A Message From Ali Sina

What is Wrong with Bouchard-Taylor Report
by Ali Sina


The 3.7 m. dollar Bouchard-Taylor report that was commissioned to recommend
\"reasonable accommodations\" of ethnic and religious
minorities in Quebec is finally released. However, it raises more questions
that it answers.

This intellectual duo*, who spent months preparing the 310 page report, wants
to place more emphasis on integration and less on individuation that would
eventually lead to segregation and alienation. That is a noble thought. The
problem is that right after talking about the importance of integration they
propose “dissemination of pluralism.”

Aren’t integration and pluralism two opposing concepts? In politics we need
pluralism or we will have dictatorship. But in society, we need integration..
Pluralism leads to isolationism, alienation and estrangement. What glues a
nation together, are its shared values. Culture, tradition, beliefs and
language are values that bind us together. If we have nothing in common, what
will unite us?

Is cultural pluralism a good thing? Do all cultures have inherently something
good to offer? Is, for example, a culture that advocates hatred of outsiders
and gender apartheid, equal to a culture that promotes inclusiveness and
equality?

One of the recommendations of the Bouchard-Taylor report is “intercultural
harmonization.” How can we promote pluralism and harmonization at the same
time? Aren’t these two concepts mutually exclusive?

Mr. Taylor, says, “Compromise and reciprocity are the two key words. You give
a little bit, I give a little bit, and we all put some water in our wine.”
This works only when the other side also believes in compromise and
reciprocity, is willing to give in and put some water in his wine. If he is not
willing to compromise, the only wine that will be watered down will be the wine
of the Western culture.

Some cultures do not compromise. Take the example of Islam. Islam is now
culture, now religion, now political system and now race. It can be anything,
depending on the situation. However, Islam cannot change. You cannot water it
down, reform it or modernize it. The Quran is emphatic that Islam is perfect
(Q: 5:3). No Muslim will tolerate reforming his religion that was perfected by
God. Consequently, the only culture that will have to give in to the point of
extinction will be the Western culture.

It is this culture that gave birth to enlightenment, democracy and ushered
mankind to modernity. It is this culture that brought the collective humanity
out of the Dark Ages into the present world. It is to this culture that we owe
our freedom. If any culture has to be protected it is the Western culture. Yet,
it is this culture alone that today is facing extinction – because it is being
watered down through immigration, multiculturalism and the suicidal disinterest
of its members, who are willing to bend backwards to accommodate every inferior
culture except protecting their own.

Other recommendations of the commission are to take “exceptional measures to
combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.” They also recommend fighting against
discrimination, with emphasis on hate crimes.

However, these recommendations are contradictory. There are some teachings of
Islam that are anti-Semitic, misogynist, hateful and discriminatory. How then
can we reconcile these two conflicting recommendations?

The Quran repeatedly calls the Jews apes and swine, and says they are despised
and rejected (2:65, 5:60, 7:166). Every day, Muslims are required to recite the
opening sura of the Quran that says Christians and Jews have gone astray and
that the wrath of God will be on them. According to the Quran, women are
inferior (4.32) and should their husband suspect disobedience, they can abuse
them verbally and emotionally, and even beat them (4.34). The Quran says
homosexuality is abomination (27:54) and the Sharia (Islamic law) prescribes
death for homosexuals. According to the Sharia, apostates also should be
killed. The Quran is insistent that the non-Muslims are unclean (9:28), that
Muslims should not take them as friends (3:28), associate with them (9:23), or
obey them as rulers (25:52).

There are many verses in the Quran that exhort the believers to be harsh with
non-Muslims (9:73), fight them (2:193, 2:216, 4:84, 8:65, 9:5, 9:14, 9:73),
cast terror into their hearts (3:151, 8:12), and even kill them (2:191, 9:5,
47:4).

Are we allowed to criticize these teachings? Not according to Bouchard and
Taylor who want us to be charged with Islamophobia if we do. But if we don’t,
we would be tolerating anti-Semitism, discrimination against women and hate
against all non Muslims.

A fact that seems to escape everyone is that Islam is not a race but a belief
system. Beliefs do not have to be protected by law. Christianity is not
protected, Judaism is not protected, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, the Bahai
Faith, Paganism, Shintoism… none of these faiths are protected. Anyone is
free to criticize any religion. Then why Islam has to be protected by law? Why
the government should spend the tax money of the very people Islam calls
filthy, apes and pigs to protect it? The government’s responsibility is to
protect people, their rights and their lives and not religious beliefs. It is
the lives of the apostates of Islam that are in danger and need to be
protected, not Islam that says kill the apostates.

How can we compare Islamophobia with anti-Semitism? Semites are a people; Islam
is a belief. These are apples and oranges. People need protection; beliefs
don’t. It’s human rights that have to be protected, not human faiths.

Then again, Islamophobia is a misnomer. Phobia is an unfounded and irrational
fear. Since 9/11, 2001, there have been over 11,000 terrorist attacks
throughout the world, all perpetrated by the followers of “the religion of
peace.” On Feb. 13, 2007, the CBC published the results of an Environics
poll, where fully 12% of Canadian Muslims said the aborted terrorist plot –
that included kidnapping and beheading the Canadian prime minister and blowing
up the Parliament and the CBC – was justified. 12% of 700,000 Muslims living
in Canada means 84,000 Canadian Muslims support terrorism. They finance it;
they take part in it.

Can we afford not to fear Islam? Is the fear of Islam, phobia? One must be
foolhardy not to fear Islam. Read the Quran! Listen to the sermons in the
mosques and pay attention to what Muslims do. Are these not enough reasons to
fear Islam?

The truth is that Islam is incompatible with human rights, gender equality,
democracy, integration, harmonization and everything that the Bouchard-Taylor
commission intends to achieve. Muslims will never integrate, unless they give
up Islam and consider themselves Canadians first. It is ironic that these two
highly intellectual men undermine their own recommendations and include Islam
as something to be protected. On one hand they want to promote secularism and
recommend the religious symbols of the founders, and the majority of the
Quebecois to be taken down from public buildings, and on the other hand they
suggest that government should shield Islam from criticism and incriminate
those who speak against its violent, discriminatory, and hate mongering
teachings.

Two thousand years ago, a Jewish carpenter said, “truth will set you free..”
This truism has never been truer than today. Let us stop this political
correctness. Let us tell the truth about Islam. Let us give truth a chance.

__

* Gérard Bouchard is a Historian and sociologist lecturer in the Département
des sciences humaines at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.
Charles Taylor, author, philosopher, is Professor Emeritus of Political Science
and Philosophy at McGill University.


Who is Ali Sina?
Ali Sina


Pick up Mr. Sinas new book.

Understanding Muhammad A Psychobiography