Re: The Bridge Builder, by Jennifer O’Brien, The London Free Press, October 27, 2011

[Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent to The London (Ontario) Free Press on October 30, 2011, in response to a Free Press article about Ingrid Mattson, newly appointed to the Islamist-funded chair of Islamic studies at Huron University College in Ontario, that appeared in that paper on on October 27, 2011: “The Bridge Builder,” by Jennifer O’Brien. As the Free Press declined to publish the letter, it is published at CW at the request of the authors.]

Once again the London Free Press issues a treacly puff piece regarding the appointment of Ingrid Mattson, past president of the Islamic Society of North America, to the new chair in Islamic studies at Huron University College (HUC). Most of the $2 million in funding for the chair has been raised by the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).

Free Press reporter Jennifer O’Brien noted that “a small, but vocal group of critics” has argued that the MAC and the IIIT ″have ties to controversial Muslim groups abroad” and ″could influence how Huron designed the courses and chose the chair.”

O’Brien reports that Huron officials and Muslim leaders insisted neither of the above listed claims was true and that the accusations were groundless.

O’Brien made no attempt to contact any of the critics of the Mattson appointment or to independently investigate the validity of their concerns. Had she done so, she would have found that MAC clearly states on its website that it follows the philosophy of Hassan al-Banna, an Islamist who founded the Muslim Brotherhood and called for the eradication of the state of Israel. O’Brien would also have found ample evidence to confirm that the IIIT was founded and has been directed by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. The people who objected to Huron University College taking funds from such Islamist organisations provided a large package of evidentiary documents to HUC to support their concerns and would be more than delighted to provide a similar package to O’Brien or anyone else at the Free Press.

O’Brien neglected to mention the Islamic Centre of Southwestern Ontario, (ICSO) a mosque in London, ON, which also provided financial backing for Mattson’s chair. The ex-imam and president of the ICSO was personally involved in the transfer of funds from his own bank account received from a Gadhafi funded organisation in Libya to the Canadian branch of the World Islamic Call Society (WICS) located right here in London, Ontario. The president and imam of the ICSO was also the head of WICS, Canada. The money from Ghadafi was sent from WICS, London, ON to fund terrorism in the United States and Trinidad. The Canadian Revenue Agency withdrew the charitable status of WICS because of this. This story appeared in several newspapers all over Canada earlier this year but even though this was a London-based story, not a hint of it was ever published in the LFP*.

Our concern was not with how Huron designed the Islamic studies courses. It was with the way they would run. We are concerned with academic freedom: the right to criticise, the right to reason and the right to express opinions freely and in an enquiring manner. The reputation of a similar programme at the Hartford Seminary in the USA, in which Ingrid Mattson is a prominent academic, gives ample grounds for having grave doubts about the academic freedom of students who will be enrolled in Islamic studies programmes under her jurisdiction. Our documentation package provides information on this topic too. Only time will tell if these fears of intolerance and an ideologically conformist class room are misplaced. The appointment of Ingrid Mattson suggests that the IIIT got its choice candidate so the concern that the person occupying the chair in Islamic studies would be an ideological soulmate of the Islamists who provided the money has already been proven, unfortunately, to be dead on.

Why didn’t Jennifer O’Brien talk to one or more of the people who took a great deal of time and trouble to warn HUC of what it was getting itself into? Was she afraid of what she might find? Does talking to only one side on an important issue conform with the concept of fair and balanced reporting at the Free Press? Does O’Brien know who carried out the due diligence on funding the chair in Islamic studies at HUC? Did this group include some of the same people who proposed the funding and secured it? Does she know that it took HUC only 1 day to reply to our concerns about the Islamist affiliations of the financial contributors so the college could not possibly have looked into this serious matter with sufficient care? Does she know that the IIIT is a think tank and not a ″major North American foundation”? In HUC’s appeal to the general public for funds the IIIT was not named so responders did not know that the IIIT was where the money was going to come from. Ms. O’Brien and the LFP, shouldn’t you have asked a lot more questions before writing this piece in which you, to all intents and purposes, accuse dozens of individuals of making inaccurate claims regarding the funding organisations without doing any checking of your own?

*The Ottawa Citizen, which broke this story a few months ago published another article describing the ex-imam of the ICSO’s sorrow at Gadhafi’s death. The new article provides more information than contained in the original one. Reference:"Travel agent who funnelled dictator’s money to terrorists laments death of Gadhafi”, by Gary Dimmock, The Ottawa Citizen, October 20, 2011. The individual in question was the president and imam of the ICSO at the time the charitable status of WICS was revoked.