Canada: Moderate Muslim group rallies against jihad terrorism, draws 24 people

But but but the majority of Muslims oppose Islamic terror. Well, that’s what they tell us, anyway. This reminds me of a protest organized by a moderate Muslim group against the Christmas balls bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, outside a Detroit court during his arraignment. The protest outside the jihadi’s arraignment
of Muslims protesting Islamic terror — “Not in the name of Islam” –
drew 12  people. This despite major publicity and
media attention and pretrial publicity. The Muslim population of the Detroit area is about 400,000 (some estimate
about 3% of Detroit’s metro population is Muslim).

12 people. And the Muslim organizer received death threats for “speaking out against other Muslims.“

It mirrors a similar rally I attended back in May 2005: Free Muslims Against Terror. Nobody went to that one either (maybe 25 — mostly non-Muslims).

Canada: Progressive Muslims group rallies against jihad terrorism, draws 24 people

Jihadwatch

One of the cornerstones of the argument over the last few
days for keeping me out of the U.K. is the false claim that I “demonize
all Muslims” in my critique of jihad and Islamic supremacism. In
reality, I point out that Islamic supremacists claim to represent the
authentic interpretation of the Qur’an and Islam, that they make
recruits among peaceful Muslims with this claim, that most reputedly
“moderate” organizations in the U.S. are tied to the Muslim Brotherhood
(as has been abundantly established by the Justice Department), and that
genuinely peaceful and non-supremacist Muslims have not effectively
countered the Islamic supremacist appeal among Muslims.

All these facts are established anew by the tiny turnout at the small
number of Muslim anti-terror demonstrations that have taken place.
Several years ago a group called the Free Muslims Coalition held what it
called a “Free Muslims March Against Terror,” intending to “send a
message to the terrorists and extremists that their days are numbered
… and to send a message to the people of the Middle East, the Muslim
world and all people who seek freedom, democracy and peaceful
coexistence that we support them.” In the run-up to the event it got
enthusiastic national and international publicity, but it ended up
drawing about twenty-five people. And that is about as many as this demo
in Toronto drew. Now the group appears to be defunct; its website hasn’t been updated since December 2011.

“Progressive Muslims group launched in Toronto to reclaim ‘hijacked’ faith,” by Wendy Gillis for the Toronto Star, June 17 (thanks to Rick):

Tahir Gora shouts into a microphone, cuing a response from
the sparse group of supporters gathered with him at the steps of Queen’s
Park.

“Terrorism,” he yells.

“Unacceptable!” they reply.

Their voices carry across the grassy Legislature grounds that are,
with the exception of a few bike cops and pedestrians, deserted. A stack
of unused signs, their slogans reading “Hate is not my religion” and
“Love it or leave my Canada,” lean up against a nearby pole.

Mighty but small, it was not quite the turnout the newly formed
Progressive Muslims Institute Canada had in mind for their first rally,
held last week. As one of the organizers mused with a chuckle, there
were more white faces than brown in the crowd of roughly two dozen.

But when the goal is as big as reclaiming a faith many Muslims feel
has been hijacked by terrorism, you’ve got to start somewhere.

“We thought, enough is enough,” said Gora, the institute’s director and a Pakistani writer and social activist.

The quick succession of Islam-linked terrorism — the Boston Marathon
bombing, the alleged plot to derail a Toronto-bound train, the killing
of a British soldier in London, among others — was the final push for
Gora and a handful of other activists to officially band together, Gora
said. Part of umbrella think tank Canadian Thinkers’ Forum, the
institute is the latest Canadian Muslim group promoting progressive
ideas, including gender equality, separation of church and state, and
condemnation of terrorism.

But while many Muslims have long been denouncing the actions of
fundamental Islamist extremists, there remains a reticence among some to
speak out.

“It’s 25 years that I’ve been in Canada, but I haven’t seen the
Muslim community come out to protest,” said rally attendee Rasheed
Nadeem. “There are progressive people, but they are silent. They do
talk, but in their dining rooms.”

Fear plays a role, said Arshad Mahmood, honorary director of the new
progressive Muslims group — “fear of being an outcast, fear of social
boycott, fear of being trashed by certain extremist priests,” he said.

Saadia Ali Bokhari is a well known activist in the GTA Muslim
community, and has spoken out on controversial issues including
supporting the ban of face coverings in Canadian citizenship ceremonies.
Because of her activism, she says she has been the recipient of hate
and threats.

Last month, she participated in a downtown rally protesting the
suspected vote-rigging in Pakistan’s recent election. After a photo of
her at the rally was posted online, Bokhari began receiving harassing
and threatening messages. She said her brother and sister in Pakistan
were also contacted by people saying Bokhari needed to stop speaking
out.

Bokhari believes some people are offended by the idea of a vocal,
confident woman. “This is what they are doing to discourage me,” Bokhari
said.

Mahmood, a Mississauga mortgage broker who moved to Canada from
Pakistan in 1999, says another factor keeping Canadian Muslims from
demonstrating is the false sense of security that Islamic extremism
won’t affect Canada.

“That is a mentality that develops with some people to stay in a
comfort zone — as long as it doesn’t happen on my street, I’m
comfortable,” he said. At the rally he apologized for falling victim to
this thinking, saying: “I am sorry that I didn’t stand up when my
religion was being hijacked.”

For some Muslims, terrorism is so foreign to their idea of the Muslim
faith that it seems odd to have to decry it, says Max Khan, an Oakville
town councillor active in the Muslim community, because “we don’t
identify ourselves as being a terrorist group.”

But he believes that community leaders and imams still have a responsibility to condemn terrorism.

“I do hold people who sit on the sidelines accountable,” Khan said.

There is frustration, however, that Muslim statements decrying
violent extremism are falling on deaf ears. Dr. Aliya Khan is a member
of an interfaith group in Peel and has been working to spread the
message that Islam is peaceful. She says many imams are regularly
denouncing terrorism, but the media aren’t covering their statements.

This is an oft-repeated claim, but it is absolute rubbish. The media
is avid to find moderates, and routinely runs glowing puff pieces about
reputed moderates, including some who turn out to be anything but.
That’s how Anwar al-Awlaki ended up getting praised in the New York Times, which hailed al-Awlaki on October 19, 2001 as one of “a new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West.”

In December, for instance, several international imams in
Toronto for a large conference spoke out against extremist violence and
“there wasn’t a peep from the media,” Khan said.

“The imams are feeling very frustrated, and they say ‘we’ve condemned
this a billion times, we don’t know what to do,’” she said….

Act against it. Teach against it. Condemnations are not enough.