Calla Evans

documentary: finding a path

"O Allah, I am your servant, daughter of your servant, daughter of your maidservant, my forelock is in Your hand, Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just. I ask You by every name belonging to You which You named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with You, that You make the Qur'an the life of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety."

Qur'an classes at the University of Toronto.
   
Juma prayers at the University of Toronto.
   
Asmaa and her friends make snow angels on the grounds of the University of Toronto.
     
  
Snowfight on the grounds of the University of Toronto.
   
Asmaa finds a quiet hallway in Robarts Library to make her afternoon prayers.
   
Reema and Asmaa take a moment to catch up while making sandwhiches for a local homeless shelter with the University of Toronto Muslim Student Association.
     
  
Asmaa waits to hand out copies of the Qur'an during Islamic Awareness week at the University of Toronto. Asmaa is the Vice-President of the Muslim Student Association at the university.
   
Asmaa texts her friend while waiting for a performer to take the stage during an Islamic poetry night.
   
Asmaa makes her evening prayers before heading to a Muslim Student Association meeting.
     
  
Asmaa walks across the grounds at the University of Toronto.
   
Huda puts on her gown while getting ready for her graduation from Ryerson University.
   
Huda waits with her fellow graduates.
     
  
Huda waits with her fellow graduates.
   
Huda poses for a photo with her parents. They brought the family to Canada in 2001 from Yemen in search for educational opportunities for Huda and their two sons, one of whom has special needs.
   
Huda poses with her fellow graduates and friends.
     
  
Huda poses with her friend.
   
Huda gets ready for a birthday party of a friend.
   
Huda gets ready for a birthday party for a friend.
     
  
Huda at her birthday/graduation party in the party room of the apartment building she lives in with her parents and brothers.
   
Huda's friend Nora draws a hijab on the birthday card she brought for Huda.
   
Huda's birthday/graduation party.
     
  
Huda's birthday/graduation party.
   
Huda's friends post for a picture while her brother makes evening prayer behind them.
   
Women prayer area at the Masjid mosque in downtown Toronto.
     
  
At the Masjid mosque in downtown Toronto.
   
Women pray in a separate area of the Masjid mosque during Juma prayers. The Imam's prayers are broadcast over a closed circut television system.
   
Areej at the Atrium in downtown Toronto.
     
  
Areej is a cardivascular nurse at the Toronto Western Hospital.
   
Areej stands in the prayer space at the Toronto Western Hospital.
   
Areej is a cardiovascular nurse at the Toronto Western Hospital.
     
  
Reema and her friends on the subway.
   
Reema and her friends at the Guess store in downtown Toronto.
   
Reema in the Atrium in downtown Toronto.
     
  
Ambreen prays in the multi-faith room at Ryerson University. Women and men have separate areas to pray in at the university.
   
Ambreen sits in her Women and Development class at Ryerson University.
   
Ambreen's dresser at home.
     
  
Abeer takes a photo of her friends at an anti-Islamiphobia rally at McMaster University. The rally was in response to hate messages left on a professor's door after she organized "Hijab Day" at the university to foster understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim students.
   
Women-only grad dinner at Ryerson University, organized by the Ryerson Muslim Student Association.
   
Ambreen chats with her friend while looking for a bathing suit at Old Navy.
     
  
Ambreen on the subway.
   
Ambreen hugs her dad while he packs his suitcase. Ambreen's father works in India and only sees his wife and two children twice a year.
   
Ambreen and her high school friends enjoy a Bollywood movie on her birthday.
     
  
Ambreen's birthday gift from her highschool friend Peter. Ambreen started wearing the hijab in her grade 12 year, much later than most Muslim women who begin wearing the hijab when they hit puberty.
  
Young Muslim girls play Red Rover at a BBQ organized for Muslim youth in the Regent Park area of Toronto.