Canada: Outreach director for Edmonton mosque says Islam helps give meaning to his life

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“We’ve got to understand human beings are not one thing, they’re fairly diversified. Humanity should not disappear from our relationships.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: The Edmonton Sun
By catherine.griwkowsky | April 28, 2013

As a teenager, Mohyuddin Mirza would lay beneath the starry night sky in Pakistan and wonder about his place in the universe. While he was born a Muslim, he rediscovered his faith as a teen through prayer and meditation.

“I know God personally. He is my friend. I could talk to him,” Mriza says.

Mirza, the 70-year-old outreach director for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Hadi Mosque, 7005 98 Ave., helps the community see beyond religious categorization and remember humanity.

“We’ve got to understand human beings are not one thing, they’re fairly diversified. Humanity should not disappear from our relationships,” he said.

A lot has changed since Mirza first came to Edmonton in 1966 as a University of Alberta horticulture student.

As municipal borders expanded past 52 Avenue, new mosques were built, the Islamic academy was established, more Muslim MLAs took office and more efforts were made to reach out to non-Muslims, including millions flyers that have been sent out over the past few decades.

Mirza says Islam gives meaning to his life through accountability, that there will be a day of judgement.

“It gives us a focus that there is a creator and you could relate to that creator, establish a focus and purpose in life and give me the ability to do good,” he said.

He says what hasn’t changed since he arrived in Edmonton in the ‘60s is the welcoming people.

As a young man, Mirza’s late professor William Skoropad took him into his home and bought him groceries.

“When great people like that are around then that place, that city and that landscape become a sort of sacred place. That is what kept me here. Edmonton is also a great interfaith dialogue city,” Mirza said.

Charity is a part of Islamic faith and Mirza is part of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which has an organization called Humanity First. When disaster strikes, Edmonton Muslims step up, organizing fundraisers for victims of earthquakes or flooding across the globe.

When fire ravaged Slave Lake in 2011, Muslims were there to help, including removing old freezers and fridges. Adopt-A-Park projects in Edmonton were made possible through support of the Islamic community.

Edmonton’s oldest mosque, Al-Rashid Mosque at 13070 113St., serves as a community hub for Edmonton Muslims. Built in 1938, Al-Rashid moved to its current location in 1980.

Muslims have five prayers per day, related to the sun, but Mirza says he prays hundreds of times a day, including before eating. Food and other products must be Halal — according to Islamic law; the holy book forbids pork, alcohol and other intoxicants. Meat must be properly slaughtered. Animal cruelty is forbidden.

“My mother used to teach us, don’t waste any food, any crumb which falls down and you didn’t eat them, on the day of judgment, God will ask you to use your eyebrows to pick them up,” he said.

Al-Rashid Imam Sherif El-Sayid said around 200 people show up at the mosque for prayer each day, but on a typical Friday, 2,000 Muslims will pray at Al-Rashid.

And what started out in the basement of that mosque, the Edmonton Islamic Academy, has grown to its own $22-million building with 700 students from kindergarten to Grade 12. It operates within the Edmonton Public School system.

Despite progress made to educate non-Muslims about the community, Islamaphobia occurs daily, Mirza said.

“The word Islam literally means peace. What kind of Islam would it be if I’m not offering peace and trigger ready, who would listen to me?” he said.

Recently, a protester picketed outside the Edmonton Islamic Academy, blasting the institution for homophobia.

Mirza said the Holy Qur’an has no homophobic teachings.

“The sphere of personal activities and beliefs is left to individuals when they reach an age of understanding of purpose of life and thus accountability is individual both in this world and in the hereafter,” he said.

“No right has been given to create hatred against people who believe differently or act differently.”

El-Sayid said Islam emphasizes personal responsibility. If a person breaks the law, for example, it is “his mistake — it is not the mistake of the religion.”

Mirza’s focus is on the benefits of attending mosque.

“I do find the biggest barrier is in balancing time for the worldly affairs verses spiritual matters,” he said. “Beside that, the mosque is not for weekend only use, instead it is encouraged to come to mosque for five daily prayers and get relief from stress of daily living.”

catherine.griwkowsky@sunmedia.ca

@SunGriwkowskyC



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