To pray, or not to pray? That seems to be the question regarding Friday prayer accommodations for Muslim staff and students within some Toronto District School Board schools.

Veiling their blatantly Islamophobic agenda as concern for the “violation” of the Ontario Education Act, fringe groups such as the Canadian Hindu Advocacy, the Jewish Defence League and the Muslim Canadian Congress have gone into overdrive in their attacks against the Muslim community. Fortunately, their views have been rejected by the TDSB’s Director of Education, Dr. Chris Spence, who rightly concluded that “the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms supersedes the Education Act.”

As a Muslim teacher with the TDSB, I feel I should add my voice to the discussion. I would like to examine how this issue, like many others, has been exploited by special interest groups to fuel the growing epidemic of Islamophobia in the West.

Journalistic integrity it would seem is in short supply globally as mainstream media outlets, right-wing oriented in particular, seem to be more interested in fanning a climate of fear and hysteria than engaging in objective journalism. Through blatant misinformation, “expert” opinions and sensationalization, issues are often being tailored to suit nefarious agendas. This is especially true when issues pertaining to Islam and Muslims are addressed. A common tactic employed is the portrayal of fringe groups as legitimate voices of dissent, and the overlooking of existing concessions they sympathize with. In this case, the opposition was presented as “supporters of secular values,” whereas Muslims were portrayed as “others seeking special treatment.” Had these media outlets done their job, the general public would have seen the disingenuous nature of the arguments proposed, and the deliberate targeting of mainstream Muslims. Hence, I would like to take a moment to individually examine each of these groups.

Canadian Hindu Advocacy (CHA) - http://www.canhindu.com/

The CHA is a Hindu fundamentalist group that is especially known for its anti-Muslim and Sikh rhetoric. On their website they “praise” the 1984 military actions of the Indian army against Sikhs, including the Golden Temple massacre that killed 400-800 civilians. This operation was condemned and apologized for by Sonia Gandhi, the president of India’s largest political party. The CHA is also known for its propagandist statements such as its claim that the “abuse of females is rare among Hindus” in India. Apparently nobody has informed them of India’s female trafficking and infanticide epidemic. It is interesting to note that the CHA has in the past rejected even the Muslim Canadian Congress’ so-called “moderate Islam” – though as the Globe and Mail recently pointed out, the school prayer debate has brought the two groups together as “unlikely allies.”

Another important piece of information neglected by the media is that both the Hindu Canadian Alliance and the World Sikh Organization of Canada endorsed the TDSB’s decision.

Jewish Defence League (JDL) - http://www.jdl.org/

The JDL is “a violent extremist Jewish organization” according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Anti-Defamation League.  The JDL, described in the FBI’s Terrorism 2000/2001 report as a “violent extremist Jewish establishment”, was founded by the fanatical Rabbi Meir Kahane whose followers have engaged in numerous terrorist attacks in the US and abroad. The most famous of which was the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian Muslims in the West Bank while they prayed in a mosque. It truly is a wonder how the JDL is even allowed to operate in Canada. Yet in 2009 at the JDL’s request, British MP George Galloway was prevented from entering Canada.

Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) -  Masquerading as “moderate Muslims,” the MCC rarely stands up for Muslim rights and instead demonizes mainstream Islam whenever it can -- often for the personal gain of its key members.

Even moderate Christians and Jews recognize the religious significance of Saturday night and Sunday morning congregational prayers in their religions. But in a Toronto Star article, MCC founder Tarek Fatah claims that “Islam does not make (Friday prayers) compulsory.” And on a separate occasion when MCC board member Raheel Raza was asked if specific Friday prayer times were Islamic, he said “it is not under Islam, it is under the Wahabi/Salafi ideology which we as moderate Muslims have been fighting for the last 20 years.”

Not only does the MCC demonstrate an incredible level of ignorance regarding the faith they claim to represent, and follow, but they waste no time in spreading fear against the majority of Muslims who follow mainstream Islam. Perhaps the MCC should read the following verses from the Quran before commenting on this issue: “O you who have believed, when call for the prayer is called on the day of Friday, then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew.” (Ch.62, v.9)

“And when you have completed the prayer, remember Allah standing, sitting, or [lying] on your sides. But when you become secure, re-establish prayer. Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.” (Ch.4, v.103)

It should also be noted that the MCC is the only group “contemplating legal action” against the TDSB.

