Unlike his British coreligionists in Al-Muhajiroun, Mohamed Elmasry wants Canadian Muslims to vote. From The Globe and Mail, with thanks to Earl:
Canadian Muslims have a bigger stake in the outcome of this federal election than any other before. Like most Canadians, Canadian Muslims care about issues such as health care, having a balanced budget and defence spending. But the issues most on the minds of Canadian Muslims, issues that have not been so far debated in this campaign, are the issues of reviewing the anti-terrorist law C-36, how to stop the deterioration of civil liberties in this country and how to safeguard Canadians, especially Canadian Muslims, against racial profiling.
Wouldn't it be refreshing sometime to hear a Muslim spokesman say that Muslims should be concerned with anti-terror efforts, and should protest against anti-terror laws in an atmosphere of full-hearted and open cooperation with authorities? By not doing this, they leave themselves open to questions of whether they are concerned about anti-terror laws going to far out of legitimate fears of erosion of civil rights, or because their loyalties lie with the other side.
That is why I have been travelling the country in a religious, rather than a political, campaign style, to encourage Muslims to vote. I argue that "not voting is voting." I explain that it is a religious, as well as civic, duty to vote. I quote from the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. And I give examples from early Muslim history.
He probably talks of ijma, consensus, and other Islamic principles that seem to be harmonious with democracy. Unfortunately, however, in Islamic law those principles don't extend to non-Muslims. That doesn't affect what he is doing now, but it raises questions for the future of Canada and Western Europe. Those questions revolve, of course, around what Elmasry calls -- you guessed it -- a "tiny minority."
But there is a very tiny minority of Muslims in this country who are advocating not voting to protest what they call "the illusion of democratic values."One of them e-mailed me a three-page letter following a khotbah (Friday sermon) I gave recently at a large Toronto mosque where I urged that we Muslims should be informed, committed and multi-issue voters, for the sake of our future and the future of our children.
"I bear witness that you delivered your message: a misleading message of ignorance," the man wrote, "God accepts the repentance of a Muslim so long as his soul remains in his body. It is never too late. I pray that you will sincerely consider (your) words and that you will think about the day when we all shall stand in front of Him alone. Do you want to be blamed by thousands for misleading them? God will not accept the excuse of ignorance." I am told the man who wrote this was born in this country and is in his 30s. This worries me a great deal. I believe he is well-intentioned, but misguided.
Well, that is worrisome. I hope Elmasry has a comprehensive program to refute the understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah that men like this have. But somehow I doubt it.
The ideal is that all citizens should cast an informed vote. But what kind of votes will Muslims cast? Will that person weigh the merits of the candidates and the issues or will they simply vote as the clerical fatwah dictates? If the second choice is the way they will go, over time, the outcome will be the Islamization of society and an eventual theocracy by clerical rule. Thus, voting Muslims may not be a blessing on society after all.
Mr.Elmasry thinks everbodies a Islamophobe
and Muslim-bashing is everywhere. His website
is www.canadianislamiccongress.org and he
regularly posts hateful statements about Jews.
The web page menu has a "about Islam" item
and it says all Canadians are born Muslims and it's up to us to learn about Islam and read the Quran to know the true God(Allah).
He also said that Westerners practising Christianity do so because they are ignorant of
Islam and once they read the Quran they'll see
that Jesus wasn't the messiah.
With only about 500,000 Muslims in Canada
I wonder how things will be in the future
when they make up close to 10 or 20 percents
of the population.The Constitution and Charter of Rights won't mean squat when Militant Islam
takes over the Government,these documents don't comply to Quranic teachings and offend Allah.
We have no valid Army to protect us at home and suicide bombers will have open access to our
subways and Airports.
911 put the "SLAM" in Islam,Muhammed wasn't
the prince of peace or even the protector of
children. Pedophiles and wife-beater will like the new Islamic Canada but I'm sure Muslims will have a "Final Sollution" for the Palestinian issue in Canada.
Looks like Canada - in its rush to say, "We're not the USA", have been suckered by the French.
With the UN passing its Resolution on Iraq yesterday, today Iraq’s up on the agenda of the G8 Summit. More problematic are two other listed items: the democratic, major reform of Arab & Islamic states and the making of peace between Israel and the “Palestinians”.
After the unanimous vote on Iraq in the UN Security Council last night (and the many weeks of multilateral negotiations which led up to it), not a lot more hours need to be given over to further discussion of that country at this particular Conference.
The US’d much prefer that the latter theme not be delved into too much right now either - for the Mideast régimes, REFORM is the priority subject that America wants the G8 and then the dar el-Islam to tackle, correctly perceiving that time spent in this confab on the Israel-“Palestinian” conflict is simply wasted, merely providing a smokescreen for the Arabs & Moslems to utilize, one which has always served them through the past to hide behind and to AVOID reform.
Despite (along with Canada and Germany) fully dismissing any NATO participation in Iraq, typically, the French nevertheless desire a trade off: their nod for additional attention to talks about democratic reform in the Arab/Moslem quarter (a topic in which France has scant interest), in exchange for a pronounced reduction in the White House’s support for Israel.
