NY Times 'Model Muslim' Endorses Sharia for America

From Vlad Tepes:

The day before the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2010 the New York Times featured Sinclair Hejazi Abdus-Salaam as a typical model Muslim American in an article titled Muslims and Islam Were Part of Twin Towers' Life.

Yet, in a video taken of Abdus-Salaam less than six months later, Abdus- Salaam is seen stating unequivocally that Sharia law should replace the U.S. constitution, complete with punishments for crimes that under Islamic law require stoning.

The video (see below) shows Abdus-Salaam attending a lecture by his old friend and associate radical Imam Sirhaj Wahhaj at an event at the University of Central Florida. The event, held on February 25, 2011, was organized by a chapter of the Muslim Students Association, a group that a 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memoidentifies as one of “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.”

An interviewer presents Abdus-Salaam with a startling 1992 quote from Wahhaj, who is listed by the U.S. government as a possible unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing: “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’d 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.”

Abdus-Salaam’s reaction is equally as startling. His immediate response is, “Listen, I don’t have a problem with that.”

Taken aback by the blunt response, the interviewer made sure he understood correctly, asking, “So you would like to see Sharia law in place of the Constitution?”

Leaving no room for ambiguity, Abdus-Salaam responds, “By all means.”

The interviewer further questions Abdus-Salaam about tenets ofSharia law – specifically, the fact that apostates -- Muslims who leave their faith -- deserve the death penalty. McDaniels asks again whether this is the law Abdus-Salaam would like to see in the U.S., and he gives the same answer: “By all means.”

Abdus-Salaam further offers, “Let me tell you something about Shariah law, if we had Shariah law, in this country, it would prevent prostitution because the men can marry more than one wife. “

“What’s the penalty for prostitution?” asks the interviewer.

“The woman is … stoned,” Abdus-Salaam answers, “But the man?  They let the man off free,” he says.

(For clarification, the video shows a clip from Wahhaj’s speech where he is seen preaching. “What is the punishment according to the Koran for those who commit fornication? What’s the punishment?  Lashes, 100 lashes. Not stoning,” says Wahhaj.)

Abdus-Salaam says he would describe himself as being “ideologically in sync” with Wahhaj. Reinterating how he wants to see the American Constitution replaced with Sharia, Absu-Salaam says, “I’m American, I was born in this country. My forefathers are slaves. Slaves! … [But] anything is better than wrong. Right is better than wrong!”

The quotes from Abdus-Salaam were easily obtained by the interviewer. All he did was ask about Sharia law—something that apparently the New York Times declined to do before praising Sinclair Hejazi Abdus-Salaam as a typical American Muslim in its pro-Ground Zero Mosque article.

Editor’s Note: Sirhaj Wahhaj, who has a history of radicalism, leads Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn and the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), an Islamist group with a postal address in Lexington, Kentucky. As reported on June 17, two of Wahhaj’s MANA colleagues serve or have served on the board of the Interfaith Center of Philadelphia and Religious Leaders Council of Philadelphia.