The project of Islamic cemetery on Quebec City’s south shore was led by the Centre culturel islamique de Québec (Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre / CCIQ). On July 17, 2017, on its Facebook page, the CCIQ is still endorsing / Archive.Today the Islamist Zakir Naik who is banned from entering Canada because of his support for terrorism.
On May 2, 2017, Point de Bascule published a profile of the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre (CCIQ) highlighting the following points and others:
- Between 2001 and 2010, the CCIQ transferred $67,224 to IRFAN-Canada, the terrorist organization Hamas’ fund collector in the country (2001 – 2002 – 2003 – 2004 – 2005 – 2006 – 2009 – 2010). On April 24, 2014, IRFAN itself was added to a list of banned terrorist organizations in Canada. The CCIQ kept on transferring funds to Hamas until the suspension of IRFAN in 2010 in spite of the following public information:
- In 2007, in an important terrorism trial that took place in the U.S. (subsection VIII), IRFAN was identified as a component of Hamas’ North American funding infrastructure;
- On March 7, 2009, IRFAN invited Ekrima Sabri, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, at a fundraising activity held at a Muslim Association of Canada’s hall in Montreal. Sabri promotes suicide operations. In 2000, he stated: “The younger the martyr – the greater and the more I respect him.” In 2012, after the terrorist attack in Toulouse, the French government banned Ekrima Sabri from entering its territory.
- In a bibliography published on its website, the CCIQ recommended several books authored by Syed Maududi (1903-1979) and other Islamist ideologues, such as Youssef Qaradawi, Sayyid Qutb (Qotb), Tariq Ramadan, etc. Maududi is also a key ideologue for the terrorist organization Islamic State. According to The Guardian, “When [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] made his speech in July [2014] at Mosul’s Great Mosque declaring the creation of an Islamic state with himself as its caliph, [he] quoted at length from the Indian/Pakistani thinker Abul A’la Maududi [aka Syed Maududi], the founder of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in 1941 and originator of the contemporary term Islamic state.” In the portion of his Koranic commentary dedicated to verse 4:24, Maududi provided a theological justification for the rape of female prisoners of war by Muslims that was followed by the Islamic State to encourage its jihadists to rape Yazidi female prisoners of war in Iraq, as documented by The New York Times. In his book Jihad in Islam recommended in CCIQ’s bibliography, Maududi also describes the mission of Islam as being the “destr[uction of] all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation that rules it. […] Islam requires the earth – not just a portion – but the whole planet.”
- The Board of Islamic Relief Canada that paid for the funerals of those shot at the CCIQ’s mosque in January 2017, is chaired by Hany El-Banna. El-Banna is also the founder and the current chairman of the UK-based Muslim Charities Forum (MCF). In January 2015, the British government withdrew the funding of this organization after concluding that it fuels violence. On March 31, 2017, the British government removed MCF from the list of registered charities. In Canada, Islamic Relief frequently sponsors promoters of sharia, such as Siraj Wahhaj, Zakir Naik, etc. In 2015, an event sponsored by Islamic Relief featuring Siraj Wahhaj at a Brossard mosque (south shore of Montreal) was cancelled after a TVA report on the speaker’s background. In the past, in a sermon delivered in New York, Siraj Wahhaj advocated harnessing street violence in the U.S. for the benefit of Islam. He invited his supporters to convert those who feel excluded and eventually arming them with Uzi submachine guns so that they can wage jihad in U.S. streets. (Point de Bascule – Muslim Mafia / pp. 136-137)
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Author: Kenyon Wallace
Source: Toronto Star, July 16, 2017
Original title: Quebec town votes against allowing Islamic cemetery to be built / WebArchive – Archive.Today
“It’s very disappointing. We feel ignored … the (vote) in Saint-Apollinaire is against living together,” says Mohamed Labidi, president of the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.
Muslims in the Quebec City area are facing disappointment and uncertainty after voters in a small town close to the provincial capital voted Sunday night to stop the development of a cemetery catering to the Islamic faith.
In a closely watched referendum Sunday night, just 36 residents of Saint-Apollinaire, a town of around 6,000 southwest of Quebec City, voted 19-16 to overturn zoning changes made earlier this year allowing the cemetery. One ballot was rejected.
“It’s very disappointing,” Mohamed Labidi, president of the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, told the Star Sunday night. “We feel ignored … the action in Saint-Apollinaire is against living together.”
The centre was the driving force behind the purchase of a plot of land beside an existing cemetery in Saint-Apollinaire earlier this year that members hoped would become their own. Now Labidi says he will be meeting with his administration to come up with another plan.
The result will have ramifications not just for Muslims in the Quebec City area, but across the province, given that there is only one Muslim-run cemetery in Quebec. Searches for other suitable land will likely be needed, Labidi says.
The project’s genesis goes back to 2016 when Sylvain Roy, the director of the non-denominational Harmonia funeral home in Saint-Apollinaire, heard from a Muslim family who couldn’t find a local cemetery where they could bury a loved one in accordance with the Islamic faith.
The lack of options for Muslims in the province became more widely known following a shooting rampage in January 2017 at a Quebec City mosque. The incident, which took place during evening prayers on Jan. 29, left six men dead and 19 others injured. One of the dead was buried in Laval, where the only Muslim-run cemetery in Quebec is located. The bodies of the other five were repatriated to their countries of origin.
In February, Harmonia funeral home agreed to sell a parcel of land to the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec in Saint-Apollinaire, a deal that was unanimously approved by council when it voted for zoning changes that would allow for the Muslim-run cemetery.
The deal was put on hold thanks to a rule that allows residents whose properties could be affected by the zoning change to vote on council’s decision. Forty-nine residents registered to vote in early July, but only 36 cast their ballots Sunday.
Roy, of the Harmonia funeral home, told the Star the result is “not a good message to the Muslims of Quebec.”
“It’s quite difficult to understand what’s happened there. What we want to present is a symbol of harmony — just two cemeteries side by side,” he said. “It’s a symbol of what our country wants to say to the world but now we’ve received a no. It’s quite a surprise.”
Saint-Apollinaire Mayor Bernard Ouellet said he was disappointed by the result.
“My community in general, I think that above all, what led their choice was really fear and disinformation,” he told reporters. “I’m convinced of it.”
Opponents of the project said Muslims should be buried in Islamic sections of existing cemeteries. Sunny Létourneau, the leader of the Saint-Apollinaire group against the zoning change, told the Star last week that she believes cemeteries run by religious groups of any kind cause problems because of their exclusivity.
Further reading
Point de Bascule: FILE Centre culturel islamique de Québec
Point de Bascule: FILE Resistance