Origin of Shiism and Shi'a Genocide - Webinar with the Waterloo Region District School Board

34 Bekeken· 24/03/21

MECCA Media
abonnees

Featuring: Sayed Saleh Qazwini, Zakir Shyrose Jaffer Dhalla and Malihe Elias

Alhamdullilah, we had the honour and privilege to organize and partake in the first webinar at a Canadian Public School Board about the Origins of Shiism and Shi'a Genocide.

Laat meer zien

Transcript

[0:00]awesome fantastic so um in in the name of god the most

[0:09]uh the benefits and the most merciful my name is maliha and

[0:11]i'm a teacher with the wrdsp for french my family and i

[0:15]came to canada in 2008 and yesterday was actually my 13-year anniversary

[0:19]in canada my family and i came to canada to escape the

[0:22]ongoing shia genocide and persecution in pakistan and unfortunately shia genocide is

[0:30]not only limited to pakistan it is with great honor and privilege

[0:36]that with god's grace i will be hosting the first ever webinar

[0:38]on the shias and the shia genocide and in a canadian public

[0:43]school board organized by myself and my school board so thank you

[0:45]very much water blue vision mr school board once again we will

[0:49]be discussing various topics about the shias and shia genocide and so

[0:53]without further ado i would like to introduce my esteemed guest please

[1:00]i would like to briefly introduce uh sweeney first said salah khazrini

[1:07]hails from a prominent religious family from iraq he immigrated to the

[1:11]u.s with his parents in 1994.

[1:13]after completing high school in san diego zayat khazrini moved to iran

[1:19]where he studied in the islamic seminary of pum his studies focused

[1:23]prelim primarily on islamic jurisprudence and islamic scripture after completing his studies

[1:30]he returned to the u.s and acquired a bachelor's degree in sociology

[1:33]from the university of michigan in ann arbor and a master's degree

[1:37]in near eastern studies from wayne state university currently he lectures weekly

[1:42]at several mosques and community centers in michigan he travels to numerous

[1:47]communities across the globe spreading the message of islam and religious tolerance

[1:51]also teaches courses on islamic ideology and quranic studies he is married

[1:57]and has three children my second esteemed guest is shiraz jafar zallah

[2:02]shaira's jefferson is a world-renowned lecturer on islam an education counselor a

[2:08]parent a parenting and marriage coach a radio host a published author

[2:13]a newspaper columnist a blogger a playwright a puppeteer and popular tv

[2:17]anchor who appears three times a week on her own tv show

[2:20]on several on several cable networks she holds a bachelor degree in

[2:25]psychology and sociology and a master's degree in the field of education

[2:29]and has spoken twice outside the white house in washington dc she

[2:34]has given a muslim ted talk spoken at princeton university and at

[2:39]large outdoor rallies attended by thousands in downtown toronto stockholm uh like

[2:46]lychester i'm sorry if i'm mispronouncing that and chicago she lectures on

[2:52]islam at mosques universities churches and interfaith gatherings and as a polyglot

[2:59]who speaks over who speaks over six languages fluently a published freelance

[3:05]writer playwright motivational speaker and anti-racist educational counselor by profession she conducts

[3:12]workshops on race and cultural sensitivity and often appears on tv panels

[3:16]and radio talk and shows to speak and oh sorry about that

[3:23]i misread that and ready talk shows to speak on race relations

[3:27]thank you so very much imam and zakra shadows for being here

[3:33]we will start off with the the imam's presentation on the origin

[3:40]of shiism and what happened in karbala imam if you could let

[3:45]me know whenever i can share my screen to your presentation you

[3:49]can share it thank you i'll share it right now thank you

[3:58]very much i begin in the name of god the beneficent the

[4:04]merciful i would like to thank you all for joining us and

[4:07]taking this opportunity and giving us this opportunity to talk about the

[4:13]shia school of thought and talk about islam and the muslim community

[4:17]i would also like to thank maliha elias for setting this up

[4:23]and i commend her determination and her you know her patience with

[4:29]allah with setting all this up so thank you very much so

[4:34]the muslim community has the shia school of thought and the sunni

[4:41]school of thought and there are many misconceptions today especially in the

[4:48]west and post 9 11 about islam and the muslim community and

[4:53]we need to learn about this misconceptions we need to be better

[4:58]educated about the muslim community because islam and the muslim community are

[5:04]not monolith you know within muslims muslims come from all cultures many

[5:12]races many ethnicities they can be muslim you have muslims in the

[5:16]middle east and you have muslims all the way in africa and

[5:20]china in europe in the united states and canada so muslims are

[5:28]not monolithic and not monolithic in culture and race and also not

[5:35]monolithic in terms of sex and in terms of beliefs so this

[5:39]is why today we're addressing and we're talking about the shi'i school

[5:43]of thought the shia sect it's very unfortunate that there's a lot

[5:48]of negative portrayal of islam and muslims in the media and this

[5:54]is why i believe it's very important to hold these type of

[5:57]sessions and these type of you know educational seminars or sessions and

[6:01]in order to learn more about one another today we're talking about

[6:08]the sect and we want to talk about the persecution of the

[6:14]shia community as we know the shiite community is a minority the

[6:18]the shias they make up a minority within the muslims and in

[6:25]the west in canada in the united states where i am we

[6:28]are a minority within a minority so it's very important for us

[6:37]to speak about you know issues of concern and we hear a

[6:41]lot of you know um aggression going on and persecution going on

[6:45]that is directed towards the shias and inshallah we will discuss that

[6:51]for example maliha said her family escaped persecution my family as well

[6:55]my family in um in iraq my family 18 members of my

[7:04]family were killed because of the hatred that is directed against the

[7:08]shias and my family had to escape from iraq and we're not

[7:13]we were not able to go back until the fall of saddam

[7:15]so this is a very important issue that we want to discuss

[7:19]and we hear about we hear about the persecution of the shiite

[7:25]community all the time just a few weeks ago we heard about

[7:29]the um the hazara the hazara um in afghanistan where there was

[7:36]an explosion in a school a middle school and many you know

[7:39]tens of schoolchildren were killed so what is the origin of shiazone

[7:46]the shia the muslim community islam as we know is the fastest

[7:52]growing religion and there's over 1.9 billion muslims in the world today

[7:55]so muslims make up shia and sunni we have shia muslims and

[8:01]sunni muslims of course the sunni muslims they make up the majority

[8:03]the most sunni muslims are about 1.6 billion muslims and the shias

[8:10]are only around 300 million muslims i am ashiya and i am

[8:14]speaking on behalf of the shiite school of thought and the sect

[8:18]you find that the muslims are predominantly in iran and iraq and

[8:26]pakistan and afghanistan lebanon bahrain azerbaijan the eastern parts of saudi arabia

