'Zarqa Nawaz is one very Funny Lady, the Sultana of the Sardonic, maybe even the Imamma of the Ironic . Nawaz, mercifully, has a fatal weakness - irreverence - and it's a state of being that's constantly getting her into trouble. Praise be to Allah' Toronto Star * Being a practicing Muslim in a western society is sometimes challenging, sometimes rewarding and sometimes downright absurd. How do you explain why Eid never falls on the same date each year; why it is that Halal butchers also sell teapots and alarm clocks; how do you make clear to the plumber that it's essential the toilet is installed within sitting-arm's reach of the tap? Zarqa Nawaz has seen and done it all. And it's not always easy to get things right with the community either: Zarqa tells of being asked to leave the DBW (Dead Body Washing) committee after making unsuitable remarks; of undertaking the momentous trip to Mecca with her husband, without the children, thinking (most incorrectly) that it will also be a nice time to have uninterrupted sex; of doing the unthinkable, and creating Little Mosque on the Prairie , a successful TV sitcom about that very (horrified, then proud) community. You have to laugh.