https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680946999567335424 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Click to watch Justin Trudeau’s video message to the #RIS2015 convention
On December 26, 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeted the Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) convention by video message. His ministers John McCallum and Maryam Monsef, his advisor and Parliamentary Secretary Omar Alghabra and Liberal MPs Gary Anandasangaree, Yasmin Ratansi, Iqra Khalid and Rob Oliphant also lent credibility to the event by attending in person. All this in spite of the fact that, for years, the RIS convention has been featuring proponents of sharia and Islamic supremacism and that several sponsors of the event have been criticized over the years for their links with terrorist organizations.
In his video message, Mr. Trudeau stated that “Since its inception in 2001, RIS has fostered the creation of a proud and dynamic community” and that the annual RIS convention is about “celebrating our shared beliefs.” The complete transcript of the PM’s message is available on CIJ News / Archive.Today.
In fact, RIS was launched in 2003 and not 2001. More importantly, in its inception year, RIS was sponsored by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), an organization whose charitable status was revoked a few years later because it had transferred funds to an Al-Qaida front in 2001 and was part of the Al-Qaeda/Taliban infrastructure.
In her profile, Minister Maryam Monsef (who spoke at the #RIS2015 convention) mentions that twenty years ago, she fled “the terror and oppression of the Taliban” before settling in Peterborough (Ontario) with her family. Minister Monsef belongs to the Hazara minority which is persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Profile of Minister Maryam Monsef / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister Monsef and others should keep in mind that part of the financial support for the Taliban and Al-Qaida came from Canada and that it precisely came from those who sponsored the launch of the RIS conventions in 2003.
Point de Bascule (December 12, 2013): Reviving the Islamic Spirit – In 2003, the launch of the RIS conventions in Toronto was sponsored by an organization tied to Al-Qaida
Reuters (May 15, 2015): “We will attack Ismailis, Shi’ites and Christians” says Taliban gunman after shooting 43 people dead / WebArchive – Archive.Today
BBC News (November 11, 2015): Afghan Hazara killings spur thousands to march in Kabul / WebArchive – Archive.Today
At the first RIS convention, the Saudi Grand Mufti, Siraj Wahhaj, Jaafar Idris and Munir El-Kassem were among the keynote speakers at the event.
In 2012, CBN reported that the same Saudi Grand Mufti called for all churches to be demolished in the Arabian Peninsula. This area comprises Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
In 1992 in Los Angeles, RIS 2003 speaker Siraj Wahhaj advocated harnessing street violence in the U.S. for the benefit of Islam. He invited his supporters to convert youth who feel excluded, and eventually arm them with Uzi submachine guns so that they can wage jihad in U.S. streets. Excerpts of the sermon Audio – Transcript / pp.136-7
In 1975, RIS 2003 speaker Jaafar Idris advocated the Islamization of North American communities by “form[ing] a community of our own […] in the womb of the community that we desire to change [, within] the community to which we are opposed.” Idris was expelled from the U.S. later in 2003 for visa violations.
RIS 2003 speaker Munir El-Kassem had a leadership position within the World Islamic Call Society (WICS), a Libyan organization whose terror funding activities were documented in a U.S. trial and later by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Still, Mr. Trudeau praised RIS for “foster[ing] the creation of a proud and dynamic community […] since its inception” and referred to our “shared values” with these Islamists.
Jamal Badawi and Zaid Shakir also spoke at the RIS convention in 2003 and they were back at the #RIS2015 convention.
In an interview given in the early 2000s, Jamal Badawi advocated that Muslims should become judges and civil servants in North America and take advantage of their influential positions in order to stop applying current legal provisions that are incompatible with sharia.
In a speech on the future of the Muslim ummah (community), Jamal Badawi also told his supporters that his goal and the goal of those working with him is the establishment of a caliphate, an Islamic state ruled by sharia.
In the past, RIS speaker Zaid Shakir advocated that, if better organized, Muslims could “take over this country [the U.S.] …in a very short period of time. So, we’ve got a lot of foundational work to do and we must do if we’re serious about the task that is before us.”
Investigative Project on Terrorism: Profile of Zaid Shakir
Other speakers at the #RIS2015 convention included Abdalla Idris Ali and Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens).
