June’s terror raids in Toronto that ended with the arrest of 12 men and 5 youth came as a shock to the general Canadian public. In my household it raised more than few questions on how exactly the RCMP came to know minute details of the group’s activities, which resulted in some very specific terror-related charges. What we decided as the best answer is not much of a surprise. Attempting to charge someone with plotting to blow up the CBC and beheading the Prime Minister becomes easier with a pair of ears and eyes on the inside.
Mubin Shaikh is the 30-year-old son of Indian immgrants who spent six years in the Royal Canadian Army Cadets and embraced Islam 10 years ago, after taking in trips to South Asia and the Middle East. He is a fierce supporter of Sharia law in Ontario and runs Canada’s only Sharia law arbitration centre. He is about as orthodox as Ontario Muslims come. Mubin Shaikh is also a mole.Shaikh has been on the CSIS payroll for two years now but it was only last October that he began his new assignment, infiltrating the “Toronto 17”. Not only did he have to contend with pressure from CSIS but he had to deal with talk within his own community too. His job is far from over as he will be speaking at the criminal trial as a star witness. If I were him I would probably be hiding in a closet somewhere, especially since everyone around him knew his game when he was the only member of the terror crew to escape arrest. Props are due, he’s even refusing to go into the Witness Protection Program. Shaikh says he did it for Canada…:
“I wanted to prevent lthe loss of life,” he said. “I don’t want Canadians to think that these (suspects) are what Muslims are. I don’t believe in violence here. I wanted to help and I’m as homegrown as it gets.” [Link]
…and for Muslims in Canada:
If the plot to set off explosives in Toronto and Ottawa were allowed to happen, Shaikh said, Muslims would have suffered more than anyone else, other than those killed in the attacks. “That’s what people have to understand because now, a guy like me, who’s an agent of the state, responsible for bringing these guys down, I’m still called a terrorist in the street,” he said. [Link]
But the loudest reps for Toronto’s Muslim community are doubting his motives. According to Tarek Fatah of the Muslim Canadian Congress:
“This is like the pot calling the kettle black because Mr. Mubin Shaikh has been the exponent of Islamic extremism in this city.
“He has been the number one proponent of the imposition of sharia law in Canada, has been extremely hostile to all moderate Muslims, which calls into question whether he’s acting out of sincerity or is he trying to fish himself out of his own troubles.”
While controversial Iman Aly Hindy’s imagination is just going all out:
“I don’t think his role was just to inform what was happening, he was making things happen,” Hindy said. “There’s a big difference between when you see something wrong and you inform the authorities and when you start actually inciting things to happen.”
Such is to be expected from Hindy but Tarek Fatah has been the voice of moderate Islam though this entire ordeal, I expected a more positive note from him. I admit such cynicism isn’t that difficult to warrant when taking into consideration Shaikh’s prior dealings with the wrong side of the law:
Mr. Shaikh was also once accused of assaulting his aunt and was charged criminally, Mr. Shaikh told The Globe. Those charges were dropped, Mr. Shaikh said, adding that his credibility will remain intact with people who truly know him.
And there’s the case with Shaikh senior too:
Last year, his father was charged with sexual assault after a woman said she had been fondled by an Islamic chaplain who was supposed to be counselling her through a divorce.
Ugh.
As long as Hindy’s fantasies don’t turn into reality by some freaky as-yet unrevealed CSIS/RCMP factiods then Shaikh has done excellent work. Regardless of whether he did it for money or a clean slate, somebody had to step up to the plate to do the dirty deed. One dude who has nothing but love for this mole is Liberal MP for York-South Weston, Alan Tonks. Shaikh is that riding’s Multiculturalism Chair, here’s his intro (I wonder if Tonks wrote it himself?):
Traveller, philosopher, theologian, Mubin Shaikh is not your ordinary Torontonian. At first look, one might think they’ve encountered an extremist but on second take, you realize you’ve been had! [Link]
Imagine that!
Interesting…a Sharia Law supporting deep cover mole. Talk about contradictions. I wonder what he would have done/said if it was certain that no Muslims were going to be affected by the plot.
Well, the man is currently owed around $300 K by the Canadian govt. for his efforts, so the chance does exist that he might have done the same thing even if the suspects came from an entirely different community.
I was so surprised when his identity was revealed, just last year his face was everywhere with the whole Sharia deal and now he’s out as a terror mole. Crazy stuff.
Interesting… I have to say, some of this reminds me of COINTELPRO. Not to get into a discussion equalizing the Black Panther Party or American Indian Movement with the “Toronto 17” – I know relatively little about the latter – but the idea that there was a mole who entered the organization and publicly espoused the most “extreme” perspectives, perhaps even pushing the group to do or plan things that they may not have done otherwise, a la Douglass Durham.
Just a thought.
Truly… after all Joseph Pistone/Donnie Brasco was always a Federal agent and never believed in the Mafia ideology, even though he was a deep cover mole for several years. Shaikh’s ideological views seem to overlap with a lot of the views supported by Muslim extremists. So one has to wonder what his reason to turn them in was… perhaps he saw them endangering his idea of a slow more subtle conversion of the society around versus a violent bloody attack on it that would risk a huge backlash (that would perhaps endanger his agenda)?
This is a pretty bizarre case — or I wonder if I just see it this way because we’re so used to being fed the black and white version of the “terrorism” narrative.
Still I do wonder what sort of backroom deals were made under this cover story.
the beard is probably cuz heez cold. kanada is always frozen.
though sometimes kanadian chix can be smokin’ 🙂
perhaps mr. shaikh was harrassed by members of the toronto 17 as a kid. For all we know, his rise to power in the extremist community and staunch support of sharia was all just part of an elaborate scheme to get his revenge, vis-Ã -vis Eric Cartman.. haha
Damn lies! his complete profile paints a different picture: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/42605.html
Why is it surprising? Very religious people are generally, contrary to popular western assumptions, not in favour of killing innocent people and terrorism really.
See Svend White’s commentary on this too: http://akramsrazor.typepad.com/islam_america/2006/07/an_unlikely_mol.html
Just to add, hardline religious movements such as the Jamaat / Ikhwan crew in Pakistan and RSS in India are quite modern when put in context of how old the religions are. So old-skool purists generally look down on them as idiots who get involved in politics instead of focusing on getting closer to god.
Makes perfect sense to be that Mubin is quite protective of Canada. Loads of fatwas make it clear that Muslims who live in non-Muslim lands should have allegiance to their country of residence and do their duty as good citizens.
Sunny
Ahem, I was not implying that orthodox folks are baby killers. Shaikh’s actions are surprising to me because he risked his public life within his community, not to mention personal safety, to spy for the govt. And it isn’t far-fetched to say that very religious people are generally averse to ratting out members of their own community.
Is there any information available on Mubin Sheikh’s conversion? What was the family background before he became a sharia-phile?
Why is it surprising? Very religious people are generally, contrary to popular western assumptions, not in favour of killing innocent people and terrorism really.
Some of the more hard core Salafists (Wahabis) actually considering fighting for land to be shirk. For example, they do not believe in fighting the Israelis in the West Bank.
Interesting, that would make sense given the nomadic roots of many Muslim populations. I hate to sound like a cynic, but part of me feels like there is something else going on here. I mean, the guy probably has a price on his head at this point. Why go public after doing this? For know, I’ll try to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he’s just a very brave person.
Sriram, great question, maybe he has nothing to fear. Maybe the people he implicated are nothing but amateurs. I mean, the evidence against them is nonexistant. Charges are limited to “plotting” and “conspiring”. On top of that the RCMP fed their theories to the media during the early days but as soon as time came for the bail hearings the prosecution fought for a complete publication ban on court proceedings. These details hint at cracks in evidence, in my opinion. Maybe all of this is an attempt to influence the extention of Canada’s controversial Anti-Terrorism Act, which is due to expire this year.
Perhaps Shaikh is merely a pawn in a bigger political game.
Perhaps it is time I stopped reading Frederick Forsyth. Perhaps.
Al beruni – I can find no such evidence of this man’s existance before 2005. Could be my less-than-stellar Google abilities but there is no info. on his life before Islam or anything about his parents either…
He didn’t “go public”. The Toronto Star and the Globe both knew that he went to Washago with the Toronto 17, and knew his name (from license plate info). Many Torontonians knew something was up when only 17 of the 18 Toronto Muslims who hung out together were arrested. His role was not a secret.
Ikram – up until Friday newspapers were not publishing his name as it was apprantly “against Canadian law”, which I assume means that he was keeping mum on purpose for a few of weeks. His name was first mentioned on tv last Thursday night on the 5th Estate, I think. It might have been a well known guess within his community but I sure as hell didn’t know his identity.
EXACTLY!
i dont think i am alone in that i was hurt when the Toronto 17 came to light. felt violated. so when i heard of the mole being involved, i perked up… i saw the guy’s photo, i beamed … i read his profile, i was doing cartwheels.
it was terrible to have one’s faith shaken in the city. no community is perfect – but what distinguishes us (and so i like to believe) is the ability to manage ourselves and self-correct with due regard to individual liberties and to our diverse cultural needs. it felt good to know this person had strong views and went against the grain in thought and appearance – and he displayed his beliefs in true canadian fashion. SO!!! toronto came through. ok… we’ll still get bombed some day… i know that, but i feel good.
btw, for those who may find shaikh’s beliefs iffy, things arent so cut and dried – there was merit to ontario’s adoption of shariat laws – the proposal originated with ontario’s attorney general in response to incidents of abuse in closed-door shariat jurisprudence. This was an attempt to bring the system into the open. another story, another day.
