The attack at a Mississauga mosque on March 19, days before the start of Ramadan, caused “utter shock” among its worshipers and a sense of fear in the Toronto-area Muslim community. “People think twice about going to the mosque,” says Musleh Khan, imam at the Islamic Institute of Toronto in Scarborough.
On Saturday morning, Musleh Khan was on the phone with his friend Ibrahim Hindy, an imam at the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Center in Mississauga. It was then that the latter described the incident to him: a man entered armed with an ax and pepper spray. After spraying worshipers, one of them – a 19-year-old young man – immobilized the assailant. The call was “very emotional”, says Musleh Khan.
“We never imagine that it will happen to our place of worship,” sighs Ibrahim Hindy. His followers were in shock this week, he said.
Generally, few people go to morning prayer, even less young people. “It’s hard to get out of bed at this time,” jokes Ibrahim Hindy. That day, however, the 19-year-old man — described as shy and not very talkative — was there. “His courage was revealed,” said the imam. “The fact that the boy was able to resist the pepper spray and tackle the assailant, we thank God for that,” said Shaffini Nalir, director of operations for the Islamic Center of Toronto.
The traffic will be quite different from the beginning of April, on the occasion of Ramadan: there is usually a full house in the mosques. At least that’s what members of the Muslim community expected before Saturday’s attack. This week, worshipers asked about security at Shaffini Nalir. “Anything can happen,” Musleh Khan heard from some people who are reluctant to come to the mosque.
These fears are all the more distressing since Muslims have not been able to gather in groups on the occasion of Ramadan for almost three years, underlines Musleh Khan. In April 2020 due to the pandemic, the Muslim community, like other religious communities, had to close the doors of their places of worship. Now, “the faithful are forced to make a decision because of fear and anxiety,” regrets Musleh Khan. It’s more heartbreaking than when COVID first hit.”
A tragic cycle
In recent months, other attacks have affected Ontario’s Muslim community. In September 2020, a mosque worker in Rexdale, a northwest Toronto neighborhood, died outside the building after being stabbed. Nine months later, four members of a Muslim family were fatally mowed down in London. Added to these tragedies are the attacks in Quebec City (2017) and Christchurch in New Zealand (2019).
The level of fear in the community has never been higher than following the Islamophobic attack in London, argues Musleh Khan. But the confinement meant that visits to the mosque were less frequent. Gradually, the level of fear decreased. “Immediately after an incident, safety is on everyone’s mind, and then people become more and more comfortable,” observes Shaffni Nalir.
It’s when people seem to let their guard down that the attacks come, thinks Shaffni Nalir. At his mosque, however, the alert level has remained high since 2020 due to the growing number of threats. Two volunteers now watch the front doors, then lock them when the prayer begins. The system was supposed to be the same during Ramadan, but the mosque ultimately opted to hire professional security guards to guard those gates due to the attack in Mississauga. Several other mosques in the Toronto area have added security measures since last Saturday’s attack.
Government support
These measures have costs that not all mosques can afford, recognizes Ibrahim Hindy. In 2017, the Canadian government launched a program to help, in particular, places of worship to strengthen their security. But the government is only responsible for half of the costs. With this financial aid, “we were able to invest in new cameras, but we were unable to increase the brightness around the mosque, for example”, illustrates Ibrahim Hindy. The imam would like the share of government funding to be higher.
In January, the federal government announced that it would appoint a special representative to combat Islamophobia at a later date. After the various attacks, the followers of the Islamic Institute of Toronto believe, however, that there was “a lot of discussion, but little action”, relates Musleh Khan. Pending these actions, the mosques have no choice but to continue spending to defend themselves, agrees Shaffni Nalir. “We can pay out of pocket or with our blood. »
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.