Moon-Sighting Committee

Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi was born into a scholarly family in Bihar, India, and later migrated to Tanzania, where he received his elementary education and studied Arabic and Persian with his father and other scholars. He moved to Qom, Iran, to pursue Islamic seminary studies and reached the advanced (bahth al-kharij) levels under renowned scholars such as Ayatullah Shaykh Wahid Khurāsāni. He also holds a Master of Arts in History from Simon Fraser University. He is currently based in Toronto, where he serves as the Director of the Islamic Education & Information Center and was instrumental in founding the As-Sadiq Islamic School. He is a co-founder of the Council of Shia Muslim Scholars of North America and currently serves as its Secretary-General, as well as the Head of the Urgent and Crescent Committees.

Sayyid Mehboob Mehdi Abidi al-Najafi, son of Hujjatul Islam Sayyid Abul Hashim Abidi, was born in Nauganwa Sadat, India, and raised in Najaf, Iraq. He pursued Islamic studies at Jamia Nazimia in India, completing advanced studies under prominent scholars in Qom and Najaf. A renowned orator, author, and translator, he has edited the Urdu magazine Al-Ghadir, conducted Quran commentary classes for 17 years, and promoted interfaith dialogue. Fluent in multiple languages, Sayyid Abidi travels extensively for lectures and youth programs. He founded several organizations, including Hadi School of Excellence and the International Baqee Organization. Currently, he serves as the resident scholar and custodian of the Islamic Education Center (Husaini) in Chicago, under the guidance of Ayatullah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, and is a member of I.M.A.M. and the Council of Shia Muslim Scholars of North America.

Shaykh Mohammad T. Zakeri migrated from Karbala to Iran with his parents in 1971 and settled in Qom, where he enrolled in the religious seminary to study Islamic sciences. He worked as a news monitor and summary writer for daily newspapers in the office of the late Sayyid Shirazi in Qom, managing social relations and communication with religious scholars in the seminary. In 1981, he moved to the Zainabiya Seminary in Damascus, continuing his scholarly contributions and supervising the printing of the Fiqh Encyclopedia of the late Sayyid Muhammad Shirazi. In 2000, he relocated to the United States, where he became active in organizing cultural seminars focusing on "Nonviolence in Islam." His efforts culminated in the founding of the Imam Shirazi Global Foundation and the Imam Ali Center in Virginia.