'These Muslim Leaders Were Experiencing Something They Knew Nothing About'

Amazing how you can magically become a Muslim "leader" or "scholar" yet have zero knowledge of basic world history.

U.S. officials participated in a trip of eight Muslim-American clerics to the sites of the former Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps last week in what one official called a transformative experience.

“These Muslim leaders were experiencing something they knew nothing about,” President Barack Obama’s envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Hannah Rosenthal, told POLITICO Tuesday. Rosenthal lost many family members at Auschwitz, including her grandparents. “I can’t believe anyone walks into Auschwitz and leaves the same person. I watched them break down. I broke down in front of suitcases. ... It is the cemetery of my whole family.”

The participating imams “were totally aware that they were visiting my family cemetery, and they were very loving about it,” Rosenthal said.

At the end, the imams — from a broad range of backgrounds — issued a far-reaching statement, condemning anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and religious bigotry.

Now if only their peeps around the world would do the same thing.

I hate to pour cold water on all the festivities, but having people in this group coming out of the Islamic Society of North America leaves me just a wee bit suspicious that this isn't all just some PR smokescreen.

According to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, ISNA “is a radical group hiding under a false veneer of moderation”; “convenes annual conferences where Islamist militants have been given a platform to incite violence and promote hatred” (for instance, al Qaeda supporter and PLO official Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi was invited to speak at an ISNA conference); has held fundraisers for terrorists (after Hamas leader Mousa Marzook was arrested and eventually deported in 1997, ISNA raised money for his defense); has condemned the U.S. government’s post-9/11 seizure of Hamas’ and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s financial assets; and publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Islamic Horizons, that “often champions militant Islamist doctrine.”

Adds Emerson: “I think ISNA has been an umbrella, also a promoter of groups that have been involved in terrorism. I am not going to accuse the ISNA of being directly involved in terrorism. I will say ISNA has sponsored extremists, racists, people who call for Jihad against the United States.”

Emerson further reports that "In September 2002, a full year after the 9/11 attacks, speakers at ISNA's annual conference still refused to acknowledge Bin Laden's role in the terrorist attacks."

Linked at Instapundit. Thanks!

Stunner: Islamists Oppose Airport Body Scanners

The usual suspects from the Islamic Society of North America and their terror-loving supporters from CAIR. In my opinion they have two choices. They can opt not to fly or they can shut the eff up.

A group of Muslim scholars says it supports airline safety, but it is "deeply concerned" about the use of airport scanners that show nude images of the human body.

“The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) emphasizes that a general and public use of such scanners is against the teachings of Islam, natural law and all religions and cultures that stand for decency and modesty,” the group said in a Feb. 10 statement posted at Islam Online.

"It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women," FCNA explained. The group noted that Islam emphasizes modesty, considering it part of the faith. "The Qur'an has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts" and to be modest in their dress.

While exceptions can be made in cases of "extreme necessity," FCNA indicated that passenger body scans do not rise to that level.

FCNA is asking for changes in scanner software so the machines will produce only body outlines. In the meantime, the group says Muslim travelers should choose pat-down searches over scanner images – in cases where searches are necessary.

The Fiqh Council of North America is an affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America, which advises and educates its members and officials “on matters related to the application of Shari’ah (Islamic law) in their individual and collective lives in the North American environment.”

Funny how they never mention anything about the wanton slaughter of the innocent in their "sacred" teachings.

Muslim Activist Frets Over Buffalo Headchopper: 'The Right Wing Is Going To Run With It and Misuse It'

How exactly is commenting on this story misusing it? I guess they prefer we pretend none of this ever happened and make believe that Islam is a gentle, peaceful religion.

Sorry, no can do.

The crime was so brutal, shocking and rife with the worst possible stereotypes about their faith that some U.S. Muslims thought the initial reports were a hoax.

The harsh reality of what happened in an affluent suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. — the beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan and arrest of her estranged husband in the killing — is another crucible for American Muslims.

Here was a couple that appeared to be the picture of assimilation and tolerance, co-founders of a television network that aspired to improve the image of Muslims in a post 9-11 world.

Now, as Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan faces second-degree murder charges, those American Muslims who have spoken out are once again explaining that their faith abhors such horrible acts, and they are using the tragedy as a rallying cry against domestic violence.

The killing and its aftermath raise hard questions for Muslims — about gender issues, about distinctions between cultural and religious practices, and about differing interpretations of Islamic texts regarding the treatment of women.

"Muslims don't want to talk about this for good reason," said Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, a Muslim author and activist. "There is so much negativity about Muslims, and it sort of perpetuates it. The right wing is going to run with it and misuse it. But we've got to shine a light on this issue so we can transform it."

