Little Mosque on the Prairie -- New Muslim Sitcom Debuts in Canadia

Muslim sitcom debuts in Canada
By Lee Carter
BBC News, Toronto

Braving Toronto's cold and drizzle, the show's writer and creator Zarqa Nawaz explains that the inspiration for the show came from her own experiences as a Muslim woman who made a life-changing move to the provincial prairie city of Regina to work in a mosque.

"People of different Islamic ideologies had to live together and deal with one another," she says.

"I thought it would be interesting to do a series about what life is like in a mosque in a small community."

The plot follows a Canadian-born imam as he makes a similar move from a big city to the Saskatchewan town of Mercy (pop. 10,000), where he encounters a colourful array of characters, both in the town's Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

"It's very unusual, because usually the Imam is imported from overseas and there's often a cultural disconnect," says Ms Nawaz.

"I thought it would be interesting to have an imam with Canadian cultural sensibilities having to deal with the immigrant men for a change."

The new modern-thinking Imam comes up against more conservative individuals in his community, including his predecessor, whose sermons had been largely preoccupied with corroding western influences such as TV shows like Desperate Housewives.

In the first episode, other stock characters are introduced, such as a local right-wing radio shock jock (whose first question to the imam is "Are you a terrorist?"), a local priest who rents the parish hall for the new mosque, and a rural bumpkin who is absolutely convinced of a terrorist plot on every corner.

The jokes about racial profiling and terrorism, are defended by the Director of Network Programming for the CBC, Kirstine Layfield.

"It is daring in the sense that it's bringing it out again and discussing it in kind of an honest but funny way," she says.

"But humour comes from truth and this is exactly what certain groups of people are experiencing right now."

It remains to be seen whether Canadians will embrace the show, or even find it funny.

But there's been no shortage of attention for the show, including plenty from south of the border. US TV news organisations have been intrigued enough by the show's subject matter to send crews up to a neighbouring country they largely ignore.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6244199.stm

CNN Paula Zahn Special on the show