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

[Abu.Zubaydah.Yusuf]

An Open Letter to the Muslims of Masjid al-Furqaan (Toronto, Canada) from Abul-'Abbaas Moosaa Richardson (Summer Courses Instructor)

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, the Ever Compassionate...

OPEN LETTER TO THE MUSLIMS OF MASJID AL-FURQAAN IN TORONTO

Praise be to Allaah alone. May He raise the rank of our Messenger Muhammad and grant him peace.

From Moosaa Richardson to the Muslims at Masjid al-Furqaan in Toronto, Canada

As-Salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

I pray that Allaah the Exalted blesses you and your families with increased sincerity and firmness upon the Truth, and that He unites your hearts this blessed month of Ramadhaan as true brothers worshipping one Lord, following one Path, with one goal - Salvation in this life and the Next.

"And hold fast all of you together to the Rope of Allaah, and do not be divided amongst yourselves. And remember the favor of Allaah upon you, that you were once enemies and yet He joined your hearts together, and by His Grace (alone) you became brothers, after having been at the brink of a pit of Fire, He saved you from it. Like this, Allaah makes His signs clear to you, so that you might be rightly guided." [meaning of 3:103]

When splitting occurs amongst those striving to follow the way of the Salaf, it is ONLY because the Shaytaan has led some or all of them to neglect important Islaamic principles, that protect and foster their brotherhood.

The Salafee call, the way of the Prophets, Companions, and righteous early imaams, is a path of honesty and clarity. Lying and deception does not aid the truth ever, dear brothers.

The Salafee call is a path of brotherhood, patience, and mutual advice. Stick with your brothers, and do not be divided. If you truly intend to see your brothers improve, then stick by them and patiently advise them. Our Messenger (sallallaahu alayhe wa sallam) said, what means, "The Deen (Religion of Islaam) is Naseehah (sincere advice)." We are all obliged by our religion to be patient, offer good advice, and receive it well from others. May Allaah grant us success with this.

In Toronto, as you know, there is a group involved in underhanded acts of treachery against your community, like initiating the freezing of the centre's bank accounts, issuing documents claiming leadership of the centre for themselves, trying to seize property from the very store that funds the community, and other misguided attempts to remove the current administration, harm them, or drive them away.

While only Allaah knows the extent of damage they have already caused the community and what they have planned for the future, they have managed to gain support from some of the honest everyday Muslims of Toronto, who are unaware of their real agenda. They play on emotions and capitalize on bad dealings, disputes, and arguments of the past. They misrepresent themselves as people who seek islaah (correction), claiming support from scholars and students of knowledge.

I have advised them directly on a number of occasions, in person, by phone, and by email, with clear and direct advice (that they sought from me), asking them to take the path of the Salaf, be patient, advise, work with the community, and not to cause division, disputing, and animosity. This remains to be my advice to them, if they are sincere and want islaah in truth.

In my opinion, the last month or more of ongoing strife, animosity, splitting, closing of the masjid, police in the masjid, etc. has been initiated and fueled by their stubborn neglect and abandonment of the advice they have requested. I plea to them to return to the advice they have requested from me, advice that will only lead them to good by Allaah's Permission.

I further advise the Muslims of Masjid al-Furqaan with the following:

1) Turn to Allaah alone, sincerely, repenting to Him alone, asking Him for guidance and stability. These trials are from our own sins! Allaah says, what means, "Corruption (evil, sins, disobedience, fitnah, etc.) has appeared on land and at sea because of what the hands of the people have earned, that He (Allaah) may cause them to taste some of what they have earned, so they might return (to Allaah from their wrongdoing)." [30:41] Flee to Allaah alone and seek refuge with Him from these trials.

2) Stand by your brothers in your community who have shown years of hard work and have built much for the blessed Da'wah of the Salaf in Toronto and elsewhere. Work with them, be brothers, correct their errors and advise them personally with what will benefit them.

3) If you are approached by one of the takeover activists, admonish him directly and clearly to fear Allaah and stop creating and perpetuating strife in the community. Many of you have already done this, and continue to do so, and I ask Allaah to bless you for your good deeds. Do not engage in debates or exchanges of bad manners with them, especially in or around your masjid. Simply advise them sternly, and then pray for their guidance in their absence.

