Zafar Bangash

Islamic journalist and imam

Zafar Bangash (Urdu: ظفر بنگش; born 1950) is an Islamic movement journalist and commentator in Toronto, Canada. Bangash is Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), and is former president of the Islamic Society of York Region, a suburb of Toronto. He also served as Imam at the Islamic Society of York Region's Mosque and community centre in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He relinquished his responsibilities with the Islamic Society of York Region in 2019 to devote full time to research in Seerah (life history) for the Prophet of Islam. He is a former editor of Crescent International newsmagazine, and a Trustee and formerly assistant director of the Muslim Institute, London, where he worked with Dr. Kalim Siddiqui (1931–1996), the founder of the Muslim Institute and Leader of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain. Bangash is also a co founder of the Muslim Unity Group. He is best known for his commentaries on current affairs while editor of Crescent International. Though he stepped down as editor since joining the ICIT, he continues as a columnist and contributor to Crescent.

In 2007, as a spokesperson for the Muslim Unity Group in Toronto, Bangash appeared with other Muslim leaders at a Toronto press conference calling for the Ontario government and Toronto District School Board to address the problem of increased harassment of Muslims and racial minorities since the September 11th attacks. Mosque leaders have said that while Bangash is president of the Islamic Society of York Region to which the new mosque belongs, he is not the mosque's imam and has no direct involvement with the facility. In June 2007, the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) honoured Bangash at a gala dinner for his "unwavering" support of Palestine. CAF President Khaled Mouammar also defended Bangash, stating that "he is a man of dignity" and that "he has no blood on his hands like those Israeli war criminals who come to Canada and are received by our politicians, like Ariel Sharon." On 14 February 2010, at a conference entitled "Media War on Islam," Bangash stated the "Israeli owned" International Consultants on Targeted Security runs security at Amsterdam airport, and therefore "the Israelis are in control of security," and thus allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board a Detroit bound plane with concealed explosives.

Bangash is a supporter of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran However, Bangash has denied being an advocate of creating an Islamic theocracy telling the Toronto Star "I am suggesting not necessarily an Iranian style theocracy but I am advocating that people in the Muslim world should get rid of their corrupt regimes in the same way as the people of Iran got rid of the corrupt regime of the shah, of course."

In an article published in 2001, Bangash rejected the idea of a two state solution or a power sharing arrangement between Jews and Palestinians. He referred to Israelis as "thieves and bandits from Europe and America" and should go "back where they came from:the US, Canada Europe, Russia, or whoever is willing to take them in." Bangash has also stated that "Zionist thugs will have to vacate every inch of Palestine if there is to be justice (and therefore peace) in that tortured land." At the Toronto Peace & Justice Conference in March 2006, Bangash gave a speech in which he stated that "for the state of Israel, peace would mean when all the Palestinians have been put into the graveyard, six feet down." On the question of suicide bombing, Bangash told the Vancouver Sun that he opposes the targeting of innocent civilians. He argues that suicide bombing is an act of desperation by a people who do not have the tanks, aircraft and advanced weaponry – "it's the Israelis who have them, they are using them, and people under occupation have the right under international law to resist their occupiers." He also claimed that suicide bombers usually attack military targets. In the same speech, Bangash expressed his vision that Israel will cease to exist and will be replaced by an Islamic regime, stating that:

“Allah willing, I see that day when we, the Muslims, will march on Palestine and liberate Palestine for all the people in the world. For the Jewish people, for the Christian people and for the Muslim people, they will all be living as equal citizens.”

At an Al Quds Day rally held in August 2013, Bangash stated that Queen's Park has become a "Zionist occupied territory" and that charged that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne "are leading Canada in the wrong direction." Bangash also called for the rally's participants to "continue to speak for the Palestinians under oppression" until "all of Palestine is liberated from Zionist occupation" and predicted that "Zionism will be eternally shamed."

Bangash was active in protests against the 2006 Israel Lebanon war and at one point elicited cheers when he announced the number of Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah forces during the conflict.

Bangash has criticised the Taliban and Osama bin Laden by saying their strategy was "the most stupid approach to take because you cannot convince the U. S. by attacking the U. S. You cannot force the U. S. to change its policies; you have to change your own situation in Muslim countries."

Bangash has spoken at rallies which oppose Canada's role in the invasion of Afghanistan and call for a national referendum on Canada's continued participation in the war. Peter Leibovitch, who is Jewish and a long time friend of Bangash, has defended him against his critics saying "we live in a free society and have the right to different positions," adding that many in the Jewish community don't support decisions made by the Israeli government. "And a lot of Jews are not happy with (U. S. President) George Bush's new militarism Zafar Bangash doesn't agree with American foreign policy nor do millions of Canadians. I didn't know it's a crime not to agree with George Bush."