Recently, concerns have been raised within Ottawa's Muslim communities about how many of youth that seemed to be involved in gang-related violence, both as victims and as perpetrators, are from Muslim families.

Muslim Link is one of several sponsors of the Arabian Canadian Bazaar taking place Sunday, January 18th at St. Elias Banquet Hall. This a charity event organized by the Syrian Association of Ottawa in collaboration with Human Concern International in the hopes of raising over $25,000 for humanitarian aid for Syrians. Other sponsors of the event include Autorebex International, Iraqi Student Association of Carleton University, Muslim Student Association of Carleton University, Bab Elhara Cafe, Youth Gentler and Softer Hearts, H&M Photography, and Sweet Castle.

Sheikh Ismail Albatnuni was born in 1964 in Tripoli, Libya. From an early age, he sought out Islamic knowledge, memorizing the Quran, and eventually studying Maliki fiqh (a school of Islamic jurisprudence) from local scholars. However, he knew if he ever wanted to take his studies further it would mean having to leave his homeland.

"In Libya at that time, it was very difficult. Qaddafi shut down all of the Islamic universities," Sheikh Albatnuni explained. Instead, Albatnuni made the practical choice to study engineering and computer systems. However, in 1992, he left Libya to study at a branch of Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) because he was "very eager to study sharia." After graduating, he went on to teach Islamic Studies at Khalifa bin Zayed Air College.

Currently, Dr. Scott Flower from the University of Melbourne in Australia is looking for Canadian converts to Islam to particpate in his study of the Canadian Muslim Convert experience. His Canadian-based research collaborator Megan Ryder Burbidge contacted Muslim Link so we could promote the study within our networks. We wanted to know more about the study's objectives and funding first. Here is what we learned.

On December 18th members of Ottawa's Pakistani community gathered in front of City Hall to pay their respects to the victims of the attack on the Army Public School for Boys in Peshawar in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Over 140 lives were lost, most of them children.

The Noor Conference, otherwise known as "Go Halal or Go Home" is back for another year from December 19th to 21st at Masjid Assunnah and the University of Ottawa. It began in 2011 and is an initiative that has been led by Muslim Canadian youth from the beginning.

25 years ago today in Canada, 14 women were murdered for being women. The massacre at l'École Polytechnique in Montreall'École Polytechnique in Montreal by Marc Lepine which took place on December 6th 1989. At the end of November this year, Somali Canadian public health nurse Zahra Abdille and her son Faris, 13, and Zain, 8 were brutally murdered by her husband Yusuf Abdille. The lives of the women who were murdered in the Montreal massacre and of Abdille and her children were recognized on December 5th at the Somalic Women's Circle Network's I Matter, Gender Equity Matters Event which took place at Carleton University in partnership with the university's Institute of African Studies. The event was organized as part of the United Nations 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence which begins on November 25, the UN International Day to End Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, Human Rights Day.

On November 8th, I was invited to speak at the Muslim Coordinating Council's "Turning the Tides: A Panel Discussion on Young Muslim Radicalization and Crime Prevention".

I was particularly pleased that a Muslim youth, Afnan Khan, was given the lead on organizing the panel and moderating the discussion. Muslim organizations need to give more space to younger Muslims to organize and lead sessions that have to do with issues youth are facing.

Chelby Marie Daigle discusses her experience speaking at the University of Ottawa's Muslim Community Association's Islam & Mental Health Discussion Session on October 31st.

Syrian Canadian Mohammad Dourou, the owner and publisher of Muslim Link, was honoured with a Community Builder Award by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) on October 26th at their annual fundraising dinner. Other recipients included Somali Canadian Hawa Shafi Mohamed for her work advocating for Muslims in prisons and South African Canadian Khadija Haffajee, an NCCM Board Member. for her life-time of leadership within North America's Muslim communities.