To God We Belong and To Him We Return



Born in the early 70’s in the interior of Gambia, Imam Fode Drame was the second surviving child of Oummou Sylla and Al-Hadj Ousman Drame. Oummou, a young and protective mother, was not only known for her striking beauty but also for her exceptional devotion. Al-Hadj Ousman was an esteemed scholar and healer whom countless individuals from diverse regions of West Africa flocked towards throughout the year. By the age of two, Oummou was called back to her Creator and young Imam Fode prematurely parted from the tenderness of his mother’s arms and watchful sight. Having the role of both mother and father, in addition to his teaching and leadership duties, Al-Hadj unconventionally brought his son to accompany him while he taught. Little by little, the spirited boy had not only memorized his father’s Islamic teachings, but the entire Quran. As a surprise to many, young Imam Fode soon surpassed his father’s own students and could no longer study with his age mates. 



A Budding Scholar



Young Imam Fode’s love of learning soon took him away from his father’s wing and brought him to Dakar where his maternal uncle, Shaykh Soubki Sylla, a notable scholar, arranged for him private schooling to prepare him for university. There, he mastered French and English, and also took it upon himself to study Hebrew, Latin, Greek and German, and perhaps most importantly, ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics.



By his early 20s, he was no longer under the aegis of his father or uncle, but in a world completely different to that which he knew: Montreal. By his third year of university, however, God had different plan for him. He was offered an imam position in a small suburban mosque, and despite his initial reason for coming to Canada, he took on the position.



Being of a different cultural background and unusually younger than most of the mosque’s congregants, Imam Fode’s deep insight of the Quran and good nature won him over to the hearts of the community. His mother’s saintly devotion and his father’s spiritual training had now come to life in a different context three thousand miles away, and had produced profound realizations which would not only shape his teachings, but change the lives of those around him.



The Far West



Imam Fode's new trajectory soon brought him the far West -- British Columbia -- and by 2005, he founded his own non-profit organization, Zawiyah Foundation. This charity not only grew into a school and full-fledge platform to distribute his knowledge, but as an international community. By 2015, his lectures began to be aired live; and today they are viewed in all continents on a weekly basis.



One cannot help but notice that the study of linguistics is what brought Imam Fode to Canada; yet it was also language which God first taught Adam. Clearly, as being the first instrument taught to the First Man, language is more than a mere tool of communication, but a profound way to move and reform people and to connect individuals not only to others, but to their inner selves and essentially, to their Creator. And that is the core of Imam’s work: he teaches, unites, heals, and writes through the knowledge that God has granted from the language of the Quran.