Get to know our speakers
Meet our great speakers through their biodata, their life experiences, their achievements and their commitments. Get to know their values and missions!
Dr. Mohamed Rida Beshir
Dr. Mohamed Rida Beshir is a leading expert in the area of parenting and family issues from an Islamic perspective, and he is the author of the best-sellers, “When Muslim Teens Rebel: Causes and Solutions” and “Family Leadership (Qawama) an Obligation to Fulfill, not an Excuse to Abuse”. In addition he has co-authored many other best-selling books on family issues and parenting with his wife, among them: “Meeting the Challenge of Parenting in the West: an Islamic Perspective”, Muslim Teens: Today’s Worry, Tomorrow’s Hope, a Practical Islamic Parenting Guide”, “Blissful Marriage”, and “Parenting Skills based on Qur’an and Sunnah”, as well as other parenting books in Arabic. Some of their books have been translated into several languages such as French, German and Albanian and currently being translated into other languages.
Dr. Beshir has taught many courses on the subject of parenting in North American society with the Islamic American University. He is a regular contributor to the family section of various Muslim magazines, including Islamic Horizons, The Message, and American Muslim. He was also an advisor for the original Islam Online website’s family section. Dr. Beshir has conducted over a thousand workshops on parenting, marriage and tarbiyah matters throughout the world (North America, Europe, Australia, South Africa, Morocco, and Malaysia). He is the recipient of the City of Ottawa Certificate of Appreciation for 2003 for his volunteer work in the area of education. He recently founded www.familydawn.com, a comprehensive family website with a collection of articles, case studies, frequently asked questions, and resources on Islamic family matters.
- He is one of the founding members of HCI “Human Concern International” and served for over a decade as the vice president of HCI.
- He is a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.
- Although Dr. Beshir is an Engineer by profession, in his quest for authentic and classical Islamic knowledge, he has studied with great Islamic scholars and students of knowledge in the areas of Tafseer, Fiqh, Usool Al Fiqh, Tarbiyah and other Islamic subjects.
- During his visit to South Africa in Nov./Dec. 2015, he was interviewed by many Islamic radio stations as well as TV channels. The South African Islamic TV produced a series of seven hours of interviews on parenting and marital issues with Dr. Beshir.
- He was interviewed four times by the famous Deen Show of Chicago during 2014 and 2015.
- He has participated and led many Islamic outreach and Dawah projects as well as numerous community development initiatives on the local and national level in North America over the past 4 decades.
- He has held various elected positions with MSA, ISNA, and MAS on both national and local levels.
- He led the training and development department of the Muslim American Society (MAS) for over 6 years, and was a member for the department for 2 decades.
- He is a regular speaker at ISNA, ICNA, MSA and MAS conferences.
- He is a recipient of the Ottawa Muslim Association Volunteer award for his contribution to the Ottawa Muslim Community.
- He is a recipient of the Ottawa Muslim Circle award for his contribution to the Circle.
- He is a member of the advisory board of SIFCA, the “Shura of Islamic Family Counselors of America”.
Dr. Ekram Beshir
Dr. Ekram Beshir came to North America in 1975 to join her husband. They were blessed with 4 children whom they raised to be dedicated and active Muslim workers. As a wife/husband team, they together authored several bestselling parenting, marriage, and family books in North America, among them, “Meeting the Challenge of Parenting in the West, an Islamic Perspective,” “Muslim Teens, Today’s Worry, Tomorrow’s Hope, a Practical Islamic Parenting Guide,” “Blissful Marriage,” and “Parenting Skills based on Qur’an and Sunnah,” as well as other parenting books in Arabic. Some of their parenting books have been translated to French, German and Albanian and are currently being translated to Malaysian, Bosnian, Indonesian, and other languages. They taught two courses on the subject of “Parenting in North America” with the Islamic American University. Both are regular contributors to the Family Section of several magazines, including “The American Muslim,” “Islamic Horizons,” “The Message,” and “Muslim Family”. Dr. Ekram with her husband Dr. Mohamed Beshir are the recipients of the City of Ottawa Certificate of Appreciation for the year 2003 for their volunteer work in the area of Education as well as other City of Ottawa awards for valuable services to community children in the year 2006. She has traveled extensively, presenting workshops to various Muslim communities all over the world.
- She is a medical doctor by profession, with a background in child psychology.
- She is the founder of both Abraar full time Islamic school and Rahma School, a weekend Arabic and Islamic school, in Ottawa, Canada.
- She is the recipient of the Director’s Citation Award of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board for the year 2000 for her contribution in the area of education from among 7000 employees of the board.
- She is the winner of Muslim Association of Canada special “Mother of the Community” award for the year 2016.
- She has been very active with the Muslim community in Ottawa in the areas of study circles, children and youth camps, sisters programs, and marriage counseling.
- She has traveled extensively to various parts of the world to present parenting and marriage workshops.
- She has also authored other books for teaching Arabic to Muslim children living in Non- Arabic speaking countries.