Islam transcends nationality. Traditional Islam teaches that Muslims should respect only their allegiance to the umma, not to the nation-state in which they live. "Arab group exec quits after online tirade," by Brett Clarkson and Joe Warmington for the Toronto Sun, July 2 (thanks to M.):

The Canadian Arab Federation moved to distance itself from one of its own executives who resigned yesterday after he apparently posted "F--- Canada Day" on his Facebook page, called Canada a "genocidal state," and said he "couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian."

The tirade on Omar Shaban's profile stirred up a firestorm of controversy and put CAF leaders in damage-control mode as they were quick to condemn the posting on the social networking site.

Just after 8:30 last night, Shaban, 23, resigned his post as the CAF's executive vice-president for Western Canada, CAF national president Khaled Mouammar confirmed.

"There was a big outcry from our member organizations and it was felt that he had to correct that," Mouammar said. "He decided that the best thing for him to do was to resign."

'Ashamed'

Shaban didn't return requests from the Sun for interviews and to verify that the comments on his personal Facebook status update were indeed his writings. But his Facebook page spoke volumes.