Ground Zero mosque to be moved to the West Village? So says reports from the NY Post, where there is supposedly a plan by Saudi King Abdullah to move the controversial mosque from its present intended location to the shuttered St. Vincent’s Medical Center in the “tolerant” West Village. With the mosque no longer in the shadow […]
Scared Monkeys
Posts Tagged: Mosque
19
Dec 10
Saudi King Abdullah Plan to Move Ground Zero Mosque to West Village
16
Dec 10
Ground Zero mosque imam could face up to $2000 in fines for each violation at his New Jersey apartments
But the important thing, his lawyer reminded us, is that he is a “man of peace.” Never mind the mold, the bedbug infestations, the fire hazards so bad that officers were posted to warn people in case the deathtraps went up in flames. He’s a man of peace. Peace. Peeeeeaaaace….
Jihad Watch
15
Dec 10
Jundallah claims suicide attack at Iranian mosque
Jundallah, a Sunni terrorist claimed it carried out a suicide attack that targeted Shia worshipers at Imam Hussein Mosque in Chabahar in Iran’s Sistan and Balouchestan province.
Forty-one people, including women and children, were reported killed in the suicide attack, and more than 100 were wounded. The suicide bomber detonated inside the mosque as worshipers were commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.
Iranian officials claimed two suicide bombers attempted to carry out the attack, but one was captured before he could detonate his vest.
Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi accused the US and other intelligence services of directing the attack.
“The equipment and backup of the terrorists behind the attack indicate that these individuals were supported by advanced regional and US intelligence services,” Abdollahi told the Iranian press.
Jundallah, or the Soldiers of God, claimed it carried out the attack to avenge the execution of their leader, Abdul Malik Rigi, who was also known as Emir Abdul Malik Baluch. Rigi was detained on Feb. 23, reportedly while on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan, and was executed on June 20.
“This operation was in revenge for the execution of the leader of the movement Abdulmalik and other martyrs of Jundullah who were savagely hanged,” Jundallah stated. The terror group claimed it targeted members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Jundallah has carried out a series of high-profile attacks against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. The largest attack took place on Oct. 18, 2009, when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a meeting of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders and Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in Pishin in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. Brigadier General Nour Ali Shoushtari, the deputy commander for the IRGC’s ground forces, and Brigadier Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh, the IRGC’s provincial commander for Sistan-Baluchistan, were killed in the attack. In a press release on its website, Jundallah claimed that the commanders of Iranshahr Corps, Sarbaz Corps, and the Amir al Mo’menin Brigade were also killed in the attack.
Also, last summer, a pair of Jundallah suicide bombers killed 20 people and wounded more than 100 in a suicide attack that targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps at a mosque in the southeastern city of Zahedan.
Jundallah has conducted numerous attacks against the IRGC and the Iranian government, including the 2005 ambush on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s motorcade in Sistan-Baluchistan; the 2006 murder of 22 civilians in Tasooki; the 2007 ambush on an IRGC convoy that killed 18 officers in Zahedan; the 2008 kidnapping and execution of 16 Iranian policemen; the 2009 ambush that killed 12 policemen in Saravan; and the 2009 bombing at a mosque in Zahedan that killed 25 people.
The Iranian government accuses the United States, Britain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan of covertly backing Jundallah as part of an effort to destabilize the regime. Jundallah operates in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
There is another group called Jundallah, which is based in Pakistan. This group has links with al Qaeda. Dr. Arshad Waheed, an al Qaeda commander who was killed in a US airstrike in South Waziristan in March 2008, had close links to Ata-ur-Rehman, the former leader of Jundallah who was detained by Pakistani security forces.
15
Dec 10
Another Mosque Attacked-In The Muslim World
There have been mosque burnings in the Muslim world-but there are mosque bombings too, such as this suicide bombing at an Iranian mosque:
A suicide attack has killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 60 others near a mosque in the southeastern Iranian city of Chabahar as Shias marked the climax of Ashoura.
The ritual commemorates the seventh century death of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Hussein.
…The area where the attack took place is home to an armed Sunni group, Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which has waged sporadic attacks to fight alleged discrimination against the area’s Sunni minority in overwhelmingly Shia Iran.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the use of multiple suicide attackers to target Shia worshippers is a tactic the group has employed in the past.
You can add this to the list of recent mosque attacks by Muslims:
- There’s the mosque burned during the arson attack on the Crazy Water Park in Gaza as reported by The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
- There is the mosque in Lebanon, burned down during a confrontation in August between Hezbollah and Al Ahbash
- There’s the Turkish general who admitted he ordered the burning of a mosque as part of psychological warfare operations in 1974.
