Ramadan Mubarak to all our residents that have started their fast. Ramadan is a month to reflect, pray and recognize community worldwide and in #SurreyBC. We hope you and your families have a safe celebration. pic.twitter.com/htH6x5An6b
— City of Surrey (@CityofSurrey) April 29, 2020
Asad Ghondal,
Chairman of the BC Muslim Association’s Surrey / Delta branch,
Asked The City of Surrey to allow Public Adhans at Surrey Jamea Masjid at 12407 72 Avenue.
Vancouver and neighbouring Burnaby now have Public Adhans for the remainder of Ramadan 2020.
“The area where we it is,
it’s a very dense population with the Muslim community.
We respect the bylaws,
we respect the community diversity,
we always respect the community space.”
His request was for a two minute prayer for ten days, starting May 13th.
The City of Surrey responded :
The City of Surrey BC initially agreed to a Single Public Call to Prayer, to be broadcast on the Final Night of Ramadan 2020.
Asad Ghondal wrote back to The City two more times.
Eventually, they agreed to allow broadcasting The Call to Prayer for only Five nights, beginning Monday 18 2020
Listen to the radio interview for the full story.
“Asalamualaykum WRB
I hope this message finds all of you well, in the best of health and Islamic spirit.
BCMA is the leading organization for Muslims in BC.
We have always taken a lead in catering to the wants and needs of our community.
In the light of that,
it is with extreme gratitude and honor that I am announcing,
from the initiative taken by the BCMA Surrey/Delta Branch – Surrey Jamea Masjid,
we have gotten the permission to call out the Adhaan for five days,
Alhamdulillah.
We contacted the Mayor’s office on the 6th fast of Ramadan to get permission to broadcast the Adhaan for Maghrib time.
We had taken this step very early even before the approvals in North America.
As there were approvals of Adhaan within North America where the Muslim population was not dense, we thought we should definitely present a stronger case to the city for an approval.
We gathered the support of our community and I have always seen the support of my board of directors and especially that of my President, Br. Iltaf Sahib.
The first person that I contacted in this whole experience was our MP for our locality the Honorable Sukh Dhaliwal.
He has always shown the Muslim community his support and for that,
Alhamudillah, we are grateful.
It was not an easy road but we have gotten what we set out to achieve.
Alhamdulillah, we stood together as a community and our voices were one rather than divided and for that,
I would like to thank each and every one of you that stood with me.
I want to give a special thanks to the Surrey City Council Members that were first to stand with us and give us assurance their support would be with us.
I want to give my sincerest thanks and extreme gratitude to all those that have stood with me.
- Bilal Cheema
- Shaukat Khan of Pakistan Canada Association
- Zeeshan Wahla and Dave Hans of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Consultants
- Ashiana Khan of Media Waves
Once again,
I want to give my sincerest thanks to Mayor Doug Mccallum and the Surrey City Council Council their support.
We will broadcast the Adhaan for five days, InshaAllah.
I wanted to congratulate everyone that stood with me during this difficult time and showed tremendous amount of support.
May Allah SWT bless each and every one of you. Ameen.
PS: I also wanted to say to those people that were unsure of when the request for Adhaan become a request.
Some people, without taking any names, began to use this to their own agendas for political gains and taking credit for something they — not only did not start, but also didn’t finish.
I want to congratulate those people as well.
JazakAllah Khair,
Muhammad Asad Gondal
Chairman
Surrey Jamea Masjid
BCMA”
Surrey Mosque Fights City Over Right to Sound Call to Prayer Throughout Neighbourhood https://t.co/CJsLNzXIXY #surreybc #Ramadan #pulsefm #cityhall pic.twitter.com/OqKJR41Uw3
— 107.7 Pulse FM (@pulse1077) 14 May 2020
