Changes are coming upon Islam faster now than in the age of our greatest territorial expansion. Today the changes have to do not with military conquest or the conversion of new peoples to the faith but with the impact upon us of economic, social and technological change, urbanization, population explosions, skyscrapers, automobiles, hotels and airports. Future shock is upon us.

Since all that we see and do resonates on the faith, the aesthetics of the environment we build and the quality of the social interactions that take place within those environments, reverberate on our spiritual life

Islam does not deal in dichotomies but in all encompassing Unity. Spirit and body are one, man and nature are one. What is more, man is answerable to God for what man has created.

All to often we forget that Islamic societies lived and worked and were educated in secular buildings, and these buildings still reflected the art, the taste, the culture, the skill and the craftsmanship of those societies.

Canada is not among the largest international donors, but her programs are extremely well administered and reach the ordinary people whom they are intended to benefit. That is a rare accomplishment today.

We must acknowledge that the world is changing, but in so doing we must realize that there are still many lessons to be drawn from the past.

All cultures naturally influence each other to a greater or lesser degree; the strongest are those in which the dominant elements remain dominant and refuse to be overwhelmed by external forces.

All cultures naturally influence each other to a greater or lesser degree; the strongest are those in which the dominant elements remain dominant and refuse to be overwhelmed by external forces. They become stronger still when they retain the ability to select, to absorb that which invigorates and enriches and to reject that which is inimicable.

Our history is firmly rooted, our culture evolving and our faith strong and permanent; surely these have an impact on our modern lives and sensibilities.

our ability to communicate in several tongues sometimes impedes our expressing ourselves clearly in any one of them. If our command over several languages can erode our precision of expression, I wonder how much more quickly our eyes lose their ability to discern the integrity of a visual language.