Certifying imams as a security measure: An imam’s response

2015/07/17 Leave a comment

Sensible and effective counterpoint to Senator Lang’s op-ed (Daniel Lang: The Senate did not call for imams to be ‘licensed.’ Nor were we fretting about nothing):

Imams, who are usually hired by mosque boards, are often overworked and underpaid. They are expected to preach, lead daily prayers, teach children, conduct outreach, do interfaith work, handle media requests, engage youth and offer religious guidance. In short, it’s a tough job.

Although no standard certification process exists, most mosques require imams to be trained in matters of faith, have memorized the Koran, be fluent in English and be familiar with Canadian culture. In the past, most imams were trained overseas, but that is changing. A desire is growing for imams to present faith in a way that is relevant to the Canadian context. The overwhelming majority of Muslim communities have no appetite for imams or preachers who spew hate and harbour animosity, let alone encourage violence.

The ethnic and cultural diversity of Muslims worldwide is reflected in Canada’s Muslim communities. As in any other group, there is a wide spectrum of religious views and adherence, often shaped by cultural background. Consequently, some are more open to integration than others. The best way to help those who lag is engagement, which fosters understanding and respect. Alienation leads to the opposite. For the few who harbour animosity, we are ready to co-operate with authorities to ensure that they are not breaking any laws.

Regardless of background, all Canadian imams agree that attacking Canada and its citizens is Islamically forbidden, as is joining terrorist groups such as the Islamic State, whose depraved actions are so unequivocally un-Islamic that supporting them is widely seen as a sign of religious ignorance. If a self-proclaimed imam preaches the opposite, he is an outlier who holds no influence in the mainstream Muslim community. Parliamentarians who have trouble believing this should speak to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP, who appear to have a good grasp of who’s who in Canadian Muslim communities.

The Senate report comes across as patronizing to minority groups. This is not helpful. The best way forward is for parliamentarians to engage with Canadian Muslims through meetings and get their input on how to address violent radicalization. The Canadian Council of Imams, local imam groups and mosques look forward to hosting anyone who is interested in a good chat over coffee or dinner. Let’s work together to make our country safer, fairer and more prosperous for all.

Certifying imams as a security measure: An imam’s response – The Globe and Mail.

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Don’t equate radical thoughts with actions, academics tell senator

2015/03/04 Leave a comment

Sigh ….

Conservative Senator Daniel Lang told a crowd of students at the University of Ottawa’s Public Policy Conference on Saturday that “we need to recognize that radicalized thoughts lead to radicalized actions.” But just last week Lorne Dawson, co-director of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society, told the committee that research on radicalization consistently demonstrates that very few individuals who hold radical ideas ever actually graduate to committing violence and that generalizations about radicalization don’t help the fight to counter extremism in Canada.

“Research literature is overwhelmingly clear there is a very poor correlation between espousing ideas and engaging in action,” Dawson told iPolitics on Monday. “Obviously some people on the committee heard what we were saying and some didn’t.”

Dawson’s co-director, Daniel Hiebert, also said he disagreed with Lang’s point and noted it’s important to keep in mind the distinction between having radical thoughts and acting on those thoughts.

“You can’t perform a radicalized action unless you had a radicalized idea so yes, there is a connection between those things but nowhere near everyone who has radical ideas will perform radicalized actions,” he said.  “The literature on these issues is very clear that it’s another conversion process. There’s one conversion process that happens between thinking mainstream ideas and having extremist ideas – that’s a pretty big kind of hurdle to jump over, it’s a pretty big conversion process that happens there. There’s yet another conversion process that happens between having extremist ideas and thinking that violence is an appropriate way to propagate those extremist ideas. So there’s no simple linkage between those two things. There’s sort of a necessary linkage — as I said, you can’t have B without A but A does not necessarily lead to B. “

Lang’s office sent an emailed statement in response for a request for clarification of his comments.

The statement reiterates the text of his speech at the conference.

“To be clear, I stated: We need to recognize that radical ideas lead to radical actions. It does not mean we should criminalize ideas, but we need to identify them; state that they have no place in Canadian society, even at university campuses – where sometimes the cloak of free speech is abused; and denounce those promoting them and facilitating such ideas – even if they are done in the name of religious ideology or doctrine,” the statement reads.

Don’t equate radical thoughts with actions, academics tell senator (iPolitics)

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