Muslims unite!

>>

by Craig Segal

At a Concordia conference on Monday, Dr. Tariq Ramadan, a leading European Muslim author and thinker, called on his co-religionists to change their attitude toward Islam if they hope to bridge the divisions within their religious community.

In town as part of a two-week eastern Canada lecture tour on Islam, Ramadan urged the 400 conference participants to "take a moment in your day to think, 'What did I do good today?' Not just, 'What did I do?' If we did that we wouldn't have 60 divisions in Canada."

Many audience members agreed. "A lot of people are divided by technicalities like where you come from. Once we talk to each other we understand," says Adil Hamdouna, an IT worker.

"I thought it was exactly what was needed and many people were enthralled by the topic and the style in which it was treated," says Jean-Mathieu Potvin, 29, one of the event's coordinators and member of the Muslim Research Institute. "These are things that are not talked about enough.

"I've been a Muslim myself since '95 but from what I've observed, the spiritual side is something that is not very exploited. Many people put emphasis on the external aspects of Islam. But it's about really making an effort to internalize it."

Potvin says disunity is a particularly big challenge in Montreal, which he considers "the most diverse Muslim community in the world."