Abdalla Idris Ali spoke at several editions of the RIS convention in the past. In 2012, he was listed as the ISNA Development Foundation Secretary General. The next year, the Canada Revenue Agency revoked this organization’s charitable status after concluding that it provided tax receipts to a non-charitable entity collecting money for a Jamaat-e-Islami-linked terrorist organization in India.
In 1989, RIS 2015 speaker Yusuf Islam was amongst the first Muslim Brotherhood activists in the U.K. to openly express his support for the fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for the assassination of writer Salman Rushdie. Video of the interview given by Yusuf Islam to the BBC
In a song written for a Muslim audience, Yusuf Islam prays to Allah “To give us victory over the kuffar [non-Muslims].” This is just an example of the program of conquest and hegemony that he endorses and promotes. Audio of the song and more details on JihadWatch
In his 2015 video message addressed to RIS, PM Justin Trudeau reminded the participants that he attended the RIS convention, in person, three years ago. That year, Point de Bascule highlighted, two weeks before the convention, that IRFAN-Canada, a sponsor of the event, had its charitable status revoked more than a year before for funding the terrorist organization Hamas.
On December 11, 2012, Justin Trudeau brushed off criticism about his presence at RIS and accused Point de Bascule and his other critics of “trafficking in misinformation.” Four days later, IRFAN-Canada withdrew its sponsorship of the event. In April 2014, IRFAN-Canada was added to a list of terrorist entities by the Government of Canada.
In an earlier article, Point de Bascule indicated that Islamic Relief Canada, the organization which sponsored the #RIS2015 convention is presided by Hany El-Banna. El-Banna is also a trustee of the UK-based Muslim Charities Foundation (MCF) which was “stripped of state funding in a crackdown on Islamist extremism” in January 2015 by the British government.
This decision was motivated by the fact that MCF is sponsoring extremist speakers at events in Britain “who fuel hatred, division and violence” and because of links uncovered between MCF and a group alleged to fund Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood political movement. The Telegraph / WebArchive – Archive.Today
On January 4, 2016, British media announced that the HSBC bank had cut banking ties with Islamic Relief UK over alleged fears of terror funding. Islamic Relief Canada belongs to the same international charity network / GMBDW.
The endorsement given by Prime Minister Trudeau and several of his ministers and MPs to an annual event that has featured proponents of sharia and Islamic supremacism from its inception in 2003 and has been sponsored by organizations linked to terrorism is incompatible with the mandate of the Government of Canada to insure the safety of Canadians.
Prime Minister Trudeau (by video), two ministers, a parliamentary secretary and at least four Liberal MPs at the #RIS2015 convention
NOTE: The hours in the chronology that follows are those at which the messages were posted on Twitter and not necessarily those at which the described actions took place.
PICTURE 1 / December 26 @ 10:55 AM
https://twitter.com/ihsaan/status/680824396785778688 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister Maryam Monsef speaks at the launch of NCCM’s #StrongerTogetherCA campaign during the #RIS2015 convention. The NCCM campaign aims at training activists who will work at implementing NCCM’s objectives. Stronger Together: Taking the pledge / WebArchive – Archive.Today
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM / formerly known as CAIR-Canada) was established as a branch of the Washington-based / Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations. In September 2014, it launched a so-called ‘anti-terrorism’ booklet which describes jihad as ‘noble’ and endorsed many North American Islamist leaders. The RCMP dissociated itself from the project.
Point de Bascule (July 18, 2013): National Council of Canadian Muslims: The new name chosen by CAIR-CAN helps cover its links with Washington-based / Hamas-linked CAIR
Point de Bascule (November 10, 2014): An Imam promoting armed jihad in U.S. streets and other radical scholars consulted by the NCCM (the former CAIR-CAN) “to gain an accurate understanding” of Islam
Point de Bascule (October 1, 2014): The RCMP throws the so-called anti-terrorism booklet back at the National Council of Canadian Muslims and its Islamist allies
PICTURE 2 / December 27 @ 2:16 PM
https://twitter.com/ZeroMortgage/status/681237333857841152 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister McCallum is pictured with Abdul Haq Ingar at the booth of Zero Mortgage, a sharia finance enterprise, at the #RIS2015 convention. Management team of zeromortgage.ca / WebArchive
Authors Muhammad Saleem (Islamic Banking – A $300 Billion Deception) and Timur Kuran (Islam and Mammon: The Economic Predicaments of Islamism) have described Islamic finance as “dishonest” and “foster[ing] an environment conducive to Islamist militancy.”
