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| Islam - Fastest Growing Religion in Canada |
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| Moe_D |
| 05/14/03 at 21:31:50 |
| ISLAM THRIVES IN QUEBEC Harvey Shepard, Montreal Gazette, 5/14/03 http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=1B462F18-5D85-4165-A7FC-0891E0C90EAB Islam has become the No. 1 non-Christian faith in Quebec, as in Canada as a whole. Swollen by immigration from south Asia, north Africa and the Middle East, the number of Quebec Muslims increased by almost 11/2 times in the 10 years between 1991 and 2001. This pushed them past Jewish Quebecers. Salaam Elmenyawi, chairperson of the Muslim Council of Montreal, said he hopes the Muslim growth will help defuse East-West polarization. "Now Islam is going to be a Western religion and we look forward to making a positive contribution," said Elmenyawi, a chaplain at Concordia University. "We hope that this will help to bring the world closer together." Data from the 2001 Canadian census made public by Statistics Canada yesterday show that the 108,620 Muslims in Quebec were up by 141.8 per cent from a decade earlier... Bashir Hussain, chairperson of the Montreal Chapter of the Council of Muslim Communities in Canada, can remember when there were only a handful of Muslims in Montreal in the early 1960s. "Now we have about 30 mosques and places of prayer, and it's still not enough," he said... SEE ALSO: MUSLIMS OUTNUMBER JEWS IN CANADA Gloria Galloway, Toronto Globe and Mail, 5/14/03 http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030513.usaid0514/BNStory/National/ Canadian census figures show for the first time that Muslims outnumber Jews a demographic that could ultimately affect this country's position toward the protracted Middle East conflict. When the 1991 census was taken, about 25 per cent more people said they were Jewish than Muslim. But immigration from predominantly Muslim countries has reversed that dynamic. Figures from the 2001 Canadian census released yesterday by Statistics Canada show that the number of people claiming to be of Muslim faith increased by 128.9 per cent to 579,640 in the decade beginning in 1991, making Islam the fastest growing religion in Canada. Two years ago, Muslims made up 2 per cent of this country's population. The number of Jews also increased during that period, but only by 3.7 per cent to 329,995. And the proportion they represent of the total Canadian population declined to 1.1 per cent from 1.2 per cent. While Canada has, in recent years, tried to maintain an evenhanded response to the Mideast crisis, Israel's supporters in Canada's Jewish community have sometimes argued that remaining neutral means siding with Palestinian terrorists. But the growing influence of the Muslim faith may reinforce Canada's desire for neutrality. "I would have to say with a caution that, yes, of course it is going to have an effect because politicians respond, of course to votes," said John Carson, a professor of Canadian foreign policy at the University of Toronto... |
| Re: Islam - Fastest Growing Religion in Canada |
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| amatullah |
| 05/15/03 at 21:53:02 |
| Jazak Allah khayr The Full second artile was very very interesting. |
| Re: Islam - Fastest Growing Religion in Canada |
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| Mujahideen |
| 05/16/03 at 02:52:11 |
| [slm] This statistical report actually provides a lot of very useful information about the demographics of Muslims in Canada. Rather then actually reading it most Muslims have been cheering that we now have a greater population then the Jews – as if this is some great accomplishment or something! Most communities have very little idea of how many Muslims dwell within their city which makes it very difficult to do much future planning in the rare instances when we actually engage in this activity. The census provides an opportunity to find out an accurate number. My community has been boasting for years some totally ridiculously high number, it turns out there are far fewer then half of what they have been claiming. Does this mean we are now going with the new number – of course not – we invented a conspiracy to explain why the number is not as high as we want it to be – ‘you know the government has to hide what a great success Islam and the number of Muslims otherwise EVERYONE would convert!’ Anything along those lines will do. The census provides a lot of other useful information including average age, gender divide (nearly exactly even), etc… Something most Muslims have not yet picked up on is the report indicates where the substantial growth in the overall Muslim population is coming from; almost exclusively from birth and immigration. Thus this confirms what most of us have known or at least what we ought to have known – that Daw’a has been all but a total failure in this country. Despite the “great” numbers of Muslims in Canada few are embracing the Deen – something is clearly wrong with this picture. We must be doing something very wrong with the very little Dawa’ being done in this country. The rise in the Muslim population in Canada is a testament primarily to our reproductive capabilities and immigration -- rather then our good example and hard work in the field of Dawah. Clearly we are shirking our obligation of Dawa’. [wlm] |
| Re: Islam - Fastest Growing Religion in Canada |
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| salaampeaceshalom |
| 05/16/03 at 04:54:53 |
| [slm] ok go with me on this conspiracy theory... How about if the government is downplaying the reason for the rise? Maybe there are a lot more people who are reverting but they don't wish to stress that fact. Seriously, more muslims are migrating there? Even despite all the stuff that's going on in the world? You'd think they'd be very reluctant to travel anywhere near the states or canada. I don't really believe it has to do with immigartion to such a large extent. But maybe that's just me being wishful that people are seeing Islaam as the beautiful religion that it really is, and so are coming to it of their own accord. |
| Re: Islam - Fastest Growing Religion in Canada |
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| Mujahideen |
| 05/16/03 at 20:53:05 |
| [slm] Personally I don’t believe in conspiracy theories unless there is evidence to substantiate them -- while we are really good at conjuring up elaborate theories we are not so good at supporting them with reliable evidence. I also think the vast majority of people accepting Islam are coming to it ‘by their own accord’ as you put it – that is what happened to me and my wife as well with the vast majority of my convert friends. I find this a very sad occurrence, if we were just a little more diligent in actually living our lives as Muslims we might attract more people to the fold of Islam through Allah’s Will. Regarding the matter of where the growth is really coming from simply read the report from statistics Canada, it demonstrated very clearly that is occurring from immigration and birth – so to me its not really a matter of having an opinion on it -- its simply a matter of examining the evidence. Of course it could be some grand conspiracy despite the fact we have no evidence to prove such. Maybe there are hundreds of thousands of converts out there somewhere. In my community there are a few every year, they generally stick around for a little while but then seem to disappear for the most part, a few apostate because they find things too stressful (mainly everyone running up to them and pretty much forcing a new convert to immediately do something which may have taken them most of their adult life to accomplish), only a few stick around and are relatively active. I would say my community is pretty much average in this regard when it come to communities in Canada. So maybe its true…but then again maybe not. :) [wlm] |
| Re: Islam - Fastest Growing Religion in Canada |
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| salaampeaceshalom |
| 05/17/03 at 09:44:04 |
| [slm] bro lol, take a break man. Like u said, maybe conspiracy theories do have some truth in them, and then again, maybe it's all just nonsense. Btw, people can make up their own evidence, construe fatcs and figures, etc. I wasn't saying that everything in the report was a lie, I was just saying that personally I believe mash'Allaah, a lot of people are coming to Islaam, regardless of how they get there, and I think that the rates of reversion are higher than most peole think. That's all dude :) |
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