Alex Strachan of CanWest News Service

• ‘Little Mosque’ all about being benign
  “Little Mosque on the Prairie is back, not with a vengeance, and not on a wing and a prayer, but much the way it left, with a gentle, sweet-tempered innocence and good humour. There’s no preaching from the pulpit in this wry parable. Nor, thankfully, is there any preaching to the converted — or preaching of any other kind.” Read more.

Photo courtesy CBC: (from left to right) Yasir (Carlo Rota) and Baber (Manoj Sood)

Bill Harris of Sun Media interviews Zaib Shaikh of Little Mosque on the Prairie:

• ‘Mosque’ star OK with Gemini snub
  “We’re watching a clash of cultures, but it’s not necessarily the one between Muslims and non-Muslims,” Shaikh said. “It’s a small town and Amaar sees himself as a big-city guy who’s saying, ‘Oh, I can negotiate myself into this, or out of this,’ and of course he can’t.” Read more.

Photo courtesy CBC: Rayyan (Sitara Hewitt) new Imam Amaar (Zaib Shaikh) and the town’s original Imam Baber (Manoj Sood).

Denis McGrath of Dead Things on Sticks interviews Little Mosque on the Prairie writers Paul Mather and Rob Sheridan:

• Little Mosque Returns: A View from “The Room.”
  “Paul Mather had been the showrunner on Corner Gas for a few years, as well as being one of the comedic forces behind The Rick Mercer Report. Story Editor Rob Sheridan had just completed his first year on Corner Gas. But he’d also had several seasons of cult favorite The Red Green Show under his belt, and had scored a Canadian Screenwriting Award nomination for the well-regarded Showcase comedy Naked Josh, on which he wrote for two full seasons.” Read more (part one). And even more (part two).

Brooke Anderson of Aljazeera.net, reports on Little Mosque’s international sales:

• A little mosque grows
  “Zarqa Nawaz, the show’s [creator], hopes to correct the stereotype that Muslims are humourless. She told Al Jazeera: ‘This will be a great opportunity for people to see Muslims in normal context.'” Read more.