- In Afghanistan, The Taliban murdered the head of Kunduz province, along with 14 other people, in a mosque bombing in Tahkar. The governor had been outspoken in his opposition to the Taliban and allied terror groups operating in the north.
Are religion and politics so tightly intertwined in Islam that these are seen merely as political acts?
And what does it say about how other religions-and their structures-are viewed?
Technorati Tag: Mosques.
14
Dec 10
FBI rushes to investigate veiled email threat to Cincinnati mosque, ignores open threats to anti-jihadists
There is no excuse for threats of violence sent through emails to people with whom one disagrees. It is noteworthy, however, that there have been no arrests and no FBI investigation of these emailed death threats and others like them that I have received, although I have contacted the FBI repeatedly and do so whenever a new death threat comes in. Yet the Cincinnati mosque email is not even as clear a threat as these below, and the FBI is all over it. Why the double standard?
“Robert Spencer has his right to speech. But someday he will slip up, he will visit a place that doesn’t honor such infidel ‘rights.’ And what a day they will have with him. You’ve heard of head cheese and blood pudding? See, modern hip Muslims like me like to be look different than everybody else in Western society. And we don’t like to believe Islam has any real enemies left. But Robert Spencer, well, he will see the sacred text come to life…’fuel the fires of hell…’ only when they are done with him. Peace and Love.” — September 29, 2010
“Robert Spencer the Second, born on February 27, 1962, is a hairy man who…currently lives on [specific street] in [specific city] with [specific relatives]…” — July 28, 2010, from Greenbelt, Maryland
“Killing of this man is a model… SPENCER-Model..Spencer himself deserves the same? he should be sloughtered like that man. Silencing the EVIL.” — April 4, 2010
“THIS IS AN OPEN THREAT TO YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION TO STAY AWAY FROM MUSLIMS AND ISLAM IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU. YOU SON OF A BITCH . YOUR MOTHER WAS A C**K-SUCKING WHORE . IF YOU GOT THE GUTS AND BALLS PRINT THIS ON YOUR WEB SITE AND TELL PEOPLE THAT YOU ARE BEING THREATENED. U FILTHY C**K-SUCKER HAVE A NICE DAY” — December 8, 2009
“Yes. Yes..We finally reached out him. Ka’ab Binu Ashraf has been traced. He will be soon found. Will this be like VAN-Goooordhd. I am not sure. Allah Knows.. But Spencer you will pay the price…Just wait to pay the price.” — September 28, 2009
“Robert….It was really good I found you in a local supermarket. and I followed you.. so i know your address now..tell you fool followers you are going to be deceased very soon… any one taking your seat and getting killed? I am sure most of your followers are cheeky cowards.” — September 28, 2009
“Do me a favor Spencer and put this as a blog post like you do to all those threatening mails. Be careful, I am very near to you. I located you and I know you have little security around you. I am coming to slit your throat with a bland knife.. and it will pain a lot.. since you misled a lot of people and became a fitnah on earth.. it is a duty of a good muslim to kill you! go report this to FBI or CIA..And don’t worry, I won’t attack you unguarded.. but i will surely kill you in the most easy manner possible because I don’t like to slaughter human beings.. Die and go to hell.. for sure..and yea I have a new name for you…Robert ‘hawknoseinhell’ spencer.” — September 28, 2009
I’ve received many, many others. Here is just one more, a classic from a few years back:
“YOu are the most f**king person I have ever seen. Enrooted in islamic hatred, you think your personal statements on Prophet Muhammed will be deemed appropriate. Motherf**ker, I am coming to kill you. I will hack the head off your face and i will kill your family. Wait for your doom. From A mujahid” — October 2, 2006
“FBI investigating mosque threat,” by Dan Horn for the Cincinnati Enquirer, December 14 (thanks to Andrew):
The FBI is investigating a threatening e-mail sent to a Clifton mosque that was the target of a pipe bomb attack almost five years ago.
FBI officials say they have no evidence the e-mail is connected to the previous attack, but they are taking no chances.
“That’s certainly something we will investigate,” said FBI spokesman Mike Brooks.
The e-mail was sent Saturday from an anonymous Yahoo account to the Islamic Association of Cincinnati, which oversees the mosque.“You should know that you are not wanted in Cincinnati,” the e-mail states. “We don’t want you here. Mohammad is a joke. Go back to your desert. Beware. We may just declare jihad on you.”
