About Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi

His Eminence was born in 1957 in a scholarly family in Bihar, India. He migrated to Africa with his parents where he received elementary education at an English school.  For two years, he then studied the Arabic and Persian languages with his respected father and two other scholars in Dar-Es-salaam, Tanzania.

In 1972, at the age of fifteen, he went to Qum to study at seminary (hawzah). During his ten years stay in Qum, he studied with various teachers and moved from the introductory stage (muqaddimãt) to the intermediate stage (sutûh - equates to graduate level in secular universities), and finally, attended the advanced stage (bahth al-kharij - equals to post-graduate studies) of Ayatullah Shaykh Wahid Khurãsãni. Then, in 1982, he returned to India where he stayed at Gopalpur for about a year.

In 1983, at the invitation of the Shia Muslim Community of British Columbia, he and his wife moved to Vancouver where he stayed till June 1991 and served Shia Islam through his lectures, writings, and teachings. Based on his publications and educational background, in September 1987, Simon Fraser University (Vancouver) admitted him in the post-graduate program at the master’s level. In 1990 he completed his thesis and after a successful defense, was awarded the Master of Arts degree in History in 1991.

In July 1991, he moved to Toronto and worked for the next five years as the Director of Islamic Education & Information Center, providing a variety of religious services to the Shia in North America. During this time, he was also involved in the founding of the As-Sadiq Islamic School, a full-time Islamic school from kindergarten to eighth grade. Since July 1996, he has accepted the responsibilities of the Imam-e Jum‘a and Resident ‘Ãlim of the Jaffari Islamic Center / Jaffari Community Center in Toronto.

He has traveled and lectured in many cities in Canada and the U.S., as well as in Australia, Guyana, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, Dubai, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Kenya.

He is a co-founder of the Council of Shia Muslim Scholars of North America and has been an active and supportive member since its establishment. Currently, he serves as the Secretary-General and the Head of the Urgent Committee and the Crescent Committee of the council.