Canadian Muslims Lead the Way

By Idris Tawfiq

[Idris Tawfiq is a British Muslim writer who lives and works in Egypt. He has spent many years working with young people. He was head of religious education in different schools in the United Kingdom and, perhaps more remarkably, before embracing Islam he was a Roman Catholic priest. You can visit website at www.idristawfiq.com.]

Any community that invests time and energy in its young people has a definite future. Add to this that the community cherishes education and learning and you have the Islamic Institute of Toronto (IIT), where it was my privilege to be a guest speaker at the end of December 2006.

When the invitation first came to visit Canada, several months ago, I made the usual checks to see who was inviting me. Nowadays, you can’t be too careful! One look at their website (www.islam.ca) showed a young community of Muslims with a very moderate and balanced approach to Islam. The thing that impressed me about the invitation was that it was to do two things. The first was to speak at their Annual Winter Dinner and the second was to be a part of the Annual Winter Youth Camp. Both sounded interesting, so I accepted.

Before going, I made a few preparations, like visiting the Canadian embassy in Cairo to let them know of my visit. I didn’t want to be turned away at the airport in Toronto as an extremist, before I even got a chance to open my mouth! This was also my way of letting the Canadian authorities know about the presence and the activities of Muslims in Canada and to let them know that we, as Muslims, have nothing to hide. Muslims are at the heart of society, not apart from it.

Upon being greeted at the airport by brother Farhad Khadim, I — jet-lagged and weary —was whisked to the new premises of the IIT to give a talk about Islam in the West. Because of a mix-up over e-mails, I didn’t know about this talk and gave it off the cuff! The assembled brothers and sisters were very kind and made me feel immediately welcome. It was very impressive to see so many brothers and sisters giving up their evening, as they do every week, to learn more about Islam. I was to find out that this was the regular pattern and the distinguishing feature of the institute. The IIT’s motto, after all, is “Education for Virtuous Living.”

Just a word, first of all, about the building. The IIT hopes to become a university and it already has very professional teachers giving regular courses. When finished, the building will have every facility that a university would have. Right now, the building is still going up, but the community was granted partial occupancy in time for the `Eid holiday after Ramadan. There is a triple-sized gym, which also doubles as a social area and a prayer space on Fridays, and several classrooms, as well as offices and kitchen facilities.

Annual Winter Dinner, then, was held in the gym. There were about 700 people. The brilliant thing was that this was all taking part on Christmas Day, but there was not a single mention of Christmas. Whilst the whole of Canada was celebrating Christmas, the Muslims of Toronto, not to be left out, were having their own celebration. Rather than sitting at home and being force-fed on Christmas TV programs, they had gathered as a community to celebrate themselves. The talk was called, “The Rich Heritage of Islamic Knowledge.” It was well-received and it was followed by an auction to raise more money for the building. I was so impressed that almost every cent raised for the building came from the community itself. Each week or month, they pledge more and more money to help their project. As well as all this, the food was good — prepared and served by members of the community — and the company convivial. This was a real celebration of brotherhood and sisterhood.

I mention sisterhood because on more than one occasion during my stay, I heard mention of how important it was to include sisters in all the education projects, giving them equal access and equal opportunity to learning.

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