As Tazul Ali walked me through Burnaby’s Masjid Al-Salaam mosque on Saturday, she was posed a question about common misconceptions about Islam.
She paused for a moment and glanced at a woman sitting nearby who was quietly reciting prayers to herself, eyes closed, her head slowly nodding.
Ali said it had to do with women and Islam, and how people assume women have no choices. For example, the mosque has a separate prayer space for women, but they are free to pray with the men if they choose.
“It’s all a personal choice,” said Ali, as she continued her tour of the mosque during an open house that invited the community to come in and learn more about Islam.
The event was part of a B.C.-wide day in which mosques across the province open their doors to educate people about their religion.
“In a world with ever-growing stigma and confusion around Islam and Muslims, we want to open our doors, our minds and our hearts to everyone around us, and build a stronger community,” said Asma Mazhar, one of the event organizers.
And they really did open their hearts. There was a definite feeling of joy and love in the room as people went from display to display, asking questions, munching on goodies and listening to recorded information. You could even try on a hijab or get your photo taken at a selfie booth.
The place was packed with visitors. Sure, there was a gaggle of politicians, such as federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian, and Burnaby MLAs Raj Chouhan and Janet Routledge.
When I posted a preview story about the open house on the NOW Facebook page last week, some of the comments in response were disturbing and confirmed why such an event is needed.
Many of the comments – which were deleted due to their offensive content, such as some awful memes – included gross stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam.
Many of these misconceptions involved the hijab. A group of women I spoke to at the open house said the biggest mistake people make about the hijab is assuming women are forced to wear it.
It’s a personal choice, they told me.
According to a pamphlet I was given, “In the Western world, the hijab has come to symbolise either forced silence, or radical, unconscionable militancy. Actually, it’s neither. It is simply a woman’s assertion that judgment of her physical person is to play no role whatsoever in social interaction. Wearing the hijab has given me freedom from constant attention to my physical self. Because my appearance is not subjected to public scrutiny, my beauty, or perhaps lack of it, has been removed from the realm of what can legitimately be discussed.”
When I read negative comments about Islam, one common thread is citing the more radical forms practiced in some countries and just assuming that this represents all of Islam – which is ridiculous.
Many religions have extreme and radical forms. Do we condemn all of Catholicism because of certain extreme sects?
People need to take this seriously. We’re living in a time in Canada when a man - who was admittedly a fan of Donald Trump and his anti-immigration policies – walked into a Quebec City mosque and murdered six Muslim men and critically injured five others.
As I wrote in my mosque open house preview story, when Mario Canseco’s Research Co. asked Canadians about racism in the country last month, the results were not uplifting.
Two in five respondents to the survey (41 per cent) think racism has become a more significant problem in Canada over the past two years. Women (47 per cent) and Canadians aged 18 to 34 (46 per cent) are more likely to feel this way.
Clearly, people need more education about Islam. People need to get more involved in confronting racism. More effort needs to be made to counter trolls online who are determined to foment hatred, especially as we head into a federal election.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44
