Mohyuddin Mirza, holding a Holy Qur’an, is the Outreach Director for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Hadi Mosque in Edmonton, Alta., on Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Ian Kucerak/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Source: Edmonton Sun

FIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2013 09:42 AM MDT | UPDATED: SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2013 02:18 PM MDT

As a teenager, Mohyuddin Mirza would lay beneath the starry night sky in Pakistan and wonder about his place in the universe. While he was born a Muslim, he rediscovered his faith as a teen through prayer and meditation.

“I know God personally. He is my friend. I could talk to him,” Mriza says.

Mirza, the 70-year-old outreach director for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Hadi Mosque, 7005 98 Ave., helps the community see beyond religious categorization and remember humanity.

“We’ve got to understand human beings are not one thing, they’re fairly diversified. Humanity should not disappear from our relationships,” he said.

A lot has changed since Mirza first came to Edmonton in 1966 as a University of Alberta horticulture student.

As municipal borders expanded past 52 Avenue, new mosques were built, the Islamic academy was established, more Muslim MLAs took office and more efforts were made to reach out to non-Muslims, including millions flyers that have been sent out over the past few decades.

Mirza says Islam gives meaning to his life through accountability, that there will be a day of judgement.

“It gives us a focus that there is a creator and you could relate to that creator, establish a focus and purpose in life and give me the ability to do good,” he said.

He says what hasn’t changed since he arrived in Edmonton in the ‘60s is the welcoming people.

As a young man, Mirza’s late professor William Skoropad took him into his home and bought him groceries.

“When great people like that are around then that place, that city and that landscape become a sort of sacred place. That is what kept me here. Edmonton is also a great interfaith dialogue city,” Mirza said.

Charity is a part of Islamic faith and Mirza is part of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which has an organization called Humanity First. When disaster strikes, Edmonton Muslims step up, organizing fundraisers for victims of earthquakes or flooding across the globe.

When fire ravaged Slave Lake in 2011, Muslims were there to help, including removing old freezers and fridges. Adopt-A-Park projects in Edmonton were made possible through support of the Islamic community.

Edmonton’s oldest mosque, Al-Rashid Mosque at 13070 113St., serves as a community hub for Edmonton Muslims. Built in 1938, Al-Rashid moved to its current location in 1980.

Muslims have five prayers per day, related to the sun, but Mirza says he prays hundreds of times a day, including before eating. Food and other products must be Halal — according to Islamic law; the holy book forbids pork, alcohol and other intoxicants. Meat must be properly slaughtered. Animal cruelty is forbidden.

“My mother used to teach us, don’t waste any food, any crumb which falls down and you didn’t eat them, on the day of judgment, God will ask you to use your eyebrows to pick them up,” he said.

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