Author: Sherrie Gossett
Publication: WorldNetDaily.com
Date: January 6, 2004
URL: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36457
How extremist Muslims intimidate
press, true moderates into silence
Editor's note: This is the final
installment of a three-part WND report by Sherrie Gossett, who went inside
a recent "mainstream" Muslim conference in Florida to expose the true attitudes
and ideas of the leaders of the movement in the U.S. Gossett attended portions
of the conference after all other media representatives had packed up and
left the event.
In Part 1, Gossett analyzed the
words and backgrounds of some of the keynote speakers at the conference
- imams and sheiks who openly voice their disdain for America, Jews and
"unbelievers" in general, and who defend the practice of suicide bombing.
In Part 2, Gossett further explains
the vast network of Islamists who headline Muslim conferences and reports
how funds from the movement make their way to terrorist organizations.
Today's installment shows how Islamists
silence the media and true moderate Muslims while posing as "mainstream."
The Islamic Circle of North America,
or ICNA, along with the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, and
representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR,
are mainstays of the American Islamic conference circuit, which has featured
radical clerics and ideology derived from its overseas forebears.
The conference circuit, which is
used to recruit and educate Muslims and raise funds, works to portray itself
as moderate.
It also provides a meeting place
where new friends can be found.
At the Silver Spurs Arena in Orlando,
elegantly dressed women shared meals and mingled with newfound friends
from a variety of backgrounds, some with their roots as far away as Egypt
and Indonesia. Meanwhile, their children played games together as vendors
sold books, CDs, colorful prayer rugs, artwork and intricately detailed
robes.
A repeated theme at such conferences
is the "crisis," "challenge" and "nightmare" that is everyday life for
a Muslim in America.
Community leaders, terrorism experts
and Middle East specialists say the groups are whitewashing their radicalism
to get positive press, which they later parlay into community and political
power. They say the groups are holding themselves out as moderates, that
they play the race card at will, and exaggerate the climate for Muslims
in the U.S.
With accusations of intolerance,
prejudice or bigotry, these leaders present themselves to young Muslims
as needed protectors in a scary world. A nervous press, meanwhile, plays
the role of public-relations mouthpiece for them, frightened of being labeled
intolerant, racist or bigoted. From the newly gained platform of mainstream
media acceptance, they then bully critical moderate Muslim groups and individuals
to intimidate them into silence as they insinuate themselves in to the
power flow in America.
Critics also claim the groups routinely
portray terrorism experts, moderate scholars, FBI counterintelligence veterans
and anybody else criticizing them as individuals who slander Islam as a
whole, despite copious evidence to the contrary.
Supporters of the groups say the
critics are trying to divide the Muslim communities that the groups are
trying to unite and that critics want only "good" (or "docile") "moderate"
Muslims around who are not desirous of effecting political and social change.
They attribute almost all arrests to abuses of the Patriot Act and "set
ups" by law enforcement.
The radicals routinely attribute
criticism to "Zionist" entities or sympathizers, and bigots.
Critics, though, say the charge
is meant to intimidate and silence.
Editor Rod Dreher of the Dallas
Morning News cited attempts to silence legitimate questions about ISNA's
agenda through intimidation and misdirection, a charge also leveled by
others at CAIR.
Taking over mosques?
One pattern that concerns critics
is the pulling out of moderate clerics from mosques and replacing them
with extremist ones. Some Muslim leaders complain that American mosques
and institutions are now 80 percent owned by hard-liners who only represent
a minority of Muslims in the U.S.
* The North American Islamic Trust,
a sister organization set up for what its website calls the "protection
and safeguarding" of the finances of ISNA and other groups owns between
20 percent and 27 percent of this country's mosques and is said to be heavily
funded by Saudi sources.
* ISNA board member Bassam Osman
is the president of the North American Islamic Trust, or NAIT, which owns
the Islamic Academy of Florida. That school was described as a criminal
enterprise in the federal indictment handed down in February against school
founder Sami al-Arian and others alleged to be Palestinian Islamic Jihad
fund-raisers.
* Echoing similar reports from across
the country, Dr. Khalid Duran, a moderate Muslim, and unnamed others like
him told the St. Petersburg Times extremists try to take over American
mosques and hand the titles over to NAIT. NAIT contends the opposite, saying
they can protect mosques from false teachers.
