Vancouver, Canada

Mohammed-Assad was born in Karachi, Pakistan and has spent considerable time in the Middle East including Jeddah, Kuwait and Dubai. After completing his A-levels, he moved to Vancouver, Canada to undertake a university education.

Brother Assad has traditionally been home-schooled by his parents for his religious education due to the non-availability of a Madrasah education in Saudi Arabia. At the age of 11, he began volunteering as a teacher at the first English-medium Madrasah established in Kuwait that was established by his parents. Since then, he has served as a Madrasah wherever he has travelled to.
 
Mohammed-Assad has completed two degrees in Science and in Education and currently teaches full-time at Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy in Richmond, Canada.

Assad is keen to further his Islamic knowledge and has attended numerous courses on Islamic theology, Irfan and Qur’anic tafsir offered by the Academy of Learning Islam (ALI). He has actively served as a volunteer at ALI and assisted in organizing summer workshops/camps for youths in 2004 and 2006. He has been involved with other community initiatives such as assisting with Ramadhan Itikaf and general youth counselling. He was also one of the founding members and chairman of the first Shia Muslim club on campus. Recently, Assad has been involved in assisting with the establishment of Al-Mustafa Madrasah in the Vancouver area, working as part of a diverse, multicultural team. In his leisure, Assad loves to read, take nature walks/hikes, play soccer and swim. He can communicate in at least 6 languages and is endeavouring to learn Farsi as well. He is married with a two-year old son.
 
Assad comments, “I am indeed looking forward to the Ziyarat of Imam Al-Ghareeb (AS) and Bibi Masuma (AS) and the service of their visitors.  The opportunity of working with youth from diverse backgrounds and the sharing of worldview and life experiences it brings with it is invaluable. And above all, to be able to contribute my two-cents worth of insight in this midst is surely an honour. I consider this to be a journey on the road to personal growth and surely this experience will be enriching in both areas I am passionate about – education and youth spirituality.”

Iran 2008