When Fear Silences Faith: How Government Scrutiny Reshaped Our Mosques

Assalamu alaikum, dear brothers and sisters. I wanted to share some thoughts that have been weighing on my heart lately, about how our Islamic centres, like ISNA Canada, have changed over the years due to outside pressures. It's a difficult topic, but I think it's important we talk about it honestly as a community, insha'Allah. After the **Review and Analysis Division (RAD)** was set up back in 2003 under **former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien**, things really shifted for **Canadian Muslim organizations**. Dr. Baljit Nagra, a scholar at the University of Ottawa who studies racism and Islamophobia, calls it a kind of "prison of the mind" where the government doesn't need to create fake groups to watch us-instead, they use tax audits and intelligence folks to make our own institutions do the policing for them (1, p. 140). Basically, to stay afloat, Muslim groups start screening their own people, keeping tight control over what's said in sermons, and pushing everyone to avoid any political talk that might rock the boat (1, pp. 87, 133, 140; 2, pp. 4–6). While many of us have felt this happening, now there are actual reports and studies that show how it works, subhanAllah: * **Unfair Audits Targeting Muslims**: A declassified review by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) found that from 2009 to 2022, 67% of charities checked by the CRA's RAD were clearly Islamic, even though Muslim religious charities are just 0.66% of all registered charities in Canada (3, Finding 2). NSIRA said these audit choices "introduced risks of bias and discrimination" (3, Finding 6) and might go against our rights under the Canadian Charter (3, p. iv). Earlier, a Senate committee had already called this "systemic discrimination" (3, para. 20), astaghfirullah. * **Intelligence Officers Inside Our Spaces**: In Senate testimony, CRA Charities boss Cathy Hawara admitted that RAD and security agencies like CSIS and RCMP "exchange staff... we have officers currently seconded to CSIS and the RCMP. We do training together" and that the CRA does "ad hoc surveillance" of charities (4, pp. 13, 19, 27). Dr. Nagra's research even recorded CSIS officials telling young Muslim activists, "Oh, we know very well what’s happening in the Muslim community. We have informants in every mosque and every organization." This created such a climate of fear that brothers and sisters said they were afraid to even make du'a for people in Palestine, worrying they'd be reported (1, pp. 131, 135). * **Punishing Concern for Certain Regions**: Both NSIRA and a 2023 report from the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson say RAD uses "Tier 1" risk indicators like "Sympathy and ideological support" or working in or near certain foreign regions (3, Table 1; 5, Issue #1). In practice, this means that showing any solidarity with struggles in West Asia can get a charity flagged. Meanwhile, a report from the ICLMG notes that some West Asian governments actually exploit these Western security frameworks to go after their own critics abroad (4, p. 50). This pattern of giving in to state pressure, which we see across North America, has led many Muslims to boycott big conventions like ISNA and the Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) gathering in Toronto. A well-known example is scholar Dr. Tariq Ramadan, may Allah guide us all, who often talks about how Western countries try to split Muslims into "good" quiet ones and "bad" vocal ones (1, pp. 70, 111, 133). Back in **2014**, he **boycotted** both the ISNA convention in Detroit and the RIS convention in Toronto. He said he couldn't support leaders who stay silent out of fear-silent about domestic security abuses and about the oppression of our Palestinian brothers and sisters. He wrote that going to the convention would be like endorsing that fearful silence (6). He also criticized the RIS conference, saying that some speakers, under the cover of focusing only on spirituality or avoiding politics, actually defend the status quo and certain authoritarian rulers in the Muslim world. He called on the younger generation to raise leaders who don't trade their dignity for safety, who remember their duty to speak out against injustice (6). Now, fast forward to today, and we see the same controlled atmosphere at ISNA Canada. After RAD audits pulled the charitable status from the ISNA Development Foundation in 2013 (7) and ISNA Islamic Services of Canada in 2017, the CRA suspended ISNA Canada for a year and fined it over half a million dollars in 2018 over its relief work ties (2, p. 25 n. 48; 4, pp. 31, 34, 36, 47). Banks even closed their accounts. Because RAD penalizes any charity that fails to carefully vet guest speakers (3, para. 50, 79) and demands strict record-keeping (2, pp. 29–30), organizations like ISNA Canada now have strict internal rules to protect themselves: 1. Controlling Sermons and Talks: To avoid any "sympathy" indicators that could trigger an audit, leadership now reviews imams and their khutbahs in advance, steering them away from any political education about struggling parts of the Muslim ummah. 2. Stifling Voices Within: ISNA Canada's own rules, in their 2020 By-Law (Section 2.4.3), give the Board absolute power to suspend or expel any member for any conduct they decide is "detrimental," based on their sole judgment, with no right to appeal (8). Alhamdulillah, truth finds its way into the light. After reading this, you can probably think of your own moments where the fear of audits or surveillance influenced what happened at your local masjid or community centre. Please share your reflections in the comments, and insha'Allah, we can learn and grow stronger together from these experiences. JazakAllah khair for reading.