Watch above: In an effort to remove themselves from the extremists, Canadian Muslim families invite people in. Aaron Streck spends some time with a Saskatoon family to find out what the two week program does for them.
SASKATOON – For the first time since moving to Saskatoon from Pakistan over three years ago, Rashid Ahmed and his mom opened their door to guests.
“I don’t even sleep because I was waiting for them for whole night, yeah it was exciting moment for me,” said Ahmed.
Michael and Esther Ruten, along with their two children, were invited over for a traditional meal. It comes as the national campaign “Meet A Muslim Family” runs across the country.
“It’s the first time in his home, first time meeting his mom and so it’s been really good, it’s been nice,” said Michael Ruten.
“Guests is like blessing of god for us and when we invite people to our home we are so excited, we are welcoming and we are serving them, this is the best way to make friendship,” said Ahmed.
The campaign launched Sunday in response to recent terrorist attacks carried out by extremists in Canada and around the world. Over the next two weeks, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at will attempt to remove misconceptions about Islam and Muslim people.
READ MORE: Muslim leaders in Calgary open its doors to community, hoping to remove misconceptions about Islam
“Our faith is loyalty to the countries part of our faith and our motto is ‘love for all hatred for none,’ so our doors are open at houses for everyone, our mosques are open for everyone and we want to make everyone united,” said Ahmed.
“We always think, once you have someone in your home you kind of get to the next level with friendship, solidifies it, we always try to invite all of our friends over for meals, it’s nice to be the recipient of it as well,” said Ruten.
While this was the first time the families got together at the Ahmed’s, it won’t be the last. They were already discussing another get together but next time at the Ruten’s.
There are close to 10,000 Muslims living in Saskatoon with 1,200 part of the Ahmadiyya community.
If you’re interested in taking part in the campaign, you can sign up for it at the Meet a Muslim Family website.
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