CTV News Montreal

Updated: Sat May. 23 2009 7:19:16 PM

ctvmontreal.ca

A mosque in Dorval has been vandalized for the third time in 11 months.

The Dorval Mosque is now tarnished with graffiti that reads: "Koran 8, 12".

"This thing should not happen in a country called Canada," said Karim Chadal, a member of the Muslim community with strong ties to the mosque.

There is a surveillance camera on the wall that was spray painted, but officials at the mosque say it's not helpful in this case because the images in the video aren't clear.

The incident happened after dark, and the lens of the camera was covered with spider webs.

A misinterpretation of Islam?

The graffiti sprayed on the wall of the mosque refers to verses in the Koran that include the following excerpt:

"I will instill terror into the hearts of Unbelievers: Smite ye above their necks. And smite all their finger-tips off them."

Chadal declined to give CTV Montreal his interpretation of the reading. He said is not knowledgeable enough to explain it, and preferred to leave the task up to others.

The president of the mosque, Mehmet Deger, said the vandals are simply attempting to spread stereotypes about Islam.

"They are trying to give a violent message of Islam to the public," said Deger.

He added that the words were written nearly 1,500 years ago, and can be easily taken out of their historical context.

Offering his own interpretation of the verse, Deger said: "It is instruction to the armed forces how to act in a war."

On Friday, the mosque will be visited by Jason Kenney, federal Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

Deger said the graffiti will remain on the wall of the mosques until then, because he wants Kenney to see it first hand.

Comments are now closed for this story

Gilles
There is no “misinterpretation of Islam” at all. Although I don’t condone property damage, it seems someone in the community has found a novel method of exposing the truth about Islam by exposing its’ suras. The quote is from the Verse of the Sword, which abrogates any so called peaceful injunctions, such as saying Islam is a religion of Peace. Quote:

8:39. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah Alone [in the whole of the world]. But if they cease (worshipping others besides Allah), then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do.

8:67. It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war (and free them with ransom) until he had made a great slaughter (among his enemies) in the land. You desire the good of this world (i.e. the money of ransom for freeing the captives), but Allah desires (for you) the Hereafter. And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

The religion of peace motto is repeated adnausiem in the hope that if oft repeated, it will be believed. We in Canada live Dar Al-Harb, what Islam calls the House of War. The 57 nations of Islam live in Dar Al-Islam, which the followers of Mohammed believe is any land once owned by Muslims, ergo the refusal of the existence of Israel by its’ neighbours.

Approximately 80% of the Quran is steeped in violence and misogyny. It doesn’t instruct the followers of Islam to only Jihad in terms of an inner struggle, but also of the pen and the sword. To disregard the spray painted passage as an antiquated battle instruction would mean most of the Quran’s suras and Hadiths should be ignored. How else is a Muslim to follow the Sunnah, or the path of the Prophet, if not by taking the whole of the Quran as the word of Allah.

Me thinks the Karim Chadel employing Takiyya – Religious Deception.

RS in QC
It's funny how only part of that verse was shown, completely taking it out of context. I have studied the Quran to some degree. The 8th chapter is about the Battle of Badr, one of the biggest tests of Allah on mankind, testing whether Man would use war for greed and selfishness or be pious about it. It was an actual event in history and this chapter refers completely to it, giving the guidelines of war and how people must handle it. The whole verse reads as follows:

Remember thy Lord inspired
The angels (with the message):
"I am with you: give
Firmness to the Believers:
I will instill terror
..."

Before going to battle, the men were given this message (note that this message is from Allah and not from Man, this is what God intends to do, put fear in the enemy so that they may be taken down by His people). In plain english, when fighting a battle, the easiest way to overcome an enemy is to hit above the neck, taking the enemy down. Second, disabling the hand (fingertips) would disable any weapon wielding by the enemy (and they would surrender).

This was a time with no guns, tanks, etc...and speaks of a specific incident. These days, when the army captain gives his/her people a pep talk, encouraging to kill any enemy in sight, well, this is the same pep talk given by Allah. But there are rules to war, and the outcome must be for the gain of Islam, not personal. This is not a free for all like the $$$-making wars we have these days.

Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, I just wanted to clarify that. Too many times are the facts completely taken out of context these days, and this one hit very close to home.

Mohamed Wahby
Simply, the verse tells us that The God was supporting the believers. And the God sent angels to fight with the believers. To know more about the verse you need to read the complete battle’s story. In addition, the verse's translation on the news is not correct, since the verse has no "terror" word, but it is "fear" word.

Mr. Jones
I found it strange how both the men interviewed were unable to give a sufficient response, and even though the President of the Mosque may have given a more detailed explanation, due to editing, only minor clarification was given.

However, looking into Chapter 8 and reading the verses that follow, it was found only a couple verses from 8:15-16, it said:

8:15 "O ye who believe! when ye meet the Unbelievers in hostile array, never turn your backs to them."

8:16 "If any do turn his back to them on such a day - unless it be in a stratagem of war, or to retreat to a troop (of his own)- he draws on himself the wrath of Allah, and his abode is Hell,- an evil refuge (indeed)!"

They could have just opened a Quran and clearly seen the explanation for that verse, which didn’t require further interpretation of verse 8:12, because verses 15 to 16 explain it fully, but instead were caught completely off guard.

brock wraight
I watched this news brief in Windsor Ontario and I could not understand why the victims of this outrage were forced to explain their religious passages for the reporter. They were the victims! Were you trying to justify the criminals actions? Who cares what the verses mean. That was reprehensible reporting.

Hummad Waheed
It is very unfortunate that the Dorval Mosque representatives were not able to clarify the verse. It is quite a simple explanation. Muslims beleive this verse was revealed during a war involving pagans from modern-day Saudi Arabia and a Muslim Army. The Pagan army had come to fight the Muslim army with the intention of eliminating the new religion of Islam. This verse is simply a directive by God towards the Muslim army against the Pagan army, not a directive to all Muslims to kill Non-Muslims. In fact,if you read Chapter 8 in its entirety, it is clear that the theme is about a specific war. Also, if one turns to Chapter 60 verses 8&9, there are the directives by God telling Muslims to be peaceful humans. When one takes the Quran in its entirety, it is evident that it delivers a very peaceful message. Thank you for allowing a comments section.

Robert
Take any work out of context and you can create a whole new story. You can play this game with a religious work to seek out a part of it and say here is why we should hate this group or that people. The answer is to turn away from such people and seek understanding from one another. This one is a Jew, that one is a Catholic, protestant or muslim, yet all are people deserving of respect and tolerance. It is only when we see not our differences but our similarities that we will truely be at peace. In the meantime someone find the child who wrote this and give him a sentence of community service to help clean up the Mosque for a year. He will then meet those who he fears and learn that like any other group of people from what ever culture, they are the same as he.