Molana Zakaria Badat is an Imam and peace-promoter who leads a Muslim congregation in Kendall, Florida and who previously served as the chief Imam and Khateeb of Masjid-al-Falah in Leicester, England for 10 years.
Education
Badat lived in England for many years where he attended the Institute of Islamic in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. This is where he memorized the Quran to become a Hafiz and qualified and graduated as a Qāriʾ after learning seven recitation traditions. He also studied Islamic theology for six years to graduate as a Muslim scholar of Islam.
He then went to study at madrasahs (Kashif Uloom and Miftah Uloom Taraj) in Delhi and Taraj, India.
Badat holds a Master"s degree in Islamic Studies and Politics from the University of Portsmouth. Molana Zakaria is fluent in Arabic, English, Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu.
He has travelled around the world promoting peace in many countries including Saudi Arabia, India, North America, Belarus and Russia.
Career
Imam Zakaria has been a visiting Imam in British prisons, and was part of the multi-faith Leicester Council of Faiths. He was a presentrer on Radio Ramadhan Special in Leicester for six years. Imam Zakaria has lectured at the University of Leicester, De Montfort University, the University of Miami and at Florida International University.
In July 2006, Molana Zakaria Saab gave a speech at a peace conference organized by Shree Morari Bapu of India in Leicester, and in November 2006 he gave a speech at a world peace conference in Miami.
Badat has performed several Hajj pilgrimages, and takes groups of Hajjis to Saudi Arabia from Florida, New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago.