This article was originally published in Azizah Magazine (Volume 6, Issue 3). Author: Khalidah Ali.
http://www.azizahmagazine.com/Features/Feature_6-3_Global.html
Toronto is a city with a thriving Muslim community. It is home to over one hundred masajid and Islamic centers that were built by many hard working Canadians dedicated to carving out a space for Muslims in Canada. Though important scholarship has begun, much of the history of these Muslim pioneers remains to be written, especially of the accomplishments of the city’s Muslim women. Female pioneers overcame significant hurdles to achieve their goals and establish a place for themselves, their families, the community, and for Muslim and immigrant women in general.
Three women – Alia Hogben, Talat Muinuddin, and Solnaz Shahin were instrumental in the early Toronto community. We hear their voices in MosqueOne, an oral history project of the city’s first mosque told through the voices of its founding members spearheaded by Canada’s Tessellate Institute.
In 1961 the Muslim Society of Toronto (MST), a young Muslim organization founded in 1957 to address the needs of Muslims in Toronto, purchased a small building at 3047 Dundas Street West that became the city’s first mosque. Few would remember this small building and the pioneers behind its creation, but through the videos of the MosqueOne project we are able to capture a glimpse of this part of the history of Muslims in Canada.
These videos introduce us to some of the Muslim community’s founding mothers. In their own words they tell their stories of immigrating to Canada, working with the Muslim Society of Toronto, the establishment of the mosque and its various activities, and the central role Muslim women played in building and supporting the new community in Toronto. Highlighting their goals and successes – as well as their frustrations and struggles – is important in understanding how far Muslim women have come in North America and how much they have contributed.
Alia Hogben is the daughter of an Indian diplomat who came to Canada when her father was appointed Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa in 1954. She married Murray Hogben, a convert to Islam, in 1959 and the couple moved to Toronto. Among her hopes upon moving to Toronto was to establish something new for Muslims in Canada. Talat Muinuddin, also of Indian heritage, came to Canada in 1962 as a graduate student and moved to Toronto in 1966. A teacher by profession, Ms. Muinuddin confidently maintained her Indian cultural traditions by boldly wearing saris to teach, quite strange for the city at the time. Solnaz Shahin left Turkey in 1960 and remembers the struggle in coming to Canada, getting used to the drastic change in climate and the isolation of having to raise a young family in a strange environment. For the then-recent immigrants to Canada, the goal of building a new community where Muslims could draw strength through corporate worship was imperative, and the women played a central role in striking new ground in the Canadian soil by working to establish the first mosque in the big city.
Upon the purchase of the shop at 3047 Dundas Street West by the Muslim Society of Toronto, these women, along with other members, worked to transform the small space into a center for the small fledgling community to worship and spend time together. It was a “very crummy little place” according to Alia Hogben, but volunteers worked to transform the former leather shop into a place suitable for the needs of the congregation by painting the walls and placing carpet on the floors. With the various activities held there, 3047 Dundas Street West soon became a lively community center for the small group of Muslims.
One of the most significant activities members recall fondly were the dinners held in the mosque, not only organized to celebrate important holidays such as Eid, but to allow individuals of the congregation simply to enjoy each other’s company. Talat Muinuddin recalls this positive contribution on the part of the women who would prepare food in their homes and bring it to the mosque for everyone to share. These dinners were quite successful and attracted many young couples, youth, and students who looked forward to these events where they could enjoy a proper home-cooked meal. Though the women of the center would cook for a hundred people or more, it never felt like work for Solnaz Shahin: “If you do something you love, it’s not so difficult,” she explains. “You want to do something for your center…[and more importantly] you’re doing it together.”
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