Colorado Avalanche player proud to be a role model for Muslims

Nazem Qadri holds the Stanley Cup after the Colorado Avalanche beat Tampa Bay on Sunday. (Mike Carlson/Getty Images)


During these influential playoffs in the National Hockey League, my mind was not only on the results of the games, but the impact of the winners. When Colorado's collapse came close to winning the Stanley Cup final, my thoughts turned to Avalanche's Nazem Qadri.

Qadri is a Muslim man of Lebanese origin. Last month, Qadri's wife, Ashley, posted the hateful messages Cedres received on an Instagram account she runs for Jazzy, the family's pet. Yes, people were sending violent racist messages to the Toxido cat account.

The majority of the assailants are allegedly St. Louis Blues fans who were angry that Qadri was involved in a collision with goalkeeper Jordan Pennington. (Pennington later admitted that he threw a bottle of water at Qadri while searching for a recycling container. It's hockey. It's a competitive game."

 

But while Pennington, a high-profile environmental activist, threw a plastic bottle at Qadri for his violation, a flood of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred came with him from fans. It has become so bad that the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and the Arab-Canadian Institute In the next game, My Destiny scored a triple. As pleased as I was with the player Qadri, my interest in my destiny and the wider Muslim and Arab community was that the novel would be that Qadri "resisted racism" by playing the best possible game for him.

 

But was that the case, or was he just a hockey player trying to defeat an opponent? How to treat Qadri and his family and manage this kind of abuse and stress is not something we are entitled to know. Navigating through racist abuse and violent threats is personal and very disturbing. I'm familiar with it. The burden of eliminating racism should not fall solely on those who suffer from it.

 

But the ability to push that weight and play at the highest level is amazing. It's also a burden that more than 90 percent of NHL players don't have to manage. Like other racist players, a large minority in the NHL, Qadri is judged differently from others by the media and fans. (CAI) have called on the NHL to impose a lifetime ban on abusers.

Qadri may not be the first Muslim or Arab to play in the NHL, but he is certainly the most prominent Muslim hockey player in the world. He is not ashamed of his cultural and religious identity.

 

Qadri from London, Ont. Just over a year ago, Canada witnessed a horrific terrorist attack that led to the brutal killing of a Muslim family. Qadri expressed his condolences and sadness online. The Nazim Qadri Foundation has pledged to focus its work on mental health issues this year.



One thing we can learn from Nazim Qadri is not to apologize for how we deal with anti-racism work and how we approach winning. I may not be a Fan of the Colorado Avalanche, but I will certainly thank God for this win when I say my prayers and hope that other boys and girls will win them in the major leagues as my destiny did.