[8:32]and kuwait of course in some of these countries they don't make

[8:37]up the majority but in iran and iraq and other baijan they

[8:42]make up a majority in bahrain they make up a majority in

[8:45]other countries that were mentioned they don't make up a majority the

[8:51]division why did the school of thought emerge or how did the

[8:56]shiite school of thought emerge and did the shiite school of thought

[9:00]emerge after islam or was it something that was that existed with

[9:04]islam we believe that the the division and this is something sunnis

[9:08]and shias will tell you that the division within muslims because during

[9:11]the time of prophet muhammad there were no shias or sunnis it

[9:16]was all muslims and prophet muhammad died in 632 common era then

[9:22]there was a split one group they began to follow the family

[9:28]of prophet muhammad and led by imam ali as the first imam

[9:34]the first leader the first head of state and the first to

[9:41]represent the message and the teachings of prophet muhammad and represent the

[9:46]quran and another group followed the companions followed the path of the

[9:51]companions and the friends and those who were with prophet muhammad so

[9:54]you have two groups emerge one is the shia and shia by

[9:59]definition it means follower of but because they they became known as

[10:03]the shia of ali the followers of ali after prophet muhammad therefore

[10:08]the shias are known as the shia and the sunni school of

[10:12]thought they're they call they're called the sunnis because they say we

[10:15]follow the sunnah the tradition of prophet muhammad through his companions and

[10:22]through his those who were who were around him the muslims were

[10:28]with him so here now i have i put the ayatollahs because

[10:30]a lot of people they wonder you know who are the leaders

[10:34]of the shias we the the followers of the bait the the

[10:37]bait they are the family of the prophet and the shias they

[10:40]follow the family of the prophet after the family of the prophet

[10:45]the leaders who we follow they refer to as ayatollahs now and

[10:47]those are the scholars that connect us with the teachings the original

[10:52]teachings of the bait of the family of the prophet and the

[10:58]prophet himself now if we could go to the next slide please

[11:02]the struggle is when when someone thinks about the sunni struggle some

[11:09]might think that it was all about power and it was all

[11:13]about politics but the fact of the matter is that politics is

[11:15]probably not doesn't make that much of it the the major struggle

[11:19]was about the soul of islam and the the both groups the

[11:24]those who follow the family and those who follow the companions they

[11:28]say we're trying to get closer to prophet muhammed one says we're

[11:32]getting closer to the teachings of prophet muhammad through the companions others

[11:36]they say we we say we get closer to the teachings of

[11:39]prophet muhammad through his family but over time over time the there

[11:47]was a you know the division became bigger and bigger because of

[11:52]the different interpretations of the quran and different interpretations of the message

[11:55]of prophet muhammad but when when we talk about the sunnis and

[12:02]shia some you know they have the impression that sunnis and shias

[12:04]hate one another they can't stand one another and they're always fighting

[12:07]with one another and there's always sectarian violence that's going on that's

[12:11]not true sunnis and shias get along very well and many times

[12:17]they intermarry with one another we pray together we go to hajj

[12:21]together the pilgrimage and we fast together and we live in communities

[12:25]with one another it's just the difference of the approach and the

[12:30]understanding of some of the details of the message of islam now

[12:37]within the sunnis and the shias the majority get along there are

[12:44]fringe elements and fringe groups that sow division within the muslim community

[12:48]and this is this exists within the christian community within the jewish

[12:51]community and within many other communities you see that there's always fringe

[12:55]groups that you know divide divide and cause differences so one of

[13:03]those groups is the wahhabi the wahhabi school of thought which is

[13:08]an offshoot of the mainstream sunni school of thought and this wahabi

[13:15]school of thought they consider shias as heretics they consider sufis as

[13:20]you know astray and other sunnis other sunnis as well they consider

[13:26]them as you know non-muslims because they differ with them and some

[13:31]minor issues here and there so the wahabis accuse and they have

[13:37]been for centuries they have been accusing the shias of being against

[13:42]and working against the true islam and calling the shia as kafir

[13:49]and non-muslims and attacking the shias and anyone who believes and follows

[13:55]the shiite school of thought and you know i mentioned earlier that

[13:59]muslims are not monolithic because today it's very unfortunate you know someone's

