Tarbiyah Learning, the full-time Islamic school, is starting out the school year in brand new classrooms in Masjid Jami Omar, located in Ottawa's West end.   Muslim Link interviewed Tarbiyah's principal Ghazala Choudhury about the move and what parents and students can expect if they enroll in the school this year.  

Sisters Madeha and Fariha Irshad are collaborating again for this year’s Eid Bazaar at Jami Omar, taking place from 12pm to 6pm Saturday, June 25th. Muslim Link interviewed the sisters about how they are trying to build the Bazaar into an annual community event.

Musleh Khan, one of North America’s youngest imams, serves at the Sakinah Community Center in Toronto. Educated at the University of Medina, the city where he was born to Indo-Caribbean parents, Khan has been recognized for his ability to make some of Islam’s most complicated concepts easier to understand.

Muslim Link caught up with Khan at the Jami Omar fundraising dinner. In this exclusive interview, Khan shares his thoughts on how to prevent youth radicalization and gang involvement, as well as how to effectively engage youth and increase ethno-cultural diversity in mosques.

At the Jami Omar fundraising dinner on January 24th, Muslim leaders focused on the need for youth to have opportunities to get involved at local mosques. About five hundred guests filled the Jami Omar gymnasium at the fundraiser and Anver Malam, imam at the Jami Omar mosque, said the event would not have been possible without the help of youth volunteers.

Syed Mumtaz Akhtar has been involved with community and cultural groups for the past four decades. He was the founding member and/or president of several Muslim organizations including: the Ottawa Muslim Association, Sadaqa Food Bank, Human Concern International, Canada Pakistan Association, Federation of Pakistani Canadians, Muslim Community Council of Ottawa-Gatineau and the Jamiatul Muslimeen of Ottawa Carleton. Mr. Akhtar has had roles in the Canadian Muslims National Steering Committee for Bill C-36 and C16 and the Community Policing Action Committee.

Sometimes a slow start leads up to a surprising finish. Look to the west of Ottawa, to the site of the Jami Omar Mosque, where after years of what looked like little or no progress, there now stands an almost fully completed mosque.

In truth, major construction on the Jami Omar Mosque had been completed much earlier, but as with the other mosque projects, most of it occurred underground, noticeable only to careful observers. Now, that the basic structure of the mosque is complete, it is easier more those of us driving by the site to connect it with the beautiful artists' rendition of the finished building found on the Jami Omar fundraising webpage.