With deep sadness, we inform you that the Founder and Director of Al-Ikhlas Training Academy, Imam Nadir Ahmad, returned to Allah on January 22, 2026.

With the permission of his family and the ATA School Board, we have created this sadaqah jariyah campaign to contribute all proceeds to Al-Ikhlas Training Academy and honor his legacy and life's work. We hope that this project will be a source of ongoing charity and reward, with an impact that will last for generations.

Imam Nadir’s passing is a profound and irreplaceable loss. His life of service, leadership, and dedication transformed the lives of thousands within the Muslim community and beyond. 

Before moving to Detroit in 1980, Imam Nadir served as a teacher and principal at the Sister Clara Muhammed School. He strongly believed in providing Muslim families with an Islamic education. He founded Al-Ikhlas Training Academy, which first opened its doors in 1991. During that year alone, 130 students enrolled in the school. With just four senior students, the first graduating class was the class of 1993. Imam Nadir never took a day off, working through countless ailments, injuries, and illnesses. In his 35 years of service, he took one vacation, which was to make Hajj. 

Today, ATA celebrates 35 years of providing an excellent Islamic education. As the only pre-K-12th grade Islamic institution in Detroit, ATA has served both low-income families in the city and those in the broader metro Detroit area, never turning away a student regardless of their ability to pay tuition. Since its founding, ATA has had 33 graduating classes. ATA graduates have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, educators, students of Islamic knowledge, social workers, nurses, and more. 

By supporting this campaign, you are helping preserve Imam Nadir’s legacy of affordable Islamic education for every Muslim child and sustaining an institution that continues to educate, uplift, and empower generations of Muslim youth. 

We ask that you please keep Imam Nadir in your du‘a, and pray that Allah (SWT) grants him the highest ranks of Jannah, envelops him in His mercy, and grants patience and strength to his beloved family and to our entire community during this difficult time.