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Shaykha Tamara Gray Bio:
Tamara L. Gray, born 1966 in Minneapolis Minnesota, became a Muslim when she was eighteen. Her early interest in religion prompted her to take a course in comparative religion which introduced doubts concerning the Christianity she had been preaching and interested her in Islam. Shortly after converting, she moved in with a group of Malaysian Muslim students, which gave her a close up look at every day practice and serious worship. At nineteen having been introduced to people who had studied in Syria, she married a Syrian-American student and began, what would become a lifelong mission, helping people learn and practice Islam. Over the next eight years, she completed her BA in political science and a Masters in Education from Temple University, had two daughters, and visited Damascus where she yearned to seek formal Islamic knowledge.Her dream came true when the family moved to Syria and she was able to embark upon her quest for knowledge and upbringing. She began with an in depth study of the biography of the Prophet (s) with the professor whose book she would later help translate. She went on to study the Islamic subjects of hadith, tafsir, fiqh, aqidah and others; which are the equivalent of a BA in Shariah. Anijazah (certificate) in Quran crowned her work in tajwid and she translated a book on that subject as well. The seventeen years she has spent in Syria have witnessed the birth of her son, acquisition of fluency in spoken and classical Arabic, several full-time jobs in international and renowned private schools, the co-authoring of English ESL programs, running many teacher training workshops, but most importantly her work in dawah.
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Her background as one well versed in Christianity, of a high educational background and knowledgeable in the Islamic sciences, along with her ability to assimilate into her new culture, gives her the unique gift of being able to reach out and help not only western converts living abroad or western Muslims visiting to study, but the local young population as well. It is this experience; her work with the convert, the western student of Islam, and the Arab disillusioned or disenchanted young woman that has earned her the greatest acclaim. With a personality that most find disarming, she has used her background in drama, to direct Islamic plays, her educational background to conduct Islamic workshops, and her creativity and drive to come up with ingenious ways of encouraging people to do ibadah.