Who from the Scholars and Du’aat Are Supporting this Treachery and Corruption in Toronto?

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The claim of financial mismanagement is one of the most effective ways to start mobilizing people against those responsible for the running of centers of da'wah with a view to removing them and taking their place. We are sure this has been done in other places against those upon the way of the Salaf who strive to connect people to the Scholars and call to clarity in aqidah and manhaj. Those behind the paper-fraud documented above have acted no differently and have taken this route because it is a very effective method to start casting doubts in the minds of the community.

The reason why this is a very effective method is that in order to counter and rebut all the allegations, the accused have to spend an excruciatingly long time in clarifying the allegations and explaining all the various situations and circumstances surrounding the financial affairs of the running of a mosque and da'wah center and provide facts, details and evidences that prove otherwise and all of this can be complex. By the time they start explaining and clarifying and recounting historical contexts to financial dealings and decisions, the damage has already been done, because screams of "scandal" always attract attention and most people never bother to check the facts. This is how tabloids work to shape public opinion, and this is also how those who lust for power and position also choose to operate.

With Allaah's praise we are aware that those behind this bold attempt have been and are still trying to garner support from the community and elsewhere for their despicable actions. We have anticipated their claims and already have a detailed response for their allegations. The question is to see how bold they will be in trying to spread many more lies and deceptions now that their agenda is out in the open and it has become clear to the people that even if for argument's sake they had a genuine grievance they have definitely lost all credibility and have only exposed the dishonesty, treachery and personal interests that characterize their ringleaders. There is absolutely no defence for what they have been exposed for thus far. Nobody, not even in their dreams, could conjure up a defence for these actions and say that they are in perfect harmony with the Shariah and in perfect harmony with justice, fairness and rectification, even if they waved fatwa after fatwa from whatever Scholar(s) they allege are in support of them and what they are doing.

All we can do in this post is to address just one of their many allegations as an illustrative example. They claimed in of their documents that we have:

No concrete plan to bring an Imaam; all the money is divided back to these two individuals

This is an example of how they take an issue (bringing an Imaam) which has explanations and reasons, and then employ it as part of others to try to cast aspersions and doubts. Now what is below is part of a much longer and comprehensive response we have made to all their allegations, and some of the things mentioned therein themselves require more background information, so the reader may get a little lost, and this is precisely the point we have made above about the nature of these types of issues. The reader should ignore the details that don't make sense as they are part of a much longer rebuttal and clarification which we shall make available if and when these people decide to be so bold (and stupid) as to spread their lies and allegations further.

1. As for the first part of this statement, “No concrete plan to bring an Imaam…” the writers of this document claimed in another place, that no one else is allowed to be involved (in TROID other than two brothers), that being the case, how could they ever know (one way or the other) about the plan to bring a student of knowledge to Toronto?
2. Bringing a student of knowledge to Toronto is not a simple task, it requires that someone is willing and capable firstly, and a financial base is required to support him. In the case of a foreigner, it has legal and work visa requirements, in the case of a Canadian, that situation has not presented itself. We have mentioned to the community, and re-iterated many times, that we, wal-hamdulillaah, have established a non-profit store including a publishing wing, something we spawned (by Allaah’s permission) of the printing of our first publication “The Creed of the Four Imaams”, it is something we have invested in to create an outlet to support a student of knowledge, Imam and administrative staff. Our request to the community has consistently been “We have a target of $5000 a month”, from that amount is rent $2550 and other operational expenses/bills and janitorial. We have mentioned many times that if this target can be reached (of which we haven’t been able to get beyond $2500/month consistently) we have the resources and wherewithal (within TROID Publications and TROIDStore) to support a student of knowledge (to the range of about $2500/monthly). We do not want to make any false promises to any potential student of knowledge and then leave him destitute or in need or relocation after six months etc. so until this base of support for the building can be firmly established, we cannot move forward.
3. The deceptive writers of this document claim that “all the money is divided back to these two individuals” a slanderous claim, without proof and witnesses that could result in their flogging in an Islamic court – but let’s put that aside for a minute – if it is the case that these two brothers only have self-interest at stake, why on earth would they let the school leave when they agreed to pay $2500 (but refused to change the leadership and directive of the school moving forward), $2500 extra in the coffers should be in their self-interest, should it not? Why would they cancel the 2011 Summer Courses with Moosaa Richardson (something that generated $5500 for TROID last year), in favour of a free programme with the noble Shaykh, Muhammad Ramzaan (shouldn’t they keep the money flowing for themselves)? Rather the interests of the da’wah, integrity and uprightness were deemed uppermost.
4. The question could be asked, “Why not create a salary for a student of knowledge and remove the need for administrative staff, as a priority?” This can be done, however, it would cause a collapse in the very financial infrastructure designed to support that student of knowledge (TROID Publications and TROIDStore) in the first place, or consume that student of knowledge with being a salesman and administrator instead of a teacher and educator (that is, if he is even capable of that). Currently, ceasing the operation or progression of TROIDStore and TROID Publications would causes a collapse in the financial backbone of this local, regional and international da’wah organization (something the founders of this document would salivate at evidently). An organisation that has been free of debt since the inception of the masjid and running smoothly without interruption (although the writers of this document certainly want to interrupt it).
5. In a normal situation, the community is responsible for all expenses of running a masjid, it is usually 100% donation driven, this is the norm and understood. In such a scenario, the community is responsible for the building, its upkeep, all related expenses and the salary of an Imam and other staff (depending on the size of the masjid and its needs), we have never requested from the community, to provide a salary for a student of knowledge, administrator etc. although it is undeniable that these positions are pivotal to the running of the centre and organization. Our request has always been, and openly stated on the microphone, “help us to reach the target $5000/monthly (basic core expenses of the centre) and we can do the rest” because by Allaah’s grace, we have been able to strive and work hard to establish these financial outlets of support to relieve some of the burden from a hard-working and financially strapped community in a inner-city, poverty stricken neighbourhood, as our noble brother Abul-‘Abaas pointed out in a recent posting he made on Salafitalk.net.
6. As our elder brother, Abul-‘Abbaas is a witness, we have sought to create a plan to host a student of knowledge for the last few years, something we have had detailed discussions with him about in the past – and the extreme importance of it in our city.

