Muslims in the Prairies: Voices from the Archives

I resumed my travel for about six miles on Lake Mamawi, and then forked off to a willow flat. It was getting hot, but still the trail was firm to travel on… I came to where a young man was stopped with four dogs, toboggan and a young girl by the campfire. The young man invited me to have some tea with him, and I knew enough Cree to get by with him and his girlfriend. Because he had been so nice to me, I took out the little bottle and poured out a drink of moonshine. This made him very happy and he was prepared to do anything to please me. He even offered his girlfriend to me!

Peter Baker, Memoirs of an Arctic Arab (1976).

1:

At the turn of the twentieth century, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, Peter Baker left his homeland and traveled to North America. Upon arriving in the United States, he left his given name, Ahmad Ali Ferran, behind. He travelled north to Canada, where, unlike many other Arabs leaving Bilad al Sham, he landed in remote parts of Alberta and the Northwest Territories, such as Fort Chipewyan and Fort Smith.

We know Baker’s story thanks to Memoirs of an Arctic Arab, the book he wrote about his life and travels. Published in 1976, three years after his death, Baker’s memoir details his rustic life in the bush and his travels across the North, providing glimpses into the settlement of Western Canada. His memoir is particularly insightful as it covers a time during the development of a Canadian identity when the conceptual and geographic boundaries of the settler colonial country were still very much in early formation.

Baker’s memoir is unique not only because it provides insights into Arab and Muslim arrivals in Western Canada, but because it disrupts the dominant French and British founding narrative that has shaped how immigrant settlement has been historically understood. Baker’s personal account counters this history, while also providing insights on the arrival of Muslims to the Prairies and their role in the fur trade in Alberta. Perhaps more importantly, Baker’s memoir challenges perceptions of “Muslimness”—that is, the ways in which Muslims perceive themselves, both historically and in the current moment. His attitudes, way of speaking, understanding of the world around him, and, in particular, his penchant for gambling, provide readers with a surprising picture of his interior life. And it is this interiority, most clearly articulated in his own writing, that provides an unvarnished (and at times, uncomfortable) understanding of his experiences in Canada.

2:

Although limited, representation of an emerging Muslim community can be found in Alberta newspapers dating from the early twentieth century. Images and advertisements for tea socials, Eid celebrations, and various social events that involved the historic Ladies Moslem Society have come to articulate the historical presence and practices of Muslims in Alberta. Their efforts to establish Edmonton’s Al-Rashid Mosque marked a significant chapter in Edmonton’s history and continues to define the city today.

What exactly do these news clippings show us? How are we able to glean an understanding of life for Muslims in the Prairies from these brief newspaper texts? I would argue that they are historic fragments of cultural memory, and help identify and situate early Muslim settlers. From the 1920s onward, we catch glimpses of the key figures in Edmonton’s emerging Muslim community, such as Ali Hamdon, Ali Tarabain, Hilwie Hamdon and the wife of Imam Dr. Hamouda Abd al-Ati. While their images and articles supplement first-person memoirs, they provide an outline of the lives of prairie Muslims. 

Many Edmontonians first learned of Peter Baker and his travels from this 1923 article in The Morning Bulletin (the paper ran from 1880 until 1951): “Some of the best known dog mushers of the northland arrived in Edmonton on Friday via the railway from McMurray, these including George Pinsky of Fort Resolution and Peter Baker from Fort Rae. Baker operates the Pinsky and Necraseoff post on the northwest arm of the Great Slave Lake and travelled across this huge body of ice to meet Pinsky at Resolution. En route he had to battle with blizzards, a whipping wind and extreme cold, and still bears traces of heavy frost bits on his face. ‘He is a tough man’ says George Pinsky, ‘all winter he has been out in the barren lands mushing to the camps of the Dogribs for their furs, with sleeping rob and a rabbit snare’ Baker does not think much of the exploit though he [it] said, regarding it as very much as the ‘daily round, the common task.’”