Neha, sorry I didn’t mean for it to come across as a personal attack. I just thought there was a sense of incredulity by yourself and other commenters, and I thought it was misplaced.
The very religious don’t usually take a stand, but sometimes they do. In India for example, some of the biggest critics of the RSS/VHP Sangh Parivar are the Shankracharyas.
“Ahem, I was not implying that orthodox folks are baby killers. Shaikh’s actions are surprising to me because he risked his public life within his community, not to mention personal safety, to spy for the govt. And it isn’t far-fetched to say that very religious people are generally averse to ratting out members of their own community.”
How so? I would think “Very religous” people are more loyal to their faith rather than their “community”. If one looks at it from the point of a community member, the guy did the right thing…he saved a lot of Muslims from a guaranteed backlash. From the point of a community outsider…he saved a lot of people from, well, dying.
It’s sorta strage, the guy did a good thing but people still look for conspiracy theories, bad intentions or just reasons not to think so.
Maybe i’m just young and naive…or maybe it’s because I don’t know his background or his past activities… but I’m very happy he stepped up and i applaud him
Yes, that would be ideal but in my personal experience this has not been the case. The orthodox Muslim community in Toronto (like any other faith community) is tightly knit. And so I was surprised…yes, I was happy too like hairy_d above, that Shaikh did what he did. I don’t think he had any “bad intentions”. But to me it looks like Shaikh’s actions only constitute a part of the story. He was employed by two agencies with a cloudy past when it comes to terror trials. And that is what fuels my questions and half-assed conspiricy theories, not Shaikh’s intentions.
I’ve just finished watching the Showtime series “Sleeper Cell”.The Shaikh story sounds in a way similar (plot spoilers for the show follow) to what the Islamic cell on the show did … they killed another cell leader and took over his facilities because it was needed to plan their attack in the US. The various groups as the infighting among the militant groups in Iraq has shown have no love lost between themselves.
Greetings, OK – let me try to clear this up.
1) I support Shariah Law 2) Shariah Law FORBIDS killing innocents. 3) It follows that the one who claims Shariah Law should be the FIRST to walk the walk. I do not care about my life – I care about ISLAM and if some angry Muslims want to bomb MY home, MY city – not on my watch, AKHI. Its usually hijabi Muslim women and bearded male Muslims who bear the brunt of the backlash. I REFUSE to accept that.
SO during the Shariah ADR fiasco (ignorance reigned supreme) – what happened was I was being portrayed as an extremist, which I am not. They tried everything: I hate Canada, I want to have Canadastan here, I am this I am that. Well, I am one who walks the walk – it IS as simple as that.
AL BERUNI: It was mistakenly said I converted – I am born and raised Muslim (in Toronto) and turned to the Orthodoxy (Sunni, Hanafi) at 19 years of age.
Finally: A bunch of reporters were on to me thanks to the van my brother usually drives (damn it, I knew the coppers should have got me a rental!) and so I went public with the CBC to try to show MY example as a Muslim – cant let the fanatics do all the advertising for Islam!
I am not hiding in any closet – I walk around in public and pray in the Masjid because I am a Muslim. Any Muslim brother has a problem with what I did – they can take it up with ALLAH on the Day of Judgment. At least wait until the trial starts – the evidence is gonna knock people down.
Mubin Shaikh
this guy is a fake hes just in it for the money. this is coming from somone who knows him and his family and all his cuzins for years the area in scarborough he grew up in is the same i grew up in yeah his uncles are into projects in building new mosques like jame abu bakr buh his uncle is one who steals the money who people have donated im telling u i kno this guy and i kno how he is hes just a regular person from tdot who just there to ruin lives and live a great life off the money why else wud he demand 300 000 dollars yeah sure buddy ur doing it for the country
I am posting this comment MUCH later than the original entries…but to clear up: Shaikh’s father was not cahrged with fondling anyone. The case was bogus which is why it was dropped. And Shaikh’s uncle was not one of the person’s who took money from the AbuBakr Masjid in Scarborough – those people were unrelated.
Now that the case is over and the evidence is available to see for ourselves, please visit the Star feature article that has court exhibits, videos, transcripts and hear the FACTS as they are known:
http://www3.thestar.com/static/toronto18/index.html
Clarification….Mubin Shaikh DID NOT convert to Islam….he was born Muslim. He is reviled in the local community and considered by most Canadians, to have set-up an impressionable group of youngsters to commit a crime, then turned them into the police, so he could collect money.
He had been an RCMP informant prior to this, and was paid nover $300,000 for his role in the Toronto 18 plot.
He only admitted he was an informant AFTER he got exposed by local members of the Muslim community.
This man is no hero. He is an opportunistic hypocrite, who created mass hysteria by setting up a bunch of kids, then sitting back and counting his cash.
He is also an admitted cocaine user.