Canadian Muslim professor: 'If you want sharia law, go back to the hellhole country

[Lech_Walesa]

Canadian Muslim professor: 'If you want sharia law, go back to the hellhole country you came from'

Monday, 14 February 2011 00:08 Acharya S Contributing Writers - Acharya S


A courageous Muslim man says what many of us would like to!
"If you want to live under sharia law, go back to the hellhole country you came from, or go to another hellhole country that lives under sharia law."
--Mahfooz Kanwar, a member of the Muslim Canadian Congress and a professor emeritus of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
The rest of the story is below.
Let's change the tune on official multiculturalism
About one dozen families who recently immigrated to Canada are demanding that the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg excuse their children from music and coed physical education programs for religious reasons.

The families believe that music is un-Islamic - just like the Taliban believe and then imposed on the entire population of Afghanistan - and that physical education classes should be segregated by gender even in the elementary years....

In any event, the school district is trying to find a way to adapt the curriculum to fit the wishes of these families, rather than these families adapting to fit into the school and Canadian culture.

Mahfooz Kanwar, a member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, says he has some better ideas.

"I'd tell them, this is Canada, and in Canada, we teach music and physical education in our schools. If you don't like it, leave. If you want to live under sharia law, go back to the hellhole country you came from or go to another hellhole country that lives under sharia law," said Kanwar, who is a professor emeritus of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

That might be putting things a little more forcefully than most of us would be comfortable with, but Kanwar says he is tired of hearing about such out-of-tune demands from newcomers to our country. "Immigrants to Canada should adjust to Canada, not the other way around," he argues....


http://freethoughtnation.com/contrib...came-from.html

[IamDZJ]

someone has to remind people of what sharia stands for..

[Karachi]

Sharia has been abused by states like saudi arabia or Taliban, so obviously even most muslims would be afraid of it, they wont give away their western freedoms and live in a cave.

Sharia can only work when it is in the hand of properly educated muslims who know when to properly apply islamic laws, depending on each situation. Unfortunatly uneducated extremists like taliban or saudis have hijacked Sharia and Islam for that matter

[randolph85]

lol @ "muslim professor"

[ScimitarXEdge]

This would only make sense if the people that Kanwar was referring to were trying to impose their standards on everyone else in Canada; but no, they're only doing so for their own family, on something that isn't anyone else's business anyways. This isn't really about protecting Canada's culture or preserving liberty, this is about justifying certain cultural hegemony using liberty and freethought as a a vehicle.

Furthermore the argument is a farce, immigrants have been remolding Canada since it's inception, many laws/practices and such were remolded due to changing social/cultural climate from immigrants, why should that change now because of some perceived threat? That threat has been present since Canada put Channukah and Yom Kippur on their calendars.

[ScimitarXEdge]

someone has to remind people of what sharia stands for..

explain?

[Badlun]

The solution to all such problems and issues is to understand Islam which is only a religion and has nothing to do with culture or arts. Music is an art while physical education has nothing to do with religion.

Religion is your faith, worship and morality which are your personal or indivisual matters and will never obstruct Muslims in social, cultural or educational activities in other countries like Canada.

[ScimitarXEdge]

the problem is the claim that Islam is just a religion, is simply untrue. Unless you can show from Islaam's sources that this is all Islam pertains to.

the solution to Canada's cultural issue is simply, people minding their own business when it comes to whether parents want their children to learn a certain curriculum for physical education or arts.

Although I don't see a problem with learning music, I do see a problem with males/females coparticipation in physical education.

[Badlun]

Islam is only a religion simply because it talks only in detail about beliefs, worship and ethics. Read Quran and 95% its about beleifs, acts of worship and morality. Monotheism, prayers, belief in hereafter, moral injunctions are the only aspects of life described in full details. We dont have any detailed knowledge of politics, culture, economics, science and technology, society, arts and craftsm literature, education, sports, agriculture, live stock, fishery, forests, environment, irrigation etc.

Music and physical education the topic here is not at all with in the scope of sphere of influence of Islam and thus Muslims can remain Muslims if they listen or learn music and participate in physical education.

Coeducation is co oducation , its not doing sex in schools. Lets learn trusting in our womenfolk.

[ScimitarXEdge]

that's not a concrete response; nor is it a logically valid response.

Let's assume that this argument is correct, that there are fewer or even scant details on things outside of the arena of beliefs, something that needs to be demonstrated by direct reference . This does not logically imply that the rules/principles of Islam deals with only beliefs, it would only mean the range of rules governing extra theological subjects is much more broad in their applications rather than being ratified with complex rules.

But that's only if we assume that the premise is true, is it a factual premise? Has the person who made the claim done all necessary research required to establish that this premise is factual? Gone through Fiqh, Islamic History, Hadith literature and commentaries if the Qur'an which elucidate details regarding the applications of Islamic injunctions in all other fears of life? If we did so, we'd often find that the Early Muslims used to have very detailed systems of politics, economic procedures and such, contrary to the claim, how is this so if Islam was only dealing with just beliefs? Why is there a penal and justice system in Islam is it's just a belief?

To argue that one needs DETAILED argument that covers the subject with directly relevant subject oriented references to demonstrate this is in fact the case. So far the claimant has only made a conclusion with a unsupported premise.

Although it's true music and physical education is the topic; the response made a premise which needs to be examined before the response can be taken as valid. We can't assume something is true just because the claimant says so, and if the premise isn't true, then the conclusion of the claimant also becomes invalid.

