Shaykh Said Rageah(الشيخ سعيد راجح) was born in Somalia and in the late 80sn moved to North America. Rageah has a Bachelor’s in Islamic studies and a Masters in Shari’ah and he has had several posts over the years, including: founder of Masjid Huda in Montreal and Masjid Aya in Maryland, advisor for Muslim Youth magazine, and member in the Aqsa Association.
He is also the founder of both Muslim Magazine and Al Aqsa Association, and served as the Chaplain at both the University of Calgary and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).He servedasanImam at the Abu Hurairah Mosque in Toronto, the Chairman for the Journey of Faith Conference and as an instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute.
In a sermon delivered at Abu Hurairah Centre in Toronto (the video was uploaded to YouTube on February 8, 2009), Imam Rageah called on Canadian Muslims to unite and translate their demography into a political and economic power that is necessary to make the government allow Muslims to implement the Islamic Law (Sharia) in their communities and to change the foreign policy.
Rageah spoke in favour of following the example of the Sikh neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, by bringing the Muslim community to live together in one area in which the authorities will not be able to make any decision without the approval of the Muslims.
He urges Muslims to hire only Muslim workers, to buy products or services only from Muslim-owned businesses and to avoid advertising with media outlets owned by kafir, meaning unbeliever or infidel. In this way, he maintained, Canadian Muslims can strengthen themselves and live according to Islam.
The following is a transcript of segments from Rageah’s sermon:
“With four, five [hundred] thousand Muslims you can create the most powerful lobby in Canada… with that number of Muslims you can create one of the strongest Muslim business in Toronto…
“If you just put our resources, if we put our resources together, if we can work together as an Ummah [Muslim nation] we can change a lot…
“As Muslims, we are scattered all over the city. You have people living in Brampton, you have people living in Mississauga, you have people living in Whitby, you have people living in Richmond Hill.Imagine if we all get together in one area.
“In the City of Edmonton, the Sikh, Sikh, they live in one neighbourhood and nothing can be changed or done without their approval. We here we may as well benefit from the system that they have here.
“What can you do with unity? A lot. You can change a lot. You canchange the foreign policyof this country. You can change how the Muslims think. You can even when need help, when you need help you call Muslim for your need you will help the Muslim community…
“Brothers in the masjid [Mosque] right now, they are coming up with the magazine or newspaper called Ummah Times. What Ummah Times is that? Ummah Times is advertising all your businesses all the Muslim businesses [are] Ummah.
“All you need to do –I will never advertise with a kafir[unbeliever, infidel], there you go.
“I hear some advertisements giving to 680 News $5,000. Before your Muslim brothers $50 and $80 or $100 we think twicebefore we do it.
“Unless we work together, the day we need a truck driver we know where to find truck drivers.
“The day that I need a cab I should have a number of a Muslim cab it’s ok, pick me up.
“When I wan to see a doctor, only Muslim doctor.
“When I want to hire someone only Muslim worker.
“Then we can strengthen ourselves. This is the way and this is the only way we can exist in the society, living according to Islam.
“When the Sharia [Islamic Law], when the government of Toronto, Ontariogaveus a break and said: deal your internal affairs based on your Sharia [Islamic Law] we did not go and say: Those few people are Ismailis and Ahmadis, they are not even Muslims. Why would they speak on behalf of Muslims. But, we say no, we keep quiet and see and watch what happens, and then the result was that they said… we will never allow you to rule yourselves, your internal affairs based on the Shariah…
“My brothers in faith[اخوتي في الله],anything that happens in your Muslim community, in the City of Toronto, anything that can be done, five hundred thousand Muslims that is a great number, large number, you can do a lot, work together. Let’s be an Ummah[nation]…
“Take your children to Islamic schools.
“Takeyourvehicle to Muslim owned business.
“If you buy a vehicle make sure there is a Muslim business or car dealer that sells cars.
“If you want to do anything just ask if that individual is a Muslim or not. If he is not, then look for a Muslim, because I’m sure you’ll find a Muslim. I’m sure you’ll find a Muslim in that field…
“O Allah, Raise the standing of Islam and the Muslims[اللهم اعز الاسلام والمسلمين], andhumiliate the infidels and the polytheists.”[اذل الكفرة والمشركين]
Rageah visiting Sweden:refugees should spread Islam in hosting country
Inhisrecent visit to Sweden, Rageah met with Muslim youths apparently sons and daughters of refugees from the Middle East who resettled with their families in a small Swedish village.
