On July 22, 2021, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat of the Canadian federal government hosted a "National Summit on Islamophobia." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who gave the opening statement, attended the conference, as did "federal ministers, Members of Parliament, and officials from provincial and municipal governments."[1] The conference was organized to address "the urgent need to take further steps to combat Islamophobia and all forms of racism." The summit was attended by, among others, representatives of the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC).
Prime Minister Trudeau attending the summit alongside MAC representatives.
On August 5, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) released a statement objecting to MAC's decision to feature Tareq Al-Suwaidan in a Muslim Student Leadership conference to be held on August 6-8. Al-Suwaidan is a Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood leader whom MEMRI has documented calling on young people to participate in cyber jihad and encouraging jihadis.[2] CIJA's statement cited MEMRI clips of Al-Suwaidan. This conference comes just two weeks after MAC participated in the national summit hosted by the Canadian government and attended by Prime Minister Trudeau and other Canadian government officials.
Tareq Al-Suwaidan
In response to CIJA's statement, MAC issued a statement the same day, titled "MAC is Committed to Building a Tolerant Canada Free of Hate and Rejects CIJA Claims."[3] The MAC statement summarized MAC's work, including that related to "interfaith networks," and did not even mention Al-Suwaidan, who was the main subject of CIJA's statement, by name. Instead, MAC wrote that "CIJA expressed concern about a speaker who is not attending the conference" and that MAC questioned "the accuracy or currency of the quotes that CIJA attributed to him and the sources relied upon." MAC also removed references to Al-Suwaidan from its website after the CIJA statement was released. As of August 5, Al-Suwaidan was listed as one of the speakers on the pages of the MAC website promoting the Muslim Student Leadership conference.
MAC website showing Al-Suwaidan, left, listed as a speaker at the Muslim Student Leadership conference.
By August 6, Al-Suwaidan was no longer listed on the website as a speaker at the conference.
The following report will review MEMRI TV clips of Tareq Al-Suwaidan and information on his participation in a December 2020 MAC conference, as well as the participation of other Islamist figures Muhammad Al-Dido (also spelled Ould Dedew)and Muhammad Al-Nabulsi, whose statements about killing gays, killing Jews, and wife-beating MEMRI TV has documented.
MEMRI TV Clips Of Tareq Al-Suwaidan: "The Muslims Will Dominate The World Once Again"
MEMRI TV's clips documenting Tareq Al-Suwaidan date from 2011 to 2021. In May 2021, Al-Suwaidan addressed Arab "defeatists," saying: "If you are incapable of [confronting Israel], do not surrender. Persevere and hand over the banner to the next generation that may change the equation, and possibly invent a nuclear bomb for us... Shut up and let the mujahideen do their work... Why don't you think about the destiny decreed by Allah: 'Judgement Day shall not come before Constantinople and Rome are conquered'... The Muslims will dominate the world once again."[4]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
In a 2011 television appearance Al-Suwaidan promoted armed resistance against Israel and said: "The other day, I was asking myself: Why shouldn't I personally go on Jihad?... Is what I am doing any less important than Jihad? I would like us all to feel that we are in the same trench. There is such a thing as media Jihad, political Jihad, and a form of Jihad that I strongly encourage young people to undertake – electronic Jihad. Some of our youth are extremely clever. I hope that a group of hackers will get together, and will wage resistance over the Internet, targeting Israeli and Zionist sites and destroying them electronically. I view this as better than 20 Jihad operations."[5] In 2012, Al-Suwaidan tweeted: "I see the need in uniting the efforts of the hackers within the electronic jihad project against the Zionist enemy, and it is an effective and important jihad, and its reward is great – Allah willing." He has also posted 135-slide presentation titled "Towards the New Islamic Civilization," laying out a plan for establishing a new caliphate.[6]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
In a 2014 speech he gave at a fundraising event in Doha, Qatar, Al-Suwaidain said of the fight he envisions between Israel and the Muslim world: "Our struggle with them requires Jihad and not plain efforts... We are not raising money for the sake of the Palestinians. This must be clear. We are not raising money for the people of Gaza. The people of Gaza are the spearhead in this war, but the spearhead is worthless without the spear."[7] He has also said in 2013 that he is a leader of the Muslim brotherhood.[8]
Click here or here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
Al-Suwaidan said in 2014: "All the mothers of the Islamic nation – not only Palestinian mothers – should suckle their babies on the hatred of the sons of Zion. We hate them. They are our enemies. We should instill this in the souls of our children, until a new generation arises and wipes them off the face of the earth."[9]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
He said in a 2005 television appearance: "'Anyone caught committing sodomy – kill both the sodomizer and the sodomized.' The clerics determined how the homosexual should be killed. They said he should be stoned to death. Some clerics said he should be thrown off a mountain."[10]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
Al-Suwaidan also hosted a televison debate in December 2020 about whether those who leave Islam should be killed.[11]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
Al-Suwaidan's Participation In December 2020 MAC Conference
While Al-Suwaidan will apparently not be speaking at the Student Leadership Conference, he did speak at a December 2020 MAC Scholars Summit. A video of his speech at that conference remains available on the MAC YouTube channel.[12]
Muhammad Al-Dido, Who Said Of Shari'a Compliant Wife Beating: "The Beating Consists Of Three Blows To Her Back," Spoke At December 2020 MAC Summit
Other preachers who spoke at the December 2020 MAC Scholars Summit include Mauritanian cleric Muhammad Al-Dido (also spelled Ould Dedew). MEMRI TV has documented Al-Dido describing in a television appearance two future wars with the Jews, and citing a hadith of Muhammad saying that at the time of one of those wars, "the trees and rocks will say: 'Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,' except for the Gharqad, which is one of the trees of the Jews."[13]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
Al-Dido also said in a television appearance that "the husband is the ruler in his home. His authority over the family members includes discipline by beating. Allah has said so." Describing the shari'a compliant manner for a husband to beat his wife, he said: "The beating consists of three blows to her back."[14]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
Al-Dido was also a speaker at December 2020 MAC Scholars Summit.[15] A video of the speech he gave at that conference remains on the MAC YouTube channel.[16]
Muhammad Rateb Al-Nabulsi, Who Has Justified The Killing Of Gays, Spoke At December 2020 MAC Summit
Muhammad Rateb Al-Nabulsi, who spoke at the December 2020 MAC Scholars Summit,[17] said in an appearance on Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV channel that "Homosexuality involves a filthy place, and does not generate offspring. Homosexuality leads to the destruction of the homosexual. That is why, brothers, homosexuality carries the death penalty."[18]
Click here to view the clip on MEMRI TV.
