Channel 5 Chronicle Show on Islamic Society of Boston

Last night's Chronicle Show on Boston's ABC TV featured a lengthy segment on the Islamic Society of Boston*.  From the Chronicle website:

"June 9, 2007 -- a day of triumph for Islam in Boston. More than 2,000 Muslims traveled to the city that day to witness the capping of the minaret at the new Islamic Center of Boston.  It was a joyous day that followed 20 years of struggle, and 2 years of bitter conflict that exposed religious tensions and post 9-11 fears. Tonight, Mary Richardson reports on the making of a mosque, and what it says about the state of Islam in 21st century America."

The Chronicle episode was reasonably balanced and didn't shy away from raising controversial issues (ISB lawsuits, Saudi funding, ties to terrorists).  Kudos to Channel 5, no other TV station has covered the Islamic Society of Boston and the Roxbury mosque as fully as Chronicle has. It wasn't a fluff piece like Emily Rooney's fawning show about the mosque on WGBH in June 2005, where she giggled along with ISB chairman Youseff Abou-Allaban about how lucky the women were to have such a great view from the second floor above the men.  Tee-hee.  Chronicle's Mary Richardson interviewed the usual people: ISB's Abou-Allaban, Bilal Kaleem of the Muslim American Society, Charles Jacobs of The David Project, and Jeff Robbins (attorney for TDP), and one not-so-usual person, Lorenzo Vidinho of Tufts University, Fletcher School.  There are links for these people and orgs at the Chronicle website. The show presented a number of issues and viewpoints, but it was rather short on details, and Richardson accepted what ISB spokesman said at face value.  A few cases in point:

• Richardson mentioned some of the ties reported in Boston newspapers between the ISB and terrorists or terrorist supporters, including ISB founder Abdurahman Alamoudi.  She accepts Abou-Allaban's smiling claim that the ISB has had nothing to do with Alamoudi for over 20 years, when this is flatly untrue, as was demonstrated in documents that became public during the lawsuit discovery process. 
• The issue of the BRA real estate deal came up, but Richardson incorrectly stated that the BRA transferred the property for half of its market value.  It was transferred for less than a tenth of the fair market value, $175K instead of $2 million. And no mention of the role of Mohammad Ali-Salaam, a BRA deputy director who was simultaneously a member of the ISB working on this project. Bit of a conflict of interest here.   
• Richardson also mentioned the controversy with Saudi doctor Walid Fitaihi (reportedly the son of one of the ISB's biggest funders), the former ISB treasurer.  Fitahi is infamous for his virulently anti-Semitic writings, which were made at the same time as he was participating in interfaith dialog in Boston.  She reports that Fitaihi apologized for his writings in April this year.  But she neglects to menton Fitaihi's other claims, that 9/11 has turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for Islam to spread in America (said a mere two weeks after 9/11), and that Boston is ripe for converting Christians to Islam.  (Hence the mega-mosque.) She neglects to mention that Walid Fitaihi resigned as an ISB trustee in March 2007 but was reappointed as a trustee in July 2007, not long after the ISB withdrew its lawsuit.  Funny timing, funny goings-on.
• Richardson doesn't mention the other folk that the ISB has ties to who are Islamists, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and proponents of suicide bombing, including Yusuf Al-Qaradawi (proposed ISB trustee) and Salah Soltan.
• Not a peep about Jamal Badawi, the latest ISB trustee and a founder of several Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the United States, including the Muslim American Society and the Muslim Student Association.  Brother Badawi is specifically mentioned in the Muslim Brotherhood's guidance document for expansion in the U.S. as being a key person in "providing the seed of the comprehensive dawa organization."  The Muslim Brotherhood blueprint calls for the establishment of interconnected Islamic organizations and institutions in order to unify all Muslims, "present Islam as a civilizational alternative", and to "support the global Islamic state" wherever Muslims are.  Not to mention conducting a "grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western Civilization from within."  I don't make this stuff up, I just report it.  Anway, the Muslim Brotherhood's work is well underway.   
• No mention on Chronicle that the ISB is run by the Muslim American Society, a transition in leadership which officially took place days after the lawsuit was withdrawn, but which was in the works for several months before that.  
• Richardson discussed the differences between the situation of Muslims in Europe and in the U.S., noting that Muslim immigrants to the U.S. are more educated and affluent than European immigrants, so we don't have the troubles that England, France, Holland, Spain, Sweden and other countries have (train and subway bombings, riots, calls for beheading non-Muslims, rise in crime).  This is true, and it's also true that the U.S. has a long history of assimilating people from many different nations, which Europe does not.  We also lack the generous welfare benefits that Europe has, so people that come here have to work.  In Europe, there are thousands of angry, resentful young males collecting checks and living in subsidized housing.  Not so here. However, the U.S. has a far smaller Muslim population (roughly 1.5%) than European countries do (4% - 8%).  Given the disruptions to our society by a small number of radical Islamists with an agenda - the flying imams, CAIR and ISB lawsuits, Muslim cashiers refusing to scan bacon, Muslim cab drivers refusing to take people with dogs, demands for Islamic wash basins in airports and public schools -  I'm guessing things would be more problematic here as well if the Muslim population were higher. Which is, by the way, a clear goal of the Islamists.  I've seen the population goal stated as 25 million Muslims in America at a local Islamic website.  This website noted that immigration might be closed to Muslims in the future (what do they know that we don't?!), and so Muslims are pressured to marry young and have big families to reach that goal.   
• Chronicle also went to an Islamic School in Mansfield, MA, the Al-Noor Academy High School.  The young women were covered more fully than women in Iran are and the male teachers sported beards the length of one's fist (just like the prophet Muhammad), pretty good indicators of a conservative Islamic ideology.  The male students were shown bobbing their heads as they memorized the Koran, a scene that would be common in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, but one that ought to raise eyebrows here.  How much school time is spent on the Koran and how much on other subjects?
• Mary Richardons made no mention that numerous trustees and teachers of the Al-Noor Academy are also director and trustees of the ISB and the MAS.  As I said above, the Muslim Brotherhood is indeed busy establishing interconnected Islamic institutions. Islamists can create their own closed world here in our midst, and need not assimilate into the wider pluralistic, multi-religious society as equals to everybody else.
• The final visual image on the show was of a young family with two little children, pushing a stroller.  The father was dressed in casual Western clothes, the mother was dressed in a full-length abaya and niqab, her face completely covered except for a slit for her eyes.  Chronicle apparently doesn't see anything wrong about this image, it's exotic and multicultural and hence desirable to some.  But I see a problem here: sequestered women, unable to leave the house without their husband's permission, having to hide their faces.   This is so contrary to our egalitarian values of individualism and free thinking, one might say it's anti-American. If you hide your face, that's a clear statement of the intent NOT to integrate into our wider society.  Chronicle's portrayal of Muslims in Massachusetts was largely sympathetic.  But it's telling and problematic that this was the final image on the program.

