Najah Bazzy – Empowering Hope, Serving Humanity, Celebrating Diversity
Najah Bazzy, RN, is an internationally recognized healer, humanitarian and interfaith leader who left a six-figure salary as a critical-care nurse to build Zaman International. The Metro-Detroit based non-profit empowers marginalized women and children to break the cycle of extreme poverty. In 2019, she was recognized as a Top Ten CNN Hero highlighting Zaman’s growth from a grassroots team of volunteers to a world-class organization with a global reach that has helped more than 2.87 million people in 20 countries since 2010.
Born and raised in Southeast Michigan, Najah earned her nursing degree from Madonna University and specialized over the past three decades in critical care and transcultural nursing. The CEO of Diversity Specialists, Najah has implemented a national model of transcultural clinical care and hosted workshops for health care institutions across the country. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Michigan State University’s Institute of International Health, and hosts transcultural leadership workshops on bereavement and medical ethics for chaplains at Bayan Claremont Theological School. In 1997, she co-founded the Young Muslim Association, now known as the Muslim Youth Connection, and serves as Senior Advisor providing leadership training to youth.
Najah has been interviewed by national and international media outlets about her work. Recently, Najah was selected as a CNN Hero for 2019. Najah has been profiled on CBS 62’s “Eye On The Future: The Power of Women” along with Suzanne Shank, Mary Barra, Gretchen Valade, and Andra Rush. She was featured on a United Way of Southeast Michigan billboard as a source of inspiration to Detroit-area youth.
An avid reader and tea aficionado, Najah lives in Canton, Mich., with her husband of more than 35 years, Allie Bazzy. They have four children and five grandchildren.
We have a human responsibility to care for one another. People just need opportunity - they deserve dignity and want hope - and that’s what Zaman does best. As a nurse, I fix things and heal others. And Zaman is just a place that heals the world
- Najah Bazzy
Building Interfaith Bridges to Achieve Common Goals
As an interfaith leader, she has educated thousands about Islamic practices and beliefs through books, documentaries, and talks before U.S. and international audiences. Following 9/11, she served as a leading voice in building interfaith bridges as the country attempted to heal. Najah is a respected ambassador within Metro Detroit’s interfaith community fostering dialogue to advance shared objectives. In 1997 she co-founded the Young Muslim Association, now known as the Muslim Youth Connection, where she currently serves a Senior Advisor providing Islamic education, spiritual enrichment, and programming. She is an expert in Muslim health care and ethics with a focus on end-of-life care and has provided diversity and transcultural trainings to the United States Army, the United States Department of Justice, New Detroit, Susan G. Komen, and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent. Najah has written a book on “The Beauty of Ramadan,” and appeared in a series of documentaries on her life’s work and vision for the human family, including the PBS film “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.” She has provided educational and training to groups making the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).
A Healing Hand: Empathy and Understanding Across Cultures
Najah has practiced at Detroit Medical Center’s Sinai Grace Hospital and Harper-Hutzel Hospital and with Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, for which she developed a national model of transcultural clinical care. As head of Diversity Specialists she has conducted countless workshops for healthcare administrators, practitioners, educators and policymakers on important cultural and spiritual considerations for service delivery, ethical decision making, staff training, and end-of-life care. She has also consulted and taught for the International Red Cross and the American Red Cross and lectured to nurses, doctors and social workers at universities across the country. Najah has been a part of adjunct faculty at Michigan State University Institute of International Health in East Lansing. She also holds a position at Bayan Claremont Theological School.
Zaman: Hope for Humanity and Shedding the Shackles of Poverty
The extreme poverty Najah witnessed during post-discharge house calls to hospital patients she nursed led her in 1996 to found Zaman International, a grassroots network of Southeast Michigan donors providing food, furniture, clothing and utility assistance to marginalized women and children throughout the region. The organization was incorporated in 2004 and under Najah’s leadership now offers comprehensive crisis assistance, infant burial, and vocational training and life skills programs – all operated out of its 40,500-square-foot Hope for Humanity center in Inkster, Mich. Through partnerships with international relief organizations, Zaman has also funded projects such as the Sips of Hope Well Campaign, bringing humanitarian aid and safe drinking water to more than 2 million people globally.
