Build It And They Will Worship
Not only worship but live there as well, given the opportunity. And what an opportunity. To build a Muslim-embracing enclave given over to their very own. Not exactly what integration into a wider multinational community is all about, to be certain. But on the other hand, kind of heart-warming and even, to the casual onlooker, desirable for a community held in such low regard by others of their kind.First came the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at mosque, just north of Toronto, in Vaughan Township, slightly south of Richmond Hill. And then came the brainstorm to an enterprising builder whose own affiliation with the Muslim Ahmadiyya sect makes him particularly keen to offer the opportunity of comradely communitarianism available to Toronto's minority-Muslim community, originating in Pakistan.
This is a Muslim sect that truly does believe in world peace and in Allah's purpose to excite his followers toward the comprehension and embrace of all others, bringing compassion and understanding and an investment in neighbourliness to the fore. Yet because this sect is so despised by mainstream Muslims and has been so long persecuted, that they might find themselves living in their own community among their own should not be denied them.
The enclave is named Peace Village, and represents Canada's first Islamic subdivision. Comprised of 260 single-family homes with a large expansion of both area and the mosque, along with additional housing in the works, the inhabitants are able to walk to and from their mosque, the children to and from their school without fear of harassment. Men and women dress in their traditional robes and head coverings.
The streets are comfortingly named Mahmood Crescent, Ahmadiyya Avenue, Noor-Ud-Din Court. In the driveways of the brick-fronted, modern and generous-size homes are basketball nets and minivans, mirroring subdivisions elsewhere in the country. And the Ahmadiyya are sensitive to the appearance of isolating themselves from other communities - that isn't their intent.
Comfort and security in the presence of others like themselves is the driving force. Along with cultural centres, the proximity of their mosque, the well-being that arises from being surrounded by others like themselves, where no one will stare when men walk to the mosque wearing the traditional long white shalwar camise and women head scarves.
Mind, it's a trifle ingenuous to claim that there is no exclusion intended in the community, that anyone may purchase a home there, not only the Ahmadiyya. For it is highly unlikely anyone not Muslim would intervene to place themselves in that monochromatic community adjacent a mosque. So inclusion, although a potential, isn't, really. Besides which, language exclusion is a great deterrent, since most Canadians don't speak Urdu.
The neighbourhood park (Ahmadiyya Park) is filled with women pushing strollers, walking their children to and from school. the school is full of mostly Muslim children. The great majority of these children go home directly from school; home where their mothers await them. A piddling hand-count of children attend an on-site daycare.
On the downside is the fact that all the children speak Urdu as their mother tongue, placing them at a decided disadvantage in the public school system where they struggle to cope with the provincial educational guidelines. Children fast during Ramadan, rendering them inattentive, tired and sometimes physically weak during daytime school hours.
On the downside too, was the demolition of a United Church building, the religious home of another, earlier community of people who lived in the region, and sacrificed for the development of Peace Village. Given the lax attendance in past decades at most churches it's more than likely a mere handful of residents miss their former church, however.
And how different can this Muslim community be in many respects from their neighbouring communities as they find valuable the near presence of Wonderland, the extension of the Toronto subway, and the presence of the Vaughn Mills mall. Which is largely irrelevant, but amusing at the same time in the calculation of what binds us together; residence, and consumption.
On the other hand what is of incalculable value is that a resident of this Muslim community can articulate his pleasure by explaining: "I can wear my shalwar camise and walk from home to the mosque without someone looking at me funny for what I'm wearing. It just gives me the absolute comfort of being home."
O Canada.
Labels: Religion, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, October 07, 2007
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