Imam Tahir Anwar
Imam Tahir Anwar' is an Alim and Imam currently residing in San Jose, California. Born in London, England, his family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1983. His basic religious education--studying the Qur'an and the Arabic language--was with his father, also a religious scholar and Imam--while attending public school. In 1991, he went to Gujrat, India, where he enrolled in a traditional Islamic University (madarassa) namedDarul Uloom Falah-e-Darain'' (or The House of Knowledge Beneficial in Both Worlds) in his ancestral home of Tadkeshwar.
For the next seven years he underwent an intensive educational curriculum that comprised of the memorization of the Qur'an, the perfection of the art of reciting the verses of the Qur'an, the comprehensive study of the Arabic language including syntax, etymology, and literature, the study of Prophetic Traditions, the study of the translation, exegesis and elucidation of the Qur'an, and the study of Islamic Jurisprudence.
At the completion of his course of study, he received the degree or title of 'Aalim (literally, "scholar").
He has been serving as the Imam and Director of Religious Services at the South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA, or "the Third Street Mosque") located in San Jose, California, after graduating with a B.A. in Islamic Theology in 1999. He is also the head of the Islamic Studies Department, and an Islamic Studies teacher at Granada Islamic School (attached to the Muslim Community Association of Santa Clara County (MCA) in Santa Clara, California. He has also taught Hanafi fiqh at the world-renowned Zaytuna Institute.
A lot of his passion is in doing outreach work, due to which he also serves as on different panels and commissions:
- Human Rights Commissioner for the City of San Jose
- Muslim Chaplain at the Santa Clara County Correctional Facilities.
(He has been licensed by the State of California.) - Community Advisory Panel for KQED, a local PBS radio and television channel.
Iman Tahir, as he is usually referred to in his community, is frequently invited to speak at forums at various Universities and religious institutions. For these and other related purposes, the Imam has had the opportunity to travel to many different countries. He is fluent in English, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, and Gujarati. He is married and has two sons.