Deception: Islam(ic Slavery) is Good

From the National Post.

Historical fantasies
Jonathan Kay, National Post Published: Monday, August 24, 2009

This just in from former Canadian Islamic Congress chief Mohamed Elmasry: Islamic slavery wasn’t all that bad.

Writing in The Canadian Charger — a newly formed internet-based grab bag of anti-Western articles published by hard-left Canadian activists — Elmasry works hard to distinguish the evils of Christian slavery from the purportedly enlightened race-mixing that resulted from its Islamic equivalent.
Some snippets: “Islam, with no church, teaches that all humans, irrespective of their gender, skin col-our and ethnic origin are capable of doing good; there is no original sin. The One God is the Lord of all, not of special people or tribe[s] … Islam and Africa have made something of each other that is quite extraordinary … Islam teaches that slaves, who were then the result of wars, Africans or not, should be treated well and set free as soon as possible … Islam also teaches that slaves can buy their freedom in-kind. Thus many of them excelled to be teachers and even scholars … Islam teaches a slave is a victim of circumstances who should be helped to be free and treated fairly in the mean time. Trading in slaves is a sin. This is in contrast to the teachings of the Bible, ‘Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling.’” … The Arab Muslims called Africans Zanji (hence the island of Zanjibar or Zanzibar), Habashi (from Habasha, Arabic for Ethiopian) or Sudani (Arabic for black). Such
Elmasry’s theme is that Islamic slavery was an enlightened exercise in regional
multiculturalism
names “were not derogatory but simply ethnographic … Some [slaves] achieved high rank and status …” And so on.
The basic theme is that Islamic slavery — to the extent it was bad at all (and it’s not really clear that Elmasry thinks it was) — was an enlightened, almost consensual, win-win exercise in regional multiculturalism. In his characteristically absurd elevation of Islam over Christianity, he makes no mention of the fact that religious Christians led the abolition movement in the West — while slavery persisted wholesale in the Arab world until late in the 20th century, and still survives in parts of Islamic Africa, including Sudan. Indeed, one wonders what the Christian tribes-people from southern Sudan who have been abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and enslaved by Arab Muslims in recent years would make of Elmasry’s historical fantasies.
It’s amazing, isn’t it? Our Christian leaders seem to do nothing but apologize these days — for every historical sin under the sun. But here you have a man who recently led the most prominent Muslim activist group in Canada, and he thinks it’s just dandy that his Arab forebears colonized and enslaved great swathes of Africa over the course of many centuries — a colonial situation that essentially persists in Sudan and regions of the Maghreb.
Remember this the next time Elmasry or one of his fellow travelers denounces Western “imperialism.”

jkay@nationalpost.com

Source: http://vladtepesblog.com/

Gates of Vienna: The Islamophobia Machine

Here is an article from The Gates of Vienna dealing with Mohamed El Masry, an extremist Muslim who masquerades as the moderate voice of Islam in Canada. Formerly he was head of the CIC or Canadian Islamic Congress and now is editor of a magazine dealing with Islamic issues. Please click the link above and read it. As usual for the Gates of Vienna, they do a very thorough job.

2008 Distinguished Islamofascist Awards

First Place (7 points):
CAIR

Second (5 points):
Anjem Choudary / Sami al-Arian

Fourth Place (4 points):
Keith Ellison / Mohamed Elmasry / Yusuf al Qaradawi

Seventh Place (3 points):
Abu Qatada / CIC / Ingrid Mattson / ISNA / Jawhar Badran (posthumous) / Mahmoud Abbas / Mohammad Qatanani / Omar Bakri Muhammed

Source: Muslims Against Sharia Blog

Mohamed Elmasry wants you to shut up

By Klaus Rohrich
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) and famous for declaring all Jews over the age of 18 in Israel fair targets in the Arabs’ struggle to annihilate that country, thinks the decision by the Canadian Human Rights Commission to dismiss claims against McLean’s Magazine and columnist Mark Steyn is wrong. Elmasry claims that “hate speech” creates a dynamic that silences disadvantaged groups and individuals and keeps them from participating in civil discourse.

Quoted in the National Post, Elmasry stated, “The state should act to empower those who are disadvantaged by hate speech, and that may mean lowering the voices of some in order that others may be heard.” Of course he isn’t talking about lowering voices; what he really wants is to silence them.

It’s a frightening prospect when adherents to any religion can dictate what is and is not acceptable in public discourse. As a society we have taken strong measures to ensure that government and religion are separated, yet Mr. Elmasry wants to prevent so-called Islamophobes from speaking their mind by classifying anything they may have to say as “hate speech”.

His opposition to the repeal of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, a section that is so draconian in preventing free speech that even Alan Borovoy one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, thinks it overly intrusive.

Elmasry wants to use this law to silence all critics of Islamic fundamentalism, which will impose a chilling effect on freedom of speech in this country. There are no guarantees in our democracy that anyone has the right not to be offended. Indeed, much of what Elmasry says is offensive, especially to those of the Jewish faith. Yet no one is attempting to gag his vitriol, even when he asserts on national television that killing all Jews over the age of 18 in Israel is desirable.

Those words are one hell of a lot more “hate-filled” and inflammatory than anything Mark Steyn or Ezra Levant have written. Yet the CHRC who looked at Elmasry’s assertion with a view toward possible censure gave him a pass. It’s frankly surprising that they did. Chances are if someone of a different nationality or religion had made the same remark, he or she would now be languishing in a CHRC re-education facility north of the Arctic Circle.