* Last month's Orlando conference
invitees Abdullah Idris Ali, Siraj Wahhaj (the unindicted co-conspirator
of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing), and Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui have
all served as a members on the Board of Trustees for ISNA's North American
Islamic Trust.
Promoting peace, respect
Moderate Muslims are among those
alarmed by the alleged acceptance of radical groups as moderate and their
subsequent maneuver into the media forefront and institutional positions
of power where critics say they now wield influence and control over the
rank-and-file-Muslim moderates.
Citing the late Seif Ashmawi, a
moderate Muslim-American newspaper publisher, Dreher recalls the cautionary
warning: "Radical Islamic groups have now taken over leadership of the
'mainstream' Islamic institutions in the United States, and anyone who
pretends otherwise is deliberately engaging in self-deception."
Jamaluddin Hoffman, a Sufi and moderate,
has characterized the situation as "a war for the heart and soul of our
religion."
Hoffman is the director of public
affairs for the Islamic Supreme Council of America, a group numbering 8,000
which in addition to fostering scholarly work focuses on the "sublime spirituality"
of Islam. The organization has a respected track record of working with
other faith groups and promoting tolerance and moderation in Islam, not
only in the U.S. but around the world.
The group's website features information
on Islamic extremism.
The Islamic Supreme Council of America
has no complicated history of terrorism "skeletons" in its closet, nor
does it agitate for the legal and public defense of suspected, indicted
and convicted terrorists. It advocates for keeping politics out of the
mosque and sees no conflict between following Islam and the U.S. Constitution.
"For the first time in America,
we have tried to integrate traditional scholarship in resolving contemporary
issues affecting the maintenance of Islamic beliefs in a modern, secular
society," ICSA says.
In July, Sheikh Muhammad Hisham
Kabbani, chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, delivered
the Friday sermon at Istiqlal Mosque in Indonesia - the world's third largest
mosque and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Speaking to a crowd of
over 100,000, the sheikh urged all Muslims to return to the true understanding
of Islam taught by Prophet Muhammad, the message of peace, tolerance and
compassion for others.
In his message, broadcast on Indonesian
television, the sheikh warned that Islam today is under a "grave threat"
by self-appointed activists trained in a "disfigured understanding of the
faith."
The sheikh travels to deliver messages
and services at Islamic centers across the U.S. as well as throughout the
world. On recent trips to Thailand, Singapore, Cyprus and Malaysia, the
sheikh met with citizens and government dignitaries in a quest to promote
a pure spirituality and goodwill.
Despite ISCA's scholarly and inter-faith
credentials, and singular history of international relations with other
faith groups and government leaders, a casual Google/news search suggests
far more reporters flock to CAIR for the mandatory story quote than to
ISCA.
CAIR's odd pedigree
The Council on American-Islamic
Relations presents itself as a civil- rights organization and often sends
representatives to ICNA or ISNA conferences to teach about the role of
the media in public opinion/ policy formation and how Muslims can cultivate
media influence.
But CAIR has had its own share of
controversy as well.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, three CAIR
figures have been arrested by U.S. federal authorities on terrorist-related
charges: Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR-Texas; Bassem
K. Khafagi, the community affairs director for CAIR; and Randall Todd "Ismail"
Royer, former communications specialist and civil-rights coordinator at
CAIR.
CAIR also has been criticized for
its links to Hamas by various terrorist experts and scholars, including
Matthew Levitt, senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy.
On Sept. 19, Levitt gave testimony
before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism titled, "Subversion
from Within." Levitt addressed the issue of CAIR:
"For example, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, which says it was 'established to promote a positive image of
Islam and Muslims in America,' was co-founded by Omar Ahmed, the same person
who co- founded the Islamic Association for Palestine - the Hamas front
organization which first published the Hamas charter in English - together
with Hamas leader and Specially Designated Terrorist Mousa Abu Marzouk.
CAIR's pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah positions should not surprise, given
that it regularly rises to the defense of terrorism suspects and openly
supports designated terrorist groups."
