Imam A. M. Khattab, imam emeritus of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, passed away on September 15, 2001 in Windsor, Ontario after a brief illness. He was 69.

Born in a middle class family in a village near Cairo, Egypt on January 11, 1932, he attended the local village school and subsequently enrolled in Cairo's Al-Azhar University. At that ancient seat of Islamic leaning he received a broad education in theology, social sciences, Islamic law and other related disciplines and graduated with a masters degree. His quest for knowledge would later take him for a second master degree in sociology from the University of Alberta and an almost completed doctorate in sociology from the University of Waterloo, both in Canada. 

After his graduation from Al-Azhar University he served in the Egyptian consulate in Calcutta, India for two years and later headed the Institute of Foreign Languages at his alma mater Al-Azhar.

Realizing his unusual abilities in preaching and guidance, Al-Azhar University deputed him to head the Canadian Islamic Center in Edmonton, Canada in 1964. This was a turning point in the life of the idealistic young man and for the next 34-years he used his genius and his intellectual curiosity to guide many Muslim communities in North America and broke new ground in religious interpretations. After serving as director of the Islamic Center in London, Ontario and as director of social services department at St. Joseph hospital in Sarnia, Ontario, he came to Toledo in 1982 to head the Islamic Center.

While in Toledo he guided the construction of the new Islamic Center in Perrysburg and was the driving force in uniting a diverse congregation of 22 different nationalities in the Center. For 16 years he served the Muslim community of greater Toledo and in 1998 upon his retirement he was named Imam Emeritus of the Center. In addition to his duties at the Center he also taught Arabic at the University of Toledo and the Bowling Green State University. And along the way he served on many regional and national organizations notably as Secretary General of the Council of Imams of North America, member of the World Call Council and member of the Interfaith Round Table in Michigan.

Imam Khattab was an original thinker. He used the hitherto neglected and abandoned tool of ijtehad (interpretation of religion according to current times) to break new ground in religious thinking. At times this forward looking and enlightened approach to religious interpretation put him at odds with traditional orthodoxy. However through the strength of his towering personality, his intricate knowledge of religion and history of religious traditions and his simple approach to the practice of religion put him in the forefront of Islamic thinkers in North America. It would be decades before others would accept his interpretations on such sensitive issues as interest banking, Islamic dress code, women rights, laws of evidence and the propriety of giving Zakat, the obligatory tithe, to a mosque or an Islamic Center. With patient persuasion, persistence and an abiding sense of humor he guided the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo to be one of the most enlightened and forward looking centers in North America.

He was a great proponent of links between the community centers and the academia. In the mid 90's he led the effort to establish a chair of Islamic studies at the University of Toledo. He was also instrumental in establishing a training program for imams at the Islamic Center where Al-Azhar graduates could be trained to work as imams in American Muslim communities.

He was a pragmatic visionary and an eternal optimist. He believed and preached shared values with other religions and emphasized the common thread that binds Islam with Judaism and Christianity. 

He will be missed by not only by the local Toledo community but also by a large number of his friends and admirers the world over.

Imam Khattab is survived by his wife Fauzia and his two grown children, son Khalid Khattab of Flint Michigan, a daughter Huda Khattab Moussa (Muhammad) of Round Rock, Texas and one sister and two brothers in Egypt.

His funeral on Sunday, September 16, 2001, was attended by over 1000 people who had traveled from different parts of the US and Canada to pay their respects. He was laid to rest at the Highland Meadows cemetery in Waterville, Ohio after the funeral services at the Islamic Center. 

All gifts donated to Islamic Center in his memory will be used for the chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Toledo.

S. Amjad Hussain is an op-ed page columnist for the daily Toledo Blade and a professor of surgery at the Medical College of Ohio. He is also a past president of the Islamic Center.