A mosque, in memory

CBC

a day ago

Atlantic Voice
He lost his son and grandson in the Titan tragedy. Then he quietly paid for a new mosque for the community that helped him mourn.
At an early morning Eid al-Adha prayer service, the sun shines through the stained glass windows in the Shaheed Suleman Dawood mosque, formally the Mary Queen of Peace church.Mike Rossiter/CBC
Caroline Hillier Jun. 10, 2025
As international media crews clustered along the St. John's harbour front in June 2023, fixated on broadcasting the Titan catastrophe to the world, there was a quiet mourning taking place in another part of the city.
Two of the passengers aboard that ill-fated submersible, which imploded off the coast of Newfoundland during a descent to visit the Titanic wreck, were a father and son, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood.
Their family had flown in from London. As a search for survivors became a recovery effort, they turned to the only mosque in St. John's for a funeral service. There, they prayed through their profound loss beside people they'd never met before, and found solace.
'In the Muslim community, there are no strangers,' said Hussain Dawood, the father of Shahzada and grandfather of Suleman.
'Even though you don't know them, they could be from the other side of the world, but you're one community.'
The funeral sparked a lasting relationship and grew into something much larger: a long-awaited expansion for the city's growing Muslim community that many involved see as pre-destined.
In 2023, the Titan submersible implosion grabbed the world's attention. But there's another side to the story you might not know about: How the family of two of the victims found solace with the St. John's Muslim community, and ended up making a generous, and much needed, gift. That's all in The Best of Planners, a documentary from Caroline Hillier.
That expansion, now on the cusp of opening, is named in honour of the Titan's youngest victim, who was 19 years old: the Shaheen Suleman Dawood Mosque.
Just as the funeral went mostly unnoticed, the origin story of this mosque is largely untold, despite the intense media scrutiny surrounding the Titan disaster, even two years later.
Friendship from tragedy
Hussain Dawood is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and a deeply religious man, who finds comfort in believing his son and grandson are both in heaven.
'My creator was so gracious to bless us with two beautiful souls and it was a gift. And it's his right to take it back,' Dawood said during a video interview with the CBC from London, U.K.
Dawood often references teachings from the Quran when explaining how his Muslim faith helps him understand grief, life and loss.
'You never get to the bottom of it because it's too deep, but it's a book of wisdom,' he said.
That wisdom has helped him cope with the tragedy of the Titan. The submersible, built and owned by the private company OceanGate, offered $250,000 US tours to the Titanic wreck. But it had been built out of carbon fibre, an unconventional material for such deep-sea dives. On its 14th dive to the Titanic, the Titan imploded shortly after the June 18 launch.
Hussain Dawood speaks to CBC News about the aftermath of the Titan tragedy and how the world came together.
All on board — including OceanGate's CEO — were killed instantly. In that, Dawood sees mercy.
'I don't think any of the five even knew what was happening. It is so instantaneous. It's too fast for the brain to process,' he said.
In the Muslim faith, funerals are held shortly after death, and so it was important to the Dawoods to make arrangements as soon as possible. Hussain contacted the existing mosque in St. John's, and Syed Mansoon Pirzada. Pirzada, the longstanding president of the Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador at the time, arranged the prayer and spread word through the community, but not to the media.
'He took it upon himself, and he and his very gracious wife, and they looked after us and they arranged everything,' said Dawood.
'We spent quite a bit of time with them…. we made sure that they were comfortable,' said Pirzada.
'Mr. Hussain Dawood was poised in the face of this loss, and Mrs. Dawood, her tears were non-stop flowing and it was heartbreaking to see,' said Amnah Pirzada, Syed's wife.
'We were sitting with them and talking to them and holding their hand sometimes.'
Amnah remembers being touched by the funeral service.
'It was beautiful and quiet and I think they felt that peace. It gave them a bit of closure,' she said.
Even after the Dawoods departed St. John's, they and the Pirzadas kept in touch. When both families find themselves in the same city — be it Dubai or Karachi — they meet up.
From cross to crescent
St. John's first and only mosque at the time of the funeral, Masjid Al Noor, managed to accommodate all the mourners. But that is far from the building's normal operations.
The mosque was built in 1989 for the 100 or so Muslim families living in the area at the time. In the decades since, that community has grown exponentially.
Now numbering more than 10,000 members, the mosque regularly overflows for Friday prayers. Worshippers use the kitchen, and sometimes the lawn, covering these extra spaces with their prayer mats. Prayers for big celebrations, like Eid, are held at sporting complexes.
Fifteen years ago, the Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador hatched plans for a new mosque, raising funds and even buying land. But those plans stumbled and eventually stalled due to city regulations and other setbacks.
