Canadian Muslims have built the Arctic’s first minaret in Inuvik last month, traveling 4,000 kilometers over land and water to erect the structure which will serve a growing Muslim population in Canada’s far north.
AFP reported that the locally-built minaret has four levels and stands 10 metre off the ground.
“It’s really beautiful when we turn on the lights in the dark,” Amier Suliman, a mosque committee member, told AFP on Wednesday.
Only finishing touches, including applying a second coat of paint inside, and hooking up bathroom plumbing, remain before the mosque’s grand opening next week.
“Some will say it’s a new frontier for Islam,” Suliman told AFP. “But for me what is significant is that Muslims here who once prayed on Fridays at a local Catholic church or in a trailer now have a proper place to worship, with a proper minaret. Now we have a home to worship in our own hometown. That’s the most important for me.”
The facility will also double as a Muslim community center.