Another Canadian Muslim speaks out

Emran Qureshi, a fellow at Harvard Law School, seconds Tarek Fatah. (Full text not online.) One hopes Mr Qureshi's view of the nature of Islam is accurate.

The news that a group of Toronto-area Muslim radical misfits allegedly planned to commit terrorist attacks against Canada is evidence that the war within Islam has lapped up on our shores. Most Canadian Muslims are shocked at the news. Sadly, they should not be.

The argument that this has nothing to do with Islam is false. The young Muslim adults who learned to hate our generous and tolerant Canadian society learned it not from pimps or drug dealers, but from Islamic fundamentalists who preyed on them within Canadian mosques...

Until recently, Islam as understood by most Muslims was largely humanistic and inclusive with Sufi readings particularly popular. Canadian Muslims effortlessly adapted into the broader society with new and old Canadian heritages fusing and blending together. This has been, for the most part, the picture of Canadian Islam...

Salafi utopianism and a politicized understanding of Islam masquerade as Islam. Both, however, repudiate humane and ethical precepts within the Islamic tradition. The message becomes more dangerous for young Muslims living in the West who are taught a distorted version of Islam that loathes the very society they live in. Jihadis take this stilted understanding and posit an apocalyptic conflict between Islam and the West: one in which the West is besieging Muslim lands and peoples. In this world view, they are simply defending the Muslim ummah (community) against a rapacious West. Here, the Internet helps constitute a globalized jihadi subculture...

Some Canadian Muslim leaders have responded by denial, alleging "root causes": Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East, or our troops in Afghanistan. They should, instead, reflect on the poison that is being disseminated, the ruined young lives, and the resultant prejudice engendered toward Muslims within the broader society.

Other Muslims argue that the real issue is Islamophobia and prejudicial attitudes and nothing more. This is a facile and borderline apologetic response.

Canadian Muslims have rights and responsibilities that come with citizenship. Canadian Muslim leaders should not continue to evade the seriousness of recent events and their responsibilities in cleaning up this mess, and Canadian Muslims who participate in and donate to Canadian Islamic charities and institutions should insist on moral and ethical accountability.

We owe nothing less to our country [emphasis added - MC].

Mark C.

Posted by markc at June 15, 2006 11:20 AM