[Updated July 2026]
Introduction
This document introduces some of the main organizational structures of the Ridhwan School, describes the nature of the School, and articulates the roles of various organizational bodies in relation to each other and to how they support the Diamond Approach teaching and its availability in the world.
The Ridhwan School
At its core the Ridhwan School is a spiritual mystery school, specifically focused on the teachings of the Diamond Approach. The School is not an entity with legal status in and of itself, but rather a network of teaching structures, groups, individuals, activities and legal entities that comprise the presence of the Ridhwan community as a spiritual body in the world. It was founded and developed by Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas) and Karen Johnson with the assistance and support of others. Hameed and Karen, along with their named successors, remain principal sources of guidance and authority for the School’s operations and development.
Currently the School has over 300 teachers, 4500 students, and 70 groups in the United States, England, Europe, Africa, South America, Australia and New Zealand.
The Ridhwan Foundation
The School operates under the auspices of the Ridhwan Foundation, a church organization based in the United States. The Foundation was originally formed as a legal entity with bylaws in 1983 and was recognized by the IRS as a non-profit charitable 501(3)c corporation and as a church in 1987. The decision to create a church entity was to have a legal structure that supports the Diamond Approach to function freely in the conventional world. This way teacher/ministers may be trained in the Diamond Approach accordingly to support the unfoldment and evolution of this spiritual path for the benefit of humanity. A church structure in the US best matches the School’s purpose and activities, while also allowing the greatest latitude and potential to develop the teaching. This legal structure also makes it clear that the Diamond Approach is not to be mistaken for spiritual psychotherapy, which could have required conforming to regulations that would have impeded the evolution of the teaching.
The Foundation is the legal and civic structure that gives legitimacy, protection, and support for the School to do its work in the secular world. It is the visible organization that supports the teaching activities of the School and deals with finances, legalities, and various other fiduciary functions. It is operated in accordance with the usual required corporate structures, with a board of directors, officers of the foundation, and various advisory committees.
Specific functions of the Foundation are:
- Providing support to all teachers and students in the School as a legal umbrella and administrative resource, thus allowing the Diamond Approach teaching to manifest more fully in the world.
- Ordaining teacher-ministers, maintaining standards of practice and generally overseeing the functioning of teachers and their work with student members of the Foundation.
- Serving as the employer of the directors and teachers of working within Diamond Heart Academy groups, programs and teacher trainings.
- Providing the bulk of the routine administrative services needed by the School through its offices in Berkeley CA.
- Owning operating and maintaining the Ridhwan public website and school portal.
- Making certain Diamond Approach teachings available to students and to the public in various media.
- Owning Ridhwan and Diamond Approach trademarks in the US and abroad, and copyrights for some Diamond Approach teachings.
- Manages the updating of Ridhwan’s congregational list.
- Owns and maintains its own land and buildings in California and Colorado and pays various related bills (storage, utility, sewage, etc.) to maintain both locations.
- Otherwise provides all types of services to Ridhwan as necessary or requested.
Ridhwan Foundation Board
The Ridhwan Board is the main leadership body of the School, overseeing the functions of the Ridhwan Foundation and in service of the teaching and the School. The Board is the support structure designed to both guide the school community, and operate legally in the world, interacting with government agencies, banks, and other such entities. In addition to providing leadership for the school, it also deals with finances, legalities, purchasing and maintaining buildings, fundraising, supporting publications, and overseeing administrative staff. It fulfills these duties with the help of various committees focused on certain areas of the organization that support and advise the Board according to their specific mandates.
The Board has the responsibility to watch over legal, financial, and operational matters, and to protect the church and nonprofit status of the Foundation. It seeks an appropriate balance between protecting against risks and impinging on the teaching,
while upholding the responsibilities of the Ridhwan Foundation as well as the values and guiding principles of the DA path.
Ridhwan Academy
The Academy is a teaching structure within the Ridhwan Foundation and constitutes the center of the larger School. The Academy consists of the teaching groups closest to the heart of the School (referred to as Diamond Heart groups), along with all the seminaries programs that train teacher-ministers. The Academy also oversees Diamond Approach Online, the online department of the Ridhwan School.
The Academy is currently run by the founders of the church, Hameed and Karen. As heads of the Ridhwan Academy, Hameed and Karen provide additional leadership to the teachers and oversee the processes through which the teaching is conducted and administered. They ensure that the teaching appropriately reflects the mission of the School and that it is as current as possible in terms of content and delivery.
Seminaries
One of the primary purposes of the School and the Academy is to train future teacher-ministers who have a calling to carry the Diamond Approach teachings into the world. The primary function of the seminary is to educate and train teacher-ministers who fully embrace the Diamond Approach as their spiritual path and who are interested in learning to work with others’ souls to help bring them to deeper realization of their True Nature via the methodology of the Diamond Approach.
The Teacher Body
The Teacher Body is composed of all ordained Ridhwan teacher-ministers. Teacher-ministers are ordained by the Ridhwan Foundation after extensive training. Becoming a teacher-minister is based on a desire to be of service in this way, which comes from the depth of one’s Being, and is one of many ways a person can be of service to True Nature. There are currently over 300 teacher-ministers, working with students in a number of countries around the world.
Diamond Approach Groups
At this point the majority of teaching activities within the school happen in Diamond Approach groups. These groups are taught, conducted, and managed by individual DA teachers and teaching teams, and operate with a great deal of autonomy in terms of teaching structures, schedules, format, fees, etc.
Student Body
The Student Body is the community of individuals who are engaged in receiving the Diamond Approach teachings. The unique and individual realization of these students is one of the central fruits of the teaching and brings the beauty of True Nature into visible form in the world.
In addition to participating in the various structures of the teaching (private sessions, small groups, and large groups), students serve in important roles in volunteer positions on various committees that serve the functioning of the School. Ridhwan depends on such volunteers to operate functions such as maintaining buildings and grounds, running audio-visual activities, managing fundraising events, and more. In this way the contribution of students is vital to the optimal functioning of the School.
Friends of Ridhwan
Friends of Ridhwan is a nonprofit entity with its own board of directors, initiated and led by students, with the purpose of raising funds to support the Ridhwan Foundation. It was created to have an appropriate separation between the teaching and the activities of seeking and receiving charitable gifts, while functioning cooperatively with the School and its various manifestations.