PICTURE 3 / December 26 @ 1:48 PM
https://twitter.com/ihslimi/status/680867883753279488 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister Maryam Monsef is pictured with Islamist leader Hamid Slimi at the #RIS2015 convention.
In his book on terrorism, Hamid Slimi recommends a Saudi Koran which defines jihad in a supplementary note added by the editor as an “Islamic Holy War… with full force of numbers and weaponry… by [which] Islam is established [and] Allah’s Word is made superior.”
PICTURE 4 / December 28 @ 1:56 PM
https://twitter.com/Yasmin_Ratansi/status/681594647391678470 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Liberal MP Yasmin Ratansi attends the #RIS2015 convention and is photographed with Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens).
In 1989, Yusuf Islam was among the first Muslim Brotherhood activists in the U.K. to openly express his support for the fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for the assassination of writer Salman Rushdie. Video of the interview given by Yusuf Islam to the BBC
In a song written for a Muslim audience, Yusuf Islam prays to Allah “To give us victory over the kuffar [non-Muslims].” This is just an example of the program of conquest and hegemony that he endorses and promotes. Audio of the song and more details on JihadWatch
December 26 @ 7:03 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680946999567335424 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 organizers thank Justin Trudeau for his video message to the convention.
December 29 @ 12:59 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/681942728570220544 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 organizers post Justin Trudeau’s video message to the RIS convention.
December 26 @ 10:54 AM
https://twitter.com/gary_srp/status/680824090446270465 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree attends the launch of the NCCM #StrongerTogetherCA campaign that took place during the #RIS2015 convention.
December 26 @ 2:12 PM
https://twitter.com/MaryamMonsef/status/680873822753583104 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister Monsef thanks NCCM / CAIR-CAN and RIS organizers after the launch of the #StrongerTogetherCA campaign at the #RIS2015 convention. Minister Monsef and Parliamentary Secretary Omar Alghabra appear on the picture.
December 26 @ 6:29 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680938478964572160 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Statement by Parliament Secretary for Foreign Affairs Omar Alghabra to the #RIS2015 convention
Point de Bascule (December 16, 2015): REBEL VIDEO – Omar Alghabra led an organization that opposed the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization, he supported sharia law for Ontario and now he has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
December 27 @ 4:36 PM
https://twitter.com/Rob_Oliphant/status/681272455546146817 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Liberal MP Rob Oliphant attends the #RIS2015 convention.
December 27 @ 10:04 PM
https://twitter.com/iamIqraKhalid/status/681173832711946240 / WebArchive – https://archive.is/73Nde
Liberal MP Iqra Khalid mentions that she spoke at the #RIS2015 convention.
December 28 @ 6:12 AM
https://twitter.com/ihsaan/status/681487694212513796 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
NCCM / CAIR-Canada Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee is pictured with Minister Maryam Monsef at the #RIS2015 convention.
More highlights of the RIS 2015 convention
The RIS 2015 convention itself took place from December 25 to December 27, 2015. More seminars were organized in Toronto with some of the speakers from December 28 until January 2, 2016. Most RIS 2015 highlights listed below come from the Twitter account of the event.
Profile of Minister Maryam Monsef / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Summary of reasons for the revocation of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth’s charitable status / Archive.Today
PHOTO https://twitter.com/MaryamMonsef/status/680873822753583104 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 23, 2015
Faisal Kutty endorses the upcoming #RIS2015 convention in an interview to the Toronto Star:
Faisal Kutty about the RIS convention: “They have genuine leaders who are informed, who understand the modern world, who understand Islam and try to educate the youth about . . . what Islam stands for. […] It’s an extremely important event.” Toronto Star / Archive.Today
In 2016, Faisal Kutty is listed among the 500 most influential Muslims in the world / WebArchive – Archive.Today.
