A Canadian Muslim response to the film on Prophet Muhammad.

I’m Canadian by birth and I am a Muslim by choice. I am as disappointed and saddened by the violent, primitive response of some misguided Muslims around the world as I am disgusted by the disrespectful individual(s) who made the recent film insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

Islam is derived from the root word Salam which means peace. I cannot sit back and watch my way of life, my belief system slandered and propagandized in the media without saying something. There are nearly 1.8 billion Muslims in the world and to paint an entire way of life with one brushstroke is both naive and ludicrous.

I credit my Canadian upbringing, education and my parents, who taught me to be respectful of others despite their creed or background. It saddens me to see the primitive responses of some Muslims in other parts of the world who have resorted to violence to express their anger.

What is also unacceptable is when free speech is used as a license to spew hatred. We do not have the freedom to walk into a crowded room and yell “FIRE” as to do so would illicit panic and unnecessary chaos. Why then do we allow hate filled rhetoric splashed across popular media outlets? Have we not progressed as a society? Who will speak up against this? In certain countries it is illegal to deny the holocaust.  You would be hard pressed to hear racial slurs against minorities in the media, yet it has become socially tolerable to use defamatory language towards Muslims.

I am an educated and practicing visibly Muslim woman. I believe in peace and tolerance of others. I believe in the protection and nourishment of the human spirit, in doing good towards others irrespective of their religion and above all else I believe that senseless violence is wrong.

I was outraged by the August 5th shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin because innocent people died as a result of hate. I was saddened by the unnecessary and unjustified death of US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens and his staff members.

My values as a Muslim are universal. As a Muslim I was taught that the sanctity of life applies to all not just those of my faith. It has been the realization that when one of us hurt, or is victimized, we all hurt and are victimized. When a community is targeted, when its congregants are shot in their place of worship and when another place of worship is burnt to the ground, we all share in those feelings of hurt, sadness and loss.

Too often we see ourselves and our communities divided by lines of ethnicity, religion, culture, and country of origin but if you ask two people who just lost loved ones, I can promise you they both cry the same tears and feel the same sadness.

There is so much killing and bloodshed in the world that to simplify events based on community is to do an injustice to those who have lost their lives and those who are grieving for the loss of loved ones.

I will not allow others to speak for me and my religion, especially when their words and actions go against everything I know to be true about my faith.

As a Canadian Muslim I want my voice to be heard loud and clear, this is wrong. I condemn these acts of violence and the actions that instigated the violence. I urge Muslims to take a more tempered and peaceful response in defending the honour of our Prophet as was his practice.