[Badlun]

I have written a detailed article and there is a discussion of many pages in Creative section that Islam is only a religion and not more that. I have read Quran many times with translation. I also understand Arabic to that extent that I read Quran easily. I have read basic books of Fiqa and few books of Hadith too. Bulk of injunctions and details are about beleifs, the worship modes like prayer, ramadan, zakat, hajj and few moral principles like dont lie, dont kill etc.

No doubt there is mention of few crimes and its penalty but there is no at all any penal code or civil code. There is few guidelines about inheritance, evidence and family laws but all these dont constitute a complete system as we have in English law. The underpinning of all these injunctions is again morality and dealing with private life and not a complete legal or social or economic or political system.

We have the only political system in past in Islamic history an dthas monorchy or dictatorship. Ayesha is fighting against Ali and son of Mawiya is killing the grandson of the Prophet. Was it that Islam about which you are talking.it will be the service of Islam if you make it just a religion and save it from all those atrocities committed in the name of Islam.

Lets separate religion from culture, education and arts and then we wont have the problem which we have in Canada in the instant case.

Every discussion cant be done on logical premises. Here we are not only for winning arguments but also for educational, reformative or other purposes. We may not necessarily indulge all the time in logical polemics and apologetics but may present our standpoint as we think about it. All of us cant be logicians otherwise these fora will be only for few selected one. I can be more logical some times but I deliberately avoid it as to make the message simpler to be understood by all as my purpose here is not just to win an argument but to create awareness about the issues faced by Pashtuns.

[fzpz]

You're assuming that morality, beliefs, etc can be seperated from everyday life, which includes science, technology, arts, politics, economics, etc. Islam as a complete 'system' isn't about dictating how a scientist should go about his research, or how one should walk yada yada, it's that when 'science' (human experiments) or business (riba) conflicts with your morality/ethics then you have a problem. Human beings and their relations to the world around them is too complicated/intertwined for one to put aside his beliefs and convictions. One can certainly pretend to like in the west, but that just makes their religious culture part of the dominant national culture, which is why you see christian holidays, symbols, sayings, teachings littered throughout the 'secular' nations. Nothing wrong with that.

As far as issues faced the pashtuns, i'm not pashtun, but i can sense the main issue is the deep disconnect between the vast majority of pashtuns (the religious ones) and those pashtuns that are a minute minority non-representative atheist/communist/'secular' ones who essentially say the solution to all our problems is for us to become as non-muslim/pashtun as possible. This is the case with the muslim community at large, as one can see this 'muslim' professor stating (he's probably a paki punjabi).

For the original post, the professor should waste his time by taking on the killers of muslims around the world instead of playing to the gallery about being 'tough' with an extremely small number of muslims in the west.

[Badlun]

Morality should be there in science , technology and others but science , technology and here in this topic art(music) and education(physical) are not Islam. If a bomb is made by science to kill humanity then its use must be sanctioned by morality but the science of the bomb is not Islam.Music is not Islam and education is not Islam. Thus Muslims should not take it something against Islam but may like it or not like it being an individual choice based on morality or taste.

Secularism is to give the devil its due. Its complete justice. Secularism is Islam. No force in religion and separating mundane from the spiritual. We are mixing both in Pashtun and Muslim world and consequently all the problems that we have.

In the West yes there are religious holidays but look how they celebrate it. In Islam we also have religious holidays but Pashtuns are so extremists that they dont have a single non-Islamic holiday. Islam has dominated all our culture , society and politics that we cant think beyond that.

A good Pashtun is the one who is a good Muslim culturally, socially, politically and religiously. This is the problem. The definition is not to be a good scientist, musician, sportsperson, scholar, poet, engineer . Pashtuns should be good Muslims only religiously(beliefs, worship, morality) but not beyond that. Others are Arab culture. That is not Islam.

[ScimitarXEdge]

That's great if someone read the the Qur'an and know Arabic etc etc etc.

But writing a long article and writing a textually relevant article is not the same thing. When asking for details we mean details in references dealing with the issue. Not a long opinion piece.

As for conflicts that existed in Islamic history; this isn't a proof of a lack of an Islamic System. this was only a dispute between the individuals, unless it can proven to us otherwise.

Every argument must be done on logical premises; for how can we reform people when all we are giving is an opinion? What if our opinion is flawed and completely misguided? We need to establish what's factual, truthful and relevant to be able to know which way to reform ourselves, or else it's not reforming, it's merely surrendering to some other society's hegemony.

[Baygham]

That's great if someone read the the Qur'an and know Arabic etc etc etc.

But writing a long article and writing a textually relevant article is not the same thing. When asking for details we mean details in references dealing with the issue. Not a long opinion piece.

As for conflicts that existed in Islamic history; this isn't a proof of a lack of an Islamic System. this was only a dispute between the individuals, unless it can proven to us otherwise.

Every argument must be done on logical premises; for how can we reform people when all we are giving is an opinion? What if our opinion is flawed and completely misguided? We need to establish what's factual, truthful and relevant to be able to know which way to reform ourselves, or else it's not reforming, it's merely surrendering to some other society's hegemony.

This victim mentality of being african slaves to white men is getting a tad old in the 21st century, especially when the culture has accomodated an african president. If you find it very hard to break through with worldly success, stop blaming the invisible ceiling or the lack of affirmative action policies. Work a little harder, or start a rap label, but please stop complaining of being victimized, all the time.

Some of us do not feel being victimized by others, we dont care if Ranjit singh cornered grandma, or Mohammad did. We see ourselves as capable, equal human beings and consider the whole world an open stage. We dont cry for affirmative action from masters, because we have none. We believe in our own abilities and consider it a privilege that humanity is where it is. We will forge our own future in our shape, in our desires in our aspirations. Not in the image of dead goat hurdlers of centuries past.