Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007–2012)

A satirical look at a Muslim community living in Canada.

Creator:

Zarqa Nawaz

Stars:

Zaib Shaikh, Sitara Hewitt, Debra McGrath

4 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Zaib Shaikh	...	Amaar Rashid (91 episodes, 2007-2012)
Sitara Hewitt	...	Rayyan Hamoudi (91 episodes, 2007-2012)
Debra McGrath	...	Mayor Ann Popowicz (91 episodes, 2007-2012)
Manoj Sood	...	Baber Siddiqui (91 episodes, 2007-2012)
Neil Crone	...	Fred Tupper (91 episodes, 2007-2012)
Arlene Duncan	...	Fatima Dinssa (91 episodes, 2007-2012)
Sheila McCarthy	...	Sarah Hamoudi (91 episodes, 2007-2012)
Carlo Rota	...	Yasir Hamoudi (69 episodes, 2007-2011)
Derek McGrath	...	Reverend Duncan Magee (52 episodes, 2007-2011)
Sean Hunter	...	Mercy Resident (50 episodes, 2007-2010)
Brandon Firla	...	Reverend William Thorne (43 episodes, 2009-2012)

Storyline

The location is Mercy Saskatchewan, a small town in the Canadian prairies. A small but devout community of Muslims has settled there, headed by community leader Yasir Hamoudi, a local building contractor. He is married to Sarah, a Caucasian ex-Christian who has converted to Islam for her husband. Their adult daughter, Rayyan, is a feminist Muslim doctor. The religious leader of the Muslim community - the Imam - is Amaar Rashid, a young, Canadian-born ex-lawyer from Toronto, who came to Mercy to replace Baber Siddiqui, who was deemed too extreme by many in the Mercy Muslim community. The local diner is run by Fatima Dinssa, a Nigerian Muslim who is strict about her religion but more liberal in her cultural values. The Muslims in Mercy are co-existing with their Christian neighbors, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes not. Reverend Duncan Magee welcomes his Muslim neighbors, especially if they enhance the social and economic fabric of the community and his parish. Likewise, Mayor Ann ...

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Plot Keywords:

muslim | small town | canada | mixed marriage | cultural misunderstanding | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

CBC [ca]

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 2007 (Canada)

Also Known As:

La mezquita de la pradera

Filming Locations:

Indian Head, Saskatchewan, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Little Mosque Productions, Westwind Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the series finale aired in April 2012 the CBC negotiated distribution deals in 92 foreign countries including Israel. Ironically, at that time, it did not air on any television outlet within the United States; Canada's next door neighbor. It has now been made available streaming over the Internet, for American customers, on the Hulu network.

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Connections

Featured in The Hour: Episode #7.88 (2011)

User Reviews

Not brilliant, but not so bad, and a very welcome relief

LMOTP is very much in the vein of earlier comedies about a new ethnic group integrating into the new world. OK, Muslims are not AN ethnic group and the Muslims of Mercy are am ethnic mosaic unto themselves. Admittedly the show started off pleasant, but less than brilliant and has been sliding on its charm - a bit thin and predictable. Still it's no worse than a lot of sitcoms. A bit gentle and old-fashioned for some tastes, but is that so bad?

Even though I'm a Muslim I enjoy the sex-and-violence appeal of something like "True Blood" -- totally absent here -- but as a Muslim I find it very relaxing, even therapeutic, to see something about Muslims on TV that is gentle and bloodless. Some of these reviews complain that it's not controversial. Why should everything about Muslims have to be controversial? I'm tired of nearly everything on the tube about my religion and my community dripping with snark or going for the adrenaline. If this is a bit quaint and soporific, even if it is simple and clichéd it shows Muslims with a sense of humor, Muslims as ordinary people who might be your neighbors, and you'd be OK with that. That alone makes this show unique and very welcome.

Arguably we all deserve better on a lot of counts, but like it or not, for humanizing Muslims on TV this is the best we have so far, and on that count it's far better than anything in the USA. Flawed as it is, LMOTP is a welcome first step in the right direction.