"This is for my family. I do this to help my family, you know, to give my dad a chance to rest. My dad is my inspiration." - Waleed at Aladdin's Bakery

Hers was a name that almost everyone knew.

At one time in Ottawa's history, Eva Afife Wahab was the go-to person in the Muslim community.

Born in 1914, Wahab was the first Muslim child born in Ottawa. Her father emigrated from Lebanon to Canada in 1903, and her family was the first Muslim family in the nation's capital. Prior to that, it was individual Muslims who had settled here.

Back in Grade 5, I recall leafing through my new social studies textbook on the first week of school. My teacher at the time explained that that year, we would be learning about Canada and the history of the Canadian government. As I flipped through the pages, an image caught my eye. It was the floor plan of the House of Commons. Someone raised their hand to ask where the Prime Minister sat and our teacher pointed us to the legend describing which labels on the plan were which on the floor: Prime Minister, the Opposition, the Speaker, clerks...

Muslim Link’s new series “So You Want To…” interviews students and established professionals for advice and reflections on their various fields of study and professions, with the aim of helping other Muslims aspiring to join those fields.

In this article, Arab Canadian law student Assma Basalamah discusses her experience as a law student in Ottawa.

Bachar Awneh, 26, recently returned from Vancouver where he won Bronze for Swimming in the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games. Over 2000 athletes, coaches and officials participated in the Games which took place at the University of British Columbia. The Special Olympics Summer Games brings together accomplished athletes from across Canada who are living with intellectual disabilities.

Naceur and Lamia fled the political turmoil of Tunisia in the nineties and settled in Ottawa with their young family. Like many refugee fathers, Naceur faced the challenge of figuring out how to support his family on top of learning a new language and figuring out how to navigate a new country and culture. “My dad had no job when he first came to Canada. Then he finally found a job as a cleaner. He would find any way possible to get to his job. He even at a time walked on the highway in the freezing cold!” Zeinab shared.

“Say: travel through the land and observe how He began creation.” [29:20]

Sailing down the Nile River on my way to work in Aswan City, I stopped to reflect before the breathtaking scene unfolding before me: the empowering sun overbearing above, an uncompromising terrain spanning rugged mountains and winding sand dunes with quaint homes dotting in between. These banks were once home to the mighty Pharaohs and Kings of antiquity. I spent a moment to take in the majesty of one of the most spectacular cities I’ve ever visited…for the last time.

Local Artist Nagat Bahumaid was recently invited to teach a session on Islamic calligraphy at Assunnah Muslim Association's Iqraa Saturday School in Barrhaven, by school principal Dr. Aliaa Dakroury. Muslim Link asked her to reflect on the experience for our readers.

Each year the Simon Fraser Institute ranks Ontario schools based on their performance on the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) standardized tests for reading, writing and math. Ottawa's Ahlul Bayt Islamic School came in as the second best elementary school in Ottawa and among the top 100 in the province for its Grade 3 and Grade 6 scores from 2012 to 2013. This comes as no surprise to Ahlul Bayt's principal Leila Rahal. “Every year we receive very good results but the Institute only ranks schools that have classes of over 15 students. We don't always have that,” she explained. Mrs. Rahal credits the school's success to strictly following the Canadian curriculum and having the majority of its teachers being graduates of Ontario Teachers' Colleges.

I am a product of youth programs. Since high school, I've been attracted to being involved in anything that would give me an opportunity to network, learn, and grow. It is where I spent many hours during lunch and many more after school. Now I have the privilege of working with a youth program that mirrors the experiences I had in high school.

Since the winter of 2012, I have worked for Youth Futures: a 7-month long bilingual program that provides advanced leadership training, volunteer opportunities, a variety of employment positions, and a post-secondary experience. The goal of the program is to provide skills, information, and support for success in post-secondary education and the work place for high school students from low-income families and communities.