Egyptian-Canadian Writer Said Shoaib: The Prevalent Islamic Ideology in Canada Breeds Terrorism, We Need to Train Imams in Canada

Egyptian-Canadian writer Said Shoaib said the curricula taught in Islamic schools in Canada placed their students in a bind because glorification of the Islamic Caliphate, providing a religious justification for killing, beheading, and occupation, ran counter to their values as citizens living in the West. "These schools serve as a primary source of terrorism in Canada," he said. Speaking in an Oxygen Talk Show interview posted on YouTube on May 5 and 12, Shoaib further said that imams preaching in Canada should be required to renounce "the ideology of hatred and violence of political Islam" and to receive their license from the state of Canada, and not from Pakistan, India, or the Middle East.

Interviewer: "Can we say that ISIS was just a wave, which has now come to an end? Perhaps there were terrorist attacks when ISIS thrived, but now that it has come to an end, just like any other villain or aggressor, terrorism will come to an end as well..."

Said Shoaib: "In order to put an end to any anti-human phenomenon, you must work for it. We have many historical examples – not only in Egypt, but also in the West, where we both live. What did the West do to fight, for example, the USSR? Only rarely did it use weapons. The only armed confrontation was in Afghanistan, and it too was indirect. The West employed ideology, not weapons – and this was manifest in books, radio stations, and so on – in order to dismantle the ideological infrastructure of the USSR, until it imploded. If the West had said that that phenomenon would come to an end on its own, it would never have happened. If you are trying to put an end or to curb any anti-human phenomenon, you must invest an effort in this. It is not only the West that needs to invest an effort. The Muslims in the West must do so too.

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"The prevalent [Islamic] ideology in Canada breeds terrorism. Let's examine the curricula of some Islamic schools here. First of all, they teach the students that the Islamic Caliphate was great, that it was an unprecedented success, that its leaders were heroes, and so on. They are sanctifying the Caliphate. When you do that for a young Muslim pupil, you are creating a problem for him as a citizen living in the West. First of all, that Caliphate is anti-Western, so he starts hating the West. Secondly, you are providing him with religious justification for killing, occupation, and forcing people [to join Islam]. You are creating a problem for him."

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Interviewer: "Let's talk about the school in Thornhill [Ontario] where they taught beheadings..."

Said Shoaib: "Beheadings have a basis in religion. That was done in the so-called Islamic Caliphate. Sanctifying all that was done by the caliphs and the companions of the Prophet is like telling the students that they must sanctify the bad as well as the good. Thus, the student finds himself in a bind. Let me give you an example. According to Islamic history, Khalid Ibn Al-Walid beheaded one of his rivals, when he was fighting his tribe, and then he cooked his head and had sex with his wife that same night. When you tell a student, here in Canada, that Khalid Ibn Al-Walid was sacred, it means that all his actions were sacred too. So a student here faces a problem.

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"Another problem with the curricula of the Islamic schools here is that they teach that only Muslims will go to Paradise. What about all the others?"

Interviewer: "They are infidels."

Said Shoaib: "What is the meaning of an infidel in traditional Islamic culture? According to traditional Islamic culture, you must force an infidel, whenever you can, to follow you. If he does not follow you, you have the right to kill him. This is not the only face of Islam. Like all other religions, there are many perspectives in Islam, but these schools serve as a primary source of terrorism in Canada. In order to free the Muslim from the ideology of violence, you must provide him with answers to some basic questions. One of these questions, for example, is this: When the Prophet Muhammad entered Mecca, he nullified all religions other than Islam. Am I, as a Muslim, required to act the way the Prophet Muhammad did? The imams must provide an answer to this question, and tell people that they must not act this way in our day and age.

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"The imams come here from Al-Azhar, from universities in Saudi Arabia, from the Islamic University in Pakistan, or from Darul Uloom in India. All these institutions hold the same ideology of hatred and violence of political Islam. We must find a way to train these imams here. None of them should be allowed to speak from a mosque podium unless they renounce that ideology.

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"The imams here should be required to obtain a license from the state of Canada – not from Pakistan, India, or somewhere in the Middle East."