Officials with the [Hamas-linked] Council on American-Islamic Relations said that although the e-mail does not contain a direct threat, it is a concern because of the previous attack on the mosque and because of growing animosity toward Muslims in the decade since the 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
“I don’t want to blow this out of proportion, but we don’t want to dismiss it and assume it’s nothing,” said Karen Dabdoub, executive director of [Hamas-linked] CAIR in Cincinnati. “You just don’t know.”…
Indeed you don’t — especially given the fact that Hamas-linked CAIR and other Muslims have not hesitated to stoop even to fabricating “hate crimes,” including attacks on mosques. CAIR and other groups like it want and need hate crimes against Muslims, because they can use them for political points and as weapons to intimidate people into remaining silent about the jihad threat.
So what happened in Cincinnati is anybody’s guess. And it’s good that the FBI is on it. I just wish that the FBI were as proactive and energetic in investigating the many death threats that anti-jihadists such as Pamela Geller and I have received as they are when they rush to investigate allegations of threats against mosques and Muslims.
14
Dec 10
UK mosque attended by Stockholm jihad bomber: “We don’t stop people coming to our mosques because they have beliefs that are unsavory”
Glad we cleared that up. “UK Mosque: Stockholm bomber didn’t seem violent,” by Gregory Katz for Associated Press, December 14:
LUTON, England – Embarrassed officials at the Luton Islamic Center on Tuesday defended their decision not to report Taimour Abdulwahab to police after his extremist views alienated worshippers in this small city north of London.
That decision became important when Abdulwahab blew himself up Saturday on a busy street in Stockholm, injuring two people and endangering many more — and, once again focusing unwanted attention on Luton, a nondescript city of 200,000 with a large Muslim population.
Abdulwahab, who died in the blast, did not attract much attention in Luton, but he did alarm mosque elders with fiery rhetoric about what he believed was a concerted attack on Islam led by the United States.
Farasat Latif, the mosque secretary, told The Associated Press that officials would have told police about Abdulwahab if he had shown signs of violence or instability.
“It’s a judgment call,” Latif said. “You have to give them space to express their views. We don’t stop people coming to our mosques because they have beliefs that are unsavory.”
He said mosque officials have to gauge an individual’s level of anger reporting him or her to authorities.
“If they think it’s OK to kill individual civilians, you have to call the police,” he said “But he never showed violent tendencies — just harsh criticism of the Muslim heads of states, like in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for being too pally pally with the United States while America is decimating Iraq.”…
13
Dec 10
NYC Council caves, cancels hearing and “Hate Wal-Mart Day” — Ground Zero Mosque protest rescheduled
An announcement from Pamela Geller about our scheduled Ground Zero mosque protest tomorrow:
The New York City Council has canceled the “ban Wal-Mart hearing” that had been scheduled for tomorrow at 1pm. They caved.
The council canceled tomorrow’s hearing at the last minute, in the dark of night, and will reschedule it when no one will come and there is no notice. But we will be there.
Christine Quinn, the shameless shill for the Ground Zero mosque, told the New York Times:
The New York City Council was supposed to hold a hearing this Tuesday about a renewed campaign by Wal-Mart to open its stores in the city.
“We needed a bigger room,” the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, said. “We heard from unions all across the city, small business leaders from across the city. It’s a growing list of people.”
Liar. They need a bigger room because we would overwhelm them. They need a bigger room because they are afraid of us.
They canceled because we were coming to call them out on their hypocrisy. We will reschedule the protest when they reschedule the hearing.
Let the NYC Council be on notice: we will be there wherever and whenever.
13
Dec 10
UK: Luton mosque says they threw out Stockholm jihad bomber for his “extremist” views
“I talked to him and went through his arguments and countered all of them theologically and he accepted it. I thought that was the end of it but he carried on. So one day, before the end of Ramadan, when the mosque was full I directly challenged all his misinterpretations of Islam.”
Of course, Qadeer Baksh doesn’t bother to explain to the Telegraph exactly how Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly misunderstood Islam, and that is par for the course: again and again over the years we have seen Islamic spokesmen make sweeping generalizations about how jihad terror contradicts basic tenets of Islam, but detailed theological refutations of the jihadists’ Islamic arguments remain extremely thin on the ground.
Also, it’s noteworthy that the Luton mosque leaders acted so proactively, by their own account, while at the same time Luton is known as “synonymous with Islamic extremism.” So many Misunderstanders of Islam in Luton, and none of them go to this mosque? Or do some of the go there indeed, and they all get thrown out, as was Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly?
