Канадалық имам: Мухаммед Эльмасри өмірі мен қызметі

the Canadian imam

Mohamed Elmasry (محمد المصري) (born December 24, 1943) is a Canadian engineering professor, imam, and Muslim community leader.

He was born in Cairo, Egypt and received his Bachelor of Science in 1965 from Cairo University. He continued his studies in Canada earning masters and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa in 1970 and 1974. He has worked in the area of digital integrated microchip design for over four decades. From 1965 to 1968, Elmasry worked for Cairo University and from 1972 to 1974 for Bell Northern Research in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Since 1974, he has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario where he is a founding Director of the VLSI (Microchip) Research Group. As a spokesperson for Muslim causes through the Canadian Islamic Congress, he has been a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. His remarks, especially those concerning the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, have drawn significant attention in the Canadian media. He has accused some of his opponents of being anti Islam. Elmasry has authored and co authored more than 500 research papers and 16 books on integrated circuit design and design automation, as well as having several patents to his credit. He has edited the following books for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: Digital MOS Integrated Circuits (1981); Digital VLSI Systems (1985), Digital MOS Integrated Circuits II (1991) and Analysis and Design of BiCMOS Integrated Circuits (1993).

Elmasry has written that Hezbollah "is actually a legitimate Lebanese Shi'a Islam political party organized around a variety of roles and functions, just as are many other political parties. And, not unlike some other parties, it developed a national military resistance wing, created solely in response to Israel's occupation of Southern Lebanon." During the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canadian Arab Federation urged the Canadian government to take Hezbollah and Hamas off its list of designated terrorist organizations. Elmasry wrote that the Canadian government should "review its 2002 decision to place Hezbollah and Hamas on its list of banned alleged terrorist organizations" because doing so "is an unconscionable act of hypocrisy and a mockery of justice" since Canada has not placed Israel on the same list. Elmasry also stated that the decision to place Hezbollah and Hamas on this list was "dictated by special interest groups with agendas that are contrary to peace with justice".

Elmasry has been outspoken in opposition to Islamophobia stating that "Today's Islamophobia and yesterday's anti Semitism are starkly similar" and expressing fear that at the parallels between historic anti Semitism in Europe and modern anti Muslim sentiment in the West. "Today, Canadian Muslims are collectively judged as guilty by association for every crime committed by Muslim individuals, organizations and states, no matter how obviously atypical, abnormal or extremist they are. They are labelled Islamists, fundamentalists, Jihadists, etc." wrote Elmasry in a letter to the National Post analogizing the current situation to the history of anti Semitism where "European Jews were found guilty by association of many crimes, from killing the Son of God to any professional misconduct, beginning with the local Jewish doctor". He argued that the modern world should draw lessons from the past and work to halt the spread of anti Muslim sentiment lest it establish the same groundwork for anti Muslim violence the way that centuries of anti Semitism laid the groundwork for violence against Jews.

In 2002, Elmasry denounced an email from the Khalid Bin Al Walid Mosque that urged followers not to wish anyone a "Merry Christmas" asserting that this was tantamount to congratulating someone for murder and adultery. "It is a ridiculous statement and doesn't follow Islamic teaching. Whoever says this is saying it out of ignorance of his or her own religion", said Elmasry to the National Post and argued that extending Christmas greetings was the polite and neighbourly thing to do. He also said that Islam allows followers to marry Christians or Jews and that his own family is multi faith. "My kids have uncles and aunts who are Christian and we wish them Happy Christmas and they also wish us Happy Eid." The provincial government ended up rejecting the proposal and scrapping existing religious arbitration tribunals for Jews and Christians in the process. Regarding the opposition of moderate Muslims to the introduction of Sharia tribunals in Canada, Elmasry wrote that Canadian Muslims should not "make a cause of publicly deriding their religion, badmouthing the Prophet, ridiculing the Qur'an and mounting uninformed crusades to smear their Islamic Law, the Shariah". The Muslim Canadian Congress demanded that the CIC apologize for "false" accusations that those who criticize sharia are "smearing Islam, ridiculing the Koran [and] badmouthing Muhammad". The MCC stated that Elmasry accused the group of blasphemy, a crime that carries the death sentence in several Islamic countries.

In an article written in June 2007, Elmasry criticised Canadian Jewish intellectuals for, in his opinion, moving to the right of the political spectrum. Elmasry wrote that "social justice once had staunch friends among Canadian Jews", citing in particular David Lewis, but argued that today "many Canadian Jewish intellectuals are assaulting Canada's policies regarding multiculturalism, immigration, and what they consider federal 'giving in' to natives' land claims. They are no longer speaking out against the deterioration of civil liberties in this country" and that "their political agenda has moved closer and closer to that of the far right." In an article written in the National Post, Ezra Levant, the publisher of the now defunct Western Standard accused Elmasry of hostility towards Jews. Levant cited the Canadian Association of Journalists meeting in Halifax in May 2005 in which he sat on a panel with Elmasry. During the meeting, Levant claims Elmasry engaged in "a lengthy rant against the 'zhoos' who control the media, the 'zhoos' who are 'on top' of the world and keep the Muslims on 'the bottom', and about how my own comments were suspect because I, too, was a 'zhoo.'" In response to accusations of anti Semitism, Elmasry has argued that his organization the CIC "was the first non Jewish Canadian NGO to denounce anti Semitic incidents committed against several Montreal Jewish institutions".

