The wind does not blow in the same direction for ever

Islam is a total religion touching on all aspects of a Muslim's life. Therefore the Imam, whilst caring first of all for the spiritual wellbeing of his people, should also be continuously concerned with their safety and their material progress.

Islam is an all encompassing faith and it gives direction to every aspect of one's life. It urges the individual to lead a balanced life, one that strives to accommodate both material progress and spiritual well-being. But no man, woman or child can hope to achieve this balance in sickness, illiteracy or squalor.

And while Canada may not be unique in welcoming the victimized to her shores, where she stands very nearly alone is in her encouragement to her new citizens to maintain their traditions and customs. An encouragement that is in my view a particularly wise and mature expression of democratic freedom.

Islam therefore guides man not only in his spiritual relationship with God, it also guides man in his relationship with his fellow men and his relationship with the material world around him. It encourages enterprise, but warns that enterprise, without a social conscience, is not acceptable.

Ultimately, the question we are asking is, whether man will serve all of humanity or only certain segments of it.

The new economic order is clearly of the greatest importance to us all, but I venture to say that few industrialised nations of the North have been so consistently supportive of the concept than Canada.

As a Muslim, one of seven hundred million, I live in daily astonishment about the incomprehension of Islam and its peoples. Some western media have perpetuated misconceptions which stick like shrouds to the bones of historical skeletons, but in most civilizations the dead are buried.

I have worked to build many bridges between the West and the Third World... But in this field of communications, a corner stone of our hopes for world peace, I am afraid that what exists is not a bridge. It is a wall.

"Freedom of the Press" are four of the most commonly used and misused words in the English language.