The following letter was published in Ottawa Citizen on June 11, 2022.
Re: Prayer service, vigil to honour Muslim family on anniversary of London attack, June 6.
The year 2021 was strange. There were multiple incidents of mosques vandalized, culminating into a deadly attack on a Muslim family out for a walk.
What was most gut-wrenching about this incident was not just its randomness, but the realization that this could have happened to any one of us. Any one of us could be spotted by an Islamophobe and hit by a car. It was excruciatingly difficult to accept this possibility in a country like Canada.
Many Muslims, including Ahmadi Muslims, have left countries where similar dangers existed, in order to find a better, more peaceful home. And Canada has given us that home. By building bridges and increasing mutual understanding, we can come together and make Canada even better. As His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad puts it, “peace can best be achieved through unity.”
Imam Farhan Iqbal, Stittsville