*Curiously enough, Maggie Harper of the Chronicle show left me a message on the blog in June 2007, saying that Chronicle was doing a show on the new mosque, I represented a different perspective and would I be willing to speak with her?  I responded affirmatively to her on June 11 via e-mail, the same day that Congregation Kehillath Israel was hosting a forum on the ISB lawsuit (which was withdrawn by the ISB about a week or so before). I recommended that Ms. Harper attend the forum, where Ahmed Mansour, Charles Jacobs and Jeff Robbins were speaking.  She never did respond to either my e-mail or my follow-up phone call. Oh well! 

Comments

[Azzam]

I did not watch the program.
Can there be a mosque without a "denomination"?
What was the Denomination of ISB Mosque and Al Noor school?
And what is balanced coverage without covering Wellesley College MSA connection to ISB/MAS?
There should be a simple answer to this simple question. Do you know?

[suhaa]

doing a search, i ended up here again..and came across this post..

a woman in niqab does not indicate she does not want to integrate. it just proves that she is a strong personality who does not get easily influenced by situations that are not within her basic beliefs. you wouldn't see them at amusement parks with their children, and you wouldn't see them at the malls with their friends, they wouldn't be most of whom who accepted Islam as teens and young adults, they wouldn't be those who valued a higher education and pursued are pursuing careers, they would rather be fearful of stepping out.

perhaps the niqabi mother of 2 you described wanted her husband to go for a walk with her because she didn't fear him, but feared the teenage punks down the street who were taught by their grandmothers, fathers, and society that being different from most is so anti-american especially(due to a severe case of islamophobia.)

contrary to what you said,
a woman who decides to cover in niqab, especially in the West, even a woman wearing hijab especially in the west...will not succeed in maintaining it if she herself is not a free-thinker. you think those who dress like Gap-wannabe models, or desire the latest color in crocs have increased individualism than a woman in niqab?? give me a break.

