On March 7, 2026, hundreds gathered in front of the American Consulate in Toronto to participate in a protest organized under the banners of “Support Iran” and “No to Unjust War.” This demonstration was in response to the American-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic regime’s military nuclear project in Iran, as well as its perceived military threat to the region.
The protest was organized by the Muslim Community of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and received endorsements from the Iranian Canadian Congress, Al-Quds Toronto, and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Sheikh Shafiq Huda, the head and spiritual leader of Islamic Humanitarian Services based in Kitchener, Ontario, delivered the following speech at the event:
Respected struggles, those who are on the path of truth and justice, peace and blessings of Allah be upon all of you. May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.
The world has not yet learned that we will not be intimidated. We will not be afraid by your weapons, by your supposed friends because we are the children of Karbala. We are the sufferers who know what hunger is in the month of Ramadan.
We will continue the resistance regardless of the obstacles you put in front of us. We will not be scared by any of your followers.
We have the greatest power, and that is a power of All-Mighty Allah with us. You are trying to scare us with what? Your weapons? Your death? What in death that you have blood that you can scare us with?
We will not be intimidated, because we know we are on the path of Mustafa [Mohammad], may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, We are on the path of every prophet from Adam to Mohammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all.
And you, you, all the supporters of the superpowers, you are the bad that the followers of the successors of the Pharaoh, of Namrud, and remember one thing: for every Pharaoh there will be a Moses.
We will not be scared. You want to kill us? We are seeds. We will grow by the hundreds. We will grow by the thousands. We are not afraid of dying.
At your service, O Hussain. At your service, O Hussain. At your service, O Mahdi.
We will struggle and we will make sure that our struggle will then result in victory, and that victory will be at your hands, and the leadership of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and our great leaders, who have given their lives, they will be [unintelligible] for us all.
We will continue. We will struggle, and we will look forward, never looking behind. the prophets [unintelligible] that, how to stand firm. Every prophet from Adam to [unintelligible], peace be upon them, promised to move forward for the sake of God, for the sake of truth, for the sake of justice.
You are baby killers! You are baby killers and murderers! Shame on you!
We call upon our own government to stand up for justice. That’s [unintelligible] the least that we can expect, because if you are the constant, then you will stay firm.
We don’t care about the noises that they make. We don’t care about the noises that the world makes. We will stand on the truth and we will remain firm.
That is the legacy of our leaders, our martyrs, and their path [unintelligible] will lead us throughout our life until victory is achieved.
At your service, O Mahdi. At your service, O Mahdi.
Notes:
The Battle of Karbala in 680 CE holds profound significance as the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali (grandson of Prophet Muhammad) and his small group at the hands of the Umayyad forces became a defining symbol of resistance against tyranny and injustice, galvanizing the distinct identity and rituals of Shia Islam while commemorated annually on Ashura as the ultimate stand for truth and sacrifice.
Namrud (also known as Nimrod) was a tyrannical Babylonian king and archetypal arrogant ruler in Islamic tradition who claimed divinity, debated Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) about true sovereignty and the power of life and death, ordered him thrown into a fire (from which Allah saved him), and was ultimately punished and killed by Allah through a tiny mosquito that entered his brain, symbolizing divine justice against hubris and oppression.
The Mahdi – According to Twelver Shia tradition, the end of times (eschatological era leading to Qiyamah, the Day of Judgment) involves widespread oppression and tyranny filling the earth, followed by the reappearance (zuhur) of the hidden Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who emerges in Mecca as the divinely guided leader to eradicate injustice, fill the world with equity and peace alongside the descent of Jesus (Isa) to aid him in defeating evil forces (including the Dajjal and other adversaries like the Sufyani), with certain hadiths describing battles against Jews allied with the Dajjal where even stones and trees (except the Gharqad tree) will call out to Muslims, “O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him,” to reveal their hiding places and prompt the Muslims to slay them, after preceding major signs such as the Sufyani’s uprising, the Yamani’s call, a heavenly cry, the murder of the pure soul (Nafs-e-Zakiyyah), and the earth swallowing an army in Bayda, culminating in a period of global justice under his rule before the final apocalyptic events and resurrection.