Source/Credit: Cochrane Times | Canada
By Reagen Sulewski | June 29, 2011
Faith and community were the themes of a two-day conference of a Canadian Muslim organization on the weekend.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat held their 33rd annual Western Canadian convention at the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre from June 25-26, with between 2,000 and 3,000 people in attendance. Ahmadiyya Muslims are a religious movement that was founded in 1889 in India, and was envisioned by its founder as a revitalization of Islam.
Sultan Mahmood, a volunteer and spokesperson for the convention, said the weekend was designed as one for spiritual uplift among the community, as well as education both for the Ahmadiyya and those outside it.
"This lets us not only educate people who are outside of the community – we like to educate even the Muslims," said Mahmood, referencing some in the wider Muslim world who have advocated violence in the religion's name.
"They have unfortunately misinterpreted Islam, some of them have hijacked Islam I would say," Mahmood said.
Among the topics of discussion were the views of blasphemy in Islam, along with the general challenges of life and marriage and the use and role of the Internet and social media in Muslim life.
Mahmood said that while Muslims have suffered from poor perceptions from outside the religion, the conference isn't really designed to rehabilitate the image of it, that being a task far larger than they can take on.
"I won't say that it's a public relations effort. We are a very small community as related to other Muslims," Mahmood said.
While Cochrane may seem like an odd choice to hold the conference, as it doesn't have a large Muslim community, Mahmood said the facility was ideal to host this gathering.
"There's not a large Muslim community but it's a very beautiful place, it's a very beautiful, very nice town," he said, noting that the facility was well contained, keeping them from disturbing the rest of the community.
sports@cochranetimes.com
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