| Between a Pillar and a Hard Place Spring has sprung, the sap is running, time for Québecquers to indulge in the century old tradition of going to a Cabane à sucre to enjoy, with friends and family, the bounty of the Maple Tree. Depending on the Cabane there is usually some form of entertainment, usually a fiddler and/or an accordion player. In 2007, the fun was interrupted at one of these Cabanes to allow a group of Muslims to perform their prayers. They were only a few minor complaints which the media was quick to report on. It was however the remarks of one Muslim woman who was interviewed after the Cabane kerfuffle that put the problem in perspective. She said that if Canada wanted Muslins to integrate within they society they would have to change some of their traditions. She is correct. Islam has five ritual obligations that must be performed as prescribed in the Koran during a given period, and, in the case of the daily prayers, at a specified time and in a precise manner. Failure to do so is risking eternal damnation. Where the Koran is short on specifics, the example of the man known to the believers as "the perfect human being" and "the living Koran", the Prophet Muhammad, must be followed. The second most important of the Five Pillars of Islam* is that every Muslim must, in words and in gestures, declare his or her allegiance to Allah at least five times a day: before sunrise, noontime, late afternoon, before sunset, after sunset (Shiites have combined the five daily prayers into three). The Daily Prayers Pillar was the one performed at the Cabane and which sparked the comment about who would have to change their traditions. This Pillar has already sparked a heated debate at one Canadian university. Should a Canadian tradition that publicly-funded institutions of higher learning be a religion neutral-zone be changed and taxpayers forced to pay for prayer rooms to accommodate Islam's Second Pillar? In an televised interview, an Imam at McGill University in Montréal answered in the affirmative. His reasoning was not unlike that of the woman interviewed at the Cabane à sucre. He explained that, as a Muslim, he was bound by a higher law and the example of the Prophet. As a Muslim he could not abide by any Canadian law or tradition that conflicted with the inflexible demands of his God and His Messenger. Bernard Payeur, January 9, 2009 ---------------------- * The five Pillars of Islam 1 Declaring your allegiance to God 2. Daily Prayers 3. Annual charity 4. Month-long fasting 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca Not to be confused with the seven core beliefs of Islam 1. Belief in God. 2. Belief in the angels. 3. Belief in the Koran (revealed Books of God). 4. Belief in God's prophets 5. Belief in the Last Day. 6. Belief in the divine measurement of human affairs. 7. Belief in life after death.
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