I had to take a second, third and then a fourth look at the headlines that a candidate for the leadership of the United States made about excluding Muslims from the U.S. How can any intelligent being make such a wide brush-stroke comment on stopping all Muslims from coming to the U.S.? It really makes me wonder if he has a grasp of the full situation.

ISIS and terrorism by its members, affiliates, and other related parties are not just a U.S. problem. They are a global problem. We are all at risk. Not just from ISIS but from all extremists; those of all faiths and those of no faith.

But we are at much greater risk from xenophobia. By isolating groups based on fear and prejudice, we make ourselves weaker. We amplify the effects of terror and empower the perpetrators. We do not demonstrate what made the West great; we do just the opposite. Western leaders who wave the banner of fear become the poster boys for recruitment by ISIS and her affiliates.

Ours is a better way — and we can see the evidence in the leadership shown by Muslims among us. I was asked recently to speak at a citizenship ceremony — in a Muslim holy place. I was asked to tell 50 Canadians from 40 countries what it means to me to be Canadian.

The Ismaili Muslim Community hosts this ceremony every year and they invited me, a person who is not a Muslim, with open arms, into a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Given my own status, I appreciate that welcome enormously. I cherish the freedom that I have to tell my story and to share it with others without fear.

As an Iranian Bahai, I know too well that my fellow Bahai’s in Iran have no such luxury. They cannot attend university, they risk arrest and limitations. They undergo hardship every day and the public practice of their faith could result in an automatic death sentence.

Contrast that, or the raving of U.S. xenophobes, to the altruistic selflessness of the Ismaili Muslim community, which so obviously champions a principle of concern for the welfare of others, which they demonstrate in service, outreach, pluralism and faith — without fanfare, without self-promotion, apology or ulterior motives.

For my part, I will cherish their invitation to speak, just as I am thankful, every day, for being Canadian, for what it means to adopt the ideals of liberal democratic citizenship, freedom of belief, freedom of speech and respect for differing points of view.

To the champions of fear I would say many Muslims are Muslim by tradition and hereditary lineage. In the main, they reject ISIS and its ideology, and many tens of thousands are also dying to stop its spread. Many others are contributing members in the far-flung communities in which they live. From teachers to doctors, from ambulance drivers to soldiers. So there is no need to breed hatred and fan the flames of fear.

Further, I would say to those trumpeting isolation that this should be a time for caution and understanding. The broken civilizations in what we think of as the “Muslim” Middle East are going through a time of turbulence that is very similar to what Europe endured from 1800-1945. Their citizens, their body politic, and the institutions of their society are locked in ruinous struggle for power.

This is not a time to judge or condemn. It is a time to lead. Lead by bringing our community together, to demonstrate the true nature of democracy and common goals of a prosperous life and democratic values that hard work and sacrifice allows you to obtain.

Farid Rohani is a life member of the Laurier Institution.