This scholarship was established in 1998 by the Ottawa Muslim Association in memory of the late Dr. Tawfiq Shaheen who was the Imam of the Ottawa Mosque from 1980-1997. It is awarded annually, when merited, on the recommendation of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, to a full-time student enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program who undertakes a research project embracing, among other Islamic subjects, Islamic religion, Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic art, Islamic history, Islamic culture, Islamic ethics or Islamic philosophy.