In 1996, quoting approvingly from Hassan Turabi, Kutty described the Islamist violence as an eruption of religious energy which has been suppressed. “When Islam is allowed free expression, it will bring about social change peacefully and gradually.” WRMEA / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Hassan Turabi was the primary force behind the introduction of sharia in Sudan during the eighties and nineties. In an immigration case heard by a Canadian tribunal in 2000, Turabi’s Sudan was described as a “country of horrors [where] people are whipped in the name of Shari’a, terrorist bases are harboured and the Christians in the South are exterminated.” In this immigration case, Turabi was also described as “the ideologue of the military regime in Sudan” and the leader of an “Islamist International.”
While Hassan Turabi was attorney general of Sudan in 1985, Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, a Muslim theologian, was executed for apostasy by the State because he had pleaded for the reform of certain Islamic principles.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 24, 2015
December 24 @ 3:12 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680164108667334657 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
The CBC interviewed Zaid Shakir, a regular speaker at the RIS convention, the day before the beginning of the event.
The CBC did not provide any background on Shakir, nor on other problematic speakers and sponsors of the event in the past. In another venue, Shakir advocated that, if better organized, Muslims could “take over this country [the U.S.] …in a very short period of time. So, we’ve got a lot of foundational work to do and we must do if we’re serious about the task that is before us.”
Investigative Project on Terrorism: Profile of Zaid Shakir
FRIDAY DECEMBER 25, 2015
December 25 @ 11:38 AM
https://twitter.com/AtiqaAhmed/status/680472755561721856 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
The Al-Huda Institute is present at the #RIS2015 convention.
The Al-Huda Institute is a women-only religious school with branches across Pakistan and in the U.S. and Canada. Tashfeen Malik, who gunned down 14 people with her husband on December 2, 2015 in California, attended this school in Pakistan. The founder of the Institute, Farhat Hashmi, now lives in Canada. Toronto Star / WebArchive – Archive.Today
December 25 @ 12:50 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680490949399588864 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 speaker Umar Faruq Abd-Allah’s message to the convention: “No religion can keep its flock together. Unless it can give them sound and adequate answers to any question they have, to any doubts that assail them, to any misgivings that they have.”
In the past, Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide Youssef Qaradawi provided another reason for the cohesion of the Muslim community. He stated that “If they [Muslims] had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn’t exist today” Video – Andrew Bostom’s comment
December 25 @ 1:53 PM
https://twitter.com/SShahmaleki/status/680506665779785729 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Toronto Police Service officers at the #RIS2015 convention
December 25 @ 2:03 PM
https://twitter.com/nccm/status/680509223067856896
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM / former CAIR-CAN) launches its #StrongerTogetherCA campaign at the #RIS2015 convention.
December 25 @ 5:10 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680556249595813889 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 speaker Dalia Mogahed’s message to the convention: “The greatest threat to our freedom and democracy today is fear. This is just a fact.”
The next step, of course, is to advocate that those who “spread the fear” by warning against Islamic terrorism and stealth jihad must be stopped.
December 25 @ 6:09 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680571175999635456 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 speaker Abdal Hakim Jackson’s message to the convention: “If you’re not pursuing power (political power, or economic power) then you are not participating in politics.”
Abdal Hakim Jackson is a member of the International Institute of Islamic Thought’s Council of Scholars. The IIIT is the main Muslim Brotherhood research institute in North America. It is entity #28 on a list of organizations identified in a Brotherhood internal memorandum as supporting the Islamist network in the U.S. This memorandum was introduced as evidence in a terrorism trial that resulted in the conviction of all the defendants in 2008.
In the memorandum, the Muslim Brotherhood offensive in North America is described as “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house […] so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
December 25 @ 6:38 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680578415011840001 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 speaker Suhain Webb’s message to the convention: “We should realize, we are not ordered to be perfect.”
December 25 @ 7:24 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680590049809809408 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 speaker Hamza Yusuf’s message to the convention: “Jihad is not an end, it’s a means; and end is always over means.”
December 25 @ 7:51 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680596858075516928 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 speaker Hamza Yusuf’s message to the convention: “The mortality rate in all the expeditions of the Prophet (PBUH) is 1 out of 6000, that’s 0.6% in all of these battles. It’s an incredible statistic. So is the Islamic civilization more violent than other civilizations? This is the question.”
December 25 @ 7:52 PM
https://twitter.com/hamzayusuf/status/680597113101762560 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 speaker Hamza Yusuf’s message to the convention: “The image of Islam as violent is a projection of Western civilization own reality.”