you hate islam, and that is your right, but let me remind you that what you report, say, or blog about muslims..and particuarly muslim women may seem like factual to you--so let me wake you up and remind you, your voice is an opinion. hmm, which reminds me of a question i think i asked you before which i don't believe i ever got an answer to. have you ever met a muslim? have you ever questioned your own ideas? because being a muslim in the west one has to do this, and it is actually a really good thing, and this is why when you see a woman in niqab in the US you know she is not doing it for any other purpose than due to her belief. having said that, i leave you with this clip to check out.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=COYqiH8EOTQ

and with a final thought for you, miss kelly..i dare you to enter a masjid and meet the muslim women there...if you are in boston..head off to sharon, you might be surprised to see a few niqabis who are american without a foreign accent that are engineers and doctors, you might see a few a hijabi women who are principals and therapists, you might see muslim women who don't have any idea who you are come up to greet you peacefully, and you might be surprised to witness how courteous they are and how their speech is gentle and educated even they are all garbed up in their abayas and hijabs. you might see some wearing their labcoats over them, and you might see some women trying to keep their children quiet.. the point is, we american muslim women have similar values in many issues..but we don't share all of them..and our faith is not just a religion of a few statements of belief, but it is a complete way of life in that we live to serve God through they way we eat, dress, play with our children, and yes..obey our husbands who would fall into sin if they decided not to give us our needs and respect us as they are required to do so with mercy and compassion.

so if all of that is anti-american, then miss kelly you are the one who seems to be confused..because rather than pointing fingers we need to find commonality..the thing that you are missing though..is that commonality isnt really that hard for the non-muslim american you can tolerate someone looking a little different than them..than you.

perhaps that niqabi, if she saw you on the street she would pity you for your weaknesses and see that Gap girl oppressed? something to think about...

[miss kelly]

Hello Suhaa, Thanks for the comments. Yes, I know some Muslim men and women, from college, my gym, work and from attending area lectures including at mosques. Yes, you are right, the women at mosques are generally extremely gracious and kind to me when I go there.

I have no problem whatsoever with an adult or young women covering her hair, to each her own. I do have a problem with women covering their faces. To put it simply, we value individuality in the West, we want to see your face. The people who cover their faces in the West are bank robbers or KKK members. It's rude and unfair to others. The person wearing niqab can see the entire expression of the other person, but the opposite is not true. Why be rude? Why make people so uncomfortable? It is anti-American and anti-Western, not to mention a bit kinky and creepy. It only serves to draw attention to the wearer, which goes against the intent of hijab and modesty, doesn't it?

There are Muslim women who think wearing niqab is terribly regressive and counter-productive, and that it gives a bad impression of Islam. Bad for dawah!

Well, you may not believe me, but I don't hate Islam (although I don't see that it offers any better way of life than Christianity does). I do have MANY issues with the ISB/MAS leadership in this area, and with Islamist organizations like CAIR.

Crocs are deplorable, as is almost all of the clothing available at mall stores like the Gap. No argument from me about that.

[Webutante]

Excellent response to that Muslim gal with the chip on her shoulder . . .

Here's some good Mark Steyn stuff I blogged about awhile back re the roots of the "grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western Civilization from within":

Ali Baba and all that
http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2006/04/twentyseven_yea.html

[suhaa]

2 points to hijab (and some would say niqab too). first as you mentioned in your response is correct..to portray modesty in dress to avoid being in situations which would attract negative attention and that she be valued for her mind and thoughts withdrawing the temptation for others to be attracted to her due to her physical femininity that is only reserved to her husband, and those whom she can not marry such as brother, father, uncle..etc.(which should follow modesty in all actions of life ofcourse). The 2nd that often gets forgotten may seem ironic to those who don't understand but its actually for the others to observe muslim women as those who live their life to please God, so that they may be recognized and not hidden. That they may be recognized as someone who strives in life to rebel against what negativities peoples, societies, and cultures place on the value of women. this is why many hijabi's and maybe especially niqabis find it actually empowering to cover rather than what the western media presents as oppressing. interesting don't you think?

as for the muslim women, or anyone really who can't see the benefits of covering, perhaps because they themselves don't have the courage infront of the people of representing themselves as Muslim women. Perhaps they fear the people more than they fear God. I can not speak on their behalf, but wouldn't you agree that many people fear being looked at in ridicule, because when that happens there is a sense of not-belonging that humans love to have. so throw a woman in niqab in a western society and she will do 1 of 2 things, she'll give it up or it will be her jihad-no, not war..but her internal struggle to shun and rebel against what people say she should wear or say.

wearing niqab isn't about being rude, what's rude i think is when people stare and don't stop and ask me why i wear a hijab, what is rude is when a little girl thinks of me as a witch by my dress and her mother instead of explaining to her, or coming to ask me..she feels threatened or maybe she doesnt think i speak english, or is afraid of asking me directly as if i have this terror plot against her.., or even just trying one's best to avoid the muslim woman in hijab or niqab because of another soldier killed in iraq or because she was overheard calling her son "Osama" to hold her hand walking in the mall.

what gives islam a bad message isn't the hijab, the niqab or the appearance of a muslim man with a beard sporting a kufi..what gives the bad message is ignorance of what Islam is, who Muslims are, and what the exact teachings in the Quran and of the Prophet Muhammad really are.

