“A very special program brought to you in support of the Islamic Scholars Fund for you and your families to partake in,

from the comfort of your home!

This Saturday May 8th,

we invite you to an evening of devotion,

knowledge, Qur’anic recitation,

inspiration and so much more.

To commemorate the blessed and auspicious night of the 27th of Ramadan,

we will be joined by reputable scholars from around the world along with some of very talented spoken word/nasheed artists.”

Donate Now: https://donate.iera.ca​

May 8 at 🕓4 PM (EST) iERA Canada are raising funds to share Islam with indigenous people in shaa Allah

With your support we will:

Translate & print dawah materials to Cree and other indigenous languages.

Create campaigns to reach out to indigenous people.

Relationship building with indigenous chiefs & elders.

Hear from:

Public speaker

Br. Hassan Wadi
Dr. Abdullah Hakim Quick
Dr. Mustafa Khattab
Dr. Fahad Tasleem
Br. Hassan Sajid
Sr. Wardah Ten Fingers

And this RAMADAN we want you to get a share in the reward!

Each morning during the Holy Month of Ramadan 2021,

IIT,

Islamic Institute of Toronto,

has been livetreaming Adhan Al Fajr,

The Call to Prayer at Dawn,

heard while displaying a montage of Masjids from Around The World.

Because IIT’s livestreaming of Fajr Adhan is not exactly timed to match the beginning of Dawn,

We can’t use it to observe when we should stop eating our Suhoor, our pre-dawn meal before starting each day’s fast.

If IIT did so,

Perhaps I would stream it every morning in our house.

Often, by the time the Fajr Livestream begins, we have already prayed our Fajr.

Afterwards,

IIT then streams Qur’an Recitation by different reciters each morning.

Today’s Qari is Mohamed Abdel Aziz.

FIRST SPRING RECORDS presents
RAMADAN TORONTO — The Music Video
Nader Khan – ft. The Blacksmiths

All sales proceeds go to Give 30 (http://give30.ca​)

BUY/STREAM:
iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, Tidal,

This song is about re-connecting with so many of those distinct experiences and aspirations that come about as we observe Ramadan in the Greater Toronto Area, and really also in large metropolitan cities anywhere in the world.

It’s a cover of an original song that came out last year, by my dear brother Isam Bachiri in 2020. I loved the song, and I loved it even more when he suggested that I pen a cover for Toronto.

As part of our labels (First Spring Records) #ShareTheProphet​ initiative, 100% of the profits from this single will be donated to Give 30, an initiative to fight hunger by supporting food banks in Canada and the United States during Ramadan. So every song purchase and stream will raise funds for this blessed project.

Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. I pray that you enjoy this song even more than we enjoyed crafting it. Please do share it with others.

———————–

CREDITS:

VOCALS
Nader Khan

BACKGROUND VOCALS
Nader Khan, The Blacksmiths (Dr. Faisal Haq Shaheen)

LYRICS
Nader Khan

SONGWRITERS
Nader Khan, Isam Bachiri, Özcan Ajrulovski, Anders Greis, Nana Jacobi

PERCUSSION
Nader Khan, The Blacksmiths (Dr. Faisal Haq Shaheen)

PRODUCER, SOUND ENGINEER
Norm Sabourin

RECORDING, MIXING, MASTERING
First Spring Studios, Aquasound Studios

ARTWORK
Sidrah Khatoon

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Dr. Bano Murtuja, Nader Khan

———————–

Friday evening was Day 25 of Ramadan 1442.

We drove to the Downtown Hamilton Mosque,

In Hamilton, Ontario for their Drive-Thru Iftar.

This is the new location.

On the Final day of Ramadan 2013,

I visited the previous masjid location at 96 Wilson Street, for that year’s Last Iftar.

Because of the distance getting here,

We made sure we arrived with plenty of time to spare.

Seeds of Leadership organized today’s Drive-Thru making good use of the younger members of the Hamilton Downtown Mosque.

Multiple Tables were set up in the Masjid Parking Lot with a healthy distance between the stations.

This multiple Iftar Table arrangement allowed for several drivers and passengers to be served Contactless Iftar without the feeling of being rushed.

What surprised me was after the volunteer sisters had handed us our 4 Iftars,

They asked if we needed to book COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments ?

MashAllah !

The Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force should know about this !

Useful ,

Smart !

That also means the volunteers were ready to complete a Vaccine Booking if anyone picking up Iftars today said yes to wanting one.

Being from out of town, their bookings wouldn’t make sense for us.

