Toronto Muslim Leader Urges Canada To Stop Linking Islam With Terror

A Toronto based Muslim leader has urged the Federal Government of Canada to stop using the language that links terror with Islam. Speaking at a religious conference Dr. Hamid Slimi said “Lead by example, change the rhetoric and stop saying these words. They hurt."  

Slimi is a former chairman of the Canadian Council of Imams and now heads the Muslim seminary, the Canadian Centre for Deen Studies. His plea assumes significance in the wake of recent remarks by Prime Minister Stephen Harper who expressed concern that some religious places are contributing to radicalisation.

The National Post reports that the reverse scenario is happening in the U.S., where Barack Obama’s administration has refrained from using words such as “Islamic” or “jihad” to characterise violent extremism. Some Canadian Muslims have already aired their concerns at the government’s use of language that links Islam with terror activities. They called it "stigmatising".

“In the Qur’an, the term “jihad” means exerting oneself in a difficult task such as debating, family struggles or armed conflict,” explained Sheik Aarij Anwer of Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. By clothing terror in Islamic terms, a skewed public’s perception has emerged about Canadian Muslims that seeks to show tthem as a dangerous group and reinforces a stereotype whose loyalty is suspect, noted Ihsaan Gardee, Executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims.



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