Tarek Fatah

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Tarek Fatah (born November 20, 1949) is a secular Muslim Canadian political activist, writer and TV host. He is the author of "Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State"^[1], published by John Wiley & Sons. In the book Fatah challenges the notion that the establishment of an Islamic state is a necessary prerequisite to entering the state of Islam. He suggests that the idea of an Islamic state is merely a mirage that Muslims have been made to chase for over a millennium.

Founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, Fatah's advocacy for a separation of religion and state, opposition to Sharia law, and advocacy for a liberal, progressive form of Islam have been met with considerable criticism from various Canadian Muslim groups, such as the Canadian Islamic Congress.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Political activity 3 Media activity 4 Muslim Canadian Congress 5 Break with Irshad Manji 6 Israel and the Middle East 6.1 Denounciation of Iranian President 6.2 Opposition to Israeli and American Policies 7 Comments on Islam and Extremism 7.1 Islamic Radicalism 7.2 Support for the Quran and opposition to Shariah 7.3 Statement that Islam does not need to be reformed 8 Position on Homosexuality 9 Criticism of Ontario Human Rights Commission 10 Tarek Fatah and Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) 10.1 Fatah and Mohamed Elmasry 10.2 Wahida Valiante on Fatah 11 Threats against Fatah 12 Family life 13 Authorship 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Early life

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Fatah was a student leftist-radical in the 1960s and 1970s. A biochemist by training, Fatah entered journalism as a reporter for the Karachi Sun in 1970, and was an investigative journalist for Pakistani Television.

[edit] Political activity

He became involved in the Ontario New Democratic Party and worked on the staff of Premier Bob Rae. Fatah was an NDP candidate in the 1995 provincial election but was unsuccessful due to his controverial statements on a variety of issues. In July 2006, he left the NDP to support Bob Rae's candidacy for the Liberal Party of Canada's leadership.^[2] In an opinion piece published in Toronto's Now Magazine, Fatah wrote that he decided to leave the NDP because of the establishment of a "faith caucus" which he believes will open the way for religious fundamentalists to enter the party.^[3]. However, after Rae's defeat by Stephane Dion, Fatah condemned similar racial and religious organizing activity in the Liberal Party, arguing in a Globe and Mail editorial that Tamil, Sikh, Kurdish and Islamist Muslim leaders had engaged in "racial and religious exploitation" to "sell" the votes of their blocs of delegates "to the highest bidder."^[4]

[edit] Media activity

Since 1996 he has hosted Muslim Chronicle, a Toronto-based current affairs discussion show focusing on the Muslim community. Fatah has interviewed notables such as journalist Husain Haqqani, author Tariq Ali, and Mubin Shaikh on his program, which airs on the Crossroads Television System on Saturday nights at 8:00 PM. Fatah has also written opinion pieces for various publications including TIME Magazine, the Toronto Star, the National Post and the Globe and Mail.

He has also been a guest host of TVO's The Agenda filling in for Steve Paikin. In February 2007, Fatah was included by Maclean's magazine on a list of 50 Canadians described as "Canada’s most well known and respected personalities from journalists to politicians offering their comments on the issues of the day, everyday." ^[5]

[edit] Muslim Canadian Congress

He was one of the founders of the Muslim Canadian Congress in 2001 and served as its communications director and spokesperson until 2006. In this capacity, he has spoken out against the introduction of Sharia law as an option for Muslims in civil law in Ontario, Sharia banking in Canada, which he has described a a 'con-job', promoted social liberalism in the Muslim community and the separation of religion from the state, and endorsed same-sex marriage. He resigned as the communications director of the MCC in August 2006, claiming that his public profile as a socially liberal Muslim had put him and his family at risk. However, he continues to serve on the MCC board, write opinion pieces and appears on television and radio regularly.

Several of the founding members left the Muslim Canadian Congress over the years. This culminated in a dramatic a split in the summer of 2006 when the remaining founders, including the entire executive and several other Board members left to form the Canadian Muslim Union. According to the Globe and Mail ^[6] , the split occurred when some members of the MCC's former board marched in a Toronto anti-war rally where banners and photographs supporting Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were paraded. While the current members of the MCC wanted nothing to do with Hezbollah, it was claimed that other executive members participated or supported the demonstrations, and resigned and formed the new CMU the next day.

This version of events is challenged in the resignation statement published by the exiting board members, which cited their belief that the Muslim Canadian Congress could no longer achieve its goal of influencing the Muslim community. According to some who split with Fatah, he and other Board members had participated in several earlier demonstrations where the same banners were displayed by some members of the crowd, including two just weeks before the split.

The CMU's philosophy of Liberal Islam is similar to the MCC's, but with an intention to work "with and within the Muslim community".