In closing: Do your best to repel fitnah and rid your community of quarrels, disputes, and animosity, to the best of your ability. Work together in every good way, as Allaah commands us.

Allaah says, what means, "And cooperate (all of you together) in acts of righteousness and piety, and do not cooperate in acts of sin and transgression." [5:2]

And He says, what means, "O you who have eemaan! When you meet secretly, do not hold secret counsels of sin and transgression, and disobedience of the Messenger! Rather, hold secret counsels of righteousness and piety! And fear Allaah, the One unto Whom you shall all be gathered!" [58:9]

And Allaah swears by the passing of time itself that "Surely mankind is in a state of loss, except for those who have eemaan and perform righteous actions, advising each other with the Truth, and advising each other with patience." [Meaning of Soorah al-'Asr]

And Allaah knows best.

I pray that Allaah keeps all of you safe, and that your community can resume thriving with great cooperative efforts to spread our beloved da'wah. May Allaah raise the rank of our Messenger and grant him peace. Was-salaam.

(Written on the eve of Ramadhaan: 8/30/1432)

Moosaa

[Muhammad.Abdil.Qaadir]

May Allaah تعالى safeguard Masjid al Furqaan and the dawah of Troid from any trouble makers. Ameen.

It is a good masjid with good brothers who are dedicated to their work of Islaamic propogation.

[troid.ca]

So far we have focused on the ground level activities of people like Harun Cole, Mikael Wilson, Said Ali, Vernon Khalil Brown, and we have seen the underhanded, deceptive and treacherous actions they have performed as part of the agenda to wrestle control over the markaz and the masjid by using paper fraud to freeze bank accounts, sieze the hosting and domain and attempt to steal the assets in the bookstore. We believe that they are supported at a higher, more tactical level by others who have ties to Madeenah.Com (as indicated by some of their supporters) and likewise who have connections to Tahir Wyatt and Zahid Rashid. It has been stated to us (and others) that they allegedly have support from Shaykh Wasiullaah and it is known that this same network of people have used Shaykh Waseeullaah over the years to wage their campaign against Maktabah Salafiyyah in the UK, after having failed with other Shaykhs. The intense hatred of these people was exposed recently through their dealings with Shaykh Falah Isma'eel on his recent trip to the US. We do not doubt for one second that the agenda against Salafi Publications and against Troid has common origins and shared personalities, the only difference being that they found us to be an easier target after having failed with Salafi Publications.

The picture becomes more clear when we evaluate the writings, statements, associations and actions of people like Tahir Farooq. Tahir Farooq is part of this group and is responsible for spreading a lot of the lies which helped to create the public cover for this takeover attempt. The most amazing thing is that people like Tahir Farooq have outwardly and openly maintained relations with us whilst knowing full well what is happening and being planned in the background, rather, been part of that very planning. This is a type of hypocrisy (nifaq), and many of the community members whom these people tried to draw in have now recognized this duplicity and two-facedness shown by these people.

In an email dated 1st August 2011 (two days ago), Tahir Farooq wrote to a brother in the Emirates stating the following:

Brother Said and Haroon are the rightful owners of troid.org and the organization according to Ontario law and Islamic principles of ownership. They took control of the website through completely legal way. It was Umar who called the company and caused this disruption.

Allah knows best how blatant lies can be made in such a casual way on the very first day of the month of Ramadan, how these people have little wara' even after the devils have been chained.

Harun Cole was acting-president for a period although he was never on any official or legal paperwork. Harun was only added to the list of Directors on May 27th 2011 through electronic filing fraud, as a means of enabling the treacherous, corrupt takeover attempt and theft of assets. After playing the role of acting-president, he left around Summer 2000, eleven years ago and went to Jamaica to pursue business (confirmed by his former business partner). This was after the center was left in debt and pretty much in ruins, as we have explained in earlier posts.