In this lengthy article from 1923, fur-trader Ali Hamdon describes his trip to Syria (which included present-day Lebanon). The journey, which spanned over a year, saw Hamdon travel to the USA, Egypt, Palestine, and his final destination of Beirut. Upon his return to Edmonton, the article reports: “Mr. Hamdon greatly enjoyed his visit at home. ‘Cherchez la femme’ say the wiseacres when inquiring for the motives for almost everything and naturally, since he went there single and came back married, one might be inclined to assume that among the attachments which drew Mr. Hamdon homeward over such a distance there must have been a silken strand of other than filial affection.”

Mrs. Hamoudah Abd Al-Ati’s arrival to Edmonton and tea social are the subject of this announcement. The wife of the Imam (religious leader and scholar Dr. Hamoudah Abd Al-Ati), Mrs. Abd Al-Ati was noted as a student of social work at Cairo University. The tea social introduced Mrs. Abd Al-Ati to the Edmonton community and was held at the Westmount home of Hilwie Hamdon on 10804 132 Street, Edmonton. While her arrival is covered in the Edmonton Journal, unfortunately there is little else known about Mrs. Abd Al-Ati. The convention of referencing women with their husband’s name, along with the loss of first-hand recollections, shows the gaps in archival sources and cultural memory. 

The teas and dinners hosted by the Ladies Moslem Society (alternatively called the Arabian Muslim Women’s Association) introduced Albertans to the food and culture of western Asia. Many of these events raised funds for the building (and maintenance) of Edmonton’s Al Rashid Mosque. In addition to reports on these social events, recipes and information on the types of food served appear in the Edmonton Journal.

‘Folded Bread’ Recipe

“Although this recipe for the thin Arab ‘bread’ sounds complicated, Faye Hamdon says she has never heard of anyone goofing with it.”

1 package active yeast

7 cups flour

1 cup natural health bran (if wished, omit this and increase flour by ½ cup)

2 heaping tsp. salt

2 tbsp. shortening or corn oil

2 cups lukewarm water

First, make up the yeast according to the packet directions, with sugar and water as stated. Allow to sit for the time advised. Meanwhile, combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the shortening or oil and the yeast mixture to the two cups of lukewarm water. Put all this into the dry ingredients and mix. Knead the mixture, which will be softer than normal bread dough.

Grease the surface of the dough with corn oil, then leave until it has risen to double its bulk.

SHAPE DOUGH

Shape the dough into tennis-ball sized lumps (about 3” diameter). Place these on a lightly-floured surface and cover with a sheet of polythene–use a cleaner’s bag, for instance – for 45 minutes.

Finally, roll each ball into a thin disc with a rolling pin–it will probably be about 9” in diameter.

Dipped Sambousic Parcels Are Best When Still Warm

Fortunately for everyone’s waistlines, this sweet was not served last Sunday.

Pastry

1 lb. butter, at room temperature

4 cups of flour

3/4 tsp. rose water (from any drug store)

1/4 cup water

Filling:

1 1/2 cups coarse ground walnuts

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 cups butter

1/2 tsp. rose water

Mix all the pastry ingredients and knead as if it were shortbread.

Cool the dough in the refrigerator for one hour.

Mix all the filing items together in another bowl.

Take a walnut-sized piece of pastry and flatten it into a 4” circle with finger tips.

Put a teaspoonful of filling mixture in the centre and fold pastry over to form a semi-circular parcel. Pinch the open edges firmly together.

You can either freeze the raw sambousic or bake them. In any case, do not cook more than can be eaten as they are best warm and fresh.

The sambousic ‘parcels’ should be baked on an ungreased cookie sheet in an oven preheated to 350 degrees, 15-20 minutes.

The sambousic are then dipped in syrup, which consists of:

3 cups white sugar

2 cups water

3/4 tsp. rose water

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

These ingredients should be mixed thoroughly, then boiled for three to five minutes.

Dip while both sambousic and syrup are warm. Drain on a cookie sheet covered with waxed paper.

