Zarqa Nawaz

Zarqa Nawaz was raised in the Toronto area and attended Chinguacousy Secondary School.[1] Initially, Nawaz planned to go to medical school and completed a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto. She completed a second degree in journalism at Ryerson University in 1992. She worked with CBC Radio, CBC Newsworld, CBC Television's The National, and CTV's Canada AM, and was an associate producer of several CBC Radio programs including Morningside. Her 1992 radio documentary The Changing Rituals of Death won multiple awards at the Ontario Telefest Awards. Stating that she became "bored of journalism", she took a summer film workshop at the Ontario College of Art & Design and began working as a filmmaker, using comedy to explore the relationships between Muslims and their neighbours in contemporary North America. She has described the goal of her production company, FUNdamentalist Films, as "putting the 'fun' back into fundamentalism."

In an interview with Prairie Dog Magazine, Nawaz said her screenplay Real Terrorists Don't Bellydance was "inspired by movies like True Lies and Executive Decision". She describes it as a "new genre of film", a cross between a terrorist flick and a comedy: "I call it a 'terrordy.'" [2] Her use of humour in the television series Little Mosque on the Prairie attracted media attention ranging from CNN and The Jerusalem Post to The Colbert Report even before it aired, prompting the CBC to broadcast it months ahead of its original schedule.

In 2007, Nawaz created the internationally renowned CBC comedy series, Little Mosque on the Prairie, the world's first sitcom about a Muslim community living in the west. Little Mosque on the Prairie premiered to the highest ratings CBC ever had.[3] The show went on to win a Gemini,[4] and was nominated for Best Television Series – Comedy at the 2007 Directors Guild of Canada Awards. Internationally, Little Mosque won awards for Best International Television Series and Best Screenplay at the 2007 Roma Fiction Fest. In 2012, it made its American debut on Hulu, and is now broadcast in over 60 countries. The Los Angeles Times said "the genius of 'Mosque' is that the characters resonate with viewers all over the world." Nawaz's CBC show Little Mosque on the Prairie was inspired by her documentary Me and the Mosque. Nawaz felt that mosques would be run differently if imams were recruited from North America instead of being brought from overseas where cultural differences, especially when it came to women, affected how the imams behaved with their congregation.

After the success of Little Mosque on the Prairie, Zarqa successfully sold comedy pilots to ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox Studios.

Her memoir Laughing All the Way to the Mosque,[5] published in 2014, was a shortlisted nominee for the 2015 Stephen Leacock Award.[6] Her book was also nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writer's Award[7] and Saskatchewan Book Award of the Year.[8] It was Chatelaine Magazine's Book Club Pick[9] and Canadian Living's Book of the Summer. "With a light touch and great humour," wrote reviewer Joanne Latimer in Maclean's Magazine, "she pokes fun at Muslims and her Punjabi-Canadian clan. The anecdotes create a wry portrait of an immigrant daughter struggling against tradition, sexism and the shalwar kameez."

Zarqa was also as an advice columnist for the Globe & Mail[10] from Feb. 2012 to Aug. 2012. In 2018, Zarqa was the host of The Morning Edition, Saskatchewan's CBC Radio's morning show,[11] and in 2019 she was the anchor CBC Saskatchewan's six o'clock news.[12]

Zarqa received a Doctor of Divinity from the University of Saskatchewan for her interfaith work in the community. In recognition for her contribution to the world of arts, she was inducted into Brampton Arts Walk of Fame in 2019.[13]

Zarqa started doing stand-up in 2020 and she co-created the first Women and Non-Binary Open Mic[14] in Regina where she headlined on opening night at the Cure. She's been doing weekly open mics at The Cure, and monthly open mics at The Exchange, The Fat Badger, the Creative City Centre and The Social LOL in Regina, Saskatchewan prior to the COVID outbreak in March 2020.

Zarqa is currently producing a web series, titled, "ZARQA", which received funding from the IPF[15] to produce the trailer.

Zarqa Nawaz is the mother of four children and lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

• BBQ Muslims (1995) - Two Muslim brothers are accused of terrorism after their barbecue explodes in their backyard.
• Death Threat (1998) - A young Muslim novelist claims to have received a death threat in order to get her book published.[16]
• Random Check (2005) - A young man, late for his wedding, turns to the media after being arrested at the airport as the result of racial profiling.[17]
• Fred's Burqa (2005) - A stolen burqa leads to mistaken identity, a career change and true love.[17]

• Real Terrorists Don't Bellydance (2003) - a struggling actor inadvertently takes a role as a stereotypical Muslim terrorist, to his fiancée's chagrin

• Me and the Mosque (2005) - documentary about the role of women in Islam, both throughout history and in contemporary Canada, told from a personal perspective.[18]

• Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007 – 2012) - comedy about relations between Muslims and non-Muslims living in a fictional Saskatchewan town called Mercy.

• List of Pakistani journalists

• FUNdamentalist Films website
• CBC Interview
• Little Mosque on the Prairie, Allah is Great – and Funny, taz 2007
• Artist profile from Video Pool
• Muslim Public Affairs Council Banquet with Zarqa Nawaz
• Zarqa Nawaz at IMDb
• Famous Canadian Immigrant Filmmakers