JMO then reviewed the attendee list and notified the Ottawa City public health authority of the steps it was taking. The authority relayed its satisfaction with the measures taken. ■ South Nepean Muslim Community (SNMC). Imam Zijad Delic called the community’s senior members to inquire about their health and to ask if they needed any help. He counseled families experiencing domestic tensions, including any contemplating divorce, due to marital stress. He even paid a personal visit, while observing social distancing, to a concerned member’s home. ■ Centre Islamique de l’Outaouais (CIO): Outaouais Islamic Center. Across the Ottawa River, on NCR’s Quebec side, Imam Ahmed Limame of CIO (the Gatineau Mosque) participated in the joint UMO-OG community drive. He recorded and circulated video lectures on the CIO’s website, inviting the audience to reflect on dealing with virus-related anxieties and guiding them spiritually toward tranquility and being pragmatic in adhering to the required public health protocols. ■ The Islam Care Center. The center took part in home delivering food baskets and distributing zakat to the deserving. Its Muslim Family Services of Ottawa (MFSO) wing offered counseling services, said chairman Qamar Masood. ■ At the Mosque of Mercy, Imam Ismail Albatnuni presented evening study circles on YouTube. Shaykh Munir Shalghum continued virtual tafseer (Quranic commentary) classes on Zoom. ■ Kanata Muslim Association (KMA). KMA closed its prayer space and suspended all “in-person activities” indefinitely. In coordination with UMO-OG, those needing food or other help were invited to contact its staff. Imam Sikander Hashemi and his volunteers made audio or video calls via phone, Zoom, Skype, Facetime or WhatsApp to help members through this challenging period. ■ Other NCR mosques, organizations, and charities: Masjid Bilal, the Ottawa Muslim Women’s Organization, the Islamic Society of Gloucester, and HCI have all taken similar measures. For those who still want to go to the mosque, the public health authorities’ guidelines have been somewhat of an impediment. Many regular attendees felt spiritually uneasy, for they can no longer go to the prayer hall for meditation and inner comfort. After all, Sulaiman said, the mosque is the environment in which our faith grows. Everyone has done their best to adjust to the online offerings. When the Ontario government began its phased easing of restrictions, the mosques resumed controlled attendance at congregational prayers. At OMA and SNMC, for example, 30% of the congregation is allowed in the prayer halls. At OMA, attendees have to pre-register online, while at SNMC they have to write their names on a sheet so volunteers could keep count. Obviously, as contact tracing has become an important protocol, both requirements would now be useful as a contact list, if it should be required, as was the case at Jami Omar. Both mosques are serving more than one congregation so more members can attend. Traditionally, the community gathers in the mosque for the five daily prayers. The pandemic has made those who run the mosques devise creative adjustments in managing attendance. Most importantly, they have taken the required measures in stride as mosque goers started trickling back in — congregants are to arrive about 15 minutes before the regular prayer time, make ablution at home, bring their own prayer mat, use hand sanitizer as they enter, wear a facemask and observe social distancing. They are told to enter through one door and to leave immediately after the prayer via a one-way exit. Overall, community members have been following the public health safety guidelines just as they would follow any traditional requirement advised by the Prophet. ih Zulf M. Khalfan, a former Islamic Horizons editor, is a writer living in Nepean, Ontario, Canada.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 ISLAMIC HORIZONS 29
The Muslim Link: Running the Online Hub for Canadian Muslims An originally print-based local Muslim newspaper continues to expand and evolve BY CHELBY MARIE DAIGLE
T
he difficult climate of post-9/11 Canada required a forum in which Muslim voices could speak out and be heard. At that time, Ottawa’s Muslims were facing heightened scrutiny and fear; however, there was also a growing amount of political advocacy as the community rallied to demand the return of Syrian-Canadian engineer Mahar Arar, who had been detained by the U.S. during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 and deported not to Canada, but rendered to Syria, where he faced torture under allegations of terrorism. Years later, the Canadian govern Chelby Daigle (center) receives an ment would apologize. award for her work with Muslim In September 2002, the Link from MuslimFest flanked by Muslim Link (https://musTariq Syed from Muslim Fest (left) limlink.ca) began operating and Mohammad Dourou, publisher as a newsletter intended to Muslim Link (right) create such an outlet. In its first year, a small team compiled, published and distributed seven issues on a variety of subjects. Each issue had a distribution of 4,000 copies and covered jumah locations and Islamic schools in the National Capital Region (NCR; Ottawa in Ontario and Gatineau in Quebec). One year later, it made history by becoming the region’s first Muslim English-language newspaper. Syrian-Canadian Mohammad Dourou, the current publisher, started out by helping with its distribution. When it looked like the newspaper would have to close for financial reasons, he took over as its publisher, ensured its continuation and designed its website, which offered an online directory and events listings. My journey with the Muslim Link started in 2012, when I was asked to share a job posting for an administrative assistant to help run the newspaper while Dourou was working abroad. I had developed a reputation as being someone who was good at sharing opportunities through my social network. I shared this one, but something about it spoke to me: I wanted to apply for the position. I was already primarily engaged in working with racialized and newcomer communities and issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Not only I was pretty busy, but I had just learned of the impoverished conditions in which my Nigerian father was living and was planning to visit him for the first time. I wanted to start helping him, so having some extra cash seemed like a good idea. Little did I know that this decision would change the Muslim Link’s fate.
