Muslim community celebrates first prayer services in Steinbach

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This article was published 13/02/2023 (1344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE first public Muslim prayer services in Steinbach have brought together worshippers from surrounding southern Manitoba communities.

About 35 people attended the first such service Feb. 3 at the Pat Porter Active Living Centre. About 30 came to the second Feb. 10.

The services were organized by Saif Asi, 28, who came to Canada as a refugee from Syria in 2017.

“We started talking about starting a mosque in 2019,” Asi said this week of discussions among local Muslims about the need for a public prayer option.

The group had hoped to begin meeting in 2020, “But then COVID hit and we couldn’t do it.”

The local Muslim community kept talking all the way up to the first services, and even more after, Asi said.

“People were all happy to be able to meet together to pray closer to home,” he said, noting Steinbach worshippers have the option of driving some 60 kilometres to mosques in Winnipeg.

It becomes a challenge due to work commitments, and travel in winter is also a concern for some, he added.

Asi, who is studying information technology at Red River College Polytech, arranged for the rented space and helps lead the prayers. He was surprised by the number of people who turned up for the hour-long services, which are followed by a time of visiting.

“I had never met some of them before,” he said, adding in addition to Steinbach, worshippers came from Ste. Anne, Kleefeld and Blumenort.

“In the future, we may need a bigger room,” Asi said, adding Muslims in Steinbach are already dreaming about one day building a mosque in the city.

The preacher at the first service was Idris Elbakri of Winnipeg, a former member of the Manitoba Islamic Association board.

“I felt really honoured to be asked to give the first sermon,” Elbakri said, adding he was impressed with the turnout. “While right now they can only offer a Friday prayer, hopefully, over time, there will be more growth and institutionalization.”

What also impressed Elbakri was the presence of some non-Muslim guests.

“It shows that the community there is building bridges,” he said, noting the staff at the active living centre were eager to accommodate and welcome the Muslim worshippers.

One of the non-Muslim guests was Ed Neufeld, who attends Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach.

Neufeld, a retired middle-school principal who has lived in Steinbach for almost 30 years, said it was “awesome they are doing this.”

He doesn’t believe the establishment of a Muslim prayer service in the city will be a problem.

“I think they are well-received in Steinbach,” said Neufeld, who was chairman of the refugee sponsorship committee at Grace Church that assisted Asi and his family.

There has been a little “negative chatter” online, he acknowledged, but overall people in Steinbach have been “incredibly supportive, quite positive. There is room here for people who want to practise their own faith.”

Of Muslims who are calling Steinbach home, he said: “They make the community richer.”

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