Our first Ramadan in Ottawa produced a surprise. The days were so short you ended your fast around 4.15 p.m. when still at work. I took food to the office because I worked till after 5.30 p.m. Colleagues teased me that I was cheating. Ramadan in those days was uneventful. Muslims numbered just a few in Ottawa. There was no mosque. We prayed Dhuhr on Sundays at a church because people could not take time off work on Fridays to pray. Eid prayers were offered at churches or diplomatic missions. Joint iftars were not common.
When Ramadan occurred in the summer, the situation changed completely. Suhur ended around 3.15 a.m. and Maghreb came at around 8.55 p.m. in Ottawa. In the west of the country, the days were even longer. In the far north, days and nights lasted for weeks. So people fasted according to the times of the nearest city.
It wasn't the weather alone that changed. Canada accepts refugees and needs immigrants. So Muslims, along with followers of other faiths, flock to Canada. We thought building a mosque was a big deal. Now there are a dozen.
Muslims were thrilled some years ago when Imam Khattab, an Al-Azhar scholar, visited Ottawa from the US. People peppered him with questions. Now we have imams from Arab countries, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Mosques and the Intercultural Dialogue Institute that Canadian Turks built arrange free iftars (and suhur) for everybody, with some Muslims paying the costs. Taraweehs are offered in mosques and homes. So is “itikaf” (seclusion for prayers in the mosque). Egypt sends qaris for the whole month to several cities in Canada to lead prayers.
Women back in India and Pakistan did not go for Friday, taraweeh or Eid prayers. Here some do enthusiastically. My late mother and mother-in-law loved going to Eid prayers to pray in congregation and to meet friends.
Ottawa also displays the brotherhood of man. You meet Muslims here of every nationality, color and age and they become good friends. For some years a Shia imam has been inviting Sunni leaders and imams for an iftar at his mosque. He asks a Sunni imam to lead the prayers and prays behind him. Now a Sunni mosque has invited Shia imams and leaders to join them for iftar and prayers.
Muslims here have the best of both worlds. They enjoy full freedom of religion and the friendliness of the Canadian people. Generally they also have a high standard of living. From dates and honey from Makkah to mangoes, guava, Turkish delights, Indo-Pakistani sweets and Lebanese food, everything is available here and at a reasonable price. Muslims here have much to be thankful for.
Muslims give generously, especially in this month, to help the needy through food banks, relief agencies, mosques and other agencies. We remember those suffering in Burma, Central African Republic, Iraq, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank, and other places. We pray for them and send whatever we can to help. We thank Allah that we are living in a generous, friendly, democratic country. We pray for peace, prosperity and calm in other places too.
Ramadan brings me memories from childhood to adulthood to old age. The most cherished are those of Makkah and Madinah. In the holy cities you become just a drop in a sea of humanity - people of every race, nationality and background. They are all strangers but tied to you by the bond of Islam. Even your body seems to change. Personal comfort becomes secondary. All that matters is your conversation with your Creator and your supplications. True, God is everywhere. But in Makkah and Madinah you feel a sense of closeness to Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him) that is unique.
We spent a month in Makkah and Madinah not long ago. We were overwhelmed. Sometimes the mosques were full and we had to pray on the streets. But the throngs, the physical discomfort and the delays seemed trivial. It was enchanting to spend the sacred month in the holy places.
The Eid festival in Canada is something else again. Formerly Muslims could rent a hall and have a thousand people pray together. Now with some 75,000 Muslims, prayers are arranged in several facilities. The Muslim Association of Canada rents Ottawa's largest hall and arranges a day-long children's festival after the prayers. Sometimes politicians join in those prayers. Others send messages of greetings.
MAC also arranges a summer festival with the City of Ottawa for all those living in this city. People of all backgrounds, especially children, enjoy fresh air and the companionship of other Canadians.
MAC has been doing this for years, as has the Intercultural Dialogue Institute which arranges for people of diverse faiths to get together in friendship.
On July 1, the Muslim Coordinating Council of the National Capital Region used to arrange a Canada Day picnic. This year Canada Day came during Ramadan. So MCC volunteers were at Parliament Hill, fasting but handing out thousands of free bottles of water to their fellow Canadians as they celebrated our national day.
