Last month, Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, produced classified intelligence documents indicating that the government of China had been coordinating a sophisticated plan to interfere with the 2021 federal elections, in order to help the Liberals win. The Globe and Mail, which has reported on this story after seeing the documents, has described a variety of tactics that were planned, including offering financial incentives to candidates and other notable figures, engaging in sexual entrapment blackmail schemes, and cyberattacks.

This comes after previous allegations of a Chinese-Canadian Liberal MP for Don Valley North receiving support during the federal election of 2019. There was also a report of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation, a charity that supports academic work, had received a $200,000 donation from a Chinese billionaire. The foundation says it returned this money.

Due to these sustained reports of interference being utilized by the opposition to embarrass the Liberals, Justin Trudeau has initiated two private probes to review the past 2 elections, and report their findings to a special rapporteur, who will then decide whether a public inquiry is needed. He did this in response to all the other parties demanding a public inquiry from the get-go.

What is behind this sudden focus on interference by Canadian politicians and the media? And what can we glean from their reaction?

Deceptive Politics Through Other Means

A basic principle of living in a Capitalist democracy is that you are being deceived. Recognizing this basic fact is necessary to having any kind of understanding of what is happening around you. This deception is not limited to one source, rather the government, the opposition, the media, and other Capitalist nations are all willing to lie, conceal and distort the truth to meet their own political and economic goals.

The main reason for this is simple, Capitalism is a system that is built on freedoms. It believes that in order to build a healthy society and economy, individuals should fully enjoy their freedoms, with no regards for their impact on greater society. As long as you are not explicitly killing someone, or openly and clearly defrauding them, it is acceptable to do what is in your power to achieve your goals. This means that those individuals that are born with the most wealth, influence or talent, will use their resources to lobby governments, conduct media campaigns, and shape policies to suit their own interests. And if they must cook up studies, vilify a certain community, or lie about a certain public policy or political action, they will engage in such tactics as long as they think they can get away with it. There are no principles in Capitalist politics, only competing interests that are mildly restrained by a loose set of rules.

It is then not surprising that the Chinese government, which has adopted much of American Capitalism, and is eager to learn from American soft power, is exercising its influence in order to achieve a favorable election outcome in Canada. Even if this means they have to engage in bribery or sexual blackmail.
It would also not be inconceivable that the Canadian intelligence is misleading the public about the nature, scale or scope of the interference campaign. So far, everything that has been reported is based on classified intelligence that cannot be publicly scrutinized. This is the kind of Canadian intelligence information that led to the rendition, imprisonment, and torture of Maher Arar on a completely false pretext.

A History of Interference

But even if the claims of interference are taken seriously, Canada is no stranger to interference. Canada’s entire military structure is wholly influenced by the US war machine.

Due to Canada’s involvement in military alliances that are led by the United States, such as NATO and NORAD, the US has great influence in what technologies the Canadian military invests in, and the size of Canada’s military budget. This is under the pretext on “interoperability”, an idea pushed by NATO that all US allies should have standardized technological abilities. What’s more, even generals of the Canadian Armed Forces in recent history have been consistently trained and vetted by the US.

Canada is restricted in its economic activity and labour management by treaties such as NAFTA, now called the USMCA. And Canada has no problem accepting donations from, and organizing trips with Zionist organizations whose goal is to bolster Canada’s relationship with Israel. Canada is no model of independence. Rather it is ratcheting up this election interference discourse to keep inline with the American campaign to push back on China’s hegemonic aspirations.

What’s more, Canada itself has an extensive history of interfering in other lands. It has backed political and military coups against multiple Latin-American nations, including Venezuela, El Salvador, and Chile. It has aided the US and the UK in their colonial adventures in Afghanistan, and the French with their exploits in Mali. It maintains a special relationship with the Zionist entity, and even provides tax relief to organization like the Jewish National Fund, that raise money to fund settlements that displace our brothers and sisters in the West Bank and Gaza.