Hilwie Hamdon, one of the matriarchs of the early Muslim community in Edmonton, features prominently in a number of articles. In “Beirut to Chipewyan”, Hilwie recounts her travel from Lebanon to Canada and her upcoming return to Beirut to see her family after 40 years. As the article points out: “When the Hamdons left Fort Chipewyan, the Indian chief presented a handsome silver fox skin to Mrs. Hamdon, saying it was a gift for ‘the finest white woman of the north.’ She remembers the loyalty and kindness of her Indian friends with affection.”

Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, is featured in a number of Edmonton Journal articles. In these pieces, the descriptions of fasting and the celebration of Eid al-Fitr are provided by Hilwie Hamdon, President of the Edmonton Ladies’ Moslem League. The article states: “She believes it is good discipline and added that ‘it gives the rich a chance to see what the poor go through.’”

3:

For over a century, Muslims have been part of the diverse fabric of Canada, nowhere more so than in the Prairies. As a settler colony, Canada’s origin mythology has predominantly focused on the notion of its founding by two imperial nations: the United Kingdom and France. Not only has this national mythology long disavowed the histories of Indigenous nations and the settlement histories of non-Europeans, but it has become a critical point in contemporary conversations about belonging—and ultimately about personal safety, human rights and legal status.

At stake is the continued casting out of Muslims from public life. For example, between 2020 and 2022, Edmonton saw a string of attacks on Black Muslim women that painfully showed the complex nature of discrimination in the city. Another example is the fight for religious freedom in Quebec with the introduction of Bill 21, which allows the discrimination of religious minorities—especially hijab-wearing Muslim women—from working in the public sector. More recently, Canada’s weak stance on the genocide in Gaza has further emphasized the lengths to which the nation state will go to absolve Israel from adhering to international human rights laws. The Canadian government’s dismantling of the office of the Federal Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia has also shown Canadian Muslims the limits of belonging. These are just a few dire implications that prevent Muslim people from participating as full, empowered citizens.

In highlighting these newspaper clippings about the early Muslim community and the Ladies Moslem Society, I want to show the historic narratives that shape our ideas about Muslims in the Prairies. In particular, the arrival of Arabs during the early twentieth century presents a unique dimension to Canadian immigrant histories. Peter Baker’s account of his own life as a free trader in the North speaks to this myriad of cultural identifiers that have been missing in dominant narratives. Dovetailed with Baker’s memoir are examples of Muslim women who help establish Edmonton’s early Muslim community. Their contributions to civic life laid the foundations for subsequent Muslim women’s organizations and activism in the city. These articles also speak to how Muslim women have presented and expressed themselves.

In much of my past work, I have tried to emphasize that despite the marginalization of Islam in the West, expressions of Muslim interiority exist, be it in contemporary built-forms or the visual arts. As my research expands to include a cursory review of historic newspaper articles, an active community that helped themselves to navigate and establish their lives in a new country is revealed. The Muslims in Canada Archives (MiCA) is also a key organization that is working to fill the vital archival gaps in the cultural memory by preserving and documenting Muslim Canadians. As a second-generation Muslim living in the Prairies, these archives have opened my eyes to the Muslim history in Alberta—and, I believe, are crucial to understanding the historic cultural and religious activities that anchor our communities in Canada. 

While, today, reportage from Muslim-dominated countries shapes and informs Muslim lives in the West, there is also a lineage of Prairie-based newspapers that document the activities of Muslim communities in Western Canada. I want to highlight some of these archival stories in Alberta’s daily newspapers—exploring how they clarify religious practices and ultimately dismantle longstanding orientalist tropes. These sources can give perspective on how “Muslimness” has been constructed, and how it is understood today. They affirm the lives and contributions of the early Muslim community in Edmonton, and provide critical histories for future generations.

Further Reading:

• Angry Queer Somali Boy (2019) by Mohamed Abdulkarim Ali
• We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir (2019) by Samra Habib
• At My Mother’s Feet: Stories of Muslim Women, Sadia Zaman (eds)
• The Colour of God: A Story of Family and Faith (2021) by Ayesha Chaudry
• Fiddler with a Wink: Canada’s King of the Fiddle, King Ganam (1995) by Lila Fahlman
• Minarets on the Horizon: Muslim Pioneers in Canada (2021) by Murray Hogben