Reflections

A collection of 349 posts

Reflections Featured

Sen. Murray Sinclair: Pope Francis’s apology failed to acknowledge the Church’s full role in residential schools

WINNIPEG — The Honourable Murray Sinclair, former senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), issued the following statement on July 26, 2022: “I want to recognize the importance of the Pope’s apology to Survivors, their families, and communities. For many Survivors, I know that hearing

Reflections Featured

Friday reflection: Finding your why

By Muneeb Nasir The companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) transformed themselves and their societies in a short period of time. We cannot be but amazed at what they achieved. These women and men were from among the most deprived lot in their society - many came

Reflections Featured

Encountering Islamophobia in the medical profession

By Dr. Aliya A. Khan After a recent lecture I delivered at a national conference of Canadian physicians, I reviewed the evaluations received from the attendees. While many commented on what they had learned from my talk on metabolic bone disease, one comment stood out, which had no bearing on

Reflections

Friday reflection: To what are these times calling us as people of faith?

By Muneeb Nasir These are times of brokenness, disruptions, dislocation, and uprootedness. What are we being called to in these times as people of faith? First,  we are being called to respond to our calling as religious people. In the Qur’an, God invites us to this calling: “You who

Reflections

Hajj 'lottery' for western pilgrims leaves many unanswered questions

By Mohamed (Jay) Mobeen The recent  announcement by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Hajj and Umrah is short on details but it is expected that with the short time between now and Hajj 1443, the murkiness of this initial news release will dissipate with added clarity revealed on the new system

Reflections Featured

Friday reflection: On gratitude

By Muneeb Nasir “Praise be to God” (Al-Hamdulillaah) are truly the words of a thankful person. This phrase punctuates a religious Muslim’s lexicon. Counting one’s blessings, being thankful and grateful to God, is essential to our well-being. Expressing thanks and being grateful are consistently associated with greater happiness.

Reflections Featured

Friday reflection: On Trust

By Muneeb Nasir Trust is what makes our lives and relationships meaningful and rewarding and, as we have learnt during the pandemic, make us safe. Damien Cave, New York Times bureau chief in Sydney, Australia, wrote in a recent article [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/world/australia/covid-deaths.

Reflections Featured

Pizza Hut and Prayers

By Salman Dia-Eddine (Reposted with permission from Islamophobia.io [https://islamophobia.io/]) My family and I, having lived all across North America, have been regular targets of Islamophobic hatred, include acts of physical vandalism against our property. But this hasn't deterred us from being visibly-Muslim members of society trying to

Reflections Featured

What the sacrifices of the Quebec Mosque shooting victims taught me

By Taha Ghayyur As I prayed the Isha (night) prayer tonight at my local mosque, I experienced a stream of raw emotions as I recalled the stories of so many heroes five years ago who went to the mosque in the Quebec City. It's hard holding back tears during the

Reflections Featured

My experience performing umrah during the COVID- 19 pandemic

By Shaykh Imran Ally, Resident Imam – TARIC Islamic Centre, Toronto, Canada The umrah is a blessed invitation extended by Allaah Himself and an honour for every Muslim invitee. Allaah says, {Indeed, ˹the hills of˺ Ṣafa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allaah. So, whoever performs the pilgrimage or minor

Reflections

Write a Letter of Remembrance for the Quebec City Mosque Massacre Victims

By @studentAsim You're looking at the 6 people who were murdered after Maghrib (evening) prayers at a mosque in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on January 29th, 2017. 17 children were left fatherless. 6 widows. 19 injured. And not to mention the moral injury to millions of others...Write your letter

Reflections

It's time to bring to bring Huseyin Celil home

By Taha Ghayyur Since the Liberal party’s assumption of power six years ago, Global Affairs Canada has shifted away from its long-standing commitment to preserving religious freedom around the world, something our country upheld for many years. In fact, in 2015, the Conservative government led the establishment of the

Reflections Featured

Welcoming Afghan newcomers

By Anela Jadunandan There was a knock on my door. I looked through the glass to see who it was and there he was, a man in a long coat with a kind face. I decided to open the door to see what he wanted. He said he was from

