in Najaf for Safeer TV and from the Shrine of Imam Hussein a.sin Kerbala.

She has also spoken at an outdoor Ashura Assembly in the downtown city centre of Leicester, England in 2011 which was covered by BBC reporters and their TV camera crew.

In 2016 she was a keynote panel speaker at the prestigious UMMA Convention in Chicago which was attended by 3000 people from across North America and where she also presented a Muslim Ted talk on thetopic of Muslim Parenting.

MUHARRAM ASHRA MAJALIS – Zakira Shyrose has given 12 lecture series during the Islamic Holy Month of Muharram in:

Zakira Shyrose recited two Muharram Ashra in 2018 in Mumbai, India at 2 imambargahs, Mehfil e Mustafa (Juhu) and Mehfil e Panjatan (Bandra) as well as 3 Muharram Ashra majalis in Aram Baagh, Mazagoan.

AYAMEY FATIMIYYA
She has recited for two years for Ayyamey Fatimiyya in India (Mumbai 2017, Dulhaipur, Benares 2017 and in Gujarat 2019). She has recited Ayame Fatimiyya in Atlanta, Georgia, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Allentown, Pennsylvania and in Mumbai, India as well as dasma majlis in the world-famous Stanmore Khoja mosque in London, England and at various events in cities across North America.

She has recited LIVE majlis (broadcast LIVE all over India) at the world famous Ayame Fatimiyya 4 days of Azadari in Dulhaipur, Benares in January, 2017.

She has recited Ashra Zainabiyya majalis in Karachi, Pakistan’s world-famous Mehfil e Murtaza. She has also recited the Arbaeen Chehlum majlis in the oldest and most respected imambargah in Karachi, Mehfil e Shahe Khorasan where thousands of women attended the majlis under the open sky.

ZIYARAH GROUPS
She has led several Ziyarat groups as a guide including for Footsteps to Jannah (April 2018), the first ever Ziyarat group especially organized for families with children. Her lectures, children’s interactive activities, parenting workshops and majalis from the bus and at holy places from that trip appear in a documentary for Ahlulbayt TV.

PUBLICATIONS
Her article, based on her personal experiences with racism, entitled “I Ain’t Sitting Beside HER!” was first published in the Toronto Star in 1993 and has since been anthologized in over 30 textbooks and other publications. The article, as well as Zakira Shyrose’s Master’s thesis, are currently used in University courses to train teachers in Undergraduate Education programs.

Her lecture notes from 4 of her Muharram lecture series have been published in book form.

She has published a plethora of articles and interviews during her tenure as Features Reporter for 10 yrs for Toronto’s Ja’ffari News. She has written, produced and directed several original dramas andstage productions in English, Urdu, Gujurati and Katchi.

She is currently a columnist and a writer for over 10 yrs for Africa Federation Samachar magazine

She has written for textbooks, magazines and publications such as the Toronto Star, Islamic Insights, Imaan Magazine

She has served on the Editorial Board of World Federation’s Islamic Insight magazine and was a regular writer for the UK-based publication. She also writes daily blogs on the internet and on facebook.

PROFILES
In 1993, a 5 colour page profile on her work for anti-racism was carried by Dubai’s Gulf News which featured her picture on the front page of their weekend magazine.

Her biography has been profiled in several languages (including English, Urdu and Gujarati) on countless TV channels including Ahlulbayt TV (UK), Channel WIN (Mumbai), RVS Madagascar, Toronto 360, Hidayat TV (UK) and many others.

RADIO APPEARANCES
She has appeared as a regular Sunday night radio guest for one year on Canadian broadcast Radio Prolearning providing psychological insight and advice on a variety of topics.

She has also appeared several times on Radio Nairobi (Kenya) and regularly on Radio Pakistan (Toronto) and TV channel Toronto 360 to discuss the historic events of Kerbala and to discuss other faith-based topics.

TV APPEARANCES
She appears regularly as a guest speaker and in documentaries on UK-based Safeer TV and as as a guest speaker on a popular India-based TV program on Channel WINN entitled “Misael e Zindagi”. She appears frequently on UK-based Hidayat TV’s Urdu LIVE morning show and call-in program “Subah Hidayat”

Zakira Shyrose regularly appears on TV to speak on Islam on AhlulBayt TV, Islam In focus, Ahley Bait TV, Hidayat TV, Zamana TV, Qum-based Hadi TV, Safeer TV, WINN TV, ALI TV, Hyder TV, QAIM TV, Hyder TV, Zulfikar Channel, NASIMCO Channel, Khadija Channel and for the official channel from the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza a.s and on several channels in the Middle East managed by Zahra Trust.

Zakira Shyrose is married to a Family Physician and is a mother to 3 children aged 24, 22 and 15 yrs. She intends, inshallah, to return to graduate studies at university in 2022 to pursue her PhD. degree and is working on simultaneously writing several books for publication in the near future inshallah.

Email Me shyrose@zakirashyrose.com

Ahlulbayt TV Award of Excellence in Public Speaking: London Gala
https://www.facebook.com/zakira.jafferdhalla/videos/479009048797584/

Radio Prolearning with Sara Bokhari – Zakira Shyrose wins Award of Women Empowerment

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Ahlulbayt TV Woman’s View
Language: English

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Ahlulbayt TV with Zahra Al Alawi
Profile of Zakira Shyrose PART 1
Language: English

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Ahlulbayt TV with Zahra Al Alawi
Profile of Zakira Shyrose PART 2

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TVS, Antananarivo, Madagascar with Maulana Zahir Aly PART 1
Language: Gujarati

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TVS, Antananarivo, Madagascar with Maulana Zahir Aly PART 2
Language: Gujarati

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