Toronto Muslim Leader Urges Canada To Stop Linking Islam With Terror: New Terror Video Threatens Mall Attacks in Canada, US and UK

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.

Legal Limits

Despite the displeasure aired by concerned groups, Canadian government officials can be seen using the term jihad. In a statement before the White House conference, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said, “The international jihadist movement has declared war on Canada and its allies.” However, a 2012 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has advised against such expressions. However, the RCMP has not issued any official directive on the use of language. It said it has a “bias-free” policy, but does not “issue specific guidance about such language use.”

New Terror Threat

Meanwhile, Guardian reports that the U.S., Canada and British security services are assessing the credibility of a new threat against western shopping centres, issued by Somali-based militant group al-Shabaab on Feb 21. The video called for strikes on shopping centres, including Oxford Street and two Westfield malls in London; the Mall of America in Minnesota; and Canada’s West Edmonton mall.

The U.S. homeland security chief Jeh Johnson said the threat has been taken seriously and urged people to stay alert. The 77-minute video was released by the media wing of al-Shabaab, which is a Somali-based affiliate of al-Qaida. It exhorts followers to carry out attacks on “American and Jewish-owned” shopping centres similar to the siege in the Westgate mall of Nairobi, Kenya, in 2013, in which 67 people were killed.

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