From 24th of July the 8th annual conference would open in Toronto and would continue until 27the of July. The theme selected for the theme is “”Ethiopian Muslims’ Challenges and Opportunities“
Here is a brief introduction of the theme as posted on their website
Ethiopia has contributed alot for Islam since its birth throughout history. This contribution has not been recognized for many generations and centuries. The reason is that many of its citizens, includiong Muslims have not been taught effectively about their Islamic identity and they are lacking historical background on the Islamic link to their country. Even at this moment a few people know that the majority of the Ethiopian pupolation are Muslims. This year’s theme has been selected to commemorate our Islamic history and learn more.
We felt that it’s a historical obligation for us to maintain and protect our Islamic history!
There are prominent Muslim scholars, historians and many other activists who would deliver their speech at the conference The participants are from all the continents, with some guests from Ethiopia and the number is expected to be in thousands. Mufti Sh. Omer, Mufti Sh. SIraj, Prof. Husein Ahmed, Dr Lapiso D. are some among many (check the list ).
It is our wish and prayer that the convention succeeds .It succeeds so that it would be a door of opportunity for the Ethiopian Muslims to get into a new era. An era which ends the abuse, ensure equity and justice.
Ethiopian Muslims are facing daunting challenges and this makes the duty of the organization also challenging. As long as it succeeded in gathering all the stake holders under one roof, it is half way through. Now it is time to use this opportunity. Every minute should have a unique value to address the challenges, and bring up the opportunities it made a theme.
To be specific, the speeches and the discussion should be in the context of the objective of the organization and the reality of Ethiopian Muslims. Muslimｖscholars should bring Islamic way of breakthrough of how to overcome the challenges . Muslims scholars should give Ethiopian context, and one example might be of the challenges that Ethiopian Muslim students are facing. They are facing a hard choice, which is apparently between their religion and academy. Nothing is new about this tactic as previous regimes alienated the Muslims in their own system. The outcome is uneducated, backward Muslim regions with no political power what so ever, and we are paying the price today. Therefore, Muslims scholars should give a wider context to the issue and examine the short and long run impact in their search for Islamic solution. This is just a typical example of the iceberg, and it holds true for the historians as well as other activists.
Perhaps it is too late and too little to write this as the conference is about to start. Yet, we should acknowledge Badr`s effort to arrange this great conference with limited sources.
We should expect a real change once every Ethiopian Muslim feels that he/she has a role to play in the ongoing effort. It should not be a kind of “Badr should do this and that” rather “we should do this and that” we are the organizations and the organization is us, and none can go forward without the other.