Tarek Fatah - Muslim Canadian Congress

Muslim Canadian Congress

He was one of the founders of the Muslim Canadian Congress in 2001 and served as its communications director and spokesperson until 2006. In this capacity, he has spoken out against the introduction of Sharia law as an option for Muslims in civil law in Ontario, Sharia banking in Canada, which he has described as a 'con-job', promoted social liberalism in the Muslim community and the separation of religion from the state, and endorsed same-sex marriage. He resigned as the communications director of the MCC in August 2006, claiming that his public profile as a socially liberal Muslim had put him and his family at risk.

The large majority of the founding members left the Muslim Canadian Congress over the years. This culminated in a dramatic split in the summer of 2006 when the remaining founders, including the entire executive and several other Board members left to form the Canadian Muslim Union (CMU). According to the Globe and Mail, the split occurred when some members of the MCC's former board marched in a Toronto anti-war rally where banners and photographs supporting Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were paraded. While the current members of the MCC wanted nothing to do with Hezbollah, it was claimed that other executive members participated or supported the demonstrations, and resigned and formed the new CMU the next day.

This version of events is challenged in the resignation statement published by the exiting board members, which cited their belief that the Muslim Canadian Congress could no longer achieve its goal of influencing the Muslim community. According to some who split with Fatah, he and other Board members had participated in several earlier demonstrations where the same banners were displayed by some members of the crowd, including two just weeks before the split.

The CMU's philosophy of Liberal Islam is similar to the MCC's, but with an intention to work "with and within the Muslim community", as opposed to MCC's tendency to attack the Muslim community from outside.