Demystifying Islam in Canada

In the wake of recent terrorist threats on Canadian soil, understanding the truths and myths of the Islamic faith is more crucial than ever.

Last week, 17 Canadians were arrested under Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act, in connection with an alleged plot to bomb targets in Ontario. Each of the arrested men are believed to be Islamic fundamentalists who support al-Qaeda. But the actions of one small group should not be misunderstood to be representative of the Islamic faith as a whole. Islamic expert and scholar Buff Pary says Canadians must understand Islam is a peaceful, “global” religion.

Pary is a professor of Geopolitics and Civilization History who serves as an advisor to Canada’s intelligence agencies. A practicing Muslim, he says Islam is not an innately violent religion and that any religion could have a small group of extremists that mar the name of the entire faith. “All religions have the capacity for terrorism.” In fact, rather than being violent, extremist and primitive, Pary says Islam is in fact peaceful, welcoming, and far ahead of its time and that it is the “most charitable religion, by definition, that there is.” Pary adds that most westerners do not understand the extent to which European civilization owes its development to Mid-eastern culture.

Perhaps the most destructive assumption regarding Islam, adds Pary, is that aggressive, senseless violence is part of the religion. Pary says the word ’Jihad‘ is “sorrowfully misunderstood” in the West and has become synonymous with terrorism. Pary says that makes for a great sound-bite, but that the truth is a far different matter. “Jihad means ‘struggle’. All of life is a struggle. [It] has to do with rectifying injustice; how to defend yourself if attacked. There’s nothing in the Koran about how to launch a defensive army against the infidel.”

Pary says we must be cautious to jump to conclusions without an understanding of Islamic culture and religion. “All that we get in the west is that which enforces the most negative of images…we must focus on what has gone wrong – how we are mutually assaulting each other as people of civilizations.”

To view the PolicyChannel exclusive video interview with Buff Pary, please logon to http://www.policychannel.com or thewebvideo.com (http://www.thewebvideo.com)