A radical British imam will visit Toronto, at the invitation of a Scarborough mosque, and the Toronto Star does their level best to whitewash his hate speech and history of extremism: Imam’s visit raises concerns.

A charismatic British imam who has been accused of publicly vilifying Hindus, Jews and liberal Muslims is making a return visit to Toronto this month at the invitation of a Scarborough mosque.

Sheik Riyadh ul Haq is slated to be keynote speaker at a youth conference - a visit already being protested by at least one group and by individuals who accuse him of lifting passages from the Qur’an and altering them to suit his often controversial conclusions.

Federal Immigration Minister Monte Solberg has been urged to deny him entry.

Ul Haq, a prominent cleric in England, had mostly passed unnoticed during at least four previous appearances in Canada. The recent arrests of 17 GTA residents on terrorism-related charges, however, provoked questions about just who is preaching to Canada’s Muslim youth - and led to concerns about ul Haq’s presence at the Youth Tarbiyah conference.

In Toronto, he’ll address an audience of 2,000 on current issues facing Muslim youth, according to Mohammad Alam, president of the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, the event organizer.

“Whoever is objecting should make their own judgment and come hear him speak. He is a very learned scholar in Europe, or at least that’s my understanding,” said Alam.

But some Muslim scholars say ul Haq often quotes the Qur’an out of context, and also refers to events out of historical context.

For instance, in a speech posted on an Islamic website he quotes a Qur’an passage that says, “Of the whole of mankind, you shall find the most intense in their hatred and enmity towards the believers, al-Yahood (Jews) and the mushrikeen, the idolators.” Then he paraphrases, saying that “the ones who are bitterest in their enmity towards Muslims, the most unrelenting, unforgiving, are the Jews and the mushrikeen, idolators in all their forms. And lest someone say that’s provocative or that is anti-Semitic, Allah, the creator of the Semite, says that.” And, he adds, the “chief idolators” today are the Hindus.