And why didn’t it occur to Gordon Rayner, Andy Bloxham and Laura Roberts of the Telegraph to ask Qadeer Baksh any even mildly probing questions?
“Stockholm bomber was thrown out of Luton mosque for trying to recruit extremists,” by Gordon Rayner, Andy Bloxham and Laura Roberts in the Telegraph, December 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):
The Stockholm bomber was thrown out of a mosque in Luton three years ago following a row over his extremist beliefs, it has emerged.
Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, 28, tried to recruit other Muslims to share his fanatical views when he was given a chance to preach at the Luton Islamic Centre.
Sources there said he then turned his attention to trying to recruit students by giving sermons at the Islamic Society of the University of Bedfordshire, of which he was a graduate….
Qadeer Baksh, chairman of the Luton Islamic Centre, also known as the Al Ghurabaa mosque, said the bomber believed Western governments had no right to involve themselves in Iraq or Afghanistan and urged others to “take matters into their own hands” because traditional mosques were not proactive enough.
Mr Baksh said: “He arrived at the mosque at the start of Ramadan [the Muslim holy month of fasting] in 2007.
“We hadn’t seen him before but he was very nice, a gentle, bubbly character. People liked him and he was very helpful to them.
“He was like that for a couple of weeks and he was given the opportunity to preach.
“Some of the members brought it to my attention that his views were extreme so I challenged him[.]
“It was all about Iraq and Afghanistan. He was saying that Western governments had no right to be there and how too many Muslims remained silent.
“He said we should be more proactive and take matters into our own hands but he never directly advocated violence.
“He said the leaders of Muslim nations had to take more action and said scholars here were working for the government.
“It was quite serious because some of the worshippers were starting to really listen to him.
“I talked to him and went through his arguments and countered all of them theologically and he accepted it. I thought that was the end of it but he carried on.
“So one day, before the end of Ramadan, when the mosque was full I directly challenged all his misinterpretations of Islam.
“He just stood up and stormed out. We never saw him again – but I heard he’d gone to the Islamic Society at the university and continued to preach his extremist views.”
The mosque has been linked in the past to extremist groups including Al-Muhajiroun, the banned organisation which was headed by the firebrand cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed.
Mr Baksh said that the mosque remained vigilant against infiltration from organised extremist groups.
He said: “We removed them from our mosque. We are sick of them.
“We see them as problematic. They have a completely distorted view of Islam.”
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that Abdulwahab sent a chilling audio recording in English shortly before the bombings warning his actions would “speak for themselves”.
A man is heard describing the Islamic state as a “reality” in Europe and in Sweden….
The recording states: “Now the Islamic state has been created. We now exist here in Europe and in Sweden. We are a reality. I don’t want to say more about this. Our actions will speak for themselves.”
He added: “We are not a lie, or imagination. We are real.”
He also referred to the depiction of the prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog in a 2007 cartoon by a Swedish artist which enraged many Muslims.
He said: “Stop your drawings of our prophet…No more oppression against Islam or Muslims will be tolerated in any way or by any means.”…
11
Dec 10
AFDI/SIOA Protest December 14: NYC lobbies for Ground Zero victory mosque while banning Wal-Mart
The New York City Council has declared Tuesday, December 14 to be “Hate Wal-Mart Day,” and will hold a hearing against Wal-Mart entitled “When Wal-Mart Comes to Town.” AFDI/SIOA will be there to point out the City’s astounding inconsistency and hypocrisy in working to ban Wal-Mart from New York while doing everything it can to facilitate the construction of an Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero.
This is not about Wal-Mart. It is about consistency from City officials, and about justice for the 70% of Americans who oppose the Ground Zero mosque.
Please join us and send this to your email lists, groups, list servs, and tea party people.
AFDI/SIOA is calling on all freedom lovers, free market lovers, infidels, proud Americans, and people of conscience to stand for American values and against Islamic supremacism.
9
Dec 10
Orthodox church destroyed on 9/11 sues NYC over roadblocks to its reconstruction; city charging ahead with Ground Zero mosque
Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero? Sure! Orthodox church at Ground Zero that was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks? No way!
“St. Nicholas Church sues Port Authority, claims that agency is blocking church’s reconstruction,” by Larry Mcshane for the New York Daily News, December 7 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
A historic church destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks plans a multimillion-dollar suit against the Port Authority and other agencies for blocking its reconstruction.
A notice of claim was filed Monday on behalf of St. Nicholas Church and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, declaring their intention to sue.
