A rchive Date
[ 01-10-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/leishman.html
A frank exchange about terrorism
By RORY LEISHMAN -- London Free Press
October 1, 2002
In an expanded column, Rory Leishman reports on an on-the-record meeting -- the result of a previous article -- with two prominent local Muslims on issues related to Islam and terrorism.
In the column, Pair offers dubious Sept. 11 observations (Sept. 10), I said Muslim moderates in Canada "have been all too silent" when it comes to the explicit denunciation of the Islamist terrorists who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attack on the United States.
That generalization does not apply to some prominent London Muslims, including Faisal Joseph and Salim Mansur.
Joseph is president of the Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario. He has openly and repeatedly decried attacks on innocent civilians by
Islamist terrorists. In a public statement on Sept. 30, 2001, he specifically denounced the Islamists who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attack, saying: "It is tragic that the actions of 19 criminals could affect the perception of 1.4 billion people who practise Islam." Mansur is a professor of political science at The University of Western Ontario and a regular freelance columnist for The London Free Press and the Toronto Sun.
In his column, It will take time to sort Sept. 11's significance (Sept. 11), he wrote: "On Sept. 11, a band of 19 young men, Arab and Muslim, did what was unimaginable in striking terror in America's heartland. We now know they were not alone, that they were part of an international network of fundamentalist Muslim organizations, that their politics was shaped by an ideology grossly distorting a faith, Islam, that sustains the spiritual life of nearly one-fifth of mankind."
Mohammad Osman Yassine, chairperson of The Association of London Muslims, has also spoken out against terrorism. In an address on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack, he declared: "May the murderous thugs who have committed the heinous crime of Sept. 11th be condemned for their actions." Note, though, that in this statement, Yassine did not explicitly acknowledge the probable identity of those murderous thugs. Among Muslims, this is a matter of hot contention.
Last November, Southam News asked 12 Muslim imams at mosques across Canada for their views on Sept. 11. All but two expressed doubt that the atrocity had been perpetrated by Islamist extremists affiliated with the al-Qaida terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden.
Dr. Munir El-Kassem, acting imam of the Islamic Community Centre of Southwest Ontario, was one of the skeptics. He maintained the United States has presented "no substantial evidence that bin Laden is the perpetrator of the horrible crime" and allowed that, "the real culprits may still be at large and preparing for other terrorist attacks."
To help me understand the current views of leaders of the London Muslim community on these issues, Joseph volunteered last week to set up a meeting including him, me, Yassine and El-Kassem. The gathering took place on Thursday morning.
El-Kassem was unable to attend because of other commitments.
During the part of this meeting that was tape-recorded and on the record, Joseph contended, "People expect the Muslim community in Canada and around the world to apologize for acts that we are not responsible for and this gets our back up." He added: "One of the greatest sins in our religion is suicide. The only greater sin is taking the lives of innocent civilians, so every act of the perpetrators of the crime of Sept. 11 broke the sanctity of the holdings of our religion. And yet we, Muslims, are supposed to apologize for the actions of people who are clearly not Muslim in name or in practice."
I asked Yassine: "Would you agree that those thugs most likely were purported Muslims affiliated with al-Qaida?" Yassine responded: "There is no denial to that. They may profess to be Muslims, but whoever does this is not really a Muslim -- not living by Islamic tenets." Joseph observed that many people, Christian and Muslim, do not trust information put out by the United States government and are disposed to believe in various conspiracy theories.
With regard to Sept. 11, he said: "There are members of our community, I think they are a minority, that believe in some type of conspiracy theory, either because they do not trust their governments or they find it psychologically difficult to believe that people purporting to follow their religion can commit such terrible crimes."
We should be . . . outspoken in condemning all harassment of our loyal, law-abiding and peaceful fellow citizens who happen to be Muslim.
Speaking for himself, Joseph made clear: "I do not believe in a conspiracy theory." Yassine concurred: "I don't believe in it either."
Unlike some London Muslims, Joseph and Yassine firmly reject the view that the Sept. 11 attack might have been perpetrated by the Israeli secret service and the United States Central Intelligence Agency.
Likewise, Joseph and Yassine insist nothing can justify terrorist attacks on innocent civilians. Adeeb Hassan, the current chairperson of the London Muslim Mosque, takes a somewhat different view. On March 29, he told The Free Press that while he does not condone terrorist attacks on innocent civilians, he cannot condemn Palestinian suicide bombers who have targeted civilians in cafes and hotels. In Hassan's view, it's wrong for a Canadian living in peace and wealth to condemn a Palestinian who is in such despair he will blow himself up. "It's not for me to condemn it," he said.
While Joseph also agonizes over the dire plight of the Palestinian people, he has repeatedly and unambiguously deplored terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians. For example, in a statement reported in The Free Press on April 13, he said: "The thing that is so upsetting to me is the suicide bombers. To go and strap yourself up with a bomb and blow yourself up and innocent civilians is wrong."
Yassine concurs. On Thursday, he said: "I deplore all acts of violence against any (innocent) party. I believe terrorism has no cultural or religious identity."
In my column on Sept. 10, I wrote: "moderate Muslims should join with other Canadians in urging all loyal citizens to report suspected terrorists and their sympathizers to the police."
Meer Sahib, a former vice-chairperson of The London Muslim Mosque, has denounced that suggestion. In an e-mail distributed to Joseph, Yassine, El-Kassem and other leaders of the London Muslim community, he accused me of, "calling for a witch hunt, reminiscent of the horrors of Communist regimes and what the Jews suffered in the Nazi era."
Sahib suggested tracking down terrorists, "should be left to the authorities who have the necessary training and sophisticated technology. Otherwise, it will open a can of worms and destroy our society, where neighbour will call the police against neighbour, just to get even for petty quarrels and we will relive the horrors of the Jews in Nazi Germany or the hapless victims of the communist regimes."
On Thursday, Yassine rejected this viewpoint. He also emphasized that Sahib does not speak for The London Muslim Mosque on this or any other issue. "It is the duty of any Canadian, Muslim or otherwise, who has reason to believe that violence or any harm is going to come to his community or the community at large to report it to the authorities," Yassine said, adding, "The authorities have a responsibility to screen out information to protect the innocent."
Joseph speaks with special authority on this issue, inasmuch as he is a former crown attorney and chairperson of the Canadian Bar Association criminal section for Nova Scotia, who currently serves as a law partner for Lerner and Associates. He says he has represented some Muslims who have been unfairly targeted for investigation by counter-terrorism agents of the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Nonetheless, he unequivocally asserts: "It is the duty of every Canadian, Muslim or non-Muslim, if they know there is going to be a terrorist attack in any way shape or form to report to the police."
In sum, Joseph, Mansur and Yassine have well served the Muslim community, by speaking out against Islamist terrorism. As for the rest of us who are not Muslim, it bears reiterating that we should be no less outspoken in condemning all harassment of our loyal, law-abiding and peaceful fellow citizens who happen to be Muslim.
Together, all of us Canadians, Muslim and non-Muslim, have a duty to do whatever we can to prevent the importation into Canada of the kind of factional strife and terrorist violence that wracks so many other less fortunate countries.
Write Rory at The London Free Press, P.O. Box 2280, London, Ont. N6A 4G1 or fax 519-667-4528 or E-mail Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@lfpress.com
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