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Revision as of 01:16, 31 October 2007 by 211.61.100.153 (talk) (Undid revision 167762404 by Mcasey666 (talk))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Tarek Fatah (born November 20, 1949) is a secular Muslim Canadian political activist, writer and TV host. Founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress , Fatah's advocacy for a separation of religion and state, opposition to Sharia law, and what he calls a "progressive" form of Islam has met with considerable controversy from other Canadian Muslim groups, such as the Canadian Islamic Congress. Fatah is the author of Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State to be published by John Wiley & Sons in February 2008. In the book Fatah challenges the notion that the establishment of an Islamic state is a necessary prerequisite to entering the state of Islam. He suggests that the idea of an Islamic state is merely a mirage that Muslims have been made to chase for over a millennium.
Biography
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Fatah was a student leftist-radical in the 1960s and 1970s, and was imprisoned under military governments and charged with sedition. During the cold war leftist students in third world countries were provided funding by KGB and other communist agencies to riot and damage property to destabilise Governments that were American allies, Fatah was a foot soldier of the leftist students rioting. A biochemist by training, Fatah entered journalism as a reporter for the Karachi Sun in 1970, and claims to have become an investigative journalist for Pakistani television although Pakistani TV was government owned media without investigative reporting. Fatah's early life was influenced by his father leaving his mother for other women. This played a major role in Fatah developing physical relationships with men many years his senior to substitute also as father figure. He followed one of his male lovers to Saudi Arabia to work in Makah Advertising in Jeddah. Fatah found it convenient living the life of a closet bisexual in the sexually segregated society of Jeddah while married to Nargis. He claims to have been fired after the coup that brought General Zia ul-Haq to power, and fled to Saudi Arabia, where he lived for a decade. He got his lucky break when he was hired by a division of Juffali Brothers in Jeddah.
Politics
In 1987, he emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. He became involved in the Ontario New Democratic Party and worked on the staff of Premier Bob Rae. Fatah was an NDP candidate in the 1995 provincial election but was unsuccessful. In July 2006, he left the NDP to support Bob Rae's candidacy for the Liberal Party of Canada's leadership. In an opinion piece published in Toronto's Now Magazine, Fatah wrote that he decided to leave the NDP because of the establishment of a "faith caucus" which he believes will open the way for religious fundamentalists to enter the party.. Fatah is a proponent of Gay Marriage. However, after Rae's defeat by Stephane Dion, Fatah condemned similar racial and religious organizing activity in the Liberal Party, arguing in a Globe and Mail editorial that Tamil, Sikh, Kurdish and Islamist Muslim leaders had engaged in "racial and religious exploitation" to "sell" the votes of their blocs of delegates "to the highest bidder.".
Journalism
Since 1996 he has hosted Muslim Chronicle, a Toronto-based current affairs discussion show focusing on the Muslim community. Fatah has interviewed notables such as journalist Husain Haqqani, author Tariq Ali, and Mubin Shaikh on his programme, which airs on CTS-TV on Saturday nights at 8:00 PM. Fatah has also written opinion pieces for various publications including TIME Magazine, the Toronto Star, the National Post and the Globe and Mail.
His newspaper columns have angered his critics and led to a death threat which is being investigated by the Toronto Police. See "Message naming two community leaders being probed by police," Mar 22, 2007 (Toronto Star)http://www.thestar.com/article/194817.
In May 2007, Canada's National Press Club and the Canadian Newspaper Association honoured Fatah with the 9th Annual Press Freedom Award after he was nominated by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. Announcing the award, Anne Kothawala, President of the Canadian Newspapaer Association wrote in the Toronto Star, "Tarek Fatah, a founder of the moderate Muslim Canadian Congress, resigned last year as spokesperson and media commentator after enduring three years of death threats to himself and his family. His courage in speaking out in defiance of intimidation will be recognized in Ottawa today, where he will receive the National Press Club's World Press Freedom Award.
In February 2007, Fatah was selected by Macleans Magazine as one of 50 Canadians, the magazine described as "Canada’s most well known and respected personalities from journalists to politicians offering their comments on the issues of the day, everyday." . Fatah is also the guest host of TVO's The Agenda filling in for Steve Paikin.
