"Sa-Sa, my friend, you must teach me how to pray," Samuel Rosewood said enthusiastically, and he pointed to the words 'Family in Faith' written on his new blue jersey, along with the description Muslim Scholars Association of the Mississauga branch of the University of Toronto. It was Islamic Awareness Week, and after much soul searching, Samuel came to the conclusion that joining the faith was the right thing to do. After taking Shahada, Samuel took the moniker Samir Al-Tawil, meaning 'tall one.'
A native of the island of Grenada, in the heart of the Caribbean, Samuel Rosewood had become interested in Islam after moving to the City of Toronto to study Law. His parents Vincent Rosewood and Ankita Shaji-Rosewood of St. George, Grenada, raised him to be a good Catholic, but that was in the water at the moment. Samuel was a changed man. A big part of his interest in the world's fastest growing religion stemmed from his friendship with a particular lady...
Samuel had always been open-minded, the product of his unique parentage and his upbringing on the island of Grenada, where people of African descent along with Indians and a few Europeans combined to form a unique nation and culture. Samuel's father Vincent Rosewood is Afro-Grenadian, and his mother Ankita Shaji originally hails from the Kerala region of India. She came to Grenada for work, and ended up staying, getting married and building a life there.
The son of a fairly unique, interracial couple, Samuel Rosewood learned to understand the nuances and complexities of the world around him at an early age. He'd always been quite curious, and spoke several languages, among them English, French, Spanish and Hindi. When he won a coveted international scholarship which saw him move to the City of Toronto, Ontario, Samuel began the journey of a lifetime. At the University of Toronto's Mississauga campus, Samuel met a unique young woman, the lovely Sa-Sa.
"My brother, it will be my pleasure," Sayyida "Sa-Sa" Haddad replied enthusiastically, and the young Moroccan Muslim woman practically squealed in delight, playfully slapping Samuel's shoulder. Passersby walking around the CCIT Atrium of the Mississauga campus of the University of Toronto paused to look in their direction. There were dozens of Muslim students of all hues in the vast hall, standing next to makeshift kiosks, tables and displays showcasing the Islamic faith in all of its diversity and glory.
"Thank you for this gift," Samuel said, and the tall, strongly built and ruggedly handsome young man nodded gently at Sayyida as he clutched his copy of the holy book of his new faith. He was looking at the beautifully bound holy book with its dark emerald cover, unaware of the intense way a certain beautiful young woman was looking at him. You are mine, Sa-Sa thought, and she flashed Samuel a sweet smile when his gaze finally met hers once more. The two friends exchanged a hug, then Samuel walked away. The cute butt on that man, Sa-Sa thought, smiling naughtily.
From the moment that Sayyida Haddad first laid eyes on Samueluel Rosewood, the young woman knew that he was indeed special. And it wasn't just the butterflies that filled her chest whenever he walked by. At first, Sayyida thought that Samueluel was a fellow Muslim, mistaking his Afro-Indian heritage for that of a Somali person. Truth be told, the Somalis were fairly common around Toronto and Samueluel looked like one of them. As it turns out, the exotically beautiful brother came from much further away than Sayyida initially thought...
On the day that Sa-Sa met Samuel, he was walking around the Atrium, on his way to his next class, and she was handing out recruitment flyers for the Muslim Scholars Association. Most of the students ignored Sa-Sa, or else they quickly trashed the flyers that she handed them. Not Samuel, he stopped and took a flyer from her, and then looked into Sa-Sa's eyes before inquiring about her faith.
"Ma'am, I'm Samuel, I hear much about Islam and don't know what to believe, since I know the media is biased, I try to keep an open mind," Samueluel said to Sa-Sa, and she smiled at him, thrilled to hear those words. There were so many people out there with negative views of the Islamic faith, and Sa-Sa grew up feeling quite defensive in the face of such intolerance. It was refreshing to meet a young man who was open-minded, and frigging cute, too.
"My brother, I'm glad you feel this way, I'm Sayyida but everyone calls me Sa-Sa," the young woman replied, and when Samuel held out his hand for her to shake, she hesitated. This cutie doesn't know about social taboos of my faith and I don't want to scare him away, Sa-Sa thought. Smiling, Sa-Sa made a fist and bumped it against Samuel's, and the brother smiled and nodded. That's how it all began...
Sa-Sa was born in the City of Agadir, southern Morocco, and moved to the City of Toronto, Ontario, with her mother, Jamila Haddad, following her parents divorce. Sa-Sa missed her father Omar Haddad, who stayed in Morocco due to his position as a high-ranking member of the Royal Moroccan Army. The Haddad patriarch had risen to the rank of Colonel at the time of his divorce. Sa-Sa made a point of visiting her Baba every summer.
Growing up in the City of Toronto, Sa-Sa had to learn to navigate the pitfalls that came with being a young, Hijab-wearing Muslim woman in the most racially diverse locale in all of North America. In spite of the strong Muslim presence in Toronto, incidents of racism and intolerance against the Islamic community were all too common. People were guarded, and there was conflict between the different ethnic groups. Jamaicans often clashed with Somalis, North Africans sometimes clashed with Arabs, Arabs sometimes clashed with South Asians, and so on.
"In Grenada, we have many different races, and mixed-race people like myself are everywhere, but we do get along," Samuel told Sa-Sa, later that evening, as they walked around the downtown Mississauga core, after a long meeting of the Muslim Scholars Association. Islamic Awareness Week was always a fun time at the University of Toronto, but a lot of the Muslim activity flyers were defaced and replaced with racist graffiti, something both Samuel and Sa-Sa found disheartening.
Along with several members of the Muslim Scholars Association, Samuel and Sa-Sa spoke to the campus authorities about the incident, and there was even a police report. Samuel didn't think the Toronto police would do anything about the incident. Even with a black man as its new Chief, the Toronto Police's dislike of minorities was well known at this point.
The two friends walked close together, partly due to the bitter cold of January in the City of Toronto, and due to the fact that they were really close, almost inseparable. The day started so nicely with Samuel and Sa-Sa breezing through their morning classes, then volunteering at Islamic Awareness Week, and then this racist bullshit happened. To take Sa-Sa's mind off of things, Samuel treated her to dinner at Sunrise Caribbean restaurant, and then they went for a stroll.
"We have different races in Morocco too, Berbers, Black Africans, Arabs, and a few Europeans, but there's a lot of discrimination, that's why I prefer Toronto, we're all minorities here," Sa-Sa said, looking intently at Samuel. She remembered the way that a lot of Berbers and Arabs treated Black Africans in places like Tangier and Casablanca. The racism of her own people irked Sa-Sa.
"Why must it be this way, Sa-Sa? I am part black and part Indian, and just as human as everyone else," Samuel said, and the young man shook his head, shrugging his shoulders sadly. Although Samuel considered himself a positive and open-minded person, he'd experienced a lot of prejudice in Toronto. A lot of white Canadians didn't like people who looked like him, and some minorities, especially South Asians, considered him an oddball due to his mixed parentage. What the fuck?