Rageah explained to the Muslim youths the obligation upon themto follow the teachingsof Islam and also the importance of playing a leading role in introducing Islam to the local society in order to spread Islam in their new community.
The following are excerpts of Rageah’s speech(posted on YouTube onDecember8, 2015):
“Why do you think Allah brought you here? Why do you think Allah brought your parents and they brought you here?
“Do you think because there was a civil war back home and they had nowhere else to go, and now all of the sudden they came to Sweden to this small village that I cannot even pronounce its name? Do you think they came here accidentally?
“No. It was designed by Almighty Allah. It was designed that you perhaps can be born and raised here, so you cancarry the message of Islam to your own community, to the Swedish community, because maybe your father when he is speaking Swedish he has an accent, maybe your mother when she is speaking she has an accent. Maybe they don’t understand the culture of the people.
“Perhaps Allah brought you here so you can adapt, understand, analyze, read and learn the culture of the people and then in return you come back and give them the light of Islam…
“Unfortunately a lot of young ladies and a lot of young boys, or young men, they think they were brought here so they can have fun, they can listen to music, they can shovel the snow that their father never have seen before, they can make a snow man in front of their houses, they can slide down the hill. This is notthereason.
“The reason that Allah brought you here is so you can can carry the message of Islam to the people. Why? Because each one of us, Almighty Allah [said] call to the way of your Lord(ادعوا الى سبيل ربك). So your responsibility is to call people to Allah.”
Rageah:StephenHarper is an “enemy of Islam”
Rageah,an Imam at the Abu Hurairah Mosque in Torontoandan instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute,sees Prime Minister Harper as an enemy of Islam. The following is anexcerpt(25:20-26:59) of his speech at Assalam Mosque in Ottawa in 2012 (the video was uploaded to YouTube on September 12, 2012):
“If one of us was invited by the Prime Minister of this country [Stephen Harper] and he says: ‘I’ll give you a special invitation, exclusive invitation, come to my house, have dinner with me, chat with me, sit with me, talk to me, I’ll talk to you.’ I guarantee you, everyone of you will come out of that meeting raising his head with pride, so proud of himself, so pleased, you know, twitting every second: O I’m sitting with the Prime Minister [Stephen Harper], you know, you know, putting on Facebook: This is my picture with the Prime Minister [Stephen Harper], you know, and you’ll brag on that day and night. Every single moment when someone says: Peace be upon you, (السلام عليكم), O do you know I was just chatting with the Prime Minister [Stephen Harper]. When Someone says: ‘How are the children?’ ‘His house is excellent.’ Your life will be nothing but him, andhe [Stephen Harper] is the enemy of Islam.He [Stephen Harper] is an enemy of Islam. I guarantee you, we go to him right now, andhe is the man who said, you know, the threat of this country is Islamism. All of us would say: ‘Mister Prime Minister, can we take a picture with you?’ We are so proud of that, because it is the human nature, but Allah is telling you: ‘Stay with me every night.’ Seclusion (خلوة) with Allah we don’t care. We don’t care. The voluntary prayer during the night (قيام الليل) is a conversation (نجوة) between you and Allah, no one else.”
Rageah did not elaborate in his speech what is the Islamic ruling regarding an “enemy of Islam.” In previous speech (February 2012) at the University of Waterloo as part of theIslamic Awareness Weekorganized by the local Muslim Students Association (MSA) andpartially fundedby the university, Rageahimplicitly justifiedthe death penalty for apostates and those who insult the prophets.
Imam Ahmed Qandeel, member of the supreme council of Quebec imams, explained in the weekly Friday (May 12, 2013) sermon at Alrawdah Mosque in Montreal, the Islamic ruling regarding Muslims who became enemies of Islam. The following is an excerpt of hissermon(originally in Arabic):
“The second case deals with a person who fights against Allah and His messenger and joined a vile group. His verdict will not be a regular execution. His verdict will be identical to the punishment for banditry. ‘Indeed,the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messengerand strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that theybe killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides.’ [Quran 5:33]. This is the difference between them. The first will be asked to repent and the secondwill be killed immediatelywithout repentance or asking him to repent…”
