Islam Online has reported on the 8th Annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit convention held in Toronto over the Christmas weekend and which featured well known global Muslim Brotherhood leaders. According to the report:
A galaxy of Muslim scholars, intellectuals, professors and community leaders from across the world will address thousands of Muslims from North America expected to show up for the annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) convention. “We believe that qualified western Islamic scholars are best positioned to help Muslims understand principles of Islam in context,” Sameer Zuberi, the convention’s Communications Director, told IslamOnline.net. “This is why we put this convention together every year.” The three-day convention will open Friday, December 25, at the Metro Toronto Convention Center under the theme, SOS: Saving the Ship of Humanity. Among the most prominent speakers are Jamal Badawi, Hamza Yusuf, Tariq Ramadan, Abdal Hakim Jackson, Zaid Shakir, Zainab Alwani and Aisha Al-Adawiya. The convention will feature prominent entertainers and renowned comedians including “Allah Made Me Funny,” Muslim hip-hop group Outlandish, and Pakistani pop star Junaid Jamshed. Yusuf Islam, the former pop star popularly known as Cat Stevens, will also make his first live Canadian appearance in 10 years during the convention. The 8th annual convention will also feature a grand Souk (bazaar), with vendors from all across North America selling and promoting their products and services….Since first held in 2003, the RIS convention has become one of North America’s high-profile Muslim conferences. Organizers expect a larger turnout as the 8th annual convention falls during the Christmas holiday in Canada. “Our first convention eight years ago attracted two to three thousand attendees. This year we are expecting 17 000,” says Zuberi. The RIS is the largest Muslim gathering in Canada, echoing the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention in the US.
Jamal Badawi is known to be a leader of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood while Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Egyptian Brotherhood, is one of the most important figures today in the global Brotherhood. Other featured speakers linked to the Global Muslim Brotherhood included:
Abdallah Bin Bayyah Saudi Arabia (European Council for Fatwa and Research)
Tareq Suwaidan Kuwait (Muslim Brotherhood)
Abdal Hakim Jackson U.S. (Fiqh Council of North America)
Also featured was Salman al-Awdah, a Saudi sheikh until recently known to be a sympathizer of Osama Bin Laden.
A previous post reported on last year’s RIS convention.
(For a report on the convention, go here.)