A story of a Masjid (mosque) in Canada

The Islamic call spreads, Praise be to Allah, everywhere on earth along with the spread of Muslims all over the world.

The following is a story of a community came from India to settle down in Canada for work. However, some of its members teach others how to be good and to establish a good community in a spot that Muslims worldwide have thought one day to reform; and in the following, we shall narrate the whole story in order to take lessons.

"Amjad Bimat" one of four Muslim brothers from Gujarat-India. They came to Canada as emigrants and settled down in Toronto with a number of their friends.

The four brothers memorize the Book of Allah where their father, Sheikh Muhammad, was keen that they finish their study in a school teaches the Qur'an in "Gujarat." The four brothers settled down in a community of Muslims coming from the same area, rented most of the flats in two adjacent buildings, and designed a plan to rent any empty flat in the two buildings until the number of flats reached eighty out of one hundred.

The residents of the two buildings thought collectively to rent the hall floor in one of the two buildings and started to use it as a praying place in which they set up the five daily Salah as well as the Friday Salah led by one of the four brothers. Then they prepared daily religious lessons for children to the extent that the hall became like a beehive.

Muslims' approach to obedience:

Muslims from contiguous buildings came to join their Muslim brothers who live in the two buildings during Friday Salah, daily Salah, and evening lessons for their children. Residents of the neighborhood started to complain about overcrowding of visiting cars and about the overcrowding in the hall that became small to accommodate all visitors. Muslims began to search for a solution to this problem, so what did they do? They rented a hall every Friday for four hours to accommodate two hundred performers of Salah to offer Friday Salah, so what happened? The number of Salah performers increased to the extent that Friday Salah has been performed twice consecutively where the hall is filled with the Salah performers. Then an imam leads them in Salah, then they go out with their imam and another group comes in to fill the hall again and another imam comes to lead them in Salah and so on for many years.

A suitable place (but…):

Those brothers found a wide place that was used to be a car exhibition encircled by a vast piece of land ready to hold 900 cars.

That place was located in a main street in "Scarborough" East of Toronto. That place was for sale due to the acute economic slump that befell Toronto like any other city in the world. A delegation from Muslims visited the place and walked all around and they liked it very much because of its wide area. They said to one another: It is the perfect place that meets our needs but it is expensive where the landowner asked for three million dollars. Where from could such poor people bring that money? Most of them were idle or came to live on subsidies, what will be the solution? They all live in rented flats nearby that place or just steps away from it. They kept on dreaming of having that place, their pockets were empty, but their hearts were filled with faith and trust in Allah.

The first drop of rain:

They held a meeting to which they invited most of the neighbors and viewed the idea to the attendants who were excited about it and took out all their money and promised to pay more money when receiving their salaries; and thus 25.000 dollars were collected. Attendants were happy and intended to book the place, so that sum was paid as a down payment. After negotiation with the landowner, he agreed to pay the place in installments provided that the value should be paid within two years without interests. Muslims were excited about that, repeated the testimony of faith, and said "Allahu Akbar." They supplicated Allah to help them purchase that place and kept on thinking in a way to collect donations from each Muslim, old or young. Therefore, they placed a small box at every house so that each family can put the extra money it does not need then give it to the committee entrusted to buy the Masjid at the end of each month. At that time, money kept flowing to the committee of this project and Allah blessed it.

Well-arranged rows:

At the end of November 1992, the committee organized a charity dinner attended by a popular preacher Toronto called "`Abdullah Idris," the principle of the Islamic school in Toronto. He kept on urging people to donate generously and for the surprise, the committee discovered at the end of the ceremony that they collected in favor of the Masjid only in that night 75.000 dollars. Muslims applauded and the zeal of different community increased. A Muslim person came and fixed sanitation, built new sanitation and places for ablution at his own expenses. Another person paid the expenses of heaters and air conditions, and a third person paid the costs of the carpets. Thus, people came from everywhere to contribute to this new house of Allah; and all were eager to finish this work, young and old, men and women, each play the role he can.

Contribute with us:

400.000 dollars were collected to buy the Masjid and the rest was 2.600.000 dollars.

The first Friday Salah was offered in that Masjid was in December 1992 and attended by 1300 person. There was no need to repeat the Friday Salah twice and the new location gave them more room to hold classes and lessons every evening as well as in weekends.

People came to live in the place because they will be near the new Masjid. If the people of good want that the Masjid continues to deliver its message and that the Islamic community increase, all they have to do is to donate generously to that project. I did not write a letter from my imagination, but it is a true story that is known by every Muslim lived in Toronto.

We ask Allah to guide all the people to contribute in this center. May Allah grant us success and He is the All Helper!