Frequently Asked Questions

The Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) is a charitable, faith-based, non-profit organization devoted to educational and social work. It is a nonpartisan organization focusing on education, community service and volunteer engagement. These are the primary tenets MAC champions at the local level to produce well-rounded community members entering public life who are accountable and recognized in their communities.

MAC recognizes the positive and needed role faith-based groups serve and welcomes opportunities to build alliances with and across religious, ethnic, racial, and different age groups to give back, innovate and strengthen our neighbourhoods nationwide. As a Canadian Muslim faith-based organization following a traditional moderate interpretation of Islam, MAC’s work is built around the ethical integrity of Islam, balancing faith with modernity, the material with the spiritual, and love for the Creator and duty to His Creation.

MAC strives to engage all Canadians. We make consistent efforts to keep our school curricula and resources current, relevant, and, engaging.  We ensure that our mosques and community centres reflect the diverse needs of its respective communities, and we hold community events throughout the year in our various centres across Canada. Our main objective is to be of service to Canada and contribute to a secure, healthy and prosperous future for all.

The Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) was established in 1997 with responsibility and vision: to earnestly help Muslim communities within Canada and to adopt a balanced, moderate understanding of Islam that actively benefits by engaging within society. MAC acquired its first community center in 1997 in the Greater Toronto Area.

MAC has Chapters, centres and mosques in 13 cities across Canada in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. To reach a MAC institution, navigate our contacts directory for institutions per city.

Yes. MAC is a registered nonprofit, tax-exempt Canadian charity.

Thank you for considering donating to MAC. To donate to MAC, please visit this site to invest in community growth through MAC.

MAC spends 100% of the raised funds in Canada. Funding collected by MAC allocates towards projects and institutions operated by MAC.

As a trusted charity, sometimes Canadian donors choose to designate their donations for international relief through MAC. Such contributions are granted to approved Canadian registered charities that work to provide relief within Canada or internationally.

MAC’s primary source of funding comes from Canadian donors. On large purchases of new institutions or schools, MAC may apply for grants from the Canadian government or qualified organizations that support community initiatives and comply with CRA regulations.

MAC provides an annual financial report to its members, including details on income and expenditures which is also published on our website here. All MAC financials follow the charity law and the standards, and policies regulated by the CRA. MAC runs cost-effective operations with around 5% administration costs average which is notably below the industry standard.

Everyone is welcomed at MAC. MAC is a Canadian organization reflecting the diversity within the Muslim communities across Canada. Our membership and communities reflect that diversity and come from all backgrounds. Our centres and institutions are open to all without any form of discrimination.  Our HR policies conform to all legal requirements and encourage and protect diversity and tolerance.

Becoming a MAC member is a process that encompasses a concerted effort to invest.

Prospective members should join local self-development halaqas* intended as social continuing education groups. This is where they complete different levels of the curriculum with a focus on Islamic and personal characteristic to obtain.

The second way to become a member is to reach out to local Chapter Heads and request to volunteer to help with community events and programs.

Other than formal membership, everyone is welcome to volunteer with MAC or get involved in many of MAC committees in centres and chapters.

Yes. MAC seeks to constructively engage Muslims within Canadian society through contextual initiatives, multi-faith projects, and educational opportunities. MAC recognizes the positive and needed role faith-based groups serve and welcomes opportunities to build alliances with and across religious, ethnic, racial, and different age groups to give back, innovate and strengthen our neighbourhoods nationwide.

MAC maintains clear policies against hate speech that firmly apply to all staff and visitors speaking at any MAC centres. MAC has zero-tolerance towards hate speech and anti-Semitism. MAC encourages collaborations, creating positive relationships with other faith groups, and participating in interfaith initiatives.

MAC successfully operates 12 full-time and 20 part-time schools in thirteen cities from grades K-12, and we take pride in maintaining and upholding high standards within our schools nationwide. We also ensure the protection of children through MAC’s Child Protection Policy that ensures, “if an individual is convicted in a criminal court of Child Abuse, or pleads guilty to some lesser and included offence arising from the Child Abuse, then the Individual shall immediately be terminated”. Furthermore, all employees must pass a Criminal Records Check before being employed at MAC.

Without a doubt, the safety and well-being of all children at our institutions is our first priority and we ardently work towards creating and maintaining healthy, safe and positive environments for them.

MAC is a nonpartisan charity with no political ties to any political organization within or outside of Canada. MAC welcomes the opportunities to engage new hearts and minds, and to form new partnerships and alliances to help make Canada a better place for all Canadians.

No. MAC is a Canadian, independent, faith-based, registered charity that operates only in Canada with no connections with any organization outside Canada.

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Imam Hassan al-Banna (1906-1949) was a schoolteacher, intellectual, reformer, and the founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. 

He was born in the village of Mahmoudiyya, located northwest of the city of Cairo, to a traditional lower middle-class family. His father was a watch repairer and a teacher at the local mosque school where Al-Banna received his first lessons in Islam. His religious inclination, activism, charismatic appeal, and leadership potential were evident from an early age. By the time he was 14 years old he had memorized the Koran, the holy book of Islam, and while still in secondary school he began to organize committees and societies stressing Islamic principles and morals. Later, while attending the Teacher’s College in Cairo, Al-Banna attended lectures at Al-Azhar, the foremost Islamic university, where he was exposed to current religious thought. It was in the city of Isma’illiyya, where Al-Banna was given the job of grammar teacher, that he began to preach his ideas and won his first followers, who encouraged him to form the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928.^[1]

The Muslim Brotherhood would become the most influential Islamist revivalist organization in the Muslim world, and the largest government opposition force in Egypt. He was deeply inspired by Rashid Rida, a student of Muslim reformist Mohamed Abdu, who argued that Islam should serve as the primary reference point and organizing force for modern society, and that Islamic law must adapt to reflect modern contexts.^[2] Al-Banna’s writings marked a watershed in Islamic intellectual history by presenting a modern ideology based on Islam.^[3] Al-Banna considered Islam to be a comprehensive system of life, with the Quran as the only acceptable constitution [manefesto].^[4] 

Al-Banna was assassinated in 1949, likely by the Egyptian government for his growing political influence. He is remembered for rendering the theological and legal works of Abdu, Rida and others into a workable approach to modern life which was embraced in Egypt by the middle, professional class and the poor, and globally by Islamists seeking change in their own societies. This approach not only challenged secular nationalist discourses, but also offered a powerful alternative to traditional religious narratives. Finally, al-Banna’s articulation of Islamism would significantly transform in the years and decades following his death. ^[2]

References

1 https://biography.yourdictionary.com/hassan-al-banna

2 https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/faq/hassan-al-banna 

3  Olivier Carré; Liv Tønnessen (2009). “Bannā, Ḥasan al-“. In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Translated by Elizabeth Keller. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195305135. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-01-31.

4 John L. Esposito, ed. (2014). “Banna, Hasan al-“. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195125580.