Claims and Counterclaims; Fact and Fiction

There are branches of Islam that seem innocuous, able to worship the religion with fervour and a belief that the faith that instructs their daily lives is one of peace and justice and goodwill to all. These are the Esmaili and Ahmadiyya and Sufis and their various branches. They are minority Islamic branches of the larger groups, the Shia and Sunni, far more representative in numbers of Islam's faithful.

Within Islam the Sunnis are the most numerous, the Shia next and the offshoots representing much smaller numbers out of the over one billion Muslim faithful globally. With few exceptions, Muslims believe themselves through their religion to be respectful of others and peace-loving in reflection of what their god exhorts of them. With few exceptions these peace-loving Muslims will harbour no thought whatever of other Muslims being other than peace-loving.

And here the irony is great. The minority sects within Islam are held by the majority groups to represent not true Islam but gross offences to the faith. They are considered to be traitors to Islam. Apostates in Islam, under Sharia law may face capital punishment. Death considered a suitable corrective to abandoning one's faith. And in choosing to embrace an offshoot of Islam, following a different tradition makes one a social-religious leper.

And this is how minority Islamic sects are considered by the main branches; unfit to worship Islam, unfit to live, abominations to the faith. Despite which they themselves consider Islam through their own interpretation to be tolerant and life-affirming. Nor will they harbour, nor tolerate any criticism of Islamic precepts, its sacred writings, its followers. They may be discriminated against and oppressed, suffering fear and become victims of atrocities, but Islam is held to be sacred.

Groups like the reformist, enlightened Ahmadiyya have long left majority Muslim countries where they have been threatened persecuted, to settle in Europe and North America, where guaranteed freedoms of religion gave them the haven they missed among majority Muslims. They cannot be ignorant of the prevailing situation where orthodox Islam has bred itself into a form of Islam that is canted toward violence through fanatical jihad.

Yet they will speak no ill of those majority groups. It is as though they deny that jihadists exist, even though most of the victims of violent jihad are other Muslims, to protect themselves from acknowledging that all is not well within Islam. Although their branch is exempt. When mosques are built all over Europe and minarets become as common as church steeples and Muslim groups agitate to overturn European culture and jurisprudence with the introduction of Sharia law, this alarms many.

Like British lawyer Gavin Boby, who appeared in Ottawa not long ago to speak at the Ottawa Public Library about the need as he and his group, the Law and Freedom Foundation, see it, devoted to "resisting the tide of Islam", to be vigilant about the slow but inevitable creep of Islamic precepts of cultural change and judicial alteration to reflect the Islamic presence within society.  The technique he espouses is popularly termed "mosquebusting"; public resistance against the building of mosques within communities.

To counteract his message several Canadian Muslim missionaries held a meeting at the main branch of the Ottawa Public library. "How many mosques in this country have created problems? If there is a problem coming out of any place of worship, it should be dealt with", stated Muhammad Afzal Mirza, a missionary from the Toronto area for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at.

From the Toronto area, this man should be aware of the presence of a number of mosques where recruiters have been busy in the past and no doubt continue today, in persuading young Muslim men to depart to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, to join in jihad. He is either innocently oblivious or deliberately obtuse, unwilling to face up to facts well known by Canadian intelligence sources

Another AMJ missionary, Imtia Ahmed, informed the audience at the meeting that Mr. Boby's claims about Muslims being violent and unruly are untrue, the statements mischievous and provocative in nature, unjust and uncalled for. He spoke on behalf of tolerance from Canadians with respect to religion. "We should not allow (people like Boby) to come into this country. They are teaching against what the fathers of this country have said."

So then, we have it on Muslim missionary authority that Muslims are not violent, they are not unruly; the reputation of Muslims has been done a gross disservice, one that Canadians should arm themselves against. With the additional exhortation that Canadians be more respectful toward religion. Canadians, as it happens, are respectful toward the religions of others. They may have difficulty respecting religions that aggressively proselytize, however.

And they may object to the assault against their intelligence that informs them through ample reports in the news media that the Middle East, Africa, Europe and yes, North America have more than their share of violent Muslims engaged in bloody jihad, or aspire to in good time, when atrocious acts of bloodshed and mass violence take place daily in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Mali, Somalia and elsewhere in the Muslim world.