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Beyond Washington: Where Is the Political Qibla for Canadian Muslims?
8-26-2026
In November 2020, “Six years ago, Alameen Post asked whether Washington was becoming a new Qibla for the Muslim world. Looking at the political changes unfolding today, it may be time to revisit that question — this time closer to home.”
At the time, Muslims around the world were closely watching the American presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Our message was straightforward: Muslims should not place their hopes blindly in Washington, political parties or individual leaders. Governments change, politicians change and campaign promises change. Our principles should not.
Six years later, the political landscape is changing in an interesting way.
Perhaps the lesson was never that Muslims should withdraw from politics. The lesson was that Muslims should participate without surrendering their principles to political parties.
We are now seeing what that can look like.
In the United States, the rise of politicians such as Zohran Mamdani and the recent Democratic Senate primary victory of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan have attracted international attention. El-Sayed won despite being heavily outspent by powerful outside interests.
Whether one agrees with every position taken by these politicians is not the point.
The important lesson is that voters who are organized, informed and willing to stand by their principles can change political calculations.
And Canadian politicians are watching.
Canada is changing too
Canadian Muslims have traditionally tended to develop strong loyalties toward particular political parties. Sometimes those relationships were built around immigration, multiculturalism, civil liberties or simply the belief that one party was more welcoming than another.
But political loyalty can easily become political dependency.
The 2025 federal election showed signs that this relationship is beginning to change. Muslim organizations across Canada became more coordinated, voters examined individual candidates more closely, and issues such as Gaza, Islamophobia, civil liberties, affordability and human rights became important considerations alongside traditional party affiliation.
That is a healthy development.
Canadian Muslims are not a single voting bloc. We come from different backgrounds, hold different political and social views, and will naturally support different candidates.
But there is an important distinction between political diversity and automatic political loyalty.
No political party should assume it owns the Muslim vote.
And no Muslim voter should believe that supporting a party requires remaining silent when that party acts contrary to his or her principles.
Britain is already experiencing this shift
The United Kingdom offers another example.
For decades, many British Muslim voters strongly supported Labour. That relationship has weakened considerably in recent elections, with some voters moving toward independents, Greens and other alternatives.
British Muslims did not suddenly become one political ideology. Rather, many began questioning whether longstanding political loyalty was actually producing meaningful representation.
Canada should learn from that experience before reaching the same point.
Political parties naturally seek communities that can deliver votes, volunteers and donations. There is nothing unusual about that.
The responsibility therefore rests with the community to ask a different question:
What are we receiving in return — not personally, but in public policy, representation and respect for our principles?
From being courted to being respected
Every election brings politicians to mosques, Eid celebrations, community dinners and Muslim organizations.
Photographs are taken. Greetings are exchanged. Promises are made.
That is political engagement, but it is not necessarily political influence.
Real influence exists when politicians understand that Muslim voters are informed, organized and prepared to judge them by their record — regardless of party label.
That means supporting politicians when they take principled positions and holding them accountable when they do not.
It also means building political capacity between elections: encouraging young people to participate, developing credible candidates, understanding public policy, meeting elected representatives throughout their terms and working with Canadians outside the Muslim community on issues of common concern.
Housing, affordability, healthcare, education, civil liberties, poverty, racism, foreign policy and human rights are not simply “Muslim issues.” They are Canadian issues.
Muslims should participate in these conversations as Canadians contributing to the country we call home.
The lesson from 2020 remains
Looking back at our 2020 editorial, perhaps its central warning is even more relevant today.
Our political Qibla should never be Washington.
But neither should it be Ottawa, the Liberal Party, Conservative Party, NDP or any other political organization.
Political parties are vehicles. They should never become our compass.
Our compass must remain our principles: justice, human dignity, honesty, accountability and concern for the wider society.
The encouraging difference today is that Muslim communities are beginning to understand that holding firmly to those principles does not require political isolation.
Quite the opposite.
Participate. Organize. Vote. Build relationships. Support good candidates. Challenge bad policies. Work with fellow Canadians. But never give any political party a blank cheque.
When communities become informed and organized, politicians begin paying attention.
That is the change we are now witnessing elsewhere.
Canadian Muslims would be wise to learn from it.
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