Zafar Bangash (Urdu: ظفر بنگش) is a noted Islamic
movement journalist and commentator and a leader of the Muslim
community in Ontario
, Canada
.
Bangash is
Director of the Institute of
Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), and president of the
Islamic Society of York
Region
, a suburb of Toronto
.
He is
imam at the Islamic Society of York Region's
mosque and community centre in Richmond
Hill
, Ontario. He is a former editor of Crescent International
newsmagazine, and a Trustee and formerly assistant director of the
Muslim Institute, London
, where he
worked with Dr Kalim Siddiqui
(1931-1996), the founder of the Muslim Institute and Leader of the
Muslim Parliament of Great Britain
. Bangash is also co-founder of the
Muslim Unity Group.
He is best known for his commentaries current affairs while editor
of
Crescent International. Though he stepped down as
editor since joining the ICIT, e continues as a columnist and
contributor to
Crescent.
Activities
In 2007, as a spokesperson for the Muslim Unity Group in Toronto,
Bangash appeared with other Muslim leaders at a Toronto press
conference calling for the Ontario government and
Toronto District School Board
to address the problem of increased harassment of Muslims and
racial minorities since
9-11.
He was the keynote speaker at a 2007 Marxist conference in Toronto
prompting Bangash critic
Tarek Fatah of
the liberal
Muslim Canadian
Congress to comment "For atheists, considered worthy of the
death penalty by Islamists, to team up with their ultimate
opponents in attacking Canadian civic society, demonstrates the
fundamental bankruptcy of these two political ideologies." Bangash
justified his collaboration with secular leftists saying "The
issues of justice, inequality and poverty are common themes we can
work together on. They are concerns of conscience."
Bangash
was the focus of controversy when his association with a planned
mosque in Newmarket, Ontario
was used as a rallying point by opponents
attempting to convince the municipality to rescind zoning approval
for the building. A group called "Concerned Citizens Against
Terror for Citizens of Newmarket" led by
Ron Banerjee of the
Hindu Conference of Canada and
Meir Weinstein of the
Jewish Defence League organized
protests and a public meeting against the mosque's construction.
Banerjee claimed that Bangash himself posed a "clear and present
danger to the safety and security" of the country. The protest
group was accused by one community member of not being members of
the community and coming in from outside for the purpose of
"stirring the pot". Mosque leaders have said that while Bangash is
president of the Islamic Society of York Region to which the new
mosque belongs, he is not the mosque's imam and has no direct
involvement with the facility.
In June 2007, the
Canadian Arab
Federation (CAF) honoured Bangash at a gala dinner for his
"unwavering" support of
Palestine.
CAF
President Khaled Mouammar also
defended Bangash, stating that "he is a man of dignity" and that
"he has no blood on his hands like those Israeli war criminals who come to Canada and are
received by our politicians, like Ariel
Sharon."
Views
Islamic revolution
Bangash is a supporter of the 1979
Islamic revolution in Iran and has called
for Islamic revolutions in other countries, stating that "Muslims
must strive to overthrow the oppressive systems in their societies
through Islamic revolutions, and not by participating in fraudulent
elections organized by the elites operating through various
political parties that actually divide the people." Tarek Fatah
describes him as the "unofficial spokesperson for the Iranian
regime in Canada." However, Bangash has denied being an advocate of
creating an Islamic
theocracy telling the
Toronto Star "I am suggesting not necessarily an
Iranian-style theocracy but I am advocating that people in the
Muslim world should get rid of their corrupt regimes in the same
way as the people of Iran got rid of the corrupt regime of the
shah, of course."
Homosexuality
In 2004, the
Toronto
District School Board proposed the introduction of
"anti-homophobia education" at a downtown Toronto school. Bangash
was outspoken in supporting the right of Muslim parents to exclude
their children from classes discussing families with same-sex
parents. "We don't want our children subject to that kind of
thinking. It's very clear in our belief that marriage is between a
man and a woman. It goes against the core beliefs of Muslims; our
understanding springs directly from the Qur'an," said
Bangash.
United States
Bangash
opposes the United
States
calling it is "the greediest, most exploitative,
most manipulative, most hypocritical and most ruthless power that
the world has ever known." He has also written that "unless
the US and Israel realise that their murderous policies, far from
cowing the Muslims, will only intensify hatred for them, there will
be peace neither in the Muslim world nor for the US and its zionist
surrogate, Israel."
In an interview with on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
(IRIB), Bangash stated that:
"the imam's [Ayatollah Khomeini] designation of the
U.S. as a great Satan was very precise. It emerged from a very
careful study and understanding of the behaviour of the United
States government and its policies down the generations...It has
perpetrated over there [in Iraq] under the guise of delivering
democracy and freedom when tens of thousands if not hundred of
thousands of innocent people have been murdered in cold blood
similar crimes are being perpetrated in Palestine by the US support
of the Zionist occupiers of Palestine... It is an evil power that
it needs to be dealt with and it needs to be continued and put in
its place."
