How Curious! How Bizarre! And What a Coincidence! Part II

Another curious and bizarre coincidence!

As I noted a few days ago, Dr. Esam Omeish was recently invited as a guest lecturer at the Islamic Society of Boston's Grand Ramadan fundraiser. This event was held at the Cambridge Marriott Hotel in Kendall Square on September 15th, 2007.  Pricey tickets, $100 a pop.  The other guest lecturer at the fundraiser was Imam Johari Abdul Malik, director of community outreach for the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. 

In doing my research on Omeish, I find that Omeish is on the board of directors of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, nick-named the "9/11 Mosque" by investigator Paul Sperry.  Some info on Dar Al-Hijrah, from the Washinton Post:

• "The FBI and the federal 9/11 commission concluded that two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers briefly worshiped at the mosque after one of them befriended its imam in San Diego." (Omeish hired that imam, btw, Anwar al-Aulaqi)
• "It is closely affiliated with the Muslim American Society, a 12-year-old organization committed to promoting Islam in the United States. Several of the group's founders had been active in the Muslim Brotherhood..."
• "...many younger Muslims have shied away from active involvement in the mosque's affairs, viewing its aging leadership as secretive and cliquish and objecting to its strict segregation of men and women."

Just as the ISB has been overtaken and is now directed by the Muslim American Society (Nehela, Al-Jabri, abou-Samra, et al), the MAS runs the Dar Al-Hijrah:

"The society is well-represented in Dar's leadership. Three mosque board members -- Ghannouchi, Omeish and Amin Ezziddine -- are active in the society, as is the mosque's administrative director, Samir Abo Issa. And the society's general secretary, Shaker El Sayed, is on the executive committee that runs the mosque's daily affairs."

"....But the prominent role of the society in Dar's internal affairs is controversial among Dar members..... This unelected board often meets behind closed doors, and it is unclear how many board members representing outside organizations actually attend."

Doesn't that ring a bell?  That seems to be how the MAS likes to run things. If you thought the ISB wasn't exactly transparent before, wait 'til you see the MAS-run ISB.

Paul Sperry has more allegations about the Dar al-Hijrah mosque:

"Dar al-Hijrah is a turnstile for terrorists and terror suspects. A prayer leader, Sheikh Mohammed al-Hanooti, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center bombing. Other dubious mosque members have included: Alamoudi (ISB's founder), Abdullah bin Laden, Osama's nephew; Hamas leader and fugitive Mousa Abu Marzook and his partners Ismail Elbarasse and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, who was convicted of obstruction of justice in February; convicted Virginia Jihad Network leader Randall 'Ismail' Royer, a former CAIR official; and Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, an al-Qaida operative recently convicted of plotting to assassinate President Bush."

"...What's more, the phone number to the mosque was found in the German apartment of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, roommate of 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta. Atta's deputy "emir" in the "raid" on America, Nawaf al-Hazmi, worshipped at Dar al-Hijrah, along with the pilot who crashed the plane into the Pentagon."

Why would the ISB want to bring people from this particular Islamic Center to Boston? 

I'm beginning to think that Mitt Romney was right, and I hope the feds are paying attention.  They'll need a translator, though, the ISB apparently has brought over several imams from Egypt, a Sheik Mustafa Talaat (from Al Azhar University) and a Sheik Esam.  They must be doing a Ramadan tour, as they are speaking at ISB, ICNE Sharon and Quincy both, Al-Huda and other mosques.  Talaat only speaks in Arabic.  What is he really saying, one wonders.  What sort of visas so they have?  What do we know about their ideology and background?  Does anybody check that before letting them into the U.S.? How long will they be here?  Enquiring minds want to know! 

Note to critics: Don't blame me if you don't like the associations.  I just find this stuff, I'm not the one that keeps inviting radical Islamists here.    

Comments

[Muhammad]

Get a life. Seriously! You're just trying to link everyone to everyone else. "He is linked to him cause his brother knows a guy who met his friend who worshipped at the same place..." That's how you bloggers are starting to sound. And in case you were wondering what Sheikh Talaat was speaking about, he was talking about purely spiritual issues and nothing political. So stop with your senseless blogging trying to link everyone to everyone else and go find something more useful to do.

[miss kelly]

Thanks for reading my blog, Muhammed, and for your comments. The links are there, and there are an awful lot of them. I didn't make them up.

Is it in Boston's - and the country's - best interests for the Muslim American Society to monopolize the country's mosques? I think not. MAS is well known for its rigid, purist ideology. Too bad there are few alternative organizations for local Muslims. And it's apalling that the City of Boston has encouraged this conservative idelogy to take root here.

Re: Sheikh Talaat, according to a Muslim source, is "hard core (Muslim) Brotherhood." Seriously, there should be some vetting process before imams from the Al Azhar Dawah Department are allowed to come here and preach. We've let far too many radical sheiks, such as Blind Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, come into our country. Who is making the determination about who comes here?

[Muhammad]

First of all, it doesn't matter if you disagree with his ideology, if he's not preaching hate, he's free to say whatever he wants to say. And FYI, the MB is not considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and some senators have actually met its leaders recently. Second of all, it's none of your business who runs which mosque, each mosque should decide for itself just like each church and synagogue does. If you don't like a particular mosque, go to another one, and if you don't even go to any, then why don't you just leave those who choose to go to do as they choose and let them mind their own business and you mind your own.

[misskelly]

Well, there's the rub, Muhammed. Maybe each mosque isn't free to decide who's running things. There's ample evidence at a number of mosques that they're being taken over by radical Islamists funded by $$$ from KSA and Egypt. These forces are infiltrating and taking over small Islamic organizations, sometimes against the wishes of the founding Islamic communities. This pattern has been repeated over and over in the U.S., and it appears to be happening here in the greater Boston area.

Some of the local clerics have reportedly been leading prayers calling for the death of Christians and Jews (according to people who attended a local mosque). Three local imams were related to a major Pakistani terrorist. The ISB has a track record of associations with radical Islamists.

It's most definitely my business what's going on in Massachusetts mosques.

[Muhammad]

I don't know about the Mass. mosques you're talking about, but I'm talking about Dar Al Hijrah which all you bloggers are trying to smear. There is NO violence or hate preached at Dar Al Hijrah whatsoever, and no "radical" clerics either. Dar even sponsors interfaith talks with the Christian and Jewish communities. Voter registration drives have also been held at Dar Al Hijrah. If that's not enough proof that it's not a "terrorist" mosque then I don't know what is. Why didn't you mention that the FBI investigated Dar after 9/11 and found no connection between it and the attacks? Yellow journalism like that is what makes me doubt allegations about other mosques such as the ones in Mass. If bloggers are willing to make up allegations about Dar, why wouldn't they do the same with other mosques?

[miss kelly]

I don't think anyone is making things up. Various radical Islamists attended the Dar Al Hijrah mosque, that's well documented. There is a question of what relationship, if any, the mosque leadership had with these characters. That the FBI didn't find any find any conenction between the mosque and 9/11 doesn't give me great comfort.

I'm still concerned with the Islamist ideology, funded largely by Saudi and Muslim Brotherhood money, that is infiltrating and controling many mosques. Many of the allegations about the imams and what they're preaching in Massachusetts mosques comes to me from Muslims who attend these mosques. Do you think that they are making these things up too?