Life
A native of Karachi, Jamal worked as an engineering technician. When his first wife, who was suffering from undiagnosed Multiple Sclerosis, had exhaused all fertility avenues, he married Cheryfa MacAulay, with her blessing. MacAulay had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, dropping out of Grade 10 in Halifax to join the army, and entering a troubled first marriage before converting to Islam and turning her life around. The media would later point to the fact she wore the niqab face covering, and had campaigned against sexual education being taught in schools without due parental notice of its content.
The father of four sons, Jamal would occasionally buy his two wives identical clothing, which they would wear when visitors came to the house, to tease him.
After volunteering to clean the carpet and the washroom, and make small repairs at the Ar-Rahman mosque in Mississauga, he became an active member and began to teach Tafsir and occasionally led the prayers. Although being twice the age of the average participant, he frequently joined youths in games of Cricket and Soccer. He was also noted as fixing cars in his driveway.
He claims to have been approached several times by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in the years prior to his arrest, and asked to give information about community members, including Imam Aly Hindy, which he refused to do.
Jamal was receiving severence pay from a manufacturing plant that had shut down, and working part-time as a school bus-driver in the months prior to his arrest.
He was described as "quiet", but "very vocal" about his opposition to the War in Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. Hindy characterised him saying that "when he sees a Muslim being killed, he can't keep quiet".
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