Stories

As the new school year begins, more than 80 thousand children in Canada will not enter a school building[1]. What motivates these parents, who remove their children from the long-standing (and sometimes free) school system, to educate their children themselves? Consider the ten reasons that follow.

The Ambition is a monthly newspaper that many of us have picked up at Islamic centres and halal (permissible) food stores around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). If you are among those fortunate enough to receive it, you have read its strong Canadian content, appreciated the balanced editorial approach, commended its inclusiveness, praised its Islamic articles, and then, perhaps, you have put down the paper and walked away.

When tragedy strikes, we the fortunate few want to reach out and help.  In our rush to get aid to affected areas, we forget the phrase, “There's a sucker born every minute”.  A prime example is the earthquake and tsunami that took place in Japan a few months ago.  Within hours of the disaster, researchers at the computer and internet security company Symantec reported more than 50 domains with the names “Japanese tsunami” or “Japan earthquake”.  Dummy email addresses and domains requesting money raced to cash in on the tragedy.

Sometimes, sadly, it isn't simply advantage-takers and scam artists that let donors down. As I sit and listen to Simon Atem tell his story of how an Alberta-based charity with seemingly good intentions let him down, the young man in his early twenties sounds more like a lost boy.

As we celebrated Black History month in February and the progress made in trying to achieve equality for all persons, it was also a time to reflect on another issue: the serious epidemic of racial profiling currently facing people of colour and other visible minorities from regions such as the Middle East and Asia.

Racial profiling has been defined by the Ontario Court of Appeal as criminal profiling based on race. It is when race plays a role in the decision of a police officer to stop, detain, investigate, and/ or arrest an individual.

Now more than ever, people are coming to my couples mediation office to help them save their financially-wounded marriages. They aren't asking me for a job, rather they want me to help them stop fighting about their lack of money, job loss and who is to blame for the absence of love and respect in their relationship.

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is a leading commentator on British Islam, a columnist for EMEL magazine, a regular contributor to the Guardian and the BBC  and the author of the Brass Crescent Award-winning blog, Spirit 21. Named one of the UK's hundred most influential Muslim women by the Times of London, Ms. Janmohamed has authored her first book, Love in a Headscarf.

Recounting her decade long journey to find her husband, the Oxford-educated author provides a humorous take on her experience of growing up a Muslim woman in England, including an amusing account of the process of marriage proposals and countless mismatches. The Muslim Link interviewed the woman fondly known in Britain as the “Muslim Bridget Jones.

November is Adoption Awareness Month.  Throughout the month, Children's Aid Societies across Ontario spread the message that ”˜Every child deserves to have a forever family' in the hopes of encouraging more families to open their homes to children in care. As the Children's Aid Society (CAS) works to build bridges with Muslims in Ontario, the issue of adoption has turned out to be an unexpected stumbling block. Islamic jurisprudence does not allow Muslims to practice adoption in many circumstances, particularly closed adoption, when a child does not have access to knowledge of their birth parents. Islamic jurisprudence emphasizes the importance of lineage so any practice that would deny a child their right to know their identity is not permitted.

Stroking the gnarled hands of an arthritic eighty-something pensioner, a young medical student overcomes her repugnance of old age, poor health and the fear of death to give a brief moment of herself to a woman sixty years her senior. In the twilight of her life this once vital personality has been reduced to sporadic contact with strangers who have become watchers over her.

I was once giving a presentation to a group of 100 or so prominent Canadian Muslims - people considered to be among the movers and shakers of our various communities ”“ lawyers, law students, activists, mosque and student leaders, professionals of various fields, etc.

During my talk about the media, I asked if anyone in the group had ever read Monia Mazigh's memoir, Hope & Despair, which chronicles her struggle to find her husband Maher Arar. He had disappeared on his way back to Canada in 2002.  Less than a handful of people raised their hands.

When Sarah* and her husband Ali struggled to conceive for five years, they felt isolated and confused; unable to get the support they needed in their community to help them in their journey to start a family.

“Since I was a young girl I had dreamt of being a mother, but I never realized how difficult it might end up being for us,” Sarah shares. “Infertility is a common and growing problem, but unfortunately it is still quite a taboo subject. So when you are struggling, it can be difficult to find the courage and strength to speak out about your challenges and get the help you need, without feeling like you are being judged or gossiped about.”

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was commemorated worldwide last month on March 21, with the theme for this year being Racism and Sport, focusing on the importance of using universal activities such as sport to affirm fundamental human rights and help combat racism.

According to Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, racism remains a serious problem around the world today and is even prevalent in professional sports. He called on using this day to highlight the positive values of sports and promoting the values of equality and non-discrimination to combat racism.

