Mohamed Elmasry (; born December 24, 1943) is a Canadian engineering professor, imam, and Muslim community leader.Graham, Jennifer, "Canadian Muslims say `Little Mosque on the Prairie' hits close to home", Canadian Press, January 10, 2007
Biography He was born in Cairo, Egypt and received his Bachelor of Science in 1965 from Cairo University. He continued his studies in Canada earning masters and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa in 1970 and 1974. He has worked in the area of digital integrated microchip design for over four decades.
From 1965 to 1968, Elmasry worked for Cairo University and from 1972 to 1974 for Bell-Northern Research in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Since 1974, he has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario where he is a founding Director of the VLSI (Microchip) Research Group.
As a spokesperson for Muslim causes through the Canadian Islamic Congress, he has been a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. His remarks, especially those concerning the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, have drawn significant attention in the Canadian media. He has accused some of his opponents of being anti-Islam.
Elmasry has authored and co-authored more than 500 research papers and 16 books on integrated circuit design and design automation, as well as having several patents to his credit. He has edited the following books for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: Digital MOS Integrated Circuits (1981); Digital VLSI Systems (1985), Digital MOS Integrated Circuits II (1991) and Analysis and Design of BiCMOS Integrated Circuits (1993).
Appearance on The Michael Coren Show Asked by Michael Coren in an interview on October 19, 2004 if "...everyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid [military] target?", CIC President Mohamed Elmasry responded, "Yes, I would say."
Elmasry later apologized for his remarks, calling them his "biggest mistake" in 30 years of public life and offered his resignation, which was not accepted by the CIC's board.
The Elmasry affair led to criticisms that the media focussed entirely on the comments of the CIC president while neglecting controversial comments made on the same program by a B'nai Brith official, Adam Aptowitzer, who stated that "When Israel uses terror... to destroy a home and convince people... to be terrified of what the possible consequences are, I'd say that's an acceptable use to terrify somebody." The remarks only received attention several weeks after the broadcast, and after Elmasry's apology and proffered resignation, when a press release by the Canadian Arab Federation highlighted them. Following the CAF press release, Aptowitzer retracted his comments and resigned his position with the B'nai Brith. Toronto Star city editor John Ferri told the Toronto Star'''s ombud, Don Sellar, "we all had egg on our faces...[i]t was embarrassing for every paper in the city not to get the whole story from the outset."Sellar, Don, "Arab group got the rest of the story", Toronto Star, November 6, 2004
In a letter to the Toronto Star following Sellar's column, Elmasary complained about the affair: Canadian news media - including the Star - launched a relentless and unfair attack against the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) and me while covering up for weeks the outrageous statements made on the same show by Adam Aptowitzer, then the Ontario chairman of the B'nai Brith Institute of International Affairs. While never referring to Aptowitzer's statements, the media used news stories, editorials, op-ed pieces, columns, photos, front-page coverage, cartoons, and radio and television commentaries to paint a negative picture of CIC and myself which seriously distorts and falsifies the truth. It was widely reported, for example, that "Elmasry said all Israelis over 18 were legitimate targets for suicide bombers." This is totally false.
The media never questioned the completeness or the accuracy of the radio show transcript that was given to them. Instead, they totally and completely relied on the heavily selective one provided to them, which was one-sided and referred only to my remarks, but not to those by Aptowitzer.Elmasry, Mohamed, "Media launched relentless attack", (Letter to the editor), Toronto Star, November 10, 2004
Elmasry also criticized Canadian Jewish groups over this incident. In an article entitled "When Jews Target a Canadian Muslim", Elmasry accused the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) and Bnai Brith Canada of "putting pressure on my university to fire me" and that his words were "mis-represented to the public exactly as the CJC wished". He also stated that "a Toronto Jewish businessman had threatened to withdraw his financial support for a chair of Jewish studies."
He also criticized the 2004 bombings of hotels in Taba, Egypt on the grounds that some of the victims there were not Israelis. These remarks prompted harshly-worded responses from representatives of the Canadian Jewish Congress and several prominent Canadian Muslims. At first, Elmasry defended his remarks by insisting that he was merely sharing the standard Palestinian point of view. This led to further charges from his critics, who accused him of using the Palestinians as a scapegoat. In a letter to the Toronto Star, he denied having said what he was reported to have said.
Relationship with Tarek Fatah
Regarding the October 2004 controversy involving Elmasry, Tarek Fatah, a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, had stated that "...to believe all Israelis are targets is the height of hypocrisy."
