August 25, 2006
Moderate Muslim group splinters
Terror arrests and war in Lebanon prove divisive for MCC crippled by internal strife

SONYA FATAH
The Globe and Mail, Toronto

The organization known as the voice of progressive Canadian Muslims has split up, with several members and leaders of the Muslim Canadian Congress setting up a new group, the Canadian Muslim Union.

The two organizations have common beliefs. Both oppose religion-based tribunals, religious extremism, and support gay rights.

Insiders offer a host of reasons for the split, paramount among them being differences around engagement with the larger Canadian Muslim community.

Those differences were highlighted by MCC's response to the arrests in Toronto of 17 Muslims on terrorism charges, and objections to MCC executives participating in rallies against the war in Lebanon. But personal difficulties and partisan politics may have also caused the organization of like-minded progressives to splinter.

Until recently, those tensions were hard to detect. But after meetings last weekend, the MCC's former executive and a few board members decided on a final parting of ways.

"Instead of engaging the Muslim community, [the MCC] was provoking it," said Arif Raza, the communications director for the new group. "Provocation is also acceptable as long as it is done without alienating."

He said the defectors' main concern was that the MCC was further marginalizing the Muslim community through 'us' versus 'them' politics.

People at MCC disagree. "I think they want to make peace with the very organizations that are working against us, that are working against Muslims as a whole, that are carrying out the agendas of other countries in Canada," said Sohail Raza, the MCC's communications director. Several members of the MCC's former board, marched in three rallies against the war in Lebanon. Munir Pervaiz, an MCC board member, asked why they had marched in rallies organized by pro-Hezbollah supporters. Some in the rally carried banners and photographs supporting Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Our position has always been very clear," Mr. Pervaiz said. "As moderate Muslims, we do not want to be seen as doing anything which even indirectly supports the regime of Iran or Hezbollah."

"True, there were people here and there carrying their portraits," wrote Abbas Syed who was at the rally, "but grossly outnumbered by people with the flags of Lebanon and Palestine, "shame on you Harper" placards and other banners."

This is not the only instance of internal strife, according to CMU. The arrest of the 17 on charges of plotting to bomb several targets in southern Ontario was heatedly debated.

"There was so much resistance that people got tired and there was acquiescence by way of silence," Mr. Raza said. "I was completely and totally opposed to it. The presumption of innocence was completely denied." At the time of the arrest, Mr. Raza was legal counsel for one of the accused, Saad Khalid. He later withdrew because of a conflict of interest

The MCC's former executive met on Sunday and set up the CMU. Its press release, issued Tuesday, said the MCC is perceived "as being holier than thou, arrogant and enclosed in an ivory tower."

CMU plans to work "with and within the Muslim community.

The day before, the MCC board passed a unanimous no-confidence motion against its former executive board for participating in Hezbollah led rallies.

Strategic differences aside, the situation seems to have been ignited by personal grievances. In its release, CMU stated, "The message that the MCC has been giving out is "not addressed to Muslims, it is aimed at making Muslim haters feel secure in their thinking."

The statement addressed the MCC but it was plucked out of an op-ed critiquing a point in Irshad Manji's book, The Trouble with Islam, published in The Globe and Mail in 2003. It had been penned by Tarek Fatah. The statement appears to be a jab at Mr. Fatah, who founded the MCC and is now an ordinary member.

Some of the bad blood may have its roots in partisan politics. In July, Mr. Fatah left the NDP, after 17 years, to join the Liberal Party. In response, CMU's web director, Gary Dale, an NDP candidate from Scarborough, wrote, "Why Tarek, it appears your detractors were right about you after all! You are full of something."

Still, both groups say partisan politics have nothing to do with the current situation. There are members of various political persuasions on both boards, they say. In fact, when Mr. Fatah resigned, Mr. Dale wrote, "Tarek, I am sorry to see you step down. You have been a powerful voice both for the MCC and for progressive Islam in general."