Canadian Muslim Leaders Are Misusing Mosques for Partisan Political Agendas

By Tarek Fatah and Jehad Aliweiwi

On Monday, millions of Canadians will go to the polls to elect a new parliament and a new Prime Minister. Muslim Canadians have been active in the body-politic of this country for decades. We have participated vigorously in election after election.

But although this election—the first after 9/11—provides us an opportunity to assert our strength, and send a message of solidarity with people who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our darkest days, the traditional Canadian Muslim leadership has unwisely chosen to use the country’s mosques to serve short-term partisan ends.

The memories of the days following 9/11 are still vivid. The men who were spat on at subway stops; the women who had their head covers yanked in university campuses; the little children who were yelled at as ‘terrorists;’ the mothers who were refused service by sales clerks and the fathers who were laughed at simply because of their Arabic, Pakistani, or Somali accents. Those scars are etched in our minds forever.

Isolated as we felt in those dark days, the community was not alone or without friends. People stood up and said, “I am a Muslim” even though they were not.

Arab Christians like John Asfour and Rajah Khouri stood up gallantly with us; Jews like Barbara Landau and the “Women in Black” rallied against Islamophobia; the Black and Chinese communities made us feel loved when we were all so lonely; Sikh and Hindu Canadians suffered unnecessarily with us, yet spoke out in our favor.

Among our many friends, standing tallest was the New Democratic Party—the NDP.

Among the most touching stories of this dark period was that of the son of Dr. Mohamed Thabit who came home crying from school and asked his mother to change his name from “Osama” to a more “Canadian” name. He had been bullied in school and was called a terrorist.

The next day the Leader of the NDP stood up in the House of Commons and proclaimed, “Osama and Muhammad are Canadian names.”

That act of courage was just one of the many steps the NDP took to fight for Muslim rights in this country. They were the only ones to oppose the war in Iraq and Afghanistan; vocally and without hesitation. Without care for its own popularity, the NDP did not flinch even for a moment in standing up for our rights.

When Monia Mazigh stood alone outside the Parliament on a cold winter night, asking for justice for her husband Maher Arar, only the NDP rallied for her. Who can afford to forget that moment?

NDP Members of Parliament fanned out across the country; some went to Iraq, another confronted Israeli soldiers in Palestine. At every anti-war protest and parade, the only party visible shoulder-to-shoulder with us was the NDP.

Yet, today we are witnessing in Canada what has been the treachery displayed by traditional Muslim leaders historically in the Muslim world. Unfortunately betraying our friends and befriending the powerful is a widespread practice and has cost us our self-respect and dignity many times. We can ill afford to repeat those mistakes of the Arab World, South Asia and Africa in today’s Canada. The traditional Muslim leadership of Canada with its base in the mosques has come out opposing the NDP.

Those who are entrusted to run our mosques and become our imams are letting us down again. Mosque leaders across the country (with some exceptions) are urging their congregations to vote against the NDP and to support the Liberal Party. They are choosing to conveniently forget the deeds of the government of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Paul Martin’s Liberals are guilty of arresting and detaining hundreds of Muslims, deporting many Palestinians and Algerians, imprisoning many Muslims without trial or charges for years. And who can forget the 22 Pakistani students falsely accused of terrorism.

The government that sent Maher Arar to a Syrian torture chamber is being garlanded and red carpeted at every mosque, while the NDP is being shut out in the most conniving and deceptive manner.

It is a not only dishonest to use mosques for the propaganda and publicity of the ruling Liberal Party, this is a dangerous trend. The house of God should never be used for partisan purposes, yet across the land, the Imams and the mosque authorities are using the place of prayer to push their petty political agendas. In doing so these imams and national presidents who self aggrandize themselves as “Muslim Leaders” are guilty of compromising the sanctity of the mosque.

Although they may not have access to the tightly controlled khutbas and the authoritarian mosque committees, Muslims who still believe in standing up for truth, social justice and peace should show solidarity with NDP leader Jack Layton and his New Democrat candidates in Monday’s vote. The NDP has the highest number of Muslims running on their team. From Monia Mazigh in Ottawa to Itrath Syed in Vancouver; from Zaid Mayani in Montreal to Fauzia Khan in Scarborough; they all urge you to show solidarity with the NDP.

The NDP has a long history of fighting for equity in Canada. It is the party that introduced Medicare; brought in pensions, old age security, unemployment insurance, despite the fact it has never held power.

Integrity and honesty should determine how we vote, not a misguided sense of expediency.

Tarek Fatah is host of The Muslim Chronicle TV. Jehad Aliweiwi is former executive director of the Canadian Arab Federation.