[14:06]watching news cnn or fox news or whatever it is and they

[14:09]think that all muslims are the same i remember a few years

[14:14]ago when isis was you know killing people in syria and in

[14:16]iraq some people they came and they said you muslims you're all

[14:21]like isis without knowing that isis would kill shias before killing any

[14:27]non-muslim before so they you know isis is against muslims as well

[14:33]and the taliban and al qaeda and all these terrorist groups they're

[14:37]against the shias before they you know before they started um placing

[14:43]their hatred against non-muslims as well so this is something that we

[14:48]have to consider and this i this uh wahhabi mentality has been

[14:53]going on for such a long time for hundreds of years but

[14:57]now in the past hundred years we see that it became so

[15:01]powerful and it became so strong and why because petroleum was discovered

[15:07]in some parts of the muslim world and in those parts of

[15:10]the muslim world is exactly where these thoughts and these ideas emerge

[15:17]so they now you have these takfiri these you know ideas that

[15:23]are calling everyone a non-muslim and everyone's a heretic and then you

[15:26]also have petro dollar you have politics so it all adds to

[15:32]the tension now since we're talking about shazam i just want to

[15:35]i have put the the mahdi here we believe that at the

[15:40]end of time just like christians and just like jews believe that

[15:43]at the end of time justice will be established we believe that

[15:46]the mahdi who is the twelfth of the children of um from

[15:53]the bait from the family of the prophet and this is something

[15:57]that all muslims actually believe in that at the end of time

[16:00]a man by the name of al-mahdi who will be from the

[16:02]progeny of prophet muhammad from the children of prophet muhammad and he

[16:07]will establish justice on earth after it has been filled with oppression

[16:11]and we believe that he will rise alongside jesus and they will

[16:16]be on the same uh on the same side with one another

[16:18]fighting oppression and and injustice in the world if we could go

[16:24]to the next slide please so we talked about shiism um the

[16:29]the shia school of thought is a you know an ideology that

[16:36]has existed ever since the beginning of islam ever since the beginning

[16:39]of islam there have been followers of ali of imam ali because

[16:43]we believe prophet muhammad told the muslims to follow ali after him

[16:48]and follow the family his family after him whereas the sunni school

[16:51]of thought believes that the prophet he left leadership the matter of

[16:56]leadership up to the muslims and he allowed them to decide and

[17:00]they decided that the that the some of the companions they came

[17:05]to power in their own way now 50 years 50 years after

[17:11]the death of prophet muhammad was a major event that shocked the

[17:15]muslim world and until today until today it is a very important

[17:20]event that the shia as commemorate and muslims in fact all muslims

[17:25]commemorate but specifically it's something that is more associated with the shiite

[17:30]school of thought and that was that 50 years after the death

[17:34]of prophet muhammad because the family of the prophet they were sidelined

[17:38]they were marginalized and others came to power now some of those

[17:43]who came to power some of them they had good intentions but

[17:47]later on by the time 50 years later an individual comes to

[17:52]power and he wages war against the family of the prophet the

[17:56]very family of prophet muhammad and the grandson of prophet muhammad imam

[18:01]hussain was killed on the day of ashura means the tenth day

[18:06]it's the tenth day of the first lunar islamic month in the

[18:10]islamic lunar calendar and it's a day of uh tragedy it took

[18:16]place year 61 after hijra the islamic lunar calendar year 61 after

[18:21]hijrah and in the common era calendar it was year 680 common

[18:29]era imam hussain the grandson of the prophet he was killed he

[18:32]was beheaded and his his body was left you know in the

[18:34]land of karbala and his family were paraded throughout the muslim land

[18:38]now this important event it shapes the identity until today because one

[18:44]it symbolizes the oppression that has taken that has been taking place

[18:49]throughout the centuries against the shia and against the atheist against the

[18:53]family of the prophet first and foremost and second against their followers

[18:57]against those who follow them and take their religion from them and

[19:01]second this event the event of ashura inspires many muslims and specifically

[19:06]the shias to stand against injustice even if the oppressor is someone

[19:11]claiming to be a muslim because the man and the army that

[19:16]killed imam hussain the grandson of the prophet was a muslim army

[19:19]and the leader who killed the grandson of the prophet was a

[19:22]person who was claiming to be the leader of the muslims so

[19:25]here this has put this you know feeling the sentiment within the

[19:30]shias that whenever we see injustice whenever we see oppression we have

[19:35]to stand against it even if the person carrying out the injustice

[19:39]is a so-called muslim we have to stand against it so this

[19:44]is one issue that has caused a lot of the you know

[19:51]aggression and genocide to take place against the school of thought i

[19:54]told you earlier that 18 members of my family were killed in

[19:58]iraq now saddam saddam he did not really care about shia or

[20:01]sunni he was a secular person but because within the shiris there

[20:07]is this sentiment and especially this sentiment is revived every year every

[20:12]year on the 10th of muharram every year on ashura it is

[20:16]revived to stand out against injustice to speak out against the oppression

[20:20]that's going on because the shias and especially the scholarly families and

[20:26]and you know they're speaking out against the oppression they become victims

[20:30]of the persecution now whether whether the one persecuting them as a

[20:35]person who cares about religion or does not care about religion it

[20:39]that that sentiment that exists within all the shias leads them to

[20:45]speak out against the against the um against the tyrants against the

[20:50]dictators and you know that area the region of the middle east

[20:54]most of the leaders did not come to power democratically so that

[20:59]puts them at odds with their people and that leads to genocide

[21:04]that leads to apartheid that leads to marginalization and that leads to

[21:10]the shias being victims of anti-shia hatred as we are seeing you

[21:16]know going on and carrying place in the muslim world today so

[21:19]if we could go to the next slide please so as shias

[21:24]we commemorate the martyrdom of imam hussain the grandson of prophet muhammad

[21:30]every year every year and the event the month is called muharram

[21:35]it's the first first islamic first islamic lunar month and we will

[21:40]have that in in august it will begin in august every year

[21:43]by the way the islamic the islamic lunar month changes every year

[21:47]because we go by the moon so every year it comes back

[21:52]10 days and um we commemorate on the 10th of that day

[21:55]the tragedy of imam hussain now one of the things that some

[22:01]of the shias do per most of them is that we go

[22:05]to in in in addition to going and performing the hajj the

[22:10]pilgrimage going to mecca going to saudi arabia what all muslims do

[22:14]sunnis and shias the shias in addition to that they have we

[22:17]have another pilgrimage we don't call it pilgrimage but we call it

[22:21]ziyarah instead which is visiting the graves of the imams of our

[22:26]leaders of imam hussain of imam ali his father of you know

[22:30]the other imams and you have the graves of these imams they

[22:36]are in saudi arabia in madina next to the prophet muhammad where

[22:38]prophet muhammad is buried you also have an iraq you have where

[22:44]imam hussain is buried in karbala in iraq and then there are

[22:48]other imams as well because we have 12 imams and they are

[22:51]buried in iraq and there's one imam also buried in iran imam

[22:55]imam ali the eighth imam of the bait so this is something

[23:01]that all sha'als do now the day of ashura is as we

[23:06]mentioned it's commemorated every year by millions of people all over the

[23:11]world now some they come and they bring out some gory images

[23:16]of you know people commemorating ashora but these this you know this

[23:21]they they only represent a small minority of people commemorating the tragedy

