Why an Oral History Project?
Muslims have been present in Canada since prior to Confederation (1867), and yet their stories are not included in Canadian history lessons. Even Muslims are largely unaware of the history of their predecessors in Canada.
The earliest pioneers have passed away. So have many of those who immigrated in the early to mid-twentieth-century. In an effort to balance our knowledge of Canadian history and the place of Muslims within Canada’s mosaic, there is an urgent need to record the stories of the remaining pioneers, before their stories too are lost and unrecorded.
Oral history is a profoundly important way to begin documenting Muslim history in Canada. Oral history allows people to tell their own stories from their own perspectives. This enables a nuanced and contextualised approach to understanding the role of Muslims in Canadian history, which will then assist researchers in understanding the development of Muslim identity within the Canadian context.
Why Dundas Street?
Fifty years ago, there were no mosques in Toronto. Today there are over 100. The Tessellate Institute has an interest in Muslim civic engagement in Canada, so it makes sense to begin with the history of such civic engagement: the first attempt at developing an Islamic institution in Toronto, i.e. Dundas Street West.
Furthermore, it is important to start with here at the Dundas Street mosque because today, even amongst Muslims, many have not heard of it.
The Story of The Dundas Street Mosque.
The story of the Dundas Street mosque begins earlier, with Mr Regep Assim’s founding of the Albanian Muslim Society in 1952. However the influx of Muslim migrants to Canada was comprised of a variety of ethno-cultural backgrounds, so by 1957, Mr Assim realised that a new society was needed: one that reflected more accurately the multi-national character of the nascent Muslim community in Toronto. Together with Mr Sami Kerim (Albania) and Mr Zakria Malik (Pakistan), Mr. Assim established The Muslim Society of Toronto in 1957.
During this time, Muslims prayed, celebrated their religious festivals, and taught their children about Islam in each other’s homes, businesses or rental halls. This worked while the numbers were small. But the community soon outgrew these spaces, and eventually decided to buy a place of their own.
In 1961 the Muslim Society of Toronto purchased an old shop at 3047 Dundas Street W, which became the first mosque in Toronto.
In its early years, the Dundas St. mosque was a tight-knit community of Muslims from many religious interpretations, including Sunni and Shia, and from different Muslim countries such as Albania, Bosnia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq. There were even some Anglo-Canadian and other converts.
At 3047 Dundas Street W they established a community that was like a surrogate family for those immigrants whose families were not with them.
As the community continued to grow the members realized the need for bigger premises. In 1968, the Dundas Street mosque was sold, and an old church on Boustead Ave, not too far from the old location was purchased. This is where the “Jami Mosque,” widely regarded by Toronto’s Muslims as the city’s first mosque is now located.
End of the Dundas Street Era?
While the story of Muslim civic engagement has not ended, it is outside the scope of this website, which is focused on Dundas St. Mosqueone.com is the story of eight pioneers of the Dundas Street mosque.
Eventually, rifts began to develop in the community in the late-1960s. These were related either to ideological differences, ethnic loyalties, and/or leadership struggles.
In 1967, just before the Muslim Society of Toronto moved to Boustead Avenue, a small group left the organization to found the Islamic Foundation of Toronto. First they prayed in the basement of St Mary’s Parish on Bathurst St, then purchased an Orange Lodge hall on Rhodes Avenue, and later moved into their current location, a grand, purpose-built mosque on Nugget Road. in Scarborough.
Shortly after the relocation to Boustead Ave, where the Jami Mosque of Toronto was established, and Dr. M. Qadeer Baig was the Imam, some conflicts arose and the Muslim Society of Toronto moved, once again, this time to its present location on Annette Street. The Muslim Students Association of the United States of America and Canada (now the Islamic Society of North America.) took ownership of the Jami mosque.
A new organization, the Canadian Society of Muslims, was also formed around this time under the leadership of Dr. Baig.
What Mosqueone.com Is and Is Not
This website is not meant to be a definitive historical account of the Dundas Street mosque. We have conducted interviews with eight pioneers. We have gathered supporting textual and photographic material.
Our main aim is create a resource of primary historical data which can be used by future researchers about the growth of the Canadian Muslim community, the development of Canadian Muslim identity and attitudes, address elements of civic participation and marginalization and to establish a Muslim presence in Canadian history.
We strove to gather a multiplicity of perspectives and narratives associated with the Dundas St. mosque. Not many of the pioneers remain. Some important perspectives, therefore, are necessarily absent from this record.
The Tessellate Institute, International Development & Relief Foundation, and The Olive Tree Foundation are proud to be among the pioneers in charting the history of Muslims in Canada. We hope it is merely the beginning of a multi-year project that will document the early mosques, institutions, organisations and lives of Muslims in Canada. We hope and pray that this will inspire other individuals and communities to recognize the importance of recording their own history projects as well.
