Ramadan’s spiritual calm was shattered by the arrest of four Canadian Muslims last month, three of whom were charged with terror-related offences. The other man, Awso Peshdary, a young man who once worked for the Muslim Link, was charged with domestic assault and uttering threats.

As of this paper’s publication, three remained in jail.

The arrests have brought to light a dismal reality in Ottawa’s Muslim community; a reality reflected nationally as well. It is that Canada’s Muslim community is fractured, and fatalistic.

No doubt Muslims are angry and upset, but our first reaction must be the insistence on the principle of assuming innocence until guilt is proven in a court of law.

First, the most vocal voices to emerge immediately following the announcement of the initial arrests were those belonging to members of the Muslim Canadian Congress. They are a group with a very clear agenda: conservative Islam = bad. Liberal Islam = good. Here’s an example of their tone and substance:

“Unless the leaders of Canadian mosques as well as the Islamic organizations denounce the doctrine of jihad as pronounced by the Muslim Brotherhood, and distance themselves from the ideology of Qutb, al-Banna and Maudoodi, their chant that ‘Islam means peace’ will fall on deaf ears,” wrote Tarek Fatah and Salma Siddiqui in a recent op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen.

The implication being, of course, that mosque leaders may talk about peace but deep down inside, they hope people will scurry off for jihad  in some far-off land. Where is their evidence? Some booklet apparently handed out on Canadian campuses with the writings of Egyptian men from the 1930s and 1960s? How does that prove that it is the spiritual leaders of today who are to blame? Go figure. But the majority of the Muslim community could barely muster up a united response to these sorts of allegations and innuendo.

There were various organizations and individuals who did come out to once again remind Canadians that the true teachings of Islam would never condone terrorism. But this is lost because of the dilution. CAIR-Canada, Canadian Islamic Congress, the Muslim Council of Montreal, the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada: all these groups spoke out and while the message did get through on some level, a local, overall community message was hard to discern amid the plethora of voices.

The fatalistic aspect of the community is that rather than assume that the arrested men were innocent, many people first expressed “anger”, or “upset” that this happened. No doubt Muslims are angry and upset, but our first reaction must be the insistence on the principle of assuming innocence until guilt is proven in a court of law. The community must be united in asking for a clear and fair judicial process for the accused, right from the beginning.

Thankfully, as the community entered the final ten days of Ramadan, where hearts are meant to shine with new light, a grassroots initiative began taking root. People came together to figure out how better to move forward in the current climate, and what could be done better to address such challenges in the future? This marked a hopeful step for a community too often plagued by division and a lack of focus.

Well done to those who demand better.

“And hold fast, all of you together to the Rope of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves.” (Qur’an, 3:103)