“We mourn with you, we celebrate with you, and we want to do our part to build bridges and acceptance.”-Heera Hashmi
Islam is the religion of peace and harmony. However, the beauty of this religion is getting butchered everyday through violence and hatred, in the name of ’Islamophobia’.
In an attempt to create awareness and share the beauty of this religion with the locality, the Department of Religious Studies at MUN is doing a project on addressing Islamophobia in NL. They arranged two consultations with non-profit organizations where MUN students are greatly involved, followed by a successful conference on Sept. 22-23,2018, to co-create anti-Islamophobia advocacy, ally-ship and education. They are currently presenting a Winter 2019 film series, showcasing relevant movies to the students.
Sobia Shaheen Shaikh, the project co-lead explained,
“When on October 2017, hate-filled posters about Islam hanged all around MUN, people everywhere started talking more against islamophobia and racism. And the conference followed by the film series gave a platform to people to talk about this issue and share their experiences with everyone.”
The first film, screened on Jan.29th- ‘Your Last Walk in the Mosque,’ commemorates the January 2017 shootings in Quebec, CA. This film shows the after effects of the dreadful incident on the victims and their families. The whole community came together and gave support to each other. Instead of hiding in their house for fear and despair, they stood by each other with whatever they had. All of the survivors and their families, rather than feeling extreme hatred towards the 25 years old guy who ruined their lives, were very forgiving and compassionate. They believed their loved ones, who died on that dark day in the mosque, were martyrs. The only thing they want now is peace and no repetition of these kind of incidents anywhere. One of the survivors said,’ People who are committing activities of violence and aggression like this are the actual terrorists.’ This film not only made everyone teary but also raised goosebumps.
After the film screening, there was a small discussion among the audience. Many different views were exchanged and everyone greatly agreed to the point that to stop incidents like this, we need to raise awareness.
Jenifer Selby, the other project co-lead expressed,
“The main goal of the project is to build capacity, inspire and encourage.”
The second film “14 and Muslim” going to be shown on 28th February and everyone is invited to watch it and show support. For any inquiry you can email ‘ Islamophobia@mun.ca ‘.