Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 19/01) - Someone ripped down the sign that hangs in front of Yellowknife's mosque last week, throwing the bolted tarpaulin around the corner.

Yusuf Hashi, president of the Yellowknife Islamic Centre. - Dawn Ostrem/NNSL photo

The sign, which usually proclaims the house is a place of worship, was salvaged by members of the mosque and folded neatly inside the mosque, where it was to be repaired by duct tape.

The incident was not reported to police.

The president of the Yellowknife Islamic Centre, Yusuf Hashi, said he and the congregation are not concerned.

"Islam is a mission to the will of God, like willpower, and also obedience and in general it means peace," said Hashi, a Muslim originally from Somalia who appeared uncommonly patient for a recent victim of vandalism.

"A human being should never give allegiance to one person's actions," he added. "It's education; human beings act differently when they don't know."

Hashi said the vandal or vandals, as well as many other Yellowknifers, may not know the events of Sept. 11 in New York devastated him.

They were as devastating to most Muslims in Yellowknife, he said, as they were to any of the thousands of people gathered around their television sets that day in horror as they watched the World Trade Centre towers collapse in clouds of dust.

"In every religion you will find some bad people," he said. "So it should be seen as separate.

"The Muslim community here sees itself as part of the community and the horrible thing that happened is far away from us so we never thought it would affect us here."

Between 40 and 50 Muslims worship at the mosque.

Hashi came to Canada in 1988 and stayed in Calgary for two years before moving North to drive a cab.

"Everyone in the whole world loves Canada because of the rights and peace they give to people," he said. "I am just here doing my job."

He said in May someone kicked the mosque's street-facing glass door. He pointed out the spiderweb-shaped cracks as he explained the man was intoxicated and wanted in.

Hashi said the police were not called in that matter, either.

Hashi's dealings with these events mirror his interpretations of the teachings of the Qur-an, the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Bible. He studies them patiently and peacefully.

The terrorist acts in New York and Washington are thought to be the work of Islamic or Muslim fundamentalists, but Hashi explained that such actions are not condoned by most Muslim people.

"Because of the (limited) knowledge I have about them, I never met the Taliban or any of those Muslims -- I don't have a view except for what I see on TV," he explained, as he leafed through the Qur-an to explain the faith's mission for peace.