I'm in Madinah, do you know it's one of 3 holy sites for Muslims? Pretty amazing that hundreds of thousands are already here and by the end of the Hajj season its expected to reach 3 million between here and Makkah but you don't see that beauty in western media do you? You don't see clips of the man looking like a terrorist holding the door for others or the colors of our faith whom swarm in here from all over the world. Coming home tonight was such a beautiful thing, you don't see that diversity in ISLAM. Women in colors of the rainbow, languages of all dialects, and all with the same greeting of "Peace be Unto You". Miss Kelly, you and most people over there choose to see the bad and accept it as a norm when this couldnt be further from the truth.

I'm not going to deny that those who claim to know something about Islam and spread as if it is the absolute truth doesnt get to me, but honestly it saddens me that obviously educated people like you can not appreciate the similar principles.

It seems that the more we know of others religions, cultures it does 1 of 2 things, it either strengthens our beleifs so we appreciate what we have more, or it just questions our ideology whether its Islam Christianity or whatever..

Islam does offer a better way of life for many,even though you think it wouldn't for yourself, but there is no doubt that Islam will offer a better hereafter for anyone courageous enough to step into it with conviction and sincerity.

What people don't seem to get is that when most people live their lives for their lives, Muslims live their lives for their lives and for the reward of the Hereafter. A good Muslim refrains from doing anything that interferes with his/her chance of entering Hell. It's not just about living life to be good people, and loving our neighbors, its about living this short test "life" for the eternal reward for striving hard. even these words i type will be on my account, as well as ever punctuation mark you make...

and as for comment made by webutane...call it my chip that's fine, but let me rec'd you do yourself a favor and educate yourself about what Islam, and only those who are sincere in knowing will ever know...

[miss kelly]

Suhaa, I'm delighted that you are happy on your spiritual pathway to the Creator, and (hopefully!) a live in heaven after you die. Glad that Islam works so well for you. True believers of most faiths think that theirs is the only TRUE religion, and they're the only ones who will go to heaven. I leave that in God's merciful hands.

Americans - and most people on the planet - would no more cover their face than they would walk around naked. Wear your niqab all you want in Medina. But skip it over here. Regarding any religious justification, you are no doubt well aware that there is no requirement to wear niqab in Islam.

Pakistani writer Khalid Hasan says it best:

"The rumpus being created in the West by exhibitionist and deluded Muslim women, whose conduct flies in the face of clear Quranic injunctions and who confuse tribal customs with divine commandments is creating even more difficulties for ordinary, God-fearing Muslims than they already were struggling against. The utterly uncalled for insistence on donning the hijab and, of late, wearing the niqab, an attire more suited to the profession of banditry than anything I can think of, belittles Islam in whose good name it is being done."

http://www.khalidhasan.net/private_view.htm
Column dated 10-20-2006

[elizmr]

Suhaa, Miss Kelley never said she "hated Islam". And since you are in Mecca right now, in terms of racial equality in Islam, please examine the fact that slaverey was legal in Saudi Arabia until 1963, and many white Arab Muslims have taken and kept black Muslim slaves. Look at what is going on in Darfur.

[anniejean]

I can't help from making this comment. I think the key word for anybody coming to live in the U.S. Is.....
ASSIMILATE
Annie
Boston

[Sarah Conner]

Get a Life please Miss Kelly. There are a thousand things I can think of for you to be so passionate about. How about you write congress a letter on dismantling the KKK for real not for play play. This is the good old USA and if muslim women want to dress like that then let them, no one is forcing them to do it.You are not God, The president, The Pope, Police, or their mother so mind your own business.If you have a problem with it wake the writers of the constitution up and chat them up about. If not shut the hell up!

[Kelly Two]

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Sarah. The KKK has been dismantled, aided by the FBI, who infiltrated it and put people in jail. Let's hope the same holds true for the radical Salafi/Qutubists stealth organizations in our society.

Veils I have no problem with. Niqab, however, covering the face completely, simply has no place in the West. Wearing it here bespeaks a profound hostility to our values. The grand imam of Al Azhar University in Egypt, Dr. Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, spoke out against niqab just last week. There are universities in Muslim countries which ban the niqab.

Please come by again.