Quebec takes bold action as Muslim activists blur line between public prayer and protest

At the end of last month Quebec Prime Minister Françoislogault and Secularism Minister Jean François Robert Announce They will Introducing new laws Praying is prohibited in public places this fall. This measure was born out of what Robert calls the “proliferation of street prayers”, which has become synonymous with the masses The display of Islamismespecially after pro-attacks and pro-Palestine demonstrations.

Street prayer is no longer an image of quiet dedication. from Toronto arrive Times Squarewhich is a political theater, often carried out on a large scale, blocking roads, obstructing entrances and projecting intimidation into the center of civic life.

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Legault is outspoken: “When you want to pray, you go to a church or a mosque, not in a public place.” Roberg added that this practice creates uneasiness, erosion of neutrality and risk of public order.

echo Act 21Quebec (Quebec) The 2019 law prohibiting public sector workers from wearing religious symbols cannot be ignored. Earlier laws assert that Quebec’s teeth defended the secularist rights of Lassett (or French). Now the province extends the same logic to the streets.

It is predictable that civil liberties organizing and building Muslim leaders issued an alarm. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada Civil Liberties Association answer The plan says that a statement prohibiting public prayer is associated with the protection of religion, expression and assembly in the Canadian Charter, which is part of the country’s constitution. The Canadian Muslim Forum marked the proposed legal stigma. Christian Lépine, Archbishop of Montreal claim Those who prohibit public prayers will be “just as prohibited to think about themselves.”

The remarks are heavy, but the core issue is missed: in this case, public prayer is not a private act of conscience. This is a manifestation of power in the shared citizen space.

This is not “Islamophobia”. This is Islam. The prophet Muhammad himself warned not to pray in the middle of the road. Sunan Ibn Majah’s hadith or statement to the prophet in Sunan ibn Majah: “Be careful to stop and rest and pray in the middle of the road, because it is a refuge for snakes and carnivores.”

Apart from metaphor, the point is clear: prayer must never endanger others or disrupt public order. Even Islamic law recognizes the stupidity of hindering public life with ritual performances. In other words, Quebec does not contradict Islam, but adheres to the principles embedded in it.

This is not the first time that Islamists have tried to expand the limits of accommodation. Public prayers in western cities are increasingly being used as a form of political demonstrations. These displays often coincide with the “Free Palestine” rallies that slid easily into anti-Semitic chants and intimidation from the Jewish community. Outside the synagogues and churches, on the sidewalks and squares, large-scale prayers are becoming increasingly involved in God and more involved in leverage – showing who can ask for a public square.

Voices in the Muslim community warn against such manipulation. Raheel Raza, Canadian Muslim journalist, co-founder Clear AllianceThe network of Muslims, former Muslims and allies challenged Islamic extremism, and he told me she opposed religious practices about citizens’ lives, from gender segregation prayers in schools to political and street prayers in Islam.

Her argument is simple: faith is personal, not a tool of public coercion.

The danger here is more than just a legal balance. It is the cultural coherence of Quebec’s civic life and the civic life from New York City to the London community.

Similarly, Canadian Muslim commentator Mohammed Rizwan, a member of Clarity Coalition, condemned the politicization of prayer in public places, calling it “an act of intentional provocation and division.”

Their point is precisely because they refuse to argue that Islamic criticism is a false binary problem of attacks on Islam, and this is the opposite: a defense of those who weaponize weapons.

They also believe that the allegations of reductionism are hidden by all Muslims in Islamists.

The upcoming constitution is inevitable. The Supreme Court 2015 decision In Mouvement Laïque Québécois v. Saguenay, even municipal prayers violate the state’s neutral obligations. Quebec has no new path forged. It follows law and insists that public institutions cannot privilege religious expression.

And, like Bill 21, despite provisions that protect this new law from the challenge of the charter, the government is likely to invoke this clause. The authoritarianism that critics will cry, but the real authoritarianism lies in the claims of Islamists to seize the rights of political theaters in public streets under the guise of prayer.

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The danger here is more than just a legal balance. It is the cultural coherence of Quebec’s civic life and the civic life from New York City to the London community.

Public spaces are public places where neutrality must prevail. To surrender them to the wonder of religion or ideology is to abandon the idea of ​​a common civic sphere. Secularism is intolerable. This is the only principle that guarantees equal freedom for all, regardless of the creed.

Therefore, Quebec’s proposal is not a ban on prayer. This is a defense of the public square. Prayer belongs to mosques, churches, synagogues and houses. The street belongs to everyone. Quebec, in refusing to confuse religious devotion with political intimidation, claimed a truth that was both secular and Islamic: the cult of obstruction and division has no place in the civic sphere.

This legislation will polarize. This will be a challenge. But that will also draw a line – especially the lines from Quebec, Canada, dare say that one day the world will not allow Islamic street politics to redefine our public life.

Laïcité is not only an idea. This is a shield. Quebec is ready to use it again.