BY MOHAMMED AZHAR ALI KHAN Not long ago there were not many Muslims in Ottawa and the city had no mosque or imam. Muslims prayed in a church, in embassies or in rented halls. To listen to scholars they went to the US. Given Canada's welcoming attitude, Muslims now number some 60,000 in Ottawa and a million in the country. Now Ottawa has mosques, Islamic schools and several imams. One of them is Muhammad Alshareef, who was born in Winnipeg in 1975 and now lives in Ottawa. Polite and cultured, Dr. Alshareef likes to learn and to act boldly. Ten years ago, he formed the non-profit Al-Maghrib Institute and gathered top scholars to impart knowledge to Muslims about their faith. Today Al-Maghrib provides courses in 30 cities in five countries. It also conducts “ilm-fests” — “ilm” means knowledge — in the US and Canada to link average Muslims with scholars. Its one-day ilm-fests in Ottawa on March 25 and May 21 were sold out, with more than 3,000 participants on each day. A bazaar also featured everything from jewelry and garments to literature and prayer mats. In accordance with Islamic teachings, the two gatherings also enabled participants to donate to the victims in Syria and to other causes. Some 300 people agreed at each gathering to support a child for a year in countries ranging from Afghanistan, Guyana and Haiti to Bosnia, Palestine and Bangladesh. Such meetings also showcase, as in Haj, the brotherhood of Islam. Canadians hail from more than 125 countries. These sessions bring together people from diverse cultures and walks of life. Uniting them is their allegiance to Islam and to their country. But the real value of these meetings lies in the powerful Islamic messages — of love, compassion, duty, sacrifice, devotion, integrity, and justice — they bring from scholars, some of whom were born and raised in Canada and who understand Eastern and Western cultures and can bridge the two. But these sessions, mesmerizing though they were, showed weaknesses. The conference, for example, was organized by Al-Maghrib Institute. If it had been arranged in cooperation with some of the other Muslim organizations in the area — which includes women's and youth groups and a coordinating council — Muslims would have received a valuable lesson on the need to work together constructively for Muslims and for Canada. As it is, Ottawa's Muslims, as those of Canada, remain divided and without a long-term strategy or goals. A more balanced program would also have helped. Someone, for example, should have urged Muslims to participate more actively in community life, including school boards, municipalities and the provincial and federal political systems; in environmental, human rights and other causes and in doing more volunteer work in hospitals, neighborhoods and other areas. They should also have been encouraged to help the most vulnerable in the community — refugees, new immigrants, seniors, widows and widowers, victims of domestic violence, youth who are turning to violence, crime and drugs, the mentally ill and the disabled. They should have emphasized that, in this age of economic uncertainty and underemployment, Muslims should feel no shame in starting small businesses and going into trades — plumbing, electricity, auto mechanics, construction, masonry, etc. — that will be in great demand. The need to work together should have been emphasized. Muslims often suffer from Islamophobia and distortions in the Western media. Some Muslims have tried to provide Muslims with a platform to express their viewpoint on important issues through a monthly magazine called Muslim Link. Without this journal Muslims would have little means to express their views. Yet, though Muslim Link was a sponsor of the conference, not one speaker mentioned the need for the community to support this vital effort. The contribution of Muslim organizations to Muslim Link is negligible. It is as though some wish to remain voiceless and let the misrepresentations go unchallenged. Though this was a major gathering in the capital city, not one Muslim ambassador — or prominent Canadian political figure — was present to learn or to offer insightful advice. Canadian Muslims constitute an important fabric of the country. Yet Muslim diplomatic missions are cut off from their leadership. The conference was useful. But it also revealed major weaknesses. With leaders like Dr. Alshareef, one hopes that in future it would be more inclusive and visionary. — Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge. He has received the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal. __