“This claim arises out of the arrogance, bad faith and fraudulent conduct of the Port Authority in preventing St. Nicholas from re-building its church at Ground Zero,” the church says in its legal filings.
According to the notice, the church will seek a minimum of $ 20 million along with unspecified restitution for damages and expenses “incurred in reliance of the Port Authority’s promises that St. Nicholas would be rebuilt at 130 Liberty Street.”
The church, which had been located at 155 Cedar St., was founded in 1916 by Greek immigrants and destroyed in the terror attack on the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
Church leaders contend the PA has reneged on a deal to rebuild the house of worship at the other location, nearby 130 Liberty St.
They also charged the PA bulldozed both potential sites during excavations, leaving both properties unusable….
6
Dec 10
Ground Zero mosque imam: “there is a perception that Jews and Muslims and Christians must be each other’s existential enemies”
And only some seething Islamophobe would suppose anything of that sort originates in Islamic teachings, right? Well…
“O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.” — Qur’an 5:51
“Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews…” — Qur’an 5:82
“The Jews call ‘Uzair [Ezra] a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!” — Qur’an 9:30
And don’t forget the three places where Allah refers to unbelievers as apes and/or swine: Qur’an 2:63-66; 5:59-60; and 7:166. But then, what does Allah propose one do?
“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” — Qur’an 9:29
“Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know.” — Qur’an 8:60
There’s always room for ahadith:
“Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.” — Sahih Bukhari 4.52.177
But there’s never room for apostasy from Islam: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.” — Sahih Bukhari 9.84.57
One could go on. But there is the other element of this story that makes Rauf’s feigned ignorance of where one gets the idea that Islam is hostile to non-Islamic faiths so absurd. That, of course, is the very project he is involved in: a triumphalist insult perpetrated by a group at once breathtakingly incompetent and driven by an appalling sense of entitlement — both to build and to use public money — that defies imagination. And all in the name of “tolerance,” naturally.
Here, indeed, is an exceptionally Orwellian puff-piece, eager to outdo every kid on the block where that self-congratulatory tolerance is concerned. It gets a running start with the title. “The Gift of Reconciliation,” by James Carroll for New York Times, December 4:
As the ocean liner steamed in from the open sea and approached the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the boy worried that the ship’s superstructure would not clear. ”It was a cold, sunny winter day, Wednesday, the 22nd of December, 1965,” he said. ”There are certain dates etched in your memory.” His journey to America had begun in Egypt, where his father was a leading religious figure. ”The image of the Statue of Liberty came into view slowly . . . such majesty and beauty. It was a life-changing moment in my life. I was 17 years old.” That Feisal Abdul Rauf’s American story began off the southern tip of Manhattan can seem foreordained, in light of the controversy that consumed him 45 years later. At his first glimpse of his new world, he told me, ”I had an intuition that my work would involve introducing Islam to America.” Yet at that point, young Rauf was himself in the throes of typical adolescent questioning. ”In such a free society — it was the ’60s! — religion had become a matter of choice.” Not so in Kuwait, where he was born, and where religion was inherited. In America, ”religion was passé. I was bewildered by all that. I was asking, ‘Does God exist? What is the meaning of life?’ And I found the answers to my religious questions as a matter of choice. I could choose to embrace my Muslim faith — and I did.” That simply, Feisal Abdul Rauf glimpsed the meaning of the nation’s defining freedom. ”America made it possible for me to freely and deliberately choose to be religious and Muslim.” Rauf would become an American citizen in 1979.
The boy enrolled at Columbia University, from which he graduated as a physics major in 1969. He earned a graduate degree at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., still within sight of Lower Manhattan. But he had become an apprentice to his father: Muhammad Abdul Rauf, a University of London Ph.D, who was director of the New York Islamic center from 1965 to 1970, a leading Muslim participant in the nascent ”ecumenical movement.” After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the senior Imam Rauf frequently visited New York synagogues. ”It was a difficult thing to do for an Egyptian Muslim in that tense time between Israel and the Arab world,” Feisal said. ”My father waged the struggle for peace.”
From 1970 to 1980, his father was director of the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., an elegant mosque on Embassy Row. In 1977, a fringe Muslim group, headed by a man with a history of mental illness, took over the Islamic Center and two other Washington buildings (including the B’nai B’rith headquarters), taking more than a hundred hostages. ”My father was held at gunpoint for 39 hours at the Islamic Center by the Hanafi Muslims,” Rauf said. ”He experienced the terror of extremist Muslims.” So did Rauf.
