Parliament of World
Religions held in Toronto: the world class Interfaith city
Power of love!
Habeeb Ali
Nov 11th 2018
We remember!
I had the honor of presenting for the second time at the
Parliament- a 100-year-old Interfaith Institution- on my work as a Chaplain as
well as my community engagement work with Toronto’s interfaith bodies. It was
indeed a satisfying experience given that Toronto was host to such a global
family of some 80 countries from 220 spiritual paths.
One of the many intriguing wisdom shared by my fellow panelists
was the strong sense of peace each faith provides to its followers- the Swami from
Hollywood whose Vedanta teachings has impacted thousands of lives and so has
the Buddhist Monk Dr. Saranpala from Toronto Mindfulness program and the Satya
Sai spiritualist from India influence of love by Dr. Redding. Islam itself
means peace and from that derives Salam which means peace. Not always is this
the story. Our deliberate efforts over the past decades to share the beauty of our
faith in Toronto’s 190 ethnicities makes this world class city unique.
From right inset are Interfaith Panelists Dr. Bhante
Saranpala, Imam Habeeb Alli, Swami Sarvadevananda, Dr. Narendranath Reddy, and
Anupom Ganguli.
It so happened that the 7500 attendees at the conference
weren’t only treated to the wisdoms and music of the many spiritual and
religious persuasions but concrete ways communities have engaged in peace
building. That weekend Nov 1st to 7th thousands joined
hands in creating Rings of Peace around synagogues after the Pittsburgh terror
attack by a white supremacist. The Ring of Protection was actually started by a
group of us- Imams, Rabbis and Pastors when the same brutal fate was meted out
to six worshippers at the Quebec Mosque last year.
Among the dynamic speakers that represented Toronto are Dr. Hamid
Slimi for his on going work with Rabbis and Pastors in seeing to the creation
of a better world, Dr. AbueLaish Ezzeldin for winning the peace prize after he forgave
the killer of his two daughters in Palestine, Dr. Shabbir Ally for his work
with the city synagogues,and churches in Interfaith dialogue, Shaikh Imran Ally and Dr AbdulHai Patel for their historic work at the Ontario Multi-faith Council and Margaret Atwood
for her unapologetic attitude towards the deniers of social justice and climate
change.
When we look at how Toronto sits on the lands of the First
Nations and we inherit a land of treaty and occupiers we cannot help admire how
much a strong and respectful presence
the elders and youths of the Indigenous people were afforded at the Parliament- including keynotes
and smudge ceremonies and accountability of the Truths and Reconciliation
commission. I was touched that the stories shared by young change makers on
their journey from trauma to making a better world reminds me as a new
immigrant to Canada that I must not sit idle in ignorance whilst enjoying the
fruits of our ancestors and not contributing positively towards the alleviation
of the First Peoples’ suffering. I was had actually invited Elders to do the smudging
ceremony in our One Love Galas more than once and invited the leader of the Missing Aboriginal Women of
Manitoba to address our Ramadan dinner last year because building bridges
between Muslims and First Nations is crucial.
Back to where we started- the seven-days convention at Metro
Convention Centre ended with plenaries and the beautiful dance of one of the many
persons I met during the blessed Langar- the Sikhs provided daily free
lunches. The Parliament was the meeting
of many faces, many hugs, many traditions, and many more Holi colors but like a
dance executed with refinement- we are all just one family living together on
mother Earth and Peace is our only glue or we will perish!
As Rumi said: Leave the Circle of
Time and Enter the Circle of Love!
Beautiful. I like how you end with "like a dance executed with refinement- we are all just one family living together on mother Earth and Peace is our only glue or we will perish!"
ReplyDeleteThanks Habiba!
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