'We are rooted in the North': Sudbury Muslims gather for Ramadan

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 10, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: March 10

The buffet array astatine the play Iftar lawsuit of the Northern Muslim Association mosque successful Sudbury mirrors immoderate of the diverseness of the Muslim world.

"We person immoderate astonishing nutrient from each over," says committee manager Abdel Ati Bettah. "India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Middle East, North Africa." 

"We besides person immoderate lasagna, which I'm assuming is Italian… and immoderate Canadian food. But nary poutine," helium adds with a laugh. 

The beatified period of Ramadan is successful afloat swing, and Muslims successful Sudbury and astir the satellite are observing it by fasting, praying, and gathering with their community. 

For the past 12 years, the Northern Muslim Association has organized play assemblage feasts during Ramadan wherever families and volunteers hole nutrient and travel unneurotic to stock a repast aft a agelong time of fasting. 

It each started with a fewer friends coming unneurotic and ordering immoderate pizza.

"Then radical started knocking connected our door, word-of-mouth, asking if they could join… truthful we decided to formalize it," said Bettah.

 Now, astir 200 radical be the play event, and that fig increases twelvemonth by year. 

"We're seeing much and much families articulation us, arsenic good arsenic galore young singles who travel to the mosque for the consciousness of transportation they miss from their location countries," added Bettah.

This maturation is not lone driven by newcomers but besides by the community's welcoming nature. 

"We marque it wide that this mosque is for everyone," helium said. 

"It belongs to each of Sudbury, not conscionable Muslims. If you privation to larn astir our faith, interruption breadstuff with us, oregon simply accidental hello, this is your mosque, too."

Bettah says determination are galore taste and societal differences betwixt the worshippers who attend, but they each person 1 happening successful common: "We are rooted successful the North."