An on-campus memorial service will be held this week in remembrance of Mohammad Jamal, a first-year student who died in a car accident last month.
The Middle Eastern Cultural Association and Muslim Student Association—organizations in which Jamal was active during his two months on campus—along with the Division of Student Affairs, will hold a memorial service Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. in Tinkham Veale University Center’s Ballroom C.
Members of Jamal’s family, as well as university administrators, faculty, students and friends will share memories and celebrate Jamal’s legacy, said Nabila Azeem, president of the Middle Eastern Cultural Association.
“We want to have an event where the whole campus community could come together to remember Mohammad, the amazing person we were blessed to know,” Azeem explained.
The younger son of Mona and Jamal Jamal and sibling to three younger sisters and an older brother, Suhib, a second-year student at Case Western Reserve, Mohammad Jamal graduated from the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine on the John Hay Campus before attending Case Western Reserve.
Jamal started on campus this summer as part of the university’s Emerging Scholars Program, a six-week initiative designed to help students improve their academic skills and engage them early with professors, advisers and mentors.
As fall semester began, he quickly got involved in campus organizations, serving as the first-year representative for the Muslim Student Association, an active member of the Middle Eastern Cultural Association and a leader of an intramural soccer team.
In the classroom, Jamal took classes such as Arabic I with full-time lecturer Ramez Islambouli, who has known the Jamal family for years through the Greater Cleveland Muslim community.
“In class, he always participated in discussions, and his contributions to these discussions showed a very mature and knowledgeable person,” said Islambouli, who also is helping to organize the memorial services. “Although he was funny at certain times, he was always very respectful to other students—especially those who were not doing well as others. Mohammad has definitely made my work very enjoyable, and I will miss him a lot.”
Hundreds of people from the campus and Northeast Ohio communities attended memorial services Oct. 18 at the Islamic Center of Cleveland, where Jamal was a longtime member.
Individuals interested in making gifts in Jamal’s honor can donate to the Mohammad Jamal Scholarship Fund through the Islamic Center of Cleveland. For more information or to make a gift, visit mjamal.org/.