Minority my foot!  

Written by Michael Devolin

B'nai Elim Canada

I’ve been reading Haroon Siddiqui’s column in the Toronto Star for years, more for the laughs than for anything I might have learned from his weekly dissemination of apologia in support of Islam (and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and his exculpation of Muslims who carry out terrorist acts. His article ‘India’s Muslims deemed to be in dire straits’ is one of the most blatent examples of the deviousness he exercises in blaming others for the sins of Islam.

Siddiqui declares that 150 million Indian Muslims are a “minority.” Forgive me, but being a devoted red-neck from a small town in rural Canada, 150 million does not sound like any kind of a minority to me. Hey, I’ve rode the subway in Toronto, and as an Irish-Canadian who was born and raised in this country, I can tell Mr. Haroon a thing or two about being a minority. In my opinion, 150 million Muslims--no matter how huge the ‘majority’ amongst whom they live--is no minority! My point is, today it is estimated that there are 750,000 Muslims living in Canada. Yet, I find in the newspapers every day something about Muslims and Islam and how both are being mistreated by my country, which would indicate that even a mere 750,000 Muslims don’t live up to the social science definition of a “minority.” I can’t imagine the complaints that most surely abound from the Muslim minority of 150 million in India! Talk about a squeaky wheel!

For a minority, Muslims sure have a way of making themselves heard. Maher Arar was born in Syria, became a Canadian citizen in 1991, yet when he finds himself in trouble he can phone the Prime Minister of Canada. As a low-income Canadian, I would have phoned our Prime Minister many times-- had I the freakin’ number! How does a poor immigrant from Syria suddenly have a connection to the Prime Minister’s office? Then Arar is awarded 11.5 million dollars for his troubles in his country of origin. (Which begs the question: Why are poor Canadian taxpayers punished for the sins of the Syrian government?) Arar initially filed a lawsuit for a mere 400 million (again, poor Canadian taxpayer’s money!). On his website, Arar says that “Canadians have invested time, effort and money in this inquiry.” Well, dahhh! This is tax money spent before the 11.5 million Arar received in settlement of his lawsuit against the Canadian government! He further states that we as Canadians must “make sure this investment pays off.” Well, it’s certainly paid off for Maher Arar, eh! If getting heard and getting rich is one of the perks of being a minority, please let all of Irish Canada now begin looking for the phone number for the Prime Minister’s office!

India has suffered greatly from Islamic terrorism. I notice that only Islam’s apologists, Siddiqui being one of their most mendacious, use the term “Islamophobia” when criticizing non-Muslims (in this case Indians) for not being entirely enthused about having Muslims living in their neighbourhoods. Siddiqui describes India’s noble citizens as being prejudiced against Muslims. However, as the journalist K.N. Pandita points out, “Whatever the case, generally Muslim are involved in major terrorist acts, be it in USA, South Africa, South, Central or South East Asia. Reports coming from many European countries where there is a sizable population of emigrant Muslims like France, Belgium, UK and Germany, indicate involvement of Islamic clerics, Islamic seminaries and Islamic places of worship, congregations or shrines.” Hey, if you can’t trust a Muslim cleric, who can you trust? Siddiqui fails to mention that India’s predominantly Muslim neighbour, Pakistan, has been, as noted by Ajai Sahni, “entirely committed to its founding ideology of Islamism and religious exclusion, and consequently, to undermining the integrity of the secular, democratic Indian nation state.” Which is to say, India has been under the threat and attack of Islamic terrorism long before America’s 9/11. For Siddiqui to use the terms “Islamophobia” and “9/11” in reference to the nation of India is a blatent obfuscation of yet another example of Islam’s bloody and violent manifestations.

Lastly, Siddiqui recounts that a functionary of the Indian Prime Minster’s High Level Committee criticizes the Indian media which “overplay the involvement of Muslims in violent activities and underplay the involvement of others.” Racist, racist! Why would anyone suspect Muslims of being involved in “violent activities”? The truth be known, Islam has been bullying non-Muslims in India ever since Babar’s invasion in 1527. In the year following this invasion, Babar’s General Mir Baqi destroyed the Hindu temple in the city of Ayodhya, afterward erecting a mosque in its stead. (This was common practice of Muslim invaders: In Israel, in the city of Jerusalem, the al Aska Mosque and the Dome of the Rock were constructed atop of what was once the Jewish Temple of Solomon.) Small wonder therefore that Secularists, Hindus, and Christians of India feel uneasy in the proximity of a so-called Muslim “minority”. If the Muslims of India truly are in dire straits, it’s only because the aggressions of Islam, both past and present, have bequeathed such dire straits upon them.

“He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it turn back upon him.”

--Proverbs 26:27