We regret to advise of the death of Qasem Mahmud on 26 June 2017 in Ottawa ON. Qasem was a Professional Engineer with decades of service in the Canadian public sector that included Engineering and Architectural staff in ADM (IE) at National Defence Headquarters. He was a visionary leader in the National Capital Region Muslim community.
Born in Haifa, Mandated Palestine, Qasem was an engineering graduate of Cairo University. He emigrated to Canada in 1963 and, within three years of arriving, he formed the Hamilton Muslim Association. Three years later he set up the first weekly Islamic school at McMaster University. This was soon followed by his creating Ahram Ahram Construction to provide housing for Hamilton's Muslim community. Qasem moved to Ottawa in 1972 and established the first Ottawa Islamic School. He also launched a book project with a series of children's books that were first published in 1981.
Qasem provided leadership within the Muslim community and held many offices. Before the formation of the Islamic Information Centre (now the Islam Care Centre) and other groups now representing Muslims in the media, Qasem was the voice and face of Ottawa Muslims in most of the city's civic forums.
He was the President of the Association of Palestinian Arab-Canadians in 1981. He founded the Eman Summer Camp at Long Bay campsite, near Westpoint ON, to fill a void for Muslim youth activities. For more than 30 years the camp has attracted the region's school children with religious, cultural, and outdoor activities and provided leadership training.
Qasem became Chair of the Islamic School Federation of Ontario in 1985. In 1989 he was Chair of the Ottawa Board of Education's Multicultralism Advisory Committee and went on to become Chair of the Ethnocultural Alliance of the Capital Region. He co-founded the Muslim Community Council of Ottawa Gatineau in 1994, followed by the Council of Muslim Communities in 2001. Qasem became President of the Muslim Council of Ottawa-Gatineau in 2004.. He was Chair of the Joint Committee of the Ottawa Muslim Association in 2011 and was also president of The Arabic and Islamic Education Foundation of Ottawa.
The funeral janazah prayer will take place on 28 June 2020 at 1:30pm at the Ottawa Main Mosque at 251 Northwestern Ave. followed by the burial at the Pinecrest Cemetary. Condolences will be held at the SNMC Mosque 3020 Woodroffe Ave on 28 to 29 June from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.{khAug2020}
