Windsor Muslims demonstrate
Shortly thereafter we were in a classroom watching the students as they entered, giving up their lunch hour to listen to a talk on Haiti. I was surprised by the obvious varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Growing up in Windsor's poor northwestern section I had shared the common prejudice against the kids in South Windsor who went to Massey. We thought they were rich snobs. In fact the neighbourhood around the school is working and lower middle class and the all white school I once resented is now as multicultural as they come.
Several of the girls who joined the class were wearing muslim headdresses. Two thirds of the way through Patrick's talk the class was briefly interrupted to allow the girls, and a number of boys whom I hadn't particularly noticed, to attend noon prayers.
This morning the Windsor Star gave me another lesson about the new faces in my old hometown. The article requires paid registration and I ask forgiveness from the paper's shareholders for the following transgression as I am reprinting it in full. Here is a demonstration of free speech that I can applaud, even if I don't agree with some of the protesters' views on free speech.
Muslims protest shrine bombing
Act from 'school of terrorism,' says Imam involved in rally
Dale Molnar
Windsor StarMonday, February 27, 2006
Shiite Muslims in Windsor are calling for an end to violence in the wake of the bombing of one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines.
"We are calling for the peace. We are condemning the terrorism in Iraq," said Hussain Zahid, general secretary of the Jafri Islamic Centre of Canada (JICC) on Ottawa Street.
"We condemn such action against any place of worship," said Imad Bazzi, the treasurer of the Iman Hussain Foundation.Zahid and about 200 other Shiites from four Islamic centres in Windsor marched through downtown to protest the destruction of the golden dome of the 1,200-year-old Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq, Wednesday and the publishing of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed.
CRITICIZING CARTOONS
"When it comes to our prophets, our religion, the freedom of speech should stop right there," said Abdul Nadi Bazzi, vice-president of the Imam Hussain Foundation.
Shiite Lebanese, Iraqis and Pakistanis, the JICC, the Imam Hussain Foundation, the Ahlabyat Centre and the Almahdi Centre, joined in the march from Fred Thomas Park along Wyandotte Street East to Goyeau Street and north to City Hall Square.
Some carried banners that read, "The insult on Prophet Muhammed is an insult to Jesus, Moses and all prophets," and "The Canadian Muslim Community Condemns the Cartoons and Bombing of the Shrine."
Along the way they joined in prayers recited through a loudspeaker praising Mohammed, while following a cadence beat out on drums by 12 boys from the Ahul-Buyt Mosque and School.
Others carried pictures of the bombed shrine.
Zahid believes the bombing was the responsibility of Al-Quaida terrorists, not the predominantly Sunni population of Samarra, who have respected the holy site for decades.
Bassam Abballah, who visited the shrine in 1994, says he "lost his identity" when it was bombed.
"Those are our ancestors," said Abballah.
NOT HUMANE
"Bombing the shrine ... killing innocent people is not at all from any school of humanity, only it came from ... the school of terrorism," shouted Imam Ali Murtada, one of three Imams who led a rally in front of city hall.
The Shiites are hoping city councillors will join them in the condemnation of the bombing and call for an end to reprisals against Sunnis in Iraq.
© The Windsor Star 2006
Posted: Mon - February 27, 2006 at 12:35 PM
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Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM