Islamic leader praises Nunavut’s “beautiful” people

Syed Asif Ali, president of Nunavut’s Islamic Society, in Eureka in 2010. (PHOTO COURTESY SYED ASIF ALI)

Syed Asif Ali speaking at the opening of the Iqaluit mosque in February 2016. (PHOTO COURTESY SYED ASIF ALI)

The president of Nunavut’s Islamic Society shared a message of resilience, love and optimism Jan. 31, two days after the Jan. 29 shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque.

Syed Asif Ali, now in Regina, said he received a request from the Qanak Group in Iqaluit just hours after the Quebec shooting, which left six Muslims dead and an estimated 19 wounded, several of them critically.

Qanak asked to hold an event to show love for, and solidarity with, Nunavut’s and Canada’s Muslim communities.

“I told [the Islamic Society’s vice president] Muhammad Wani, who is in Iqaluit, please go and receive them. This is their love, their solidarity, you should go there and receive them with a full heart,” Ali told Nunatsiaq News Jan. 31.

“This is the character of Iqaluit. And this is the best country, I tell you, I’ve lived in. I’ve travelled and lived in many countries, but I love this country.”

And Nunavut isn’t just a good place for Muslims, said Ali, a former employee of the Government of Nunavut.

“It’s a good place for everyone,” he said. “We all have our beliefs.”

Ali said he travelled to all of Nunavut’s 25 communities during his four or five years he lived in Iqaluit.

As he visited those hamlets, Ali said he came to think of Nunavummiut as the most “beautiful” people on the planet, whose hearts are open and who care for their elders and their land.

Sometimes, while living in Iqaluit’s eight-storey complex by the Frobisher Inn, Ali said he was woken up by people screaming in the hallway.

“If you go talk to people in those situations, spend time with them, get to know them, open your heart, you learn things. You have to come out of your shell, start building bridges and a feeling of community,” he said, adding that he never experienced anti-Muslim prejudice in Iqaluit.

To that end, Ali had a message for United States President Donald Trump.

“I want him to build bridges rather than walls. I don’t think what Trump is doing is right, I think it’s from a lack of knowledge… You have to work with people,” Ali said.

Ali was referring to the president’s executive order, signed Jan. 27, that restricts travel to the U.S. for nationals from seven mostly-Muslim countries for the next 90 days.

Although Ali immigrated to Canada from Pakistan—a country not among those seven—he said he could understand why emotions are running high among Muslims around the world.

“For me, I don’t get offended, but I pity the lack of vision. Great leaders who have a vision address the real problems,” Ali said.

Instead, in his first week as president, Trump has cast a wide net and affected many innocent people, Ali added.

“I don’t feel threatened, as a Muslim, not at all, because 99 per cent of people are good.”

In Iqaluit, on Jan. 30, more than 80 residents gathered for the Qanak event outside the local mosque and formed a circle, holding hands, under the winter sun that hovered above Dead Dog Lake and tried to break through layer upon layer of wispy clouds.

It is that goodness in people that can be found everywhere, regardless of nationality or religion, said Ali, who spearheaded efforts to build Nunavut’s first mosque, which opened in Iqaluit in February 2016.

And, Ali added, no matter the colour of a person’s skin, everyone’s blood runs red.

“All of us have emotions, families, children. It’s not my way or the highway… And all the prophets—Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, peace be upon them—conveyed the same message: love God and love your neighbour.”

A celebration at the Iqaluit mosque in February 2016. (PHOTO COURTESY SYED ASIF ALI)