Death threats and the Muslim Canadian Congress

One of the top stories on CBC news last night was the death threat Muslim Canadian Congress president Farzana Hassan and founder Tarek Fatah received on the MCC's answering machine on Monday. The threat sounds scary, but hopefully, it will just be a case of an angry person leaving an angry message. Threats are nothing new to public figures and leaders of other Muslim organizations have also received death threats in the past.

In any case, these type of tactics cannot be condoned. Yet, Fatah's call to imams, that they condemn and speak out against death threats, suggests that all imams have been encouraging people to make threats and are therefore responsible for undoing their actions. Instead, Fatah should ask all community leaders to educate members on why such actions are unacceptable.

Who knows, this threat may just bring in a new ear of cooperation amongst Muslim organization in Canada. The Canadian Islamic Congress has already condemned the threat and has stated it is in touch with the MCC (whoever thought that would ever happen). More organizations are expected to follow.

Update (6:15 p.m.): Just heard CAIR-CAN's Karl Nickner on CBC radio. So the MCC's Hassan and Fatah aren't the only one receiving threats after all. Nickner says he too has received threats. CAIR and 19 other organziations have issued a joint statement condemning the threat.