I've heard conservative luminaries like Dennis Prager call the ISNA a force for Islamic moderation in America.
Well, if that's true, then why is their keynote speaker calling for the establishment of a Caliphate in America.
The truth is, there are no Muslims Organizations, of any appreciable size, anywhere in the world, which are moderate.
Siraj Wahhaj is a regular visitor to the Central Ohio area, but his next appearance in Columbus will be as a featured speaker at the 2008 Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention held here later this month. One of the unindicted co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Wahhaj has been in the news recently for being featured in NY subway ads that have proved controversial in light of his known terrorist ties.Paul Barrett, an editor for Business Week and author of the recent book, American Islam: Struggle for the Soul of Religion, has spent considerable time with Wahhaj and made him one of the primary subjects in his book (read the introduction to Barrett’s book at the Washington Post). Barrett has previously described the transformation of America into an Islamic state that Wahhaj would like to see:
He has told his followers that a society governed by strict Islamic law, in which adulterers would be stoned to death and thieves would have their hands cut off, would be superior to American democracy. Speaking of unnamed forces in the government and media, he has preached, “These people want the destruction of Islam.” (“One Imam Traces the Path of Islam in Black America”, Wall Street Journal [October 24, 2003])Barrett also describes how Wahhaj brushes off evidence of Osama bin Laden’s involvement in 9/11, including dismissing bin Laden’s own video pronouncements claiming responsibility for the terror attacks, preferring to remain “neutral” on the subject:
He says the al-Qaeda leader’s videotaped boasting about the attacks may have been a media ruse: “I’m just not so sure I want to be one of the ones who say, ‘Yeah, he did it. He’s a horrible man.’” (Ibid.)Elsewhere Wahhaj has offered a grotesque convergence of bin Laden’s calls for the revival of the Islamic caliphate with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “I Have a Dream” speech, envisioning an Islamic supremacist society:
I have a vision in America, Muslims owning property all over, Muslim businesses, factories, halal meat, supermarkets, all these buildings owned by Muslims. Can you see the vision, can you see the Newark International Airport and a John Kennedy Airport and La Guardia having Muslim fleets of planes, Muslim pilots. Can you see our trucks rolling down the highways, Muslim names.
Can you imagine walking down the streets of Teaneck, [New Jersey]: three Muslim high schools, five Muslim junior-high schools, fifteen public schools. Can you see the vision, can you see young women walking down the street of Newark, New Jersey, with long flowing hijab and long dresses. Can you see the vision of an area . . . controlled by the Muslims?” (quoted in Daniel Pipes, “The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America”, Commentary [Nov. 2001])How is this Islamic supremacist society governed by an Islamic caliph supposed to come about? Wahhaj is not shy about laying out his plan for violent revolutionary action by Muslims:
If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate. If we were united and strong, we would elect our own emir and give allegiance to him. Take my word if eight million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us. (quoted in Robert Spencer, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam [and the Crusades], p. 45)And in an audiotape message Wahhaj speaks of his love for the kuffar (infidel):
. . . And he [Allah] declared ‘Whoever is at war with my friends, I declare war on them.’ Who is a friend of Allah? [He chants a passage in Arabic] Allah. Your true friend is Allah, the messenger, and those who believe. Americans and Canadians. Hear it well. Hear what I’m telling you well. The Americans are not your friends, hear what I’m telling you, hear it well. The Canadians are not your friends, hear what I’m telling you, hear it well. The Europeans are not your friends. Your friend is Allah, the Messenger and those who believe. These people will never be satisfied with you until you follow their religion. They will never be satisfied with you. . . (audiotape, “The Afghanistan Jihad” [September 28, 1991]; quoted in “UCLA Sponsors of Terrorism”, FrontPage Magazine [April 4, 2003])More ISNA interfaith moderates!Be sure to check out some of our other recent ISNA-related posts:
DOJ: Facts tie ISNA to HAMAS (7/24/08)
HAMAS terrorist leader thanks ISNA (7/14/08)
The countdown until ISNA occupation continues . . .
This thread - "Islamic Society of North America Speaker Calls for Caliphate in America", and the previous - "It takes one to know one" thread confirm each other.
ReplyDeleteOT . . .
Who do you think the Italians are up in arms about in this story?
Italy: soldiers deployed to fight street crime
street crime - is that a new euphamism for slow jihad?
Hundreds of soldiers were deployed Monday in cities across Italy as part of government measures to fight street crime.
In Rome, an initial 400 men and women were stationed at subway and railway stations and at an immigrant center, the Defense Ministry said. They were not expected to be deployed immediately in the capital's historic center.
In Milan, some 150 soldiers were patrolling the Duomo cathedral and sensitive sites such as the U.S. consulate and the city's synagogue. Soldiers were also deployed in Naples, Bologna and Palermo, Italian reports said.
