Eleven-year-old Hashin Thoubhary wants Canmore to ask him anything about Islam. The pint-sized activist, along with his Muslim youth organization, put forward a peaceful message of social change in the streets of Canmore on Monday (Aug. 29).
Eleven-year-old Hashin Thoubhary wants Canmore to ask him anything about Islam.
The pint-sized activist, along with his Muslim youth organization, put forward a peaceful message of social change in the streets of Canmore on Monday (Aug. 29). The group was willing to answer any and all questions about Islam.
The group, holding signs with bold letters on Main Street that read, “I am a Muslim ask me anything,” are hoping to help put an end to pre-conceived notions about Islam and radicalization, said Omar Farooq, a member of the youth organization from Calgary.
“What we’ re trying to do here is show some solidarity with the people of Canada, of course, and especially Western Canada because we live here. We want to show that youth are standing outside showing these signs of Muslims of peace,” said Farooq.
“Our youth organization is against everything that we see about Muslims and terrorism and extremism aboard and in Canada, especially.
“We have some cases in Canada regarding radicalization of youth, so us youth, we want to go out there and show we can be Muslims and live in the same society and you don’ t have to be scared of us, whether you’ re Muslims or Jewish or anyone.”
Farooq said it’ s the youth group’ s own initiative to inform those about Islam with the approachable platform. When they started, the group thought they would receive a lot of hate speech.
However, Farooq said, any such hatred has been minimal.
“I guess that speaks to what the Canadian ideology is of acceptance and inclusion,” he said.
The youth group is hoping to go display its message in Bragg Creek and potentially Banff in the near future.
