London Mourns Abdo Hassan, Last Male Builder of Historic Ontario Mosque
Members of London’s Muslim community are mourning the death of the local pioneer known for his “permanent smile,” leadership, and contributions to building a historic mosque in the province.
Abdo Hassan arrived in London in 1947 and was among the first Muslims in the city who helped build the London Muslim Mosque, which was the first mosque built in all of Ontario and second in Canada.
Hassan, the last surviving male builder of the mosque, died Saturday. He was 94.
“His smile was his trademark. Everybody knew him by his smile,” said Hassan’s nephew Ali Jomaa. “If you spoke to him, you’d melt. You’d have no choice. Doesn’t matter who it was, he had an effect on everybody around.”
London Muslim Mosque’s outreach coordinator, Ali Chahbar, said that he was a toddler when he first met Hassan, and referred to him as an uncle throughout his life.
“He’s played a significant role in my life and the lives of many of my contemporaries,” Chahbar said.
“He was always at the mosque … He had a permanent smile so right away, he made you feel welcome. Back in the ‘80s as a young boy, Islam was not as prevalent as it is now. The mosque was like a second home to a lot of us and to have someone such as [Hassan] was just a positive energy,” he said.
Londoners braved the snow to gather at the London Muslim Mosque on Monday for a prayer and Hassan’s funeral, followed by a burial at the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens.
“It’s like nice white sugar falling from the sky for him,” Chahbar said of the snowy day.
Part of the ‘greatest generation’
Jomaa, whose parents also came to London around the same time as Hassan, said the city was the meeting place for many Muslims originally from Baaloul, a tiny village in Lebanon where Hassan was born.
Over time, Muslims from other nearby villages and then other nationalities also settled in London.
When the original group of Muslims needed a place to gather and pray, they purchased a house on the corner of Oxford Street and Summit Avenue in 1957. After that house burnt down, Jomaa said the community set out to build the London Muslim Mosque as it is known today.
“They were able to build such a huge building because of their faith, their power, their unity and their love for each other,” he said.
Hassan’s role was the “go-getter,” Jomaa said.
“Of course, the community leaders would all be discussing the plans, but you knew [Hassan] was going to be the one pushing to make sure that the plans got implemented,” Jomaa said.
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Years later, Hassan continued to be a pillar in the community, still maintaining the mosque, sitting on its boards and committees, and giving advice to a new generation of leaders.
Chahbar calls Hassan and the others who helped build the mosque part of “the greatest generation,” whose legacy must be preserved as there are fewer survivors every few years.
“You feel a little colder, a little abandoned and bewildered because those anchors and those pillars are almost done,” he said. “It’s a little scary and a little sad that they’re not here, but it’s even scarier because it’s our turn now.”
Chahbar said he hopes to keep Hassan’s legacy alive by continuing to share the history of how London’s and Ontario’s first mosque came to be, and how all involved in “the greatest generation” contributed to the growth of the city’s Muslim community today.
“Their influence, their work, their sincerity was felt all across Canada, and for that we say thank you,” Chahbar said.
Source: cbc.ca