[edit] Break with Irshad Manji

In 2003, Fatah engaged in a high-profile break with Irshad Manji in the pages of the Globe and Mail in which he repudiated the thanks she gave him in the acknowledgement section of her book The Trouble with Islam. Fatah wrote of Manji's book that it "is not addressed to Muslims; it is aimed at making Muslim-haters feel secure in their thinking."^[7]

[edit] Israel and the Middle East

[edit] Denounciation of Iranian President

In October of 2005, Fatah, in his role as communications director of the Muslim Canadian Congress, denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for calling for the destruction of Israel.^[8]

Fatah stated that "The mullahs who control Iran with an iron grip merely use the pain of the Palestinian occupation for their own advantage in diverting people's attention from other pressing matters. They talk about wiping out Israel, but in reality the only people they have wiped out are fellow Iranians by the tens of thousands. After a reign of terror that killed thousands and drove many more into exile, they have used torture, arbitrary arrest, vigilante justice and murder to silence fellow Muslims in Iran."^[8]

Fatah added that Ahmadinejad "insults Islam by usurping it to serve his own narrow political interests" and that "with friends like the Iranian ruling ayatollahs, the Palestinians do not need enemies."^[8]

[edit] Opposition to Israeli and American Policies

Although Fatah condemned Ahmadinejad for calling for Israel's destruction, he also stated that "we cannot remain silent about Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian territories."^[8]

Fatah also condemned US President George W. Bush "for posturing as a deliverer of freedom while occupying Iraq." Regarding Iraq, Fatah wrote that "both Iran and the U.S. have helped destroy a nation."^[8]

[edit] Comments on Islam and Extremism

[edit] Islamic Radicalism

In a discussion hosted by the Globe and Mail in 2007, Fatah stated that "most of the Islamic radicalism that you see today stems from from the empowering of Saudi based Jihadi groups that were funded and backed by the U.S. and the CIA throughout the Afghan war against the Soviet Union."^[9]

Fatah argues that "Most secular and liberal institutions were destroyed piece by piece and what we are left with is the result of huge amounts of cash and weapons in the hands of the Taliban type, or Al-Qaeda groups that get their intellectual sustenance from the political teachings of the Muslim Botherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna and the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Abul ala Maudoodi, both of who preached Jehad as an obligation for all Muslims if they saw another Muslim under attack."^[9]

[edit] Support for the Quran and opposition to Shariah

Fatah stressed that "The poison is not coming from the Quran, but from the man-made shariah laws of the 8th and 9th centuries as well as the works of such 20th century scholars as Syed Qutb, Hassan Banna and Maudoodi" and that "The swamp that needs to be drained is the swamp created by Saudi Arabia and Iran and their call for imposition of Shariah."^[9]

[edit] Statement that Islam does not need to be reformed

Fatah also stated that "it is not Islam that needs to be reformed, it is the need for Muslims to reconcile with modernity and the notion of the secular nation state ... Unfortunately, whereas the religious right in islam is well funded and well organised, the liberal secular Muslim is too busy leadiung a 9-to-5 life, paying his mortgage and providing for her family and thus has no time or resources to challenge the Islamist extremists."^[9]

[edit] Position on Homosexuality

Fatah stated that "The issue that has resulted in all the threats and allegations against us is our support for same-sex marriage. It's the central point on which the Muslim Canadian Congress and I have faced outright hostility, verging on violence. There is near unanimity in any religious group that this is the ultimate sin and, for them, this amounts to the ultimate betrayal." Regarding Islam and homosexuality, Fatah stated that "Our human rights cannot revolve around religion. It's not about our rights, it's about human rights."^[10]

Fatah also criticized the support of some gay and lesbian Muslim for Hezbollah, "There's the sudden romanticization of Hezbollah. But I cannot walk with, cannot even build a coalition with, a group which thinks gays and lesbians should be killed... I haven't ever heard them condemn what's happening in Iran and Saudi Arabia. I would like to see a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy by the gay and lesbian community."^[10]

[edit] Criticism of Ontario Human Rights Commission

In April of 2008, the Ontario Human Rights Commission dismissed a complaint about allegedly Islamophobic articles in Maclean's magazine. However, the commission denounced the newsweekly for publishing articles that were "inconsistent with the spirit" of the Ontario Human Rights Code, and doing "serious harm" to Canadian society by "promoting societal intolerance" and disseminating "destructive, xenophobic opinions."^[11]

Fatah stated that for the Commission "to refer to Maclean's magazine and journalists as contributing to racism is b***s***, if you can use that word" and that the Commission has unfairly taken sides against freedom of speech in a dispute within the Canadian Muslim community between moderates and fundamentalists. "There are within the staff [of the Ontario Human Rights Commission], and among the commissioners, hardline Islamic supporters of Islamic extremism, and this [handling of the Maclean's case] reflects their presence over there" and that "In the eyes of the Ontario human rights commission, the only good Muslim is an Islamist Muslim. As long as we hate Canada, we will be cared for. As soon as we say Canada is our home and we have to defend her traditions, freedoms and secular democracy, we will be considered as the outside."

