Al Zahra Shia Association of Waterloo Region

Al Zahra, the radiant, was the honorific given to Fatima, may God be pleased with her, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, and the association that takes her name in the Waterloo Region of southwestern Ontario has built a community centre in the city of Kitchener that serves as prayer hall, cultural meeting place and educational venue for a diverse Muslim congregation drawn from Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Pakistani, Afghan and Canadian convert backgrounds. The Waterloo Region, comprising the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo along with smaller municipalities, is home to two universities, a significant technology industry and one of Canada's most active innovation corridors. Ontario's Muslim community has grown steadily since the early twentieth century with Lebanese and Syrian pioneers settling in the industrial cities of the Great Lakes basin, expanding through waves of migration from South Asia in the nineteen seventies, from Iran after nineteen seventy nine and from various conflict zones in the decades since. Architecturally the association's building is a converted commercial property refurbished for religious and community use, with a carpeted main prayer hall, a women's section, teaching rooms for weekend classes and a kitchen for Ramadan iftar and Ashura commemorations. The mihrab is modest but carefully finished, calligraphic panels name the fourteen infallibles and a small library holds Qur'anic commentaries and hadith collections in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and English. Daily prayers gather commuting students and residents, the Friday gathering is delivered in English with passages in Arabic and the Muharram commemorations fill the hall with recitations of the maqtal of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, may God be pleased with him. Ramadan evenings bring iftar reflecting the congregation's diverse origins, with Persian ash, Iraqi biryani, Lebanese kibbeh, Pakistani samosas and Canadian seasonal soups appearing alongside one another. Eid mornings move to a rented community centre to accommodate the crowd. Non Muslim neighbours are welcomed to open house events, and practical visitors should dress modestly, leave shoes on the wooden racks and silence mobile devices before quietly entering today's thoughtful conversations continuing here.