New mosque in Iqaluit, Canada opens doors as a place to learn about Islam

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Sunday 14 Feb 2016 - 11:32 Makkah mean time-5-5-1437 Iqaluit's new mosque was built by the Zubaidah Tallab Foundation and the Islamic Association of Nunavut. Image from CBC news Iqaluit City, Canada (IINA) - After years in the making, a new mosque in Iqaluit, Canada was opened on Friday, CBC News reported. It will serve as a prayer space and a community centre for Iqaluit's 100 or so Muslims, as well as a place to learn about Islam. "By establishing this mosque, we are saying one thing: we are now an integral part of Iqaluit, we are now a part of the Iqaluit community," said Hussain Guisti, the Zubaidah Tallab Foundation's general manager. Members of the foundation, along with the Islamic Association of Nunavut, built the mosque themselves at a cost of $800,000. The foundation has also helped construct mosques in Inuvik, N.W.T., and Thompson, Manitoba. "We just finished the mosque now. The guys were working outside underneath the mosque in –56 below," Guisti said. "I mean, that's treacherous. If you can build a mosque in Iqaluit, you can build it anywhere else on the planet." Guisti said the mosque's presence will encourage more Muslim families to move to the Nunavut capital. There are also plans to operate a food bank at the site, he said. The makeup of Iqaluit's Muslim population is already diverse. They're engineers, doctors, teachers, government workers, taxi drivers. Now, they have a place of their own. "This mosque is not only for prayer, but for educating our kids, our families," said Mohammed Wani, vice-president of the Islamic Association of Nunavut. "This was a dream which came true." SM/IINA