Cue the Cordoba Canard:
In 1983, Rauf’s father ”passed the baton to me.” Rauf became the imam of the Al-Farah mosque in SoHo, now in TriBeCa, a dozen blocks north of the World Trade Center. ”I have been 27 years at Al-Farah mosque,” Rauf said. ”That gave me my pulpit.” Imam Rauf followed his father as a leading Islamic participant in interfaith dialogue, co-founding the multifaith Cordoba Initiative, named for — and taking its mission from — the Iberian city that was a medieval center of Jewish-Christian-Muslim reconciliation. ”There is a perception that Jews and Muslims and Christians must be each other’s existential enemies,” he says. ”To defeat that is an act of reconciliation.” But then the great shock occurred. ”After 9/11, I was often challenged to improve U.S.-Muslim or Jewish-Muslim relations.” And that is what he set about to do, including his role in the proposed Cordoba House at Park51, to be a center of reconciliation two blocks from Ground Zero.
Even that controversy, Imam Rauf believes, has advanced reconciliation: ”The support we received has led to increased regard for American and Jewish faith leaders — for Americans generally — all across the Muslim world.” That might seem hard to credit. Yet precisely as the controversy swirled in the United States, Rauf was visiting Arab nations as a State Department-sponsored good-will ambassador. The editor of a Bahrain newspaper, for example, called the mosque dispute America’s ”best propaganda. It shows a nation that is liberal and not afraid.” Imam Rauf concludes: ”A global coalition of moderates across the faith traditions advances moderation and peace worldwide. This story has done that.”
That depends on accepting the idea that “moderate” means the same thing in every “faith tradition.”
6
Dec 10
Everything the Ground Zero mosque organizers have done gives the lie to their claim to be fostering harmony by building the mosque
A terrific New York Post editorial pulls no punches about the naked hypocrisy of the organizers of the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero.
“No mosque money,” from the New York Post, December 6:
[…] On its face, the use of federal funds for this project would be the height of irony. Picture it: an Islamic center hard by Ground Zero — the very site where Islamists struck Americans on 9/11 — built in part with post-9/11 money from . . . Americans.
Heck, if you’re going to rub your victims’ noses in the dirt, why not use their money to do it?
Could there be any more reason to oppose this project? […]
Those who back the mosque, like Mayor Bloomberg, argue that supporting it is necessary to show tolerance for Islam and a commitment to constitutional freedoms of religion and speech.
But the mosque debate has never been about that. Rather, it’s been about the intent of the project — ostensibly, to foster greater understanding of Islam and improve ties between cultures.
Fact is, everything its backers have done to ram this project through — from siting it near Ground Zero to this latest attempt to use 9/11 funds for, among other things, Arabic courses — gives the lie to that goal.
If these folks get even one dime of US taxpayer funding, Americans will be taken for fools — yet again….
3
Dec 10
Ground Zero mosque developer sued for $100,000
Marisol summarized part of the problem with Sharif El-Gamal here: “Meanwhile, the thug Sharif el-Gamal has been sued for an unpaid loan, and faced eviction from his SoHo office over $ 39,000 in back rent. He was found to owe $ 21,000 in fines on a property with 13 violations. And there are other unanswered questions.”
El-Gamal has also threatened a Muslim opponent of the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero; spoken at an event for Hamas-linked CAIR; and has a history of thuggishness, including a recent comment about how beating people up is “exercise & stress relief.”
And despite all that, he is NBC’s Person of the Year. Who will be up for next year? Mohamed Mohamud?
And now this.
“Citibank sues Ground Zero mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal for $ 100G,” by James Fanelli for the New York Daily News, December 3 (thanks to all who sent this in):
The developer of the so-called Ground Zero mosque owes nearly $ 100,000 in overdue credit, a new suit charges.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan court, Citibank charges Sharif El-Gamal and his real estate firm, Soho Properties, have balked at repaying $ 99,489 borrowed from a business credit account in the past year….
El-Gamal has been hounded by other creditors. In October, Valley National Bank sued El-Gamal and Soho Properties for $ 95,778 plus interest after they defaulted on a loan in 2009, the suit charges….
3
Dec 10
US Ambassador to UK Praises Terror-Tied Mosque, Offers Taxpayer Money
Is it becoming clear that the American government is no friend of the American people? If not, splash some cold water on your face and read this:
The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom visited and praised a well-known extremist mosque in London Monday, and invited its youth to participate in an embassy-funded initiative to travel to the United States.
