Latest news with #CanadianPrayerRug
Ya Biladi
14-03-2025
- General
- Ya Biladi
The story of Muslim presence in Canada since 1938, told through a prayer rug stamp
To mark Eid al-Fitr, the celebration that ends Ramadan, families and friends in Canada can exchange greeting cards and gifts using a specially designed stamp symbolizing sharing and strong family bonds. Canada Post has issued 300,000 copies of this new stamp, which blends Muslim and Indigenous cultures, drawing inspiration from the Canadian Prayer Rug. The stamp aims to highlight the deep connections between the Muslim community and Canada through a design that incorporates shared cultural symbols. The Canadian Prayer Rug was originally created in 2016 as part of a project by The Green Room, a youth program run by the Edmonton-based charity IslamicFamily, which provides spiritual and cultural services to the local community, according to Canada Post 's magazine. Omar Yaqub, executive director of IslamicFamily, told Radio-Canada that the rug represents a sense of belonging through reconciliation, learning about Indigenous histories, and building connections with neighbors. It also reflects the historical use of floral motifs in Islamic art, which appear in architecture, textiles, and prayer rugs. «In this spirit, in 2016, a group of young Muslims met with Indigenous elders and descendants of the first settlers to explore what a uniquely Canadian prayer rug might look like», the magazine explains. A Collaboration Between Métis and Muslim Artists These conversations led to a collaboration between Métis designer Kit Craven and weaver Noor Iqbal, who created a hand-woven wool rug. The design reflects Alberta's diverse landscapes and incorporates symbols from both Indigenous and Muslim traditions. The rug features a dome and a twisted pine, a nod to Lebanon's cedar tree—a homeland for many Muslims in Canada. Blue triangles represent Cree culture, symbolizing the Alberta Rockies and the North Saskatchewan River, while wheat stalks signify abundance. The crescent moons reference the lunar calendar, which plays a significant role in both cultures and marks the start of Ramadan. According to Canada Post, this creation embodies the rich cultural ties woven over time, as Canada's Muslim community has been present for over 80 years. A Legacy of Muslim Presence in Canada The Muslim community in Canada contributed to building the country's first mosque in 1938 in Edmonton. The project was spearheaded by Lebanese-Canadian Hilwie Hamdon (1905–1988), who rallied Edmonton's Muslim community and led efforts to establish Al-Rashid Mosque, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, cited by Présence Info. Canada Post At the time, Canada's Muslim population was about 2,000, with just 40 families in Edmonton. Reports from La Patrie in 1938 describe the mosque as featuring a single-floor structure, a central dome, two minarets, a paved courtyard, and a basement. This history deeply influenced the artistic choices for the new stamp. Canada Post describes the design as «more than a work of art», emphasizing that «this rug symbolizes unity and multiculturalism on Treaty No. 6 territory, which includes Edmonton». This Eid stamp is part of a broader effort by Canada Post to celebrate cultural diversity. The institution has previously issued six other special stamps for Muslim holidays and also produces stamps for Diwali, Hanukkah, and Christmas, reflecting Canada's multicultural fabric.
