Muhammad Ali-Salaam Given Award by the FBI?!

Surely you jest:

"The Muslim American Society of Boston (MAS Boston) and the Islamic Council of New England congratulate Mr. Muhammad Ali-Salaam for receiving the Director's Community Leadership Award from the FBI Boston office."

I guess black really is white and day really is night today.   From whence this notion of giving a leadership award to someone who should have been investigated - if not prosecuted - for a flagrant conflict of interest on the Boston mosque project?  What is the FBI thinking?  This looks like yet another example of federal agencies conveying legitimacy to the very Muslim leaders who should be marginalized.  What's going on here? 

Muhammad Ali-Salaam is an Assistant Director of the Boston Redevelopment Agency (BRA), which transferred a city-owned parcel in Roxbury valued at $2 million to the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) for $175,000.  Ali-Salaam has been involved with the mosque project since 1992, back when the Muslim Council of Boston first broached the idea, before the ISB even existed.  Although Ali-Salaam works for the BRA, you'd probably think he worked for the ISB if you read the memos and e-mails he wrote to various ISB trustees over the years.  These documents became public during the discovery process of the ISB lawsuit.  No wonder they withdrew the lawsuit earlier this year.  BRA Assistant Director Muhamamd Ali-Salaam did the following:

• Drafted memos to the BRA on ISB letterhead,
• Wrote letters for the ISB trustees to submit to the BRA on the project,
• Advised the ISB trustees to offer a low-ball figure for the BRA parcel in Roxbury in negotiations with the City, noting in a memo that while the US Postal Service recently paid $16/sf for nearby property, the ISB should only offer $10/sf (this for a construction project intially estimated at $22 million dollars, as if the ISB needed a gift from MA taxpayers),
• Signed a letter on BRA letterhead giving $10,000 to former Roxbury Community College president Grace Brown, co-signed by an ISB chairman and trustee (the letter asked that the donation be kept confidential...why?),
• Solicited Muslim contractors to work on the mosque project (no church-state separation issues here?),
• Wrote updates to the ISB trustees talking about "our architects," "our Islamic library- which will be invaluable for dawah," and "creating opportunities for the Ummah,"
• Traveled to the United Arab Emirates to raise funds for the mosque project.  The ISB paid for the airfare ($1,035.42), but it is onkown at this point who paid for everything else (hotel, meals, taxis, etc.). 

The conflicts of interest here couldn't be more obvious.  The complete crossing of any lines separating church and state couldn't be more obvious.  James Policastro absolutely had a valid point here. 

City Councilor Jerry McDermott tried repeatedly over several years to hold hearings on the BRA (and Ali-Salaam's) involvement with the Roxbury mosque project.  The BRA repeatedly stonewalled, failing to show up for City council hearings, and saying that they could not say anything due to the ISB litigation.  The BRA was sued by The David Project to get them to disclose the details of Ali-Salaam's fund-raising trip to the Middle East.  The BRA has repeatedly refused to provide documents eve though ordered by the Court to do so.  What is the BRA hiding? As Solomonia points out about the BRA:

"No group has done more to more to hide its role, refuse to answer questions and come forward with documents in the mosque deal than Muhammad Ali-Salaam's BRA."

What are the feds doing here?

Comments

[Azzam]

There should be distinction between Muhammad Ali-Salaam and ISB. When the project started ISB was not involved.
He probably had no idea that it will end up in the hands of ISB and now MAS Boston. 15 years ago Ali-Salaam did not know what ideology will eventually control the mosque.
He made a trip to the Middle East. In life one makes mistakes.
And have you found the "Denomination" of the ISB mosque in Cambridge?

[Nasiim]

Im his grand daughter idots