The Noor Cultural Centre was an Islamic cultural centre located in the Don Mills neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the east side of the Don Valley Parkway just north of Eglinton Avenue. As of October 2021, the location was sold after 18 months of continuous lockdowns due to the pandemic, and the organization now maintains its activities virtually. [1]
The building originally was the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and was designed and built in 1963 by Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama and Herbert(Bert) Dudley; it was his first institutional project. [2] The location and design of the building was carefully planned to support and honour the place of Japanese-Canadians in Canada. While the building materials are quite modern, the proportions of the building, the landscaping, and details are very traditionally Japanese.
The building also has elements designed to draw parallels to the experiences of those Canadians incarcerated during World War II - the 2 story windows in the main hall have lattice reminiscent of bars, and rain water is directed off the roof using chains attached to stones on the ground. [2]
Over time the building was no longer large enough for the growing JCCC, and the estimated cost of an addition was prohibitive. In 2001 the Lakhani family purchased the building. It was then redesigned in 2003 by Moriyama and it became today's Noor Cultural Centre. In October 2021 the building was sold after protracted period of lockdown forced by Covid-19. [3]
Noor Cultural Centre often conducts interfaith activities. For example, they have hosted events with Temple Emanuel - a Jewish synagogue. [4]
They also conduct political and human rights activism such as events informing people about the Rohingya Genocide. [5]
Other community activities include weekly Jum'ah/Friday prayers offered in congregation [6] and Sunday school for children. [7]
On the 4th anniversary of the Quebec Mosque Shooting, Noor Cultural Centre along with the Inspirit Foundation funded a video series called "Islamophobia is...". [8] The series deals with the topics of hate crimes against Muslims, Gendered Islamophobia, the role of the mainstream media, and other issues related to Islamophobia in Canada. [9]
The persecution of Muslims has been recorded throughout the history of Islam, beginning with its founding by Muhammad in the 7th century.
There is a difference of opinion among Muslims regarding the circumstances in which women may act as imams, i.e. to lead a mixed gendered congregation in salat (prayer). The orthodox position is that women cannot lead prayers for men, which is justified by the different roles that men and women take in society. A small number of schools of Islamic thought make exceptions for tarawih or for a congregation consisting only of close relatives. Women acting as leaders, teachers, and authorities in other capacities however is not deviating from the Islamic orthodoxy as women have never been restricted from becoming scholars, ulema, jurists, muftis, preachers, missionaries, or spiritual guides. There is a long history of female masters of Islamic sciences teaching men.
Islam in Iceland is a minority religion. The Pew Research Center estimated that the number of Muslims in Iceland was below its 10,000 minimum threshold, and official statistics put the figure at under 1,300, or approximately 0.4% of the total population.
Islam is the second largest religion in Norway after Christianity. As of 2021, the number of Muslims living in Norway was 169,605. The majority of Muslims in Norway are Sunni, with a significant Shia minority. Fifty-five percent of Muslims in the country live in the counties of Oslo and Akershus. The vast majority have an immigrant background, with Norwegians of Pakistani descent being the most visible and well-known group.
The East London Mosque (ELM) is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate East. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in Europe accommodating more than 7,000 worshippers for congregational prayers. The mosque was one of the first in the UK to be allowed to use loudspeakers to broadcast the adhan.
There is a history of persecution of Muslims in Myanmar that continues to the present day. Myanmar is a Buddhist majority country, with significant Christian and Muslim minorities. While Muslims served in the government of Prime Minister U Nu (1948–63), the situation changed with the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. While a few continued to serve, most Christians and Muslims were excluded from positions in the government and army. In 1982, the government introduced regulations that denied citizenship to anyone who could not prove Burmese ancestry from before 1823. This disenfranchised many Muslims in Myanmar, even though they had lived in Myanmar for several generations.
