Dear Brothers and Sisters.

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahu Wa Barakatuhu.

MANAL is pleased to announce that Arafah will be on Friday, July 8 and the first day of Eid Al Adha will be on Saturday, July 9.  All praise and thanks are due to Allah SWT for this and His other blessings upon us.

We cordially invite all members of our Muslim community to join our Eid prayer at 8:00 AM on Saturday, July 9th at the indoor facility of Techniplex (39 Churchill Avenue, St. John's).

All congregants are kindly requested to please:

• have wudu at home
• wear a face mask
• bring own prayer mat
• arrive at around 7:30 am to allow enough time to settle before the start of the prayer.
• follow instructions of MANAL volunteers to park at designated spaces (if driving)

We wish you all a very blessed Eid together with your families and beloved ones. Also, we would like to thank the management of Techniplex for accommodating our Eid prayers in their space.

In the next few days, we will share more information about MANAL's Eid celebration program. So please stay tuned for updates from our website and mail list.

Jazakumullahu Khairan,

MANAL Executive Committee

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahu Wa Barakatuhu.

With the lifting of most COVID 19 restrictions in our province, MANAL has updated its own protocol. Accordingly, when attending Masjid An Noor:

• congregants are no longer required to bring their own prayer mats

• congregants will no longer be asked to show their vaccine passports

• children of all ages are now welcome to attend congregational prayers but must be supervised by their parents / guardians at all times

Please note that there is no change in our mask mandate. So, please make sure to bring and wear your own face mask inside the mosque to help protecting the most vulnerable. We also encourage you to please sanitize your hands when entering and exiting.

Thanks for all your support and cooperation as we navigated these difficult times together over the last two years.

Jazakumullahu Khairan

MANAL Executive Committee

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Assalamu Alaikum.

It has been almost a year since four members of a multi-generational Muslim family were killed in an Islamophobic attack by being struck to death while they were side walking in their London Ontario neighborhood. The youngest member of the family survived with some injuries, but has lost his parents, his grandmother and his only sibling during this horrific incident.

As we approach the first anniversary of the London attack, we invite all of you to please take some time to remember and pray for the victims. On June 6, after Maghrib prayer, our volunteer imam(s) will offer a Quran recitation and make douaa for our London Family. This will be a private service only for the members of our Muslim community / Mosque congregation.

May Allah swt grant our deceased brother (Salman Afzaal) and our deceased sisters (Talat Afzaal, Madiha Salman and Yumnah Afzaal) with the highest ranks of Jannah. May Allah swt also protect our young brother Fayez Afzaal, giving him a long and healthy life before reuniting him with his family in Jannah.

Jazakumullahu Khairun.

MANAL Executive Committee

The continuous rise of hate crimes targeting Canadians of various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds is a very serious and alarming problem. According to recent data from Statistics Canada, the number of police-reported hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity almost doubled in 2020 with an average increase of 80% from the previous year. The increase in hate crimes against Asian and Southeast Asian communities was recorded as the highest with a rise of 301%. On the other hand, the same statistics, as well as the news of the violent attacks of the last few years, clearly show that Muslims continue to be the major target of religiously motivated hate crimes in Canada.

As communities on the receiving end of such crimes, we know that these statistics represent only the tip of the iceberg. Many hate crimes are not reported to the police because victims fear repercussions or feel unsupported. In some cases, even if they are reported as hate crimes, many of them don’t end up being filed and classified as such.

While racism and Islamophobia are certainly not as prominent in Newfoundland and Labrador as they are in the rest of Canada, the local incidents of the last few years suggest that we are not immune to such hatred. Especially in the wake of vandalism that targeted our Masjid An Noor mosque in St. John’s in March 2022 and then the physical assault against two visibly Muslim teenage sisters in May 2022, it has become clear that anti-Muslim racism is rising in our province.

As Muslim Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, we are concerned. We demand more concrete action for the prevention and elimination of racially and religiously motivated hate crimes against our communities. In the meantime, we confirm MANAL’s readiness to collaborate with all municipal, provincial, and federal actors for the design of proper policy interventions.

The victims of anti-Muslim racism are not alone. MANAL has reached out to the teenage Muslim sisters who were attacked in St. John’s to provide them and their family all kinds of support and assistance. We are committed to supporting their spiritual, emotional, and social well being and advocating for their rights together with our allies including Addressing Islamophobia in NL, the Anti-Racism Coalition of NL, and the National Council of Canadian Muslims.