There is evidence of movement in that direction in the 10 days since the Hassan slaying. In an open letter to American Muslim leaders, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali of Sterling, Va., vice president of the Islamic Society of North America, said "violence against women is real and cannot be ignored."

He urged that imams and community leaders never second-guess a woman in danger, and said women seeking divorces because of physical abuse should not be viewed as bringing shame to their families.

Muslim women's advocates consider the statement significant after years of indifference in a community which has seen only recent progress — for example, the opening of shelters for battered Muslim women in a few major cities.

"This is a horrible tragedy, but it gives us a window," said Abdul-Ghafur, editor of the anthology "Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak." "The next time a woman comes to her imam and says, 'He hit me,' the reply might not be, 'Be patient, sister, is there something you did, sister? Is there something you can do?' The chances are greater the imam will say, 'This is unacceptable.'"

Goof luck with that.

Here's a helpful suggestion from the evil right: How about going to the police the next time your husband hits you instead of some useless imam?

Perhaps also the Associated Press should think twice about going to the Islamic Society of North America for a quote, considering they have ties to terrorism. You know, that could perpetuate "negative" stereotypes used by those mean old rightwingers.

Radical Islamist to Appear at Democrat Convention 'Interfaith Service'

Well, since Jeremiah Wright was tossed under the bus several months ago, it's safe to say he won't be making any public appearances at the Democrat Convention.

But when the Democrats have a public interfaith service August 24, there will be at least one radical extremist in attendance.

For the first time at a Democratic National Convention, a public interfaith service of Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists will help kick off the event at 2 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Wells Fargo Theater inside the Colorado Convention Center.

It’s not a huge surprise that a service of this nature would kick off the Denver event since DNCC chief executive Leah Daughtry is herself, a pastor and the Obama campaign has been preaching opening the convention to as broad a spectrum as possible.

“I am incredibly proud that these esteemed leaders from the faith community will be with us to celebrate this historic occasion and honor the diverse faith traditions inside the Democratic Party,” Daughtry said in a statement.

Keep that name Leah Daughtry in mind, as we'll get back to her.

Included in the service: Bishop Charles Blake, presiding prelate of the Church of God in Christ, Inc., and pastor of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ; Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America; social activity Sister Helen Prejean and Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union.

That name Ingrid Mattson sure rang a bell.

The president of the Islamic Society of North America warned last night that American Jews who ally with right-wing Christians to oppose Muslim organizations are pursuing a high-risk strategy that could backfire.

Speaking at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, at an event sponsored by the school and four Muslim student organizations, Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian-born convert from Roman Catholicism who became the Islamic society's first woman president last year, said that many American Jews have an existential fear that Muslims are anti-Israel.

Such fear leads Jews to ally with Christian fundamentalists who are supportive of Israel and critical of Islam, she said.

"Right-wing Christians are very risky allies for American Jews," Mattson said, "because they [the Christians] are really anti-Semitic. They do not like Jews" and enter into the alliance on the basis of fundamentalist beliefs that it would be desirable for all Jews to return to Israel. She suggested that fundamentalist Christians might turn against Jews or that there could be backlash from ordinary Americans against Jewish and fundamentalist Christian supporters of Israel.

A perfect face to help lead an interfaith ceremony, no?

But wait, there's more.

As the first female convert head of one of the largest Muslim organisations in America Mattson's appointment as a woman and convert was deliberately calculated to put a modern and non threatening face to the Saudi backed da'wa goals of the organisation. By using her the poster girl of the Western educated female convert they are sending the message - you can be female, revert, and become influential in the Muslim movement. (Besides the obvious fact that an english speaking, North American born convert to Islam attacts more converts, Mattson is a poster girl for useful idioacy [sic] and was "groomed" by the former ISNA head Abdullah Idris, to take over the organisation in the hopes that her tokenism would garner more funding from wealthy Muslim women.)

Has anyone at the DNC even taken a minute to look into her background? If they did, they'd find this:

Though Dr. Ingrid Mattson appears moderate, she is insidious precisely because she maintains that facade while steadfastly refusing to criticize radical Islamists, claiming that there is no such thing as Wahhabism and that the term "Islamic terrorism" should not be used in the media. Most shocking of all, though, is how little concern she expressed about suicide bombings in an essay she wrote shortly after 9/11.

At a CNN-sponsored "town hall" forum in October 2001, Mattson — with a straight face — claimed that the radical, Saudi-sponsored form of Islam known as Wahhabism was akin to the Protestant movement in Christianity. Wahhabism "really was analogous to the European protestant reformation," she explained.

This wasn't an isolated use of the analogy. At a November 2003 roundtable sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies Conference, Mattson said the Wahhabist movement in Islam is "a very old struggle …between the more theologically austere Muslims who like Protestant Christianity believe that there should be no saints there should be no intervention between you and G-d."

