In this new blog series, Aaron W. Hughes will be merging his long-time studies of Muslims across the country with materials from our collections to spotlight the stories of prominent Muslim Canadians. His first blog tells the story of the Aga Khan IV in Canada.

I have spent the last couple of years in the Muslims in Canada Archives (MiCA) trying to help document and establish the contours of Muslim history and, thus, presence in Canada. To this end, I have written two books, both forthcoming, Islam: A Canadian Story (University of Toronto Press) and A History of Ismaili Muslims in Canada (Bloomsbury for the Institute of Ismaili Studies). MiCA’s holdings have proved indispensable to both, further proof that it is becoming an important institution predicated on the idea that if we don’t tell our stories, we are invisible and our contributions to nation-building risk being overlooked at best or cancelled at worst.

To this end, my goal in this series is to highlight Canadian Muslim accomplishments by focusing on a series of important Canadian Muslims. As befitting MiCA, and its mandate, my scope is wide and cosmopolitan. Our story, after all, crosses many ethnicities, cultures, languages and denominations. What, you may ask yourselves, is my reason for telling these stories? The first is to remind us that we have historical presence in Canada, one that dates to the pre-Confederation period (that is, prior to 1867). The second is to remind non-Muslim Canadians, our neighbours, of that presence. And, finally, to ask you to support MiCA. The latter can come through donations, either financial or archival. This is, after all, your archive and its success is contingent on your support.

With this in mind I inaugurate the series with a perhaps surprising individual who never actually lived in Canada. My goal is to follow this every second month with a focus on another individual. As I mention below, if you have ideas for inclusion, do not hesitate to let me know at aaron.hughes@rochester.edu.

Aaron W. Hughes is the grandson of Mohamad and Maryam al-Noghedi (aka Bud and May Alley), one of the founding families of Canada’s first mosque in Canada, Edmonton’s Al-Rashid (1938). Trained in classical Islamic texts, he now works on the history of Muslims in Canada. He is the academic advisor to the Muslims in Canada Archives (MiCA) located at the University of Toronto.

A Canadian Imam

I have often had conversations with friends and families about who they think the greatest Canadian Muslim was or is. It is a tough question and I certainly realize it is a big ask. There have been many candidates put forward to me over the years. Peter Baker. Hilwie Hamdon. James Ailley. Fuad Sahin. Lila Fahlman. Hanny Hassan. Maher Arar. Yasmin Rantansi. And, perhaps in good Canadian fashion, Nazem Kadri (how many Canadian Muslims, after all, have brought the Stanly Cup to their mosque!). The list goes on and on. And I have left many names out to entice readers to write me and offer their own suggestions (and, of course, rationales). In what I hope will be a recurring feature of the MiCA website, allow me to offer brief snapshots of these individuals, especially as they become animated through our holdings, over the coming months.

To inaugurate this semi-regular feature, I thought I might focus on a perhaps unusual choice since they are not often thought of as a Canadian Muslim. So, as we approach Imamat Day on February 4—the day that marks the transition of the Imamat (the institution of Ismaili Muslim leadership) from the previous Imam to the new one (in this case from Prince Karim Aga Khan IV to Prince Rahim Aga Khan V), allow me to make the case for the former, namely, Aga Khan IV.

In the distance I perhaps hear the grumblings of some readers: how can a non-Canadian Muslim be a candidate for a great Canadian Muslim? The Aga Khan was, after all, born in Geneva, Switzerland. He died in Lisbon, Portugal (the seat or Diwan of the Imamat). He is buried in Aswan, Egypt. And he never lived in Canada. I can (and will), of course, quite easily respond to such objections. Before I do, however, allow me to remind readers that the Aga Khan IV’s involvement with Canada goes back to the early 1970s when his close personal friendship with former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau was the impetus behind the arrival of a large number of Ismaili Muslims in Canada after they had been expelled from Idi Amin’s Uganda. While this is not the place to tell that story (I have done so elsewhere), it is worth noting that the arrival of Ismaili Muslims in Canada ushered in a new and multicultural Canada.

In May 2010, another Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, joined Aga Khan IV in Toronto’s Don Mills neighbourhood to break ground for a new museum, Ismaili Centre and park. At the same ceremony, the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Government of Canada, bestowed an honour that had only been given five times previously in Canadian history: honorary citizenship. “Now you are Canadian,” said a smiling Prime Minister Harper with his hand outstretched to the Aga Khan, who, in turn, replied, “I have always felt at home in Canada, but never more so than today.”

Anyone who has visited what is now called the Aga Khan Museum (AKM) in Toronto, the Aga Khan Gardens in Edmonton’s Devonian Gardens, or walked past the Global Centre for Pluralism and the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat (a de facto Ismaili embassy) on Ottawa’s famed Sussex Drive will have encountered Aga Khan IV’s vision. That vision, as he made clear in his remarks to open the Global Centre for Pluralism in October of 2006, is predicated on, in his own words, “fascination” with “Canada’s experience as a successful pluralistic society,” before going on to note that our country is a model “which can help to teach and inspire the entire world.” The Aga Khan, thus, envisioned Canada as a role model for other nations. And the Centre, in official conjunction with the Government of Canada, is committed to the idea of promoting pluralism as the potential to bring different—often hostilely different—sides together to understand and appreciate difference, end marginalization and provide equal opportunities.

As we approach Imamt Day, then, I think we—regardless of our religion, and regardless of our own denominational commitments—celebrate a set of values that Aga Khan instilled in his followers and, indeed, in all Muslims: pluralism, peace, health, education, and development. They are a set of values with which all Canadians should agree.

So, if (most) Canadians are outward-looking, cosmopolitan and imagine a strong Canada as part of larger interconnected world, I hope readers might agree with my choice here. In so doing, I trust I have made a case for the Aga Khan IV’s inclusion in any potential list of “Great Canadian Muslims.”

Imamat Day Mubarak.