“We must join forces to end racism and sport can help reach this goal,” he said in a UN released statement. “On this International Day, let us recommit to ending racial discrimination and realizing our vision of justice, equality and freedom from fear for all.”

As dieticians across the country reach out to Canadians this month in an effort to remind them of the importance of making healthy food choices and the positive impact good nutrition can have on one's health and well-being, the Muslim Link talked to a couple of mothers in the community to get their thoughts on the subject.

March marks National Nutrition Month, with the slogan for this year's campaign“Best Food Forward: Plan, Shop, Cook, Enjoy” focusing on the importance of making healthy food choices when grocery shopping.

For Jessica Murray, mother of three year-old Musa, one year-old Maryam and one month-old Hannah, making healthy food choices at the grocery store can sometimes be challenging due to the higher costs that are often associated with healthy and fresh food items.

It's often believed that Muslim women, especially those who wear the hijab, are liberated from the media-driven standards of beauty. But growing evidence indicates that Muslim women and teens are just as susceptible to negative body image and eating disorders.

Across Canada, as well as elsewhere around the world, the month of February kicked off with the annual Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW). A joint effort headed by a variety of organizations and community groups, EDAW aims to raise awareness about eating disorders and the factors causing them.

Faisal Kutty of the Valparaiso University School of Law says that there is hope for compromise between Western legal systems and Islamic law regarding the adoption of children from Islamic countries...

Conventional wisdom ”” among both Muslims and non-Muslims ”” holds that adoption, as practiced in much of the Western world, is alien and prohibited by dictates of Islam. This, of course, ignores the sophistication and nuances of both Western law and Islamic dictates. Indeed, adoption rights activists have struggled to find ways around the difficulties this simple binary causes for some children and prospective adoptive parents. With the growth of the Muslim population in the West, there is now an increased urgency to tackle this issue as some Muslims wish to adopt children from jurisdictions governed by Islamic law.

Anas ibn Malik, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, once said, “I have never seen anyone kinder to one's family than the Prophet Muhammad.” (Sahih Muslim).

This kindness was something to reflect upon as Muslims listened to Imams across the country on Dec. 14 delivering sermons for the Friday prayer; raising awareness on the serious issue of violence against women in Canada.

Farhat came to Canada in 1969 to marry and raise a family. Like other immigrants of her age and background she had many aspirations and hopes for her bright children. But in February 2001, her dreams were shattered when her son, gripped by paranoid delusions due to an undiagnosed mental illness, stabbed his friend and mentor of many years who succumbed to his injuries. What began was a nightmare as Farhat struggled with guilt over her son's crime, heartache over the deterioration of her son's mental health, fear for her son's safety in the Ottawa Carleton Regional Detention Centre (RDC), and frustration with a corrections system she discovered to be seriously flawed. But in the process, Farhat became an advocate for the rights' of prisoners and their families and reached out to the support networks that she could find in Ottawa.

Ahmad Daud Maqsudi is an Afghan refugee who's been declared “inadmissible” to this country for involvement in an organization that has been supported by Canada and the CIA. Ironically, that same organization is nonetheless viewed as threatening by Ottawa because of its alleged role of “engaging in or instigating the subversion by force of any government.”

Almost everybody, at different points in their lives, thinks about their legacy and the type of impact they have made on their family, friends and community. Each individual's legacy is different but one simple fact remains the same: we all leave one. My father, Abdullahi Hassan Eyow, left a lasting legacy of compassion and sacrifice that is now felt immensely everywhere he has lived. As a Somali refugee, he knew how fortunate he was to escape the instability and conflict that has plagued Somalia for the last 21 years, yet he never forgot the shattered communities he left behind.

The first mosque Masjid al-Quba in Madina, was made from dry stones and built by the blessed hands of Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, and his companions. Being a place of cleanliness and worship, Muslims were encouraged to wash at home before coming to pray. They were taught to walk to the mosque to avoid (animal) congestion and pray on a dust-swept floor.

Picture the super-luxurious towers of Mecca and the blinged-out buildings of Dubai, and it seems Muslim architecture these days is all about opulence, grandeur and over-indulgence. But there may be hope for the environment. The government of Qatar announced late last year that it is assessing its building policies so that every new mosque built in the country will be based on environmentally friendly models which help save water and energy.

For me, Black History Month is not only about celebrating the contributions of my fellow Black Canadians, it is about remembering the impact that the enslavement of Black peoples has had on Africa and the world. It's about building on the strengths of the Black community in Ottawa by working across the socio-economic, religious, ethno-cultural, and linguistic differences of the diversity of individuals who make up our community. It's about examining how anti-Black racism still exists within Canadian society and recommitting myself to challenging it by trying to understand why it persists and how it affects my life and the lives of my fellow Black Canadians.