A graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, Dr.Muhammad was a delegate to the 6th International Conference on Islamic Education held at Cape Town, South Africa in 1996. She has also lectured at Stanford University, the Univesity of Chicago, California State University-Sacramento, DePaul University, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought, to name a few.

Dr.Muhammad has published in the Muslim Education Quarterly out of London, Enland, the Journal of Negro Education and the Encyclopedia of African American Education.

While conducting independent research on the State of Islamic Education in America in 1984, Dr. Muhammad observed, first hand, the myriad of problems confronting Islamic schools in America. She believes that the solution to these major problems includes:

• The need for consistent Qur'anic research and development, from which appropriate Islamic curricular, instructional materials and teaching methodology can be extracted;
• Islamic teacher education; and
• the establishment of Waqf (educational trust or endowment) This constitutes what she defines as parts of the essential infrastructure needed to secure and ensure the perpetuity of Islamic education in America.

Among her recommendations for successful educational development, she stresses the important role of mother as the first teacher and the stability of family life as the primary contributors to a student's balance and overall success. Her approach to education is, therefore, comprehensive, involving the family, the school and the community.

Dr. Zakiyyah Muhammad believes that teaching is a noble profession, exemplified by Muhammad, The Prophet (PBUH), and that teachers must be held in high esteem. She also believes that if education is to be relevant, it must be redefined by the incomparable wisdom of The Qur'an.