Salaheddin Islamic Centre

The Salaheddin Islamic Centre is a mosque located in the Scarborough Junction neighbourhood of the Scarborough district of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, noted for its outspoken Imam Aly Hindy and alleged links to convicted terrorists.

History

The mosque was founded by Imam Hassan Farhat.

Imam Aly Hindy took over the leadership of the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in 1997, and has since transformed the community from a small mosque to become a full centre with many facilities and programs. In addition to offering regular prayers, lectures and conferences, the Salaheddin Centre assists disadvantaged and destitute members of the Toronto community with a full-time elementary and high school, marriage and counselling services, a food bank, youth programs, and funeral services, along with other activities that seek to improve people's lives.

In 2020, the Salaheddin Islamic Centre opened new facilities for the Safa and Marwa Islamic School in Mississauga, financed with the support of the Islamic Development Bank. The 6.6 million project enabled the purchase of a former office building and warehouse and convert into high school classrooms and associated facilities for 850 students.

Controversies

One of the mosque's founders was, now disgraced, Imam Hassan Farhat, however he was made persona non grata by the mosque's administrators and forbidden to continue to hold any position at the facility. Permission was granted to Farhat to worship at the mosque.

A number of its worshippers have been accused of ties to terrorism, including Ahmed Khadr who ran a charity named Health and Education Project International that used to attend the mosque and allegedly funnelled money to Afghan training camps.

Brothers Saeed and Masoud Rasoul, whose father was a prayer leader at the mosque, later went missing in Iraq, believed to have fought for Ansar al-Islam, possibly at the urging of Farhat.

Following the 2006 Ontario terrorism plot, it emerged that Fahim Ahmad and a number of other suspects were members of the mosque.

During the 2008 bail hearing of Abdullah Khadr, where the mosque offered surety, Crown prosecutors attacked the credibility of the mosque, although Judge Trotter dismissed the suggestion, referring to testimony from RCMP officer Tarek Mokdad who agreed it was not reasonable to suggest the mosque supported terrorism. The Court ruled:

Notable members

* Fahim Ahmad, a convicted terrorist
* Steven Vikash Chand, convicted on conspiracy charges as part of the 2006 Ontario terrorism plot
* Hassan Farhat, a disgraced imam
* Aly Hindy, an imam
* Mahmoud Jaballah, a former school principal, detained without charge on a security certificate since 2001
* Members of the Khadr family, including AhmedAgency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief, and sons, Abdullah, Abdurahman, and Omar, noted for their ties to Osama bin Laden and connections to al-Qaeda
* Saeed and Masoud Rasoul, alleged members of the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam

See also

* Islam in Canada
* List of mosques in Canada

References

External links

*

{{Islam in Canada

20th-century mosques in Canada
Buildings and structures in Scarborough, Ontario
Islamic organizations based in Canada
Mosques in Toronto
Organizations based in Toronto