Now its Canada
More 'hate' on speakers' list
A massive upcoming Islamic conference in Toronto, which was to be headlined by an Indian televangelist until he was recently banned from Canada for his inflammatory statements, features a list of speakers whose past comments against Jews, homosexuals and the West have raised red flags in other countries.
The Journey of Faith Conference -- billed as North America's largest Islamic conference -- features such personalities as Abdur Raheem Green, who has advocated "fighting jihad" and who was reportedly invited by the Christmas Day airline bomber to address British students in 2007, and Sheikh Hussein Yee, who once said Jews are the "extremists of the world" and will "go to Hell."
The chairman of the conference -- which is slated to attract upwards of 10,000 people to the city next month -- is Imam Saed Rageah, whose Toronto mosque, the Abu Huraira Centre, made headlines last fall after several young worshippers vanished and were feared to have joined a Somali militant group.
The National Post reported yesterday that the conference's main speaker, Peace TV founder Dr. Zakir Naik, will not be allowed to enter Canada because of concerns surrounding past statements such as "every Muslim should be a terrorist," Jews are "our staunchest enemy," and "If [Osama bin Laden] is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him."
But while Dr. Naik recently grabbed headlines around the world -- first for his exclusion from the U.K. ahead of a speaking tour later this month -- the conference itself has managed to keep a relatively low profile, despite its controversial list of a dozen speakers and chairman.
Although the speaker bios posted to the event website are laudatory and innocuous, the reality -- in some instances, and sometimes dating back two decades -- reveals a less favourable portrait of some speakers.
Mr. Green, for example, was put on a "movement alert list" and barred from entering Australia in 2005 after a government official accused him of "spreading hate." And another Journey of Faith Conference speaker, Sheik Riaz Ansary, is described as having worked with Dr. Bilal Philips, who was reportedly named by the U.S. government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and who was banned from entering the U.K. last weekend to attend a conference, according to his blog.
"They appear to be competing against each other in their level of hate, and Zakir Naik was the star performer," said Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress.
Dr. Naik's 16-year-old son, Fariq, is also listed as a speaker, and is described on the website as the child of "an illustrious father and world renowned orator on Islam and comparative religion."
Likewise on the event program is Abdullah Hakim Quick, who was reportedly uninvited from an April conference in Sweden after it surfaced that, many years ago, he said the Islamic position on homosexuality was "death."
"If these extreme voices are given a platform, then very easily people could assume that these extreme views represent the whole Muslim faith, and obviously they don't," said Rev. Brent Hawkes, of Toronto's Metropolitan Community Church, who performed Canada's first same-sex marriage.
The chairman of the conference is Imam Saed Rageah, whose Toronto mosque, the Abu Huraira Centre, made headlines last fall after several young worshippers vanished and were feared to have joined a Somali militant group.
Imam Rageah also incited controversy last year after he used a prayer to call for Allah to "destroy" the enemies of Islam from within.
Imam Rageah declined an interview request, but this week passed along a web video via email of Dr. Naik defending his comments and promising to challenge the U.K. ban.
According to the Journey of Faith event website, the "hope" of the July 2-4 conference at the downtown Metro Toronto Convention Centre is for Muslims to "renew their forgotten relationship" with the Koran.
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INVITED SPEAKERS TO FAITH CONFERENCE
Among the personalities slated to speak at the upcoming Journey of Faith Conference in Toronto are the following:
Abdur Raheen Green A British-based lecturer and convert to Islam from Christianity. In an undated YouTube video calling for Muslims to assist the jihad in anyway they can, Mr. Green also said: "Americans are worse terrorists than what the Muslims could ever do. We know that. And the Jews they are worse terrorists."
Abdullah Hakim Quick Director of the Discover Islam Centre of Cape Town, has been an Imam in Los Angeles, Toronto, and Cape Town. According to a 2004 statement by the Broadcasting Standards Authority in New Zealand, Mr. Quick said that homosexuals were dropping dead from AIDS and "they want to take us all down with them." He has reportedly stated that the Islamic position on homosexuality is "death."
Sheikh Hussein Yee President of the Al Khadeem Organization in Malaysia. In an undated YouTube video, Sheikh Yee said: "The most extreme nation in this world is the Jews. So if they use 'extremists,' it doesn't apply to Muslims. It applies to the Jews. They are the extremists of the world. That's why they kill Palestinians every day.... [Jews] go to Hell."
Sheikh Riaz Ansary Author and student at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. On the Journey of Faith Conference website, Sheikh Ansary is said to have "worked as a translator and editor with Dr. Bilal Philips." Dr. Philips was reportedly named by the U.S. government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing and, according to his personal blog, was banned last weekend from entering the U.K. to attend a conference.
Sheikh Saed Rageah Chairman of the Journey of Faith Conference and Imam at Toronto's Abu Haraira mosque. At Abu Haraira mosque last fall, Imam Rageah used derogatory language against Jews and Christians, and called on God to "damn" the "infidels." He said: "Allah protect us from the evil agenda of these people; Allah destroy them from within themselves, and do not allow them to raise their heads in destroying Islam." Imam Rageah also made headlines last year after a group of young worshippers from his mosque were feared to have joined a Somali militant group.
More 'hate' on speakers' list
I wonder if you think they burn in hell, though and if you do, do you think that is just?