[23:26]of imam hussain just as you know on good friday you see

[23:32]some some catholics they they they they do some bloodletting they don't

[23:35]represent all catholics similarly there are some shias that you know partake

[23:39]in some of those activities but that does not represent all the

[23:43]shias we we gather we give lectures and we educate people about

[23:49]reform and about you know islam and islamic values so one issue

[23:52]is that we wanted to get across today is that for shias

[23:57]the day of ashura is a very sensitive day and it's extremely

[24:02]offensive for shias to declare that day as a day of celebration

[24:08]or a festival or a happy day and um it's a day

[24:11]a somber day and a day that we you know commemorate the

[24:17]tragedy of imam hussain and the family of imam hussain so this

[24:22]is just a quick summary of shia zam and the sunni school

[24:26]of thought and ashora and um if there are any questions later

[24:30]on i'll be happy to take them i'm going to end here

[24:34]thank you very much peace be upon you all thank you so

[24:44]so so very much for that enlightening lecture imam my next guest

[24:51]is uh shiro's jeffer tava and inshallah she will be talking about

[24:56]the genocide of the shias in the 20th and 21st centuries and

[25:00]she will also be sharing some tips on how to make our

[25:04]workplaces in our schools a more inclusive and accommodating and accommodating spaces

[25:10]for our shia workers and as well as our shia students thank

[25:18]you so much that's very kind of you thank you for your

[25:23]kind introduction i want to thank you all for taking time out

[25:27]of your busy schedule to give us your time so that we

[25:31]can tell you about something that is uh not only very important

[25:37]to us as believers and followers of this faith uh as she

[25:41]has but as well as educators and as parents as citizens where

[25:46]we want to make the world a better place and we want

[25:49]to make the education system a better uh system for all the

[25:55]students that are that are with us um from all over the

[25:57]world um i'm gonna be sharing as well a powerpoint uh but

[26:04]before i do that i'm so new at this google meet um

[26:07]you learn something every day so today was a real learning experience

[26:11]is it anyway is there any way we can just pin um

[26:15]my uh screen so that we are only seeing my face on

[26:17]the screen because i know we do that with zoom so that

[26:21]there is less distraction and you're looking just at me if i

[26:24]could ask the host if that's possible to just make a pin

[26:27]myself so that you can see me on the screen only is

[26:33]it possible i think it is uh is this something that you

[26:38]can help her with please i are you presenting um a powerpoint

[26:43]as well oh yes i will be doing a powerpoint oh esther

[26:46]says that you can do it on your if you can pin

[26:48]me to your screen so because i i'd like to have that

[26:52]contact eye contact you all sometimes looking at small screens it's really

[26:56]hard to get that connection so yeah is it any way that

[27:00]you can pin me to the screen make it highlight perhaps like

[27:04]we do in zoom i think we all do that individually on

[27:06]our own i see okay so if you go ahead i don't

[27:11]know all right and i'll be uh you can pin yourself thank

[27:15]you i'm gonna see this remove this tie what is this pin

[27:19]to screen all right yes so i've pinned myself but i hope

[27:23]that you all are also seeing me uh right in the middle

[27:27]of your screen you know i'd like to have your attention you

[27:30]know as teachers we like to always be where the kids will

[27:33]uh but you're you're not the kids i'm just saying it was

[27:35]often is very uh you know it helps with the concentration thank

[27:39]you so much all right so uh let me begin by uh

[27:43]yes uh introducing myself i'm uh shy rose jaffranella and i have

[27:51]a bachelor's in psychology and sociology but i also have a master's

[27:55]in education and the way that this happened in my life was

[27:58]that i too was a new student an immigrant to this country

[28:02]when uh this was 40 years ago so that really dates me

[28:06]but uh you can understand that i've been here a long time

[28:11]and now my children are uh in the school system and are

[28:16]uh two two of my kids are have graduated from university already

[28:18]and my uh youngest is in grade nine it was in grade

[28:23]nine that i really um experienced a change in what it meant

[28:28]to be me when i came to this country i was twelve

[28:29]but by grade 9 i had already experienced a lot of racism

[28:33]and 40 years ago you can imagine even though multiculturalism had been

[28:38]introduced as as a policy it was still in the song and

[28:44]dance uh stage and alhamdulillah thank you thanks to allah and and

[28:50]thanks to the amazing leaders of this country and the educators that

[28:55]we've come a long way and we are all working to make

[28:57]the school system better because we all stand to benefit from it

[29:01]so 40 years ago when i came here uh yes i struggled

[29:07]with racism and i suffered in such a way that i went

[29:11]through the bullying and i went through even a bit of physical

[29:14]violence and uh my school books were stolen and my they were

[29:18]all sorts of things that were happening to me by by the

[29:21]time i got to university i wrote about my experience i was

[29:25]in my fourth year i was 22 years old it took me

[29:29]from the age of 12 to 22 to process all that where

[29:33]i lost a sense of self-worth where i hated the people who

[29:38]weren't helping me of course hating the people who were bullying me

[29:43]but also looking at all the adults around me and the educators

[29:46]not necessarily at my parents but my teachers the principals those who

[29:51]are witness to all of that who thought it's not our problem

[29:58]right kids will fight kids will bully and but when i got

[30:02]to university i wrote about my experience and the title of this

[30:07]article was i ain't sitting beside her it was printed in the

[30:10]toronto star uh on the front page and uh it's still being

[30:15]used in in schools and in universities as a teaching tool because

[30:20]it's about a student who has suffered who suffered and my recommendations

[30:24]uh to the people uh about you know what i felt they

[30:28]could have done and they should be doing right that was just

[30:32]the beginning stage but then i got into a master's degree because

[30:34]people kept coming to me and saying well you suffered so tell

[30:38]us what should we do nobody has all the answers especially us

[30:41]who've suffered we're like you're supposed to solve it but yes it

[30:45]got me to reflecting a little bit and eventually my master's thesis

[30:51]is also used by educators and in the uh in the teaching

[30:54]university in the in the um what is it called pre-service teaching

[30:59]um that they've used it to share some information about what happens

[31:06]to a student when they're going through this and how we can

[31:08]help why am i sharing this with you and letting you know

[31:13]that now we've moved we've come a long way and yet the

[31:17]world continues to throw a lot of monkey wrenches at us right

[31:22]now with the pandemic things have uh really messed up how our

[31:25]children are studying and the gap in the education and the social

[31:30]environment and all that stuff so we're already dealing with a lot

[31:33]we're also dealing with a huge influx of syrian refugees and a

[31:39]lot of persecuted people from all over the world who are finding

[31:45]safety here and as educators we're asking ourselves is this our problem

[31:50]now we're supposed to be teaching math science education you know geography

