Zakaria Badat

Molana Zakaria Badat (Arabic: القارئ الشيخ ﺰﻛﺮﻳﺎ الﺒﺩﺍﺖ‎‎) (born 1969 in Gujarat, India) is an Imam and peace-promoter who leads a Muslim congregation in Kendall, Florida he previously served as the chief Imam and Khateeb of Masjid-al-Falah in Leicester, England for 10 years. Molana Zakaria Badat is currently leading a congregation in Davie Florida. The New Masjid is called Masjid-e-Khaleel the masjid website is http://masjid-e-khaleel.org

Badat lived in England for many years where he attended the Institute of Islamic Education in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. This is where he memorized the Quran to become a Hafiz and qualified and graduated as a Qāriʾ after learning seven recitation traditions. He also studied Islamic theology for six years to graduate as a Muslim scholar of Islam. He then went to study at madrasahs (Kashif Uloom and Miftah Uloom Taraj) in Delhi and Taraj, India. Badat holds a Master's degree in Islamic Studies and Politics from the University of Portsmouth. Molana Zakaria is fluent in Arabic, English, Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu. He has traveled around the world promoting peace in many countries including Saudi Arabia, India, North America, Belarus and Russia.

Imam Zakaria has been a visiting Imam in British prisons, and was part of the multi-faith Leicester Council of Faiths. He was a presenter on Radio Ramadhan Special in Leicester for six years. His friend Molana Ibrahim Mogra still presents on Ramadhan Special (now known as FMO Radio Ramadan) which only broadcasts in Ramadan on FM and on the internet. Imam Zakaria has lectured at the University of Leicester, De Montfort University, the University of Miami and at Florida International University. In July 2006, Molana Zakaria Saab gave a speech at a peace conference organized by Shree Morari Bapu of India in Leicester, and in November 2006 he gave a speech at a world peace conference in Miami.

He is a follower of the Sunni Hanafi school of thought and is opposed to any form of extremism. Badat has performed several Hajj pilgrimages, and takes groups of Hajjis to Saudi Arabia from Florida, New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago.