Toronto, August 27, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another speaker at the Toronto Defence of Marriage Town Hall Meeting last night was Dr. Mubarak Ali, a Muslim Imam and Director of Operations for the Etobicoke Muslim Community. Dr. Ali, who has lived in Canada for 30 years, is a frequent spokesman for the Muslim community at public and media events. In an interview with LifeSite Dr. Ali explained the Muslim community’s strong views against any form of legal recognition of same-sex unions. He said, “it is our teaching, our beliefs, that to have same-sex marriage would be wrong and to use some kind of a proxy which is basically the same thing, to say ‘same-sex unions’ would also be wrong. Our position is that such acts should not be strengthened, should not be promoted, should not be rewarded, because they are moral sins and by divine ordinance they are prohibited, so these are not the things to strengthen.” Legal recognition of same-sex unions he said, “shows that we are still recognizing this deviant choice of being homosexual which is a grave moral sin so, by giving them of spouses, criminalizing people speaking out against them, now legalizing their unions, whether as a marriage or a same-sex union, is really promoting this evil. Either way it will be wrong.” Asked if most Canadian Muslims shared his views Dr. Ali stated, “I am confident that all Muslims in Canada would agree” and that “This is an issue that is fundamental to all Muslims. It is a grave sin. We are unanimous in this. I have no doubt in my mind that every Muslim is strong on this issue.”
The Muslim community spokesman also said that Canadian Muslims are very concerned about the public school system’s active support for homosexuality and undermining of family life. He stated “Because the public school curriculum is to teach homosexuality as some alternative form of lifestyle, a lot of Muslims have sent their children to private schools…so that’s one strong positive message that they are sending, because the politicians and bureaucrats and technocrats are not listening, so we will have to do our own.” The concerns about the direction of Canadian society is so serious, he said, that, “I’ve known many Muslims families who have gone back to their original countries because they know that this country is a danger to the family.” On Bill C-250 Dr. Ali stated, it “is a very dangerous bill because it criminalizes speaking out against homosexuality.” Ali said that last night’s Town Hall meeting was “a very constructive initiative for expanding as well as raising public consciousness on these vital issues of faith and morality.”