Ali Zahran does cleaning at Northern Lakes College in Slave Lake. He’s the friendly guy with a ready smile who also happens to be the spiritual leader of the local Muslim community.
It might seem a bit odd for a man with a university degree to be working as a janitor, but for Zahran it’s no problem. He likes the job and he likes the place he works.
“They are very nice people over there,” he says in his strong Egyptian accent.
Zahran is Imam – the equivalent of a priest - at the local mosque. Invited to Slave Lake from Edmonton five years ago, he has been looking after the congregation of about 20 families ever since. The Muslim community is big enough to have built the mosque on 6th St. S.E. and to maintain it, but paying the Imam a living wage is not in the budget. Therefore he works full time and keeps up his duties at the mosque as well.
“I lead the prayers,” Zahran explains. “And I do a speech every Friday.”
Friday is the day of the week for Muslims that corresponds to the Christian Sunday. But every day of the week is a day for worshipping God, and Muslims are required to do formal prayers five times per day. Each prayer has its own name and is designated for a certain time of day. The last of these is the one held at the mosque, led by the Imam. He also provides advice and instruction in the ways of the Islamic faith to the members of his congregation.
Zahran grew up in the Muslim faith in Egypt. His father was a professor of religion. Ali went to high school in Saudi Arabia when his father was teaching there and came back to Egypt to attend Al Azhar university, a 1,000-year-old institution with campuses throughout the country. He studied at Tanta – a city north of Cairo, where religion, philosophy and psychology were his subjects.
Graduating in 1992, he did his year of compulsory military service. Following that, “the government hired me as a teacher and an Imam.” His job was a dual one, looking after a mosque and teaching psychology and philosophy in a high school.
In 1997 Zahran accepted an invitation from the Dar Al Arqm mosque in Edmonton to be its Imam.
“I’m young and I’m looking for a good future,” he explains.
Zahran moved to Edmonton, during which time he applied for landed immigrant status. Meanwhile, the Slave Lake Muslim community had built its new mosque. Zahran made an appearance as a guest speaker at a ceremony there shortly after it opened. His audience must have liked what they heard, because they soon invited him north to serve as Imam to the Slave Lake mosque and its congregation.
After a year in Edmonton he moved to Slave Lake with his wife Abir Sabra and their son Mohammed Ali. A couple of years later the family grew to four with the birth of daughter Nada.
When explaining his religion, Zahran is keen to stress the characteristics and roots that Islam shares with Christianity and Judaism. He sees all the world’s people as being descendants of Adam and Eve and creations of the one God that Muslims call ‘Allah.’
“We are all brothers and sisters,” he says. “The Prophet said the best Muslim is the one who has the best behaviour to the people around them.”

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