INDIA / Calgary, CANADA:

The Canadian Indian Muslims Association is helping people integrate into Canadian society.

When Ali Nizami moved from India to Canada 26 years ago, he struggled to find his belonging in a new country as an Indian Muslim.

“Even though there are so many Indians in the city and in Canada, Indian Muslims share a slightly different culture. Those subtle differences make a huge impact on people when they’re trying to connect with somebody,” said Nizami.

With a lack of organizations in Calgary for that specific community, he also felt alone.

He’s trying to change that for others — whether they’re a new immigrant or have been in Canada for a while.

He co-founded the Canadian Indian Muslims Association two years ago in Calgary. Since then, it’s grown to nearly 300 members across the country, but mostly in Calgary.

Islam is India’s second-largest religion, making up 14.2 per cent of the country’s population, according to the Pew Research Center. It follows Hinduism, which makes up 79.8 per cent of the population.

“We are a minority within a minority,” said Nizami.

Still, Indian Muslims are the second biggest Muslim population in the world, says the research centre.

The goal of the organization, says Nizami, is to bring the often underrepresented and neglected community together so it’s easier for Indian Muslims to integrate into the bigger bubbles of Canadian society.

“There’s no voice, there’s no platform. That’s what we’re trying to change. That’s the gap we’re trying to close.”

Nizami says the community is a strong entity in India, and they want to bring that to Canada.

The organization provides career mentorship and support for new immigrants. Nizami says the services and events are not only for Indian Muslims — they’re here to help anyone who needs it.

‘There are lots of Muslims in India, too’

Mir Ali and his wife Humaira Fatima moved to Calgary a year and a half ago. Before that, they lived briefly in Mississauga, and in Chicago for seven years.

They say of all the cities they’ve lived in across the world, they couldn’t find an organization that was focused on promoting Indian culture in addition to Islamic culture — until they heard of the Canadian Indian Muslims Association.

By connecting with people from the same background and with shared interests, they say the organization helped them find their belonging in Calgary.

A few months ago, they officially joined the organization as members.

“They were very open and welcoming,” said Ali. “It’s like an extended family to us right now.”

Fatima says she hopes working with the organization will spread more awareness about the community across the country.

“Whenever I wear a headscarf, people think that I’m not from India, but I’m from Pakistan,” said Fatima. “Not everybody is aware that there are lots of Muslims in India, too.”

Saima Jamal, co-founder of the Calgary Immigrant Support Society, says the community is getting increasingly marginalized in India because of their religion, and that’s now spreading to Canada.

“The Indian Muslims that are here in Calgary, they have been facing it. They’ve been feeling it,” said Jamal.

“The Indian Muslim community decided, you know what, we’re going to make a positive step in all of this. We’re going to help new immigrants that are coming in who are Indian Muslims. And we won’t just stop there — we will help anybody coming in that needs help.”

Grand Iftar dinner event

To celebrate Ramadan, the Canadian Indian Muslims Association is hosting what they believe is one of the biggest Iftar dinner events in Calgary, on April 9. It’s sold out at 350 tickets.

Together, attendees will come together to pray, break their fast for Iftar with “good Indian food,” listen to speeches from organizers and socialize with the community.

“Ramadan is the time to come together. It’s the time to reflect on your own self. Ramadan is the time to celebrate and that’s all we are trying to do — live the spirit of Ramadan,” said Nizami.

Moving forward, Nizami says the organization is also planning a food bank drive and a blood drive. Everyone is welcome to those events, he says, no matter how they identify.

source: http://www.cbc.ca / CBC NEWS / Home> News> Calgary / by Karina Zapata / April 08th, 2023