How do you correct a bad name that others have given you throughout history?
That's the question more than 3,000 Muslims from across North America tried to answer over the weekend at the 27th Islamic Society of North America conference.
As the Muslim population continues to grow on this continent, demolishing the fence between the east and west would be a good start, said the group's president, Muzammil Siddiqi, an Islamic scholar from Los Angeles.
``We should not have alienation. We should not divide Islam, which is for all people,'' he told the audience at the two-day conference at the Toronto Congress Centre.
Since the medieval Crusade when Europeans fought to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims, people of Islamic faith have been unfairly painted as heretic.
Media stories that often associate Islam with ``militants, fundamentalists and terrorists'' fuel misconceptions about the religion and its people, Siddiqi said, warning the audience not to let negative stereotypes provoke them.
Organizing director Shamim Haq said the conference helps unite the Muslim community in the west to come up with strategies to live in harmony with their neighbours while keeping their religious life intact.
Guest speaker Siraj Wahhaj, imam, of Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., said the community needs centralized leadership to educate the public about the faith.
``We must bring in competent people to lead the movement,'' he said.
``We won't be able to change the (public's) perceptions unless you as individuals have the attitude to correct the bad name and give the best examples and images of Islam.''
Wahhaj said changes take time but younger Muslims will bridge the gap.
``You have a better chance to go way much further than me. You have a head start. Use it,'' he said to the young audience.
An all-day moon sighting panel discussion takes place today at the Islamic Society of North America's headquarters in Mississauga