Who We Are
El-Tawhid Juma Circle Mosques are Human Positive. ETJC begins with the understanding that women and men are equal agents of Allah in all aspects of ritual practice, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, race, class, dis/ability, HIV status, language, or any other grounds.
There is a growing movement of Muslims who are eager to find a place to pray in which all human beings are ritually equal to one another and share authority in the mosque. These pages are for those who are interested in learning more about how such a mosque would work, those who would like to learn how to start their own mosque, and those who would like to start a mosque as part of the el-Tawhid Juma Circle.
Allah tells us in the Qur’an that the Prophet Muhammed, alayhi salam, was a ‘mercy to the worlds’. And so we live the Sunna in our mosques as places of ritual and spiritual healing for everyone – for those who identify as Muslim, regardless of ritual or doctrinal orientation. ETJC also welcomes those who do not identify as Muslim but need a space for healing, and those who are family, spouses/partners, friends, seekers and allies.
“Tawhid” in our name refers to God’s utter oneness, the unity of the whole of the Muslim umma, and the unity of ourselves inwardly and outwardly.
Contact us at jumacircle@gmail.com
El-Farouk Khaki
El-Farouk Khaki is a refugee and immigration lawyer, public speaker and social commentator. His law practice represents people fleeing persecution based upon sexuality, gender, gender identity, political affiliation, and HIV Status.
A human rights and social justice advocate, his leadership has been recognized by his receiving : 2006 “Excellence in Spirituality” Award – Pride Toronto; 2007 Hero Award, Canadian Bar Association The Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference; 2007 Steinert & Ferreiro Award from the Lesbian & Gay Community Appeal. In 2009 in addition to being the Grand Marshall for the 2009 Toronto Pride Parade, he was also the recipient of the “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop”, Pride Toronto Theme Award.
In 2008, he ran for Canadian federal parliament in a by-election and a general election for the New Democratic Party of Canada.
Khaki is the founder of Salaam: Queer Muslim Community, an organization originally started in 1991, and a founding member of the Muslim Lawyers’ Association. In May 2009 he founded the El-Tawhid Juma Circle with his partner Troy Jackson and dear friend, Dr. Laury Silvers. He is also co-founder of The Canadian Muslim Union and co-founder of the Muslim AIDS Project. El-Farouk has set on many boards, appeared on tv and radio including programs such as Counterspin, The Verdict w Paula Todd, The Verdict w Steve Pakin and Studio 4 with Fanny Kiefer.
He is a public speaker on Islam, the Immigration and Refugee system, human rights, racism, politics and HIV/AIDS.
Laury Silvers
Laury Silvers has been an activist in the female authority movement in Islam since 2005 when she joined the board of the now-defunct Progressive Muslim Union of North America. After leaving PMUNA, she organized woman-led Eid prayers with Nakia Jackson and co-founded with Sohail Mamdani the (also now defunct) website progressiveislam.org (with the tagline “Sheep are for Eid”). PO.org was an open-speech blogging site for Muslims to speak to other Muslims about controversial issues in the community. For PMUNA she organized legal and theological resources on female authority following Amina Wadud’s historic 2005 prayer. On PO.org, she was acting editor and organized the women’s health pages which discussed gender and sexuality issues, physical and sexual abuse of children and adults, as well as a provided a downloadable pdf on marital rape for distribution in mosque communities (co-authored with Dr. Debra Majeed).
She works on Islam in the Formative Period, in particular Sufism, Sufi Metaphysics, and Gender, as well as Progressive Islam in North America. Her book, A Soaring Minaret: Abu Bakr al-Wasiti and the Rise of Baghdadi Sufism was released by SUNY Press in 2010. She is a co-editor of the festschrift A Jihad for Justice: Honoring the Life and Work of Amina Wadud.
With Ahmed Elewa, she is preparing a translation of the women’s biographies in Ibn al-Jawzi’s Sifat al-safwa with a summary introduction. Her most recent articles are “‘God Loves Me’: Early Pious and Sufi Women and the Theological Debate over God’s Love” in the Journal for Islamic Studies, and “‘I am One of the People’: A Survey and Analysis of Legal Arguments on Woman-led Prayer in Islam” in The Journal of Law and Religion. She is preparing two more articles in a series of 3 about early pious and Sufi women. The next article is a social history of the life of the early pietist Hafsa bint Sirin grounded in an analysis of the efforts of biographers–Sufi biographers and authors in particular–to construct silence and seclusion as the ideal of female piety. The final article will be a social historical analysis of depictions of early pious and Sufi women’s sexuality and bodies in the biographical literature.
She helped found the Islamic Mysticism Group at the AAR, served on it’s steering committee for six years and served as co-chair for three years. She teaches Islam related courses at the University of Toronto. Click here for Laury’s personal site website.
Troy Jackson
Troy Jackson is a Singer, Writer and Performer, from the Eastern Woodlands Metis Nation.
Jackson is the President of the El-Tawhid Juma Circle. Troy believes in a just, compassion filled, loving Islam. He speaks on issues of racism, social justice and expression for mental health.
Click here for his music www.troyjackson.ca
Syed Adnan Hussain
Syed Adnan Hussain is currently a PhD candidate inReligious Studies at the University of Toronto. He…which is to say I, received my BA from McGill University, a M.T.S from Candler School of Theology and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law. I am currently serving as the co-Chair of the Religion, Colonialism, and PostcolonialismGroup at the AAR.
I have worked and continue to work in the civil sector for a a number of not for profit groups, including a stint in Kenya at the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and my current involvement with the LAWS program at the University of Toronto Law School. In addition, I am the newly minted and inaugural President of the Toronto Unity Mosque an LGBTQQ2SA (more letters pending) affirming religious space.
I am currently writing my dissertation on Modern Islamic State theory, which is a study of the confluence of the common law, constitutionalism and religious political theory. In particular I am interested in the case of South Asia, but am drawing comparatively on examples from the Middle East. My other areas of interest include: human rights law, film, post-colonial theory, modern Islamic law, Islam in South East and East Asia, juvenile delinquency, and the laws of apostasy and blasphemy.
Beyond the books I am an obsessive cook, year round cyclist and an occasional translator of poetry.