readers beware ....
Reader comment on item: Guest Column: Justin Trudeau's Islamist Revival

Submitted by MM, Jun 16, 2013 18:23

My jaw dropped wide open when I read this piece of bogus information. I attended the RIS described and this was my second year attending. As far as I know Zakir Naik has not been a speaker at RIS in the last few years and I am not necessarily a fan of his. However, the portrayal of this family-friendly and innocuous event as something harbouring terrorist or extremist connections is completely laughable and would be so to ALL the families that attended, majority of which were very appreciative of Justin Trudeau's visit as there was great warmth and thanks shown to him by the audience. The biggest highlights for all the young people that attended were the Islamic pop artists that drew typical teenage fan hysteria to the apprehension of the parents of course. I don't know if the author of this post even attended the RIS but this "political" and devious depiction of what was a conference of religious lectures, food, praying, Islamic entertainment, and a very popular and busy convention of retailers of clothing, jewelry, perfumes, knick knacks, and so forth is very disturbing and completely falsified. And yes, I am a fan of Tariq Ramadan and Hamza Yusuf (of said Zaytuna Institute who was unable to attend this year some said as his mother was ill) and I would trust them to promote peace and harmony ANY day amongst all peoples over what the writer of this post is trying to do - which seems to be create false divisions and tell lies. By the way, I recounted my attendance to my mother who lives on the other side of Canada and is Catholic and she thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Justin Trudeau's attendance at this event - as we both respected his father Pierre.

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