Similar testimony has been given
by various experts, including Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, who
said the following during a February 2000 address to the International
Conference on Countering Suicide Terrorism sponsored by the Institute for
Counter-Terrorism of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzlyia, Israel:
"The Council for American-Islamic
Relations is a Muslim Brotherhood front organization. It works in the United
States as a lobby against radio, television and print media journalists
who dare to produce anything about Islam that is at variance with their
fundamentalist agenda. CAIR opposes diversity in Islam: They are aggressive
and closed-minded. Notwithstanding CAIR's evident connection to Hamas,
they are regarded by U.S. administrations as legitimate representatives
of the Muslim American community."
If CAIR is a front group, then how
did they become the most frequently looked to source for authoritative
commentary on Muslim affairs in the U.S.?
"CAIR has been very effective at
seducing the media into believing it is the go-to voice for Muslims in
America,'' Bill Gralnick told WND.
Gralnick is director of the American
Jewish Committee of Palm Beach County.
"That effort is aided by lazy or
overworked journalists whose deadlines keep them from seeking out the less-known,
less-accessible voices in the community," he said. "Also, they have been
the most oft-heard voice in the Muslim community. Since in a work-a-day
world most folks are followers, it concerns me that CAIR is becoming the
shepherd most likely to be followed. If CAIR didn't have the formative
roots it had, I'd be less concerned. "
CAIR: what controversy?
WND asked CAIR-Florida Director
Altaf Ali to comment on the controversy surrounding the Orlando conference,
which was titled, "Islam for Humanity." Ali was scheduled to appear on
the conference podium during the same session as suicide-bombing supporter
Imam Abdul Malik, but missed the conference due to an "emergency."
Ali told WND he saw no controversy
at all surrounding the conference and its speakers. He suggested one sole
local Jewish activist who sent out a press release about the conference
was responsible for the coverage, which included a report by the Los Angeles
Times.
Ali also seemed to be eager to interject
the names "Daniel Pipes" and "Steve Emerson" as scapegoats for any controversy
reported by the Orlando Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times.
WND did not interview or receive
background from Pipes or Emerson for this story, nor were Pipes or Emerson
interviewed by the other media.
Mobilizing protest against critics
Pipes and Emerson has been a CAIR priority via action e-mails sent to members
and by the issuing of press releases that suggest the men slander all of
Islam, despite evidence to the contrary. Both Pipes and Emerson have persistently
reported questionable links of Muslim groups, including CAIR.
When asked to comment on testimony
that CAIR was founded by two individuals from a Hamas front group, Ali
said, "I don't know very much about the founders."
When WND asked Ali what his opinion
was of Hamas and whether he supported the group, he declined to answer,
saying he doesn't comment on international affairs.
He also attributed any controversy
generated around the Orlando conference to a post-9-11 eagerness to target
Muslims in general, especially those connected to mosques.
The comment was nearly identical
to one he gave the Associated Press before the conference, when he attributed
controversy over the sheikh who prayed to God to "terminate the Jews" to
it being "open season" on Muslims since 9-11.
In addition to heading up the Florida
CAIR chapter, Ali was invited to be in class XXII as a part of the prestigious
Leadership Broward group, a premier leadership-development program that
puts participants in touch with the inner workings of Broward County.
Ali was tapped earlier this year
by the School Board of Broward County's Diversity Committee to produce
a video teaching diversity awareness. The video was aired on the Broward
County public-school TV network and also featured another Orlando conference
speaker - the spiritual leader of Darul Aloom, Maulana Shafayat Mohamed.
(Darul Aloom is the Pembroke Pines,
Fla., madrassa [or Islamic learning center] previously in media as the
place where Jose Padilla, the alleged al-Qaida 'dirty bomber,' had worshipped
and where two individuals were said to have plotted attacks on a National
Guard Armory and South Florida electrical power stations.)
Mohamed spoke at the Orlando conference
on raising children to live moral lives and sat on the stage during Malik's
speech. The two exchanged a warm embrace after Malik's speech.
Gralnick of the American Jewish
Committee of Palm Beach County expressed concerns to WND over recent events,
including the Orlando conference.
