The Al-Noor Mosque sits on the eastern edge of St.John's |
Dr. Mahmoud Haddara is the imam of Masjid Al-Noor: The Mosque of Light in St. John's, Newfoundland, a port city of about 250,000 people. An engineering professor, Haddara explains that as imam, he is the community's religious co-ordinator and not a priest. Although he has a high profile in this province and is active nationally, Haddara is unassuming and modest. With his quietly friendly manner, he puts visitors to the mosque at ease.
The Al-Noor Mosque was built in 1990, eight years after the congregation was founded (although it is believed the city's first Muslim arrived in the early 1960s). More than100 Muslim families live in St. John's, and there are 160 students at Memorial University of Newfoundland who are active in the Muslim community.
Maura Hanrahan: You grew up in Egypt, Dr. Haddara. Maybe you can tell me about that --the setting, the culture. I'm especially interested in the role Islam played in your early life, in your childhood.
Dr. Mahmoud Haddara: I would make two observations about religion in Egypt. Egypt is a religious society, and religion has played a strong role there since the time of the Pharaohs. Both Christians and Muslims in Egypt have strong religious convictions, and it is amazing how much they have in common. So religion is always part of the background. Secondly, Egypt started as an agricultural land; people have a sense of security and settlement, they weren't nomadic. This agriculture and stability shaped their lives and helped set the stage for religion to be important.
The prayer hall in the mosque |
But it was a mixed situation when I was growing up. Religion had to be more in the background then, because Nasser was in power and he was very secular. It was known if you went to the mosque, any kind of religious behaviour was noticed. Basically you had to practice religion in secret. Modest dress for women, consisting of long dresses and a head covering, was essentially abandoned and beards on men (which are associated with Islam) disappeared. These things returned slowly after Nasser died.
MH: I understand the Qur'an to be the Word of God revealed to the Prophet (Muhammad) over a period of some years. Like most books, the Qur'an is of its time in many ways. For example: The Qur'an addresses the issue of slavery (in a progressive manner). What are some of the central meanings or messages from the Qur'an for you as a Muslim some 13 centuries after God revealed this knowledge to the Prophet?
DMH: The cornerstone of Islam is the belief in the oneness of God. This is the same message over the centuries, no matter when you live. It frees you from all other pressure or influences. It frees you from other authorities.
Another concern is social justice: The rights of the weak and the vulnerable. There is a lot in the Qur'an about orphans, for instance. The Qur'an also discusses the relationship between employers and employees and how people should be treated fairly. The values in the Qur'an are the same values we use in today's life. The message is the same.
Dr. Haddara uses the clocks in the mosque to explain the Muslim
practice of praying five times a day. |
Islam started in Mecca, but Muslims were persecuted there and moved to Medina where they were well received. The first thing the Prophet did in Medina was write a constitution for the new state. He became head of state and everyone had the same rights and responsibilities regardless of ethnicity or other factors. They all had to share the financial burden. Islam is all about unity. Medina is where the message was put into practice, but the message applies today.
MH: Ritual is at the core of Islam and it brings one's attention to God regularly through one's day. I am remembering young men running to a mosque in Istanbul in response to the call to prayer one time --they were so eager to get there they nearly knocked me down! Karen Armstrong and other theologians have written about the role of ritual in leading one to God. This certainly seems to be the case with Islam. . .
DMH: That's a really interesting and perceptive question. We pray five times a day and this acts as a reminder. It's a way of remembering, a way of helping us not to forget about God. It says in the Qur'an that human beings are very forgetful. In Arabic, the root of the term "human being" is "to forget."
Besides the daily prayers we have Friday sermons and prayer. There are three men who give sermons, alternating with each other. I don't give every sermon.
In prayer we should focus on quality, not quantity. This is a core value, but a lot of people forget it. Prayer is communication between the person and God. It should have a high quality of spirituality; you should not think about the world when you are talking to God. But too often the emphasis is on form, how often people pray and so on. But maybe one prayer is better than 1000 prayers.
MH: One of the distinguishing features of Islam is the lack of an intermediary between the individual and God. Does Islam emphasize one's personal relationship with God? I'm wondering how this directness or closeness feels and impacts on your life.
DMH: This direct relationship with God is very positive. It means the relationship is a personal responsibility. It is up to no one but you. According to the Qur'an and the Prophet, human beings cannot judge each other. This is left to God alone. This lack of a priest or intermediary frees people from outside pressure. You are not doing it to please somebody --you are only doing it to please God.