The East London Mosque (ELM) hosted recent speeches by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula leader and now Specially Designated Global Terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, a prominent leader of extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, and a wide variety of other radical leaders. That’s beside hate and terrorism promoted by the mosque’s leaders and the Islamic Forum for Europe (IFE), a group headquartered in the mosque complex.
U.S. ambassador Louis B. Susman went to ELM, which, in combination with the adjoined London Muslim Centre, holds more than 5,000 worshippers. During his visit, Susman said he had “great admiration” for the mosque and was “looking forward” to a dialogue with community members. He also invited young people from the community to enroll in the U.S. embassy’s cultural and interfaith program, which coordinates trips for young leaders to the United States.
No word on whether US taxpayers will be picking up the tab for their suicide belts.
Let’s not have the standard “reaching out to moderates” hogwash:
ELM’s long history of radical ties was the focus of a major documentary on Britain’s Channel 4 in March. A cursory search on Google of the terms “East London Mosque Radical” generates multiple hits that show the mosque’s radical connections. Recent reports have also appeared in major British papers such as the Independent and the Telegraph.
According to the State Department, obsequiously sucking up to Islamic maniacs who want to kill us is “part of President Obama’s call for a renewed dialogue with Muslim communities around the world.”
Had enough? Imagine how you’ll feel after the next 9/11.
Anwar al-Awlaki: Not far removed from the radicals running our government.
On a tip from G. Fox.
2
Dec 10
US Ambassador Visits and Praises Radical London Mosque; Offers to Fund Visit to America
The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom visited and praised a well-known extremist mosque in London Monday, and invited its youth to participate in an embassy-funded initiative to travel to the United States.
The East London Mosque(ELM) hosted recent speeches by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula leader and now Specially Designated Global Terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, a prominent leader of extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, and a wide variety of other radical leaders. That’s beside hate and terrorism promoted by the mosque’s leaders and the Islamic Forum for Europe (IFE), a group headquartered in the mosque complex.
U.S. ambassador Louis B. Susman went to ELM, which, in combination with the adjoined London Muslim Centre, holds more than 5,000 worshippers. During his visit, Susman said he had “great admiration” for the mosque and was “looking forward” to a dialogue with community members. He also invited young people from the community to enroll in the U.S. embassy’s cultural and interfaith program, which coordinates trips for young leaders to the United States.
ELM’s long history of radical ties was the focus of a major documentary on Britain’s Channel 4 in March. A cursory search on Google of the terms “East London Mosque Radical” generates multiple hits that show the mosque’s radical connections. Recent reports have also appeared in major British papers such as the Independent and the Telegraph.
According to Channel 4’s documentary, “Dispatches: Britain’s Islamic Republic,” ELM hosted a wide variety of extremist speakers. Awlaki, who lives in Yemen, gave a talk by telephone as late as January 2009 at the ELM’s London Mosque Center. He had spoken earlier in December 2003 at the London Mosque Center, telling listeners not to cooperate with British counterterrorism authorities. “A Muslim is a brother of a Muslim, he does not oppress him, he does not betray him and he does not hand him over… You don’t hand over a Muslim to the enemies,” he declared.
On Thursday, a State Department official said Susman’s visit to the ELM was among several mosque visits Susman made as “part of President Obama’s call for a renewed dialogue with Muslim communities around the world.” Susman toured the mosque and met privately with young members. The official did not address the ELM’s connections with radicals.
“The East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre have a large and diverse membership reflecting a wide range views” the official said in an email to the Investigative Project on Terrorism. “The Ambassador’s visit offered an opportunity to share perspectives on the role of Islam in the United States, discuss U.S. foreign policy, and explore areas of disagreement and common ground.”
Mosque officials were told of concerns about Awlaki’s activities and his ban from the United States before they included him in the Jan. 2, 2009, event. Much of those concerns were included in an article in the Telegraph.
But published accounts and writings by mosque officials show their sympathies for Awlaki. On Nov. 5, 2008, IFE leader Azad Ali called Awlaki “one of my favorite speakers and scholars.” On Nov. 19, Ali also wrote that by reading Awlaki’s blog “one cannot help but feel his frustration at the constant denial of legitimate Islamic principles.”
By November 2008, Awlaki had already posted blog items about going to war with “the superpower” over now-convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui. On Nov. 5, 2008, Awlaki also posted an item telling Muslims that Jews and Christians want to force them to give up their religion, expressing support for Muslim fighters around the world and Khilafah, and “American culture will destroy their [American Muslim] families.”
