Mustafa Farooq is Executive Director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM). A lawyer by profession, Mustafa completed his Juris Doctor at the University of Alberta and Osgoode Hall (York University) and later earned his Master of Laws (LLM) at UC Berkeley in California.
In an interview on May 13, 2020 with Broadview magazine funded by the Government of Canada, Mustafa Farooq said that NCCM under his leadership is “much more interested in engaging in the politics of justice and the politics of love.” The following are excerpts from the interview:
Maria Iqbal: “What role has your faith played in influencing where you are today?”
Mustafa Farooq: “An enormous role. I identify as part of the Sunni community — but our staff at the NCCM is pretty reflective of the diversity of the Canadian-Muslim experience. I would say that my faith informs my approach to activism. It informs my approach to justice and fighting for a more equitable society. It informs the way that I interact with my family and the way that I interact with my friends. But more than anything else, it informs the way I engage in dialogue. We’re told in the Qur’an: “Come to a word common between us and you.” I think in the times that we’re living in, in such a polarized atmosphere, my faith and the concept of coming to common words — common understanding and seeing the humanity that all of us have — is so important. That’s why we take a lot of time to make sure we’re not just engaging in the politics of outrage. We’re much more interested in engaging in the politics of justice and the politics of love.”
Maria Iqbal: “What do the politics of love look like?”
Mustafa Farooq: “Our approach is always to focus on trying to first engage in dialogue and discussion with everyone, regardless of where they come from.”
In a recent post on Facebook Mustafa Farooq called Christian street preachers “awful people.” A photo posted by Farooq featured a street preacher holding a sign that read “Believe the Gospel, Obey Jesus” and wearing a shirt with the wording “Repent and be converted Acts 3:19 NASB.” According to Farooq the Christian street preachers also chanted (“showed up to scream”) “All Lives Matter.”
Mustafa Farooq’s Facebook post (June 5, 2020 at 3:57 PM):
“As a bunch of awful people showed up in Ottawa to scream about the redemption of Christ and All Lives Matter, I couldn’t help but think about the quote from brother Malcolm [X], “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us.”
To read the context of Malcolm X statement click here.
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