Fatah also stated that: "In refusing to step aside, Elmasry and the CIC have demonstrated the authoritarian and dictatorial nature of their structure.[...] They purport to speak for Canada's 600,000 Muslims, but are not accountable or answerable to them.[...] We demand he [Elmasry] not[...] masquerade as leader of the community."
Regarding Elmasry's statements, Fatah wrote that "Elmasry accused his Muslim opponents of being traitors to their faith—an allegation that is read as a charge of apostasy, with all its ugly consequences" and that "It is especially sad that Mohamed Elmasry and his allies have chosen the holy month of Ramadan to launch their broadside on progressive Muslims."
In June 2006, Elmasry, named four public figures – Tarek Fatah among them – of taking every opportunity to bad-mouth Islam. Specifically, Elmasry stated that Fatah is "well known in Canada for smearing Islam and bashing Muslims". Fatah blasted Elmasry, stating that "[t]his is a classic threat to label anyone as an apostate and then marginalize them,[...] And this is what Mr. Elmasry has done by listing me as the top anti-Islam Muslim." Fatah stated that he views the label from Elmasry as tantamount to a death sentence. However, some Islamic scholars disagreed with Fatah's characterization of Elmasry's comments. Leonard Librande, professor of religion at Carleton University, told CTV News that "There's nothing particularly Islamic in this... There are differences of opinion frequently in the community. It doesn't mean somebody is going to kill you."
However, Fatah has argued that "in the Muslim world[...] allegations of apostasy are used to silence critics and human rights workers" and that "Some interpretations of Sharia call for apostates to be killed. Such views have forced many Muslims to flee their countries of birth and take refuge in tolerant Western nations such as Canada. To now find ourselves harassed in Canada by some Muslims here is alarming and ironic."
Opinions and public statements
War against terror Elmasry has asserted that the war against terror is actually being used to oppress Muslims as a whole saying that: Right wing Canadian politicians and their parties consider the "war against terror" to mean the same as "war against Muslims."
On the Bush Administration's intentions in the Middle East, in particular towards Iran, he has argued that:
Mr. Bush has started a new and ugly cold war and he clearly intends to transform it into a hot one, sooner rather than later; the media and political hype will translate into real aggression, bringing death, misery and destruction to yet another Middle East state. The evil character of human greed and power-lust is about to raise its ugly specter once again and subjugate a weaker nation that refuses to toe the American line.
Regarding a potential American attack on Iran, Elmasry has written that "It is all part of a long-planned Bush and Co. agenda and that is why you won't find a single good word in the American mainstream media about Iran—none, nil, zero." In addition, Elmasry added that "the doctrine of colonization: looting other people's wealth and enslaving them, while killing outright those who resist[...] seems to be the dominant doctrine in Washington today" and that "Americans are busy preparing to attack yet another country, spreading more looting, more death, more suffering, and more destruction next door in Iran."
Elmasry has stated his opposition to Osama bin Laden calling him "a lunatic, a fanatic"Petricevic, Mirko, "A voice for Islam in Canada; When Muslims are unfairly stereotyped, Mohamed Elmasry is quick to respond", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, March 29, 2003 and accusing him and his lieutenants of "endangering the well-being, even the lives of many Muslims who are living in the West" and whose "religious rhetoric will probably feed into anti-Islam sentiments that already existed before Sept. 11 and have been on the rise since Sept. 11". Of bin Laden and his associated, Elmasry says "They have no religious authority."Saunders, John, "Canadian Muslims scorn call to arms", Globe and Mail, October 10, 2001
Hezbollah Elmasry has written that Hezbollah "is actually a legitimate Lebanese Shi'a Islam political party organized around a variety of roles and functions, just as are many other political parties. And, not unlike some other parties, it developed a national military resistance wing, created solely in response to Israel's occupation of Southern Lebanon."
During the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canadian Arab Federation urged the Canadian government to take Hezbollah and Hamas off its list of designated terrorist organizations. Elmasry wrote that the Canadian government should "review its 2002 decision to place Hezbollah and Hamas on its list of banned alleged terrorist organizations" because doing so "is an unconscionable act of hypocrisy and a mockery of justice" since Canada has not placed Israel on the same list. Elmasry also stated that the decision to place Hezbollah and Hamas on this list was "dictated by special interest groups with agendas that are contrary to peace with justice".
Islamophobia