Twelve days before his 2009 ELM speech, Awlaki wrote on his blog about correspondence he had with Somali terrorist organization, Al-Shabaab. On the post, he stated, “Al-Shabab not only have succeeded in expanding the areas that fall under their rule but they have succeeded in implementing the sharia and giving us a living example of how we as Muslims should proceed to change our situation. The ballot has failed us but the bullet has not.” This had also been years after Awlaki’s production of “Constants on the Path of Jihad” in 2005, a series that inspired numerous terror plots.
Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a senior leader of the Bangladeshi branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, was another speaker invited to the ELM. The Jamaat is a Pakistani-tied Islamist party which seeks to impose Sharia law in Bangladesh. Before his 2006 speech, Sayeedi had said that “England and America deserve all that is coming to them for turning a poor Muslim country [Afghanistan] upside down.”
Inviting a senior leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh also fits in line with a British government assessment of the mosque, which called it “the key institution for the Bangladeshi wing of JI in the UK.”
The list of radical speakers at the mosque continues. Ghairat Baheer, a leader of Afghani rebels Hizb-i-Islami and spokesman for U.S. Specially Designated Terrorist Hekmatyar Gulbiddin, was invited in 2009. Bilal Philips, an unindicted coconspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the teacher of convicted terrorist preacher Ali al-Timimi, was banned from entering the United States and Australia. However, he spoke at ELM in June 2009. Abdul Karim Hattin, a speaker who linked Adolf Hitler and President George W. Bush to the anti-Christ in a Toronto speech, played a game of “spot the fag” with a 2007 audience.
The mosque has also featured anti-Semitic speakers, such as Sheikh Abdul Rahman al Sudais, a prominent Saudi cleric who has been noted for saying the “history of Jews is full of deception, trickery, rebellion, oppression, evil and corruption.” He spoke there in 2004. Hussain Ye, who prayed for the Mujahideen of Iraq and Palestine, also stated that Jews celebrated the 9/11 attacks. Yet, he was still invited as a guest speaker at the mosque. So were anti-Jewish bigots Abdullah Daud, Azzam Timimi, and Haitham al Haddad.
Current ELM officials and trustees have expressed extremist sentiments, including:
Imam Jahan Abdul Qayyum told mosque attendees in 2007 that “this Islam is the only Deen [religion] that Allah can accept.” According to emails exchanged between British journalist Ted Jeory, Whitehall Editor of the Sunday Express, and the mosque’s Media and Communications Officer, the Imam attended a Turkish event supporting Hamas and a Palestinian government that “will carry on with the jihad and Resistance against the occupier until the liberation of all Palestine.” His name was also carried on a petition endorsing these ideas, although he claims to not have agreed to it appearing there.
Muhammad Abdul Bari, the mosque’s chairman, attempted to refute claims that Awlaki had been a radical before giving his speech at the mosque in 2009.
Muhammad Abdul Aziz, an honorary trustee and former youth leader at the mosque, promoted UK government involvement with radical organizations on “a case by case basis,” even when those groups may promote “a message of divisiveness, expressing intolerance towards other communities in the UK.” Aziz’s strategy was intended to provide a legitimate outlet for young extremists. He expressed these opinions as a paid ministerial advisor to the government’s Communities Department.
The mosque bookstore and IFE also provide radical literature to Islamic consumers, both by mosque organizations and outside writers. Books appearing in the store include Islamic Verdicts Volume 5, which calls for apostates to be beheaded and Fatawa Islamiyah Volume 6 , which tells readers they will be rewarded for stoning adulterers. Literature by the Islamic Forum of Europe, headquartered in the mosque’s facilities, declares that it “strives for the establishment of a global society, the Khilafah [Caliphate]” which will be “comprised of individuals who live by the principles of the eternal code of life, the Shari’ah [Islamic Law].”
The mosque isn’t the only group that uses the organization’s facilities to promote Islamism. The Islamic Forum for Europe (IFE) preaches a form of Islamism with strongly anti-democratic tones. IFE declared its wish to change the “very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed … from ignorance to Islam.” It features books by radical Islamists like Sayyid Maududi, including Let Us Be Muslim, which undermine secular governments. A teacher in an IFE beginner’s course was recorded in Channel 4’s documentary, reinforcing such sentiments. “We can’t say that, OK praying 5 times a day as a Muslim that’s enough. No. We have to accept every aspect of Islam. Political aspect, economical aspect, cos [sic] Islam provides all the solutions,” she said. “Allah gives us everything, the sharia covers everything, every aspect of life.”
