Inclusion, acceptance and tolerance.
These are just three of the pillars that award-winning author and storyteller Rukhsana Khan uses to reach her audience as she attempts to show them that Muslim men and women are not to be feared— but rather embraced and understood.
Pakistani by birth, Khan, who emigrated to Canada at the age of three with her family in search of a better life, is no stranger to religious persecution, racism and bullying.
In a bid to escape it, she accepted the Islamic teachings and decided to incorporate it into her daily life in order to change her reality.
Crediting the turn-around which followed her into adulthood, Khan said she is now challenged to take on persons who often find themselves avoiding persons of the Muslim faith and who tend to laugh and mock their cultural values and traditions.
Urging persons to engage mainstream media in order to change accepted norms and beliefs, Khan said, “When you know the people, when you like the people, it is harder to slaughter the people and wage war.”
Khan delivered the remarks as she addressed persons during a brunch hosted by the Islamic Ladies Social and Cultural Association (ILSCA) at the TML Multi Purpose Hall, St Joseph, on Saturday.
Invited to T&T by the Rio Claro Heritage Festival Committee, Khan witnessed the devastating floods which swept across much of Trinidad two weekends ago but said she was heartened by the outpouring of love that all citizens unaffected by the disaster had demonstrated.
ILSCA president Shaleeza Khan-Ali said regardless of colour, creed, race or religious persuasion —everyone was about providing aid to those who needed it.
Khan urged those present to stand up; be brave; engage the audience with humour and facts; be authentic; be kind; and learn how to use the “currency” of the listener to make them better understand men and women of Islam.
As a celebrated children’s author whose books have won a number of awards—one of them was even chosen by the New York Public library as one of the 100 Greatest Children’s Books in the Last 100 Years—Khan advised persons to use a story to drive home their point.
She said, “This will reach the hearts of people and resonate with them. If you can change their hearts, you can change their minds.”
In addition, she appealed to persons to adopt a less aggressive approach as she said this will allow the audience to warm to the speaker.
Acknowledging the level of injustice currently taking place worldwide, Khan said every religion was not without, “its’ own crazies.”
However, she said it was important not to let that be the defining factor as she encouraged persons to become allies and fight oppression.
In an interview, Khan said her first loves still included reading and writing.
She said when a grade eight teacher told her she was a writer, she dismissed the idea as crazy and thought, “Writers were white people. They were from England and America.”
To be sensible, she graduated from college at the top of her class as a biological-chemical technician and when she couldn’t get a decent job she decided to be un-sensible and become a writer.
Khan has published 13 books, some of which have been translated in different languages.