SATURDAY DECEMBER 26, 2015
December 26 @ 7:29 AM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680772551354679297 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Abdalla Idris Ali speaks at the #RIS2015 convention.
Abdalla Idris Ali spoke at several editions of the RIS convention in previous years. In 2012, he was listed as the ISNA Development Foundation Secretary General. In 2013, this organization’s charitable status was revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency for its links with a terrorist entity. According to the Canadian government agency, the ISNA substructure had provided tax receipts to a non-charitable entity collecting money for a Jamaat-e-Islami-linked terrorist organization in India.
December 26 @ 8:12 AM
https://twitter.com/faisalkutty/status/680783339364560896 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Faisal Kutty invites his followers on Twitter to the #RIS2015 convention: “If you are not at #RIS2015 you are missing out. Come by today and don’t forget the @nccm and @ksmlawyers booths.”
December 26 @ 8:39 AM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680790123819040768 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Jamal Badawi speaks at the #RIS2015 convention.
In an interview given in the early 2000s, Jamal Badawi advocated that Muslims should become judges and civil servants in North America and take advantage of their influential positions in order to stop applying current legal provisions that are incompatible with sharia.
In a speech on the future of the Muslim ummah (community), Jamal Badawi also told his supporters that his goal and the goal of those working with him is the establishment of a caliphate, an Islamic state ruled by sharia.
December 26 @ 10:15 AM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680814262739021824 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Interfaith panel at the #RIS2015 convention: Imam Khalid Latif, Pastor Bob Roberts, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Rabbi Batya Steinlauf and Dr. William Vendley are present. Cardinal McCarrick was the Archbishop of Washington between 2001 and 2006 and Dr. Vendley is the Secretary General of the World Conference of Religions for Peace.
In 2009, Youssef Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide and associate of Jamal Badawi at the International Union of Muslim Scholars, stressed that interfaith activities with Christians are always done with ulterior motives. “We only carry out dialogue with [Christians] in order to find common grounds that serve as a basis for further action,” Qaradawi stated. GMBDW / Archive.Today
The motives for interfaith mentioned by Qaradawi are as follows: converting Christians to Islam, rallying Christians against Israel, improving the image of Islam and discouraging Christian leaders from supporting fellow Christians involved in conflict with Muslims (Search for ‘stop supporting Christians’ in the text.)
December 26 @ 10:47 AM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680822248144416769 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Statement by US Cardinal McCarrick to the #RIS2015 convention
December 26 @ 10:54 AM
https://twitter.com/gary_srp/status/680824090446270465 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree attends the launch of the NCCM #StrongerTogetherCA campaign that took place during the #RIS2015 convention.
December 26 @ 10:55 AM
https://twitter.com/ihsaan/status/680824396785778688 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister Maryam Monsef speaks at the launch of NCCM’s #StrongerTogetherCA campaign that took place during the #RIS2015 convention. The NCCM campaign aims at training activists who will work at implementing NCCM’s objectives. Stronger Together: Taking the pledge / WebArchive – Archive.Today
December 26 @ 10:58 AM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680825056541323264 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Statement by William Vendley to the #RIS2015 convention
December 26 @ 11:53 AM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680838756358729728 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Picture of the participants at the interfaith panel
December 26 @ 1:47 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680867477375418368 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Statement by Minister Maryam Monsef to the #RIS2015 convention
December 26 @ 1:48 PM
https://twitter.com/ihslimi/status/680867883753279488 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister Maryam Monsef is pictured with Islamist leader Hamid Slimi at the #RIS2015 convention.
In his book on terrorism, Hamid Slimi recommends a Saudi Koran which defines jihad in a supplementary note added by the editor as an “Islamic Holy War… with full force of numbers and weaponry… by [which] Islam is established [and] Allah’s Word is made superior.”
December 26 @ 2:12 PM
https://twitter.com/MaryamMonsef/status/680873822753583104 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister Monsef thanks NCCM / CAIR-CAN and RIS organizers.
December 26 @ 2:47 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680882592711708672 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Statement by Minister Maryam Monsef to the #RIS2015 convention
December 26 @ 3:10 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680888411092209665 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Statement by Minister John McCallum to the #RIS2015 convention
December 26 @ 6:29M
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680938478964572160 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Statement by Parliament Secretary for Foreign Affairs Omar Alghabra to the #RIS2015 convention
December 26 @ 6:48 PM
https://twitter.com/ihsaan/status/680943354863960064 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
NCCM’s Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee announces the presence of surprise speaker Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) at #RIS2015.
