May 14, 2009
It has
been explained to me by organizers of ‘Muslim Day’ (Asad
Dean, the older brother of Ahmed Amiruddin, through a
third party) that Al-Sunnah Foundation (exemplified
here in this video by its
Chair) has nothing to do with this event. While I am not
completely sure what to make of this, I am opting out for
giving him the benefit of the doubt because, as far as I
know (the same goes for the public), he has not done
anything that comes even close to what his younger brother
has done. I do not want to implicate him by association.
In this statement, I provide a retraction but with very
clear conditions.
The retraction relates to this point:
‘Muslim Day @ Canada’s
Wonderland’ , as explained to me by organizers, is not
associated with Ahmed Amiruddin and his Al-Sunnah
Foundation.
I
retract under these conditions:
For ‘Muslim Day @ Canada’s
Wonderland’ to be transparent in stating their connection
with Amiruddin and his Al-Sunnah Foundation. A simple
online search will reveal that the way it was advertised
in the past has been extremely misleading. On
TorontoMuslims.com (see it
here -
screenshot 1,
screenshot 2 -), it was
advertised as the following:
Syed Asad Dean
(647) 273-3094
info@muslimday.ca
Courtesy of:
Ahlus Sunnah Foundation of Canada
http://www.alsunnah.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/Canadian_Muslims
In addition, on the Al-Sunnah
Foundation website (seen
here
-
screenshot -), it
is put forth as “ASFC Presents Muslim Day ’08 at
Canada’s Wonderland”. The same was done in
previous years on that website. While on other websites,
the “Official Sponsors” were listed as other
organizations.
Official Sponsors
Villa Madina Mediterranean Cuisine
Mary
Browns Famous Chicken
Crescent Halal
Moes
Southwest Grill
Sana
Printing
Western Union
Thaqalayn Muslim Student Association
Reviving The Islamic Spirit
Brought To You By
SilkRoadDirectory.com
IraqRelief.ca
Again, this way of
advertisement is extremely suspect and misleading which is
the reason why I attempted to create a stir about it. Is
it connected or is it not? While I am going to give the
benefit of the doubt to his older brother that IT IS NOT,
as I do not want to implicate him in his brother’s
head-hunting tirade on national television (in light of
what he did to Al-Maghrib Institute instructors), I must
ask you and the other organizers to be a lot more
transparent. Tell Al-Sunnah Foundation and your brother
to not associate himself with this event. If ‘Muslim Day’
loses support it will be due to him and his organization
as NO ONE in the Muslim community – with the exception of
the fringe – hold to such opinions. I am just putting
forward my observations triggered by the
‘miscommunication’ that resulted in my name and picture
being plastered on the Muslim Day website. I was curious
so I looked it up.
Without these changes, it
will just appear that Ahmed Amiruddin and Al-Sunnah
Organization are using ‘Muslim Day’ to gain political
clout in order to gain repute for his campaigns which you
claim has NOTHING to do with ‘Muslim Day’. In that case, I
reserve MY RIGHT to call things out as I see it.
Beyond these, I will provide
no further retraction. These are my observations and I
will stick to them.
With
all that said, my criticism of Ahmed Amiruddin and Al-Sunnah
Foundation still stands.
On CBC news, Amiruddin outright stated to a reporter that
he shares his concerns (all unfounded allegations and
insane generalizations about problems within the Muslim
community) with authorities. Amiruddin is quite proud of
this interview and he freely boasts about it on the Al-Sunnah
Foundation website in that he was covered by CBC among
many other networks. This interview alone should establish
the fact that he is in contact with the RCMP or CSIS
(which are both attached at the hip). Therefore, it is
pretty clear that he is a “CSIS proxy”, whether or not he
gets money from CSIS is where the question lies.
Nevertheless, it is definitely something that people
should consider as a possibility in light of what he has
revealed to the public, past CSIS practice and the current
concerns regarding CSIS covertness as explained in detail
by a joint statement by CAIR-CAN and the Canadian Arab
Federation (read it
here). He
has statements on his website saying that he is not
connected but I find such claims to be suspect.
If the rumors are true that Amiruddin wants to sue me for
making these statements, go right ahead. I find it
ridiculous that calling someone out as a “CSIS proxy”
after openly admitting that they do share information and
concerns with authorities on national television can land
you in legal waters. Being a “proxy” implies that you
share information from outside a given organization. I
really do hope that these rumors are false because I am
not backing down to such a disgraceful use of the legal
system just because a person can dish it out but cannot
take it. If you want to go around in public stating your
insane opinions, making accusations against individuals
and organizations (ones that should sue them like Al-Maghrib
Institute and all the other mosques he lambasted), then
get ready for people to call you out. You must be
completely delusional to think that you can go around on
national television and remain immune to criticism or
reasoned analysis. I’m making a statement on my own
website and I don’t even expect such a special treatment.
Why should people refuse calling this guy out as a “CSIS
proxy” (official or otherwise) when he freely admits to it
on national television? Why should people tread carefully
in wondering whether or not this guy is provided some
money by CSIS when he has worked with them before and that
CSIS is known for such practice? Why should inquiring
about this require “hard evidence” when the biggest issue
is CSIS covertness and illegal practices?
This has been an educational experience and I would like
to thank everyone for following the developments. I am
putting everything out in public for my own protection,
legal or otherwise.
In the spirit of resistance,
Critical Mood
