Mirrors and Mirages a Novel by Monia Mazigh (House of Anansi, 2014; $22.95)

Monia Mazigh's debut novel, Mirrors and Mirages: a Novel, has enriched Canadian literature. 

What do Canada’s one million Muslims really think?

Nobody knows but it’s certainly a question that the research firm Environics, along with several national partners, hope to answer in a new survey of Canadian Muslims coming soon.  

Zarqa Nawaz is probably the funniest Canadian Muslim woman in the country.

Even her Skype ID is quirky, naming a part of her foot. “Don’t ask!” she writes in an email, no doubt with a chuckle. Nawaz, the creator of the hit series Little Mosque on the Prairie, is currently promoting her new book which offers yet further glimpses into her (hilarious) experiences growing up in Canada.

She spoke via Skype with Muslim Link.

For the third year in a row, Give 30 promises to bank on the giving spirit of Ramadan to inspire people of all faiths and backgrounds to help fight hunger.

The campaign, which includes Ottawa for the first time, is a national, grassroots initiative that has already raised $130,000 for food banks in several Canadian cities. This year, nine food banks in five cities have joined the campaign.

Toronto lawyer and social activist Ziyaad Mia is the founder of Give30.ca. He spoke with Muslim Link.

Like many parents, Michael Milo and Flordeliza Dayrit were often disappointed with the quality and lack of Islamic television entertainment for their children.

Even during a brief stint working in the Muslim world, the pickings were slim.

“Our kids wanted to watch Tom and Jerry,” remembered Dayrit with a laugh. “As a parent, you watch it and are surprised with all the violence.”

So the husband and wife production team, based in Saskatoon with their four children, decided to produce the kind of programming children would enjoy and which would reinforce faith teachings.

With a new Liberal government in Quebec, the controversy around the proposed “Charter of Values” has abated. And while the new Premier has expressed his intent to address issues of reasonable accommodation, the divisiveness that marked the Parti Quebecois’ time in office has all but disappeared from the political discourse.

Muslim Link spoke to Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of the Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem congregation in Montreal for his reaction to the election results.

“I had been calling myself Muslim since 1968 because it was cool. You know, Malcolm X, Black awareness in the United States..”

Michelle Walrond's tale about being Muslim in a different era and place is part of this great-grandmother's remarkable life story.

It's a story that Walrond, aka Um Nur, was happy to share with library borrowers at the CBC's third annual Human Library, in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library on January 25, 2014.

If timing is everything, can it also be ironic?

Just as author and academic Janice Williamson launches an anthology of essays detailing Canada's failure to uphold the rights of one of its citizens, another “Oh Canada” is quickly garnering much attention.

Canadian media have already publicized the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art's new exhibition which aims to portray Canada's artistic landscape, as seen through the eyes of its contemporary artists, authors, and cultural purveyors.

So I've got to know a handful of the Muslim youth featured in Me, the Muslim Next Door, a visually delightful, intellectually satisfying online series produced by RCI (Radio-Canada International).

I've met Rizwan, the dedicated Canadian of Pakistani origin who has traveled across the country to hear the experiences of Muslim youth first hand, watched him model two very different outfits that represent both East and West. I've looked at university student Suad's wedding photos, watched her canvass for Doctors without Borders all while dealing with a few rude stares at her hijab (headscarf).

I was once giving a presentation to a group of 100 or so prominent Canadian Muslims - people considered to be among the movers and shakers of our various communities ”“ lawyers, law students, activists, mosque and student leaders, professionals of various fields, etc.

During my talk about the media, I asked if anyone in the group had ever read Monia Mazigh's memoir, Hope & Despair, which chronicles her struggle to find her husband Maher Arar. He had disappeared on his way back to Canada in 2002.  Less than a handful of people raised their hands.