Reflections Featured

CMAJ disgraces itself by publishing Islamophobic drivel

By Dr. Sohail Gandhi You know, I really wonder if physicians organizations that claim to “support their members” really understand what that phrase means. Time and time again we’ve seen physicians representative groups fail their members. Now we have the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) allow an attack on

Reflections

Omicron reveals need to close global vaccine gap

By Sara Hildebrand The Love My Neighbour movement, a collaboration of 35 faith communities and organizations, strongly agrees with the recent Dec. 13 article in The Hill Times, “‘Inevitable’ rise of Omicron shows ‘failed approach’ to ending pandemic, say experts.” Billions of global neighbours in low- and middle-income countries have

Reflections

Nobel winner Abdulrazak Gurnah ‘writing cannot be just about battling and polemics’

Abdulrazak Gurnah delivered his Nobel Prize lecture in literature on 7 December 2021. The following is the text of his speech. Writing Writing has always been a pleasure. Even as a boy at school I looked forward to the class set aside for writing a story, or whatever our teachers

Reflections Featured

The Uyghur genocide: Why aren’t we doing more?

By Reverend Christopher White [The speech I delivered on November 23, 2021 in Ottawa on Parliament Hill regarding the Uyghur genocide]. I want to first thank Mehmet Tohti of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy project for the invitation to speak today. Salaam Alaikum, I bring you greetings both from my congregation,

Reflections Featured

20 years after 9/11: Looking back at the Canadian Muslim Community

Twenty years ago in the weeks following the 9/11 terrorist attack in the U.S., a tabloid style, monthly newspaper catering to the Toronto Muslim community was launched with its inaugural edition released on October 19, 2011. The early issues of the newspaper captured the sentiments and concerns of

Reflections

A Canadian Muslim Perspective on Pope Francis’ Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti

By Muneeb Nasir Fratelli Tutti [http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html] ,  the latest encyclical of Pope Francis, is a passionate call to the higher moral ideal of fraternity to dispel the ‘dark clouds’ hanging over the world. Pope Francis reminds us of the

IQRA.ca

Muslim Torontonians Forge a Canadian Muslim Identity

By Muneeb Nasir — Since the turn of the 21st century, Toronto’s dynamic Muslim community has spawned homegrown organizations committed to Muslim participation and integration into mainstream society — Toronto’s Muslim community has been a leader in North America when it comes to forging an integrated Muslim identity. Muslim Torontonians

Reflections Featured

Why is it Critical for Canadian Muslims to get the COVID-19 Vaccine

STATEMENT FROM: Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force December 17, 2020 | Jumada Al-Awwal 2, 1442 AH Bismillah hirRahman nirRaheem In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.Abundant Peace, Blessings and Salutations upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Introduction to Vaccines Over the last 200 years, vaccines have eliminated

Islam Canada

Practicing Islam in the age of COVID-19

By Muneeb Nasir Canadian Muslims, as all Muslims throughout the world, are grappling with the catastrophic changes on their personal as well as their religious life brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mosques, Islamic Centres and religious schools have been closed since mid-March and all communal services have been suspended.

IQRA.ca

Restoring the true ‘Spirit of Fasting’ During the Pandemic

By Muneeb Nasir We could be experiencing our most significant Ramadan and greatest Ramadan experience ever in our life. The holy month, in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, could be the great spiritual reset many of us have longed for during previous Ramadans but have never quite achieved. This

Muslims in Canada

Canadian Muslim Community Members Stand with the Wet’suwet’en Nation

We, the undersigned members of the Muslim community, wish to express our solidarity and support for the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the Indigenous nations across the continent who are supporting them. We urge the federal and BC governments, the RCMP, and the Coastal GasLink Pipeline

Canadian Muslims

We have much to learn about Indigenous Peoples

By Muneeb Nasir (Remarks by Muneeb Nasir, President of the Olive Tree Foundation, at program entitled, ‘Indigenous And Muslim Traditional Healing Practices In A Modern Context’ on November 14 2019, at Victoria College, University of Toronto). The Olive Tree Foundation is pleased to be a sponsor of tonight’s program