Last night, when Muslims in Quebec attended their local mosque for their evening prayers, three armed terrorists entered and shot the place up. Six are dead and eight are injured. This morning, Muslims who went in for their morning prayers found the building cordoned off and surrounded by police cars and ambulances. This is the latest in many terrorist attacks against Muslims, and the community has responded.
Muslims respond to their persecution
Abdel Majid Sharif, a Muslim living in Montreal, called the attack “very painful,” and said that he was “hurt” when he found out the news.
On tolerance of other religions, he said, “The mighty Lord teaches us to respect each other,” as well as “to love each other,” and “to live in harmony.” He also said some of the few sensible words ever spoken in the inter-Religion debate: “Whatever country, whatever religion, we’re all the creation of the Lord.”
Sharif has been a practicing Muslim in Canada, attending the mosque that was attacked, for close to four decades, and claims he has never been subjected to prejudice or persecution due to his Islamic choice of faith. However, he did say that his daughter-in-law and sister-in-law have encountered “problems” due to their Muslim faith. In the wake of the shooting, he says he feels less safe being a Muslim.
He said, “There are some people in the world who don’t know the value of a human being or the value of religion. All religions teach us to thank the Lord. Jews do it in their way, Christians in their way, Hindus in their way. We’re all one family. We must respect each other, love each other.”