Muslim Travel Guide Ottawa: First Mosque, Halal Chinese Food and Canada Muslim History
Reposted from the web
Summary: This Ottawa Muslim travel guide follows the city from Parliament Hill and public transit to a halal Chinese restaurant, the first local mosque, hotel breakfast notes, and the author's reflections on Canada's capital, Chinese students, Muslim life, and halal travel in Canada.
Many people may not know that Canada's capital is Ottawa. Its low profile shows that Ottawa lacks a strong presence in Canada. In countries with strong central power, capitals are usually massive cities. However, Canada has a federal parliamentary system that even allows Quebec to hold referendums on independence. This shows the central government has little power to interfere, which seems unthinkable and rebellious from our perspective.
It takes two hours to drive from Montreal to Ottawa. Ottawa is in Ontario and is an English-speaking area, while Montreal is in Quebec and is a French-speaking area. Ottawa sits right on the border of the two provinces, so both English and French are spoken here.
Coming from the bustle of Montreal, you can clearly feel the relaxed pace of Ottawa. The street scenes are not as busy and there are fewer people. Most people here work as government civil servants, and those jobs are generally quite relaxed.
As usual, I went to the subway station and used my credit card to buy a one-day transit pass to experience the daily life of Ottawa residents.
There are very few people on Ottawa's buses, and their buses can carry bicycles.
I passed by the University of Ottawa by chance and saw tents set up on campus in support of Palestine.
Almost every university in North America has activities supporting Palestine, and I have seen them in other Canadian cities as well.
The University of Ottawa was founded in 1848. It has over a hundred years of history and is the oldest English-French bilingual university in North America.
Parliament Hill is Ottawa's landmark building and the seat of Canada's central government. It is also a popular spot for tourists, and you do not need a reservation because the gates are completely open.
Walk along the road in front of the Parliament buildings and pass through a commercial street to reach the halal Chinese restaurant shown in the picture below.
The staff are all of Chinese descent. The owner was not there, and when I asked the new staff member where the owner was from, they said they were not sure, only that they were also Chinese.
I watched the staff wrap wontons, and I could tell from their conversation that the diners nearby were Chinese students studying abroad.
You can order in Chinese. After being away for a long time, it feels natural to feel close to a place where people speak Chinese.
Multiply the prices on the menu by seven to get the cost in RMB. Since you also have to leave a tip, each dish averages about 100 yuan.
I looked at the menu and guessed the owner probably isn't from Northwest China because there are very few flour-based dishes. They might be from the South.
It is also popular in Canada to write a positive review to get a free gift.
A serving of chive and egg potstickers (guotie) tasted really good. Aside from being expensive, there was nothing wrong with it.
One serving of potstickers wasn't enough, so I ordered a bowl of beef vermicelli soup (niurou fensi tang). The portions were small, and I finished everything.
A Black couple sat across from me. They spent 20 minutes just looking at the menu. I had already finished my meal, and they still didn't know what to order.
I arrived at the Ottawa mosque in the evening. The mosque is built quite far from the city center and is an Ottoman-style building.
The earliest Muslims to settle in Ottawa date back to the 1950s. As the number of Muslim immigrants in Ottawa gradually increased, the first mosque was built in 1977.
The mosque has three floors. The basement is used for the washroom, and the two floors above ground are separated for men and women.
Diagram for wudu (small ablution).
The mosque rules state that sleeping in the main prayer hall is forbidden because it is a place for namaz.
Jumu'ah in Ottawa is set for 1:30, just like on Beef Street (Niurou Jie).
Isha is near 11:00 PM and Fajr is after 3:00 AM. During Ramadan, this means fasting for nearly 20 hours a day. Some scholars say Muslims in extreme locations can follow Mecca time, where prayer times are more balanced. Others disagree, arguing that we should follow the literal meaning of the Hadith and that those who cannot handle it should leave these extreme environments.
This creates a problem in the Arctic Circle, such as in Norway, Finland, or Russia, where there is polar day and polar night. It is either dark for 24 hours or light for 24 hours. Then there are astronauts in space who orbit the Earth over a dozen times a day. If they followed the literal rules, they would have to pray nearly a hundred times a day.
If we listen to the scholars who oppose changing the rules, we would have to leave the polar regions and leave that land to the People of the Book. We also shouldn't go into space, because if we did, we would have to pray constantly and couldn't get any work done.
Food and lodging in Ottawa are more comfortable and offer better value than in Montreal. I really like their slow-paced atmosphere.
I observed the breakfast habits in Western hotels. They like to eat hard-boiled eggs, and they are always peeled in advance.
Bread, cheese, coffee, and milk are standard. Coffee is a must, and at breakfast, white people will line up to get their coffee first, refilling cup after cup.
You can eat these bagel breads; Westerners almost never use lard when making bread.
They have all kinds of cereal with milk, and they eat butter like it is a main dish. I usually find two enough, but white people can eat five or six.
After a wonderful day in Ottawa, I am getting ready to fly to Vancouver. It is a flight of over 5 hours, which is like flying from Guangzhou to Xinjiang, crossing two time zones. Vancouver is a beautiful city, and I will introduce its mosques and halal food in the next post.
