More 9/11 Readings - MB/MAS/ISB - Aafia Siddiqui

UPDATE BELOW (Pointed questions!)

I'm still in a September 11th frame of mind.  I'm struck that our country still can't clearly, unequivocably name or identify its enemy, six years later.  Some people can, here's what they say:

First, from the esteemed Dr. Zhudi Jasser, founder and Chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona, and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, at Family Security Matters:

"On this sixth anniversary of the horrific attacks of 9/11 against our homeland, Americans have yet to focus our crosshairs against what is turning out to be only the beginning of a 'Long War.' ”

"The past six years and the continued viral spread of transnational global Jihad have proven that we are fighting neither a tactic nor a single organization or network. Our enemies metastasize every day because we have yet to mount an offense against the primary cancer cells – the ideology of political Islam and its goals of the theocratic Islamic state."

"Until we, as a nation, collectively engage in this ideological struggle for liberty against the Islamists, our security agencies and our troops will continue to chase their tails. The Islamist terror cells will continue to regenerate. When it comes to Islamism, did we forget that the cornerstone of our nation is political and ideological debate? Our Public Diplomacy program and our domestic engagement of Muslims should be a clinic in the ideological counters to every nation’s Muslim manifestations of political Islam – including our own."

"We cannot allow a political ideology to avoid effective deconstruction simply because it masks itself behind a spiritual path. Ultimately, anti-Islamist Muslims who advocate liberty for all and advocate the separation of the practice of their faith from the administration and laws of government will be the only effective weapon against our enemies."

And from "crunchy con" Rod Dreher, in his column What the Muslim Brotherhood Means for the U.S.:

"....The president apparently missed the smoking-gun 1991 document his own Justice Department introduced into evidence at the Holy Land Foundation trial in Dallas. The FBI captured it in a raid on a Muslim suspect's home in Virginia.  This 'explanatory memorandum,' as it's titled, outlines the 'strategic goal' for the North American operation of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan). Here's the key paragraph:'

"The process of settlement [of Islam in the United States] is a "Civilization-Jihadist" process with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that all their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" their miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who choose to slack."

No joke, you can read it for yourself here (page 21).  (I blogged about the MB's "mission statement" earlier here.) Dreher discusses how the MB is going about its long-term goal to "destroy Western civilization" (Wait a minute! That's us!!) from within:

"The entire 18-page platform outlines a plan for the long haul. It prescribes the Muslim Brotherhood's comprehensive plan to set down roots in civil society. It begins by both founding and taking control of American Muslim organizations, for the sake of unifying and educating the U.S. Muslim community – this to prepare it for the establishment of a global Islamic state governed by sharia."

"....The HLF trial is exposing for the first time how the international Muslim Brotherhood – whose Palestinian division is Hamas – operates as a self-conscious revolutionary vanguard in the United States. The court documents indicate that many leading Muslim-American organizations – including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Muslim American Society – are an integral part of the Brotherhood's efforts to wage jihad against America by nonviolent means."

"The Muslim Brotherhood is an affiliation of at least 70 Islamist organizations around the world, all tracing their heritage to the original cell, founded in Egypt in 1928. Its credo: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." Sayyid Qutb, hanged by the Egyptian government in 1966 as a revolutionary, remains its ideological godfather. His best-known work, Milestones, calls for Muslims to wage violent holy war until Islamic law governs the entire world."

And the MB's expanding control of Muslim organizations goes on under our noses.  Just this week, this flyer (click to enlarge) was circulated on the Boston Muslim American Society (MAS) e-mailing list, publicizing a fund-raiser for the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) and MAS.  The ISB calls itself a religious organization, but in actuality, the ISB leadership is joined at the hip to the MAS, an overtly political organization.  Anti-US government, anti-Israel, pro-Sami Al-Arian, pro-Hamas, pro-Salah Soltan, pro-Yusuf Qaradawi, a Salafi/Wahabi outlook through-and-through.  Solomonia has done a great job of tracking MAS's politics in his feature, MAS Watch.  And yet here they are, running the show at the Islamic Society of Boston. Why does this small, select group  of people claim speak for "the Muslim community" in Massachusetts?  Who elected them?  Who put them in charge?  Who do they answer to?  Why aren't they scrutinized like other political organizations are? 

Go re-read the MB's mission statement, and ponder what their daughter organization, the MAS, means by "Conveying Islam - Improving Society."   It reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode, To Serve Man......

Am I being over-the-top here?  I think not. And I think Dreher would agree with me:

".... high-profile organizations with roots explicitly in the Muslim Brotherhood have successfully established themselves in a paramount position to define Islam in America according to a radical politicized model. And they've done so without the American public having the slightest idea about their real agenda. Indeed, the Bush administration is unwittingly helping the Islamist cause by including their leaders in public events, thus conferring them legitimacy."  (The "unwitting" help in Boston comes from Mayor Menino, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Boston Globe, and liberal rabbis, priests and ministers - ed.)

"...As long as they commit no crimes, CAIR, ISNA and the other Brotherhood-related groups have the right to advocate for their beliefs. But they don't have the right to escape critical scrutiny, and they deserve informed opposition. Courageous Muslims like Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy are sounding the alarm about radical Islam's stealth takeover of U.S. Muslim institutions. Why are the news media ignoring this? Fear of being called Islamophobic?"