[31:53]but now we're supposed to be taking care of their needs and

[31:56]we have to worry about whether they've had a good breakfast now

[31:59]we're also to be worried about their psychological state of mind absolutely

[32:04]because i uh stand here as a as a success story i

[32:10]came out of this i could have easily come out a very

[32:14]very traumatized person which i was but this country gave me the

[32:21]education gave me the empowerment and yes there were educators around along

[32:26]the way teachers who said let me help you how do i

[32:30]fix this for you let me protect you what do you need

[32:33]um also sometimes i needed a safe place to sit sometimes the

[32:37]attendance office would just keep me there because people were doing something

[32:41]like that and i was afraid to go there uh sometimes they

[32:44]would just sit and talk to me and be the only friend

[32:47]i had in school because i was bullied but i was also

[32:49]ostracized and left alone so i came out of that having faith

[32:56]that good people exist and that they can help us get through

[32:59]this mess i think uh malihae uh because she wanted this to

[33:06]happen because she realized they are teachers they're educators and their other

[33:10]students who don't know why the shia and the sunni are in

[33:14]conflict well actually as sheikh explained there is no conflict between the

[33:21]shia and sunni there is a rogue group that has called itself

[33:25]a sect of islam but they're not they're a new um invention

[33:33]and and what they've done is created fights between these two sects

[33:39]which although there were differences it was never about killing each other

[33:45]because we all believe in the same god and the same book

[33:47]so what's happened is now we've got children in our school system

[33:52]who are every day seeing a genocide happening around the world globally

[33:58]there are actual violence happening these children are coming to our school

[34:02]and they are people who are not only sunni shia but also

[34:07]wahhabi or who are sunni but who are being influenced by the

[34:10]wahhabi faith um which actually teaches violence which actually thinks that it's

[34:19]okay to kill people because they believe in something that's not what

[34:25]they believe in it's literally okay to not only kill them but

[34:32]kill but also destroy their shrines so it's become a genocide and

[34:35]it's affecting us we cannot do that what people used to often

[34:40]say take this home this is your problem this is a land

[34:44]of immigrants but it's also become a land of refugees and of

[34:48]people who have fled um some really difficult things and they've come

[34:53]here to find safety and they're very grateful but we need to

[34:57]help them um have a safe place so that education can happen

[35:02]so that they can be giving members of society so that they

[35:05]don't grow up bitter and feeling neglected and not understood i remember

[35:11]just growing up 40 years ago here when pizza was ordered and

[35:17]they would order pepperoni and i had no courage to say we

[35:22]don't eat pork so they and if someone knew they would say

[35:26]just peel it off well that's not possible eid either because the

[35:30]faith doesn't allow that but there was no confidence in me to

[35:36]be able to even say i can't eat this so i'd quietly

[35:37]say i don't like pizza or no i'm not hungry and it's

[35:41]on time to feel that empowerment to say i don't believe in

[35:45]this oh i don't cater to that no um this is against

[35:49]my my principles it takes a lot of courage so i think

[35:52]uh teachers like malihae who have said we need to empower young

[35:58]people but we also need to look at the staff that within

[36:02]the staff there are students uh there are other teachers or any

[36:06]part of the staff admin who might want to go on a

[36:12]pilgrimage which is not necessarily known by the mainstream because they know

[36:16]about the sunni faith more they do not know that people go

[36:18]to ziara the other pilgrimage which is to the shrines in iraq

[36:25]and iran so these kinds of things where and i commend malihae

[36:28]for she uh because she uh fought for this with the school

[36:33]board uh and and brought awareness that you know can you change

[36:36]this word from festival to commemoration because festival me it connotates a

[36:41]celebration where this is a mourning that we see us do as

[36:47]well uh if it's okay for someone to get accommodation to travel

[36:51]and not lose their job for hajj let's say and that should

[36:57]be also for this pilgrimage which we share is considered as important

[37:01]as hajj as well the other thing when there's exams when there's

[37:08]um you know huge projects to you when there is a commemoration

[37:11]for the shia which is a mourning period which is ashura for

[37:14]example or other major dates that these should be included in the

[37:20]school calendar and also some kind of accommodation can definitely be made

[37:24]as we do for people who are celebrating a holiday that they

[37:27]are they don't have to do the exam that particular day they're

[37:31]given accommodation um so malay has already done quite a lot a

[37:35]lot in that and i um really commend her for that i

[37:39]also uh thank you all that you you being here in itself

[37:45]is uh showing that you are willing to have uh your awareness

[37:52]your horizons broadened as well uh maliha tells me that it is

[37:59]uh fellow teachers of uh of different faiths uh who encouraged her

[38:03]and when you have a jewish staff member saying to a muslim

[38:08]staff member let's learn about this faith of yours that's so beautiful

[38:13]and that's exactly this country that we love canada is all about

[38:16]now we are here this is our country and we are all

[38:20]brothers and sisters here uh like our prime minister joe uh told

[38:24]the syrian refugees that this is home now this is your home

[38:29]so why are we doing this we uh we want to tell

[38:32]you that the shia the sunni and especially the wahabi are totally

[38:36]different and just like we often used to assume that korean and

[38:42]chinese and japanese singaporean hawaiian filipinos are all chinese just because they

[38:49]had features then we learned that no you can't lump them all

[38:56]together that even people from india they're so different many different types

