The Executive Councils of The Islamic Supreme Council of Canada (ISCC) and Muslims Against Terrorism (M.A.T.) held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation created by the most horrible crimes committed against American people on September 11, 2001. The press release, which was issued earlier yesterday to the media, expressed the concerns of the Muslim community regarding these terrorist attacks. . The executive councils condemned terrorist attacks on WTC and the Pentagon, which caused a senseless loss of innocent life. The condemnation is unconditional, unequivocal and supports an impartial investigation for bringing perpetrators to full justice.

ISCC and MAT believe that those Muslims who have the knowledge of the Qur'an and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (S) know very well that Islam strictly prohibits killing and injuring innocent civilians. This includes men, women and children of the all religions, ethnicity, beliefs, colours, etc. World Trade Center cannot be the target of any true Muslim group or individuals because Islamically the people in and around WTC and Pentagon nor those innocent people traveling in the airplanes used for crashes can justifiable be harmed. The benefits for any Muslim group are none in this crime but the harms are great. Firstly, the loss of innocent lives, which certainly included five to seven thousand Muslims who, worked at the WTC and Pentagon. Secondly, the bad name given to Islam and the Muslims, which this crime may cause and may make more people hate and fear Islam and Muslims. Any true Muslim would like people to see Islam as a religion of peace, not war, a problem solving way of life, not problem creating. Thirdly, harm may be caused for the Muslims living in the West and North America. There are some people in the West who are looking for any excuse to harm Muslims, their businesses, their institutions and their religious centers. Even on mere suspicion they are going to cause harm to Muslims and their properties. It is, therefore, obvious that no true Muslim dare do any kind of stupid and un-Islamic activity to harm non-Muslims or their properties.

If the figures given by the New York mayor are correct that the casualties may reach more than 50,000 people then there is a very high possibility that 5 to 7 thousands New York Muslims might have been killed or injured in these incidents

Under the present circumstances and based upon the past experiences Muslims in Canada must be very careful and should anticipate hate and victimization by few fellow citizens. ISCC urges all Canadian Muslims to call police immediately if they feel threatened by any person or organization. ISCC has also setup two monitoring centres in Calgary and Toronto to help victims of racial and religious discrimination. The phone numbers for both centres are as follows.

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