A nationwide Muslim youth-led campaign touring Canada completed its stop in Toronto on Saturday, where volunteers use open-minded conversations with strangers to address Islamophobia that continues to exist in the country.
The campaign, titled “Islam on the Move: I’m Muslim, Ask Me Anything,” consists of a mobile exhibition and volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association of Canada (AMYA) eager to speak out about their faith. The campaign began in Montreal on August 13 and has so far completed about two dozen stops.
Jari Qudrat, 27, a campaign manager for Islam in Motion, was one of the volunteers at Yonge-Dundas Square who invited passersby to ask him anything about his faith. Being in Canada’s largest city, coincidentally on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, hasn’t been all that different from other cities and towns that Qudrat has campaigned in so far, he said, except for seeing a more multicultural crowd.
“We recognize that today is an important day and we understand how this event and other events in the past have changed the perception that may exist about Muslims,” said Qudrat. “Fortunately, fortunately and with gratitude, the conversations that we are having with people today go much further.”
Amid the bustle of downtown Toronto, Qudrat found himself engaged in open-minded conversations with strangers asking questions as broad as, “What do Muslims believe?” to specific questions about traditions like Ramadan.
Throughout the campaign, Qudrat said that terrorism and extremism have cropped up a few times. But he sees it as an opportunity to talk about how the teachings of Islam are largely focused on peace.
“It is an incredible opportunity for us to share with people that Islam is a religion of peace and that Muslims believe in (the) notion of a peaceful and cohesive society,” said Qudrat.
Safwan Choudhry is the communications director for Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada (AMJ), the charity to which AMYA belongs. Choudhry says that volunteers sharing their personal experiences during these conversations is as educational as sharing facts about their faith, especially for younger volunteers who may not yet be expert theologians.
“Sometimes there is a question about integration into Canadian society and (non-Muslim Canadians) don’t realize that these young Muslims have a very similar lifestyle to their fellow Canadians, either because of their love of hockey. or for their same interests and hobbies as everyone else. Choudhry said.
The campaign is the product of AMJ’s intense reflection on the places of Canadian Muslims in the country after the deadly attack on a Muslim family in London, Ontario. The main question they had, Choudhry said, was: “What is our role in helping to eliminate these misconceptions and misinformation that sometimes results in hateful attacks against Muslims?”
The exhibition’s next stop is London, three months after the tragedy that helped inspire the campaign. Qudrat hopes London residents will be especially open to learning about Islam as the city’s Muslim community continues to recover from the attack.
“We found that when these anti-Islamic sentiments happen and these attacks happen, awareness is raised and people start to pay a lot of attention to what is happening and maybe also to the religion of Islam,” Qudrat said.
Reference-www.thestar.com