For all of its crocodile tears, France doesn’t give a rip about Iraq or the Iraqis, it wants to see America falter and Israel weakened, plus to be able to (opportunely, privately) brag of an instrumental role in these things taking place. In pursuit of its unrelieved policy of appeasing the Arabs and Moslems, it seeks to deliver on the promises it’s made to the Saudis, Syria, Iran, Egypt and the “Palestinians”, each totally opposed to democracy in Iraq, to any reform in the region and viscerally obsessed with extirpating Israel.
France imagines its geostrategic objective to be the promotion of maximum American frustration and pain in the Middle East & North Africa, leading to its departure from them, soon (into Neo-Isolationism, they hope), leaving a vacuum which France - at the head of the EU, it fancies - would immediately fill.
Paris views the Mideast & North Africa as its natural and primary spheres of influence, in which Washington’s intruding. France knows that its only way IN is for the US to get OUT.
If the Arabs and the Americans are both severely bled in the process of the USA’s withdrawal, why, that’d constitute a great bonus for the French, just rendering their grab for power there that much easier, in practice, when it’s made. On top, more crème - they can then masquerade as coming in “to the rescue” of the suffering Arabs & Moslems, which they’d so adore to do.
Not really HG, canadians have known for a while that the liberals were trying to "stack the deck" with their islamic imigration policy, which is why the majority of muslims live in Ontario. The problem is, there just aren't enough of them, thank goodness, and most are concentrated into key areas. Even at the extreme outward estimate of muslims in canada, 500-600 thousand, they can't influence a vote that drasticly, a few ridings at the most.
However, cross the border and look and the muslim population in the buffalo region. You have a much bigger problem there, and that's what Canada will look like in a few years unless the government smartens up and curbs this problem
Nathan and others - My thoughts run along the same line. You all must have noticed the demographic concentration along the US/Canadian border. Is this by design to cut North America in two, or perhaps to create a mini-state, a hub from which to spread out tentacles?
Hmmm. I don't like it.
Elmasry -- is an Islamist. Mohamed Elmasry is President of the Canadian Islamic Congress. Typically, he opposes any anti-terrorist legislation, yet wants to see major changes in Canadian laws. With regard to the latter, he wants Sharia Law implemented across Canada. Right now , according to an Asian Pacific News Service article, published May 20, 2004, (title: "Canada to allow Islamic courts") the Islamists are attempting to have Sharia Law implemented in British Columbia. At the moment, they are talking to B.C.'s Attorney General.
I hope they lose JS. This is an awful time for the Canada. I'm NOT voting liberal.
I thought of some cool names of the parties last night in that space btw waking and dreaming:
Democrats=Dhimmi-craps
Republicans=Re-poop-lickin's
Liberals=liver-alls or live-for-alls (doesn't tell the truth though that last one)
How's about Montana and Alberta make a new country? We could call it Albertana or Alberana or Albana. Although becoming the 51st state no longer bothers me. I'm going to buy an Ameri flag.
Here is (below) a link to the report by the Canadian Islamic Congress that accompanied the article by ElMasri in the Globe & Mail. In it, they rank candidates according to their sympathy with islam and muslims. In summary, the NDP (left) is best, the Liberals (center left, currently in power) is OK, and the Conservatives (right, soon to be in power according to polls) is very bad.
Nice try but, since muslims represent at most 3.2% of a riding's population (from the same report), their opinion will not mean much at the end.
http://canadianislamiccongress.com/election2004/Election2004.pdf
To correct my post above, muslims represent over 10% of the population in 6 ridings. I guess this means it could make a big difference if 1. they all vote, and 2. they all vote for the same party. Lots of ifs.
Joaquin:
Many thanks for this timely URL. I note with no surprise that a dhimmi colleague of elMasary (of course, a polsci prof- idiot)wrote the frontispiece to the CIC's riding analysis.
I note that no candidate has either publicly accepted such an insidious endorsement- although, none have expressed concern about being graded an "F", either! Note that Ann McClellan got an "F"- as should every other female MP and MP with a concern for human rights.
This document contains so many mistruths, half-truths and dissembling, that it is hard for an informed khufr to know where to start. But, as it is couched in soft terms and makes frequent reference to (now-discredited) Pearsonian Liberalism, it is a remarkably capable and well-crafted piece of propaganda. Just the kind of sanitized islam that the ignorant LLL media love to spout.
Ibn,
I like the Montana, Alberta unification idea... I also hope the liberals lose...
There's another scary thing -- and why the Canadian Islamic Congress just loves those N.D.Pers (New Democratic Party guys who are super left-wing -- the one's for gay rights, and women's rights and everything the Islamists despise...) Well, I suspect why the President of the CIC (canadian islamic congress) is so pro-NDP -- it's because one of the platforms of the NDP is to change Canada's system of voting -- from electorial ridings to "proportional representation" -- if ever such a thing occurred in Canada, then we'd get Islamist religious parties trying to win seats... and turn Canada into an Islamist theocracy...(I believe that's their utlimate goal -- to fundamentally change Canada's constitution). And the NDP is their "ticket" The CBC program "The National" tonight will be featuring a "news" item on "proportional representation" -- probably a promo for the NDP...since CBC is a stand-in for NDP headquarters...