Ya Biladi
13-03-2025
- General
- Ya Biladi
The story of Muslim presence in Canada since 1938, told through a prayer rug stamp
Estimated read time: 2' To mark Eid al-Fitr, the celebration that ends Ramadan, families and friends in Canada can exchange greeting cards and gifts using a specially designed stamp symbolizing sharing and strong family bonds. Canada Post has issued 300,000 copies of this new stamp, which blends Muslim and Indigenous cultures, drawing inspiration from the Canadian Prayer Rug. The stamp aims to highlight the deep connections between the Muslim community and Canada through a design that incorporates shared cultural symbols. The Canadian Prayer Rug was originally created in 2016 as part of a project by The Green Room, a youth program run by the Edmonton-based charity IslamicFamily, which provides spiritual and cultural services to the local community, according to Canada Post 's magazine. Omar Yaqub, executive director of IslamicFamily, told Radio-Canada that the rug represents a sense of belonging through reconciliation, learning about Indigenous histories, and building connections with neighbors. It also reflects the historical use of floral motifs in Islamic art, which appear in architecture, textiles, and prayer rugs. «In this spirit, in 2016, a group of young Muslims met with Indigenous elders and descendants of the first settlers to explore what a uniquely Canadian prayer rug might look like», the magazine explains. A Collaboration Between Métis and Muslim Artists These conversations led to a collaboration between Métis designer Kit Craven and weaver Noor Iqbal, who created a hand-woven wool rug. The design reflects Alberta's diverse landscapes and incorporates symbols from both Indigenous and Muslim traditions. The rug features a dome and a twisted pine, a nod to Lebanon's cedar tree—a homeland for many Muslims in Canada. Blue triangles represent Cree culture, symbolizing the Alberta Rockies and the North Saskatchewan River, while wheat stalks signify abundance. The crescent moons reference the lunar calendar, which plays a significant role in both cultures and marks the start of Ramadan. According to Canada Post, this creation embodies the rich cultural ties woven over time, as Canada's Muslim community has been present for over 80 years. A Legacy of Muslim Presence in Canada The Muslim community in Canada contributed to building the country's first mosque in 1938 in Edmonton. The project was spearheaded by Lebanese-Canadian Hilwie Hamdon (1905–1988), who rallied Edmonton's Muslim community and led efforts to establish Al-Rashid Mosque, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, cited by Présence Info. At the time, Canada's Muslim population was about 2,000, with just 40 families in Edmonton. Reports from La Patrie in 1938 describe the mosque as featuring a single-floor structure, a central dome, two minarets, a paved courtyard, and a basement. This history deeply influenced the artistic choices for the new stamp. Canada Post describes the design as «more than a work of art», emphasizing that «this rug symbolizes unity and multiculturalism on Treaty No. 6 territory, which includes Edmonton». This Eid stamp is part of a broader effort by Canada Post to celebrate cultural diversity. The institution has previously issued six other special stamps for Muslim holidays and also produces stamps for Diwali, Hanukkah, and Christmas, reflecting Canada's multicultural fabric.
CBC
12-03-2025
- General
- CBC
Stamp featuring Edmonton-designed Canadian prayer rug coming to a mailbox near you
A project celebrating Edmonton's Muslim community and deep-rooted connections to the land has stamped a place in Canadian history. The Canadian Prayer Rug created nine years ago in Edmonton is now set to travel the country as the image on Canada Post's newest stamp released in honour of Eid celebrations. "The rug to me is about being at home, about feeling you really belong," Omar Yaqub, executive director for IslamicFamily said in an interview with Radio Active Monday. IslamicFamily is the non-profit hub that facilitated the Canadian Prayer Rug project. "What we're trying to do is evoke that sense of home and place, and the way we do that is through reconciliation — recognizing those first stories through knowing our neighbours." For more than 1,400 years, Muslims have prayed on rugs reflecting local motifs, flora, architecture and tradition. It was in that spirit in 2016 that drove a group of Edmonton Muslim youth to interview Indigenous elders and families of early settlers asking: What would a Canadian prayer rug look like? Those interviews were then captured in a collaboration between Métis designer Kit Craven and weaver Noor Iqbal. Woven with locally sourced wool and dyes, the design of the prayer rug aims to depict Alberta's diverse landscape and both Indigenous and Muslim symbols. Rising up from the rug's centre is a lodgepole pine used to make teepees, also meant to be reminiscent of the cedars of Lebanon, where many early Muslim settlers came from. Blue triangles in Cree motif represent the Rocky Mountains and North Saskatchewan River while a row of golden wheat symbolizes the abundance of the prairies. The rug's two crescent moons pay homage to the lunar calendar which is important to both Indigenous people and Muslims who use it to calculate the start of Ramadan. Crescent moons can also be found on top of the two minarets at Edmonton's Al Rashid Mosque. "[The rug] celebrates the deep, enduring connection between Indigenous and Muslim communities, which helped to open the country's first mosque in Edmonton in 1938," Canada Post wrote in a news release on Monday. "More than a work of art, the rug symbolizes unity and multiculturalism within Treaty 6 Territory, which includes Edmonton." This is Canada Post's seventh stamp to commemorate the Islamic holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha — multi-day celebrations that include communal prayers, feasts, family gatherings, gift-giving and acts of charity. Canada Post also releases annual stamps marking Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas.