Also,

everyone in our car had already made vaccine first dose arrangements.

Drive-Thru Iftar may be a way for the Masjid to provide service to their Congregations.

It is also a way for regular Masjid goers to donate money in cash on site while still inside their cars.

It’s been a mixed readiness I have found with different Drive-Thru Iftars ready to accept our donations,

While other Drive-Thru Iftars didn’t immediately realize this opportunity,

And weren’t ready right away.

Everyone is figuring this out as we go along.

We figured the Iftars we picked up would be tasty.

Alhumdullilah,

We figured right.

Guest Blog Post by Shehna Javeed, M. Ed. ( @shehnaTO )
 

Al Hambra, Granada, Spain

Last Ramadan (2020) Muslims fasted without community.

We were in the first wave of the pandemic frantically shopping for toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

No community iftaars (parties for breaking of fast),

no prayers at mosques and no parties with friends.

While it was strange,

it seemed like a one-time thing (See film “The Year We Fasted Alone”),

but here we are again,

fasting alone,

while a third more deadlier wave of COVID-19 infections cloud over Toronto, as Ramadan 2021 comes to an end.

For Muslims who practice it,

Ramadan is like hitting an annual “reset” button of the physical and the spiritual aspects of being.

It is an opportunity to rejuvenate and nourish the spiritual self that gets diminished by the incremental increase of material desire over time.

The creep of materialism and other physical desires such as food, clothes, spending in excess, negative emotion such as anger and envy, can be insidious.

Ramadan acts as a reboot and new spiritual updates load up as the Muslim practices refraining from food during daylight hours for the 29 or 30 days.

It is not just about food but a cleansing of the soul, the body and one’s wealth.

It is a check-in towards humility and away from arrogance.

It is an acknowledgement of gratitude away from greed,

and it is a look inward to consider what needs to be fixed in the outward being.

Muslims donate generously, pray authentically, and pay close attention to how parts of us can be reinvented toward good.

Only when we hit the reset button do we realize what needed to be changed, much like when we update our electronic devices.

While in this pandemic, as the banality of each day continues, all days blending into each other, we languish in “stagnation and emptiness” in this continued isolation.

Many of us feel ourselves regressing inward, strangely getting accustomed to this lonely existence.

The cited New York Times article describes it as the “void between depression and flourishing”.

Going to the grocery store to pick up pastries to share a simple iftaar (food for breaking fast) front door drop-off was riddled with anxiety because the store seemed more full of people then it should have been,

or perhaps I was just manifesting the over a year long practiced fear of others due to social distancing.

Iftaar — soup and crackers

So how is this Ramadan different?

I struggle as I write this piece because while I have increased my worship and submission to the Creator,

I also feel an emptiness that is unusual.

In disease there is despair.

The start of the pandemic showed us how our senior citizens became victim to this deadly pandemic.

Over the year,

we had two close family members fight for their lives and win against covid-19 while we lost one other close family member.

Since my family is originally from India,

we are in shock and sadness at the recent second wave in India, where death and loss ravage a nation.

Until it hits home it is not real.

We had one covid scare right in our own home when even a slight common cold or a rising body temperature due to exhaustion can lead to panic and fear until a negative Covid test eases the anxiety.

In despair there is hope.

We have witnessed acts of generosity where people and organizations have galvanized communities during Ramadan and beyond.

Jamal Alsharif in Ottawa has set out to clean 30 streets in 30 days with his son during Ramadan or the 9 year old girl Hana Fatima whose gesture to help a neighbour who is a senior citizen became a facebook grassroot group of people helping each other.

Many others have organized and delivered food, and helped the homeless.

Little boy in sujood (prostration)

In a year, we have gone from a man who could not breathe, and his last breath galvanized an awakening, to a nation that is choking, shocked, grieving and angry.

I wait with bated breath to see how it will consider its truth to power.

Action moves us forward
, because inaction can lead to paralysis.

I have worked on strengthening my inner voice to advocate against isms and phobias that berate our society.

I have tried to organize events with like-minded colleagues,

to educate and increase awareness against anti-Asian racism, anti-black racism, Islamophobia and hate of any kind.

But I still feel like a coward staying safe, with my privilege, while those who bring us food and take care of our sick, are out there sacrificing every day.

If the worship in Ramadan began as a jog, it intensifies into a sprint in the last 10 days of the month, sacrificing sleep, contemplation in solitude, seeking the pleasure of the Creator.