Now that we know who we are dealing with, here are some of the main “concerns” raised by the above trio:

Segregation:

The separation of boys and girls during prayer is considered by critics to be the promotion of “sexism” in a publicly funded school system. If that is truly how they feel, principle demands that they first examine longstanding traditions in the Canadian education system such as gender segregated gym classes and sports teams, and publicly-funded Catholic schools for only boys and girls.

Special Treatment:

Religious accommodations are not new or unique to the TDSB, and they are most certainly not exclusive to Muslims. My school hosts a “Teens4Christ” club that holds weekly meetings for students interested in exploring their Christian faith. In addition, we have a Chinese Parents’ Association, and used to have a Tamil Students’ Association to accommodate the diverse needs of our student body. These programs have never created division at my school, or within our educational system. Rather, they have helped foster an environment of tolerance, respect and understanding for our students.

Propagation of religion:

While it is true that the Ontario Education Act prohibits the indoctrination of religion, it does not prohibit non-indoctrinating religious instruction or scriptural readings during opening and closing exercises. At my school we have Christian invocations every year during our Remembrance Day assemblies and during the Christmas holidays carols are sung. Nobody complains! Furthermore, some schools partake in Hanukah, Diwali and Kwanza to honour their Jewish, Hindu and African-American students.

The banning of the Lord’s Prayer is often invoked by the opposition, but they miss the point about its indoctrinating nature and imposition on everybody. Nevertheless, if Christians feel disenfranchised by the removal of this practice, there is nothing preventing them from seeking accommodations if they involve students with parental consent. This is precisely what the Muslim parents and students have done. Personally, I think the Lord’s Prayer is a beautiful supplication and most Muslims have no qualms with it.

Hate speech and discrimination:

An article in the Toronto Sun quotes MCC president Farzana Hassan as stating: “We are concerned that there are some Muslim groups that are not seen as Muslims and may not be invited to pray,” and quotes Meir Weinstein of the JDL saying: “We worry if they will extend their prayers to include religious ideology.” At my school, Friday prayers are open to whoever wishes to attend and we often have Muslims of various denominations attending the prayers -- and even some non-Muslims. The students are not left without adult supervision, so why create unfounded hysteria?

However, I do agree that local Imams should not conduct prayer services. This is not because I worry about “possible hate speech,” but because youth should be empowered by taking responsibility for their spiritual needs and conducting these prayers themselves. Shaykh Yusuf Badat from the Islamic Foundation says he has “trained students from Lester Pearson Collegiate near our centre in Scarborough to do that and they’ve been running their own Friday service for years.” Hopefully, other Imams will follow Shaykh Yusuf’s lead.

Disruption:

In an interview on a local radio station, Ron Banerjee of the CHA stated that he was concerned about “disruptions” being caused to all students because of these prayers. The reality is that disruptions are a normal and healthy part of our education system. Whether it be trips, vacations, religious holidays, assemblies, sports, contests, dances, clubs or other school activities, these disruptions help students acquire valuable time management skills. Students are always expected to be responsible for material covered regardless of the nature of their absence.

That reality of the matter is that groups like the CHA, JDL and MCC consistently strive to present mainstream Islam and Muslims as a fifth column within Canada. Of course they rarely make their hate blatantly obvious, but disguise it as a “genuine concern" for upholding Canadian values.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is what has made Canada the beautiful nation that it is today. We should all celebrate that our true Canadian values prevailed last week. Furthermore, we must ensure that groups like CHA, JDL and MCC remain on the fringes and are exposed for what they really are -- bigots.

Omar Qayum is a volunteer at the North American Muslim Foundation and a teacher with the Toronto District School Board.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Muslim Link encourages you to write and demonstrate your support for the principled position that the TDSB has taken in accommodating the needs of its Muslim students at the Valley Park Middle School and elsewhere.  You can write to the Central Coordinating Superintendent of the TDSB, Mr. Jim Spyropoulos at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  ■