December 26 @ 6:53 PM
https://twitter.com/JohnRalstonSaul/status/680944842977984512 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
John Ralston Saul announces that he is back at the RIS convention in 2015.
In 2012, the NCCM (then called CAIR-Canada) used the presence of John Ralston Saul at the RIS convention to deflect Point de Bascule’s criticism of IRFAN-Canada’s sponsorship of the RIS convention that year. IRFAN-Canada had its charitable status revoked in 2011 because it had transferred millions of dollars to the terrorist organization Hamas. At the time, NCCM / CAIR-CAN argued that “To suggest that there is something untoward about a conference that invites thinkers like John Ralston Saul and Karen Armstrong to speak on topics such as inter-faith dialogue and mutual understanding is ludicrous. This is yet another example of Islamophobic vitriol aimed at marginalizing and vilifying Muslims.” NCCM / CAIR-CAN Press release against Point de Bascule
Three days after the NCCM / CAIR-CAN press release, IRFAN-Canada withdrew its sponsorship of the event. In April 2014, IRFAN-Canada was added to a list of terrorist entities by the Government of Canada.
Point de Bascule (December 21, 2012): CAIR-CAN condemns Point de Bascule and uses John Ralston Saul as a poster boy to legitimize the Islamist agenda
December 26 @ 6:54 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680944722228023296 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 organizers announce the presence of surprise speaker Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) at the convention.
December 26 @ 7:03 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/680946999567335424 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 organizers thank Justin Trudeau for his video message to the convention.
December 26 @ 7:03 PM
https://twitter.com/azohaib91/status/680947086548971520 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Yusuf Islam talks about his Tableeqi Jamaat experience in Montreal at the #RIS2015 convention.
December 26 @ 7:15 PM
https://twitter.com/OsamaBerrada/status/680950061593956354 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Toronto Police Service officers at the #RIS2015 convention
SUNDAY DECEMBER 27, 2015
December 27 @ 12:26 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/681209475680698368 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) on stage with other performers.
December 27 @ 1:17 PM
https://twitter.com/brownbarrie/status/681222503302328320 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown spoke at the #RIS2015 convention.
December 27 @ 2:16 PM
https://twitter.com/ZeroMortgage/status/681237333857841152 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Minister McCallum is pictured with Abdul Haq Ingar at the booth of Zero Mortgage, a sharia finance enterprise, at the #RIS2015 convention. Management team of zeromortgage.ca / WebArchive
December 27 @ 3:36 PM
https://twitter.com/ICNAReliefCAN/status/681257363651743744 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is present at the #RIS2015 convention.
December 27 @ 4:25 PM
https://twitter.com/ArarMaher/status/681269686214987776 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Maher Arar quotes the last words of Hatem Bazian’s speech at the #RIS 2015 convention: “Go out and be mighty people. Go change the world.”
In 2004, Hatem Bazian called for violence in the U.S. at a rally in San Francisco: “How come we don’t have an intifada in this country? …and it’s about time that we have an intifada in this country that change[s] fundamentally the political dynamics in here.” Campus Watch / Video
December 27 @ 4:36PM
https://twitter.com/Rob_Oliphant/status/681272455546146817 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Liberal MP Rob Oliphant takes part to the #RIS2015 convention.
December 27 @ 4:43 PM
https://twitter.com/ArarMaher/status/681274196383653890 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Maher Arar quotes speaker Linda Sarsour at the #RIS2015 convention: “We are going through difficult times. This is not the time for Muslim organizations to compete.”
December 27 @ 5:22 PM
https://twitter.com/hamzayusuf/status/681283975160016896 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Hamza Yusuf speaking at the #RIS2015 convention: “The Prophet message was for 8,142 days. # of military expeditions: only 70 days or 0.9%”
December 27 @ 5:24 PM
https://twitter.com/hamzayusuf/status/681284463649665025 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Hamza Yusuf speaking at the #RIS2015 convention: “From the 70 military expedition days only 10 days were of fighting. That represents 0.1% of his entire life”
December 27 @ 5:26 PM
https://twitter.com/hamzayusuf/status/681285023807311872 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Hamza Yusuf speaking at the #RIS2015 convention: “These battles were defensive and yet, 60% of our seerah publications are about them.”