As for Said Ali, then he was the original president from the incorporation documents in 1997. Yet he disappeared after a failed summer camp only a year later. A fundraiser at a mosque in April 1998 helped generate $10,000 for the organization. This was then used to organize a summer camp as a means of generating more revenue. However, Said made a private arrangement with a sister in the community allowing her to put up half of the money for the summer camp, turning it into a shared profit event. A lot of members quit because the da'wah centre was supposed to be non-profit, yet this was made into a for-profit event. The camp (July 1998) turned out to be a failure in all respects, logistically and financially. All the money raised was lost and even worse, in just a four month period, the organization fell into debt by $6000, that is from +$10,000 to -$6,000 in four months! In July 1998, immediately after the camp failure, Said abandoned the organization and was not seen until three weeks later, his appearance clearly indicating a weakening of his eemaan and this was coupled with the new talk around the town that troid had misappropriated some of the money invested by the sister. He was never seen until several years later, this time even weaker in his eemaan! I (Ahmad) saw Said Ali at the corner of Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. one day in 2002 and asked him when will he get back into practicing and so on. He replied "When Allaah makes my business successful, you will see me back in the dawah" Qadarullaah he never became successful with his computer business. When a person abandons ship and runs off like this, can it still be claimed this man is a rightful owner of the organization! Said Ali has only resurfaced relatively recently running his own masjid, inviting al-Maghrib Institute instructors and Tablighis to his masjid, as evidenced by the flyers used to promote these events.

Neither Ontario law and nor Islamic principles render these people as rightful owners of the organization, the domain, the website, the masjid or any of the current assets. This is because even if for argument's sake they had been serving officers or directors, the authorities have to be notified of all appointments and resignations by way of an annual return, and the annual returns from that time do not show Harun Cole nor Said Ali as officers of the organization. If they felt they were still part of the organization and had even the slightest connection to it, they would have made sure that their names were on the annual returns. Instead, after pretty much driving the organization into the ground in their own ways, they abandoned ship and pursued their dunya. So the truth is in fact the very opposite of what Tahir Farooq claims. As Harun Cole was never legally an officer of the organization, period and Said Ali went into hiding after 1998, hardly to be seen at the center for the next thirteen years, it is against both Ontario law and Islamic Law for these people to use paper-fraud, lies and deception in order to wrestle control of the center, the masjid, and the assets connected to them.

From that time walhamdulillaah, by Allaah's permission, we have worked to strengthen the da'wah and to branch out into different areas (publishing) and also opened Masjid al-Furqaan and the organization has been running completely debt free. To commence these recent activities (and throw the organization into debt) these people fraudulently used very old paperwork, when Troid was incorporated (September 1997) which contained the names of the two who officially resigned in November 1997 (Mikael Wilson and Vernon Khalil Brown) and Said Ali. This is paper fraud, because none of these individuals are, from a legal point of view, officers of the organization because the annual returns show otherwise.

Here is the original incorporation document from September 1997:



We see the names of Said Ali, Vernon Brown and Michael Wilson. As we proved earlier on both Vernon Brown and Michael Wilson resigned the very next month, their resignation letters are in the first post in this thread, and hence, they have knowingly signed fraudulent documents as part of this recent takeover bid. As for Said Ali, he abandoned Troid and went on his way, as we have explained, in 1998, short of a year later. As for Harun Cole, he has never been an officer of the organization in any legal capacity, period. Here is a sample annual return from 2005 where Ahmad and 'Umar (Anthony) are president and secretary respectively and have been for ten years since 2001. We along with Jama Hassan and other helpers have been running the centre since.



Therefore, Tahir Farooq's lie that Said Ali and Harun Cole are rightful owners of Troid is exposed walhamdulillaah, and this is just one of his many other lies that are being used in order to dupe the wider community into supporting the actions of treachery, deception and corruption taking place on the ground level.

As for Tahir Farooq's statement:

They took control of the website through completely legal way. It was Umar who called the company and caused this disruption.

This reminds you of a certain group of people who dispossess another of their land, bomb them, demolish their homes, kill their children, steal their crops and then start playing and screaming the victim to the rest of the world to gain sympathy as if they are ones who have truly been wronged!

