(This article written by Anthony Furey was originally published on the Toronto SUN on January 9, 2016)
A group that hosted a pro-sharia, pro-caliphate talk at an Ontario college describes itself as a “political party.”
A press release distributed Friday says “Hizb ut-Tahrir is a political party that works with the global Muslim community to resume the Islamic way of life by re-establishing the Khilafah (caliphate) in the Muslim lands, and this work is achieved through intellectual and political means alone.”
“We’ve been sitting and not really doing very much for the application of Islam in society,” Mazin Abdul-Adhim said in the 40-minute lecture posted to YouTube. “We’re required to call for something — the full implementation of Islam — we’re not allowed to call for anything else or compromise in any other way.”
He called sharia “the best system that exists on Earth” and observed that Muslims combined have the most armies, greatest wealth and youngest demographics in the world.
Over the years, the global group, which was founded in 1953, has been banned in various countries around the world.
The press release was sent out to clarify what the group considered inaccuracies in reporting by other media.
It denies the event contained any form of hate speech and says “the efforts of the Hizb revolve entirely around creating awareness of the Islamic systems and how they correctly solve mankind’s problems, and disagreements are respectfully addressed through discussions and sincere debates in an intellectual manner.”
In 2005, then-Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty effectively banned sharia law following public outcry over faith-based arbitration, stating: “There will be no sharia law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario.”