[edit] Tarek Fatah and Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC)

[edit] Fatah and Mohamed Elmasry

Regarding a controvesry in October 2004 involving CIC President Mohamed Elmasry, in which Elmasry stated that all Israelis over 18 are legitimate targets, Fatah stated that "...to believe all Israelis are targets is the height of hypocrisy" and called on Elmasry to resign from the CIC.^[12]

Fatah also stated that: "In refusing to step aside, Elmasry and the CIC have demonstrated the authoritarian and dictatorial nature of their structure.…They purport to speak for Canada's 600,000 Muslims, but are not accountable or answerable to them.…We demand he [Elmasry] not…masquerade as leader of the community."^[13]

Fatah wrote that "Elmasry accused his Muslim opponents of being traitors to their faith -- an allegation that is read as a charge of apostasy, with all its ugly consequences" and that "It is especially sad that Mohamed Elmasry and his allies have chosen the holy month of Ramadan to launch their broadside on progressive Muslims."^[14]

In June of 2006, Elmasry, named four public figures - Tarek Fatah among them - of taking every opportunity to bad-mouth Islam. Specifically, Elmasry stated that Fatah is "well known in Canada for smearing Islam and bashing Muslims." Fatah blasted Elmasry, stating that "[t]his is a classic threat to label anyone as an apostate and then marginalize them," ... "and this is what Mr. Elmasry has done by listing me as the top anti-Islam Muslim." Fatah stated that he views the label from Elmasry as tantamount to a death sentence. However, some Islamic scholars disagreed with Fatah's characterization of Elmasry's comments. Leonard Librande, professor of religion at Carleton University, told CTV News "There's nothing particularly Islamic in this... There are differences of opinion frequently in the community. It doesn't mean somebody is going to kill you." ^[15]

However, Fatah has argued that "in the Muslim world ... allegations of apostasy are used to silence critics and human rights workers" and that "Some interpretations of Sharia call for apostates to be killed. Such views have forced many Muslims to flee their countries of birth and take refuge in tolerant Western nations such as Canada. To now find ourselves harassed in Canada by some Muslims here is alarming and ironic."^[14]

Fatah supported his concern by noting that a book, distributed for free at a Toronto Conference in September of 2005 by the Islamic Council of North America, stated that "Jihad is as much a primary duty as are daily prayers or fasting. One who avoids it is a sinner. His every claim to being a Muslim is doubtful. He is plainly a hypocrite who fails in the test of sincerity and all his acts of worship are a sham, a worthless, hollow show of deception."^[14]

[edit] Wahida Valiante on Fatah

Wahida Valiante, vice-chair and national vice-president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told the Globe and Mail that "Tarek Fatah's views are diametrically opposed to most Muslims. There is a tremendous amount of discussion in the community. His point of view contradicts the fundamentals of Islam." ^[16] Fatah has written to the RCMP to complain about the CIC's article claiming that it "is as close as one can get to issuing a death threat as it places me as an apostate and blasphemer."^[17]

[edit] Threats against Fatah

Fatah says he has been attacked for his views, verbally at an Islamic conference in 2003 where dozens of young Muslim men mobbed him while a cleric shouted out that he had insulted the Prophet Muhammad's name and in 2006 when he was accosted on Yonge Street by a man who accused him of being an apostate. His car windows have also been smashed.^[17] On August 4, 2006, Fatah announced his resignation as the MCC's communications director because of concerns for his safety and the safety of his family, stating that "it's not just for me. It's for my wife and my daughters." ^[18].^[19]

[edit] Family life

Fatah has been married to his university sweetheart, Nargis Tapal, for 33 years, and they have two daughters, Natasha and Nazia. Natasha Fatah is a producer for CBC Radio's As It Happens. Younger daughter Nazia Fatah, who is autistic, is a partner in a co-operative catering business for young adults with disabilities.

[edit] Authorship

Fatah is the author of Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State, published by John Wiley & Sons in April 2008. In the book Fatah challenges the notion that the establishment of an Islamic state is a necessary prerequisite to entering the state of Islam. He suggests that the idea of an Islamic state is merely a mirage that Muslims have been made to chase for over a millennium.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Transcript of Fatah being interviewed by CNN's Glenn Beck
• CITS-TV "Muslim Chronicle"