[38:58]of indians and they're not all hindus some are muslim and some

[39:04]are christian in india we've learned and as we learn we can

[39:07]better live with each other and we can teach better in god

[39:11]willing so we want to create classrooms where students feel a part

[39:16]of the community the educators uh can help the students feel valued

[39:19]in your school experiences and that's why you're here and that's why

[39:21]we wanna talk to you today and we are and we know

[39:25]that uh when they make the school and the classroom uh safe

[39:29]for students as well as staff what happens everyone feels more motivated

[39:35]they feel more accepted they perform better academically but also psychologically uh

[39:42]socially and they eventually grow up to be activists they become policy

[39:49]makers they become people who want to be part of a solution

[39:51]because someone helped them along the way it was a teacher who

[39:57]said tell me more about your faith i had a teacher in

[39:59]grade 13 in those days there were 13 who said teach your

[40:02]class about islam in those days that was really hard and i

[40:07]you know taught my fellow students what the hijab was i myself

[40:11]didn't wear hijab in those days i showed them the the sand

[40:15]of karbala that we pray on which is by the way a

[40:22]huge source of contention for the wahhabis because they believe that that

[40:26]is making this stand an idol whereas we believe that it is

[40:32]an intercessionary thing that it allows us to connect to the land

[40:35]of karbala and uh when i was in mexico and uh they

[40:39]were telling me about special stones that have healing powers there are

[40:44]many cultures that believe these things and we allow them what do

[40:48]you allow is and tolerate is definitely the wrong word they have

[40:52]a right to believe what they believe but what happens is when

[40:54]people bring even what is called the turba or the sand of

[40:59]karbala which is often made into a little round tablet or a

[41:04]square that often um because of what children have learned at home

[41:10]um that this is idol worship they will actually take that and

[41:12]throw it break it or make it a a source of uh

[41:17]you know it's outing somebody and in the shia faith because it

[41:22]has always been a persecuted uh sect what's happened is there is

[41:27]a concept of taqiyya which is when you are allowed to not

[41:31]really out yourself you're not allowed you're allowed to not really mention

[41:35]it if your life will be in danger and it is unbelievable

[41:40]how many of us even in this day and age in 2021

[41:46]have friends very close friends oh we have not been able to

[41:49]say that we are shiatsu because we're so afraid about the stereotypes

[41:53]that they are it's gonna trigger and the hatred um recently uh

[41:57]i think it was two years ago in england uh a young

[42:03]lady uh um in in the month of uh uh holy month

[42:07]of ramadan uh she'd come out with uh after prayers which happens

[42:10]in the middle of the night uh for the sunnis when she

[42:13]uh but this was actually she was a shia she had come

[42:17]out because also prayers happened in the middle of the night for

[42:20]this year as well what had happened was that she had come

[42:22]up with her friends she was bullied because she was a muslim

[42:27]and she was wearing a hijab and she was killed so a

[42:31]gold funny uh was set up and people lots of muslims the

[42:34]outpouring of love that happened and a lot of money was collected

[42:38]for her family i believe her name was more and what happened

[42:42]was eventually it was discovered that she was a shia and the

[42:46]person who started the gofundme sent out a huge apology saying i'm

[42:50]sorry i had no idea she was please take money back and

[42:55]a lot of people did and what it did was it showed

[42:59]that in this day and age there are people who still think

[43:01]that a human being doesn't need help their family doesn't need help

[43:07]with funeral costs or whatever it is that they're suffering people deserve

[43:10]sympathy because of their faith and you know it's time we moved

[43:15]on from all of this so um um basically as we know

[43:21]children who are from a refugee um family or who are from

[43:28]a persecuted um people what happens they've come from a from a

[43:32]from a very difficult background and even those who have lived here

[43:37]in canada or in america what happens is even though they've lived

[43:41]in a very safe environment they have still grown up hearing at

[43:45]the dinner table about the hatred for the shia whether it's in

[43:50]current events in the newspaper on the tv but also in the

[43:53]family they hear about how friends do this and even from the

[43:58]pulpit they hear and they hear about the hatred from their fellow

[44:02]friends as well and so this inequality is oppression perpetrates itself it

[44:08]continues the cycle continues and it is an elephant in the room

[44:12]and we are here thanks to uh to talk about that elephant

[44:16]in the room so that you all can help us and help

[44:20]our children and help canada be a safe place and a place

[44:25]where people are enlightened and um there you know there's all these

[44:28]negative societal beliefs about these minority students and this word minority uh

[44:33]remember is often a sociological term a place like iraq which is

[44:39]a shia majority in terms of the population has is being treated

[44:45]as a minority sociological term where you are oppressed so these students

[44:51]who are um sometimes syrian refugees or sometimes we've just grown up

[44:56]here they still are facing the language barriers they have a lack

[44:59]of trust in the public authorities right because of their previous experience

[45:03]a lot of children from these places where they have fleeing persecution

[45:10]still look at police men and police women as someone who's maybe

[45:15]going to hurt them it's not a safe figure often and sometimes

[45:22]a knock on the door can trigger for these children stress and

[45:28]trauma because their parents react like that because i had a family

[45:33]friend who was like this is what happened to us in iraq

[45:35]that the you know strange knock on the door door open and

[45:40]the door opens and the authorities took my brother away and we

[45:43]never saw him again and this is in toronto in mississauga i

[45:48]remember i went to her house and i just showed up at

[45:50]her door and knocked and she opened the door with her hand

[45:52]on her chest and she said i'm sorry even now when the

[45:57]door bell rings i get scared it triggers all those memories i

[46:04]think what happens to the grandchildren who live in such a home

[46:06]and they've seen their grandmother behave that way throughout her life where

[46:10]she's talking about being afraid she's talking about alienation that unresolved trauma

[46:14]and uh these things feel insurmountable to educators like we're saying how