So Canada is open to being interfered with, and is very willing to interfere as long as it benefits the interest of the economic and political elite. Interference will only be raised as an issue if those interests are hurt.

Interference in the Ummah

As an Ummah, we are painfully aware of what interference feels like. The Capitalist nations desire to dominate the Muslim lands, and regularly. exploit our resources. What’s more, they have worked hard to crush the Islamic ruling system. This is because they know that Islam has a comprehensive vision for society that would resist and provide an alternative to their corrupt and brutal Capitalist ideology. Islam provides guidance on not just how we pray, fast and conduct ourselves as individuals, but also how we collectively structure our government, economy and society.

Everything we see in the Muslim lands today, from the puppet leadership to the economic, political and military institutions, is all part of this interference. The leaders are spineless in front of the colonial masters, while being vicious against those who call for the rule of Islam.

The economy is based on interest (riba) and hoarding. Islam, in contrast, forbids interest, stocks, and other paper-oriented activities that Wall Street and Bay Street are famous for.

The result? An entrepreneurial economy focused on the production of real goods and services. And the society of the Muslim lands, though Muslims are actively resisting it, is turning more individualistic and materialistic by the day, in opposition to the Islamic teaching of mutual responsibility and interdependence in our family and social ties.

This interference is explicit in the way the Capitalist nations choose our leaders, an equip them with the weapons they need to keep their grip on power in the Muslim lands. Or the way that the international economic institutions such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund (IMF) find increasingly more leverage to control what the priorities of Muslim economies should be.

They focus more on making sure that our lands are paying their riba loans, while gutting social spending that is actually needed by our impoverished brothers and sisters. And if the Capitalist nations still feel they need more control, they can deploy their war machine to directly invade, occupy and raze our lands.

The interference can be more hidden, as is the case of organizations like USAID producing TV shows in countries like Pakistan that promote the LGBT agenda, or question Islamic gender roles.

What Do We Do?

It is essential for us as an Ummah to recognize that we are not like any other nation. We do not share a single ethnicity, or merely have shared cultural or linguistic preferences.

Rather, we are the nation picked out by Allah (swt):

“[Believers], you are the best community singled out for people: you order what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in God.” [TMQ 3:110]

We have been selected to be the best nation, but we can only deserve this title if we carry out our duty of implementing all that is good in our deen and being able to resist the evil.

This is only possible when we as an Ummah liberate ourselves from the rule of powerful men, and instead enslave ourselves to our Creator and follow His guidance.

This would mean working collectively to generate a new leadership in the Muslim lands, one that is committed to the rule of Allah (swt) and the independence of the Muslims. This would also mean resisting the economic system and policies of the Capitalist West and East, disengaging with the international financial system that is built on interest and consumerism, and removing the cultural influence of the Capitalist nations from our schools, universities and media.

Most importantly, it would mean that this new Islamic leadership would have to solve the problems of the Muslim lands through the guidance of Islam. Such a leadership would focus on the distribution of the wealth and not maximizing GDP. They would fix endemic poverty by collecting and distributing zakah.

This leadership would also administer the abundant energy resources and mineral wealth to enrich the Ummah by using the funds collected to support public work projects, like hospitals and schools. By elevating the Muslim world through the implementation of Islam, in sha Allah we would also be able to offer refuge and assistance to non-Muslims – thereby becoming a beacon of hope for all.

This is required for us to fulfill our purpose as an Ummah, to shine the light of Islam for everyone to see and offering the protection of the Islamic Khilafah state to anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, who wishes to live under its shade.

“Strive in the cause of Allah in a manner worthy of that striving. He has chosen you (for His task), and He has not laid upon you any hardship in religion. Keep to the faith of your father Abraham. Allah named you Muslims earlier and even in this (Book), that the Messenger may be a witness over you, and that you may be witnesses over all mankind. So establish Prayer, and pay Zakah, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protector. What an excellent Protector; what an excellent Helper!” [TMQ 22:78]