In the theatre that is modern political campaigns, there are two usual costumes: A parliamentary suit and tie, and the casual blue shirt and khaki pants.

But politicians have a third wardrobe for the hustings: Ethnic costumes. Politicians campaigning in synagogues wear Jewish yarmulkes; politicians campaigning in Sikh temples wear colourful turbans. But is there a line between showing solidarity with the cultural symbols of a new Canadian group and actually converting religions?

Take a recent visit by Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to a mosque in B.C. called the Surrey Jamia Masjid. Plenty of politicians campaign there, including NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, who wore a smart suit. But in Trudeau’s last visit, he wore a full Arab-style Muslim dress called a jalabiya.

Perhaps that’s not weird — Trudeau, after all, was an amateur actor and drama teacher. Eyes would roll if Prime Minister Stephen Harper dressed up as an Orthodox Jew, replete with long black coat and fur-brimmed hat, but the media have always been more forgiving of Trudeau’s shtick.

But it’s not Trudeau’s dress that was the most unusual. It’s what he did. He went to the mosque to participate in a religious ritual, called the Maghrib salah.

It’s a daily prayer service with a particular meaning. Part of the prayer is called the shahada, which in Arabic means to testify. As in, to testify to the Truth that Allah is the one true God, and Mohammed is his one

true Prophet.

To say the shahada, in the presence of two or more Muslim males, is the sole requirement in Islamic law to convert to Islam.

Did Trudeau convert to Islam? Did the people praying with him think he did? If so, did he mean it?

It’s one thing to visit a mosque on Monday, a synagogue on Tuesday and a gay pride parade on Wednesday — all are part of a pluralistic Canada. But to say the shahada is more than showing tolerance or friendship to one faith. It’s to join that faith by testifying that it’s the only true faith.

Add in a recent speech Trudeau made to the Muslim Council of Calgary, in which he boasts of visiting Montreal’s wahhabi mosque — that’s the fundamentalist, Saudi-style extremist version of Islam that counts as is followers Osama bin Laden. Is it all political theatre, or is Trudeau actually going there?

Trudeau’s wife, Sophie, recently posed for a picture with Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, in honour of Mother’s Day. And in that photo, they were both wearing the Muslim hijab hair-covering.

Why would you do that on Mother’s Day — a secular holiday with no Muslim or ethnic characteristic to it at all? Why add in the Sharia element?

I don’t believe Trudeau is Muslim. I don’t believe he is anything other than what his handlers and costume designers put in his hands before each public event. And in Trudeau’s case, his senior policy adviser just happens to be Omar Alghabra, the Saudi-born former president of the Canadian Arab Federation.

That’s my theory: It’s all for show, to campaign for the Muslim vote, since Harper has won over the Jews. But if any other political leader had boasted of visiting wahhabi mosques, dressed as a desert Bedouin and had the women in his family do the same, and say he prayed the shahada, don’t you think the media would at least ask him some questions?