Source: BBC
A tax accountant from Montreal who came under fire for proposing to build a Muslim residential community has temporarily shelved the project.
Nabil Warda cancelled a planned community meeting on the project after it sparked a backlash in Quebec.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard even weighed in from Morocco, where he is attending a climate conference.
But Mr Warda says his idea has been woefully misunderstood.
His proposal touched a livewire debate around religious accommodation and cultural identity that has been raging in Quebec for years.
The issue caught fire earlier this week when the media got hold of a pitch letter Mr Warda, 68, sent to people he thought might be interested in his proposal to build a planned community on a lot of land near Montreal’s south shore suburb of Brossard.
It was aimed at Muslim homeowners who did not want to take out traditional mortgages because interest is banned in Islam.
Mr Warda saw a ripe niche market to propose an idea that he had been mulling for a while: an affordable community filed with like-minded souls where he could retire comfortably.
“I just went to where I thought I had the best chance to succeed,” he said in an interview.
Non-Muslims would be welcome in the community if they shared the same values.
“In Canada, in Montreal, when there is a snowstorm, everyone becomes brothers. And I like this. When there is no snowstorm, nobody is my brother,” he said, of the shared values.
He also supports modesty of dress.
“You want to wear shorts on the street? It’s OK, sure. Wear shorts on the street. But why would you go live with people who are offended by the fact that you wear shorts on the street? Why provoke them?”
Categories: Canada, North America, The Muslim Times