Shaykh Jamal Zahabi was born in 1957 in Lebanon. He began his traditional Islamic educational training at the age of 12 when he entered Mahad al-Fatah, a rigorous madrassah in Damascus, Syria. After spending 6 years there he went on to complete a degree at the prestigious Azhar Islamic University in Cairo, Egypt. He later did his Masters degree at the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he studied with Sheikh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah (rahimahullah). His Masters thesis was in the sciences of hadith with a particular emphasis on the work of Imam Daraqutni. Sheikh Jamal moved to Canada in 1989 and was the Imam of the Cambridge Mosque from 1990 to 1994. He also served as Imam of the Dorval Mosque in Montreal.
Sheikh Jamal has studied with some of the leading scholars (ulama) of the Levant including: Sheikh Abd al-Razzak al-Halabi (a master of jurisprudence and the sciences of recitation), Sheikh Ibrahim Ya`qubi, Sheikh Mahmud Ranqusi, Sheikh Ali Qallas, Sheikh Abu Sulaiman al-Zuaybi, Sheikh Qattabi and Sheikh Uthman Siraj ad-Din among others. He has conducted circles of knowledge and Deen Intensive Programs in many cities including Toronto, New York, Fez (Morocco), and at the Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, CA. He is presently working as a scholar in residence with Nima Foundation in New York City.