Islam, Religion of Peace and Brotherhood

"It doesn't matter what the age of a person is, or whether they're in their basement, or whether they're in a mosque or somewhere else."
"When you are engaged in activities that explicitly promote or advocate terrorism, that is a serious criminal offence no matter who you are."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper

"We remind the prime minister that Canadian mosques and Islamic associations across the country are at the forefront in confronting radicalization towards violent extremism and have and continue to work hand-in-hand with law enforcement and security agencies to promote public safety."
National Council of Canadian Muslims/Canadian Muslim Lawyers' Association

"One of the reasons I avoid attending Friday congregations at mosques is a specific ritual supplication uttered by Imams at many mosques in Canada and around the world, just prior to our formal Friday community prayer, the Juma’a."
"In the supplication, the cleric prays to Allah for, among other things, to grant “Muslims victory over the ‘Qawm al-Kafiroon,’” the Arabic phrase that lumps all non-Muslims — Jews, Hindus, Christians, Atheists, Buddhists and Sikhs — into one derogatory category, the “Kuffar”, or non-Muslims.
This supplication is not obligatory. Not uttering this prayer would in no way adversely affect the holiness or solemnness of the collective community prayer."
"I have long argued with my orthodox and conservative Muslim friends and family that at least when living among non-Muslims, we should avoid praying for their defeat at the hands of Muslims.
They agree, but it comes down to the challenge: Who will bell the cat?"
"Last Friday, the world was still in shock over the Charlie Hebdo massacre when news came that another jihadi terrorist had killed French Jews inside a kosher grocery store in Paris.
Enough, I said. I decided to ask friends to take the challenge to a local mosque and stand silently with “I am Charlie Hebdo” placards."
"I wanted to encourage Muslims entering the mosque to join those Muslims who renounce jihad, denounce Islamist terror and stand by the right of free expression, even of people who insult our Prophet. Only a handful responded to my call. Most of my comrades from our life-long struggle against Islamism were terrified and bailed out at the last minute."
"Only the president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, writer Munir Pervaiz, and two Kurdish exiles, Keyvan Soltany and Hadi Elis, braved the snow to stand beside me."
"Inside the mosque, I was hoping that in wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the cleric would have the good sense not to speak about non-Muslims as adversaries or enemies, but my hopes were dashed."
"Far from condemning the acts of terror, the cleric, speaking in English, thundered that Islam “will become established in the land, over all other religions, although the ‘Disbelievers’ (Jews, Christians, Hindus and Atheists) hate that.”  I could not believe my ears."
"There was no indignation expressed at the taking of Jews as hostages by a French jihadi that morning. The imam did ask us Muslims, that in reacting to insults we should take the example of Prophet Muhammad himself and follow in his footsteps."
"The problem with that suggestion is that while there were indeed times when Prophet Muhammad forgave those who mocked him, there were others when he ordered them killed."
"At the end of his “khutba” (sermon), the cleric repeated the ritual praying to Allah to grant Muslims victory over non-Muslims."
"That prayer is: “O Allah, pour patience upon Muslims, strengthen their feet and give them victory over ‘Qawm -el Kafiroon’ (Non-Muslims). “O Allah, give victory to our brothers the Muslims, the oppressed, the tyrannized and the ‘Mujahedeen’ (those who fight jihad against non-Muslims)”."
"Then we all stood up in orderly rows, turned towards Mecca and followed the imam as he led us in the ritual prayer that is obligatory for all Muslims.
As I left, I knew I would not be returning to that mosque again."
Tarek Fatah, Toronto Sun, January 13, 2015

The Canadian Press - Professor Syed Badiuddin Soharwardy, Islamic Supreme Council of Canada and Muslims Against Terrorism, left, and Zajid Delic, Imam, appear at a Senate national defence committee in Ottawa 


Zijad Delic, an Ottawa imam, complained that steering vulnerable people away from extremism should be a focus of the federal government and its security agencies, in his address to the Senate national security committee on Monday. The focus remains in attempting to deradicalize people after the fact, and Imam Delic feels this is too little, too late.

One can only wonder what the Senate response might have been to the complaint; did anyone challenge that assumption that it is the responsibility of the government to steer impressionable Muslims away from extremism, and not that of the Muslim community, specifically its clerics?

Journalist/broadcaster Tarek Fatah seems to feel that there is complicity from within the Muslim community in the matter; that indeed Friday prayers come complete with injunctions against non-believers, that written into the common text of prayers are incitements to hatred and violence, and from his description one can only wonder that the faulty are faulting the innocent to defray criticism that they are indeed guilty as charged.

But, according to Imam Delic, it is political leaders, social services, teachers and others who are required to "find ways of tackling" the lure of extremism, that Muslim clerics throughout Canada are doing their bit to aid and abet. The RCMP is aware and engaged in roughly 63 active security investigations relating to 90 suspected extremists planning to travel abroad to join jihad, or those who have done so and have returned to Canada with their experiences behind them and opportunities to display their newfound talents before them.

The Prime Minister spoke recently on a number of occasions of the dangers facing Western countries in general and Canada in particular, singled out for special mention in Islamic State propaganda seeking recruits to jihad and impressing on those taken with the prospect of doing harm to the countries that nurture them, that they need nothing special to embark on a venture of vengeance against the non-believers who oppress Muslims by giving them the freedom to do as they will.

For his pains in explaining the duty of his government to ensure the security and defence of Canada and its population, Muslim organizations have taken grave umbrage and chastised the Prime Minister of Canada. They are supported by NDP Leader Tom Mulcair who claims it to have been irresponsible of Mr. Harper to "throw the mosques into his comments", as though he knows intimately what transpires in those mosques. No word on whether he has consulted with Tarek Fatah, but he should. Had he done so, he might have refrained from further stating: "It was a form of Islamophobia, and it was wrong."

A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Carl Vallee, reasonably pointed out that Mr. Harper made no claims that all radicalization happens through exposure to extremism in mosques, rather that it could happen anywhere. But it does also occur in mosques as well as community centres, and in the nation's prisons, notoriously. And while the federal government and its agencies are attempting to work with communities in radicalization prevention and intervention, where is the responsibility of the Islamic community within Canada?