Several Canadian Muslim groups have come out to publicly condemn the murders of two Canadian soldiers this week by recent converts to Islam.
On Monday a uniformed soldier was run down and killed in St-Jean-sur Richelieu,Quebec by a driver who fled and was later shot and killed by police.
Yesterday, a soldier acting as a Ceremonial Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, was shot at close range and later died. The gunman fled into the federal Parliament buildings and was killed in a shootout with police and guards. Both shooters were recent converts to Islam, and in the first case at least, is believed to have been following an video order by an ISIS leader to kill soldiers or anyone in the US, Canada, Australia and other Western countries, at random.
Today, Ihsaan Gardee, the executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, denounced the attacks in a news conference on Thursday.
“We stand united with Canadians in categorically condemning these cowardly and heinous acts. Our message to anyone who believes in violent extremist ideologies is that you have nothing to do with Islam,” Gardee said. He added that an attack on one Canadian represented an
Ottawa-area imam Sikander Hashmi said called the shooting a “brazen attempt” to attack Canadians and Canada and an attempt to “instil fear and divisions within us.”
On Wednesday the day of the attack on Parliament Hill, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada condemned the shooting attack and the hit and run in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec
“These acts of terror have no basis in any religion,” the statement read. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the deceased, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the soldier who gave his life.”
Today, one of York University’s largest Muslim Student Association, AMSA, will host an event called “Stop the CrISIS” to raise awareness about youth radicalization and the harmful impacts of extremist views.
The statement says, “The AMSA student group whole-heartedly condemns the killings by both Martin Rouleau, 25-year old radicalized Muslim in Quebec, and Michael Zehaf, radicalized 30-year old Muslim convert in Ottawa.”
It also says, “Just this year, York University student, Mohamud Mohamed, was killed abroad fighting with ISIS. We’d like to end it at that, and ensure that no more Canadian youth have any thoughts of radicalization this from this day onwards.”
With files from CBC
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