Comments Off on CANADA | VIDEO – HïMY SYeD – Eid Al Fitr – Day 31 of 30 Canadian Masjids in 30 Days – Vancouver, British Columbia
Concluding Video for 30 Masjids Across Canada in 30 Days, recorded during Muslim Association of Canada’s Eid Al Fitr Festival inside the Vancouver Convention Centre.
There are one or two more stories I hope to add in the coming days to properly wrap up Ramadan 2016.
There are photos I was unable to edit and didn’t include in existing stories.
InshAllah, will do all that soon.
For now, I need to take a nice long rest, here in Vancouver. If you can offer up a nice place to crash, please let me know!
If you’re in Lower Mainland of BC and would like to connect before I leave Vancouver, please hit me up via Twitter: @30Masjids.
Comments Off on CANADA | Day 30 – Dhuhr – Downtown Vancouver Musallah – 888 Granville Street, Alley Way Entrance, Vancouver, British Columbia
When I was in downtown Vancouver about 12 years ago, I found myself at a loss for a place to simply pray and then get on with my day. The Jamia Masjid Vancouver was close to Downtown but it was not in Downtown.
Today, alhumdulillah, I was able to pray my Dhuhr prayers, on this last day of Ramadan 2016 in the Musallah at 888 Granville Street.
The entrance is via the back alley. Press the buzzer, the people who are staffing the cash at the front of the address, see you via security camera, then remotely open the door for you.
I was first to arrive today for Dhuhr. A brother let me in. There is space for 20 people. Anything more is really pushing it. There is NO Friday, Jumah Prayers here.
This really feels like Steve Rockwell‘s Deedat Centre back in Toronto, though it is much smaller than even that.
Not Seen: MCW member Mr HiMY SYeD from Toronto, Ontario reported:
I began Ramadan 2016 with a negative moonsighting from St. John’s Newfoundland, and having travelled across Canada, visiting 30 Canadian masjids in 30 days as part of my http://30Masjids.ca project, I now conclude with a Negative moonsighting report for Shawwal on July 4:
On July 4, after Maghrib prayers and basic Iftar I attempted Moonsighting.
I walked to Reeson Park on Victoria’s Waterfront to get an unobstructed view of the western horizon. There were low hanging clouds, with an overall clear evening sky.
After searching for about 5 minutes, I confirmed I did not see the new moon.
Alhumdulillah, after praying Maghrib inside Masjid Al-Iman in Victoria, British Columbia, the Imam informed this congregation that since majority of Muslim Countries did not see the new moon, Eid al-Fitr locally on Vancouver Island will be Wednesday July 6 2016.
Comments Off on CANADA | Day 28 – Dhuhr – Tiba Musalla – 726 12th Street – New Westminster, British Columbia
After Fajr prayers at Masjid Al Salaam, a brother approached me and asked if I needed a drive anywhere. We struck up a conversation and turns out he’s originally from Montreal and has been in Greater Vancouver for past two years.
We join a friend of his in the underground parking lot beneath the masjid and they learn about 30 Masjids. They are very inquisitive and fascinated with 30 Masjids in 30 Days as a Concept, they keep asking me all sort of questions.
Sometimes, I find myself being “pitched” a new masjid or a new prayer space, musallah, to visit for this blog. That happened this morning.
The first brother was selling me on Tiba Musalla, they would be finishing the Qur’an Recitation, tonight, their Khatm Al-Qur’an.
They tell me the space is big enough for fifty. Regularly thirty show up for prayers. Tonight though, would be the big night. Perhaps the biggest as it’s almost the end of Ramadan, and it’s a weekend evening.
Comments Off on CANADA | Night 28 – Meet Sharif Senbel – Architect and Eco-Masjid Designer – Vancouver, British Columbia
Architect Sharif Senbel inside Masjid Al Hidayah and Islamic Cultural Centre in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. Photo Credit: Vancouver Sun, December 1 2009.
This ten minute podcast was recorded sitting in Masjid Al Salaam’s Noble Courtyard, essentially a public square inside this Islamic Centre, hence the many ambient voices in the background.
Alhumdulillah, for second night in a row, I broke fast inside a Senbel designed building, Masjid Al Salaam & Education Centre, 5060 Canada Way in Burnaby, British Columbia.
It’s the morning after the 27th Night of Ramadan 2016.
Br. Iftikhar, a Doctor in Prince George was kind enough to open his home’s guest room allowing me a few hours of rest before my Greyhound bus ride south to Vancouver.
Afterwards, en route to the Bus Terminal, what began as recording our conversation to save me the trouble of active notetaking, turned into this podcast covering the past twenty years or so of History of Prince George’s Muslims and their Masjid, The Prince George Islamic Centre.
It indeed is a unique Muslim Community among all the many Muslim Communities 30 Masjids has visited thus far.
InshAllah, give it a listen.
By podcast’s end, you may be inspired to visit Prince George to spend time with this community and see for yourself…
Previous to Prince George getting its own Islamic Centre, Muslim Doctors may have spent the absolute minimum time here, say six months, before leaving for good.
The existence of a Masjid, and by extension presence of an active local Muslim Community, even if only numbering in dozens of families, is enough to keep Doctors for the long haul. Perhaps even beyond retirement.
The high taxes these Muslims Professionals pay, is an added incentive for the local municipality to do whatever they can to ensure Prince George at large is getting the best health care possible.
Minor Correction:Near The End of the podcast, I state it’s Day 28, Got ahead of myself there, again. Today is actually Day 27 of Ramadan 2016.
Ever since I was a child, my mom always stressed about the importance of mosque in our life as a muslim. No wonder it becomes my highlight when I had my mini-Indochina trip to Malaysia-Vietnam-Cambodia last April-May.This is the first mosque that I visited, and it is in Malacca, Malaysia. Masjid Selat Melaka (the Malay […]
Yesterday I climbed the 99 m high minaret of Masjid Al-Akbar (Masjid Agung) Surabaya. It represents 99 names of Allah, Asmaul Husna. To me 99 names of Allah are a reminder of best qualities that lies in ourselves, that if we can use it properly, it will elevate us to see life in a different perspective. […]
Spent the first day of Ramadan fasting in Moscow for 19 hours. What an experience! It was tough but the cold breeze helps a lot :D Lucky for me to be able to join iftar and pray at a Mushalla in Indonesian Embassy in Moscow. +OL
Tatarstan Mosque in Moscow, Russia. I prayed Dhuha at the women section and because nobody’s there, we tiptoed to take picture of the main prayer room. When we about to go out, we can’t. Because apparently we’re locked from the outside. After calling out people from the Masjid’s window, finally the Imam open the Masjid’s […]
Beautiful Nur Mubarak Mosque in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Unfortunately we had to pray at Imam’s office, because women section is renovated and I certainly can’t say to my local Almaty Muslimah friends to pray behind men at the main hall. +OL
There’s always a weird sense of excitement, sadness, longing and loss felt on the night when everyone is out looking for the moon. A sighting would imply Eid the next day, no sighting means another night of Taraweeh and another day of fasting. The picture below shows the Imam of the mosque announcing that the […]
Babul Ilm is one of very few Shia mosques in the city. My aim was to experience as many variations of Islamic practice as possible and this would’ve been incomplete without visiting a Shia mosque. I was unaware of the size of the Shia community in Pakistan, it is around 10-15% of their population. Most […]