Imam Delic Forgives Us

You've got to give Imam Zijad Delic, the Canadian Islamic Congress's second-in-command, credit. After the goverment up and cancelled his "outreach" speech during the CIC-helmed Islamic Let's Rewrite History Month, he could have grumbled and whinged about the unfairness of it all. Instead, he picked himself up, dusted off the old "interfaith" line, and got right back on the tasty samosas circuit. From the Montreal Gazette:

OTTAWA — An imam whose speech in the nation’s capital was cancelled by Defence Minister Peter MacKay told a public gathering Sunday that having a conversation, even a difficult one, is always better than avoiding it.

Imam Zijad Delic has been giving talks at community groups and in libraries since MacKay cancelled his speech in Ottawa in early October.

“Civilized people talk and get involved in discourse, no matter how difficult,” he told a packed congregation Sunday at the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa.

“Uncivilized people don’t want to talk.”

Delic is executive director of the Canadian Islamic Conference.

He had been scheduled to speak at National Defence headquarters during Islamic History Month, at an event with folk dancing and cooking.

But MacKay’s office cancelled the event because a previous leader of the Canadian Islamic Congress (not Zelic) had advocated killing Jewish Israelis.

Zelic has a long record of condemning terrorism and violence. The imam said Sunday that a reporter had asked him whether he was angry about the cancellation.

“Not angry,” he said. “I am disappointed but not angry. When people are angry they can’t see past the end of their nose.

“That misunderstanding definitely was not a good move for this beautiful Canadian society. It has made some dents,” he said.

“But I think there is a positive that came out of there. I have received such support from politicians, bureaucrats, educational institutions, (and) religious groups.

“Hundreds of letters have been sent to politicians (and) the papers. So government has to realize that this moderate voice that is present — and I’m not talking about hundreds of people, but thousands — needs to be listened to.”

Cancelling the speech sent a message to young Muslims, he said...

Yes, and the message was: "Please don't try to spin us with the 'dialogue' bollocks when you believe in the primacy of sharia law and are praying for the demise of Israel." Not surprisingly, the message appears to have fallen on deaf ears.