For the past 17 years, Muslims have been praying on Fridays inside the Symons Valley United Church’s sanctuary, sharing sacred space with the Christian community that operates the church.

But what Muslims were previously unable to do at the church was to pray five times per day throughout the week through that sharing of space.

That changed on March 5, as the Sayyidah Zahrah Islamic Centre opened as a mosque within the Symons Valley United Church, in what is a first-of-its-kind deal in Calgary, and likely in Canada.

Symbolically, the handover of keys occurred between representatives of the church and the Al Makkah Calgary Islamic Society on Ash Wednesday—the start of Lent and fasting for Christians—and during Ramadan, which is a period of fasting for Muslims.

“It shows that regardless that we have different faiths, we still have a very good understanding of each other, and we respect each other’s beliefs. We love each other as human beings, as Canadians, and we can get along very nicely, politely and harmoniously together,” said Imam Syed Soharwardy.

The reaction from both the prayer group and the church’s congregation has been very positive, and is set to provide both community support and financial support to ensure the continued operations of the church as a building.

“Now they have an interest in having our building be anchored—our community of faith be anchored in the community of Kincora. So it’s not just us doing them a favour, it’s not just us helping them out. We’re in this together,” said lead Minister Vicki McPhee.

“The congregation has been quite excited by the development. We’ve had people streaming up to the youth room, because it’s on the other side of the building, streaming up to the youth room to peek through the window and see how they’ve renovated it.”

Sarah Arthurs, Executive Director of the Calgary Interfaith Council, said that example of interfaith connection was a wonderful example of what can be done together in the world.

“I’m just really excited to see these two faith communities doing this work together with open hearts and enthusiasm and creativity… it’s a wonderful model. It’s a wonderful demonstration of what’s possible when faith communities get to know one another,” Arthurs said.

“It’s important to note that this didn’t come out of the blue. They had been sharing space in that church for a number of years before this step happened. So, that speaks to the fact that trust needs to be developed over time. I always love the quote, ‘that change happens at the speed of trust.'”

Mosque replaces church’s former youth room

The mosque has been built in the church’s former youth room, which was located near the church office. It also allows for separate access to the building outside of the main entrance.

McPhee said that location was chosen to be mindful that there would be foot traffic going in and out of the building at all hours of the day to accommodate daily prayers.

In the hall leading to the youth room, a screen has been placed to separate visitors to the mosque from the church offices and the for-profit preschool that operates out of the church.

Welcoming worshipers is a sign that shows the name of the centre, and above the lintel of the doors, the name of Allah. Inside, the golden words of the Quran are flanked by scenes from Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina.

“Here’s the Sayyida Zahara Islamic Center, so this is the name about for this room. Zahara is the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter’s name. We call Fatima Zahara. So this name goes to for her,” said Ali Shah, caretaker for the Sayyidah Zahrah Islamic Centre.

He said his role at the centre was to arrange the new mosque to allow people to pray five times a day. It’s also to set up the Friday night prayers, which will be continuing in the sanctuary.

Shah said the Muslim community was very happy to have the place to pray five times a day and have a full-time Imam.

“This is historical for the centre now, because it’s the first time we’ve been doing the five time prayer in the church. So, it is amazing, you know, it’s just like a special prayer,” he said.

Imam Hafiz Qari Muhammad Fahad Siddiqui Qadri Soharwardy will lead the prayers, along with Islamic courses and Quran memorization and youth classes.

New home for muslims a long time in the making

The reality is that it has taken a long time for the Muslim community to find a permanent home in the northwest—despite owning land on the edge of Calgary since 2008.

Syed Soharwardy said that despite efforts to obtain zoning, they had been denied by Rocky View County for several reasons.

“We needed a place. The Muslim population is growing in Calgary. It’s now almost 150,000 people in Calgary—Muslim population in Calgary. So in Kincora and Sage Hill and Nolan Hill, and that particular area is quite densely populated with a lot of Muslim families, hundreds of Muslim families in that area,” Soharwardy said.

He said having a permanent space was an achievement for those families.

Having temporary prayer spaces for Muslims inside of Calgary churches has been rare but not unheard of.

Among the locations that Soharwardy highlighted as being long-time hosts have been St. Thomas Church in Hawkwood, the Airdrie United Church before the creation of a mosque in that city, and in Okotoks United Church where space is offered for praying five times a day—but is not a mosque because the space allotted for prayer changes.

He said the ability to have several faiths together in one building was a model for interfaith relationships.

“We contribute and we send a very good message to the rest of the world that we don’t hate each other, rather we are brothers and sisters in humanity. We share our Canadian citizenship, and we respect and help each other,” Soharwardy said.

Having the church host a mosque is, however, the result of the unique way that the United Church’s beliefs are different than other Christian groups.

McPhee said that their pluralistic denominational beliefs meant that the United Church understands that there are many paths to God, and don’t hold the only answer.

“So, generally, like not everybody, but generally prayer groups that were looking for space found space in United Churches. That’s where the main driver of relationship building started. Then for us, we are an affirming congregation of the United Church of Canada, meaning we welcome people of all types and stripes, and we ask no one to change who they are or to hide who they are,” McPhee said.

In the main entrance of the church is a pride progress flag, which represents one of the core values that the church holds.

“We ask everybody that has long-term leases in our building that they respect that value. Whether or not, however they believe, we’re not going to say that they’re right or wrong… but that they don’t work against that value,” she saod/

An example of positive community connection and conversation

What that has led to has been significant interfaith dialogue between members of the two communities.

“They’ve given us lots of opportunities for our people, for Christians, to ask them questions about their beliefs, about what challenges them, what they uphold. They ask us questions,” said McPhee.

“The leadership of Symons Valley believes strongly that the Islamic faith is part of the Judaic tradition. Judaism, Islam and Christianity are siblings, our cousins and in our faith traditions. We refer to the prayer group because at one time we would have said brothers and sisters in faith, but we say, we refer to them now as our siblings in faith.”

The church does limit who from the Christian faith can rent space as a prayer group on Sunday, however, to ensure that different denominational beliefs aren’t mistaken for those of the United Church.

“We understand that their tradition can be marginalized. We don’t permit other Christians to use our building. We don’t rent space to other denominations,” McPhee said.

“We do that because, well, nobody’s going to mistake how they state their beliefs as our beliefs. But it can be confusing if it’s another Christian church.”

McPhee said the decision to have Islamic prayers inside of the church has led to instances of hate on social media, along with the occasional angry letter.

“We used to have letters to the church extolling all the terrible ways we were being Christian by letting them in the building. Social media doesn’t mean it’s Kincora. I will say that I haven’t received a letter in some time,” she said.

To address the change at the church, however, representatives of Symons Valley and the Al Makkah Calgary Islamic Society went door to door to speak to residents in the area and to address any concerns they might have had.

The issue that came up was not the presence of Muslims in the community using the church, but rather parking, which both groups acknowledge.

“The parking is definitely an issue, but in that area a lot of street parking is also available,” said Soharwardy.

“We do this door-to-door, sort of meeting with our neighbours every Ramadan. We take some food gifts and share with some of the closest neighbours of the church. And this time… we also shared this news that we are going to have a mosque.

“We had to inform our neighbours that you will see some people coming at night. At night means five o’clock in the morning. In summer, it may be four o’clock in the morning. We had to give them heads up that it will be sort of unusual for the neighbourhood that people are coming.”

He said that it was very important that the neighbourhood was on the same page about the concerns, which is why the mosque will be having volunteers help to direct and manage traffic.

The mosque is being opened to the general public to visit on April 1, and will be in full operations for the Muslim community after the conclusion of Ramadan on March 29.