Mattson takes a similar "see no evil" approach to the idea of Islamic terrorism. Mattson was one of several Muslim "scholars" quoted in a Washington Times article shortly after 9/11 who claimed that the media should not use the term "Islamic terrorism." Mattson took this stance despite the fact, as the Times paraphrased her, that "Islamic terrorists themselves use this term."

The reason Mattson is able to pass herself off as a moderate is probably because she clears the low bar set for most Muslims: the ability to explicitly condemn suicide bombings. But she hasn't done so for very long. In a remarkably revealing essay Mattson penned for Beliefnet.com in October 2001, she wrote that, until then, Palestinian suicide bombings "simply did not cross my mind as a priority among the many issues I felt needed to be addressed." She stated it as matter-of-factly and inconsequentially as someone who apologizes for forgetting to pick up the dry cleaning because it "simply did not cross my mind as a priority."

If the DNC indeed did a background check and still cleared her to speak, it says volumes about them, considering the ISNA was named as an unindicted terror co-conspirator in the Holy Land trial last year.

Now as for Ms. Daughtry, reader Errol alerted me to this recent item.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright in a skirt is Chief Executive Officer of this month’s Democratic National Convention in Denver.

While the media hounded Wright for his anti-American rants and while presidential hopeful Senator Barack Hussein Obama divorced him as his personal pastor, Obama’s head will be crowned by Leah Daughtry, who ardently believes in the same Marxist “Black Liberation Theology” preached by Wright.

Readers can step, figuratively into Daughtry’s Washington, DC church with the New York Times:

…”Behind her as she preached, a simple wooden cross hung on a brick wall, in the vaulted and sizable sanctuary of the church, which is headed by her father, Herbert Daughtry. A prison convert who served time in his early 20s for armed robbery and passing bad checks, Herbert Daughtry—whose father founded the church and whose grandfather and great-grandfather were also ministers—became the church’s pastor 50 years ago, and today Leah was delivering the sermon as part of an anniversary celebration.

Below the sanctuary, in the fellowship hall, a banner for slavery reparations proclaimed, “They Owe Us.” Fliers, recounted Herbert Daughtry’s arrest, a few weeks earlier, as he led marchers protesting the not-guilty verdict in the police killing of Sean bell, an unarmed black man. His ministry has always combined consuming spirituality with black liberation theology—the theology Jeremiah Wright invoked this spring to defend his controversial sermons—and zealous political activism. Leah holds these forces within her.”

See more on Daughtry at Conservative Punk.

Anyone familiar with New York knows full well about Herbert Daughtry, one of the angriest thugs the political scene has even witnessed in these parts. He makes Al Sharpton look like a nice guy in comparison.

The fact his Marxist daughter has such a prominent role at the DNC ought to set alarm bells ringing.

So here you have leading the Democrats: A radical Islamist and Jeremiah Wright in a skirt, who just happens to be the CEO of the Democrat Convention.

Lovely.

Thanks to LGF for the link!

GOP Outrage Over Islamic Society Convention

We noted Monday that the Department of Justice was sponsoring a convention held by the Islamic Society of North America.

Finally, some lawmakers have spoken out about it. Republicans only, of course.

What, you expected Democrats to speak up?

Republican lawmakers are urging the Justice Department not to participate in a convention held by the Islamic Society of North America -- a group named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an ongoing terrorism-financing case.

In a letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Reps. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Sue Myrick of North Carolina called the Justice Department's involvement a "grave mistake."

"In light of the threat that our nation is currently facing from radical jihadists, and because of the president's commitment to fighting the war on terror on all fronts, we believe it is a grave mistake to provide legitimacy to an organization with extremist origins, leadership and a radical agenda," the lawmakers said.

Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he agrees that Justice officials should not attend the conference.

"It is absolute insanity for the federal government, especially the Department of Justice, to be giving any credibility at all to a group like the ISNA, which has such strong links to Islamic extremism," Mr. King said.

The Washington Times notes there will be a complete story to follow.

Let's hope the DoJ snaps out of it and puts the kibosh on this lunacy.

UPDATE: More at Michelle Malkin and LGF.

Islamic Groups Named in Hamas Case

With any luck, this will be a death blow to radical frontgroups such as CAIR.

Of course, most of the media will simply ignore this.

Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas.

Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust in connection with a trial planned in Texas next month for five officials of a defunct charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

While the foundation was charged in the case, which was filed in 2004, none of the other groups was. However, the co-conspirator designation could be a blow to the credibility of the national Islamic organizations, which often work hand-in-hand with government officials engaged in outreach to the Muslim community.

A court filing by the government last week listed the three prominent groups among about 300 individuals or entities named as co-conspirators. The document gave scant details, but prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." The government listed the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood."

It's well past time these groups were outlawed.