Editing Ingrid Mattson (section)

==Early life and background==
Ingrid Mattson, the sixth of seven children, was born in 1963 in [[Kingston, Ontario]], where she spent her childhood and attended Catholic schools.<ref>"Mattson, Ingrid", in ''Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History'', Edward E. Curtis (Infobase Publishing, 2010) p362</ref>  She credits the Catholic women who educated her with providing "a fantastic education" and "a place to explore and develop this early, youthful spirituality".<ref name="commonwealmagazine1">{{cite web|url=http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/view-edge |title=A View from the Edge |date=11 February 2013 |publisher=Commonweal Magazine |access-date=2013-10-23}}</ref> She studied Philosophy and Fine Arts at the [[University of Waterloo]] in Canada from 1982&ndash;87.  As part of her course of study, she spent summer of 1986 as a visiting student in Paris, France.  During this time, she befriended West African students from a Sufi Muslim community.  On reading the [[Qur'an]], she found, "an awareness of God, for the first time since I was very young."<ref name="commonwealmagazine1"/> After returning to Waterloo, she [[religious conversion|converted]] to Islam in 1987.  She completed her studies in Waterloo and earned combined Bachelor of Arts degrees in Philosophy and Fine Arts in 1987.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alumni.uwaterloo.ca/alumni/e-newsletter/2007/magazine/ingrid_mattson.html |title=Alumni Profiles &#124; Office of Alumni Affairs &#124; University of Waterloo |publisher=Alumni.uwaterloo.ca |access-date=2013-10-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304123138/http://alumni.uwaterloo.ca/alumni/e-newsletter/2007/magazine/ingrid_mattson.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>