Little Mosque on the Prairie

Published Jul 25, 2012

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Munyaradzi Vomo

Finally, we get to feast our eyes on the hit Canadian sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie. The show was created by Zarqa Nawaz and was an internationally acclaimed product from the first episode.

This has been proved by the number of honours the show has scooped since 2007, which range from the Canadian Comedy Awards to the Directors’ Guild of Canada Awards.

The show’s premise is centred around a Muslim community living in a small town Canadian called Mercy. The key building in the area is the mosque which is run by Imam Amaar Rashid (Zaib Shaikh).

Interestingly, the mosque is situated in the parish hall of an Anglican church so Rashid and his people have to pay rent to the Christians.

The other place we get to frequent as we follow the story is a small eatery called Fatima’s Café which is run by Fatima Dinssa (Arlene Duncan).

Mercy’s governor is Mayor Ann Popowicz (Debra McGrath) who seemingly supports the Muslim community just as any other citizen. The interesting thing, however, is she really only treats them well in order to get their votes.

Another interesting character is the community leader, Yasir Hamoudi (Carlo Rota), who is a shady character.

He is a construction contractor who has used shrewd means to get the mosque estab-lished.

His wife Sarah (Sheila McCarthy) works in Popowicz’s office so Yasir obviously has some information on how the local politics work.

The show milks the humour from the interaction between the Muslims and the non-Muslim communities of this small town. Their cultural and religious differences obviously grate.

But the good thing about the show is not everything is black and white. While some characters from both ends of the fence are generally conservative, there are open-minded people amongst them. So it is important to go in with an open mind.

Little Mosque on the Prairie airs every Friday at 6.30pm on SABC3.

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