Source: The Globe and Mail
On June 15, 2006 The Globe and Mail ran an opinion piece by Emran Qureshi, a Canadian and fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. Qureshi writes, "The news that a group of Toronto-area Muslim radical misfits allegedly planned to commit terrorist attacks against Canada is evidence that the war within Islam has lapped up on our shores. Most Canadian Muslims are shocked at the news. Sadly, they should not be. The argument that this has nothing to do with Islam is false. The young Muslim adults who learned to hate our generous and tolerant Canadian society learned it not from pimps or drug dealers, but from Islamic fundamentalists who preyed on them within Canadian mosques. The fashionable idea that this is politics, not religion, is partly false and partly true. It is true that these jihadis wishing to wage war against Canada have a politicized understanding of Islam, but this misses the big picture that there are those within the Canadian Muslim community (and globally) who preach hatred and, worse, an understanding of Islam that makes it morally permissible to use violence... Some Canadian Muslim leaders have responded by denial, alleging 'root causes': Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East, or our troops in Afghanistan. They should, instead, reflect on the poison that is being disseminated, the ruined young lives, and the resultant prejudice engendered toward Muslims within the broader society. Other Muslims argue that the real issue is Islamophobia and prejudicial attitudes and nothing more. This is a facile and borderline apologetic response. Canadian Muslims have rights and responsibilities that come with citizenship. Canadian Muslim leaders should not continue to evade the seriousness of recent events and their responsibilities in cleaning up this mess, and Canadian Muslims who participate in and donate to Canadian Islamic charities and institutions should insist on moral and ethical accountability. We owe nothing less to our country."