Maryam Hasna Maznavi (1985–2025) was a visionary founder of the Women’s Mosque of America, the nation’s first women-led Muslim house of worship. Guided by a deep love for Allah, the Qur’an, and the Muslim community, Hasna dedicated her life to creating spaces where Muslim women and girls could access scholarship, leadership, spiritual growth, and community with dignity and belonging.
What began as a dream became a movement.
Under Hasna’s leadership, the Women’s Mosque of America helped revive women-led Islamic scholarship and religious leadership in the United States by creating opportunities for women to deliver khutbahs, lead prayer, teach, organize, and serve their communities in ways many had never experienced before.
Hasna believed deeply in:
- women’s access to Islamic knowledge,
- the beauty of intra-faith diversity,
- community care,
- spiritual literacy,
- and the transformative power of gathering together in remembrance of Allah.
Born in Long Beach, California, Hasna’s vision for WMA emerged from both personal experience and profound spiritual conviction. After reading the Qur’an cover-to-cover in English as a teenager, she became committed to helping everyday Muslims develop a more direct and meaningful relationship with the Qur’an and Islamic tradition.
In January 2015, that vision became reality when the Women’s Mosque of America held its historic first women-led Jumuʿah prayer in Los Angeles. For many attendees, hearing the adhan called publicly by a woman for the first time was transformative and deeply emotional. What began in a small Pasadena apartment gathering soon grew into an internationally recognized movement for Muslim women’s religious leadership and spiritual inclusion.
Among Hasna’s final and most meaningful contributions was the creation of the Qur’an Literacy Program (QLP), a program designed to help everyday Muslims engage the Qur’an through reading, reflection, and discussion. The program reflected her lifelong commitment to making Islamic knowledge accessible, spiritually grounded, and community-centered.
What Inspired The Women’s Mosque of America’s Historic Qur’an Literacy Program?
Her vision continues to shape the Women’s Mosque of America today.
Since WMA’s founding in 2015, hundreds of women have stepped into religious leadership roles for the first time through this community — a living continuation of Hasna’s dream of a women-led Islamic renaissance rooted in scholarship, sincerity, and service. As Hasna once shared:
“This mosque really starts as a childhood dream I had of building a mosque before I die, something that would give back after I was gone.”
May Allah (swt) accept her efforts as ongoing charity (ṣadaqah jāriyah), elevate her rank, expand her grave with light and mercy, and allow this work to continue benefiting generations to come. Ameen.
