Robert Ibrahim Jaffe, M.D., M.D.(H), D.D.
President
Robert Ibrahim Jaffe, M.D., M.D.(H), D.D., is the President of the University and a faculty member. Dr. Jaffe received his medical degree from the University of Illinois and practiced Allopathic, Complimentary and Homeopathic medicine in Arizona and Hawaii. He now resides in northern California.
He founded the Jafffe Institute ( now known as the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism) in June 2000, to bring his comprehenesive syntheseis of medical, energetic, and spirutal healing to professionals and lay people who want to heal in a complete and holy way thorugh understanding why people become sick and what can be done to resolve their illness.
Dr. Jaffe is a master healer, spritiual teahcer and Sufi Murshid who has completed over 40,000 healings and helped thousands of people walk further in their personal journeys.
Dr. Jaffe brings an ocean of love, wisdom and healing to those people who are seeking to find the truth and reality of their beings.
Maxine Salima Adelstein M.Ed., D.D.
Dean of Education
Maxine Salima Adelstein M.Ed., D.D., helps people to discover and embody the deep truth of their beauty and essence through her work as a healer and teacher. Ms. Adelstein is Dean of Education, chair of the Department of Spiritual Ministry and Sufi Studies and a faculty member. She is a master healer who has helped hundreds of clients heal from illness and lifelong emotional pain. She has a private healing practice in Pennsylvania and teaches spiritual healing seminars nationally and internationally. Her heart is filled with the joy and compassion that result from living in the heart of God.
Jeff Rahim Bronner
Jeff Rahim Bronner is a beloved healer and faculty member who serves God with all his heart. He believes in the majesty and awesomeness of God, and that when we turn to God for help, God makes it so that our lives are filled with wonder and awe. After earning a degree in English from UC Riverside, Jeff tried many different spiritual paths. He has personally experienced that the Sufi method of cleaning the heart and returning to God is the fastest, most merciful path available. He has been a professional healer for the past nine years and was named Happy Hairston’s “Top Speaker for the City of Los Angeles.” He is a Spiritual and Medical Healing Practitioner. He leads workshops across the nation, focusing on helping people to heal sexual trauma, overcoming financial debt, and teaching couples how to find the love together.
Barbara Aisha Cotten MA, H Ct
Aisha brings more than eighteen years of teaching, healing and counseling experience to the University. She is a past director of the Healing Intensive Program of the Shadhiliyya Sufi Retreat Center and a master healer who specializes in facilitating healing disease through her ability to bring the healing light deep within the physical body. Aisha brings the deep love of God and gentle guidance to her teaching of Spiritual Ministry and Sufi Studies. She has a private healing practice in California and teaches divine surrender and sexuality in the holy way seminars nationally.
John Abd Al Qadr Davies, LL.B., M.Litt, M.S., Ph.D.
John Abd Al Qadr Davies, LL.B., M.Litt., M.S., Ph.D., faculty member at the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism, is Co-Director of the Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding Projects at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland. After practicing law and psychology and teaching meditation in Australia, he moved to the US in 1982 and has led or partnered in conflict transformation and peace building initiatives in over 25 countries, and has trained thousands of professionals in conflict transformation, prevention and multi-track diplomacy, including political leaders and diplomats, UN peacekeepers, police, educators, religious, traditional and civil society leaders. He has conducted extensive research on the impact of spiritual and secular techniques in promoting peace, published widely and served as consultant to various US departments and international governments and organizations. He has dedicated his life to empowering people, organizations and communities in all cultural and spiritual traditions to create sustainable peace, wholeness and personal growth.
John Wadude Laird, MD
Faculty and Past President
Dr. John Laird is the past President of the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism and a faculty member. He received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School in 1976 and has more than twenty years of experience in direct patient care. Dr. Laird was responsible for the passage of landmark legislation in North Carolina in 1994, legalizing the practice of alternative medical therapies. Through his activities as an administrator and healer, Dr. Laird radiates the love of God to everyone he encounters. His passion and strength inspire students to trust God fully and to give their lives in service to all who need healing and love.
