Honouring Islam

"Any member of any GIC [Global Imams Council] congregation found participating in protests/processions/marches supportive of Hamas or its allies -- in any way, shape or form-- will be publicly condemned and banned from entering any GIC venue."

"[Anybody expressing pro-Hamas sentiments within a GIC venue would be] removed in co-ordination with local law enforcement."

"[The GIC condemns Hamas's] genocidal antisemitism and annihilationist ideology [even as it] condemns the extremist and violent rhetoric displayed at rallies taking place in Europe, Canada, U .S.A., Australia and elsewhere, where flags of designated terrorist organizations are being raised and accompanied by genocidal chants against the Jewish people." 

"[GIC] is continuously in contact with Grand Ayatollahs and Grand Muftis across the Middle East, providing them with credible information regarding Hamas' terrorism."

"This ensures that jurists do not issue Fatwas and directives based on false or inaccurate information propagated by networks sympathetic to Hamas."

"We express our condolences to the families of the victims and urge the international community, represented by world and faith leaders, to stand with the Jewish people in their struggle against ISIS-like Islamist terrorism carried out by Hamas."

"The Global Imams Council (GIC), our members, and the SOO- communities led by our Imams worldwide, abide by the Fatwa issued against Hamas by The Islamic Fatwa Council on 9 March 2023, charging Hamas with corruption and crimes against humanity; forbidding Muslims from supporting, donating to, joining or praying for the terrorist organization. The GIC is proud to have proposed the Fatwa against Hamas to The Islamic Fatwa Council and contributed to its Resolution Document that outlines the Islamic legal charges against Hamas. Today, in adherence to this Fatwa, Hamas is prohibited from operating and fundraising in the Islamic Seminary, as it had been doing in the past."

"Our Imams and affiliates are currently the most outspoken Muslim clerics within their societies, and online, in countering Hamas narratives in numerous languages, reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers per day."

"[GIC condemns the] extremist and violent rhetoric displayed at rallies taking place in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and elsewhere, where flags of designated terrorist organizations are being raised and accompanied by genocidal chants against the Jewish people."

"The Global Imams Council's leadership will begin a series of delegations to Jewish communities, offering our unwavering support in the face of Hamas and its allies."

"We remain committed to combatting all forms of Islamist extremism and terrorism."

Global Imams Council statement

The Global Imams Council is an anti-extremist Muslim non-profit group that invests itself in the promotion of peace and improving relations between the Muslim faithful and the non-Muslim world. It is headed by Imam Shaikh Saleh Seboweh, a Canadian Imam. The GIC describes itself and its mission as a diverse and transnational council of Sunni and Shia Muslim Faith Leaders and Scholars Serving Islam and Muslims worldwide. It also serves the interests of the wider world at large by condemning religious extremism in the world of Islam.

On October 9th, two days following the barbaric assault by the terrorist group Hamas on Israeli citizens, murdering, raping, over a thousand Israelis, abducting 200, in a surprise invasion that left Israel stunned, its military and police unprepared to prevent the assault on its border protective wall that left Israelis vulnerable to the murderous butchery of the invaders, the Global Imams Council published a three-page statement of absolute condemnation of the savagery.

The GIC was initiated to oppose the Islamic State in 2014, then in control of large areas in Iraq and Syria which they called their Caliphate. Their reputation for merciless mutilation of their prisoners, their grotesque murders of Westerners by public beheadings that they videoed and released on social media horrified the world at large. Their reputation as bloodthirsty marauders and murderers sent chills down the spines of Iraq's and Syria's militaries, leaving their courageous Kurdish fighters to alone engage them in battle, ultimately won.

Since 2020 Imam Shaikh Saleh Seboweh, founder of the Iranian Islamic Centre of Montreal has been the president of the Global Imams Council which represents well over 800 mosques and Islamic centres globally. Mohammad Tawhidi, who terms himself "Imam of Peace", a rational voice of moderate Islam, who has for years presented his defence of democracy and campaigned against the radicalization of Islam, acts as the group's vice-president.

"You don't have to share our beliefs", he stated, "But one important way of countering Islamist terrorists is by amplifying ours" he wrote in a social media post meant to promote the group's anti-Hamas statement banning its members from any public support for Hamas, or from taking part in rallies held to celebrate the October 7 attacks within Israel, in response to the celebratory rallies organized in major cities across the world.

A group calling itself the Palestinian Youth Movement has organized such rallies across Canada. At Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square on October 9 at a rally for Palestinians, materials openly praising the "heroic resistance in Gaza", along with the hostage taking of "Zionists", were distributed to celebrants. This is not the first time that the Global Imams Council has issued statements in support of Israel while condemning antisemitism. It wrote last spring that it was "delighted" to hear that Canada would be looking into criminalizing Holocaust denial.

The statement by the Global Imams Council was in stark contrast to statements issued by the Muslim Association of Canada, and the National Council of Canadian Muslims who generally purport to speak on behalf of the Canadian Muslim community. A statement issued on October 8 by the National Council of Canadian Muslims failed completely to reference the attacks committed by Hamas targeting civilians across southern Israel.

For its part, the Muslim Association of Canada took umbrage at any criticism of the celebratory rallies that took place following news of the attacks. "We .. condemn attempts to criticize Canadian Muslims for supporting Palestinian human rights. Such attempts are condescending, divisive, unacceptable, and hypocritical", they fumed. Radicalized Islam speaks with a loud voice in Canada seeking to overwhelm the voices of Islamic reason.

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