http://www.theglobeandmail.ca/servlet/story/LAC.20060606.TERRORYOUTH06/TPSto ry
POSTED ON 06/06/06 THE TERROR RAIDS The friendly zealot All the Muslim kids hanging out in the parking lot of Meadowvale Secondary School know about Qayyum Jamal. 'He's the nicest man I ever met,' one said. Yet even before the 43-year-old was accused of plotting to blow up parts of Southern Ontario, some parents were beginning to worry about his growing influence over their teenagers. GREG MCARTHUR , OMAR EL AKKAD and JOE FRIESEN MISSISSAUGA -- In Browntown, the name the Muslim students have given to a parking-lot hangout at Meadowvale Secondary School, all the kids talk about Qayyum Jamal like he's one of them. They have stories about all the times he joined them for soccer games and cricket matches, and all the lessons he gave at a nearby mosque. "He's the nicest person I ever met," one teen said. But Mr. Jamal is not one of them -- he is a 43-year-old devout Muslim man accused of plotting to blow up sites in Southern Ontario, and how this adult became a fixture in the lives of some of Mississauga's teenage Muslims is a question that is starting to bother many adults in the community. Of all the names and ages listed by the RCMP in the alleged terrorist conspiracy, Mr. Jamal's is the most jarring. The former factory worker is double the age of most of his alleged co-conspirators, six of whom attended the same strip mall mosque where Mr. Jamal sometimes led prayers, the Al-Rahman Islamic Centre. One of the mosque's board members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a few parents barred their children recently from attending the mosque because they were worried about Mr. Jamal's growing influence. If Mr. Jamal is guilty of terrorist scheming, the centre will have to shoulder "some blame" for allowing him to propagate his hard-line version of Islam on vulnerable young minds, the board member told The Globe. "In that sense, maybe we should be more vigilant," he said. "If something happened on your watch, even though you may not be condoning it or promoting it, you have to be careful." At most mosques, it's not difficult to gain access to teens because of the lack of organizational structure, officials with the Al-Rahman centre said. Unlike a church, there is no hierarchy and few official positions. If someone volunteers to clean the carpets -- as Mr. Jamal did more than five years ago when he moved to Mississauga -- he is welcomed and encouraged, said Tariq Shah, a lawyer who has been speaking on behalf of the mosque since the raids last weekend. But the board of directors knew how angry Mr. Jamal became when he discussed world politics. During a recent visit by Liberal MP Wajid Khan, the two got into a public argument when Mr. Jamal, who was supposed to introduce Mr. Khan, attacked the Canadian military's mission in Afghanistan. When Faheem Bukhari once dropped by the mosque to campaign on behalf of Mr. Khan, Mr. Jamal told the man that participating in Canadian politics was haram, forbidden, under Islamic law, Mr. Bukhari said. The mosque's directors were also witness to the time he was spending with some of the other accused, young men such as Saad Khalid, a first-year business student at the University of Toronto's Erindale campus in Mississauga, and Zakaria Amara, whose 1992 Acura is still parked at Mr. Jamal's home. And if anyone talked to Mr. Jamal's neighbours, they would relate a similar story. From her vantage across the street from Mr. Jamal's bungalow, Kim Bastarache could see all the young men filing in and out of the house. She always had suspicions about Mr. Jamal -- he rarely spoke or smiled at his non-Muslim neighbours -- and when she saw a cardboard box leaning against his house with an illustration of a rifle on the side of it, she became even more alarmed. As for how and why Mr. Jamal came to Canada, it's unclear. He is from Karachi, and had a first wife who died of an unknown illness. One of the mosque's board members told The Globe that this is how Mr. Jamal met his future second wife, a Caucasian, Canadian convert to Islam who was tasked with looking after Mr. Jamal's dying wife. The wedding was performed in front of the first wife before she died, the board member told The Globe. His second wife, Cheryfa Macaulay Jamal, 44, is very devout. She always wears a burka, concealing everything but her eyes from the public. She has also advocated for Islam through a group called the Toronto District Muslim Education Assembly. In May, 2000, she gave a presentation to the Toronto District School Board, demanding that teachers give parents ample notice if they planned to teach any material that promoted "homosexual or bisexual lifestyles, or sexual promiscuity." Much like the Jamals' neighbours, the school board had a difficult time having a dialogue with Mrs. Jamal and her group. "They had quite a rabble around them -- most unpleasant people," said Shelia Ward, who was a member of the board in 2000 and is now the chair. Ms. Ward remembers them making presentations and feeling compelled to leave the room. "I'm not going to dignify that kind of crap by listening to it or taking it seriously." But, according to the allegations authorities have levelled, the young posse that surrounded Mr. Jamal did take his words seriously. And it appears there could have been more. While 38 of 203 Meadowvale students thanked Allah in the short message that accompanied their graduation photo in the 2005 yearbook, 11 added stylized variations on the following expression: "Before us, there were many . . . after us, there will be none . . . we are the ones." The story swirling around Mr. Jamal should be a warning cry to all Muslims to take a more active role in their mosque, and prompt them to ask questions about the people who surround their children, said Mr. Bukhari, director of the Mississauga Muslim Community Centre. The Al-Rahman board member who spoke to The Globe agreed. "Maybe the people who withdrew their children are more protective," he said. "God forbid, Qayyum Jamal was conspiring something like this, then my hat's off to those parents for looking ahead and thinking about it. Everyone should be careful." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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