Plans for the first mosque in Newmarket, Ont., have raised a national ruckus. A connection to Zafar Bangash, a controversial imam currently serving a large mosque in Richmond Hill, has some residents of this town about 50 kilometres north of Toronto wondering what will be taught in the renovated building.
“My main concern about this whole issue is Zafar Bangash and his views, which are anti-Semitic and extremely vitriolic …” said Jack Hurst, past-president of the Newmarket Ratepayers Association, in a story in the Toronto Star.
Project manager Hazem Gidamy has said the mosque will serve as a satellite to Bangash's 17,000-square-foot mosque in Richmond Hill. But Ansar Ahmed, a spokesperson for the mosque, said Bangash will not be the mosque's leader and has no official role at the place of worship. Bangash is president of the Islamic Society of York Region, which owns the mosque.
Bangash has been outspoken in his support for the regime in Iran and the terrorist group Hezbollah. Meir Weinstein, director of the Jewish Defence League Canada, called the mosque a possible “den of terror,” according to a report in the York Region publication The Era-Banner. The American JDL is itself “a right-wing terrorist group” according to the FBI, although Weinstein says the Canadian branch is “independent.”
Rev. Mark Lewis, convener of the Presbyterian Church's Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations Committee, is frustrated by the negative reaction.
“The outrage over the mosque … is due to ignorance, unfounded fear and prejudice,” he said. “Those who associate the Muslim faith with terrorism have been duped by the preaching of corrupted religious leaders who refuse to see value in any religion but their own,” said Lewis.
“Local congregations should contribute to the establishment of the Newmarket mosque with the same love and compassion one would show to a family member. Jesus Christ offered God's love to all persons regardless of their religious beliefs.”
Rev. John Henderson, minister at St. Andrew's, Newmarket, said local faith leaders recently met in a synagogue to discuss establishing an interfaith council. And he said the local ministerial considered sending a welcome letter to the mosque's organizers, but the idea was quashed by members worried about Bangash's extreme views.
“I felt this was very unfortunate as in this day and age, we need to be talking and in some kind of fellowship,” said Henderson.
Lewis said although Bangash has spoken out against Israel and U.S. President George W. Bush's actions in Afghanistan, “many other persons and agencies have voiced similar concerns.”
He noted the 2003 General Assembly decision to adopt a statement condemning Israeli policy as draconian, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s call for selective divestment from Israeli companies in protest to the separation barrier through Palestine.
“To refer to the new mosque as a 'house of terror' is clearly an insidious and hateful attempt to stir-up latent fears of the unknown in the hearts of naïve persons,” said Lewis.
Though Bangash could not be reached for comment, a letter by Ansar Ahmed on behalf of the executive committee and congregation of the proposed mosque, stated: “Mosques, churches, synagogues and other religious institutions play a key role in bringing people of different faiths together, as friends and neighbours. We need to encourage just this type of dialogue so we can tear down walls, and begin to build bridges.”