The Noor Islamic Cultural Center (NICC) is a cultural center and mosque in Columbus, Ohio, USA. The building was started in 2001 and completed in 2006. NICC is the first Islamic center to become a polling place in Central Ohio. It is a center for Muslims. It includes a mosque for prayer purposes, a social hall, kitchen, classrooms, and lecture rooms. It is stated to be "a place for everyone to come, learn, and practice Islam in every element." The center holds five daily prayers in congregation, Islamic lectures, Sunday school for youth, children's club, study groups, and individual lesson and classes to learn the Quran and Sunnah of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The center also offers outreach programs for non-Muslims who are interested in learning about Islam.
Toronto and Region Islamic Congregation, commonly referred to by its acronym as TARIC Islamic Center is one of the largest Islamic Centers in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, formerly in the city of North York. With its distinct box-shaped oriental motif, TARIC makes a rather unusual and highly visible landmark in the city of Toronto, primarily due to its location on a vacant space near the very busy multi-level Hwy 401/Hwy 400 interchange.
Muchundi Mosque is a mosque located at Kuttichira, within in the city of Kozhikode (Calicut) in the Indian state of Kerala. Kuttichira is the medieval Muslim quarter in the city of Calicut. It is situated south of Mishkal Mosque, Kuttichira Tank and the Kuttichira Jum'ah Masjid. The mosque does not conduct the jum'ah prayers – the special noon service on Friday that all adult, male, free Muslims are obliged to attend.
The Ismaili Centre, Toronto is a congregation place and community centre in Toronto, Ontario, CA Canada, the sixth such Ismaili Centres in the world. Situated in a park that it shares with the Aga Khan Museum adjacent to the Don Valley Parkway in North York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Centre represents the permanent presence of the Ismaili Muslim community in Toronto, Ontario and Canada.
Noor-A-Madina Ahle Sunnat Mosque is a Sunni Islam mosque in Blackpool, Lancashire, England.
Inspirit Foundation is a Canadian, non-profit and granting organization, working to promote inclusion and pluralism through media and arts, support for young change leaders and impact investing – specifically addressing discrimination based on ethnicity, race or religion.
The Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH) is a system of mosques in Greater Houston. It is headquartered at the Eastside Main Center in Upper Kirby in Houston.
Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas, is home to a significant number of Muslim Americans. As of 2012 it has the largest Muslim population in Texas and the largest Muslim population in the Southern United States. That year, Kate Shellnut of the Houston Chronicle wrote that "Some estimate that Muslims make up 1.2 percent of the city's population." As of 2012 the estimated population of Muslims in Houston was around 63,000. As of today, there are over 209 mosques and storefront religious centers, with the largest being the Al-Noor Mosque of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH).
Islamophobia in Canada refers to a set of discourses, behaviours and structures which express feelings of anxiety, fear, hostility and rejection towards Islam or Muslims in Canada. Members of the Sikh, Christian Arab, Jewish and Hindu communities have all reported incidents of harassment which, while intended towards Muslims, was traumatic and broader in its scope than just Muslims.
Great Mosque of Banten is a historic mosque in Old Banten, 10 km north of Serang, Indonesia. The 16th-century mosque was one of the few surviving remnants of what used to be the port city of Banten, the most prosperous trading center in the Indonesian archipelago after the fall of Demak Sultanate in mid-16th century.
The Quebec City mosque shooting was a terrorist attack by 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette on the evening of January 29, 2017, at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, a mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of Quebec City, Canada. Six worshippers were killed and five others seriously injured after evening prayers when Bissonnette entered the prayer hall shortly before 8:00 pm and opened fire for about two minutes with a 9mm Glock pistol. Approximately 40 people were reported present at the time of the shooting.
The Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City is an organization dedicated to meeting the spiritual, social and economic needs of the Muslim community residing in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Its main place of worship is the Great Mosque of Quebec City.
The Wembley Central Mosque is a mosque in the London Borough of Brent. The principal mosque in North West London, it is located on Ealing Road, Wembley, and serves the United Kingdom’s fifth largest Muslim community, which is predominantly Pakistani and Bangladeshi. Along with the adjacent Muslim Welfare Association, it can hold up to 2200 people.