By Dan Smith
Cabbagetown' s Tarek Fatah begins his cri de coeur by setting out his citizen of the world credentials succinctly yet with power: "I am Indian born in Pakistan; a Punjabi born in Islam; an immigrant in Canada with a Muslim consciousness, grounded in Marxist youth. I am one of Salman Rushdie's many Midnight's Children: we were snatched from the cradle of a great civilization and made permanent refugees, sent in search of an oasis that turned out to be an mirage. I am in pain, a living witness to how dreams of hope and enlightenment can be turned into a nightmare of despair and failure...
"I write as a Muslim whose ancestors were Hindu. My religion, Islam is rooted in Judaism, while my Punjabi culture is tied to that of the Sikhs. Yet I am told by Islamists that without shedding this multifaceted heritage, if not outrightly rejecting it, I cannot be a true Muslim."
And so it goes in Fatah's Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State (Wiley, 410 pages, $31.95). The co-founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and the host of Vision TV's weekly The Muslim Chronicle sums up his inclusive, holistic understanding of the Quran's teachings, in opposition to the Islamic fundamentalism, of political and religious, that he has spent most of his adult life campaigning against it.
Chasing a Mirage is dedicated to Benazir Bhutto and Daniel Pearl: "a Muslim and a Jew, victims of terrorism."
Cabbagetown' s Tarek Fatah begins his cri de coeur by setting out his citizen of the world credentials succinctly yet with power: "I am Indian born in Pakistan; a Punjabi born in Islam; an immigrant in Canada with a Muslim consciousness, grounded in Marxist youth. I am one of Salman Rushdie's many Midnight's Children: we were snatched from the cradle of a great civilization and made permanent refugees, sent in search of an oasis that turned out to be an mirage. I am in pain, a living witness to how dreams of hope and enlightenment can be turned into a nightmare of despair and failure...
"I write as a Muslim whose ancestors were Hindu. My religion, Islam is rooted in Judaism, while my Punjabi culture is tied to that of the Sikhs. Yet I am told by Islamists that without shedding this multifaceted heritage, if not outrightly rejecting it, I cannot be a true Muslim."
And so it goes in Fatah's Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State (Wiley, 410 pages, $31.95). The co-founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and the host of Vision TV's weekly The Muslim Chronicle sums up his inclusive, holistic understanding of the Quran's teachings, in opposition to the Islamic fundamentalism, of political and religious, that he has spent most of his adult life campaigning against it.
Chasing a Mirage is dedicated to Benazir Bhutto and Daniel Pearl: "a Muslim and a Jew, victims of terrorism."
Source: The Toronto Star
H/T: Sharia Finance Watch
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