"While circumstantial, the al-Arian
case and its connections, Abu Sway and his connection to Hamas and the
extremism reported by the Boston Herald about the mosque in Boston, the
things found out about 9-11 preparations including money laundering in
Palm Beach County, and the conference in Orlando all seem to add up to
more activity than can be coincidental," he said.
"It is worrisome to me that there
have been so many connections, stemming from before 9-11, to Islamic extremism
in so many different parts of the state. I would speculate that lines connect
the dots, and that is of great concern."
Freedoms threatened?
Middle East specialist and terrorism
expert Yehudit Barsky also expressed concern.
"For 20 years, these organizations
realized they could come to the U.S. very freely and have conferences,"
she said, "They take advantage of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly,
freedom to distribute materials."
Considered an authoritative source
on terrorism, Barsky is in demand to give briefings to law-enforcement
organizations across the U.S. on the history, development and activity
of such groups. She has delivered such briefings in Florida as well.
Barsky said that using terms like
"inter-faith" and promoting peace and unity in written materials was an
obfuscation of true intent, and part of an effort to gain legitimacy before
the public.
"These groups that are promoting
ideas - this is the indoctrination part of it. The goal is to promote an
extremist brand of Islam and convince Muslims in this country that it's
the only way.
"We don't want to lose our freedoms.
We as Americans have this challenge of what to do with these guys, and
it's a serious challenge."
She added, "We've been aware of
it for a long time, but now more people are paying attention. Now there
are real implications. These groups are masquerading as mainstream groups,
yet after taking a closer look you see they are the most extreme."
'We want to be free'
Malik has a sharp word for those
who say "Muslim terrorists are going after your way of life" and "freedoms."
In a speech called "American Dream
or Nightmare," Malik explains that the target of "Muslim terrorists" really
is the imperialist way of life, not "your personal freedoms."
"No, its not the freedoms we're
going after. It's the fact that you control our countries. We've got these
kings here that you want in. We want to be free; that's what it is."
Malik says that the Quran divides
non-Muslims into three categories: those who will help and are friendly,
those who are neutral, and category three who "want to kill us. They want
to take us out!"
In terms of the argument that terrorists
are going after Americans' freedoms, Malik says: "That's the third category
talking to the first and second category of non-Muslims. And then they
use these ayats [verses], 'Slay them wherever you find them and kill them.'
That's for the third category [laughter in audience], but they make it
sound like it's for the first and second category."
The verses in the Quran about fighting,
Malik says, are only for those who "hate us or want to kill us." He advises
followers to ask people concerned about the ayats, "Are you taking up for
oppressors? That's what it's talking about," or "You're not in that third
category are you?"
Malik says if Americans understood
the imperialist nature of their government, they would not support its
imperialist actions, and he predicts Islam will become vastly more popular
due to a disenchantment of the American people with widespread corruption.
Constrained by spiritual beliefs
that dictate what is recognized as authentic, Malik has told followers,
"We are obligated to live under an Islamic state."
"The mujahedeen fight with the sword
and the word," Malik says. "At least we can use the word in America."
A 'malignant ideology'
The Dallas Morning News' Dreher,
meanwhile, points a finger at apathy.
"Silence and a lack of curiosity,
however well meaning or unwitting, are allowing a malignant ideology to
grow unchecked in this country," he says.
"They must not get away with it,"
says Dreher. "As benign as they sometimes sound, Dr. Syeed and his ilk
are no friends of moderation and tolerance.
"American Muslims who want no part
of Islamo-fascist ideology are its first victims. They won't be its last."
Sheik Palazzi advises those who
oppose fundamentalism and suicide bombings to persevere.
"We are forbidden to lose hope.
As the Quran says: 'How oft, by God's will, hath a small force vanquished
a big one? Verily, God is with those who steadfastly persevere.'"
'Passing the torch'
As the battle continues for the
future of Islam in America, in Orlando, Imam Malik teaches the importance
of "passing the torch" to Muslim youth and warns about the lack of "real"
leaders and the rise of false ones who would corrupt the minds of young
Muslims.
And he has a chilling prophecy for
corrupt leaders:
"In the final chapter of your death
and resurrection, on the Day of Judgment, Shatan [Satan] will say: 'I called
you and you came . Don't blame me; blame yourself.'"
