As Parliament debates a motion that would condemn Islamophobia, a video has surfaced of a Jordanian imam in a Montreal mosque preaching about Muslims killing Jews.
Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr was the guest of honor at the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque on Dec. 23, 2016 when he gave the sermon.
Montreal police are investigating and may charge the leadership of the mosque with a hate crime.
In the video, the imam says in Arabic, “O Muslim, O servant of Allah, O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” The chant is well-known in the Muslim faith because it is an Islamic hadith — a series of phrases and reflections on the Muslim prophet Mohammad.
B’nai Brith Canada expressed outrage and wondered why a mosque located in the center of Canada’s second largest city would first invite such an inflammatory imam to speak in the first place and then post his hateful remarks to the internet. They are asking the Montreal Police to investigate the Mosque for hate crimes.
“This is inciting violence, and this is inciting radicalization,” said Harvey Levine, regional director of B’nai Brith in Quebec.
“This is the sort of activity that radicalizes individuals to commit violent actions. The result is what happened in London yesterday,” said Levine, referring to the terrorist attack in the U.K.. Speaking with The Daily Caller on Thursday, Levine said he finds it “unbelievable” that there “a proper vetting procedure” couldn’t have prevented the Jordanian imam from visiting Montreal and preaching violent hatred.
Levine is also critical of the “Islamophobia” motion in front of Parliament that could criminalize criticism of Islam. “It needs to be expanded to include all faith groups,” says Levine, adding that the legislation is not even necessary since religion is “already covered by the Canadian Charter of Rights.”
The mosque, located in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Michel, invited the imam to speak. The mosque’s leadership apparently took no issue with Al Nasr’s comments because they posted a video of his “sermon” on YouTube, where it has been viewed by thousands.
No one was responding to questions on Wednesday when CBC Montreal called for comment and the Montreal police confirmed it has received a complaint, but would not provide any more information.
The president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, Salam Elmenyawi, said he didn’t know why the imam was invited to speak to at the mosque and suggested the mosque’s leadership might apologize for the remarks about killing Jews.
He claimed he does not represent the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque but that his council does speak for 40 other such facilities.
This is not the first complaint that B’nai Brith has filed with local police in recent weeks. Levine said this is the second time in just 40 days that they have asked Montreal’s hate crime unit to investigate a city mosque.
He said the police still haven’t concluded their investigation into the first matter and have not filed any charges. Levine wonders what is taking the police so long.
“We are very disappointed that there has not been swifter action from the Montreal police. Every time we call, we are told that the investigation is ongoing. Levine told The Daily Caller. He says the leadership of the mosque should be held responsible for this kind of presentation and for posting it online “where everybody can see and where it can potentially radicalize some individuals.”