Born and raised in Montreal, Indo-Pakistani Canadian Navaid Aziz, 33, stumbled upon a vocation as an Islamic scholar when he was accepted to the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia at 17. Now an imam in Calgary, Aziz will be coming to Ottawa’s I.LEAD Conference to discuss youth empowerment, countering radicalization in Muslim communities, and creating a balanced and just Muslim community.

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.