About

FOUNDER Dr. Aneesah Nadir and Associates
PRESIDENT Before the Nikah Marriage Preparation Institute and Social Justice Institute

Dr. Aneesah Nadir is a retired Arizona State University social work professor where she taught for over 17 years. Additionally, Dr. Nadir has taught at Ottawa University, Gateway Community College, and Mesa Community College in Arizona. She has also enjoyed a fulfilling career as a social worker for over 40 years and continues to mentor social work students.

Dr. Nadir provides diversity and inclusion training and education, program development and serves as a speaker on the subject. She has provided continuing education and training programs for the National Association of Social Workers in Arizona and Michigan, Hospice of the Valley and Sage Hospice in Arizona, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, Banner Hospice, Davis Miles McGuire Gardner Law Firm, Arizona State University and many others.

Additionally, Dr. Nadir combines her passion for social work and the law to promote social justice and legal access. Dr. Nadir serves as the President and is a cofounder of the Islamic Social Services Association-USA (ISSA-USA), a national nonprofit headquartered in Arizona which provides mental health education and advocacy.

Dr. Nadir also coordinates ISSA-USA's Sakinah Healthy Marriage Initiative and the Annual National Healthy Muslim Marriage Week to bring awareness to the importance of Healthy Marriages and Families in the Muslim Community. She provides The Before the Nikah Marriage Prep Course and other premarital education programs through the Before the Nikah Institute. The Before the Nikah Marriage Prep Course is a proprietary course developed over 20 years of work in the field of marriage counseling and education.

PARTNER Dr. Aneesah Nadir and Associates
VICE PRESIDENT Before the Nikah Marriage Preparation Institute

Zarinah Nadir is an award-winning American lawyer, educator, social justice advocate, entrepreneur and visionary.  Also known as the “legal translator,” she has a rare ability to make the law plain and accessible for everyday people.  Over this last decade she has been laser-focused on bringing about access to justice to historically disenfranchised individuals, artists, families, communities, emerging entrepreneurs, and seasoned business owners in the United States and Canada to know their rights in areas from civil rights, juvenile law, family law, criminal justice, immigration, and corporate law. Zarinah founded the Legally Savvy Movement to disrupt everyday perceptions of lawyers and help people feel more confident, empowered and less stressed while navigating the legalities of love, life, and business.  Additionally, she works alongside progressive socially-conscious go-getters to build the largest human rights organizations on the planet bringing affordable access to attorneys to the masses - an essential key to social justice.

Raised in Phoenix to celebrate multiculturalism by woke parents from New York, language is one of her favorite tools for cultural understanding.  She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Arizona State University and after the tragic events of September 11th, was inspired to learn law as her next language.   Graduating with a Juris Doctor from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU, shortly following her graduation she was appointed as its first African American Muslim woman Director of Admissions.  Zarinah is also currently adjunct faculty at the University of Dubuque teaching courses in criminal justice and sociology.   She is also a student of Imam Mohamed Magid in Islamic family law. 

She is a highly sought-after speaker and guest on national podcasts.   Having contributed to the community since her teens, Zarinah is an Arizona fixture being featured in multiple city of Tempe History Museum exhibits, most recently Tempe’s 150 Sesquicentennial Celebration. On a personal note, Zarinah loves being born in Queens but raised in Arizona, loves learning languages, and Zumba!

PARTNER Dr. Aneesah Nadir and Associates
VICE PRESIDENT Social Justice Institute

Dahir Nasser has worked in California state government since 2014 as an Executive Fellow, staff at the Health Department - Office of Health Equity, and now as manager and program lead of the $50 million-dollar annual California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) Program. CalCRG provides grants to community based nonprofit organizations and local health departments to provide a range of services for communities disproportionately affected by past federal and state drug policies. Dahir has a BA in Psychology from Cal Poly Pomona and a master’s in public health, with a concentration in health promotion and behavioral science, from San Diego State University. He is an alumnus of the nationally recognized Capital Fellows Program in public policy/administration and the Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools (HSHPS) Graduate Fellowship Program.