Raheel Raza

Raza has been criticized for her support and involvement in anti-Muslim groups and policies. After the 2014 Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu ramming attack, she stated in her blog that there needs to be a suspension of Muslim immigrants to Canada and that all mosques should be closed for three months and claimed that this action would not be an abuse of religious freedom. Her support and association with groups and projects described as anti-Muslim like the Clarion Project and ACT! for America which have funded and aided anti-Muslim legislations and policies within the USA has also been criticized. She has been criticized as being "far from the "reformist" and "progressive" individual she claims to be, Raza's extensive history of anti-Muslim statements and open ties to hate groups make her fundamentally undemocratic."

Raza has called the Canadian government to suspend all immigration from "terror-producing" countries, like Iran in 2012.

She has unequivocally condemned the September 11th terrorist attacks and all terrorism and violence in the name of religion, as well as that done in the name of Islam specifically. She claims "radicals" have their own interpretation of Islam, and that the Qur'an does not justify suicide bombings.

In August 2010 Raza, along with Tarek Fatah, both from the Muslim Canadian Congress, opposed the Muslim community center, Park51, located near the World Trade Center site (or Ground zero). She describes the project as a Fitna, meaning that it was done intentionally to provoke a reaction and make trouble.

After female imam Amina Wadud received death threats for leading mixed-gender prayers in New York City, Raza was invited by Taj Hargey in 2008 to go to Oxford and become the first Muslim-born woman to lead a mixed-gender British congregation in Friday prayers. According to Muslim reformist Tahir Aslam Gora, such prayers did not become a regular practice. The Canadian Islamic Congress said Raza's concerns were a "non-issue for Canadian Muslims".

In 2006, the National Muslim Christian Liaison Committee honoured her for promoting Muslim-Christian dialogue in the wake of the Pope Benedict controversy.

Raza has been a human rights activist, and has advocated gender equality, particularly for Muslim women. She became the first woman to lead mixed-gender Muslim prayers in Canada, in 2005. Raza termed it a "silent revolution" and said she hopes to become an imam someday. She also dreams of having a mosque "for women by women". She received death threats following the 2005 prayer event.

Raza is a freelance writer. In 2000, she received an award from the Canadian Ethnic Journalists and Writers Club. She has lectured at York University on the portrayal of Muslims in the media.

Raza is a Pakistani currently living in Canada. She graduated from Karachi University with degrees in Psychology and English. In 1989, she, her husband and her two sons moved to Toronto.

Raza opposed congregational Muslim Friday prayers in public schools, saying that in 1988 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the use of the Lord's Prayer in public schools was not appropriate. She said such prayers are contrary to the notion of separation of church and state. She called the prayers "discrimination and harassment" for requiring girls to pray at the back of the room and for disclosing their "private personal female condition".

Raheel Raza (born 1949–50) is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist, author, public speaker, media consultant, anti-racism activist, and interfaith discussion leader. She is among the most prominent Muslim supporters of Israel. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.