Toronto
Star
December 8, 2003
We must be vigilant about teaching our children inherent Muslim values and applying them in the Canadian context.
Abdurahman Khadr's picture
on the front page of the Star touched my heart. Bright-eyed, clean-cut
and the same age as my older son,
he looks like an average Canadian
youth. But something
seems to be amiss.
While my boys learned to
load the dishwasher, Khadr learned to load an assault rifle; while much
to my annoyance, my boys played violent video games, Khadr was actually
living among people who practice violence against women and minorities;
when I proudly took my kids on their first trip to Disneyland, Khadr was
proudly sent to a training camp in Afghanistan; when my kids went to
Sunday school in Brampton to learn their Islam, Khadr was being taught
in a land far away. There's something terribly wrong with this picture,
and I'm trying to make sense of it.
Abdurahman Khadr's picture
on the front page of the Star touched my heart. Bright-eyed, clean-cut
and the same age as my older son, he looks like an average Canadian
youth. But something seems
to be amiss.
While my boys learned to
load the dishwasher, Khadr learned to load an assault rifle; while much
to my annoyance, my boys played violent video games, Khadr was actually
living among people who practice violence against women and minorities;
when I proudly took my kids on their first trip to Disneyland, Khadr was
proudly sent to a training camp in Afghanistan; when my kids went to
Sunday school in Brampton to learn their Islam, Khadr was being taught
in a land far away. There's something terribly wrong with this picture,
and I'm trying to make sense of it.
My concern as a Muslim
mother is the fact that Khadr seems to take all this in stride. He says
that he and an older brother took training because it was "a normal
thing that everybody does in Afghanistan." That may be so. But is
it normal for Canadian Muslims to send their kids to learn violence and
destruction in a camp thousands of kilometres away?
When my children came as
young kids to Canada, their father and I taught them about loyalty to
their adopted land and respect for the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms, which is not at odds with our Muslim values. We also made it a
point to take them back regularly to our country of origin, Pakistan, so
that they would know their roots and become culturally aware. At one
point, my younger son (now 18) wanted to join the Canadian Armed Forces,
so I asked him, "If Canada were by chance to go to war against the
land of your parents' birth, where would your loyalties lie?"
Without the flicker of
an eyelash, he said, "Canada, of course." I didn't reprimand
him because he "stands on guard" for Canada.
Much of the onus and
responsibility about what happens with our children's future lies with
the parents. In a country like Canada, there are ample opportunities to
help those in distress and in war-torn countries through valid means.
Doctors Without Borders is a perfect example. I feel sorry for Muslim
youth like Khadr, who haven't been taught that Islam means peace and
submission to the will of God — not submission to the call for
violence being spouted by some malicious mullahs. If parents are naïve
and don't watch what their children are absorbing, then unfortunately we
have produced many Khadrs in our society.
It's easy to become prey
to the emotional call for a physical jihad as many Muslim youth born and
bred in England have done in the recent past. They were sucked into the
vortex of an ideology gone mad and never told that the larger jihad is
that of tolerance and understanding. I often wonder about those who
entice youth to commit suicide bombing — we don't see any of those who
preach this message throwing themselves in front of a bus.
Khadr's case is a huge
wake-up call for all Canadian Muslims. This could happen to our kids.
But we hope it won't because we are vigilant about what they learn,
about teaching them inherent Muslim values and applying them in the
Canadian context. As the web of hatred increases from East to West and
people find trouble with religion, we try to build bridges and steer our
family away from the ritual to the spiritual, finding truth not only in
the Qu'ran but in messages of peace and justice emanating from all
faiths.
Hate and racism are
taught at home and children learn from the example of their parents.
From the fall of the Buddha statues in Afghanistan to the burning of
libraries in Iraq, we as a family have lobbied against injustice and
shared our joys and sorrows with our friends of all
faiths. We enjoy a
langar (meal) in a Sikh Gurdwara on Dixie Rd. as much as we appreciate
answering tough questions about Islam in churches or synagogues.
I wonder if those who
have enormous resentment in their hearts ever had the pleasure of
driving along the "spiritual strip" on Bayview Ave. where a
Chinese temple, Zoroastrian temple, a mosque and synagogue stand side by
side. If they did, they would be awed at the beauty and tolerance that
lie at the heart of a country
called Canada.
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