A new Muslim community center in Brantford will have an “open-door policy” but its actual doors must remain locked, said Naser Hamed.
Hamed, president of the Muslim Association of Brantford, said the security decision is unfortunate but necessary in light of a deadly mosque attack in Quebec City five years ago that killed six people.
“It’s very sad, but we have to deal with it,” Hamed said Sunday afternoon at the centre’s official opening.
“But I think the Brantford community understands what the Muslim community is doing. We are from Brantford. We are Canadians and we love this community and are working with our partners here all the time.”
The centre, which occupies a unit in a strip mall at 627 Park Rd. N., will be open 24 hours a day to all association members who use an access code, the same security procedure as the mosque on Greenwich Street.
“There will be a phone number on the door so if we verify the identity of this person we can provide the code,” said Hamed.
Nearly 40 people attended the opening, including Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis, Brantford-Brant MP Larry Brock and Brantford-Brant MP Will Bouma.
Davis commended the association for combating Islamophobia.
Brock said the centre’s opening provides “hope at a time of division and great turmoil in the world.”
And Bouma said the Muslim message of “love for all and hate for none” should resonate with everyone.
Noting Canada’s support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion of that country, Hamed said he wants to see the federal government treat the same all people who are fighting for their lands.
“We are totally against the Russian occupation,” he said.
“We are totally against taking people’s lands but we’re asking the government to take the same measures in Palestine, which has been occupied for the last 75 years.
“Muslims in Gaza are being bombed. Those heroes in Ukraine are fighting back but, by the same token, Palestinians fighting with stones are considered terrorists. Humans are all the same – Kashmir, Yemen, Iraq, everywhere – and we need the government to have the same standard.”
Hamed said he hopes Canada will continue to be a peacekeeper.
Pharmacist Anwar Dost, a founding member of the Muslim Association, and his business partner, Mohammed Rana, donated funds for the new centre. Dost said the new area for daily prayers, teaching and socializing is the association’s first project since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago.
Dost urged those at the opening to consider volunteering as a way to express gratitude for the “abundance of everything” found in Canada.
Dost and Rana are working on plan for a $10-million Muslim community center near the Brantford airport that will feature a gymnasium and school.
Hamed noted that the local Muslim population has grown in the last five years and the mosque serves 200 to 250 families.
“Muslims chose Brantford because Brantford is the best place in Ontario.”
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