Many Americans who do not believe in the politics of the Republicans are fearful about what would be happening to them and the country if one of the Republicans like Donald Trump or Dr. Ben Carson were to become the next President of the United States. For the eight million Muslims, one of the country's most affluent minorities, almost all of whom would now, having watched the Republican debates, have nothing to do with the Republican Party - the apprehensions of a republican president are many times worse. The Muslims in the USA must be praying overtime against the Republicans.
The causes of apprehension for the Muslims are real. In the debates and in between the debates, the Republicans have left very few in doubt that if anyone of them went to the White House, the Muslims and Middle East would be subjected to another round of attention like they received under President GW Bush's war on terror. Donald Trump is itching to land troops in Iraq to beat the ISIS to pulp, kick Bashar al-Assad out of Syria and let Russia know whose backyard the Middle East is. And to reassure Americans that unlike GW Bush US taxpayers' money would not be spent in such assaults or wars, he pledged to them that he would make the Saudis pay for such actions under his presidency.
The two leading Republican candidates underlined the anti-Muslim bias of the Republicans for the 2016 presidential election in other ways as well. The retired pediatric brain surgeon Dr. Ben Carson stated in an interview that a Muslim should not be allowed to become ever the President of the United States because of his misperceptions of Islam. He said nevertheless he would have no objection to Muslims becoming Senators and Congresspersons but elements in Islam should debar any Muslim, the Constitution of the United States notwithstanding, for seeking to become a US President. Donald Trump said he would as President consider closing down mosques. The fact that the US Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion did not bother him a bit in making such an atrocious statement.
Muslims in the United States therefore followed with great deal of expectations the outcome of the Canadian national elections last month that brought the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) led by Justine Trudeau to power by a thumping victory against the incumbent Conservative Party. Justine Trudeau is the son of arguably the most popular Canadian Prime Minister, the redoubtable Pierre Trudeau who came to Canadian politics not long after John F Kennedy had been assassinated. In the international media, the Pierre Trudeau and his wife Margaret seemed to fill to some extent the void created by the Kennedys. In fact, many regard Pierre Trudeau as the "father of modern Canada."
Justine Trudeau, at 43, will be Canada's second youngest Prime Minister ever. He led the LDP to its second biggest election victory that removed the Conservatives led by Stephen Harper that had been in power for 10 years. Justine Trudeau succinctly underlined what distinguished him fundamentally from his predecessor Stephen Harper in his speech to his supporters and Canadians after it was announced that the LDP had won a major victory and the dramatic event that took place there.
Justine Trudeau spoke at the event for 25 minutes. Towards the end, he said that he could share with his supporters "thousands of stories" from his "remarkable campaign." He nevertheless chose to speak of the Muslim mother who pushed through the crowd and came up to him in St Catharines and "whispered something to me that I will never forget" during the campaign trail. He then told his supporters that the Muslim mom clad in hijab had whispered into his ears that she would vote for him "to make sure that her little girl has the right to make her own choices in life and that the government would protect those rights."
Justine Trudeau then told his cheering supporters that he would like to tell the Muslim mom that she had indeed made the right choice and that the government he was about to lead would believe "deeply in the diversity of the country" and that "Canada was built by people from all corners of the world who worship every faith, who belong to every culture, who speak every language." In choosing to talk about Canada's rich cultural diversity based largely in the country's intake of migrants from almost everywhere, Justine Trudeau no doubt acknowledged the fact that Canada is a country of immigrants; some came early while others came later.
His choice to speak on the hijab-clad Muslim mother was however deliberate and made to underline a much deeper principled conviction. He wanted to make it clear to the Canadians that under his watch, Canada would not discriminate against any religion, particularly Islam. His opponent Stephen Harper during the campaign had used the niqab in Islam as an election issue and wanted to prohibit Muslim women from wearing it in citizenship ceremonies. Muslims constitute 3.2 per cent of Canada's population making Islam the second largest religion in the country after Christianity.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's posture towards the hijab and niqab is a major departure for a leader of the developed countries towards the Muslims. This posture will undoubtedly encourage Muslims in Canada to contribute more to the well-being of their country of adoption instead of alienating them from it. In fact, Stephen Harper's views on the niqab notwithstanding, Canada has shown a different approach in dealing with its Muslim population unlike its neighbour to the South. It refused to blame the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Canadians for the terror acts of a few among them.
Last year, the US media had tried to treat the shooting in the Parliament in Ottawa that killed a soldier as a major act of Islamic terrorism after it was revealed that the shooter was a Muslim. The US media tried to create fear and phobia among Canadians. Canadian government and media refused to be drawn into the US media's mindset of blaming Islam and Muslims for any acts of terror by individuals or small groups of individuals who happen to be Muslims. Within hours, much to the disappointment of the US media and government (Secretary Kelly had said at that time that the US was prepared to send a team to Ottawa to deal with what he was sure was Islamic terrorism), the Canadian government and media were successful in bringing the shooting in the Canadian parliament to an end. They established that the shooter was a convert to Islam who never practised the religion and his act had absolutely nothing to do with Islam.
Canada has in fact so far succeeded in guiding and encouraging Canadian Muslims that their government has no persecution mentality towards them. In the process, the government has benefitted immensely. There is no denying that among Canadian Muslims, there are elements that are sympathetic to violent causes. These elements have been identified and brought under the law with the active cooperation of Canadian Muslims who shun violence in the name of their religion as much, in fact more, than the non-Muslim Canadians and the Canadian Government because they are aware that they have to bear the direct and adverse consequences of any terrorism committed by individuals or groups in the name of Islam.
Under Justine Trudeau, it can only be expected that the fear and phobia created by the media in the West and their governments about the Muslims would be handled rationally in Canada. In fact, Canada could become the role model in showing them that the only rational way to deal with the dangers from ISIS and Al-Qaeda that are real and growing is to take the majority of Muslims on broad and isolate those who use Islam for their idiosyncratic purposes. Perhaps those in the United States that are talking of beating groups such as ISIS to pulp could pause for a while and take a look at the refreshing Prime Minister of Canada and take a few lessons from him. If the United States were to take such a lead, perhaps ISIS and its expansion could be stopped and handled better and faster.
The writer is a retired Ambassador.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
