"We are gathered here today to protest any form of terrorism which is happening around the globe, especially in Iraq," Riyaz Khawaja, who is president of the Hussaini Association of Calgary, which represents Shiite Muslims told CBC News on Saturday, June 21.
"We gather here to raise our voices and let the Canadian government know that they should be vigilant about what's happening inside of Canada."
Calgary Muslims’ protest has joined a chorus of Muslims condemnations around the world as the cycle of violent attacks accelerated in Iraq over the past months.
The world focus was turned to the volatile area after Al-Qaeda splinter group, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant's (ISIL), seized control of Iraq's second city of Mosul last June 10.
The fall of Mosul followed that of Tikrit, Anbar's Fallujah and Ramadi as well as other parts since last December.
The situation on the ground has further deteriorated after Iraq's most senior Shiite Muslim scholar Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged followers to take up arms against a Sunni insurgency in Iraq.
The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) stressed on Thursday, June 19, that the current conflict is a result of injustice of the Iraqi government against the Sunni minority and has nothing to do with terrorism and civil war.
Saturday's rally in Calgary attracted more than 200 Muslims who were eager to show that "most Muslims want peace" and fight misconceptions about their faith.
“The moderate people have always been there, but they don’t get a voice in the media,” Tehseer Hussain, a Muslim from Calgray, told the Calgary Herald on Saturday, June 21. “Muslims were united but these violent forces are trying to divide and conquer us.”
Joining Saturday's rally, Hussain believes that the negative portrayal of Muslims endorses marginalization.
“It’s easy to take on the energy of the youth. You start twisting the words of the Qur’an and you post emotional photos on social media, and people who feel they don’t fit in here start believing this stuff," Hussain said.
Brainwashed
Addressing the crowd during Saturday's rally, one of the speakers referred to the killing of a Calgary Muslim youth Salman Ashrafi last November after joining jihad in Iraq.
"People need to watch who their kids are friends with,” said Hasan Zaheer, who has two sons. “If I ever see them get involved with the wrong crowd, I know I need to talk to them and I can go to the police.”
Calgary's rally has been praised by Dr. Satyamoorthy Kabilan, who directs national security research for the Conference Board of Canada.
“There are Canadians from different backgrounds willing to stand up and say terrorism and violence is wrong,” Kabilan said. “Ultimately the community is our strongest bulwark and strongest barrier to terrorism.”
Muslims represent 3.2% of Canada’s total population.
Muslims are the fastest growing religious community in Canada, according to the country’s statistical agency, Statistics Canada.
Canada’s Muslim population increased by 82 percent over the past decade – from about 579,000 in 2001 to more than 1 million in 2011.
/149
Source: Onislam
