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GETTING
TO KNOW YOUR ISLAMIC FAITH
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Saturday,
February 1, 2003
THE RECORD
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Canadians hunger to know more about the Islamic faith today, and
for good reason. More than 600,000 Muslims have made their home
in this country, and as new Muslim immigrants arrive each day,
this community will only grow larger, more active and more influential
within the national mosaic
But beyond wanting to learn more about their neighbours, non-Muslim
Canadians have another, more urgent and anxious need for reliable
information. It is undeniable that in the world today, a distressing
number of bloody deeds are being committed by individuals and
groups who say they are motivated, at least in part, by the teachings
of their Islamic faith.
The Palestinian suicide bombers who have stripped to the bone
Israel's sense of security, the terrorist atrocities masterminded
by Osama bin Laden -- the most notorious of which claimed nearly
3,000 lives in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001 -- as well
as the harsh and incomprehensibly anti-female edicts of Afghanistan's
now toppled Taliban regime, are all bound by a thread of radical
Muslim thought.
And it is this loud, fiery voice that has thoroughly alarmed much
of the world, even though the radicals actually comprise a tiny
fraction of a faith embraced by 1.3 billion human beings
It is natural, therefore, for many people to wonder about this
major global religion, to have doubts about what it all means.
But while questions should be welcomed, especially if they are
posed in a spirit of goodwill and tolerance, the answers some
people are arriving at are disturbing and disruptive.
A case in point, we believe, is provided by one Mark Harding who
organized for today what has been described as an anti-Muslim
conference in Kitchener. As of late yesterday, it was uncertain
whether this distasteful event, provocatively entitled, Islam:
A Religion Of Peace?, would proceed at the Walper Terrace Hotel
due to unresolved security matters.
While we are the last people to want to see limits placed on civil
discourse and what is considered the range of acceptable opinion,
and while we do not seek to silence him, we would be just as happy
to see Harding take his tawdry little circus elsewhere. This is
because we utterly reject the approach Harding has taken to this
subject in the past and believe it has done nothing more than
offend and frighten Muslim Canadians while misleading non-Muslims.
We need to build bridges, not walls, between Canadian faith groups.
Harding has built walls, with bricks of misinformation mortared
together with fear. It would be more than just a shame for him
to do so in this community, a home to 10,000 Muslim Canadians.
It would be hurtful. It would be wrong.
In 1998, Harding was convicted of inciting hatred for writing
and distributing anti-Islam leaflets around a Toronto high school.
We will not repeat the virulent words in those pamphlets. Suffice
it to say that Justice Sidney Linden ruled at the time that Harding's
pamphlets contained "false allegations about the adherents
of Islam calculated to arouse fear and hatred of them in all non-Muslim
people.''
The problem and danger we see in Harding's approach, which has
seemed a thinly veiled attack on Islam, is that it does nothing
to dispel ignorance, but in fact feeds it. He has said he is trying
to explain Islam "from a Christian perspective, not a Muslim
perspective.'' Surely the best way to learn about another faith
is by involving people of that faith, by meeting and respecting
them.
Harding has taken a hazardous route, picking his way through someone
else's sacred beliefs, laden as they are with the mine fields
of a different culture, and then presuming to interpret and pronounce
upon those beliefs. What a waste this is.
How better would it be for non-Muslims to learn about Islam by
reaching out to and connecting with members of that faith. A lot
of this interfaith dialogue has already gone on quietly in Waterloo
Region. More would be welcome.
Canada's diverse society would only benefit if Christians and
Muslims in this country understood one another better. Let's face
it: Just as many North Americans and Europeans have concerns about
trends in the Islamic world, many Muslims are suspicious of the
West, mindful not only of the Iraq crisis and of Palestinians
dying in the occupied territories, but of the persecution of the
Kosovars in Yugoslavia and the tribulations of the Chechens in
Russia.
There is a need, therefore, for mutual acceptance, mutual understanding
and for a whole lot more talking. This is the kind of free speech
we would encourage. It is the best inoculation against the bacterium
of misunderstanding spread by Harding and his like. Harding has
already run afoul of Canada's hate laws, and police said they
intended to monitor his activities today, should his program go
ahead. Wherever the sad case of Mr. Harding leads, we think the
best response should not come from a judge's bench. It should
instead proceed from men and women with open minds and hearts,
who can speak to each other, pray together and discover the multitude
of ways there are to reach God.
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