A video of the speech Al-Nabulsi gave at the December 2020 MAC Scholars Summit remains on the MAC YouTube channel.[19]
[1] Canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2021/07/the-government-of-canada-concludes-national-summit-on-islamophobia.html, July 22, 2021.
[2] Cija.ca/press-release-cija-concerned-by-extremist-speaker-at-canadian-conference, August 5, 2021.
[3] Macnet.ca/2021/08/05/mac-is-committed-to-building-a-tolerant-canada-free-of-hate-and-rejects-cija-claims, August 5, 2021.
[4] See MEMRI TV clip no. 8842, Kuwaiti Islamic Scholar Tareq Al-Suwaidan Blasts “Defeatist” Arab Countries on Al-Jazeera: “Shut Up and Let the Mujahideen Do Their Work;” The Muslims Will Conquer Rome, Dominate the World Again, May 12, 2021.
[5] See MEMRI TV clip no. 2980, Kuwaiti Islamist Preacher Tareq Sweidan, Manager of Al-Resala TV, Calls for Armed Resistance and Electronic Jihad against Israel, June 4, 2011.
[6] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 846, Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood Leader And Director Of Saudi Al-Risala TV Tareq Al-Suwaidan Tours West, Promoting Restoration Of Caliphate And New Era Of Cyber Jihad, June 14, 2012.
[7] See MEMRI TV clip no. 4638, Kuwaiti Cleric Tareq Al-Suwaidan: Our Struggle with the Sons of Zion Pertains to Our Very Existence, Requires Jihad, October 31, 2014.
[8] See MEMRI TV clip no. 3950, Tareq Al-Swaidan before Dismissal from Al-Risala TV: I Am One of the Muslim Brotherhood Leaders, May 3, 2013.
[9] See MEMRI TV clip no. 4361 Kuwaiti Cleric Tareq Al-Suwaidan to Hamas: Do Not Agree to Ceasefire until They Bow Before Us. We Must Contemplate a Plan to Erase Israel, July 14, 2014.
[10] See MEMRI TV clip no. 674, Kuwaiti Cleric Tareq Sweidan: Homosexuals Should Be Stoned to Death or Thrown Off a Mountain, April 22, 2005.
[11] See MEMRI TV clip no. 1623, Muslim Scholars Debate Apostates in Islam, November 5, 2007.
[12] Youtube.com/watch?v=J0Mx5EQ0ijw, December 25, 2020.
[13] See MEMRI Special Dispatch no. 7926, Mauritanian Cleric Muhammad Ould Dedew: Jews Are Allah's Enemies; Jews – And Christians, Who 'Are Not Like The Christians Of The Past' – Are Behind All Usury, Banks, Casinos, Insurance Companies; When Zionist Dream 'Does Not Come True They Will Go Back... To Russia And To Their Countries Of Origin' March 5, 2019.
[14] MEMRI TV clip no. 5640, Mauritanian Scholar Sheikh Muhammad Ould Dedew Explains Wife Beating in Islam: Three Blows with the Hand on the Back, June 23, 2016.
[15] Macnet.ca/event/shaping-our-muslim-identity-dr-mohamed-al-dido, accessed August 6, 2021.
[16] Youtube.com/watch?v=wh5hTV6fncI&list=PLTtuFhHsAS68h-whGLoLDyW_nr09C8_Qg&index=1, December 24, 2020.
[17] Macnet.ca/event/reviving-our-hearts-in-a-materialistic-world-dr-mohamed-rateb-al-nabulsi, accessed August 6, 2021.
[18] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 3847, On Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV: Muhammad Rateb Al-Nabulsi, Syrian Islamic Scholar Active in the U.S., Says Homosexuality is Filthy, 'Leads To the Destruction of the Homosexual; That Is Why, Brothers, Homosexuality Carries the Death Penalty', May 19, 2011.
[19] Youtube.com/watch?v=wXDSWoHuAGk, December 30, 2020.