Elmasry has referred to Israel as "Israel and apartheid" and has praised Israeli activist Uri Davis because he has "worked to expose the real truth behind Israel's so called 'democracy'". Elmasry has also stated Uri Davis work makes it clear "to any thinking person that Israel and apartheid and Apartheid South Africa are remarkably similar". Elmarsy has also called for Britain to apologize to the Palestinians for its role in the creation of Israel and for its use "of military violence, political stratagems and economic influence to inflict generations of injustice, destruction, misery and death on a native people living in the path of their plans". Elmasry has said "The pro Israel lobby continually strive to discredit anyone who dares to speak the truth about Israeli atrocities against native Palestinians." He has also written that: "[ ]Zionism, as a political ideology, has succeeded only in building an apartheid state for Jews; an elaborate ghetto kept separate from its Palestinian neighbors by concentrated military power, an aesthetically monstrous 'security wall,' economic dependency on Western support, compulsory military conscription and training (including how to kill with weapons), and a hate based education system for Jewish children that teaches them to despise anyone and anything Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim, in that order." Elmasry has recognized a diversity of opinion among Israelis, saying that "Many Israelis—and the number steadily grows—now recognize that the occupation and the settlements are twin obstacles to peace." Elmasry has called for a two state solution with Israel withdrawing to its pre 1967 border and praised Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel in exchange to its withdrawal from the Sinai Desert. Elmasry has also stated that there is nothing wrong with the "one state" solution. Elmasry suggested such as state "could divide key positions of power among Jews and the Arabs. For example, Jews could be in charge of the army and Arabs look after the police. The positions of President, Prime Minister, and Speaker of the Parliament could be held in alternating terms by Arabs and Jews." However, Elmasry adds that "the single state solution will never happen in the foreseeable future, of course, because the U. S. is pledged to maintain not only a secure Jewish state, but an expanding Jewish mini empire carved out of its illegally occupied Palestinian territories." In an article written in The Canadian Charger in June 2009, Elmasry wrote that "Israelis are indoctrinated in Zionism" and that "violent militarism is not only a Zionist ideal but an economical and a sociological necessity." In a subsequent article, Elmasry wrote that "in the West Zionist Jews create, encourage, support wars in Afghanistan and Iraq [and] cheer for racist, anti immigration politicians in Canada and Europe." He also described Zionist Jews as "the enemies of freedom of speech in schools, universities and the public at large" and alleged that the Western media gives "Zionist oppressors a platform that allows them to exploit the Holocaust, and mount disinformation and misinformation campaigns".

In April 2008, Elmasry praised Joel Kovel for his book Overcoming Zionism – Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine. Elmasry stated that, on the 60th anniversary of Israel's creation, Kovel's book "is must read for this difficult and bitter sweet occasion". Elmasry also stated that "hate that drives Zionist attitudes toward Palestinians" and that Kovel "suggests convincingly that the inner contradictions of Zionism led Israel to develop its 'state sponsored racism' and that Zionism and democracy are essentially incompatible." Elmasry concluded by stating that the reason Kovel's book has been "buried" is that "our so called 'free' press and broadcasting networks[ ] are free only to those who own them and use their power to express their own views. And that is a sad loss for everyone." In February 2005, Elmasry wrote on the website IslamOnline. net that: "I believe that the responsibilities of Canadian Muslims are to emphasize education in their own community and also other faith communities that homosexuality is against the natural law of the creator, and that it is harmful to the body, the mind and the soul of the person."

In July 2008, writing in an op ed for the Montreal Gazette, Elmasry called Robert Mugabe "clumsy" but "no worse than many leaders in the developing world" and questioned: "Why so did many Western media outlets, including Canadian ones, send their own correspondents to cover an election in a poor faraway African country of about 13 million black people? The answer is that Mugabe is hated by the British now as he was hated in 1980 when he was elected the first president of free Zimbabwe, after 90 years of British colonization under the name of Rhodesia." Elmasry praised Mugabe for "trying to implement a land reform; to redistribute the land of about 5,000 white farmers to his country's poor black people" and argued that the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy and the rampant inflation are the result of economic sanctions and not because of Mugabe's land seizures. Elmasy criticized the Western media for not reporting that "Mugabe was and still is popular especially in the rural areas; his land reform has won him support among his own people." Father Raymond J. de Souza criticized Elmasry for this op ed, writing that Mugabe is "a man so isolated that even his fellow African dictators have distanced themselves from him". De Souza also wrote that "If he [Elmasry] did not represent himself as Canada's head professional Muslim, Mr. Elmasry's celebration of Mr. Mugabe would have been too incredible to print."