Yes, they're getting a makeover at the Finsbury Park Mosque, and it is still extreme. But, the media is trying to sell it as a moderation. Watch the taqiyya (that's an Arab word, meaning lies and obfuscation in the service of Jihad) fly:
LONDON — The Finsbury Park mosque, where the one-eyed, hook-handed militant cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri once delivered his fiery sermons and helped turn a religious facility into the target for dozens of international terrorism investigations, is going through a makeover.
During his time at the helm, Hamza, now sitting in a British prison and awaiting possible U.S. extradition, allowed the mosque to become a haven of radical Islam in Europe — a “suicide factory” as one book has called it — which hosted such figures as Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard Reid and, reportedly, three of the four London bombers.
Now, far from being allegedly al-Qaida-linked ...
Pastorius question: Who said they are "far from being al-Qaeda linked? Note that within this article, no Muslim explicitly says that anything has fundamentally changed about the philosophy behing the Mosque.
... the mosque is quietly repairing its reputation from that of a hotbed of radicalism to one of a more moderate institution — albeit a mosque run by a group linked to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood and with an alleged former Hamas commander as a co-trustee.
“This mosque was a national problem, not just a local problem. (In fact) it was an international problem — it wasn’t even a national problem,” said Abdirahman Warsame, the new executive manager of the mosque, now officially named the North Central London Mosque. “Still we are struggling to change the image of the mosque since the extremist group, the Abu Hamza group, was here.”
The Muslim Association of Britain, which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, used legal means to gain control of the mosque in 2005 after years of struggle.
Ok so click here to see a list of articles about the outright radicalism of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“While Abu Hamza was there, it became very much a focal point for radical Islamist activity in Britain,” said Sean O’Neill, who along with a fellow reporter for The Times of London, Daniel McGrory, co-wrote, “The Suicide Factory: Abu Hamza and the Finsbury Park Mosque,” which was published this spring.
“There were plots and links to activities stretching to, I think, 26 countries,” O’Neill added.
The new leadership has been working closely with the local community to turn this mosque into a moderate place of worship, with a program of community and social outreach.
“We are here to engage with the young people who have already been — some of them — maybe politicized by the previous group or who have extremist views,” said Warsame, a tall, soft-spoken Somali who was chosen by the Muslim Association of Britain to manage the mosque.
Note that Warsame says he is there to engage with the young people who have extremist views. He does not say he is there to help change those young people.
Last week, the same association launched a mosques' watchdog intended to tackle extremism by monitoring imams and the content of their sermons.
“Instead of young Muslims seeking guidance outside of the mosque, we need to train spiritual leaders to preach the right religion in our mosques,” Ahmad Sheikh, president of the Muslim Association of Britain and one of five co-trustees of the Finsbury park mosque, said.
These young people were not seeking guidance outside the Mosque. They were getting their extremist views from the Mosque itself.
In Finsbury Park, Warsame brings in different preachers each week to deliver the main Friday sermon — a sharp contrast to the days of Abu Hamza’s absolute control of the mosque.
“We don’t want — how should I say it? — a ‘star imam’ like Abu Hamza. So, they don’t keep a high-profile,” he said.
They don't want a preacher who keeps a "high-profile" because they don't want people to know what is going on in this Mosque.
Still, Warsame echoes common complaints of the British Muslim community that the government is not attentive to its needs.
“The mosque was a national crisis when Abu Hamza was here. Now when Abu Hamza has gone off, and the government sees there is no problem, they just say, ‘Goodbye’.”
Both Sheikh and Warsame pointed out that British Muslims overwhelmingly oppose Prime Minister Tony Blair's foreign policy — notably in relation to Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — and suggested the government should be willing to shoulder some of the blame for the radicalization of Muslim youth.
“We want the government to have a public inquiry as to the real cause of the radicalism among British Muslim youth. Where is it coming from? If it is the mosque, we can do our part. If it is the foreign policy, the government has to do its bit,” Sheikh said.
And that, of course, means they want to dictate an Arabist foreign policy to the federal government of the United Kingdom.
The audacity of that statement is astounding. Imagine that your church had become not just a national, but an international problem, extending its poison into 26 countries around the world. Imagine that you try to fix the problem and bring in new preachers, and implement programs to repair the damaged psyches of the young people in your church.
Ok, so now you are imagining that, right?
Now, imagine that all in the same breath your new Pastor demands that the United States fundamentally change its foreign policy to fit the needs of your troubled church.Imagine that.
Imagine that the New York Times publishes an article selling your churhces bullshit. Imagine that.
Well, I guess that's not too hard to imagine, is it?
What a world we live in.
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