[46:21]can we help but we've seen in my my situation and in

[46:24]many cases that teachers can absolutely be part of the solution they

[46:28]can stop this violence and the discrimination they can make things a

[46:33]uh a teaching moment and say listen why have you said this

[46:38]to this person you must apologize and then you have a student

[46:42]saying well in my culture we don't apologize to women and it's

[46:45]teaching moment or these people they're infidels why should we they they're

[46:49]they're lesser than us these kinds of things rather than saying take

[46:52]this home take this out of the classroom if we could have

[46:56]the courage to talk about them and realize that doing that you

[47:02]can help someone who has already suffered a lot they have also

[47:06]suffered from missing school they have seen war they have seen violence

[47:11]they've seen murder rape they've heard about people whose daughters were taken

[47:15]away they faced problems poverty at home poverty in the new home

[47:20]uh the nation only used the ptsd in their relatives in the

[47:23]family they are already seeing uh their father's now unemployed being considered

[47:31]less of a human being because he doesn't have a job i

[47:35]remember in my time i had to be yes interpretation my parents

[47:38]spoke good english and still do my father's passed away but my

[47:44]mother has i would say better english and grammar than even i

[47:50]do however the accent is very difficult to keep also that whole

[47:54]thing about uh the caucasian people are more powerful they're stronger they're

[47:58]they're they're better than us that that that uh accepted racism that

[48:03]well you know that we that we we put in it onto

[48:07]our hearts i was often in parent teacher interviews interpret the interpreter

[48:13]and the translator and i didn't have to be that neither did

[48:19]i have to be that person who taught islam to my teachers

[48:22]and my fellow students but i had to in my case it

[48:25]worked out because i became a a preacher and an educator but

[48:29]not everyone accepts this role most people are so angry they say

[48:34]you know what i'm not a muslim i'm i'm not gonna speak

[48:37]about them i'm gonna share with you that i'm a chia so

[48:42]um remember that these families have suffered they have left homes really

[48:46]nice homes a lot of syrian refugees will tell you i don't

[48:49]want to come here i want to go back a lot of

[48:54]immigrants still say back home this to say uh you know our

[48:58]property still still is there we will go one day but their

[49:01]grandchildren are like this is home now what are you talking about

[49:06]um they've fled their homes but they're still very much traumatized so

[49:12]the shias also are suffering that every day as these um these

[49:17]um incidences of uh uh of persecution are um every day being

[49:25]um reported in the news and uh very quickly in the few

[49:31]minutes that i have i want to share with you and you

[49:34]know quickly very quickly i'm and i'm going to share i'm going

[49:37]to give this powerpoint so that you can all read this because

[49:40]this tall order here of talking about shia genocide well it's all

[49:44]there in the news and uh this is the article that i

[49:50]wrote and that was um 28 years ago uh so just this

[49:55]thing the uh that you know the importance of the educator that

[49:58]we need to see people to share faith as a member of

[50:02]a persecuted people this quote i love an immigrant leaves his homeland

[50:06]to find greener grass a refugee leaves his homeland because the grass

[50:13]is burning under his feet and as educators if we could look

[50:18]with that kind of compassion at the students in front of us

[50:20]the shia we talk about them as a minority that's again that's

[50:24]that sociological term this is one day uh arba in as shape

[50:28]has talked about uh where often there are 28 million just and

[50:34]this these are the shrines that are always in danger we go

[50:38]through a lot of security to be able to get inside uh

[50:41]it's the largest annual pilgrimage 21 million 28 million these are numbers

[50:45]there are real numbers documented numbers and we walk we walk 80

[50:50]kilometers i've walked from najaf to karbala and uh food is given

[50:54]out free it's a peaceful gathering and it's uh rarely reported in

[51:00]the news uh often you'll see ashura pictures of people bleeding self

[51:03]uh you know they're they're flagellating etc uh well where you don't

[51:08]see this that 28 million people are together there's room for everyone

[51:12]everyone's feeding each other for free we're all standing i'm i've been

[51:16]one of those people in that crowd that's just on a day

[51:21]one day throughout the year these shrines are visited the shia are

[51:23]not a small number we are a great number we're just a

[51:29]persecuted people and our faith has lasted 1400 years so this is

[51:35]what the shrines look like they're very very beautiful they're they are

[51:39]full of gold these are gold 100 gold in jewels and gems

[51:45]and they are under attack um when we go in there often

[51:49]bombs blow when we're here in such gatherings this is iran and

[51:53]uh this is me in stockholm sweden 10 000 people so don't

[51:57]think that the the the shias don't just uh are just in

[52:01]maybe toronto or i have spoken all over the world and i'll

[52:05]tell you huge processions like these are nothing in india i have

[52:12]spoken they've been 10 20 30 000 people these loudspeakers go miles

[52:14]and miles because the entire cities are shia so what is this

[52:19]anti-shiaism it's a hatred prejudice discrimination persecution uh because of religion traditions