Tahir Farooq, Madeenah.Com and Shaykh Waseeullah

Tahir Farooq has associations with Ahrar Muhammad Sharif (a listed Madeenah.Com writer and translator and a signatory to the document used to initiate this discord and corruption within the community) and from previous interactions with him it is apparent that he, like Ahrar Muhammad Sharif, is upon the way and thought of Madeenah.Com, Tahir Wyatt and Zahid Rashid who are known to attack Salafis and scheme against them whilst remaining silent about the Ahl al-Bidah and often cooperating with the Hizbiyyeen, as has been noted by Shaykh Rabee' (refer to this thread) about some of them:

After I studied this matter, I found that he (i.e. Tahir Wyatt) was refuting Salafees in the West and harming them, and he would accompany those who were splitting the ranks of the Salafees. And recently some articles have been posted on Kulasalafiyyeen relating to this matter. These things are an indication of something. The next matter is that he refused to speak about Abul-Hasan al-Ma'ribee, but his soul allows him to rebuke Salafees. How is it easy for him to attack Salafees here and there and he finds it difficult to speak a word of truth about Abul-Hasan al-Ma`ribee. If he (i.e. Tahir Wyatt) was a Salafee, then this would not be his condition...

...This is my stance and the stance of Shaykh 'Ubayd al-Jaabiree and Shaykh Falaah Ismaa'eel and others from the Mashaayikh concerning what has taken place of recent in America in opposition to some of the Mashaayikh in al-Madeenah who are not aware of his situation.

This network (Madeenah.Com) has also been exposed and spoken of by Shaykh Ubayd al-Jabiree, Shaykh Muhammad bin Haadee on numerous occasions (with very harsh words), Shaykh Ahmad Subay'ee, Shaykh Falaah Ismaa'eel and others.

What we would like to know is: Who are the people who have been liaising with Shaykh Waseeullaah in order to facilitate the actions of fraud, deceit, dishonesty and treachery at the ground level. Who are the individuals who have been asking questions and getting fatwas to justify this corruption. And where are these fatwas? We ask these questions because some of them are claiming they have fatwas from Shaykh Waseeullaah supporting them.

Being very generous and giving people like Harun Cole, Mikael Wilson, Said Ali, Vernon Khalil Brown an excuse and saying that these brothers would not get involved in these actions unless they believed (mistakenly) that all of this is correct, justified and supported by Scholars, then who are the people at the higher level who are misguiding these ground level people into thinking that paper-fraud, deceit, deception, treachery and organized theft is permissible because of what is perceived to be a higher, nobler aim which is apparently supported by Scholars with whom they are liasing for these people? We would like to see their correspondence with Shaykh Waseeullah who is alleged to be in support of this activity, and we would like these individuals to come forward and present themselves and raise their charges and accusations against us directly. If they believe we have such errors and mistakes in aqidah or manhaj that justifies their tactical support for this group by liasing with Shaykh Waseeullah for that purpose then let them come out and explain it all to us.

[troid.ca]

We received the following via an email (on 2nd August) from a brother whose name was deceptively put on the list by the plotters of the attempted coup:

I have read the posts by TROID.ORG on salafitalk.com and I had no idea how far the deception from those certain individuals have gone. I was literally taken aback by their level of treachery and deviant actions, May Allah protect us from that. I also just read Musa's post on there and I'm happy he made his position very clear along with Dawud Adib. As some from amongst them claimed that Dawud Adib was "with them."

My name was put on the "list" by those individuals, but I was never ever contacted by them, NOR did I give anyone any permission to put my name on this list, and I just wanted my testimony to be in writing and to be made clear. And till this day I have never seen 'the list' (the report) or know of its true contents.

As Musa Richardson and Dawud Adib said they did not support them and they also did not heed the advice of Sheikh Ramzan, so it seems that their intentions were to get an answer that suited their needs even if it had no truth to it.

I also want to say that for my time in Troid and dealing with Umaar al-Irlandee specifically, I have nothing but good to say about the brother. In all my dealings with him he has been very responsible, professional, and most importantly, very brotherly to me. He ran Troid like it deserved to be run, from the online lectures for the Musa Richardson classes on wiziq, to the bookstore & book publishing, online bookstore, the donations, all the drives, and the day to day affairs.

May Allah protect the dawah in Toronto and to make Troid a brighter beacon of truth then it ever was and increase the brothers/sisters in rank on the Day of Judgement for putting the dawah ahead of themselves and sacrificing countless hours and money for the sake of Allah. Ameeen.

Your brother in Islaam, Khalid

Update (05/08/2011): Khalid was informed by another brother who believed he had seen his name on the document, but this has now been questioned. This matter will be clarified in a separate post later in this thread. While this matter is clarified, it does not change the fact that many names have been used without their permission, agreement and consent.