Why is it acceptable for Muslims to say “Respect existence or expect resistance,” but not the rest of Canada? Why do Muslims not have to respect our existence? And why are we told not to resist?
Anti-Muslim rhetoric has intensified in Canada, particularly in Peel Region, in recent months, over schools providing space for prayer.
For those just tuning in there is trouble in Peel, in Ontario, because of demands made by the Muslim community for prayer in the secular schools. Not just a quiet space for a quick prayer, but facilities for a full on service.
Jumu’ah is the sole group prayer activity allowed by the Peel District School Board. Last year Muslim students in Peel were very upset. Peel had provided a place for Friday prayers but the sermon which is also given was to be chosen from a series provided by Imams. Not good enough! Not enough accommodation! Oh no.
Muslim youth age 18-24 (who also tend to be second generation Canadians) stand out as being the most religiously observant generation in the Muslim community. They are most likely to visit mosques for prayer on a regular basis, wear the hijab, and support the right to pray in schools. Compared with older Muslims, they identify primarily as Muslim rather than as Canadian, and express a slightly weaker sense of belonging to the country.
Meleeha Baig, 22-year-old alumna of Mississauga’s Clarkson Secondary School who works with Muslim high school students in Peel Region called the change “unacceptable” while addressing trustees during a meeting. She likened the policy as a return to “colonial values.” Explain this to me. Imams will provide the sermons for the students and that is “colonial values.”
The Friday prayers warn Muslims about Jews and Christians.
The Muslim prayer (also known as salah, salat or namaz) is one of the Five Pillars in the faith of Islam and an obligatory religious duty to be observed five times a day for every Muslim who has reached the age of puberty. On Fridays, the noon congregational prayer (salat al-Jum’a) substitutes for the regular noon prayer, and it includes the Khutba, or the Friday sermon, by the imam (religious leader) who gives the congregants guidance in Islamic teachings.Students want this position. High school students want to provide guidance.
At the start of each unit of prayer (rakah), Muslims must recite Surah (chapter) al-Fatihah (“The Opening”), the first chapter of the Quran. In total, Surah (chapter) al-Fatihah is recited at least seventeen times a day by a practicing Muslim. The prayer also includes supplications to Allah.
The purpose of prayer is to demonstrate a total submission to Allah and a commitment to follow his path unconditionally.
Here is the link to the translation of the prayers and the explanation of them as provided by Omar Subedar, Imam at at Brampton Makki Masjid, The Islamic society of Peel, Vice president of Mathabah Institute and CEO & Founder of Bukhari Publications.
Some Imams in Canada have been known to add these supplications:
O Allah, destroy the accursed Jews
O Allah, show us the black day you inflict on them
O Allah, show us the wonders of your power and ability inflicted on them, O the most Merciful
O Allah, show us how you do to them what you did to [the peoples] of ʿĀd and Thamud [ancient peoples that perished by Allah because they didn’t heed the warnings of the prophets]…
O Allah, make their children orphans and their women widows
Then there are others in the Muslim world who call for death of the Jews.
There has been push back. Despite the fact that the media tries to make it out to be racist (which is not possible because Islam is not a race-but when it comes to the media-who cares about a little fact like that), the push back is coming from several communities including the Hindu community. For those unaware, Muslims and Hindu don’t get along all that well. They bring that with them from the old country to our country. We’ve seen that before and we made it though. Immigrants accommodated to Canada.
But when was the last time a group of immigrants came to our country and made demands? Not just one, but more and more?
We are the children of immigrants across the rainbow spectrum of colour and sexual orientation. And as new people came here there were problems, and some immigrants had trouble accommodating to Canada. But in the second half of the 20th century I don’t recall any group making demand after demand in the name of accommodation, inclusion or tolerance. Not happy with the original accommodation for them to pray in our secular schools, Muslims wanted more. The question becomes: will their demands ever be satisfied? Will they start demanding the right to prayer spaces to pray in a group every day of the week? And if it is not provided will we be accosted with “Respect existence or expect resistance”?
Resistance? To what? Free education, health care, including in many cases dental care, and welfare?
Let’s keep in mind that we no longer accommodate Christian students with the Lord’s Prayer. Why? Because religion was taken out of our secular schools. I’m Jewish. I went to secular schools and we said the Lords’ Prayer every morning along with the National anthem –which in those days was God Save the Queen. No harm done. The Lord ’s Prayer is basically innocuous. Doesn’t call for the death of anyone. I’m good with that. But no more Lord’s Prayer; just fights over Muslims demanding the right call for attack the Jews during school hours in the school. Bringing the hate for Jews from their home countries to mine. Then there are the not so nice prayers about Christians.
And this is supposed to be diversity? Can you remember a time when a group of immigrants caused so much divisiveness?
And where are my rights? Where is Trudeau’s grand accommodation for me, a Jew?
Or has our ethic now become “the greatest good for the greatest number”? In that case, who cares about the Jews. Small in number. 350,000. It seems we don’t care about the Hindu, either. We have to accommodate the greater number of Muslims. More than one million and growing.
This is Trudeau’s “sunny ways.”
This is state promoted hate.
