This is “just one person,” we’re told. “He has preached at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu mosque attended by Martin Couture-Rouleau, the Muslim convert who killed warrant officer Patrice Vincent in October.” Has that mosque been investigated? “Chaoui was also the leader of a Muslim association at Laval University. One of that association’s members, Chiheb Esseghaier, is about to be tried on charges related to a plot to derail a Via Rail train travelling between Toronto and New York two years ago.” Has the Muslim association at Laval University been investigated?
Also, “Chaoui uses social media to share his fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. He has posted to YouTube and Facebook his views sympathetic to sharia law, and he advocates that women should have designated guardians.” But that is not a “fundamentalist interpretation of Islam”; that is taught by all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Likewise, Chaoui has said: “There are non-Muslims who come to our home and tell us, ‘Really, you cut off heads, you cut off hands?’ But that’s religion. It’s our religion in our own country. We decide how we implement it.”
That’s not “extremist”; that’s the Qur’an. Cutting of heads is in Qur’an 47:4, and cutting off hands is at Qur’an 5:38. The Canadian authorities are kidding themselves if they think this kind of thing is being taught by “just one person.”
Also, what does Réal Ménard think Hamza Chaoui is going to do now? Open a kosher grocery? He is going to keep on preaching and teaching. And before too long it will be abundantly clear that he is not “just one person.”
“Hamza Chaoui’s Islamic community centre won’t get permit,” CBC News, January 31, 2015:
Controversial imam Hamza Chaoui will be denied a permit to establish his Islamic community centre in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a borough in Montreal’s east end.
Chaoui is a Moroccan-born imam in Montreal with controversial views on sharia law and ties to suspected radicals.
Borough mayor Réal Ménard, who spoke at Montreal City Hall along with Mayor Denis Coderre on Saturday morning, said Chaoui was never given a certificate of occupation to begin holding meetings at his community centre.
Chaoui did apply for a transformation permit in January to renovate the building in question, Ménard said. However, he began promoting his community centre on Facebook before ever being granted a permit.
Sure. He was confident that his dhimmi marks would come through. They usually do.
Ménard said it was part of his job as borough mayor to prevent Chaoui from carrying out his activities, a position Coderre agreed with.
“I don’t want to stigmatize the Muslim community. This is the work of one person,” Coderre said. “This man is an agent of radicalization.”
Okay, sure. One person. But whom has he already taught and “radicalized”?
Coderre used the news conference on Saturday as an opportunity to voice his support for Bill C-51, the federal government’s new proposed anti-terrorism legislation. He said he asked the federal government to expedite its passage.
The anti-terrorism bill unveiled Friday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper includes a section that gives his government the power “to order the removal of terrorist propaganda” from the internet.
Who is Hamza Chaoui?
Chaoui has connections to radical Islamists.
He has preached at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu mosque attended by Martin Couture-Rouleau, the Muslim convert who killed warrant officer Patrice Vincent in October.
Chaoui was also the leader of a Muslim association at Laval University. One of that association’s members, Chiheb Esseghaier, is about to be tried on charges related to a plot to derail a Via Rail train travelling between Toronto and New York two years ago.
Chaoui uses social media to share his fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. He has posted to YouTube and Facebook his views sympathetic to sharia law, and he advocates that women should have designated guardians.
“There are non-Muslims who come to our home and tell us, ‘Really, you cut off heads, you cut off hands?’ But that’s religion. It’s our religion in our own country. We decide how we implement it,” he said in a YouTube video which has since been made private.