People who foster the beliefs that Mr. Elmasry is espousing are a clear and present danger to all Canadians’ fundamental freedom. If any one religion can exempt itself from scrutiny on the basis that such scrutiny would constitute “hate speech” and use a mechanism like the CRHC to do so, then we will be living a nightmare not even George Orwell could have imagined.

Elmasry is pushing to have our freedom of speech curtailed through a strenthening of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. He’s pushing to take away your right to legitimate discourse about the nature of religion. Obviously there is a deeper agenda in this man’s incessant desire to control free speech in Canada. It’s high time Canadians started pushing back.

Klaus Rohrich is senior columnist for Canada Free Press. Klaus also writes topical articles for numerous magazines. He has a regular column on retirementhomes.com and is currently working on his first book dealing with the toxicity of liberalism. His work has been featured on the Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and Lucianne, among others. He lives and works in a small town outside of Toronto and is an avid student of history.

Source: Canada Free PressMohamed Elmasry
Latest recipients of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Islamist Group: Harper indifferent to 'brown-skinned' Khadr

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is indifferent to Omar Khadr's plight because the Guantanamo Bay prisoner is "brown-skinned" and a Muslim, the leader of one of Canada's largest Islamic groups said Monday.

Harper's resistance to calls to repatriate the Canadian citizen shows he is pandering to Islamophobes, said Canadian Islamic Congress president Mohamed Elmasry.

"In this case, Mr. Harper is playing politics because of the backdrop of Islamophobia in this country," Elmasry said.

"This is where a leader comes in, to say this is really wrong and I have to correct that wrong by bringing this person (back to Canada) even if I lose some political points with Islamophobes." Read more ...

Source: Canadian PressMohamed Elmasry & CIC
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Mohamed Elmasry on The Michael Coren Show: Israelis Over 18 Are Valid Targets

Source: Youtube


Mohamed Elmasry
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Tarek Fatah: Islamists who have a problem with free speech should leave

When Mohamed Elmasry declared a few years ago that there was more press freedom in Egypt than in Canada, it took me some time and effort to lift my jaw up from the floor. However, since then I have become accustomed to the outlandish statements and claims of the good science professor from Egypt.

Now, he has managed to pass on his rare talents to his political apprentice Khurrum Awan.

An Islamist law student, known for his exaggerated and forced sense of victimhood, now threatens Canadian newspapers with legal "consequences," if they refuse to be bullied into printing what Islamist groups want to publish. Referring to the media, Khurrum Awan of the pro-shariah Canadian Islamic Congress, said, "You might be liable for a few million dollars."

Khurrum suggests the mainstream media is ignoring "Muslims" and their message. Ironically, he made this claim as he sat next to the Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui. Siddiqui writes a twice-a-week column, more of a diatribe, where he seems to me to be advocating the agenda of the Islamists. This includes supporting shariah law in Canada, admiring the Saudi royal family in a series just months before the Saudis struck New York on 9/11, making the Iranian regime look like an innocent victim, all while lambasting liberal and secular Muslims, including Québec legislator Fatima Houda-Pepin. Read more ...

Source: Canada National Post

Maclean's counsel not allowed to question conduct of Islamic congress

By Sunny Dhillon

VANCOUVER - Attempts by Maclean's counsel Julian Porter to question the B.C. director of the Canadian Islamic Congress about the organization's conduct were deemed inappropriate by tribunal judges on Thursday, undercutting the lawyer's line of questioning.

B.C.'s Human Rights Tribunal is meeting this week because of a complaint filed by the province's CIC director, Naiyer Habib, as well as the organization's national president, Mohamed Elmasry. The complaint came in response to an article written by Mark Steyn that appeared in Maclean's in October, 2006. Titled The Future Belongs to Islam, the piece has been blasted by Muslim critics for spreading "Islamophobia."

On the stand Thursday, Dr. Habib detailed how his role as a CIC leader made him want "to do something" in response to Mr. Steyn's article, which alleges the religion will soon take over the Western world.

But when Mr. Porter began his cross-examination and attempted to question Dr. Habib about a fellow CIC member's trip to Libya, he was rebuffed by the tribunal. After a recess, Mr. Porter was told the "conduct of the CIC is not an issue in this complaint" because "Dr. Habib filed the complaint himself," not on behalf of the organization. A frustrated Mr. Porter muttered that the decision would shorten his cross-examination considerably. Read more ...

Source: Globe and Mail

The court of last resort: Maclean's faces the B. C. Human Rights Tribunal

By Brian Hutchinson

VANCOUVER -In the subterranean bowels of a provincial courthouse, a bizarre and frightening spectacle starts to unfold.

At issue are the pointed musings of Mark Steyn, a journalist and author living in the United States. A lengthy excerpt from his controversial book, America Alone, was published two years ago in Toronto-based Maclean's magazine, a weekly publication owned by Toronto-based Roger's Publishing Ltd.

The book excerpt ran as a cover story, entitled "Why the Future Belongs to Islam," and argued that Western democracy is threatened by the spread of Islam. In response, a human rights complaint was made here, in British Columbia, by an electrical engineer living in Waterloo, Ont.

That's the bizarre part, or one slice of it. None of the main players starring in this quasi-judicial drama actually live or work in B. C. Not Mr. Steyn, not the editors responsible for Maclean's, and not Mohamed Elmasry, a Muslim who launched a complaint to the B. C. Human Rights Tribunal on behalf of all Muslims in this province. Read more ...

Source: National PostMohamed Elmasry
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award