Alsunna Mosque

The al Sunnah mosque in Montreal was a temporary home and religious setting for Mohamedou Ould Slahi after he moved to Canada in November 1999. It also became part of the security investigation prompted by Ahmed Ressam’s arrest: Ressam had attended the mosque before Slahi arrived, and that earlier connection helped bring the mosque community under scrutiny.

Slahi’s life at the mosque

After arriving in Montreal, Slahi lived first with a former classmate and then for a time at the al Sunnah mosque. A hafiz, or someone who had memorized the Quran, he was invited to lead Ramadan prayers when the imam was traveling. The account thus presents the mosque as more than an address: it was also a place where Slahi’s religious knowledge had a practical role in communal worship.

Ressam and the investigation

Less than a month after Slahi reached Montreal, Ahmed Ressam was arrested while entering the United States with explosives and a plan to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s Day. Ressam had been based in Montreal and had attended the al Sunnah mosque, but he had left the city before Slahi arrived. He also had connections with several people Slahi later described at a hearing as his former classmate’s “bad friends.” The sequence establishes an association between Ressam and the mosque, not a meeting between Ressam and Slahi there.

Ressam’s arrest led to a major investigation of Montreal’s Muslim immigrant community, particularly the al Sunnah mosque community. Canadian investigators questioned Slahi about possible terrorist connections; he described this as the first time in his life that he had been interrogated. The mosque therefore entered his story through a sharp contrast: a setting for residence and religious service became a focus of suspicion because of another person’s earlier presence and associations.