'Diversity'--and the Lack Thereof--in T.O.

Look around the city and you'll see faces from all around the world--the "diversity" we're so proud of and about which we boast in our city's motto. But look for "diversity" in city mosques and you will look in vain; our local masjids, as per this in the Holy Post, are fairly uniform--uniformly "radical," that is:

...A rise in population alone is not cause for concern. What has some members of the Muslim community here more worried is what they describe as an increasing tendency toward more radical and political sermons being delivered in Toronto mosques.

“I see Wahhabism as a growing factor in Toronto,” says Imtiaz Baloch, who lives in Markham and works as an accountant.

Born in Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism is among the most conservative and fiercely insular forms of Islam, in which followers subscribe to a literal interpretation of the Koran. The term isn’t being thrown around in mosques here just yet, but its fundamental principles provide the underlying theme for the majority of sermons Mr. Baloch has heard in recent years.

“I mean sermons about Afghanistan, about Iraq, about Kashmir, about suicide bombing and chaos in the Muslim world. As a project I visited mosques in each corner of the city and in lectures, statements and sermons at Sunni mosques from Stouffville to Toronto, imams are preaching about how Muslims all over the world are being attacked by non-Muslims and they are justifying the violence by Muslims against NATO and everyone else,” he said. “I’m scared to take my children to the mosque. So I don’t.”

Another audience member who wished to remain anonymous said he has stopped going to mosques in Toronto altogether.

“I used to go to the downtown mosque [at Dundas and Bay] but I don’t anymore,” he said. “I didn’t like the political discussions, they were divisive. I saw no indication of interest in promoting integration into Canadian society. It was always about how different we are, how Muslims should live in Canada. There were political undertones of why some of the international events were happening and how we should feel about them.”

The “downtown mosque” refers to both Masjid Toronto and the Muslim Association of Canada, both of which are housed in the same building just south of the Greyhound bus station. It first opened in 2002 — Dr. El-Tantawy Attia, a retired engineer originally from Alexandria, Egypt, has been there since day one. Mr Attia says there are few bad apples in every bunch and that the Toronto Muslim community is no exception, but says he preaches “middle of the road Islam” — a seemingly innocuous statement until he qualifies it.

“Here, we follow the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said...

Swell. The mushrooming Muslim population can choose between Wahhabism, Khomeinism and the Ikhwan--a trifecta of zany Islamotarianisms, and, pace multiculti bromides, all three of them terrible for our body politic's health.