Asalamu walaikum wa Rahmatullah dear Brothers and Sisters,

I pray you are well and that your family and communities around you are well and healthy.

As we come close to one year since the closures of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may be experiencing things like frustration, burnout, financial and emotional stress amongst other things.  Many of us have either been directly or indirectly impacted by having contracted some form of the virus itself.  May Allah(swt) continue to guide us through this phase and inshaAllah we come out of this as stronger Muslims and may there be ease and relief soon, inshaAllah. 

Qur’an, 2:153

This past month, we have been really excited to develop our MAC E-Learning platform with many exciting courses and learning opportunities.  The platform offers a unique learning experience by taking topics and contextualizing them within contemporary times and providing practical application tips within our daily lives.   I encourage you to explore what the platform has to offer, elearning.macnet.ca .

This past month our members published two very important articles in Canadian media outlets.  Sr. Nimao Ali published a relevant article about the unique history, challenges and realities of the Black Muslim experience in Canada, in relation to Black History month.  Sr. Nimao Ali and Sr. Rania Lawendy also published an article along with other Muslim chaplains across Canada explaining the need for faith-based chaplains on university campuses through the pandemic. MAC members are actively engaged in serving our community through grassroots initiatives as well as being engaged in the wider discourse of contemporary Canadian topics, Alhamdulillah.  

As we all look forward to welcoming Ramadan this year, we anticipate this will also be another unique Ramadan amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our chapters, centers, institutions, schools and community-based programming organizers will continue to monitor the situation regionally and will work to offer our communities the most meaningful programs.  With safety as a priority, we aim to provide our community with a sense of spiritual cohesiveness and experience a beautiful Ramadan together, inshaAllah.

Jazakum Allahu Khairan,

Sharaf Sharafeldin
Executive Director
Muslim Association of Canada