HISTORY
2001
LQS first aired a couple of months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. At the time, Dr. Shabir Ally had a radio show called “Scripture Studies”. He felt that the medium of television would help him better combat extremism within Muslim communities and fight misconceptions about Islam in the wider Canadian society. He rented studio space and spoke solo, occasionally inviting other imams to share the platform with him.
2005
Safiyyah Ally joined Dr. Shabir Ally on LQS. A small studio was built in the basement of the Islamic Information Centre, and rudimentary equipment was purchased. There was no paid staff. A single dedicated volunteer, Al Mahmud Ali, produced and edited each episode with a computer that kept breaking down because it was running out of space.
2006
Omer Chaudhry became host alongside Safiyyah Ally.
Omer was admitted to law school and left his position. In the same year, Ilyas Ally was hired as Producer. Production moved to the main hall of the Islamic Information Centre. A small volunteer production team was formed.
2010
Ilyas Ally was promoted to Executive Producer. Rameez Mahmood became Producer. Abeer Qa'aty joined as Editor. LQS had a logo and branding material. A show intro was produced for the first time. More guests were brought on to share their views, many of them local community leaders and influencers. There was a shift in focus from responding to misconceptions about Islam to showcasing the diversity of Muslims’ lived experiences in Canada.
2013
2014
Safiyyah left to live in Egypt. Aisha Khaja became the host.
2018
Ilyas left to pursue religious studies. Mamoun Hassan became the first full-time Executive Producer of LQS. Under his leadership, LQS expanded its guest list even further, interviewing artists, writers, producers and musicians.
2019
Aisha went on maternity leave. Safiyyah had just returned to Canada and was asked to fill in for Aisha. Soon after, Mamoun left to pursue other opportunities, and Safiyyah became part-time Executive Producer. Dean Qureshi was hired as Producer. Additional crew members joined the organisation. New equipment was purchased and the set underwent a revitalization. Khaled Mansour and Eric Metzloff became Editors. Additional crew members joined the organization. New equipment was purchased and the set was updated as the show underwent a planning and revitalization process. LQS reached 100,000 subscribers on YouTube.
LQS continues to grow and redefine itself to fulfill its mandate of advancing the public discourse about Islam and Muslims in Canada.