The Point de Bascule blog is reporting that French Muslim Brotherhood leader Ahmed Jaballah was scheduled to attend a fundraiser for the renovation of a building associated with the Muslim Association of Canada in Montreal. The French language report says that according to publicty material posted on Facebook, Facebook that Jaballah was to participate in a dinner in Laval (North of Montreal) to finance the renovation of the Centre Communautaire Laurentien (CCL) on February 14. The imam of the mosque, Ahmed Kandil, was also scheduled to participated.
The Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) appears to be one of the only organizations in the world that has acknowledged its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. According an older MAC website:
MAC’s roots are deeply enshrined in the message of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). Its modern roots can be traced to the Islamic revival of the early twentieth century, culminating in the movement of the Muslim Brotherhood. This movement influenced Islamic activities, trends and intellectual discourse throughout the world including those of Muslims who came to Canada in search of freedom, education and better opportunities. MAC adopts and strives to implement Islam, as embodied in the Qur’an, and the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and as understood in its contemporary context by the late Imam, Hassan Albanna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. MAC regards this ideology as the best representation of Islam as delivered by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
In addition, a 2007 MAC webpage lists US Muslim Brotherhood leader and Canadian National Jamal Badawi as a director of the organization. In August 2013, the GMBDW covered another Point de Bascule report which revealed that the former President of the Muslim Association of Canada was serving as a senior advisor to the now deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
Ahmed Jaballah was one of the early leaders of the Union des Organisations Islamiques de France (UOIF), representing the Muslim Brotherhood in France. Jaballah and Abdallah Benmansour were replaced as UOIF leaders in 1993 by other individuals regarded as more moderate. A confidential source provides the following background information on Jaballah and Ben Mansour:
Ahmed Jaballah
Abdallah Benmansour was one of the co-founders of the UOIF in 1983 when he was described as a student from Tunisia. In 1989, Mansour and Ahmed Jaballah, Secretary-General and President of the UOIF respectively, visited the headmaster of the College of Creil Oise in order to persuade him to reinstate three young women who had been suspended from the school over wearing the hijab. They carried a hidden tape recorder in order to try and entrap the headmaster into making incriminating remarks. However, the operation was discovered when the tape recorder made noises inside the bag that Mr. Mansour was carrying. They later began a mail campaign to important French politicians including the French prime minister explaining that the veil is required by the Koran. In 1993, Abdallah Ben Mansour resigned as Secretary General of the UOIF and was replaced by Lhaj Thami Breze as President and Fouad Alaoui as Secretary-General. In April 2003, Mr. Mansour attracted substantial worldwide media attention when he compared the law requiring French Muslim women to remove their headscarves for identity photographs to the Nazi decree that forced Jews to wear a yellow star.
Both Jaballah and Ben Mansour have also been long-time leaders in the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), the umbrella group for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe and last week the GMBDW reported that FIOE had elected Benmansour as its new President.
In June 2011, wereported that the UOIF had elected Ahmed Jaballah as its new President, replacing Fouad Alaoui who was elected to a four-year term in 2009 but had resigned his post. Fouad Alaoui was one of the two individuals that had replaced Jaballah in 1993.
In November 2007, we reported that Jaballah was identified as a member of the “Meeting of Muslim Scholars and Thinkers”, an organizaton sponsored by the Saudi Muslim World League.
