AlMaghrib: The strengths of Canada?

[Muhammad Alshareef]

In the coming days, in sha Allah, the forum will begin to flood with Muslim Canadian voices. The time has come for us to prepare to magnify the strengths of the Muslim community in Canada.

One of the strengths that I see in Canada is that there is sooo much desire for the Deen. Unfortunately, this desire hasn't been quenched - but in sha Allah our mission is to do just that.

What strengths do you see in the Muslim Canadian communities? And if you see challenges, give us some of your suggestions on how we can counter the challenges?

[Abu Sunnah]

What strengths do you see in the Muslim Canadian communities? And if you see challenges, give us some of your suggestions on how we can counter the challenges?

I think that in Montreal specifically, we have many Muslims who can help out (and do help out mashAllah), it's just that sometimes they do it at the expense of deen. We need a reminder that Islam is also a spiritual religion...it didn't just come down so we can establish authority on earth (maybe I am mistaken, wAllaho a'lam), but also to remind us to be mindful of Allah and His wonders. We are already very active alhamdolilah, so inshAllah we should also start focusing on 'ilm, not just actions, wAllaho a'lam.

[ibs81]

I am not from Canada but I do have a lot of family there. I am pretty sure most canadians know of Mississagua, as there are many Muslims there. There is Young Muslims Canada(http://www.youngmuslims.ca), which I think is probably a great outlet to have AlMaghrib go through, and I am sure they would be willing to get it started there.

[Muhammad Alshareef]

I think that in Montreal specifically, we have many Muslims who can help out (and do help out mashAllah), it's just that sometimes they do it at the expense of deen. We need a reminder that Islam is also a spiritual religion...it didn't just come down so we can establish authority on earth (maybe I am mistaken, wAllaho a'lam), but also to remind us to be mindful of Allah and His wonders. We are already very active alhamdolilah, so inshAllah we should also start focusing on 'ilm, not just actions, wAllaho a'lam.
Interesting. What do you mean exactly? Do you mean that say 20 guys will organize a conference, but at the same time they will miss Fajr and mock each other?

Is that you mean?

[Anyone else want to tell us about their community or their experiences/reflections?]

[Abu Sunnah]

Allaho a'lam about salatul-fajr. But for example, when the salah is going on, sometimes you might see the organizers outside having a chat about things that aren't really very important, or urgent. If they are asked to come to salah they are sometimes dismissive, and say that they will pray their own jama'a or even worse "we'll pray at home". And yes, they might even mock that person (dissing up each other is unfortunatley a trait of some Muslims here:()

Enjoining the good and forbiding the evil is very hard to do. for example, there is a brother who misses jum'a khutba AND salah since he takes care of a certain part of jum'a prayers. I asked a shiekh who told me this isn't right and I conveyed the message to the brother. He has started even missing salawatul-jama'a and he's outside on the phone chatting. But none of the organizers will try to council him about this since he is seen to be "achieving results." The leaders are not knowledgable in deen (and no disrespect meant to them since I myself am not knowledgable at all), and sometimes they make decisions that might even contradict Islamic rulings.

I could go on and on, but I don't want to scare you away :) I can also list good points to Montreal...if you want me to that is.

Overall, I think we need someone knowledgable who can help guide us to what is right and help us when we have fallen into haraam. I say this since Montreal seems to be lacking in knowldgeable brothers and sisters who help out, wAllaho a'lam.

[Muhammad Alshareef]

Yeah, in sha Allah, I'm planning to totally blitz on that mocking stuff. It's sadly a problem with too many communities. The good news is that, alhamdulillah, when people are finally told that it's haram, a lot of them have good hearts and desist. Those who continue to mock find themselves less welcome and begin to change their habits.

Let's focus then on the strong points and how we can make it stronger. Or if there are weak points, instead of dwelling on how they are weak, let's dwell on how we can solve the weak points, or ideas for flipping weak points to strengths.

[AliM]

Good point, People in Montreal are generally very active, always willing to work for the community and volunteer their time, same thing applies to ottawa.

People are striving to get better, a lot of people are enthusiastic with dawah.

[Muhammad Alshareef]

I hear the issue of 'there are no leaders'
What do you guys mean by that? Are there no knowledgeable people? Or is it that the knowledgeable people do not have influence over the people? Or what?

