Leaders of the North Shore’s mosques are grieving over the mass murder of Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand but also are finding comfort from their neighbours.
Ali Amedi, director of the Al Ghadir Islamic Centre on Lynn Avenue, was at home watching TV when news that a white supremacist entered two mosques during prayers and shot dozens of people broke.
“Definitely, everybody was quite sad, quite upset, quite disappointed that someone feels that way, to kill 49 or 50 people,” he said.
The next day, not many people showed up for prayers or Farsi language lessons, Amedi said.
Petrit Decani, imam for the Masjid Ar Rahman mosque in Norgate, said his members were also deeply impacted.
“We were shocked and no doubt saddened once we heard about what happened in New Zealand. Lives of innocent people were taken away,” he said. “Usually it’s in a place of worship where people feel most safe. This was a cowardly act on defenceless people.”
Cpl. Peri Mainwaring, the RCMP’s liaison to the North Shore’s four mosques and 10,000-plus Muslims, came in on her day off to speak with the imans.
“I knew right away there was going to be fear or heightened anxiety among our Muslim communities here in North Van,” she said. “This tragedy just sent everyone reeling again, thinking how could this happen again?”
With the mosques’ blessings, the RCMP stepped up patrols, which returned a sense of security.
“Their presence has certainly given a sense of reassurance to the community. Obviously nobody likes to have police outside their home or mosque but when we have to, we have to,” Decani said.
Amedi said he believes Canada is the safest place his people could be but said extremists can crop up anywhere.
“In each society, there are some abnormal people – people who might do something that is not correct. It happened to Oklahoma, it happened to Montreal, it happened to Quebec. It’s happened to most of the countries,” he said.
Decani, however, noted the straight line between people fomenting fear of Muslims in their speech, and people who are inspired by their rhetoric to act with violence.
“Our government and our law enforcement should recognize the danger of the ideas that some groups in Canada espouse. Even Canada is not immune from this.
“We know what happened in Quebec,” he said. “We see that Islamophobia is real. It certainly exists. I think we should employ extra measures to combat it.”
Decani said that goes especially for politicians who court white supremacists for votes.
“There are many campaigns out there which advocate fear against Muslims. I think this is a result of all of that,” he said.
On the local level , though, both leaders have found support from the wider community with phone calls and emails coming in and cards and flowers being left outside their mosques.
One of the cards left outside Masjid Ar Rahman included the message of solidarity. ‘Your grief is our grief.’
“It was definitely welcome and we appreciate that… It helps us to cope through this as we process what happened. We’re glad we live in a community where people do stand by you,” Decani said.
“It just shows that we’re all human beings and we should all feel for each other and support one another in times of need.”
Decani said his mosque is always open to visitors who want to come and understand more about their Muslim neighbours.
The appearance of flowers at the doorstep has underscored why so many of Al Ghadir’s members chose to make their homes in Canada, Amedi said.
“Tears come to our eyes. That shows us how friendly Canadians are,” he said.
