We hope you are all keeping well and that the first week of the blessed month of Ramadān is going well. The ISIJ of Toronto has various online programs organized for the month. For more details visit jaffari.org/ramadan.

While it is indeed difficult to be home at a time when gatherings and community spirit are at a peak for Muslim communities, our efforts and the measures we are taking as a community and as individuals are showing positive results.

Alhamdulillāh, while our capacity to test for COVID-19 in Ontario is increasing, the number of new cases per day is not increasing. This gives us hope that we may start to see a decline of new cases in the coming weeks Insha’allāh.

Data collected thus far continues to reinforce the critical message that the measures we are taking now remain essential to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic:

Our actions are making a difference and we need to stay the course.

On Monday April 27, 2020 the Ontario Province released a ‘Framework for Reopening our Province’ which lays out the government’s approach to what will happen next. It discusses the principles that the government will use to reopen businesses, services and public spaces in gradual stages.

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health will consider several factors such as virus spread and containment, health system capacity, public health system capacity and incidence tracking capacity when advising the province of when it can begin to ease public health measures.

In our 6th Update on March 31, 2020 we asked you to get your young ones involved to design either a snack meal planner, a weekly fitness plan for your friend or a weekly plan of spiritual activities. Thank you Muhaddissa and her kids Rayyaan, Raahil and Ruqayyah for putting together this Fun Healthy Snack Planner (click here).

This is a month of Mercy, a month in which the Almighty has stated that there is a night better than a thousand months. As you immerse in worship, find comfort in solitude and journey in nearness to Allāh (swt) please keep our community and all of humanity at the forefront of your prayers. May we be relieved of this difficult situation soon.

With Salāms & Du’ās