WE MADE THE PATH BY WALKING IT

The Muslim community in Canada is both old and new. The first Muslim born in Canada was James Love Jr. who was born in 1854. With the passage of time, the population of Muslims grew from 13 people in 1871 to 645 in 1931 and 33,370 people by 1971. With the liberalization of the immigration policies, many more Muslims immigrated to Canada which led to a rapid growth of Muslims reaching over 250,000 people in 1991.
As the Muslim community grew and its needs took shape in the 1980s, the pioneers of the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) were at the forefront working tirelessly to build the institutions necessary to meet those needs. By the late 1990s, there was a shared sense among those individual community builders working across Canada that something was still missing. There was a need to define something more specific to the Canadian Muslim reality and experience, a way to bridge the gap and help Canadian Muslims foster an identity unique to them that allowed for contribution to their communities and put faith into action. After an intensive and open debate, the idea of MAC was born as a dynamic national grassroots organization entrusted with the mission to establish an Islamic presence in Canada that would be balanced, constructive, and integrated, though distinct, in the social fabric and culture of Canada.

BUILDING A NEW HOME IN A NEW LAND

Federally incorporated on August 8, 1997 as a wholly independent, not for profit and charitable organization; MAC started its journey by investing our passions and resources to create vibrant communities by supporting families raising their children and helping youth navigate their individual paths, and building community institutions.

Guided by a holistic understanding of Islam, we strived to inspire our communities to live and love Islam. MAC works towards communicating an understanding of Islam as an authentic and balanced way of life. As we pursue this path, we are focusing our energies and imagination to building a strong community in Canada that is unapologetically Muslim and unreservedly Canadian.
Today, MAC provides spaces, services and programs for holistic education and personal development for Canadian Muslims. It is also building bridges through cooperation with other communities and organizations that share its goals and values. It engages with the civic society to promote a more equitable and fairer Canada.

ANCHORING THE FUTURE

After 25 years, by the grace of Allah, MAC grew to become the largest Muslim Organization in Canada with chapters, schools, community centers and religious spaces from coast to coast.
Bound by the horizon formed by our faith and guided by our shared values, MAC is embarking on a purposeful journey to shape the next 25 years, inshaAllah
Born from this vision is the establishment of the Canadian Islamic College. Uniquely structured to fill a gap as the first Islamic post-secondary institution in Canada that is epistemologically based in the Islamic Primary Sources (the Qurʾan and Sunnah).

CIC academic program offers innovative learning experiences that are designed to integrate Islamic knowledge frameworks across disciplinary boundaries with an emphasis on the most relevant disciplines of philosophy, history, social sciences.

At the heart of CIC is its vision which is the simple yet profound belief that for change to occur in the world around us, it must first occur within each of us individually. This principle is eloquently mentioned in these words of the Quran:

إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ
“Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change that which is within them”. {الرعد:11}

CIC is a learning community for those who wish to be agents of change through: a deep and applied faith, fair and earth-friendly economy, diverse and just society, and beautiful and purposeful artistic expression. CIC believes in the positive role that faith can play in public life and in generating leaders who represent the change they wish to see in the world.