As for their slander:

“…all the money is divided back to these two individuals”

This is a serious allegation, a bold statement not backed up with a shred of evidence. It is so serious in nature that it is something that we should pursue in a court of law, seeking prosecution of the claimants lest they back up their claim with proofs and witnesses, and if they were to broadcast this publicly, we will seek libel, and in the view of some of the Scholars, where a Shariah right is attainable through the law of the land, it is permissible to pursue and seek to redress that right if no other option is available. There are a couple of observations:

1. In another part of their document, they claim “no new brothers have been allowed to join (TROID),” if this is the case – how then could they ascertain, “all the money is divided back to these two individuals?” Or is it that you are lying?
2. They also mention, “There is no one to watch over their financial decisions. Ahmad Assing approves Umar’s activities, and Umar approves Ahmad’s.” If there is no one to watch over their financial decisions (other than them) as you claim, again, how do you determine that “all the money is divided back to these two individuals?” or is it that you are lying?

This is an organisation that has paid its bills on-time, month after month for more than seven years, since the masjid opened, the lights on, heating and AC on, no bounced rent cheques, a flawless record, no collection agencies or debters for the community to deal with, and an influx of beautiful programmes and activities (like the Summer Courses with Moosaa Richardson and the Seminar with Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Ramzaan). It took us years to pull out of debt and mismanagement on the part of the Harun Cole and his directive, thousands in debt, an organisation floundering, spinning its wheels. We corrected this affair by Allaah's grace with hard work and kind cooperation from the community. We certainly do not want to return to a day where those who were irresponsible and incapable drowned the organisation in debt and inactivity. Those in the community who have watched the organisation grow, leaps and bounds can attest to the progress of TROID in comparison to the struggles and mismanagement of those who failed to direct the organisation both in terms of financial stability and thabaat (firmness) upon al-manhaj as-salafee. We certainly do not want to see episodes like the one below (from the year 2000) under the watch of some of these individuals who buried the community in years of debt, that set us back almost half a decade before we could pull out of it and open Masjid al-Furqaan (here is an old letter in relation to an outstanding property tax bill):



It was shortly after this notice that the organisation was forced to leave the facility of 1010 Weston Rd. (inability to pay rent/bills + fines and debts) and the organisation was relegated to the back of a cassette store on Dixon Rd., sharing with another tenant, with one computer and around 100 sqft of space to operate in and thousands of dollars in debt to deal with. It took us four or five years to recover from this debt and lack of leadership and structure on the part of Harun Cole (who was mudir). He eventually departed Toronto to establish a business in Jamaica, leaving the organisation in ruins. Now it seems that after years of pursuing business interests and abandoning the da'wah efforts in Toronto, after the ship has been righted and put back on course, they have returned to lay claim to this organisation as their own - after we wiped out their debt and failure. The intelligent person is not fooled.