The Bigotry of Low Expectations of Muslim Immigrants by an Imam

The infamous case of the Shafia honour killings has made international headlines thanks to the horrific details of the mass-murder itself and the outrageous conduct of the defendants during the trial. A father, mother and son murdered the family's three daughters and the polygamous husband's first wife. It is certain to become a textbook example of honour killings, carried out according to the tribal traditions of numerous Islamic states; an abominable cultural import into the Western world.

The evidence seemed so overwhelming in this case (notwithstanding the almost-immediate launch of an appeal) that few objective observers could have been surprised by the harsh sentences of life in prison; 25 years without parole, according to Canadian law.

Indeed, one surprising commentator often (and weirdly) used as an alleged voice of Canada's Muslim community by the mainstream media appears to have felt compelled to make a statement that at once condemns the guilty. He does so while also seeming to partly blame the government that accepted this immigrant family in the first place. 

Pay close attention to the words of Calgary-based Imam Syed Soharwardy:

‘I talked about domestic violence and honour killing. That this is absolutely horrible crimes that in Muslim may come and see this as there is room in our religion. There is no room for this kind of crime in religion," said Soharwardy.

The imam says the case has shed light on the tensions and challenges young Afghan women face and he says government has to do more to educate those women and their families when they arrive here.

"Not only just have a test, you know, about Canada but before anybody comes here I think the government has a responsibility to clearly say what kind of society this Canada is," said Soharwardy.

That's very, very odd. Not that Soharwardy is wrong when he says that these were absolutely horrible crimes. Nor that the government has a duty to outline to immigrants clearly what kind of society this is -- though one would think that immigrants would make the common-sense preparations such as checking into these sorts of things before they move.

(Then again, should we really have such low expectations of immigrants from any part of the world that we feel the need to point out that killing members of your own family is monstrous, or that trying to rationalize such conduct by claiming your perfectly normal, Westernized family members are whores, is unnacceptable?)

In any case, his words are very odd, because they cannot be squared with Soharwardy's infamous position only a few months back, that an Islamophobic government was setting the stage for throwing Muslims en masse into concentration camps.

Back in December, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney publicized a new rule that citizenship ceremonies would no longer allow the Islamic niqab, which completely masks the wearer, explaining matter-of-factly that this matter went to "the heart of our public values" and that "the oath of citizenship is a public gesture." If that wasn't enough, the governing Conservative Party had earlier changed the Canadian citizenship guide to specifically indicate that honour killings are barbaric -- which was, interestingly, seized on in a catastrophically backfiring effort by Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, who suggested that such strong wording was "objectionable". Trudeau was roundly mocked for his inept choice of hill to fight on (Possibly why Sohardwardy seems not to have decided to remark about it at the time).

Here was the government clearly saying what kind of a society Canada was: an open and transparent country where women are equal citizens and all Canadians have the freedom to walk in public without the oppressive burden of a cloth cage. Soharwardy went apoplectic, warning of a coming Holocaust against Muslims:

"Muslims are going through that situation right now that the Jews faced before the holocaust. Because intimidation of their faith, bad mouthing of their faith, bad mouthing about their book, bad mouthing about their beliefs. That was going on in Germany before the holocaust, same thing is happening now about Muslims. So this is absolutely an alarming situation that a few Islamophobes are winning," said Syed Soharwardy, Leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

So, does Canada's most quoted Imam still think of the government as a bigoted Nazi-like regime led by "Islamophobes"? Or does he think they're a fair, responsible elected government with the capacity to reach out to immigrants with an open and inclusive vision and clear guidance?

Perhaps more importantly, what does Soharwardy think about Muslim immigrants today? Does he still see them as a group incapable of carrying out such heinous crimes due to religious morality (despite the fact that the vast majority of honour killings here are committed by Muslims -- and that in those Muslim countries, the practice is an epidemic?).

Or on the contrary, does he still see them as an infantilized population that have to be educated about the most basic moral rules that the rest of the world takes for granted -- that murdering people, much less murdering your family members out of some perverted sense of honour, is wrong? Does he actually subscribe to this bigotry of abysmally low expectations against his co-religionists? At least since Monday of this week, this seems to be the famous Muslim Imam's position.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist