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\u201cI had been calling myself Muslim since 1968 because it was cool. You know, Malcolm X, Black awareness in the United States..\u201d<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
Michelle Walrond\u2019s tale about being Muslim in a different era and place is part of this great-grandmother\u2019s remarkable life story.<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s a story that Walrond, aka Um Nur, was happy to share with library borrowers at the CBC\u2019s third annual Human Library, in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library on January 25, 2014.<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt was a lot of fun,\u201d she laughs as she reflects on the event a few days later, adding that she\u2019s the oldest convert in years since converting, not in age. \u201cA lot of people wanted to know why I converted, and the next most common question: What\u2019s different nowadays compared to when I converted \u2013 which is what I wanted to talk about.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Walrond says that she explained to curious borrowers that the image about Islam was vastly different back when she took her shahada (the testimony of faith that makes a person Muslim).<\/div>\n
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\u201cA lot of the books that we read in the 70\u2019s, the translations were very poor and their quality wasn\u2019t great, but they gave us a broader understanding of Islam. They exposed us to a diversity of opinions and the authors would explain why they took a position on a particular question, and show respect for opposing viewpoints,\u201d she remembers. Walrond says that\u2019s different nowadays.<\/div>\n
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\u201cNow one superficial, one-dimensional politically-motivated interpretation of Islam is flooding the digital and print media,\u201d she says critically. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to find information that is not coming through the ultra-conservative interpretation that has gained prominence through the petro-dollars of Saudi Arabia,\u201d she says. \u201cI just wanted people to know that it hasn\u2019t always been like that.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Walrond says she adheres to the tolerance, intellectual maturity and idealism of Traditional Islam, which pre-dates extreme interpretations of Islam and to which the majority of Muslims adhere. Social justice in Islam has greatly informed her own activism, going strong for decades. <\/div>\n
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Walrond is currently the chair of the Ottawa South chapter of ACORN, an association which works to promote the rights of low and moderate income families. <\/div>\n
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\u201cA lot of Muslims don\u2019t know about grass-roots organizing, or they think activists comprise a fringe, radical group that just wants to cause trouble. Wealthy Muslims and most people who live in comfort don\u2019t know that our social safety net and even aspects of immigration law started as a result of regular people petitioning the government to change things for the better,\u201d she explains.<\/div>\n
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Walrond participates in one or two meetings or \u201cactions\u201d a month.<\/div>\n
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\u201cA regular priority for ACORN is making the general public aware that there are people living in chronic poverty,\u201d she says. \u201cPoverty in Canada is not always easy to identify, especially among Muslims.\u201d<\/div>\n
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A few years ago, Walrond founded an organization called the National Islamic Sisters\u2019 Association of Canada (NISA), because she felt that there were a high number of Muslim women who weren\u2019t being helped as they should be through mosques and the general community.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOne of the elders in our community went with me to a homeless shelter and found seven people living in one room and they said, well, in their country, it\u2019s eight to a room,\u201d recalls Walrond. \u201cThey don\u2019t seem to understand it is not fair to apply the living standards of other countries here. Every Muslim has a right to live in dignity, and to dress and be housed decently. Even low-income Muslims have a right to hold their head up in society.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Walrond decries the way some leaders will ask very insensitive questions about why a woman may have fallen on hard times. She says that having seen how the Catholic and Jewish family services provide help has taught her a lot about treating each needy case with dignity.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe feel Muslim women shouldn\u2019t have to beg when they go to our community leaders for help. We verify that you need help but we don\u2019t care why. We might talk to your landlord, or we may ask for a bank statement. We won\u2019t tell you ahead of time what we will need for verification. No one has ever tried to defraud us. We look people in the eye and give practical aid with emergencies.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Walrond knows about this because she herself has lived on a modest income for years. She says many people don\u2019t realize that government supports are hardly enough for families and individuals to meet their basic needs. For example, she explains a person on disability will be allotted just over $1100, which includes rent, basic needs, and any work-related expenses. Welfare is even less.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMost people, including the disabled and \u201cthe working poor\u201d, will live with a five hundred to one thousand dollar deficit each month,\u201d she explains.<\/div>\n
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In the past three years, Walrond says an average of two local women per month have come to NISA, a registered non-profit, seeking help. At the moment, whatever dollar comes in is usually out fairly quickly, she explains. \u201cIf we could refer women with financial emergencies to those who collect Zakat and use the donations we receive to develop social enterprises for our sisters, we could provide practical solutions to the root causes of many of these emergencies.\u201d She hopes to see the creation of a Muslim women\u2019s centre, an institution to actively address the causes of social, spiritual and economic stagnation of Muslim women.<\/div>\n