"We hope that the video can help spark interest in people on what Islam is actually about," Khaja

TORONTO, February 9, (IslamOnline.net) – A public education documentary film was produced by a Canadian Muslim association addressing the problems Muslims faced after the events of September 11, according to a Canadian Daily said.

Titled "No Distance Between Us" the 48-minute film launched by the Association of Progressive Muslims of Ontario (APMC) aims at creating awareness to the Muslim community who has been facing directed hateful stereotypes and hate crimes for three years now, the Toronto Star said Monday, February 9.

"We have all felt the impact of the terrorist attacks and we all felt the need to do something about it. We hope that the video can help spark interest in people on what Islam is actually about," explained Mobeen Khaja, the association's president.

The educational film is intended to be a resource for use in schools and police training to create awareness and sensitivity to the Muslim community, the paper said.

The video, viewed at Grade 8 class at Ajax's Alexander Graham Bell Public School, shows the experiences of the school's Muslims students and similar cases of discrimination and hate crimes against them.

The video is a partnership between The Association of Progressive Muslims of Ontario, The Durham District School Board, and The Durham Regional Police Service.

The $40,000 funding for this project is provided by the Department of Heritage, Ministry for Multiculturism.  

The video, taken by Khaja's son Mateen, a freelance videographer, interviewed dozens of people, from Muslims to their supporters, educators, community leaders from all faiths and police officers from across the region to document their feelings after the attacks, the Star added.

Lack Of Knowledge

Lack of knowledge about Muslims and Islam was expressed clearly in one of the interviews with a white teenage girl who recited her experience when she came about to be with a Muslim woman on the same flight.

The girl admitted she felt silly for thinking that the woman was a suicide bomber  as the chance brought them to sit next to each other which gave them an opportunity to talk.

The teacher of the students in Craig Dougall's class admitted that such lack of knowledge about Muslims is real, the paper added.

"We generally fear what we don't know," Dougall told the class.

Dougall admitted that "ignorance leads to fear; fear leads to stereotypes; stereotypes lead to prejudice. We have discrimination when we act upon that. It is a vicious cycle." 

The video showed also images of hate crimes against Muslim students as attacking them, calling them terrorist.

One of the kids was accused of being a member of Taliban for his skin color.

"I was disappointed and started crying because I didn't like to be discriminated (against) for what (the terrorists) have done, which is against my religion and my moral values," the now 13-year-old boy revealed to his Grade 8 class at Ajax's Alexander Graham Bell Public School.

Nazneen Dindar, Durham District School Board's ethnocultural and race relations facilitator, said "the board has a large and growing Muslim population, and since 9/11, her office has received more calls from concerned teachers looking for resources to educate students about the religion," the Star added.

A team of Durham teachers is working on a user guide for the video, an initiative  which, according to Dougall who works in the team, would open up dialogue about issues surrounding Islam and its followers.

The class discussion tackled different points concerning Islam and Muslim starting with tracing the geography of Arabic countries and was followed by a debate over the rules about wearing a hijab, the veil worn by Muslim women, and the functions of imams, who are Muslim scholars.

The APMC stated in its website the aims of this project as to create a better understanding of Canadian Muslim and their believes as well as illustrating the false bad images imposed on Muslims after the September 11 events.   

A recent handout by the Israel Action Committee at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, directed hateful stereotypes against Muslims and Arabs issue which outraged the Canadian Muslims represented by the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN).

Hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs rose to a sky rocketing level following the events of September 11 as blaming them for the attacks, and law enforcement officials were not fully prepared to combat such onslaught, a report by the Human Rights (HRW) Watch advocacy group said on November 14, 2002.

Not only excluded on the American Muslims, attacks against Canadian Muslims began a few days after the September 11 as in September 24, 2001, a mosque in the quiet city of Halifax in Canada was attacked by destroying two large glass windows of the Alrasoul Islamic Society.