Companions in Coincidence

"Allah ... said: whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him."

Now that's an interesting posting. Guaranteed to inflame the minds of the stalwart religious who take violent umbrage at others' casual disregard for the glory that is the God of Islam. The message is not entirely oblique, it does encourage the believer to do as Allah wills, and that is to be at war with infidels, with those who wreak havoc in the world of Islam, who join a battle that sacrifices Muslims.

Why it is that non-Muslims warring with Muslims engages the wrath of Muslims, while other Muslims bloodily butchering Muslims does not? A distinct puzzle. But there it is, the reality that a family, even if the members utterly loathe one another, do tend to stick together and present a common front in the face of a real or perceived threat from outsiders. It is human nature.

It is also human nature, however, to honour and to respect those who give you the freedom to live life as you will, where social, religious and economic aspirations can be met. Living in Canada, one might assume - erroneously it would appear in some instances - that all immigrants in a country of immigrants, whether 1st, 2nd or third generation would feel loyalty to the country that has taken them in and given them these freedoms.

It is very uncomfortable for most Canadians - presumably that would include most Muslim Canadians - to learn that among them posing as ordinary people like one's neighbours, live conspirators of Islamist revenge against those whom they perceive are enemies of Islam. Canadian-born Muslims who have been 'radicalized'. Within madrassas, community centres, mosques, on-line Internet sites.

Take, for example, one of the three young Muslim men recently arrested on suspicion of being al-Qaeda associates, planning to treat Canada to its own terrorist attacks in the near future. Among them 25-year-old Misbahuddin Ahmed, one of Ottawa's very own terror suspects. An X-ray technologist by trade, a jihaddist by avocation, he's been around travelling to Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan.

He, his sister and brother-in-law have all been identified as being very persuasive in their community as religious fanatics. Well, there's fanatics and there's terrorists, of course; one does not necessarily lead to the other, but it can and it will and sometimes does. Pakistan-born Ahmed and his sibling found religious ideology appealing. Frequenting websites honouring Islamist terrorists.

Ahmed certainly was seriously invested in his religious devotion. And he appeared to truly appreciate what Canada offered as a lifestyle. Typically conflicted, but in a truly polarized way, and then the magnetic force of jihad proved too irresistible: "Destroying human life and its most basic requirements is murder - not freedom. Where are the Muslim soldiers?" asked the Operation Iraqi Freedom video he was taken with.

And so he responded. Wouldn't any devout Muslim? No. Some would, however. And Tarek Fatah for one, himself a devout Muslim, hazards a figure of 100,000 Canadian Muslims who might be sympathetic to that appeal. One-tenth of that figure is appalling. Mr. Ahmed posted an exuberantly hopeful inspiration for Montreal; in an on-line discussion revealing he had "super high hopes for al-maghrib in mtl."

There we go: arrive in another country, bringing with you a distinct heritage, religious tradition and culture and adjust it to the prevailing culture in the new country, accepting its values along with the security and freedoms provided you. No? Work to turn around the values and the culture of the accepting country; to turn it away from its own traditions? Now that's different isn't it?

Mr. Ahmed remembers life in Saudi Arabia with moist fondness. He recalls the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and wrote: "Miss it sooo much ... used to be there every other weekend or so." Suitable material for emigration to Canada, to become settled in a North American democratic society? Isn't that what our immigration officials are supposed to determine before acceptance? Tough job, that.

The family published a children's magazine named Recess Kids, out of their Brossard home, and interestingly enough, apprehended fellow conspirator Dr. Khurram Sher was featured in the magazine. The very same Dr. Sher who played ball to benefit a charitable organization raising humanitarian funds for projects in South Asia. The RS Foundation, listing Dr. Sher as a board member, was 'shocked' over his arrest.

In Recess Kids, children were informed that "Christopher Columbus was NOT the first to discover the Americas! In October of 1492, Columbus himself claimed that he saw a mosque when he landed in America..." Well, of course Columbus, who everyone knows was an adventurously opportunistic Jew escaping the Spanish Inquisition, knew a mosque when he saw one....

Question: What were the reactions of the parents whose children read this bilge? Just asking.