On December 8, 2017 the Quebec Council of Imams issued a statement on the status of the City of Al-Quds (Jerusalem). Here are excerpts from the statement (originally in Arabic):
The Quebec Council of Imams and Muslim communities across the globe received with great dismay the American President’s decision to recognize the city of Jerusalem as the capital of the occupier, the Israeli entity, and to direct the transfer of the Embassy of the United States to there [Jerusalem]…
The Council of Imams of Quebec decided to issue a statement containing the following messages:…
Secondly, the [City of] Al-Quds is Arab and Islamic. Its Arabic nature was affirmed by the history of the Jebusites and Canaanites who inhabited it nearly six thousand years ago [and] about two thousand years before the birth of the Prophet of Allah, Moses, peace be upon him…
Fourthly, the countries of the world that have been under occupation were liberated, and Palestine and its holy sanctuary [A-Quds] left alone fighting the occupation, the oppression and the brute force, without any honest supporter or a just mediator, as if this issue is to be forgotten or abandoned over the days and the situation on the ground is changing. How can [it’s unacceptable that] the owner of the right [in Palestine] relax without usurping his right. Taking away the rights and the usurpation of land by the force of the occupation will ignite the flames of a war and open the doors to spilling the blood of innocent people [literally pure blood] who adhere to their right, and the image of the occupation force will remain abhorrent and its activities loathsome. None of the Arabs and Muslims, whether they are a people or a leadership, can give up an inch of it [land of Palestine and the City of Al-Quds]. Any agreement in this manner will be void and does not worth the ink that was used to write it. The existence of this [peace agreement] or its non-existence are the same…
Last but not least, we hold the American side accountable for the consequences of its stance and for the ramifications of its unjust and unwise move that could push the region and the whole world into the heat of a violent clash that only Allah, Exalted and Glorified be He, knows its end. The blood of the people of Palestine and [the City of] Al-Quds Al-Sharif [Jerusalem] and [the blood of] the oppressed around the world will remain a curse upon those who spilled it and killed their souls…
Saïd Youssef Fawaz (سعيد يوسف فواز) is the President of the Quebec Council of Imams. Fawaz is the Imam at the mosque “Mosquée al-Oummah al-Islamiah” and the Islamic centre “Centre culturel musulman de Montréal.” He was a representative of the Saudi Muslim World League and has been serving as an official representative of Lebanese Dar al-Fatwa, the Higher Sunni Muslims Religious Court.
Dar al-Fatwa publicly supports the Palestinian struggle (fight/ resistance/ jihad) to liberate Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian territory (meaning the destruction of the State of Israel). On September 15, 2015 Sheikh Abdul Latif Deryan (عبد اللطيف دريان), the Grand Mufti of Lebanon and the head of Dar Al-Fatwa, met in Beirut with senior official of the Islamic Jihad. In this meeting Sheikh Abdul Latif Deryan said (originally in Arabic):
The religious, Arab, national, and humanitarian duty calls on us to fight/resist the aggression against religion [of Islam], the [Palestinian] people and land [of Palestine]. The fight/resistance was a very distinguishing quality of the Palestinians and it is also now. The fight of the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims will continue until the liberation of Al-Aqsa [Mosque], [the City of] Al-Quds [Jerusalem] and the entire Palestinian territory… Dar al-Fatwa in the Republic of Lebanon will remain the carrier of the cause of Al-Aqsa [Mosque], [the City of] Al-Quds [Jerusalem] and Palestine until Allah brings for us all victory, liberation and the realization of the Palestinian right and the legitimate rights of Palestinians on their land that will be liberated from the filth of the brutal Zionist occupation.
On April 8, 2019, August 26, 2019, October 8, 2017 and May 31, 2017 Sheikh Abdul Latif Deryan met with senior officials of Hamas.
Muhammad Rashid Qabbani (محمد رشيد قباني), who preceded Sheikh Abdul Latif Deryan as the , the Grand Mufti of Lebanon and the head of Dar Al-Fatwa, also met with senior officials of Hamas. On November 20, 2012 Qabbani met with Osama Hamdan, then Hamas official representative in Lebanon. Sheikh Amin al-Kurdi (امين الكردي) from Dar Al-Fatwa conveyed a message from Qabbani to Ismail Haniyeh, then Hamas Prime Minister that reads in part (originally in Arabic):
Dar Al-Fatwa and all [Muslim] scholars in Lebanon support their brothers in Gaza, pray for them and offer as much as they can moral and material aid in order that the jihadi march on the land of Palestine will continue.
On the anniversary of Palestinian “Land Day” (March 31, 2012), Qabbani said that
the battle for Palestine will not end until it is entirely liberated from the Jewish foreign occupation and its entire territory is returned to its Arab and Islamic nation.
A year earlier (March 28, 2011) Qabbani said that
the jihad of the people of Palestine in not terrorism as it is being alleged, but a war waged by the Palestinians to liberate their homeland.
In the annual gala held by the Canadian Muslim (November 13, 2015) Saïd Youssef Fawaz, the President of the Quebec Council of Imams, condemned ISIS terrorist attack in Paris and said (originally in Arabic):
Why those who were killed yesterday in Bur al-Barjneh [in Lebanon] and those who are killed everyday in Palestine and in my country are not lamented by anyone’?…We stand against terrorism. We are those who suffer from terrorism. We are asking from where those who are accused of terrorism get weapons? Block the pipes of money, dry out the sources of weapons. There are people who are killed everyday in Palestine, their blood is flowing and and their souls are killed. Those [the West] who are ostensibly advocating for peace are the arms dealers. They [the West] are those who finance terrorism… In the land of the Israa and meraaj [Jerusalem] and the birthplace of Issa [Jesus, Bethlehem] peace be upon him, everyday nails are hammered in the coffin of peace. In my country [Palestine], women are killed on a daily basis. The necks of the children are struck, the dignity of the men are violated in front of their eyes while the world is watching and where is the leader who will stand up and say: We are all al-Quds [Jerusalem]? But, they stood up and proclaimed: We are Paris. They only send us weapons and later talk about asylum and refugees. Our countries used to spread good, but they did not want that for us. Our countries used to teach [others], but they did not want us to gain knowledge. In this regard, it is should be mentioned that all religions came from our countries. In spite of that they are saying: terrorism. The name of Islam came from the word peace, from the name of Allah, Glorified be He, and it does not derive or goes in line with terrorism. Terrorism is not related to us [Muslims]. Terrorism is not part of us, of Islam, of the Christians and of the Jews, who follow the book of Allah and what Allah revealed to them [books of revelations] is the pure helper. We all stand up against those [the West] who trade blood and arms. Based on that, we called for working together and sending a united message.”
In an article in Sada AlMashrek (November 17, 2015) Imam Hassan Guillet, then the spokesperson of the Quebec Council of Imams, echoed a similar position (originally in Arabic):
We have heard many times our brothers in faith talking about global hypocrisy. We have also heard a lot about the policy of double standard and two sets of rules. We have also heard that the world wakes up mankind and does not rest if there is an explosion occurred in Paris, London or any other Western city and does not say a word if the explosion occurred in Damascus, Baghdad or Beirut. Unfortunately, a majority of Arabs and Muslims are convinced that the blood of an Arab or a Muslim is cheap and that the blood of other people is dear. The world sheds tears on the fatal victims of violence in the West, but not a single tear while watching the rivers of blood in Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and other afflicted Muslim countries. All of this is true. And I go further and say that the weapons of the killers and their ammunition are made in the same countries that espouse double standard and two sets of rules, and many evidence suggests that this terror that terrorizes the world was created with the knowledge of these [Western] countries and developed by their own hands.