Muslim Canadian Congress
He founded the Muslim Canadian Congress in 2001 and served as its communications director and spokesperson until 2006. In this capacity, he has spoken out against the character of other Muslims, the introduction of Sharia law as an option for Muslims in civil law in Ontario, promoted social liberalism in the Muslim community and the separation of religion from the state, and endorsed same-sex marriage. He resigned from the MCC in August 2006, claiming that his public profile as a socially liberal Muslim had put him and his family at risk. However, he continues to write opinion pieces and appears on television and radio regularly.
The Muslim Canadian Congress suffered a split in the summer of 2006 when some of its members and leaders left to form the Canadian Muslim Union. According to the Globe and Mail , the split occurred when some members of the MCC's former board, marched in a Toronto anti-war rally where banners and photographs supporting Hezbollah's chief, Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were paraded. While the current members of the MCC wanted to have nothing to do with Hezbollah, other executive members who participated or supported the demonstrations, resigned and formed the new CMU the next day, whose philosophy of Liberal Islam is similar to the MCC's but with an intention to work "with and within the Muslim community".
Islamic Extremists
In 2006, Fatah campaigned to bar the Islamic cleric Sheikh Abu Yusuf Riyadh Ul-Haq from entering Canada on a speaking tour. This campaign added to Fatah's unpopularity with mainstream Canadian Muslims. On June 30, 2006, he was named by the Canadian Islamic Congress's official publication, Friday Magazine, as one of four leading anti-Islam figures. The article, penned by CIC leader Mohamed Elmasry, described Fatah as "well known in Canada for smearing Islam and bashing Muslims."
Wahida Valiante, vice-chair and national vice-president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told the Globe and Mail that "Tarek Fatah's views are diametrically opposed to most Muslims. There is a tremendous amount of discussion in the community. His point of view contradicts the fundamentals of Islam." Fatah has written to the RCMP to complain about the CIC's article claiming that it "is as close as one can get to issuing a death threat as it places me as an apostate and blasphemer."
Fatah says he has been attacked for his views, verbally at an Islamic conference in 2003 where dozens of young Muslim men mobbed him while a cleric shouted out that he had insulted the Prophet Muhammad's name and in 2006 when he was accosted on Yonge Street by a man who accused him of being an apostate. His car windows have also been smashed. On August 4, 2006, Fatah announced on CBC Radio that he is stepping out of the limelight as a spokesperson for Liberal Islam.
Break with Irshad Manji
In 2003, Fatah engaged in a high-profile break with Irshad Manji in the pages of the Globe and Mail in which he repudiated the thanks she gave him in the acknowledgement section of her book The Trouble with Islam. Fatah wrote of Manji's book that it "is not addressed to Muslims; it is aimed at making Muslim-haters feel secure in their thinking."
Family
Fatah has been married to his university sweetheart, Nargis Tapal, for 33 years, and they have two daughters, Natasha and Nazia. Natasha Fatah is a producer for CBC Radio's As It Happens and writes a regular column for CBC.ca . Younger daughter Nazia Fatah, who is autistic, is a partner in a co-operative catering business for young adults with disabilities.
References
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- BobRae.ca, "Supporters"
- Tarek Fatah, "Faith no more - How the NDP's flirtation with religion pushed me out of the party," Now Magazine, July 20-26, 2006
- Tarek Fatah, "Race and religion at the Liberal Party convention," Globe and Mail, December 6, 2006
- Death Threat to Tarek Fatah and Farzana Hassan http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/20070320.wav
- National Press Club of Canada http://www.pressclub.on.ca/
- 2007 Press Freedom Award to Tarek Fatah http://www.thestar.com/article/209866
- Macleans 50 http://www.macleans.ca/macleans50/index.jsp
- Globe and Mail "Fearing for safety, Muslim official quits", Globe and Mail, August 3, 2006
- June 23, 2006 letter to Monte Solberg, federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, concerning British cleric Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq
- "Globe and Mail, August 3, 2006"
- Sonya Fatah "Fearing for safety, Muslim official quits", Globe and Mail, August 3, 2006
- Tarek Fatah, "Thanks, but no thanks: Irshad Manji's book is for Muslim-haters, not Muslims" (Fatah's criticism of Irshad Manji), Globe and Mail, November 23, 2003. Republished at Muslimwakeup.com last viewed December 11, 2006. See also Irshad Manji, "The trouble with à la carte critics" (Manji's response to Fatah), Globe and Mail, December 2, 2003. Republished at muslim-refusenik.com (Irshad Manji's official website), last viewed December 11, 2006.
- Natasha Fatah's "Minority Report" on CBC.ca http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_fatah/20070504.html