Diversity and Inclusiveness
Our Creator states “O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into races and tribes, so that you may know one another. Surely the noblest/most honoured of you, in Allah’s sight, is the one who is most pious/God Conscious of you. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (AlQuran:49.13)
Human Languages and Color: And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. Indeed, these are signs for the persons of knowledge. (Quran:30. 22)
Let us all learn and respect, tolerance, and inclusiveness and accept the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity in a multicultural Canada. The integration of ethnic and religious minorities with larger immigrants and main stream Canadian society is an important social issue for Canadian mosaic.
Understanding and Respecting Others: Learning to live with and respecting other cultures and religions is important. Our society is filled with diverse cultures, ethnicity, languages and religious people of different background. We can see and feel it in classrooms, work places, at the shopping malls and just walking on the street in our neighbourhood.
Understanding Cultural Diversity: Other cultures may be different from ours and might go against our religious and moral values. But we are often uninformed and may perceive it as a threat. We should learn, respect and celebrate the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. Let us be open minded and tolerant to the diversity in culture, ethnicity and religious values. One of the scholars stated that we have more in common with other cultures and religions then we think. We should be open to experience new things and volunteering with a group who are different from us. We must be aware of our differences and be able to understand them and then ready to accept the difference.
We request every one, when we enter snmc or any masjid next time, give salam and shake hands with at least one person from different ethnicity or with someone who we don’t know. It is house of God, so let us introduce ourselves and talk with one person. You will be happy, and (s)he will be happy.
Weekly Quote:
If we dispute in any matter, leaving its judgment to the Almighty will give us a happy and peaceful result.
Dr. Emdad Khan