More soldiers will be deployed in coming days, reaching an overall total of 3,000, said Lt. Col. Mario Busi of the Defense Ministry.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government had proposed the measure as part of a security package that also toughens rules for illegal immigrants, whom some Italians link to crime. The measure, recently approved by parliament, remains in effect for six months.
Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa dismissed criticism that the soldiers would scare residents, saying that instead they could help address citizens' concerns on security. The people more likely to be afraid, he said, were "the thieves, the rapists, the criminals."
Berlusconi has made law and order a priority after winning April elections on promises to crack down on crime.
Some critics say the deployments will end up militarizing the cities, while others bring up the opposite argument that a deployment of 3,000 soldiers is little more than a show.
In the 1990s, soldiers were sent into Sicily to help free up police for investigations of the Mafia.
Recall in "The Rage and the Pride" (pages 120-126) Oriana Fallaci had objected not to "urination in Italian cities" as a general, Bowery-bum problem (of the kind known everywhere), but specifically to that of Muslims aiming direclty at or on works of Christian significance. She deplored, for example, the way in which a group of Somalis, without any papers, simply set up a tent in the very heart of Florence, at the Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), and proceeded to live there for months.
Yes, I do think "crime" is a euphemism for Jihad in that story.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, we have had a thread on that here previously. And, a woman left a message for us just this morning confirming that the problem is bad in Southern Italy.
http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2008/06/italy-will-now-use-military-to-patrol.html
I missed that - thanks.
ReplyDeleteYour Italian commenter stated that it was a mistake to add such security measure in Milan.
Milan, if you recall, is where fines were imposed (Article 190) for praying on the streets and sidewalks.
...""The municipality of Milan should apply the law and fine transgressors, not to limit their freedom of worship, which should be guaranteed for all, but prayer carried out on the sidewalk is forbidden by the laws of our country." "...
They closed an over-populated & very large mosque recently as well.
I'd say it's safe to speculate that the immigrants may be "restive" in Milan these days.
Mattia stated:
ReplyDelete. . .I don't agree with Berlusconi's decision to put military force also in Milan,in Padova and in Turin..
In my earlier comment, I pulled up the recent stories from Milan.
Keep the words of Oriana Fallaci in mind as you refresh your memory about Turin and Padova:
Turin Expels Muslim Cleric
and
Turin: Book fair boycotted by Arab writers
and
Turin: Police detain terrorist suspects
and
remember that two-thirds of the art treasures - the art treasures of Venice and Florence and Rome, and Perugia and Naples, and Siena, and Orvieto, and Ferrara and Verona and Padova ---- of the Western world are in Italy.
Then consider:
"Of the many buildings bought to date by Italy's Muslim community, the palazzo's 1.5 million euro price-tag will make it the second most expensive so far, after the 40 million euro Rome mosque, which was almost entirely financed by Saudi Arabia.
Most of the other buildings purchased by the Muslim community, such as those housing the Padova and Turin mosques in northern Italy, have cost no more than 500,000 euros. And given the likely costs of refurbishing the two-storey palazzo, the total cost of Naples' ''grand mosque' could amount to far more than the 1.5 million euro purchase price.
In '03-'05, the imams of Naples' Campania region held meetings in the city's Corso Lucci mosque to tell worshippers about the moves to purchase the palazzo, and to a plan major fund-raising drive for the 67,000 euro deposit on the property which has to be paid by the end of November. "
The Italians are showing many signs that they are willing to address the situation at hand.
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAre you from Italy?
No. NY . . . same dif?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how you knew what was going on over there? Do you read Italian papers, or do you have relatives, or what?
ReplyDeleteWe need an Italian blogger. Our Italian contributor disappeared.
Mostly I get my news online . . .Jihadwatch being numero uno.
ReplyDeletelifeinItaly.com is good. . .
recent article at life in Italy
Islam: Verona Municipality Orders Stop Using Barn for Prayer
ReplyDelete(ANSAmed) — VERONA, AUGUST 8 — Stop using a barn in Verona as a place for prayer by a group of Muslim believers. An order signed by the municipality’s building sector executive has established that the building cannot be used as a place of cult since all building and hygienic standards required in such cases are lacking. The order, which has been delivered to the persons interested, envisages the emptying and immediate recovery of the building to its initial use. The measure is unrelated to issues of religious character but concerns exclusively problems of construction regulations, according to sources close to the municipal administration. Commenting on the order, Verona mayor Flavio Tosi said that “there is no mosque in Verona”. “A request to create one has never been handed over and since there is no provision for such place of cult in the municipal urban instruments, a decision by the town council is needed”. “Religion has nothing to do with the case; the provision would have been adopted even if this was a bar, a restaurant, a shop or a gym: there is an unauthorised change in the purpose of the property and the lack of building and hygienic standards envisaged in such cases. What is surprising, however, is that the practise was started in the municipal offices already back in 2004: obviously, for the previous administration the law was not equal for everyone,” he said. (ANSAmed).