[52:26]and sheer persecution it's happened yes it's isis that really took this

[52:32]to the next level and that's when um large numbers of people

[52:37]then were getting beheaded and uh yes in parts of the world

[52:44]where the shrines are that definitely the shrines are uh destroyed but

[52:47]also graves are destroyed in saudi arabia we have the daughter family

[52:53]prophet of islam her grave has been destroyed his grandchildren his own

[52:58]children um graves of his companions over ten thousand graves have been

[53:05]destroyed by those who um say they are muslims but they are

[53:07]actually uh destroying the shrines of the muslims so why is this

[53:12]genocide with you know and i'll leave this all to you so

[53:16]you can read it quickly quickly i'm just going to go through

[53:17]all of this and to just to prove to you john kerry

[53:21]had talked about this in white house and united secretary of state

[53:26]that he said daesh this is another name for isis they are

[53:30]responsible so the word genocide has become this is not just us

[53:33]saying it's a genocide this is a true thing that's happening and

[53:37]it has been amnesty international these are all quotes and and statistics

[53:42]and i think malihae is before helping me with this afghanistan all

[53:46]the time all right pakistan all the time and there's a brain

[53:51]drain in pakistan not only do they kill doctors lawyers poets speakers

[53:55]islamic speakers but they also force them to leave the country all

[54:00]of those people come here and then they cannot practice cannot be

[54:05]a doctor anymore cannot be a lawyer anymore and in places like

[54:12]afghanistan and et cetera entire busloads of people who are um coming

[54:16]to the shrines um are beheaded bus you know they enter the

[54:21]bus they kill them they kill them all they never get to

[54:25]the shrine so getting to the spine is a very dangerous thing

[54:27]as it is and then you have to deal with often a

[54:29]school board that says um uh where are you going why should

[54:34]you go uh no it's you're dealing with danger as it is

[54:37]and then you're dealing with uh red tape so quickly i'm just

[54:40]going to go through this and i i'm going to use just

[54:43]um maybe two more minutes um because we did want to leave

[54:45]some time for questions but we want to tell you so much

[54:49]you can actually absolutely click on these things and see if the

[54:53]the numbers the numbers the numbers are all there to prove that

[54:56]there is a genocide and so what's happening to these kids who

[54:59]are in your class they're hearing about this they're seeing this their

[55:03]parents are watching the news their lives are interrupted they are facing

[55:08]ptsd they have been they've been relocated they don't necessarily have to

[55:11]be refugees they're suffering because in their city always there is persecution

[55:17]so there is ptsd that's going on these are the systems of

[55:23]psd uh everyone knows this but just the last two slides if

[55:26]you could allow me what you can do as a teacher use

[55:29]these current events um to talk about sectarian violence but when you

[55:33]do it be careful because do not talk about things that you

[55:38]might not know about or what you've read about because chances are

[55:39]a lot of these things are not even true what you're reading

[55:42]do look for true experts do look for shia who speak about

[55:47]the shia faith and the shia islands there are many many many

[55:50]who write books will appear on cnn who appear all over the

[55:56]world who are harvard graduates who are from princeton from harvard who

[56:00]are doing this and they know what it's all about have these

[56:03]kinds of guest speakers now uh and read their books discuss the

[56:07]concept of islamophobia the stereotypes the ill effects the resulting violence i

[56:11]know this is a tall order there's a lot more we want

[56:15]to cover in the class but we can it can be done

[56:19]and teachers have done it and will continue to do it that's

[56:20]the only way we can make this world a better place and

[56:23]yes ensure the school calendar includes these certain dates ask the students

[56:27]why were you up absent why was it a religious holiday tell

[56:31]me about it uh let's make sure that i write that down

[56:33]so i will not give you a big essay to do in

[56:36]the holy month of ramadan when you are fasting and you're falling

[56:38]asleep um teachers want students to learn they're not there to catch

[56:44]them and and make life difficult so ensure that students receive counseling

[56:48]when actually when these things are in the news recently when afghanistan

[56:51]had this uh children were killed at their desks little little tiny

[56:57]shoes um these pictures are all over the internet bloody shoes as

[57:01]well as uh teachers keeping bouquets of flowers on these desks and

[57:05]then one or two students were alive were sitting there at this

[57:09]at their desk to give the idea that look what's happened children

[57:12]are seeing this now with the internet everyone is privy to this

[57:16]we're seeing it on internet on on twitter on facebook on insta

[57:19]everywhere it's time to talk about it in the classroom and say

[57:24]you we need to have counselors and come in to talk to

[57:27]you all because this is not good it's going to cause ptsd

[57:30]in you all because you are shia you're worried that this violence

[57:33]might come here to your to our country so talk about these

[57:38]sectarian biases within the staff within the classroom there are people who

[57:41]feel this way their closet uh bullies closet haters called closet racists

[57:46]and and yes there are people who are hiding the fact that

[57:51]they're jail be sensitive with the terminology especially when these islamic political

[57:54]figures are being talked about and which we call them we're using

[57:58]the t word etc so um you know there is so much

[58:03]we can do thank you for listening and i'm i do apologize

[58:07]that there we've overwhelmed you with a lot of statistics a lot

[58:11]of religious information and a lot of requests as well um but

[58:16]i do want to thank you from the bottom of my heart

[58:17]personally as well as on behalf of uh sheikh khazrini for making

[58:25]this happen because uh we already feel um so empowered we already

[58:32]feel so um hopeful and hope as long as there's hope there

[58:36]is a possibility uh that berlin wall falls that that survivors of

[58:44]the holocaust can talk about their story that those who are suffering

[58:47]the holocaust right now you can call it a different name it's

[58:50]genocide but it is a holocaust as well and so when we're

[58:55]bringing that narrative of other people's stories in that we can also

[58:59]talk about current events that genocide's happening persecution is happening right now

[59:03]in the here and now and it can stop if we all

[59:07]joined hands together and said all lives matter thank you so much

[59:13]for giving me your time and i'm sorry for taking extra time

[59:16]as well thank you so so so very much uh this is

[59:23]like shiros and um again you know as uh all three of

[59:25]us have mentioned thank you so much for this and as someone

[59:29]you know myself as well who has experienced firsthand shia genocide who

[59:33]has experienced the bombing and the shooting and whatnot from a very

[59:39]young age and i'm actually just i'm actually trying my i'm trying

[59:43]not to cry and break down because these things really do bring

[59:46]back really painful memories um my own personal message to all of

[59:50]you is do not take your lives for granted here truly do

[59:53]not take your lives for granted here form it's uh i wish

[59:59]i can put into words what i what i personally have seen

[60:02]what i have experienced but um it um it's just very extremely

[60:09]traumatic uh but we were actually wondering if any of you have

[60:14]any questions please please please ask us your question and deepa you

[60:19]can stop recording in case anyone is is in case anyone wants

[60:24]to ask any questions and before you do before any of you

[60:29]do ask us any questions please know that there is no such

[60:31]thing as a stupid question we don't want any of you to

[60:35]feel like oh i would seem so ignorant if i ask this

[60:36]question no no no please this is your perfect time to ask

[60:39]us questions we are here to help you we are here to

[60:47]raise awareness and thank you thank you so so so very much

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Origin of Shiism and Shi'a Genocide - Webinar with the Waterloo Region District School Board

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Origin of Shiism and Shi'a Genocide - Webinar with the Waterloo Region District School Board

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