I am filled with gratitude in ways that I have never been before,

and this is a gift of Ramadan and of the pandemic combined.

The pandemic has also been a type of reset for planet earth, and we are still rebooting.

As Ramadan will soon come to a close, but the pandemic will not, I grasp to the hope that as an indelibly marked people, we will be more humble and refreshingly humane.

As we metamorphosize,

I hope that we will go beyond the physical and acknowledge our collective humanity and see how we can seek to be good,

maybe even better than who we were,

and this is a lesson of Ramadan too.

 

Written by

Shehna Javeed M. Ed.

Shehna is a higher education administrator and a 2019 TEDx speaker.

She has published articles with NACADA and presented at professional conferences.

This is Shehna’s second Guest Blog Post for 30 Masjids.

“The Edge of Sunset Livestream performance,

airing each Thursday night during the month of Ramadan,

is a chance to celebrate with community stories,

incredible music, fun hosting, guest chats, and much more.

Join us for the hour just before Iftar for moments of laughter, reflection, and connection.

This week,

our livestream performance surrounds the theme of “Lanterns and Songs”.

We’re guided by our community stories that recall music, lanterns, and other cultural traditions of Iftar.

This week’s show is hosted live by Sergio Guerra,

who is joined by musicians Brenna MacCrimmon and Maryem Tollar of Turkwaz,

puppeteers Afsaneh Zamani & Annie Katsura Rollins and the entire MABELLEarts community.

Mabellearts.ca
Virtualiftarnights.ca

“We’re excited to announced that we are bringing Pop-up Vaccine Clinics to Hamilton with the help of our friends from:

@cityofhamilton
@downtownmosque
@hamilton_muslims
@thekhayrproject and ✨@mishkasocialservices

If you’re 18+ and live in one of 5 hot spot areas in Hamilton

L9C , L8W , L8L , L8N , or L9K

you are eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine at one of our clinics!”

Clinic 1:

Hamilton Mountain Mosque

1545 Stone Church Road E.,

May 10, 11, 12, 14,15 and 16

1:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Clinic 2:

Hamilton Downtown Mosque

221 York Blvd,

May 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23

10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

“Just send an email to vaccines@seedsofleadership.ca

with your name and phone number

& someone will reach out to book you in for an appointment!”

https://www.macnet.ca/vaccine-standby/

Wednesday Night was the 23rd Night of Ramadan 1442,

A Possibility for Laylatul Qadr.

Muslim Association of Canada (@macnational)

had supplemented an inefficient Alio booking solution

with standby lists and limited walk-ins

bookable here :

https://www.macnet.ca/vaccine-standby/

Alhumdulillah,

I was able to book a First Dose StandBy spot for the next day,

Thursday May 6 2021.

There was no guarantee beyond arriving on site and then waiting all day

at Islamic Community Centre of Ontario,

For a no show by a confirmed appointment.

Yet,

that’s not what happened.

I arrived a few moments before the 11 a.m. doors open time for Standbys.

Almost entire line present was Standby like me.

We ALL got our first dose before it was even 12 Noon !

Alhumdulillah.

I cannot speak to the ALIO Health booking situation.

I can & must commend Muslim Association of Canada for quickly creating a contingency with their OWN solution :

https://www.macnet.ca/vaccine-standby/

They took ownership of what was potential for BAD PR / NEGATIVE Dawah situation for a “Masjid”,

The MAC ICCO,

From point of view of non-Muslim Peel Region residents,

Into a positive Mobile Vaccination Clinic experience for Muslims & non-Muslims alike.

Being a Masjid,

ICCO provided Private Vaccine Station for Muslim Sisters & for Women who wished extra privacy,

Female Registered Nurses administered doses to women vaccine clients in that private station.

While inside ICCO,

I was able to observe Itikaaf at least for the few minutes while in there.

My ONLY opportunity to observe Itikaaf INSIDE any masjid during these last 10 days or nights of Ramadan 2021.

Gems of Quranic Wisdom | Ramadan Night 24 | Sh. Ahmad Kutty

Support IIT during the last 10 Nights of Ramadan : https://islam.ca/ten-nights/

“***LIVE***

Resilient Hour | from the Islamic Institute of Toronto

The hour before the breaking of the fast is perhaps the most difficult;

yet it signifies the strong will of the believer to take the hardship of the day to its conclusion

and to take comfort in the knowledge that we will accomplish yet another day of worship.”

Daddy Daughter Time during Ramadan . . .

Father Recites Qur’an, Daughter Pauses Crying.