Tarek Fatah, the outspoken liberal communications director of the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), has resigned, citing concerns for his personal safety and that of his family. He said he would also resign from the MCC’s board, severing all official ties with the organisation he helped found. “It’s not just for me. It’s for my wife and my daughters,” he said in an interview to the Globe and Mail, Canada’s leading liberal newspaper. “Part of it is also to get out of the limelight.” The report noted that Pakistan-born Fatah’s socially liberal views have always been controversial within the Muslim community, and in the past month he has been the subject of an e-mail campaign aimed at the Canadian news media. In his resignation letter to the board, Fatah wrote that he wanted to step down because of “an increasing heavy load of work”. He said he would stay on in his current capacity until the MCC finds a replacement. Along with his resignation, Fatah has filed a report with Toronto Police detailing what he says are a number of threats he has received since 2003. A police investigation is under way. In his resignation letter, he wrote, “This has been a particularly stressful three months and I have tried to do my best and times I have succeeded and at other times messed up.”
The report said Fatah had always carried a high profile, both with the Muslim Canadian Congress - known for its liberal interpretations of Islam, including its support of homosexuality - and as the host of Muslim Chronicle, a CTS TV current-affairs show that focuses on the Muslim community. But in recent months, he said, he has been coming under increasing fire. There was the e-mail campaign against him and he is more worried than ever about threats after the arrests of 17 terrorism suspects in Toronto in early June. Fatah’s unpopularity among conservative segments of the Muslim community flows from his being a strong advocate of gay rights for Muslims and the inclusion of secular voices in the Muslim community. He publicly and vehemently opposed the adoption of Sharia law in Canada. Recently, many Muslims were angered by his very vocal campaign against British imam Sheik Riyadh ul Haq, who was ultimately refused a visa to attend a conference in Toronto. Haq’s address was transmitted live by satellite instead. Many of his Muslim critics have also accused Fatah of “hogging the media spotlight”.