Bicycles in Islam – Makkah, Madinah and Toronto

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August 11th, 2012 Permalink

All over the world Muslims ride bicycles in their daily lives for worldly reasons as well as for religious reasons like reaching distant Masjids. The first three Madinah photographs are from Cape Town residents Nathim Cairncross and Imtiyaz Ahmad Haron who spent nine months in 2010 biking across Africa to reach Makkah and perform the Hajj. The remaining Makkah and Madinah bicycle photographs were taken during my Umrah trip in May and June of 2011. Currently during Ramadan 2012, I am visiting 30 Masjids in 30 Days in the Greater Toronto Area. On Day 13, Wednesday August 1 2012, sometime before sunrise, my bicycle was stolen from in front of Masjid Toronto. The media got wind of this and it made the news. Canadian Tire stepped up and offered to replace the stolen bicycle with a new one. During Umrah last year, I captured as many bicycle photographs as possible hoping to publish them once I got home. Please forgive the quality of many of the photos, they were taken with my Blackberry. — HiMY SYeD (64 photos total).

Cape Town, South Africa residents Nathim Cairncross and Imtiyaz Ahmad Haron spent nine months in 2010 biking across Africa to reach Makkah and perform the Hajj. Here they with their bikes  outside the Masjid An-Nabawi in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. (Cape 2 Mecca Cycle)

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First Ten Days

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August 4th, 2012 Permalink

33 photographs from the first 10 days of Ramadan. Photos are from the Greater Toronto Area captured during 30masjids.ca‘s visits to break the daily fast in a different masjid everyday . All photos have appeared before in one of the daily posts on the main 30masjids.ca website. They are presented here as a flavour of the First Ten Days of Ramadan around Toronto. InshAllah, we’ll post a collection of photographs from the middle 10 days of Ramadan 2012. If you wish to submit your Ramadan photos, tweet us @30Masjids or leave a comment on this post. — HiMY SYeD

This is the west wall inside 3047 Dundas Street West. This building was the first Masjid owned and operated by Toronto’s Muslim Community during the 1960s. It was called The Dundas Street Mosque. The metallic Crescent and Star as well as painted minaret artwork we see here somehow survived successive ownerships of the building and has remained exactly where it is for 50 years! The current owners will be renovating the location into a wine-bar.

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Turkish Tiles

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July 27th, 2012 Permalink

The Story of Turkish Ceramic Tiles and how they arrived in the Canadian Sufi Cultural Centre via New York City and 15 years. As told by Tevfik Baba. 15 years ago, 126 boxes of Turkish Ceramic Tiles were brought one by one via American Sufi Travellers visiting Istanbul from New York City and beyond. The 126 boxes intended home was to be Sufi Centre in Toronto. At the time, no one knew which building would be purchased and if the number of tiles would be enough. Miraculously, they had exactly the number of Turkish Tiles needed to adorn the Canadian Sufi Cultural Centre which you see in these photographs. The Sufi Centre is located at 274 Birmingham Street at Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke-Lakeshore. (15 photos total) — HiMY SYeD

Art Professor Ahmet Sinav visiting from Turkey watches Tevfik Baba with candy drawer. Tevfik Baba often shares candies with children who are visiting the Canadian Sufi Cultural Centre.

 

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