Opening doors a few weeks ago, the number of Muslims visiting Wellington County’s first mosque has revealed a growing need for mosques in the rural Ontario district, Guelph Today reported.
“We figured out there is no mosque till far away. Nothing in Rockwood, Georgetown, Orangeville, Fergus, Arthur, Hillsburgh, there are no mosques,” said Kashif Ali, the mosque president.
Formerly the Erin Village Alliance Church, Ali purchased the mosque in March, 2019 as an act of sadaqah jariyah, or ongoing charity, as a tribute to his mom who passed away a year ago.
“I dedicated it to my mom whose name was Qamar, and I decided to give her name to this location,” said Ali who named the mosque Dar Ul Qamar.
Opening doors last April, the first mosque became a destination for Muslims from neighboring towns, witnessing a surge in the number of worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan.
While there are relatively few Muslims living in Erin, the facility is intended to provide a convenient location for those living in the region between existing mosques in Orangeville and Guelph.
“Our belief is that once you make a worship place, and people are served here. You get the reward because you’re serving the community,” said chair member Atif Moin.
“We are here to help the community. Not to take away anything from them.”
Ali said the mosque offers prayer services and education services for kids and adults for the community, encouraging people to come and visit the mosque to learn more about Islam.
“We like to invite people to see what we are doing and if they have any questions about Islam, we can teach them,” said Ali.
“Even though this is a Muslim religious spot, we invite everyone. If they have any questions or if they want to learn about Islam and learn about what we’re doing, we welcome them.”
The Erin mosque is affiliated with IIPC Canada and is open to all Muslims.
Erin Mayor Allan Alls and some local Christian pastors recently attended an open house at the mosque, welcoming the faith community to town.
Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey estimated Muslims in Canada to be around 1,053,945, or about 3.2% of the population, making Islam the second largest religion in the country after Christianity.