LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

WILCH: MUSLIMS IN CANADA 45
anyone to practice their religion as they choose. Yet even when given the
option of doing things Islamically the majority of Muslims still prefer
limited involvement in these institutions. 14
A fundamental inconsistency confronts the Muslim who has chosen to
live in the West. It has to do with the fact that Islam is not simply a religion,
but an ideology which at its core is incompatible with the Western
worldview. Until this century it had been unheard of that Muslims would
voluntarily choose to leave an Islamic state for a non-Islamic one. How do
Muslims in the West justify their coming to and remaining in a non-Islamic
environment One reason often cited is economic necessity. 15 Another is the
excuse that there really is no Muslim nation which truly follows the Islamic
Law. Furthermore, the West does not prohibit Muslims from exercising the
religious aspects as well as many other aspects of Islamic life. With their
increasing numbers in Canada, some serious Muslims are justifying their
presence here as being engaged in a struggle to establish an Islamic State. 16
The Muslims of Canada are making progress in establishing Islamic
institutions, rooting Muslims in their faith, gaining the right to practise more
of the Sharia laws, and in attracting converts.
In spite of these freedoms to exercise Islamic practices, the fact remains
that most Muslims limit the extent to which they choose to follow them.
While a few Muslim leaders are considering the establishment of closed
Muslim communities in North America, it may be questionable how viable
such a community can be if membership remains voluntary. As formidable
as the Muslim community may appear to an outsider, there are still
numerous external as well as internal challenges that limit the extent to
which the West can be Islamised.
ISLAMIC MISSION IN NORTH AMERICA
As a religion with universal claims, Islam is a missionary religion.
Wherever a Muslim meets a non-Muslim or someone he believes to be an
“unbeliever”, it is his duty to invite that person to accept Islam. Muslims
refer to this kind of mission activity as dawah, an Arabic word with the root
meaning of “to call” or “to invite”. Therefore, if one meets a conscientious
Muslim it is not uncommon that the topic of religion will be raised early on.
Larry Poston classifies North American Muslim approaches to dawah
into two basic categories. One approach is the defensive-pacifist approach
and the other the offensive-activist. The first characterises the attitude of
14 Personal comm. Jami.
15 Bernard Lewis, Islam and the West (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) 56.
16 Arabia: The Islamic World Review (June 1987): 48.