Canada Islamic Group Rejects ISIL Threat

“We condemn the depraved violence and extremism by this and other terror groups,” Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said on Monday, Toronto Star reported.

“It is both a civic and religious duty to contact the authorities if one has any information about plans to hurt or harm anyone,” Gardee said.

The Council’s comments come on the heels of reports that John Maguire of Ottawa, who now calls himself “Abu Anwar al-Canadi” and “Yaha,” has posted a propaganda video online.

The video urges Canada Muslims to carry on lone wolf attacks in Canada, as a reaction to Canada’s participation in the US-led coalition against ISIL.

“Canadian Muslims continue to unequivocally denounce and reject these abhorrent and un-Islamic threats by ISIS against our nation and fellow citizens,” Gardee said in a prepared statement.

“We emphasize the sacredness of life and repudiate any express statements or tacit insinuation that anyone should harm innocent people.

“Our message to anyone who espouses, endorses, or in any way supports this ideology of violence, is that your actions have nothing to do with the authentic teachings of Islam,” Gardee said.

Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the country.

A recent survey showed that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian, and that they are more educated than the general population.

Several Canadian Muslim groups have condemned the two attacks against soldiers a few weeks ago, including the hit-and-run murder of a soldier in Quebec and the killing of an honor guard at the National War Memorial by a gunman who then stormed the Parliament buildings.

The attacks came as Canada sent warplanes to take part in air strikes against the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIL) in Iraq.

HK