We failed our youth: Imam

In Mississauga, North York and Scarborough, they spoke to thousands gathered for Friday afternoon prayers, some addressing concerns about backlash, others urging the community to have faith in the Canadian justice system to provide a fair trial.

“There is nothing wrong in saying we failed our youth,” said Imam Munir El-Kassen at the Toronto and Region Islamic Congregation in North York. “We did not fail them intentionally, but our community was in a formative stage and our youth searching to fill the vacuum within received wrong advice and training. We should be more careful in controlling the youth in the public domain — not everybody should be allowed to talk or lead the youth. They are the most vulnerable.”

Imam Husain Patel, at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto in Scarborough - where several of those accused prayed in the past — echoed that sentiment.

According to Statistics Canada, there were 579,640 Muslims in Canada in 2001 — a figure projected to rise to about 780,000 by this year.

“It will be a very small minority if they are found guilty,” said Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, who joined the prayers at North York.

He added that this was not the time for political rhetoric about different kinds of Islamic values.

But several Muslim Canadians expressed how troubled and angry they were about the backlash that followed the arrests.

“Every time there are big headlines with Muslims in it, then you are guilty by association,” said Omniya Hussein at the Scarborough mosque.

The International Muslims Organisation mosque in Rexdale was vandalised last Sunday, with 28 large windows and the main entrance smashed.

“You can’t just go after a race or religion because one person does something,” said Jahangir Patel, 23, a congregant at the Islamic Centre of Canada mosque in Mississauga. He was referring to an incident in which one woman allegedly beat up another woman who was wearing a hijab at a mall.