Jari Qudrat, 21, student

Born in Germany to parents of Pakistani descent, Qudrat is a devout Ahmadiyya Muslim who lives in North York. He studies at the Schulich School of Business at York University.

What’s your biggest concern as a Torontonian?

Right now the biggest concern for me, especially as a student, is the low employment rate for students graduating university. Lots of my friends are struggling.

What’s your favourite thing about living in the GTA?

It’s quite multicultural. The people are very friendly and accepting. That’s something that really stands out in the GTA and the Toronto area that doesn’t really exist so much in other places.

Do you find any aspects of your faith or culture difficult to deal with?

The most challenging part is dealing with all the violence that happens abroad. We hold so many peaceful events, interfaith dialogues, meet-ups, lunches, dinners to help people understand that we’re peaceful people. But the next day you have a terrorist attack, and all of a sudden everyone forgets everything that we’ve been doing.

What do you want non-Muslims to know about Muslims?

The most important thing is we’re just like you. We enjoy life just like others, the only difference is we live life with a bigger purpose in mind. One of our duties as Muslims is to make the lives of others easier. That means helping them when they need it, be kind, be compassionate.