Celebrating Islamic History Month: What We Learn When We Archive

October marks the start of Islamic History Month. The Muslims in Canada Archives invite you to join us in celebrating the rich histories of Muslim communities across the country. Throughout the month, we will share posts and stories that dedicate our attention to ‘what we learn when we archive’. 

From young learners to journalists to community elders, from educators to history enthusiasts and everyone in between, we hope to demonstrate the ways that archives offer important research tools to better understand Muslim history. What story or item do you hope to find in the Muslims in Canada Archives? What stories do you hope to share? Follow along to learn more! The missing history of Muslims in Canada Muslims presence on the lands known today as Canada predates confederation. But what is known about that history is limited – much of this history has yet to be researched on and written about. At present, the documentary heritage of Muslims in Canada preserved barely goes back 100 years. The Muslims in Canada Archives (MiCA) aims to help fill this gap.Event invitation, courtesy of Naseer (Irfan) Syed fonds.

MiCA expands our knowledge of Muslim life in Canada Items held in MiCA’s growing collection shed light on people, places and events through primary sources – through words, images and material objects. The items force us to think about, for example, the individuals or institutions involved in the creation of a record, their intended audience, the social and political context, its format, and the way it’s presented. Taken together, the answers to these questions add crucial details and assist in the telling of stories about Islam in Canada.

General information pamphlet about and produced by Foundation with emphasis on the importance of Ramadan, courtesy of Naseer (Irfan) Syed fonds.Pamphlet produced by Islamic Social Services Association, funding provided by Multiculturalism program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, courtesy of Naseer (Irfan) Syed fonds.

At times an individual item is the story, like Sr. Khadijah Hafajee’s open letter in 1978 to senior leadership of the Council of Muslim Communities of Canada. In this long letter, Hafajee reflects on the status of Muslim women in Canada, and humbly appeals for greater participation. Letter courtesy of Sahin family fonds.

Courtesy of Katherin Bullock fonds.

The learnings we gain and the new questions that arise
Since MiCA is very young – in fact, we are one of the newest archives in Canada, our collections are far from complete and therefore not fully representative of the plurality of Muslims in Canada. Though this is true of all archives, many of these gaps are the result of structural biases from which archival theory and practice is also not immune. It is up to us – all sectors of society – to figure out what is missing and investigate what the reasons are for this.

Many of the materials at MiCA are related to or produced by institutions that no longer exist. Today these holdings reflect one of the vital services that MiCA provides – a central repository that organizes, preserves and makes accessible items that are no longer in regular use created by institutions that no longer exist. Questions users may ask include:

Why don’t these institutions exist anymore? What happened to them and to the work they were doing? And among the institutions, events and publications that continue to exist, how have they evolved and what are the factors that have caused these shifts? What lessons might current and future generations of Muslims in Canada derive from the past as we imagine our future in Canada?

Thanks to large material donations from Mr. Naseer (Irfan) Syed and the Sahin Family, the Muslims in Canada Archives holds over thirty (30) local Muslim publications produced from Windsor to Montreal from the 1970s onwards. Far from complete, these collections nevertheless are an important start, representing 50 years of Muslim print culture and a slice of the community’s literary heritage in Canada that is not preserved in any public library, post-secondary institution, regional or national memory institution.

The newly launched Muslims in Canada Archives database includes hundreds of digitized records documenting Muslim life. We invite you to explore the website and form your own research questions and reflect on what we can learn through the archives. Mac Minaret Volume 1, No. 1, courtesy of Naseer (Irfan) Syed fonds.