Posted on 08/06/2007 7:05:18 AM PDT by Loyalist
To put it mildly, Hamid Slimi is a busy man.
The 38-year-old mosque leader at the International Muslims Organization in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke has multitasking down to a science. He pauses from putting up blood-drive posters to lead the evening prayer. He finishes chairing the green mosque meeting (the centre is going environmentally friendly), then races around the building trying to get anyone he sees to sell tickets to an upcoming charity dinner. He haggles with one of the volunteers: 30 tickets? 20? 10?
"It's okay," he finally tells the volunteer, "I'm not a pushy person."
But he is - pushy and passionate about what he does. And it's precisely his passion for interpreting Islam to Canadian society that has brought him to a defining moment, both for himself and his community of faith.
When two dozen windows were smashed in the IMO building just hours after the arrest of 17 Toronto-area suspects in last year's high-profile anti-terrorism sweep, Mr. Slimi became one of Islam's very public faces, giving dozens of interviews in response to the arrests and the ensuing backlash. Now, he is being even more deeply immersed in the case by becoming part of a unique experiment in Canadian justice: Crown prosecutors have asked him to provide counselling to two of the youth terrorism suspects who, just last week, had charges against them stayed.
For Mr. Slimi, the abstract task of dealing with radical Muslim thought and action has suddenly become a very personal responsibility.
"Islam is faith and action," Mr. Slimi said over peanut-butter cookies at an Etobicoke Tim Hortons. "We talk a lot, but when it comes to action, we do little."
Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers working on Canada's most high-profile terrorism case came to a realization earlier this summer: Some of the young offenders charged in the case were going to be let off. However, simply withdrawing the charges against a couple of teenagers accused of participating in a Northern Ontario terrorist training camp was out of the question.
Instead, lawyers agreed the charges should be stayed - and, after a year, if the suspects adhered to a set of conditions, the charges would be dropped completely.
One of those conditions involved attending counselling with a local Muslim leader. Crown prosecutors had to find a Toronto imam who had credibility with Muslim youth, but hadn't earned that credibility by making statements that could be seen as condoning thekind of radical thinking for which the teens had been arrested.
They turned to Mr. Slimi.
With two masters degrees and a doctorate in Islamic law, the Moroccan-born Canadian has academic authority. He also has 10 years' experience as an imam and chaplain in Canada, and a long history of working with Jewish, Christian and non-denominational groups. But what perhaps best suits Mr. Slimi for the job is his history: Well before the attacks of Sept. 11, he'd written a book condemning terrorism.
"Islam is a faith of life and building, not death and destruction," Mr. Slimi said during a late-night interview, after completing another 10-hour day at the International Muslims Organization.
The IMO occupies a large building near the corner of Rexdale Boulevard and Islington Avenue in Etobicoke, an intersection where the El Fateh halal meat store sits next door to the eXXXotic Dreams adult DVD emporium. The neighbourhood is a mix of Caribbean, African, Southeast Asian and Arab influences. As such, Mr. Slimi presides over a very multicultural congregation.
When he's not at the IMO, the imam spends a lot of his time working on Faith of Life, a TV show aimed at improving the religion's image - the IMO is where he draws a salary; the TV show is a personal passion.
Within the vaguely defined role of imam, Mr. Slimi occupies many roles. Unlike Christianity's Catholic and Protestant traditions, where spiritual leaders are posted to or bear responsibility for specific dioceses, parishes or regions, imams are by comparison more independent and entrepreneurial. Livelihood and community recognition are somewhat more derived from building personal profile and experience.
Mr. Slimi heads up one of the largest Islamic centres in the region. He leads prayers for the 3,000 or so people who show up every Friday afternoon. He conducts marriage and youth counselling; he helps arrange food drives and charity functions; he chairs the Canadian Council of Imams.
But perhaps more so than most Canadian Muslim leaders, Mr. Slimi has a habit of partnering with non-Muslim groups for a variety of causes.
One such relationship also involved the RCMP and CSIS, the two agencies responsible for the anti-terrorism bust last year. The IMO hosted a session where representatives from various agencies talked to area residents about how law enforcement works in Canada. For immigrants from parts of the world where the term "intelligence agency" often conjures particularly horrific images, Mr. Slimi said the session was especially helpful.
The relationship was reciprocal. Mr. Slimi held his own workshops for law enforcement agents, teaching them the basics of Islam.
For many imams, such a relationship is not without risks - within the Muslim community, too close a relationship with police and intelligence agencies inevitably leads to charges of spying. But Mr. Slimi adamantly defends his approach.
"Isolation leads to suspicion, mistrust and misunderstanding," he says. "You build relationships through the common good. It pays back in the long run."
Now, Mr. Slimi is about to put that philosophy to what may be its toughest test yet, as he tries to engage two teenage former terrorism suspects in some of the many charitable projects that consumes his own time.
Asked if he's worried about whether he'll be able to make a difference in the youths' lives, Mr. Slimi simply shrugs.
"Where is life without the challenge?"
So why are the charges being dropped against these "teenagers"? Sure doesn't sound like they are not guilty.
So why are the charges being dropped against these "teenagers"? Sure doesn't sound like they are not guilty.
Knowing someone is guilty and proving in court are two entirely different things.
Islamic art of taqqiyah
Do you happen to know the definition and history of it?
Actually I was thinking more alone the lines of
“Taqiyya is a Shi`i concept for self-preservation and is not an all-purpose justification of falsehood.”
Daniel Pipes
http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/3518
Or
Encyclopaedia of the Orient
Taqiyya
http://i-cias.com/e.o/taqiyya.htm
Quotes on deception from Quran and Haddiths:
http://www.prophetofdoom.net/Islamic_Quotes_Deception.Islam
Man cannot serve God and Satan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.