But then came a call from a real estate agent, with an unusual offer: a former Catholic church, Mary Queen of Peace, was on the market. And it might just fit their needs.
The church, too, had ties to tragedy: it was initially sold off in 2022, along with other Catholic properties, to pay settlement suits for victims of the Mount Cashel orphanage. The sexual abuse of children there, at the hands of the Christian Brothers that ran it, exploded into the public eye in 1989. Legal proceedings are still working their way through the courts.
After the initial sale of Mary Queen of Peace, plans to renovate it faltered, and it was this second chance at the property the association leapt on.
'We said that yes, we are interested. And then we started thinking about how much money do we have and how much funds we can collect so quickly,' said Pirzada.
The Muslim association had an opportunity, but also a hurdle. Islamic law doesn't allow for loans that involve interest — like mortgages — and the association didn't have enough money to buy the building outright.
images expandThe Muslim community in St. John's is diverse, made up of people from Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and other countries around the world.
Now friends, Pirzada told Hussain Dawood about the potential purchase, and complication, over a phone call.
'[Pirzada] said that there is a church available, we have a limited time frame and he looked quite worried that they would lose this opportunity,' said Dawood, who is from one of richest families in Pakistan.
Dawood offered to pay for the church.
'If this is what we can do to show our gratefulness for all that you've done… we'll happily participate,' Dawood said.
'That's what we did. So I just sent him the money.'
Pirzada and the association were shocked about the generous donation. The sale went through in December 2024, for nearly $2.2 million.
'This was a gift from — not only a huge gift from Mr. Hussain Dawood's family — but also, I believe, that it was a gift from God to our community,' said Pirzada.
Pillars of the faith
Charity isn't just encouraged in Islam; it's mandatory. Hussain Dawood said his donation to the St. John's Muslim community was simply in line with the Quran.
'I did them no favour,' said Dawood.
'It's just working with the community for hopefully the betterment of all members of the community. And I consider it is their graciousness that they're giving my grandson's name to the mosque."
As charity is a pillar of Islam, so too is the belief of destiny — signifying that everything is predetermined by God's knowledge and will.
Though the failed attempts at building a new mosque through the years were frustrating, Pirzada believes that this church was destined to be a mosque.
'That's what we believe, that there's one plan which a person makes, or a human being makes. But there is another plan which is made by Allah, or God, and he is the best of the planners,' said Pirzada.
Open for Eid
After church pews had been lugged out and carpets rolled up, the Shaheed Suleman Mosque opened its doors for the first time on March 30, for Eid al Fitr, the celebration following the holy month of Ramadan.
Over the course of two services, nearly 7,000 people come through the doors — where the cross handles have been replaced with Arabic calligraphy — to pray, and many offer extra prayers for the Dawood family and their loss.
'Yes, we are all destined to die. But sometimes our deaths can facilitate, can pave a ground for other people to become hopeful,' said Ayse Sule Akinturk, an executive member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Muslim Association.
'On the one hand, two souls are lost, you know, in such a tragic event. And then that sense of loss becomes a sense of hope for the entire community here.'
The cross on top of the building has been replaced with a crescent moon. The former confession booth is now an audio-visual room, with new security system screens. Some history will live on, however, with a space dedicated to display parts of the building's Catholic past.
'Never in my wildest dreams'
While the mosque reopened for Eid al Adha prayers on June 6, it remains under renovation and is not yet being used for daily prayers.
The new space will also offer education and religious programs, to be named for Shahzada Dawood. And for the official opening of the Shaheed Suleman Mosque, there are celebration plans in the works to involve both local Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
'It's going to bring forth something very beautiful, with every prayer, whoever is going to attend the prayer, rewards will be sent to the entire family,' said Amnah Pirzada.
There will also be a special invitation to that opening sent to the Dawoods.
'I would never in my wildest dreams have thought of going to St. John's and meeting such wonderful people over there,' said Hussain Dawood.
That encounter has left its mark: with the mosque, and with him.
'Life is not black and white and it's not a straight line. It's full of complexities.'
Credits
Audio documentary produced by Caroline Hillier with help from Lindsay Bird and Liz Hoath.
Photography by Mike Rossiter.
Copy editing by Lindsay Bird and Mike Moore.
Video produced by Stephanie Kinsella and edited by Katie Breen.
Layout by Katie Rowe.
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