December 27 @ 5:36 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/681287534618386432 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Hamza Yusuf speaking at the #RIS2015 convention: “The Prophet prohibited the destruction of buildings, much less the destruction of human life.”
December 27 @ 6:13 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/681296831746211841 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Hamza Yusuf speaking at the #RIS2015 convention: “Don’t desire to meet the enemy, because you don’t know what is going to happen”
December 27 @ 7:32 PM
https://twitter.com/HCICanada/status/681316648750419968 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Human Concern International thanks those who donated for its activities at the #RIS2015 convention.
MONDAY DECEMBER 28, 2015
December 28 @ 6:12 AM
https://twitter.com/ihsaan/status/681487694212513796 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
NCCM / CAIR-Canada Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee is pictured with Minister Maryam Monsef at the #RIS2015 convention.
December 28 @ 1:56 PM
https://twitter.com/Yasmin_Ratansi/status/681594647391678470 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Liberal MP Yasmin Ratansi attends the #RIS2015 convention and is photographed with Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens). She also indicates in her tweet that she is accompanied by Reza Moridi, the Ontario Minister for Research and Innovation, and fellow Liberal MPs Iqra Khalid and Rob Oliphant.
December 28 @ 4:02 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/681626381466386434 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Seyyed Hossein Nasr speaking at the RIS Knowledge Retreat: “The sharia’s roots are static; its application is dynamic.”
In a 2004 interview to Egypt Today, Tariq Ramadan applied this principle when he criticized Muslim leaders operating in Canada for having openly promoted sharia and Islamic tribunals. Ramadan pointed out that these Muslim leaders had shown a “lack of creativity” by openly revealing their ultimate goal. As Ramadan noted, the term ‘sharia’ “is laden with negative connotations in the Western mind.” It would therefore be better not to openly talk about it “for the time being,” he added. Instead, Ramadan suggested taking advantage of the current Canadian legal framework (“one of the most open in the world”) in order to implement sharia principles discretely and gradually. This is the approach that led to the concept of ‘reasonable accommodations’ imposed by tribunals in the following years.
December 28 @ 4:02 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/681626287664959489 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Seyyed Hossein Nasr speaking at the RIS Knowledge Retreat: “The shariah was never imposed like military law from above by the Prophet.”
TUESDAY DECEMBER 29, 2015
December 29 @ 12:59 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/681942728570220544 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
#RIS2015 organizers post Justin Trudeau’s video message to the RIS convention.
December 29 @ 7:39 PM
https://twitter.com/hamzayusuf/status/682043410845446146 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Hamza Yusuf at the #RIS 2015 convention: “There is so much envy amongst Muslims; The evil eye is everywhere in the Muslim world. With envy, you will never be able to rule.”
THURSDAY DECEMBER 31, 2015
December 31 @ 3:50 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/682710333031579648 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Zaid Shakir told the #RIS2015 convention that “Islam has survived to the extent it has survived, because it was able to respond to challenges.”
In the past, Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide Youssef Qaradawi stated that “If they [Muslims] had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn’t exist today” Video – Andrew Bostom’s comment
FRIDAY JANUARY 1, 2016
January 1 @ 1:08 PM
https://twitter.com/risconvention/status/683032000463110144 / WebArchive – Archive.Today
Umar Faruq Abd-Allah speaking at the RIS Knowledge Retreat: “This individualism is predicated on the false notion of the unity of the individual. You are not a world unto yourself. I am nothing without you; we are nothing without each other, we must compliment [sic] each other.”
Further reading
Jonathan D. Halevi (CIJ News – December 29, 2015): Trudeau: Reviving the Islamic Spirit convention exemplifies “our shared beliefs” / Archive.Today
Point de Bascule: File Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) conventions
Point de Bascule (December 28, 2015): RIS 2015 – Sponsors and speakers
Point de Bascule (December 12, 2013): Reviving the Islamic Spirit – In 2003, the launch of the RIS conventions in Toronto was sponsored by an organization tied to Al-Qaida (WAMY sponsored the event.)