Erumiou

Hello,

I’m a Muslim Youth and have been born and raised here in Canada only to know of Islam as the peaceful religion that it really is. For me now to be looked at with suspicious glances and labeled as a “terrorist” just because some uneducated people commit horrible actions and call themselves “Muslims” does not mean they represent the whole Muslim community.

I feel embarrassed and threatened that my future is at stake because of these people misrepresenting Muslims. It says in our faith to love the country one resides in and that the killing of one innocent life is the like of killing the whole of mankind. Now how can a religion which speaks of the above mentioned values be termed with terrorist actions?

I believe a good way to get rid of this terror threat is to solve this problem from the root and to help educate these people of the real meaning of “Jihad,” which they (the illiterate) wrongfully use as an excuse for all their violent behavior. The word jihad itself means “to struggle.” The sum of Jihad is termed as “to struggle in the way of God.” Jihad has three categories:

1) Jihad-bin-mal: to strive in the way of God with your possessions. This can mean to help humanity, the country one resides in, etc. by doing good works with one’s money.
2) Jihad-bin-naafs: To strive in the way of God by struggling with one’s inner-self in order to become a better person.
3) Jihad-bin-kalb: To strive in the way of God through means of knowledge. To gain knowledge that is beneficial for understanding the laws of nature, the laws of God.

Now, one can see with the above definition that there is no mention of “terrorist activity” or its like anywhere. Once this proper definition can get out to the people, they will learn to become better individuals as well as citizens with these three main qualities of an “improving person.” I hope people can be fair and not judge a whole community by a minority’s actions.

Canada Day.

Did anyone (besides me) ever really ponder over the fact as to why we celebrate this day? I mean, great…upper and lower Canada “reunited” on this day. If you ask me, Quebec and Ontario always seem to have a clash. From languages to thoughts, the two are different untying ends.

Where’s that “unficiation spirit” we celebrate each year?

From spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on items wasted within a day; these money spenders remain silent about the fact as to why we celebrate this very day. Flags, fireworks, parades…

Can’t one celebrate something through means of remembering the event in more powerful ways?

Millions of people sleep unsheltered, cold and starving each night; however, rich countries find it fit to shut their eyes to such sights and open their pockets to celebrate occassions that are of little use asides from a few hours of fun and unification propaganda.

Why can’t all this money be gathered together and spent on those in need? There are so many broken lives from the tsunami, hurricane katrina and many more tragic events and circumstances.

More needs to be done to help those in need before we can enjoy occassions by simply naming them.