Source: thestarphoenix.com

Thousands of Muslims attended prayer services to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festival commemorating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, on Thursday at Credit Union Centre. Photograph by: Greg Pender, The Starphoenix , The Starphoenix

There wasn’t enough room on the arena floor for Saskatoon’s growing Muslim community Thursday morning. Thousands of people packed Credit Union Centre to mark the first day after Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar that Muslims around the world observe through dusk-todawn fasting. Some people were forced to pray around CUC’s walkway.

“Since 2008, things have increased significantly,” said Joel Schindel, 28, of Saskatoon’s growing Muslim population.

Schindel is a board director for the Islamic Association of Saskatchewan and was an organizer of Thursday’s prayer – referred to as Eid al-Fitr.

He guessed the number in attendance at “easily” 4,000 people.

Saskatoon’s Muslim population is five times larger than it was a little more than a decade ago. According to Statistics Canada’s most recent household survey, there were 1,140 Muslim people in the Saskatoon area in 2001 – just 0.5 per cent of the total population. In 2011, that number was 5,680 – or 2.2 per cent of the population.

Across Canada, Muslims are the youngest religious group, with a median age of about 28.

Saskatoon’s Muslim community is working toward building two new mosques – one for the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam and one for Sunni Muslims – to accommodate the growing population… continue reading at thestarphoenix.com