Only Here In Canada

"No, no, no. They don't believe. You see, it's only here in Canada and U.S. and the West that they think that there is a big problem of terrorism or homegrown terrorism or all these things. They know that the government, they had to do something to please George Bush and do their own work in fighting what you call terrorism. So I didn't have to explain anything. I showed them the recommendations from the people here." Imam Aly Hindy, Salaheddin mosque, Toronto

It's a controversial mosque, the Salaheddin mosque in Toronto, but only because it has a controversial figure as its leading cleric, Imam Aly Hindy. Religion is good for peoples' well-being, we read, gladdening the heart and suffusing the soul with faith in an Almighty who looks down with compassion on the host of imperfect and fallible souls who place such faith in their belief of an all-powerful presence guiding them to heaven's gate.

The trouble with a mosque like the Salaheddin, is that although it serves, along with Toronto's other mosques, a large number of doubtless peace-loving Muslims, it has also served to give solace and encouragement to Canadian Muslims whose attraction to fanatical Islam and violent jihad have tainted it as an perfectly peaceful institution, just as Islamists have tainted Islam as being somewhat other than purely a religion of peace.

This is a mosque which has been visited by the outstanding figures of Canadian-Muslim-represented violence against Canada, its institutions, politics, freedoms and society, from the leader of the infamous Toronto 18 to the pious paterfamilias of the Khadr clan, soul brothers to al-Qaeda.

Imam Aly Hindy's impish sense of humour, belittling the concerns of Canadian security authorities and hoisting Canadian terror concerns on a feeble mast of a tattered flag over the absurdity of conceiving of earnest Muslim youth as posing a threat to Canada is not exactly disarming, as he might mean it to seem; it slides readily into an insult to our collective intelligence.

For what we base our perceptions on is no mere speculation but the reality of security services disclosing to the public through warnings and through subsequent arrests of suspects on security certificates that there is a real and present danger lodged within the Muslim community, in particular part of the community that worships in his mosque.

He has minimized any reason for criticism that his mosque, through his petitioning of sources in the Middle East, is being supported financially through the charitable auspices of foreign countries, emphasizing that this makes the mosque less of a possible burden to the public purse. More susceptible, however, to the control-at-a-remove of Arab-Muslim-sponsored religious dictates.

"It is obvious that if we find money here,we will not ask other countries for help. We always hear complaints about immigrants taking money from the system. So when we are able to bring money from outside, you should be thankful instead of implying this nonsense of allegations", he pointed out in an interview.

That is an unassailable argument in one sense; in another injecting a sinister note of implications. Islam certainly is different in its impermissible moralities and the rigidity of its social values. Moreover, as a loyal citizen of Canada, Imam Aly Hindy has shown himself not to be averse to defying Canadian law having, among other things, officiated at 30 polygamous marriages in Toronto.

He has in fact averred that as a good Muslim first and foremost he would follow Islamic law irrespective of whether there is a conflict inherent in it with the established secular laws of Canada. He has also felt free to defend those who stand accused of terrorism in the country. Tarek Fatah who sees no conflict between observing Islamic law and obeying Canadian law, insists:

"The government of Canada should put an immediate end to all money coming into Canada from Arab countries to prop up Islamist organizations and mosques."

The simple fact being that financing of mosques and Islamic religious schools in Canada has been ongoing, coming from Saudi Arabia. Imam Hindy is vague about where the funding for his mosque has come from - Kuwait, Qatar or perhaps the United Arab Emirates. He revealed that he had applied twice for funding to pay for security cameras and lights for the mosque through federal sourcing, but was refused.

Not, however, others who had applied, having seen the list of those who did receive funding under the very federal funding program that had turned down his requests. "All the names are Jewish", he insisted. Which seems rather peculiar for why should the taxpayer be on the hook for any religious institution, as a secular-governed society. It seems reasonable that those who use the institutions pay for them.

On the other hand, the toss-off of that information more than hints at yet another reason for generating friction and resonating resentment against both the Jewish community's synagogues and the federal government which would appear to be, in Imam Hindy's accounting, favouring Judaism over Islam.

This man of substantial religious influence in the Toronto-based Muslim community clearly downgrades the possibility of any violence emanating from those who attend his mosque. The ringleader of the Toronto 18 gets a clean slate of responsibility from Imam Hindy "He was like a big mouth, talking about jihad ... he's not able to do anything and he's not going to do anything."

Well, no, he is not and he will not, for the man pleaded guilty to three terrorism-related charges and his sentence will keep him securely in prison for some time to come. "And then the other guys, actually, Jahmaal James, those are the victim of the system actually. They have nothing against him except, like, piece of paper. As one lawyer told me you can write it on a handkerchief all the evidence against him."

Contempt for the 'they' and the justice system; government institutions and the judiciary. Seven or eight young Muslims flirting with the idea of dedicating themselves to violent jihad, however, were directed otherwise by Imam Hindy, mindful of the need to deliver his message of usefulness throughout the interview, albeit presenting as a contradiction to his other assertions.

He is in complete sympathy with the jihad ongoing in Afghanistan, for, he suggested: "What do you think if you are attacked in your own country? I'm not talking about foreigners. I'm talking about Afghani." Discounting holus-bolus the reason that NATO is in Afghanistan battling the Taliban who oppressed and maltreated Afghans, and supported al-Qaeda which attacked 'foreigners' in their own foreign land.

The man is a confusing admixture of blustery emotional belligerence and quasi-humble advocacy for Islam. He is a threat and a danger to the country which hosts his ideas and his loyalties, his offhand attitude toward the potential threats to stability and unity in the country with his confused and confusing messages buzzing in the ears of those vulnerable to exploitation and enlisting in jihad.