Yk conference builds bridges between faiths
Scholars from different religions find common ground
Joseph Tunney
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 16, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Syed Taha has a goal to reduce misconceptions between faiths.
Public accountant Biswanath Chakrabarty shared his perspective as a Hindu at last year's World Religion Conference. As of last year, he had lived in Yellowknife for 10 years and has always felt welcome. "Yellowknife is one of the best places where religious differences are set aside." - photo courtesy of Kalim Ahmed
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That is why the Calgary-based imam is returning to Yellowknife next weekend to host a World Religions Conference.
"This is our way of saying that we can celebrate our commonalities and we can celebrate our differences," said Taha, an imam at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at mosque in Calgary.
The Yellowknife conference is one of many that will be happening across Canada. Scholars from different faiths, including aboriginal spirituality, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism meet each year to discuss a specific topic. This year that topic is "building bridges of understanding and mutual respect."
Taha said his religion, Islam, is often portrayed in the media as not compatible with western values.
He said to him, building bridges means while there are differences between people and faiths, people still need to live together, ideally without fear or ignorance.
"The majority of the Muslims, we're not like that," Taha said. "We want to reach out to our fellow Canadians and say, 'Hey, we're not like that.' This is our way of informing you about our faith and informing ourselves about your faiths."
In his sect of Islam, this tradition of holding the meetings with scholars of various religions goes back over 100 years, when the founder of his community called for a conference in India.
"It was a very big event," Taha said. "All the major faiths were represented in that and that's the tradition we're following."
While conferences like this have been happening for decades, Taha said this will be the ninth in Yellowknife.
He said depending on the city, the number of different scholars from other religions can vary but it's normally a good turnout.
According to Kalim Ahmed, a member of the executive committee for the Ahmadiyya Mulsim Jama'at mosque who has attended the past conferences in Yellowknife, between 70 to 120 people turn out.
"It's not a debate," Taha said. "(It's) to remove any misconceptions and distance."
The event is scheduled for June 26 at the Prince of Whales Northern Heritage Centre.
