h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Ed. It's good to see you back.

I was just wondering if you had dug deeply enough in the backlog to notice a bit of news from my part of the world from a month ago. A group of Imams, mainly Canadian ones, issued a new fatwa concerning extremist attacks which reads, in part:

'. . . it is an obligation upon us (Imams) to inform all Muslims around the world that Muslims in Canada and the United States have complete freedom to practice Islam. There is no single city in Canada and the United States where MASAJIDS (Mosques) are not built. In all major cities Islamic schools provide education to Muslim children about Qur’an and the Islamic traditions. Thousands of Muslims perform Hajj every year and travel to Saudi Arabia with complete freedom and respect. In the month of Ramadan, both Canadian and the United States governments recognize the occasion and greet all Muslim citizens. Muslims pray five daily prayers in mosques without any fear or restrictions. Muslims have complete freedom to pay Zakat (poor due) to the charity or a person of their choice. Muslims have complete freedom to celebrate their festivals openly, publicly and Islamically. Muslims enjoy freedom of religion just like Christians, Jews and others. No one stops us from obeying Allah and His Messenger (Peace be upon him). No one stops us from preaching Islam and practicing Islam. In many cases, Muslims have more freedom to practice Islam here in Canada and the United States than many Muslim countries.

In fact, the constitutions of the United States and Canada are very close to the Islamic guiding principles of human rights and freedom. There is no conflict between the Islamic values of freedom and justice and the Canadian /US values of freedom and justice.

Therefore, any attack on Canada and the United States is an attack on the freedom of Canadian and American Muslims. Any attack on Canada and the United States is an attack on thousands of mosques across North America. It is a duty of every Canadian and American Muslim to safeguard Canada and the USA. They must expose any person, Muslim OR non-Muslim, who would cause harm to fellow Canadians OR Americans. We, Canadian and American Muslims, must condemn and stand up against these attacks on Canada and the United States. . .'

http://www.islamicsupremecouncil.com/iscc-fatwa-against%20terrorism.htm

I wish you had a few of these imams over there. Actually, I expect you do have quite a few like these. Sadly, you also seem to have more than a few stinkers. Happily, over here, the Muslim community seems to smell the bad ones as soon as they get off the plane and send them packing back to whatever rock they crawled from under.(There, I ended a sentence with two prepositions in a row.)

I hope you're doing okay.

Ta. Geting there. And communicating again is part of the process.

Well, for what it's worth, I've always greatly appreciated what you've communicated.