Not a Minaret in Sight: Voices of Canadian Pioneer Muslims

This book gives us a detailed look at Muslim presence in Canada, starting from the pioneer settlers from Syria/Lebanon in the early twentieth century and moving on to the more modern mid-century arrivals from South Asia and Africa. Partly told in their own words, the stories collected here give us a rare insight into the lives and successes of these pioneer Muslims. Gangs of Punjabi men in the timber mills of British Columbia; Lebanese Arabs on horse carts or foot, peddling wares along the rural highways of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba; men venturing north on dog sleighs to trade for fur with the Natives; young women arriving to start families and soon to become matriarchs; peddlers and shopkeepers serving small-town Nova Scotia; finally, students and professionals in the postwar urban centres; wherever they went they bore the brunt of xenophobia and acknowledged kindnesses; adapting to their new countries they sought out fellow worshippers and set up small centres and mosques. A Muslim identity was retained but diversified.