[Muhammad Alshareef]

But enough of the negatives :) as Ali said, the people here are quite energetic. They work hard when a responsibility is put on their shoulders. For example, when Ramadan time hits we have MASSIVE iftars at one of our universities (concordia) and MANY different people work together. I remember one brother would go around during iftar time and give everyone dates telling them "gul bismillah" and h would be making du'a for everyone who took one and would say "gul ameen" :D One time a person didn't say ameen so he followed him and asked "leh mat-gul ameen?" :D
Ma sha Allah, that's a beautiful story.
Anyone else want to share their communities strengths?

Winnipeg? Toronto? Ottawa?
We haven't heard from the west coast peoplz (is it that cold out there that sound travels slower?)

Can someone email their friends out there and thaw them out of the ice?

[Warda]

Subhan'allah the Torontonians are also very active in the deen and dawah work. i dont know about the brothers but i know many sisters that are Masha'allah so very active in their communities, trying very hard to improve themselves and helping each other out as much as they can. for the sisters in toronto we have regular halaqa's at the masjid and the turn out is really amazing. we come together and discuss any issues concerning us (skool, home etc.) and we try to find the solution in the quran and hadiths. we also have an organization where sisters and brothers in their late teens have a chance to teach little muslim kids some basic islaamic principles that they may not have learned at home (most of the times its the teachers that learn more then their students :D)

i think we lack intensive tarbiyyah classes for the teens/ adolescents though.. there's a lot of stuff for the 'uncles' but not much for us except for halaqa's (which are great too but it's like doing the same ol' stuff over and over sometimes), that's why we were really excited about the almaghrib institute coming here =)

[Abd al-Rahmaan]

as-Salaam Alaikum Shaykh Muhammad

It's brother Sanel, we talked a while ago on MSN and I believe I know your father along with Alee Hindy from the Scarborough area. The thing that eats me up when I look at the youth here in Toronto is the fact that they have sort of lost their Muslim identity. In other words, it's very hard to tell the Muslims from the non-Muslims, they do not have that sweet image of a Muslim.

One fact that I always keep in mind when I talk about the youth is BET and sports on TV. I believe it was you that said on one lecture, that TV is evil, and that you unpluck the TV in your hotel room. Sooo many Muslims know about this and that rapper, or about this NBA player, etc. But ask them about Shaykh Bin Baz (Raheemahullah) or Ibn Uthaymeen (ra), they will not know much about them. Ask them who Shaykh-al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah (ra) was, and they will have no clue. They have a very hard time dealing with TV. I always say that if you want to live in the West, you better make sure you have strong Iman, because the West is flooded with temptation.

The best way to help them out, is to have lectures that they can relate to. Today, Khalid bin Waleed (I believe you know it), organized a Dawah Seminar untill Saturday, with Shaykh Bilal Philipps. There were soo many Muslims and Converts and shaykh made many suggestions and gave us ideas, that we can relate to in almost everyday life. I think this is what we need, OR just bring Shaykh Salman bin Fahd al'Awdah or Ibn Jibreen (May Allah preserve them) and they can give us a nice lecutre. I hope this helps and I hope to see more of you in Toronto, In shaa'Allaah ta'alla. was-Salaamu Alaikum, your brother in Islaam, Sanel ibn Ismet.

[Warda]

Assalaamualaikum,

that's true brother.. we need to present islaam not in a dull manner but in an exciting manner.
unfortunately many youth have no interest in islaamic content and because of the lack of interest we also lack that zeal and enthusiasm to learn =(
Insha'allah i hope we will be able to overcome this by learned ppl. of the community teaching the msg. of islaam in a way that is easier for the youth to understand. For starters we should make the Jummah Khutbah's more stimulating and less boring! =P
however, from my understanding the youth and the community are making that attempt to better themselves so Alhumdulillah for that... we'r getting there Insha'allah.. slowly but surely =)

[mujahada]

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullaah,

Canada's Strengths:

- Multiculturalism and different religions accepted more readily than the States. You can keep your culture/religion and still be Canadian. They call Canada a tossed salad, and the US a melting pot :-p

- Anti-terrorism legislation is not as tough, so regular peaceful Muslims don't get smooshed in the process (in general...)

