Hussein Hoballah, Montreal
Photo 10 : Mayor of Windsor(left) and some of the Muslim community leaders in the city
As numerous city and district councils in Ontario decided to allow the broadcasting of the call to prayers (athan) 5 minutes ahead of breaking fast, reactions were made by Arab groups in Windsor and Mississauga, triggering an unwanted intrigue.
In Mississauga, petitioners readied an open letter, along with three petitions to the city council, claiming “human rights violation”. The letter read, “Those who would like to celebrate religious holidays should be allowed to do so without infringing on the rights of others.” How on earth are rights being “infringed”?!
John Girgis, a prominent pharmacist of Mississauga’s Coptic community and organiser of two petitions, said, “I believe that every religion, ethnicity, and people need to be treated equally, and that there should be no preferential treatment. I’m totally against the hateful comments that appeared under my petitions..”
Change.org administrators later removed the petitions for “violating hate speech community guidelines”, even though not prior to one of them getting 20,000 signatures. “In a way I’m glad they got taken down,” said Girgis, adding he hadn’t written the open letter attached to the petitions and was unaware of who had drafted another petition on CitizenGo.org, which was signed by over 11,000.
Hani Tawfilis, another high-ranking member of Mississauga’s Coptic community and a former candidate with the Conservatives, posted an open Facebook letter, claiming the call to prayers would remind veterans “who fought in Islamic countries as Afghanistan or Iraq, who are traumatised and suffering from PTSD of their violent experiences.”
“Everything I have to say is in the letter. I’m not trying to go against any people or community,” added he. “But there’s a noise bylaw that was made for everyone and the city did not follow the right procedure to give an exemption to mosques.”
Defending the decision to broadcast the call to prayers, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie stated, “The idea is to foster a sense of community for Muslims who are barred from going to mosques during (the month of) Ramadhan due to the COVID-19 lockdown.”
VICE reported another statement by Crombie: “Since we passed this motion, I have unfortunately received many disturbing emails, calls, and posts on social media in opposition to our decision. While people are entitled to their own opinion, there is zero place for hate or intolerance in our city.” Obviously, the statement made no more room for further calls to end the athan in the city where 12% are Muslims.
Things did not turn out to be much better in Windsor, where another petition was readied. Though unsuccessful, the petition scarred the relations between community components. A meeting via Zoom was held by Mayor Drew Dilkens and representatives of the Chaldean community, proceeded by a leaked recording of Minister Mr George Morkos’s speech, in which he had addressed the Windsor Club and the London Club.
“… The Holy Spirit was with us… We discussed your concerns without hurting anyone,” said the recording, “He (the mayor) explained why the decision (broadcasting athan from Windsor’s mosques during the month of Ramadhan) had been made, and we expressed our future fears. He promised he would make no way for further discussions on this matter; that’s a promise, and the call to prayers wouldn’t be raised again, be it on Fridays or any other occasions… We told him that sounded good to us.”
Morkos’s stance stirred rebuke; calls were made to boycott the Chaldean-related city stores. Mr Morkos was thence pushed to make a statement, saying he was shocked at “the reactions, attacks and provocations by some individuals and groups, and at the discord and rift brought to siblings just because of a recording leaked by a treasonous troll, and misinterpreted.”
He further said, “Very unfortunately, some ill-seekers, for personal reasons, wish to bring chaos and destruction to this city’s children. Let’s act thoughtfully and build our city together, making use of our citizenry and the common principles of both creeds. You will find us cooperative siblings, ready to help.”
Meeting the Muslim community, Winsdor mayor Drew Dilkens said as regards the call to prayers, “This is a decision I am proud of having made. I hope the call to prayers brings comfort to the Muslim community members.” The mayor as well stressed that “all must respect the fact that we’re living in a multi-opinioned and multi cultured democratic society. There's no room for hatred or bigotry in my city… We don’t support any unfair, antisocial remarks.”
Whereas communities of different faiths, ethnicities and races are opening up to each other, it is very odd that some within us are opposing the athan; we could have expected such a stance from extreme rightist groups that we know are anti-Muslim and Islamophobic. We hope hate promoters get back to their minds and stop promoting hate they’ve brought along to Canada. It’s is indeed the time to overcome hate where society detests haters, wherever they come from.
We also stand by “people of intellect, awareness and ethics to oppose this happening, and by the committers to stop that, to remedy what they did and to make up for it; otherwise, things are going to get worse. You are siblings and family to us, and we share a lot,” as Head Cleric of Windsor’s Imam Hussein Foundation, Sheikh Abdul Mon’em Shrarah put it. The future of this country belongs to everybody who wants to live openness, tolerance and impartiality.