The ISB and Boston MAS leadership need to be called out.  Some questions:

• Are you for a separation of church and state? 
• Do you reject political Islam?
• Do you reject the implementation of sharia law? 
• Do you believe in the equality of all peoples? 
• Do you want to live in a multi-religious, pluralistic society, or do you want Islam to dominate? 
• Do you support freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including the freedom to leave Islam or to be non-religious? 
• Do men and women have equal rights?   
• Do you support polygamy? 
• How many paying members do you have? 
• Where does your funding come from? 
• What is the background, training and former positions of your directors and trustees?

Feel free to add your own questions to the list. 

* * * * *

UPDATE! - A commenter left a slew of questions, which I'm moving up here:

"The leader of the Boston Muslims is projected to be Imam Shiekh Alhaj Basyouny Nehela. (The man in the red cap.....your earlier blog). The questions to him are:"

"1. Did you participate heavily in the elections (for years) of Islamic Center of New England by taking bus and van loads from Cambridge? (People have pictures and movies of it).
2.When was the last time you held elections in your own Mosque?
3. What was your relation to the Saudis(now gone) who were at Cove apartments in Quincy and for whose children the school was started at the Islamic Center of New England and what financial relationship you had with them? (Their money did not pass thru the accounts of ICNE).
4.What was your relationship with Imam Khalid Nasr before he came to Quincy?
5.Why you do not release your complete biography?
6.What was the Mosque you worked at(at least that is what you tell people) from 1987 to 1997? What were your political affiliations during this period?
7.Do you have a degree, certificate,testimonial to have been trained as an Imam? (R-1 visa stipulates equivalency to a four year US Bachelor's degree. High sounding names of Masters and Ph.D. are fine but the essential degree to enter US....where is it?)
8. Is Sister Sophia your wife? Is she the person who holds Halaqa at the ICNE Sharon for Arab only ladies on Monday mornings (has done so for years.... even when Aafia Siddiqui used to come to the Halaqas and at times address them)?
Is there any paper, any board decision that such activity takes place at the ICNE Sharon? Why is it not advertised on the ICNE web site?"

* * * * *

Pointed questions!  My favorite kind.

Aafia Siddiqui, that name rings a bell......

Oh yes, this former Boston area scientist (she attended Brandeis and MIT) and mother of three, is on the FBI "Seeking Information" list (she was on their Most Wanted List for some time). Vogue Magazine (of all publications!) wrote about this possible "top Al-Quaeda terrorist" in their March 2005 issue (copy posted here).  According to the author, Siddiqui was "drawn into the world of terrorism...through the contacts and friendships she made in the early 1990's working for MIT's Muslims Student Association." 

Comments

[Azzam]

The leader of the Boston Muslims is projected to be Imam Shiekh Alhaj Basyouny Nehela. (The man in the red cap.....your earlier blog). The questions to him are:1. Did you participate heavily in the elections (for years) of Islamic Center of New England by taking bus and van loads from Cambridge? (People have pictures and movies of it).
2.When was the last time you held elections in your own Mosque?
3. What was your relation to the Saudis(now gone) who were at Cove apartments in Quincy and for whose children the school was started at the Islamic Center of New England and what financial relationship you had with them? (Their money did not pass thru the accounts of ICNE).
4.What was your relationship with Imam Khalid Nasr before he came to Quincy?
5.Why you do not release your complete biography?
6.What was the Mosque you worked at(at least that is what you tell people) from 1987 to 1997? What were your political affiliations during this period?
7.Do you have a degree, certificate,testimonial to have been trained as an Imam? (R-1 visa stipulates equivalency to a four year US Bachelor's degree. High sounding names of Masters and Ph.D. are fine but the essential degree to enter US....where is it?)
8. Is Sister Sophia your wife? Is she the person who holds Halaqa at the ICNE Sharon for Arab only ladies on Monday mornings (has done so for years.... even when Aafia Siddiqui used to come to the Halaqas and at times address them)?
Is there any paper, any board decision that such activity takes place at the ICNE Sharon? Why is it not advertised on the ICNE web site?

[Fran]

Great job in keeping their feet to the fire, but the major challenge is getting those who run things to marginalize the Islamists and move forward those true moderates who want to effect change in Islam, such as Jasser.

[miss kelly]

Unfortunately, it looks like the people who run things (mosques, Islamic organizations) ARE the Islamists. Who exactly would "move forward" the true moderates that want to separate spiritual Islam from political/ supremacist Islam? I don't know how that would happen.

If you're referring to Boston pols that run things, they need other Muslims who better represent the Muslim community to come forward. There don't seem to be other Muslims who are willing to publicly challenge the "Muslim mafia," as it's called. It would be terrific if other Muslims stepped up and became more public and more vocal. The Boston pols, like the lame State Department, don't seem to know who else to talk to in the Muslim community, and they keep talking to the Saudi-funded loudmouths.

[Fran]

Is it the case that there isn't an identifiable "true" moderate Muslim in Massachusetts willing to step forward to argue against political ideology infecting Muslim religious worship today? Not even one?