Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan
After delivering the Friday sermon in Ottawa on June 13, Imam Mohamad Jebara will get on a bicycle and start peddling towards Halifax, 1,500 kilometers away, hoping to reach the coastal city overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on June 27 in time to deliver the Friday sermon. A car will follow him.
Jebara will do so though he has chronic back pain, is not athletic and has a six-year-old daughter and a four-month-old son. He wants to show fellow Canadians that Islam encourages self-improvement and service to humanity.
His daughter Razaan sings the Canadian national anthem at social functions.
It’s anybody’s guess whether seeing a young, frail imam bicycle for days and days will convince those Canadians who learn about the trip, or even care, that Islam promotes health and the betterment of mankind. But Jebara is determined to try.
He has spent most of his 33 years studying Islam and other religions and teaching Muslims and Canadians of other faiths. What impresses me is his knowledge, respect for all faiths, humility and gracious manners, open mind and energy in reaching out to others. Unlike the other learned imams in Ottawa, he is not paid by an organization. He is on his own.
He established the Cordova Spiritual Education Centre and the Cordova Academy 11 years ago. Cordova in Muslim Spain was renowned for its tolerance, commitment to learning and service to all people. Cordova Academy focuses on classical languages, life coaching and art therapy. He also created Instantia Seminary to concentrate on scriptural sciences, religious legislation and self-realization.
Jebara teaches mostly Arabic, Islam and the Holy Qur’an. He is admired by youth and Canadians of other faiths with whom he interacts. I attend some of his lectures and turn to him when I need information about some aspect of Islam. He is soft-spoken and humble and you wouldn’t guess that he speaks 15 languages and is a monument of knowledge.
A member of the Canadian Council of Imams, Jebara was appointed the council’s representative in the Canadian capital in 2012. He is well versed in Sunni and Shia laws, Jewish Sacred Law and Christian Canon Law. He says he has authored 96 academic books and pamphlets. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s annual human library chose him as one of North America’s youngest and most accomplished imams.
Jebara asserts about his planned journey: “I am quite passionate about the sanctity of life. I want this journey to highlight the importance of keeping healthy, and giving from one’s self, to donate blood, donate organs, give from one’s time and wealth, to help others and make a positive difference in this world.”
Says the imam: “Three fifths of being a Muslim revolves around ‘others’: to give from oneself, to empathize with others and to feel part of one human family. As a Muslim, I strongly believe in the unity of all humanity, as one extended family, and in the sanctity and reverence of mother earth, to respect the environment and care for all creation.”
His parents were secular, average Muslims in Lebanon who moved to Canada when Jebara was young. They took him to Lebanon for a visit when he was 11. One day he heard his grandfather recite the Holy Qur’an. Its beauty electrified him and spurred his interest in Islam.
In Ottawa schools he was an honors student. He studied Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other faiths on his own. He went to mosques, churches and temples. He learned from 126 sheikhs in Canada, Syria and Morocco. He also talked to rabbis, pundits and priests.
Convinced that Islam was the truth, he accepted Islam formally though he was born in a Muslim family. He memorized the Qur’an by the age of 12, wrote his first book on tajweed when he was 18, performed the pilgrimage when he was 21 and obtained his PhD in classical studies from Morocco in 2008.
He created Cordova Academy’s curriculum with 12 books and 12 levels. It has 500-600 students and 20 teachers. Last year one of his students was selected from all over Canada for the Qur’anic recitation competition at Al-Azhar University. He says his students or those who listened to his lectures in Canada and overseas number some 150,000 people. Some of his former students are now teaching in Australia, Singapore, Thailand, the UK, US, France, Switzerland and Canada.
Jebara emphasizes that the brotherhood of man, respect for women and for other people’s views are central to Islam. He is invited to lecture overseas. He was impressed by the constructive role women play in Malaysia and awed by the help the Mohammadia organization in Indonesia constantly gives to the needy. In Guyana he trained 240 imams. At Cordova Academy women play an important role. He states that 40 percent of Islamic scholars were women and that Imam Bukhari studied from 150 female scholars. Jebara worries about the rise of fanaticism. He says Islam teaches compassion, justice and respect for everyone and that intolerance, extremism and violence violate its basic principles.
— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge.
