The team behind MuslimMoms.ca
Courtesy of MuslimMoms.ca
Oct
Being a mom can often be a daunting task, and even more so when confronted with the challenges of raising children Islamically in the West. A group of Muslim moms rose to the task of creating a website where other Muslim mothers (especially Canadian Muslim moms) can come for support and information. The site also offers special information for new-comers to Canada. The site's contributors range across the Greater Toronto Area and from other cities in Canada.
Here is a brief interview we conducted with the project manager of MuslimMoms.ca Erum Zehra, a website consultant by profession.
How did the idea emerge to launch a website for Canadian Muslim Moms?
As the saying goes "Necessity is the mother of invention". Muslim Moms are a dynamic, vibrant group of individuals who face multiple challenges on a daily basis. To face these challenges they need support as well as timely and relevant information. This website has been created to attempt to provide both.
Does the website cater specifically for Canadian Muslim Moms only or all Muslim Moms across the globe? Can you expand on how the needs and interests of Canadian Muslim moms differ from moms in other countries?
Although we are named "Muslim Moms of Canada" the website has pertinent information for any Muslim mother, or any mother for that matter. Canadian Muslim Moms face the challenge of raising their children in a society which is not primarily Islamic. Also, a lot of them are immigrants and trying to familiarize themselves with the culture at the same time. Canada as a country provides a lot of facilities to its citizens/residents and immigrants require information on how to avail these facilities.
There is also a group of Canadian Muslim Moms who are reverts and require information on how to raise righteous Muslim children and learn more about Islam themselves.
I see that there are resources for new immigrants to Ontario, do you plan to add information on the site for other provinces as well? Do you plan to make the site bilingual l or offer content for French speaking members?
Yes, we aim to include information on all provinces as this website caters to women all over Canada and not just Ontario. Currently there are no plans for including other languages as we are more focused on providing original and relevant content on a regular basis.
Who can write on the website?
We have diverse categories and anyone who wants to share their experience and thoughts can reach out to us. We just require that the piece is authentic, well researched, and original.
How are you connecting with Muslim moms outside of the GTA?
Currently most of our traffic is from social media and we are in touch with Muslim mothers from all over Canada. We also hope to get a lot more organic search engine traffic once our (website) ranking improves.
Are you making an effort to reflect the ethno-cultural diversity of Canada's Muslim moms?
Yes absolutely. We reach out to Muslims and reverts of all cultural backgrounds. "It takes a village to raise a child" is a quote we hear again and again when it comes to parenting.
However, many women in this day in age, especially in the West, complain that there is no village to help them with their children. We no longer have our parents and in-laws living next door to counsel us and give us parenting lessons, and we no longer have our siblings nearby to swoop in and help watch the children.
So in this age of social media, many moms are turning to the internet for guidance and a sense of community. There are forums upon forums and discussion groups about breastfeeding or sleep training alone, and a myriad of different parenting blogs that offer different perspectives on parenthood.
Despite all of this readily available information, many Muslims moms still feel at loss because most of these forums and sites do not reflect their reality as parents who try to raise their children Islamically in society.
This is why websites like "MuslimMoms.ca" can be so helpful and supportive for Muslim moms. They publish articles about topics that all moms can relate to such as cooking healthy meals, but also cover more Muslim-specific topics such as how to speak to your child about Christmas or how to teach Islam in a way that is relatable and easy to understand.
We should encourage and support such Islamic parenting sites as they are a great source of support and encouragement for the often daunting task of raising confident Muslim children.
More Muslim Parenting websites to check out:
www.ummdean.com
www.muslimkids.tv ■
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