Nura Laird, M. Ed.
Nura Laird, M.Ed. is chair of the Department of Peacemaking and a faculty member. Nura has been a student of healing and Sufism since 1977. She has extensive training and experience in community and family mediation and in teaching and counseling children and adults. Since graduating from the Energy Mastery School in 1992, Nura has worked professionally as a spiritual counselor, teacher and seminar leader internationally. Nura is especially inspired to help restore the real love and peace to families, and to guide her clients and students to bring more love and peace into our world.
Mariam Ruth McGinnis, Ph.D.
Mariam Ruth McGinnis, Ph.D., first worked in the field of psychology in 1964 and earned her Ph.D. in 1971. She has specialized in sexual abuse, pre-verbal trauma, and chemical dependency. She was on the faculty of Indiana University and has taught in the area of trauma and torture survivors. Dr. McGinnis is a profoundly gifted master healer and faculty member. All who know her are blessed.
Elizabeth Ihsan Rose, Ph.D.
Ihsan Rose, Ph.D., was born into a family of healers. Dr. Rose has a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. Her ground-breaking dissertation research on spirituality and psychotherapy was published in the flagship Journal of Counseling Psychology. A lifelong quest for the heart of healing led her to study many mainstream and traditional healing modalities and spiritual paths. She integrated mainstream psychology, spirituality, and holistic healing in her thriving private psychology practice for over a decade. She is a graduate and former faculty member of Eastwind School of Holistic Healing, and a graduate of USHS and its teacher training programs. Her search for true healing ultimately led her to Shaykh Sidi Muhammad al-Jamal and the spiritual healing practices of the ancient Sufi tradition, which transformed her life, her healing practice, and the lives of her clients. It is now her great joy and blessing to share this path with others.
Susan Rahima Schmall, Ph.D., R.N.
Susan Rahima Schmall, Ph.D., R.N. is a faculty member and department head of our Spiritual Counseling and Healing program. She is a registered nurse, psychologist and master healer who has successfully brought spirituality into her clinical practice and teaching for over twenty years. She is also the director of the Healing Intensive Retreat at the Shadhiliyya Spiritual Retreat Center, as well as a spiritual healer in private practice. Prior to moving to California, she was the department chair for a graduate counseling program at Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has a deep love of God and is gifted at creating a safe and nurturing space in which people with physical illness or emotional pain can work through their issues to find peace, wholeness, and harmony.
Visiting Teachers
Paul Hamid Werder
Paul Hamid Werder is president of LionHeart Consulting Inc and has been a successful organizational change and leadership consultant for twenty-five years. Mr. Werder is a faculty member at the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism, and chair of the Spiritual Leadership department. He has merged his traditional business acumen with spiritual healing skills to empower leaders to work from the prophetic light that he refers to as inner wisdom. He supports students to discover their unique God given talents and express them completely with deep humility. The ultimate result of these students’ contribution to humanity is their ability to align their clients with the light of Allah while standing up to the darkness in the world.
Said bin Yunus
Said bin Yunus is striving to be a humble servant of God through his work as the Imam of the Shadhiliyya Sufi Center and a guest teacher at the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism. After attending two universities, he discovered deep happiness, personal healing, and a meaningful life by embracing Sufism and traditional Islam. As an American convert, he has a foot in two worlds, one western and one Sufi/Islamic, and his 11 years of study and experience help to create bridges of understanding. His greatest passion is sharing the wisdom, beauty, strength, and love that emanates from this way. In his work as Imam at SSC, Said leads prayers and Dhikrs, offers teachings, and hosts retreat in the zawiyah. At the USHS, Said strives to open a deeper understanding (fiqh) of the practices of the way, empowering each individual as they walk their own path to Divine Light, Love and Mercy.
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