Toronto: Muslim police chaplain who taught that marriage with 9-year-old is acceptable to stay with force

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/11/toronto-muslim-police-chaplain-who-taught-that-marriage-with-9-year-old-is-acceptable-to-stay-with-force

November 5, 2016 10:22 am By Christine Williams 29 Comments

Jihad Watch previously covered the Toronto police chaplain’s claim that women “sin” if they do not consent to sex with their husbands. Musleh Khan describes himself as a marriage counselor. In a 2013 webinar, Khan highlighted “the rights and responsibilities” of a wife, in his efforts to “help couples of the Muslim-faith stay married.” About his teachings:

A woman should be “obedient” to her husband at all times and must not refrain from intimacy without a “valid excuse,” he says. The slideshow accompanying Khan’s lecture says sickness and obligatory fasting would qualify.
Islamic scholars say if a woman refuses “without a valid reason then she committed a major sin,” Khan says.

During the Question and Answer period of Khan’s speech, he was asked about Muhammad’s marriage to the child Aisha: “[Aisha] was 9-year-old… she was young and why is this it allowed?” This was his answer:

When you’re I believe 18 then you can do it on your own. In some parts of Europe it’s 15, OK. In some parts of Africa it’s even lower than that. Everywhere you go in the world you’re finding different ages.
So what is the real age to get married if it’s so different everywhere you go? The answer it’s our prophet [Mohammad] peace and blessings be upon [who ruled] at the age of puberty.
Don’t compare that time to 2015. A 9-10-year-old back then is what most 25 and 30 year olds are now. OK. The maturity level is completely different.

Further content of his speech is provided here.

Khan is well aware of the duties of police to protect and to serve. Now that he has been busted, he defends himself by saying that his comments were taken out of context, and Toronto Police Service spokesperson Meaghan Gray believes him. She states in his defense that Khan “does not believe women are second-class citizens. In fact, he frequently lectures to women and focuses on the affects of domestic violence in the community.”

The widespread coverage of Khan’s remarks, and his being retained by the Toronto police, reveals something far greater than the case of one man in a position of trust and authority being flogged by the media for publicly revealing troubling Islamic religio-cultural norms. Khan’s case brings authorities head to head with Western society’s cultural norms, and particularly with Canada’s multicultural identity. It shows authorities’ reluctance to contend openly with the cultural and religious practices of Muslim immigrants that are not compatible with Western pluralistic societies and principles of human rights. It shows the falsity of the diversity gurus’ insistence that in a multicultural nation no culture should be deemed superior to another. Such drivel is clearly a dismissal of the stark fact that it is fully acceptable in some cultures to engage in what Western society deems to be human rights abuses: the subjugation and abuse of women. In our culture, we do not allow child brides, the stoning of women, FGM, honor killings, the cutting of hands, beheadings, death for apostasy and the like: to forbid and criticize such practices is neither racist nor discriminatory, but a responsibility of the officials who have sworn to protect us.

Toronto police chaplain Musleh Khan is not only unsuitable in his role, but his remaining in his post is an indictment of those who hold authority over him. There need to be full background checks of candidates for such positions, conducted by people who are actually informed about these issues.


“Toronto police chaplain under fire for women’s ‘obedience’ comments to stay with force for now”, by Shanifa Nasser, CBC News, November 4, 2016:

A Toronto police chaplain under fire for comments made about women’s “obedience” to their husbands will continue to serve with the force for the time being, CBC News has learned.

Musleh Khan met recently with Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders, and “would like an opportunity to be heard by members of the Toronto Police Service,” spokeswoman Meaghan Gray told CBC News on Friday.
“We will be facilitating that opportunity. In the meantime, he continues as a volunteer chaplain,” Grey said.
The force would not comment further.
Khan drew ire on Tuesday from critics including the Toronto police union and the Canadian Council of Muslim Women over comments he made in a 2013 webinar for Muslim couples.
‘Thorough background check’
In the almost hour-long seminar — called The Heart of the Home: the Rights and Responsibilities of a Wife — Khan appears to imply a wife must make herself sexually available and “not withhold this right from her husband without a valid excuse,” such as sickness or obligatory fasting.
He adds refusal is, according to some Islamic scholars, considered “a major sin.”Khan also describes a wife’s other duties and rights in the video….
Gray said in an earlier email to CBC News, that Khan, like other civilian members of the force, went through a “thorough background check” that includes checks of family, friends and a “review of social media footprint.”‘Imprecise translation’
Khan has said his comments were taken out of context, and that the Arabic term he translated as “obedience” denotes loyalty and devotion.
“I realize how someone unfamiliar with this nuance can misunderstand my imprecise translation to mean something different to my intended meaning, and the meaning that I know my audience at the time understood clearly,” Khan told CBC News in a statement Tuesday.
Nevertheless, he said he appreciated the criticism and would “be more mindful in clarifying my steadfast support of women’s equality,” adding he remained ready to serve with the force.