DAMED
IF YOU DO, DAMNED IF YOU DON'T
Khadr statements must not be
used as a yardstick to judge the entire Canadian Muslim community
By: Riad
Saloojee
March 8, 2004 OMN
Ottawa - March 8, 2004 (MMN): "Speak out, Muslims," says Irshad Manji after she finds an ominous similarity between Abdurahman Khadr and the rest of Canadian Muslims. Khadr's complacency - in not coming clean about his father's, and family's, jihadist intentions - becomes Manji's metaphor for what she argues is wrong with Muslims: "The problem is," Manji opines, "we struggle silently, and our silence enables jihadists to get away with their hate."
Part of what Manji is saying is, without doubt, true. If Canadian Muslims do not provide their own narrative of Islam, their faith will continue to be hijacked by a band of violent, narrow-minded bigots. Muslims must bear the brunt of explaining what Islam is as a lived reality for them. And, contrary to what Manji might assert, most Muslims do feel the weight of that responsibility, especially after 9/11. For what is normative in Islam - its values, its ethos, its universal constants of justice and mercy - is relatively unknown in the West, unlike the case with Christianity and Judaism.
Like any young immigrant community that is slowly emerging from its chrysalis of recent arrival, Canadian Muslims have their own challenges. They are fragmented, comprising a bewildering number of different ethnicities, and do not have entrenched institutional voices like other communities. There is, however, an emerging recognition among Canadian Muslims that they need to move away from parochialism to engage and participate vigorously in broader Canadian society.
Many Canadian Muslims, especially the younger generation, see this struggle as a natural imperative. The Koran, after all, commands Muslims to be firm practitioners of justice, even if it be against their own selves, their family or other tribalistic (broadly defined) associations. Canadian Muslims must want to see a safe and secure Canada, not simply as part of a secular responsibility but as a sacred call of duty.
In other respects, Manji's comparison is problematic and facile. Khadr, as part of a family unit, had foreknowledge of his father's views. The same cannot be said of the entire Canadian Muslim community, unless, of course, Manji fixes the bar of culpability to be guilt by religious association. Is each Muslim to be held as the moral and legal conscience for his or her co-religionist?
Indeed, this theme was common after 9/11. Even though Canadian Muslims unequivocally condemned the killing of innocents in the name of Islam - a fact that was prolifically covered in the Canadian press from coast to coast - the charge of a complicit silence was frequently levied against them. Muslims, it was alleged, remained silent and said little.
A corollary, and recurrent theme, was that Canadian Muslims were slow to prove their loyalty and patriotism. In short, Muslims were held to a more rigorous standard than their compatriots - and found to come up short. They faced, as another commentator suggested, a "stiffer test of patriotism" than their fellow Canadians. And even with the prolific condemnation, it was at times asserted that the dissociation was not true or authentic. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
The blame game still continues. Some have seemingly built a lucrative career on nothing more than brow-beating Muslims into "speaking-up." Many "speak-up" requests are so harsh, so venomous, that no amount of condemnation will ever suffice. We are witnessing, instead, the politics of self-promotion and one-upmanship that asserts a quota on morality but, in reality, corners the market when it comes to moral chauvinism.
Notice the asymmetry. Were Christians ever called upon to condemn the Christianity of David Koresh, Timothy McVeigh, or even the Christianity-laden pretext of white South Africa's apartheid policy? Are Jewish organization ever called upon to condemn Israel's flagrant and frequent violation of international law and human rights?
For the record, we did issue a strong and unequivocal condemnation of the statements by the Khadr family. As well, we asked that the Khadr statements not be used as a yardstick to judge the entire Canadian Muslim community.
Riad Saloojee is the Executive Director of CAIR-CAN, an Ottawa-based, nonprofit organization with a grassroots membership and which aims to educate Canadians and empower Canadian Muslims. CAIR-CAN has written several op-eds to date on issues of contemporary importance to Canadians and Canadian Muslims. Op-eds may be viewed at: http://www.caircan.ca/op_ed.php. He submitted this op-ed to OMN for publication. He can be reached via e-mail at: riadsaloojee@caircan.ca