- The youth are not as lost here as in the US. Less drinking, drugs, dating... etc

- People are generally kinder, gentler and more conservative in Canada (no joke).

- Bush isn't our head of state.

- We have CAIR-Can :-).

Enuff said.

Wassalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullaah,
Mujahada

[Muslimah_ss]

Asalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wabaraktu!

Living in Ottawa I believe one of the strengths of our community here is it's diversity. I know the larger cities in Canada are diverse as well but here in Ottawa there seems to be a unity between the varying culture groups which I have been told by vistors of other cities, seems to be lacking elsewhere. Maybe it's the size...we're not a large city but not quite a town..Whatever it may be I have been blessed to see such cooperation in action and the message of "one ummah" rings throughout our organizations.

Wasalamu Alaikum:)

[puddingshop]

EmanRush Audio Canada Representative

http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?p=45766#post45766

[Warda]

Assalaamualaikum,

my comments are the ones not bolded --



Muslim community has been growing steadily non-stop.

i never denied that the muslim community is large.. it is Alhumdulillah, but that doesn't stand for much because it's not united. we dont have as much power because of the divisions. seriously if u see the jewish community in toronto, they have everything rite at their finger tips.. not because they are more successful or because they are more in number, but they work together.. and it's wierd that they do and we dont because it's us that this has been emphasized upon.
Insha'allah we can definitly work at that but to do that, we cant deny that theres no room for adjustments.

Muslims do da'wah here like MAD. Either by their words or by their actions.

i'm glad the muslim students in ur skool were so active.. unfortunately from wht i saw in mine, the muslim students were among the "bad" kids.. n the ones that were good werent that active in skool so the staff and other students werent aware of them. i found in my school that most kids came in with immense cultural baggage also n when they went on to explain others about islaam they really couldn't cuz they didn't know much themselves.


Muslims here are getting better places to spend quality time at.

i gotta agree with u on that one =D this is one of the best things about toronto.. in scarborough we got icna resource center if we wanna borrow islamic material. it's really great!

Muslim community here is sulf-supporting to a large extent. Muslim businesses have open hands, they give to masaajid and islaamic schools. Not too long ago we even setup a toll free muslim youth helpline - 1.866.NASEEHA

woaahh! that is soo cool! is it still there? wht happened to it now? if it's not then we should set it up again!

Community activity - like we have the I-Slam basketball tournament held every year that even attracts non-muslims and people from other cities. We usually use the large indoor facilities of some of the masaajid here like ISNA's new place- so when its salaah time the muslim kids go off to pray while the non-muslims wait but they get to learn about Islaam at the same time, si?

i thought the i-slam tornament was for MUSLIM brothers only?
this is cool.. but the only thing is there should be a halaqa time in the middle or something. i mean its cool to chill together but we need our tarbiyyah too. also, i'm sorry to say but many parents complain that their sons come home late at night and their excuse is that they have been at the masjid playing ball. i know playing ball is better then them going off to do haraam but this isn't sufficiant. there is a time to play and there is a time to learn! we havne't got to the learning part yet.

You can walk into any major grocery shop chain store and go to the meat section and they'll have halaal meats...

really? i never knew this [well the maple lodges bit]


Accurate knowledge about Islaam is slowly becoming more prevalent in public society here in the Toronto area and in Canada in general...

i never knew this either =( i have got to start reading the newspaper more often!

Muslims of all ages here want to learn more about Islaam definitely. A lot of the masaajid here have some type of weekly halaqah program and those are usually well-populated or packed. And even aside from that you have youth group like YM, ISNA, no-name groups etc etc...

yes we have YM!! =D but i dont think there's a brothers YM here [in toronto]. i wanted to get my brother involved in something but i didn't find much =(

Its just fabulous here alhamdulillaah.

yes it is, Alhumdulillah! but we can make it better.. YES we can! if it's possible it is done, if it's impossible it WILL BE DONE!



I know i keep picking faults at the toronto community :D but i really think there is room for improvement especially among the young guns. when we see the youth macking after jummah salaah infront of the masjid, then u know theres a problem.