Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, Vice President, International Union of Muslim Scholars; issued the following statement on the arrests of seventeen Canadian men allegedly seeking to bring death and destruction to Canadians. Shaykh Abdallah has visited Canada on many occassions, his last visit was in December 2005 at the Reviving the Islamic Spirit Conference.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah and peace and blessings upon Muhammad, his family and his companions

Islam is a call for peace

Allah, Most High says; “And Allah invites [all] to the abode of peace”.

We learned through the media about what was announced by the Canadian Government concerning the discovery of a terrorist group that was planning to engage in destructive actions in Canada. It was said that this group belongs to the Islamic faith. We wish to emphasize the following:

First: We strongly condemn such actions, ideas and the motives from which they arise and declare them to be contrary to Islamic values which call for peaceful human co-existence, tolerance and which definitively prohibits any aggression against persons or properties.

Second: We wish to acknowledge the efforts by the Canadian government in dealing with its Muslim citizens and appreciate their conduct in this regard.

Third: We appreciate the co-existence and tolerance which characterizes the relationship between different constituents of the Canadian people; Muslims and non-Muslims as one people, one state and one community that makes no distinction between its citizens based on religious or ethnic basis. I stressed this in my talks when I visited Canada.

Fourth: We call on Muslims to condemn the ideas, actions and behavior [of the said group] in the strongest way possible and to stand in one rank against a deviant minority that distorts the image of Islam and Muslims. We also call on the Government and people of Canada to avoid generalizations in their discourses and to be assured that [true] Muslims are good citizens as their faith does not pose any problem with respect to co-existence and integration in the context of law and mutual respect.

Finally: we declare our solidarity with the people of Canada, with all its constituents and religions against behavior that calls for violence, hatred and the disruption of social peace.

Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah
Vice President,
International Union of Muslim Scholars