30 Masjids 🟩

AsalamAlayKum, Peace and e-Greetings be Upon You!

30 Masjids (@30Masjids) began as HiMY SYeD‘s Journey around The Greater Toronto Area during the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan in 2011 and 2012.

2013 was the third year for 30 Masjids in 30 Days in the GTA. Praise be to God-Alone, it was 30 Masjids in 30 Days around Ontario, Canada as we went around The Province.

2014 was back home in Toronto on a sort-of rest and catch-up year visiting a few stories we didn’t get to, but had wanted to. Also posted different kinds of stories, it was all go with the flow!

2015 found me, HiMY, in Toronto yet still with the 30 Masjids itch to scratch…

2015: There are Masjids and Islamic Centres I never did get around to writing about; people I had wished to interview; a lot more for the “30 More” section; and maybe a road trip or two to a distant Muslim Community to see how they do Ramadan. That in short, should be 30 Masjids this Ramadan 2015. …InshAllah!

2016: 30 Masjids finally completed the longed for Trans Canada Ramadan Journey! Begun in St. John’s, Newfoundland, we concluded in Vancouver, British Columbia. Alhumdulillah.

2017: My initial survey of the number of Masjids or Islamic Centres around Metro Vancouver was the number 22. So, I thought I could successfully visit every masjid in the region within a single Ramadan. Oh how wrong I was! I learned there were many more Masjids, Musalahs, Islamic Centres, and public Iftar gatherings than I had at first lazily assumed. Like Toronto, Vancouver would need at least two Ramadans to visit them all!

2018: Visiting and breaking fast in the remaining masjids around Metro Vancouver and British Columbia beginning with the ones missed in 2017…

2019: Returning to Metropolitan Toronto, visiting and breaking fast in established as well as newer masjids around Metropolitan Toronto … a tour of my home town masjids after an absence of several years! InshAllah!

2020: COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown means all Masjids and Islamic Centres and Public Iftars are off the table this year… Soooo, Ramadan 2020 will be very different . . . InshAllah, will keep blogging at least once a day, InshAllah !

Ramadan is the month of fasting.

Muslims fast from dawn until sunset for 29 or 30 days depending on calculation and/or visual moonsighting. In 2011 the lunar month of Ramadan happened to correspond to the month of August. One solar year later, the lunar month began 11 days earlier on Thursday night, July 19 2012

There are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in The Greater Toronto Area, and over 100 masjids.

HiMY hoped to do this in Toronto in 2010, but was busy running for elected office during Ramadan 2010.

HiMY SYeD

Wimbledon born. Toronto raised. Chicago & Vancouver educated.

During his high school years, first from his bedroom using an answering machine, then later on using voice-mail, HiMY operated Toronto’s first “Dial-A-Muslim-Story” telephone Line sharing 1 to 3 minute recorded stories for Muslim Children.

At its peak, Dial-A-Muslim-Story received upwards of 10,000 phone calls per month.

He attended the American Islamic College in Chicago, studying Interest-Free Banking and Islamic Finance.

In 2017, HiMY earned the Post Graduate Certificate in Community Economic Development from Simon Fraser University.

He completed his Next Economy MBA in 2018.

For the past two decades, numerous Islamic Banks around the world have sought out his advice on structuring Islamic Finance Contracts.

Locally, he advises North American Islamic Financial Institutions in adhering to the Canadian Tax Code.

SYeD is a former Executive Director of the CMCLA, the Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association.

Member of Moonsighting Committee Worldwide (MCW) since December 2004 representing Canada.

HiMY learned of the 30Mosques project during its first year tumblr-blogging Ramadan in New York City area Masjids.

Inspired by the New York City 30Mosques project, during past Ramadans in Ontario, HiMY has biked, hiked, used Greyhound, and the Train to reach Masjids and Islamic Centres around Toronto, and around the Province.

For Ramadan 2016, HiMY travelled all across Canada from Newfoundland to British Columbia, breaking his fast with many diverse congregations.

All while blogging daily Ramadan reports on his 30Masjids.ca website.

In doing so, he has learned that the Wider Muslim Community still has much to learn when it comes to Sustainability, The Environment, and what it means to be a Green Muslim.

A Canadian Muslim Historian, he has spoken at various Islamic History Month events.

HiMY contributed the concluding chapter, Masjids in Toronto Canada in Pink Mosques, an anthology book published in Ramadan 2020.

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Email : HiMY.org @ Gmail . com