Source: thestarphoenix.com

Rashid Ahmed, left, and Zahid Abid at the Ahmadiyya Mosque on Boychuk Drive on Tuesday. The Stop The Crisis campaign begins Wednesday and concludes with an event on Jan 21.
Photograph by: Greg Pender, The Starphoenix, The Starphoenix

Imam Zahid Abid wants to ensure that calls for a violent jihad fall on deaf ears here in Saskatoon.

Abid leads the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and says his congregation is on a mission to spread the message that Islam is about peace and brotherhood, not violence.

He says in the wake of recent radicalization of some Canadian youth – some of whom have gone abroad to fight with terrorist groups like the Islamic State – hammering home that message of peace is more important than ever.

“That is why we need to take that initiative. We don’t want something like that happen,” Abid said in an interview inside his College Park East mosque.

The radicalization of Canadians like Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who carried out the October attack on Parliament Hill, provides more reason for peace-loving Muslims to speak out, Abid says.

Noman Hassan, a student at the University of Saskatchewan and one of the lead organizers of the “Stop The Crisis” campaign launching this week, agrees with Abid that the root causes of radicalization come down to family dynamics and feelings of isolation, rather than religious fervour.

“The question is why it is happening across Canada, across the world? It is mostly happening because people have an… read more at