Dalton McGuinty is an Islamist loving vote whore

Jamal Badawi

Premier Dalton McGuinty made a brief appearance Eid al-Fitr celebrations at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, thanking the attendees for their contributions to the province’s economy and culture.

“Thank you for opening the eyes of all Ontarians to the beautiful, peaceful, loving faith that is Islam,” he said to loud cheers, adding that the province “thrives on diversity.”

Who was the main speaker at this event? None other than Jamal Badawi.  Blazing Catfur has written plenty on this guy and Discover the Networks provides a comprehensive bio on him — here are some highlights:

Badawi is the Director of the Halifax-based Islamic Information Foundation, a non-profit that, according to its self-description, strives to promote a better understanding of Islam by both Muslims and non-Muslims.

In addition, Badawi is a member of the Fiqh Council of North America, the Islamic Society of North America, the Consultative Council of North America, and the Juristic Council of North America. He is also a Board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

At one time, Badawi was a Board of Directors member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States and a founding incorporator of the Muslim American Society.

In 2004 Badawi issued a fatwa for Islamonline, outlining six different conditions in which a wife may properly be beaten according to his understanding of “Islamic teaching,” because, he stated, “there are cases … in which a wife persists in bad habits.”

Badawi played a part in a November 2004 fatwa by the International Union of Muslim Scholars decreeing that it was a religious “duty” for all able-bodied Muslims inside and outside Iraq to wage jihad against the American military.

In an interview with the Saudi Gazette on June 24, 2005, Badawi said: “9/11 was un-Islamic,” and “I strongly condemn the September 11 attacks … whoever did it,” adding, “It is not confirmed yet who is actually behind the attacks.” In the Saudi Gazettestory, Badawi also discussed the difficulty of reaching “agreement on how terrorism should be defined.” He went on to state that the detonation of cars that killed civilians in Iraqi marketplaces was certainly one form of terrorism, but he suggested that American troops might be responsible for those attacks:

This has to be investigated as to who is actually behind this … There have been allegations that I cannot confirm that people going to the market to buy vegetables are stopped in the name of inspecting their cars by [American] forces, their hands are tied and they are blindfolded. There have been cases and I want a clarification from American officials to these allegations. After inspecting their cars they are allowed to go and when the car reaches [the] checkpoint it explodes and they call them suicide bombers, perhaps the occupants of the car were not even aware that they are carrying a bomb in their car. Such incidents should be thoroughly probed.

In an IslamOnline Internet forum in June 2006, Badawi justified Muslim suicide bombings as a legitimate tactic of jihad.

Badawi’s friend and mentor is Yousef Al-Qaradawi, who has been listed as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” by the U.S. government since 1999.

Badawi is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and a member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research — both groups organized and headed by Qaradawi. In July 2007 Badawi traveled to Qatar, where he was a featured guest speaker at a conference honoring Qaradawi.

In the summer 2007 Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) trial (which looked into evidence of HLF’s fundraising on behalf of Hamas), the U.S. government released a list of approximately 300 of HLF’s “unindicted co-conspirators” and “joint venturers.” Among the unindicted co-conspirators were many individuals affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas, including Jamal Badawi, Omar Ahmad, Abdurahman Alamoudi, Yousef al-Qaradawi, Abdallah Azzam, Mohammad Jaghlit, Mousa Abu Marzook, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, and Ahmed Yassin. The list also included groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Hamas, INFOCOM, the Islamic Association for Palestine, the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Arab Youth Association, the United Association for Studies and Research, and the North American Islamic Trust.