He told the
National Post that he believes that the U.S.
government knew of
Osama bin Laden's
plans to launch the 9/11 attacks in advance and allowed them to
occur in order to provide a pretext for
attacking
Afghanistan.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
He rejects the notion of a
two-state
solution or a power-sharing arrangement between Jews and
Palestinians stating that Israeli Jews should "go back where they
came from:the US, Canada Europe, Russia, or whoever is willing to
take them in." Bangash has also stated that "Zionist thugs will
have to vacate every inch of Palestine if there is to be justice
(and therefore peace) in that tortured land." At the Toronto Peace
& Justice Conference in March 2006, Bangash gave a speech in
which he stated that "for the state of Israel, peace would mean
when all the Palestinians have been put into the graveyard, six
feet down."
On the question of
suicide bombing
Bangash told the
Vancouver Sun that he opposes the
targeting of innocent civilians. He argues that suicide bombing is
an act of desperation by a people who do not have the tanks,
aircraft and advanced weaponry - "it's the Israelis who have them,
they are using them, and people under occupation have the right
under international law to resist their occupiers." He also claimed
that suicide bombers usually attack military targets.
2006 Israel-Lebanon War
Bangash was active in protests against the
2006 Israel-Lebanon war at one point
eliciting cheers when he announced the number of Israeli soldiers
killed by
Hezbollah forces during the
conflict.
Criticism of Taliban and Osama bin Laden
Bangash has criticized the
Taliban and
Osama bin Laden saying their
strategy was "the most stupid approach to take because you cannot
convince the U.S. by attacking the U.S. You cannot force the U.S.
to change its policies; you have to change your own situation in
Muslim countries." He has also criticized Bin Laden's call for
jihad against the West saying "An
individual cannot issue a jihad... Only highly qualified scholars
respected through the Muslim world can do that, not somebody
sitting on some mountain."
Canadian intervention in Afghanistan
Bangash has spoken out at rallies against
Canada's role in
the invasion of Afghanistan calling for a national referendum
on Canada's continued participation in the war.
Relationship with non-Muslims
Bangash told the
Toronto Star that when his Richmond Hill
mosque opened, he and his congregation "went out of our way to
contact the neighbours, contact the churches, Jewish groups, all
kinds of people. We have invited to this centre United Church
ministers to come and speak, Mennonite pastors to come and speak."
In 2005, the mosque held a service in which every member of the
congregation was asked to bring someone who was non-Muslim.
Speaking to reporter
Michael Valpy,
Bangash said that the mosque was packed and that “The congregation
was thrilled by the result". Following the 9-11 attacks a
Mennonite pastor, Gordon Alton, contacted the
mosque. Bangash, in his words, "broke all the rules of Islam" and
asked Alton to preach at the mosque. “I think never in history had
that been done before,” Bangash said, “but I felt we needed to
return [his] gesture.”
Peter Leibovitch, who is Jewish and a long-time friend of Bangash,
has defended him against his critics saying "we live in a free
society and have the right to different positions," adding that
many in the Jewish community don't support decisions made by the
Israeli government. "And a lot of Jews are not happy with (U.S.
President) George Bush's new militarism... Zafar Bangash doesn't
agree with American foreign policy nor do millions of Canadians. I
didn't know it's a crime not to agree with George Bush."
References
- Offman, Craig, "Karl's New Comrades; Rebranding Socialism for
the 21st century", National Post, May 12, 2007
- Wingrove, Josh, "Canada's Afghan role protested; Thousands take
part in anti-war rallies across the country", Toronto
Star, October 29, 2006
- Marlow, Iain, "Address harassment, coalition urges",
Toronto Star, July 6, 2007
- Freed, Dale Anne, "Newmarket mosque meeting 'one-sided';
Executive member says leadership not invited to meeting, adding
they don't share controversial imam's views", February 26,
2007
- Blackwell, Tom, "'Town hall' targets Newmarket mosque: Jewish
group leading protest has checkered past of its own", National
Post, February 26, 2007
- Bell, Stewart, "Call to Jihad from a Markham Strip Mall:
Newsmagazine propagates Islamic revolution", National
Post, April 6, 2002
- O'Neil, Peter, "Explosive Mideast conflict splitting NDP: Two
leadership candidates jeopardize political party's link to Canadian
Jews", Vancouver Sun, January 20, 2003
- Norris, Lindsey (Canadian Press) "Thousands decry Israeli, U.S.
involvement in Lebanon: Peaceful Edmonton protest; tensions in
Toronto", Edmonton Journal, August 13, 2006
- Scrivener, Leslie, "Seeking to understand and to be understood
--- Life after terrorism is more complex for the GTA's Muslim
community", Toronto Star, October 13, 2001
- Valpy, Michael, "From rickety barn to celebrated mosque; Big
dreamers have done wonders at the Islamic Centre of York Region",
Globe and Mail, November 5, 2004
- Ferenc, Leslie, "York mosque wins approval; Residents angered
about imam's political views", Toronto Star, February 6,
2007
External links
Wikis
Map
Search