In Islam, a lot depends on one's intention. You can be a charitable person, but being charitable to get praise is not acceptable. Your intentions have to be good, and no one can judge them because one's intentions are hidden inside.
In Islam we have no authority. We have religious scholars, both men and women, who advise and guide, but you don't necessarily have to follow them.
MH: We're in a mosque on the eastern edge of the most easterly city in North America. I don't know if that geography has any significance, given that Mecca is well east of here and Muslims pray facing east. You're an engineer so you're a good one to ask if the actual design of mosques honours God? How does the design facilitate worship?
DMH: (Laughing) We had no choice where to build, as this was the only lot that was both available and convenient. Most Muslims live in the east end of the city, but that's just a coincidence.
But east is a significant direction for us. We pray facing east toward the Kabba in Mecca, which was the site of the first place of worship on earth. It was there that Adam used to pray. Then it was rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael. Today millions of people make the pilgrimage there.
In terms of the design of this mosque we tried to follow the original command of the Prophet. When he built the first mosque he asked his companions to build a place of worship similar to that of Moses. We understood this to mean a simple place with no paintings, no statues, no decorations, just a simple building with a roof to keep the rain off.
In our prayer hall there is nothing hanging on the wall except for a carpet that lists Islam's 99 names for God. There is one thing wrong though. The carpets should be plain, but they are decorated. That's because we couldn't afford to buy carpets and we got these as a gift. When we are praying, people line up in rows close to each other, which emphasizes the unity of the community.
We have a private place for women to pray, but this is not Islamic tradition. It reflects the local cultures of many of the countries that our congregants come from.
It is best to pray in a mosque, but you can pray anywhere as long as is it clean and away from distractions.
MH: You're a practising Muslim in a society that is nominally Christian and, in some respects, post-Christian. In other words, it's not a Muslim majority society. How does this affect your spiritual practice?
DMH: Newfoundland is a unique society and this uniqueness reminded us of our purpose, that Islam came to unite people. So both Shia and Sunni Muslims built this mosque and pray together in it. Our executive committee has three Sunnis and one Shia. This division between Shia and Sunni is more of a barrier than language or geography. But here there is no difference between the two. That is very significant. We haven't had a major conflict of any sort, only a difference of opinion when someone is frustrated and wants to take it out on the community. This then dies out. Our congregation is known all across Canada.
We have people coming from everywhere. It's different from London or Toronto where members of large mosques come from the same region in Asia or the Middle East. We have people from Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Libya, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan. . .
Coming from Egypt at the time of Nasser, we have much more freedom to practice our religion here. And there is great support from the larger community in times of crisis such as 9/11 and the Iraq war.
MH: These are difficult times and maybe you are being diplomatic.
DMH: No, not at all! People called the mosque and e-mailed with messages of support. Someone left a bouquet of flowers on our doorstep after 9/11. The media was very sympathetic, approaching us to talk about Islam. We had a lot of invitations from other churches and visits from church groups.
It's easy to talk to people here. Whether you are talking to a taxi driver or the grocery clerk, they have a different attitude than they do in Toronto. You feel you know these people, and that there is no barrier.
We have good relations with the local Jewish community, and we recently partnered with them to raise funds for relief efforts in Lebanon and Israel. We have good relations with the St. John's Council of Churches, and we were invited to take part in a memorial service for the 9/11 victims.
I believe this opportunity (to be a Muslim in Newfoundland) is a blessing. Anytime I have a chance to say this I will: I feel grateful for the kind of life we're living here. It is a bad feeling if you are misjudged or persecuted but, thank God, that is not a feeling we've had to live with here. It is a precious gift.
MH: What drew you to play a leadership role in the Islamic community here and across Canada? Did you always feel drawn to faith-based leadership?
DMH: That's funny, I never thought about that. It just happened. I didn't have any plans to do it. But it needed to be done and I volunteered and that's it!
Maura Hanrahan's new book is Domino: The Eskimo Coast Disaster.
[Interviewer's Note] Dr. Haddara says that the Internet is not generally a good source of information about Islam. For those who want to learn more about Islam, he recommends any of the more than 30 books by John L. Esposito, the Georgetown University professor who edited The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and The Oxford Book of Islam. I recommend Paul Grieve's new book Islam: History, Faith and Politics: The Complete Introduction.
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