A Little Mosque On The Prairie
Another Program Which I Plan To Look Into Is "Little Mosque on the Prairie" Which I Mentioned In My Thesis. This Is A Comedy Series Based On A Mosque In A Small Town In Canada. This Show Will Help To Prove My Thesis; That Muslim Roles Are Slowly Changing. The Characters Are Predominately Muslim It Shows Muslims As Hardworking, Humourous, Moderate And Even The "Extreme" Chracters Such As Baber And Fatima Are Shown In A Comical Way. If Ever There Are Muslims In Comedies The Jokes Are Usually Directed At Them However This Show Subverts This.
Information On The Show
Little Mosque on the Prairie is a Canadian sitcom on CBC Television created by Zarqa Nawaz. The series focuses on the Muslim population of the fictional rural prairie town of Mercy, Saskatchewan.
Cast and personnel
Although the show focuses on an Islamic community, the only Muslim actor in the cast is Zaib Shaikh, who plays the imam, Amaar.
The cast includes:
Amaar Rashid - (Zaib Shaikh) - the imam at the mosque, he often comes out as being progressive as opposed to conservative. He is originally a lawyer from Toronto hired by Yasir for less than minimum wages.
Yasir Hamoudi - (Carlo Rota) - , a contractor who runs his business out of an office at the mosque, he isn't as extreme as some of the other characters. He at least puts in an effort to be a devout Muslim, but he tends to slip up on occasion.
Sarah Hamoudi - (Sheila McCarthy) - , Yasir's wife who is a convert to Islam and is more devout than her husband but less devout than her daughter, she works as a PR rep to the mayor. She is occasionally called "Florence of Arabia" by Fred Tupper.
Rayyan Hamoudi - (Sitara Hewitt) - , Yasir and Sarah's daughter who is a doctor, she follows Islamic feminism, and is a feminist who is more loyal to Islam than seemingly is the rest of her family. Her western medical treatments are met with disapproval by Fatima and her treatments from Nigeria.
Baber Siddiqui - (Manoj Sood) - , a widowed college professor and the most extreme member of the Muslim community, this extremeness often conflicts with the wishes of his daughter. He calls most non-Muslims "imbeciles", "heathens", and other derogatory names.
Fatima Dinssa - (Arlene Duncan) - , the widowed owner of a diner, she has conservative views toward Islam, but is still part of mainstream culture. She often conflicts with Fred Tupper, and she hates the Mercy Diner, her competition.
Rev. Duncan Magee - (Derek McGrath) - , the minister of the Anglican Church which also houses the mosque, he is helpful to Amaar when he first arrives. He often laments the sad-state of his church and congregation.
Mayor Ann Popowicz - (Debra McGrath), the mayor of Mercy who supports the Muslim community in return for their vote. Her actions are often the subject of complaints by Fred Tupper, who refers to her as a "she-mayor".
Fred Tupper - {Neil Crone) - , the local bigot and the host of a talk show on the local radio station, he often equates Muslims to terrorists who want to take over the country. Despite this, he still finds time to go into Fatima's diner.
The first season was directed by Michael Kennedy.
Plot
This is the story of the Muslim population in the fictional town of Mercy, Saskatchewan. The show derives much of its humour from the interactions of the Muslims with the non-Muslim townspeople of Mercy and by the contrast of conservative Islamic views (held primarily by the characters of Baber and Fatima) with more liberal interpretations of Islam (as represented by Amaar and Rayyan).