Summary: This Ottawa Muslim travel guide follows the city from Parliament Hill and public transit to a halal Chinese restaurant, the first local mosque, hotel breakfast notes, and the author's reflections on Canada's capital, Chinese students, Muslim life, and halal travel in Canada.
Many people may not know that Canada's capital is Ottawa. Its low profile shows that Ottawa lacks a strong presence in Canada. In countries with strong central power, capitals are usually massive cities. However, Canada has a federal parliamentary system that even allows Quebec to hold referendums on independence. This shows the central government has little power to interfere, which seems unthinkable and rebellious from our perspective.
It takes two hours to drive from Montreal to Ottawa. Ottawa is in Ontario and is an English-speaking area, while Montreal is in Quebec and is a French-speaking area. Ottawa sits right on the border of the two provinces, so both English and French are spoken here.
Coming from the bustle of Montreal, you can clearly feel the relaxed pace of Ottawa. The street scenes are not as busy and there are fewer people. Most people here work as government civil servants, and those jobs are generally quite relaxed.
As usual, I went to the subway station and used my credit card to buy a one-day transit pass to experience the daily life of Ottawa residents.
There are very few people on Ottawa's buses, and their buses can carry bicycles.
I passed by the University of Ottawa by chance and saw tents set up on campus in support of Palestine.
Almost every university in North America has activities supporting Palestine, and I have seen them in other Canadian cities as well.
The University of Ottawa was founded in 1848. It has over a hundred years of history and is the oldest English-French bilingual university in North America.
Parliament Hill is Ottawa's landmark building and the seat of Canada's central government. It is also a popular spot for tourists, and you do not need a reservation because the gates are completely open.
Walk along the road in front of the Parliament buildings and pass through a commercial street to reach the halal Chinese restaurant shown in the picture below.
The staff are all of Chinese descent. The owner was not there, and when I asked the new staff member where the owner was from, they said they were not sure, only that they were also Chinese.
I watched the staff wrap wontons, and I could tell from their conversation that the diners nearby were Chinese students studying abroad.
You can order in Chinese. After being away for a long time, it feels natural to feel close to a place where people speak Chinese.
Multiply the prices on the menu by seven to get the cost in RMB. Since you also have to leave a tip, each dish averages about 100 yuan.
I looked at the menu and guessed the owner probably isn't from Northwest China because there are very few flour-based dishes. They might be from the South.
It is also popular in Canada to write a positive review to get a free gift.
A serving of chive and egg potstickers (guotie) tasted really good. Aside from being expensive, there was nothing wrong with it.
One serving of potstickers wasn't enough, so I ordered a bowl of beef vermicelli soup (niurou fensi tang). The portions were small, and I finished everything.
A Black couple sat across from me. They spent 20 minutes just looking at the menu. I had already finished my meal, and they still didn't know what to order.
I arrived at the Ottawa mosque in the evening. The mosque is built quite far from the city center and is an Ottoman-style building.
The earliest Muslims to settle in Ottawa date back to the 1950s. As the number of Muslim immigrants in Ottawa gradually increased, the first mosque was built in 1977.
The mosque has three floors. The basement is used for the washroom, and the two floors above ground are separated for men and women.
Diagram for wudu (small ablution).
The mosque rules state that sleeping in the main prayer hall is forbidden because it is a place for namaz.
Jumu'ah in Ottawa is set for 1:30, just like on Beef Street (Niurou Jie).
Isha is near 11:00 PM and Fajr is after 3:00 AM. During Ramadan, this means fasting for nearly 20 hours a day. Some scholars say Muslims in extreme locations can follow Mecca time, where prayer times are more balanced. Others disagree, arguing that we should follow the literal meaning of the Hadith and that those who cannot handle it should leave these extreme environments.
This creates a problem in the Arctic Circle, such as in Norway, Finland, or Russia, where there is polar day and polar night. It is either dark for 24 hours or light for 24 hours. Then there are astronauts in space who orbit the Earth over a dozen times a day. If they followed the literal rules, they would have to pray nearly a hundred times a day.
If we listen to the scholars who oppose changing the rules, we would have to leave the polar regions and leave that land to the People of the Book. We also shouldn't go into space, because if we did, we would have to pray constantly and couldn't get any work done.
Food and lodging in Ottawa are more comfortable and offer better value than in Montreal. I really like their slow-paced atmosphere.
I observed the breakfast habits in Western hotels. They like to eat hard-boiled eggs, and they are always peeled in advance.
Bread, cheese, coffee, and milk are standard. Coffee is a must, and at breakfast, white people will line up to get their coffee first, refilling cup after cup.
You can eat these bagel breads; Westerners almost never use lard when making bread.
They have all kinds of cereal with milk, and they eat butter like it is a main dish. I usually find two enough, but white people can eat five or six.
After a wonderful day in Ottawa, I am getting ready to fly to Vancouver. It is a flight of over 5 hours, which is like flying from Guangzhou to Xinjiang, crossing two time zones. Vancouver is a beautiful city, and I will introduce its mosques and halal food in the next post.
