And with good reason. The Brotherhood is dedicated, in its own words, to "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within." "Controversy Surrounds Construction of Mosques Across U.S.," by Lauren Green for FOXNews.com, July 2 (thanks to all who sent this in):
They're separated by thousands of miles, but they share a common controversy: Mosques.Murfreesboro, Tenn., has joined a growing list of midsized towns in the U.S. that are embroiled in conflicts over proposed mosques being built or bought in their neighborhoods.
Including Murfreesboro, residents have risen up against mosques in two other Tennessee towns; in Staten Island, N.Y.; Sheboygan County, Wis.; and the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, as well as the proposed mosque and Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero, which has garnered some of the most heated battles.
A new Quinnipiac Poll shows that well over half of New Yorkers - 52 percent oppose building a mosque near the 9/11 site. Only 31 percent support it.
Among ethnic groups, Hispanics show the greatest opposition to the Ground Zero mosque, 60 to 19 percent.
Among religious groups, Jews and white Catholics expressed the greatest opposition, both at 66 percent.
Those who support building the mosques say the opposition comes from growing Islamophobia, racism and ignorance.
Those who oppose adamantly deny that bigotry is involved.
In Murfreesboro, Republican congressional candidate Lou Ann Zelenik says she's not against the building of a mosque, but she does oppose the construction of an Islamic cultural center, which she says would be an Islamic training facility. "This has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with a radical agenda," she says.
But in Staten Island, fears that a mosque will become a breeding ground for homegrown terror are rooted in reports about who's financing the deal.
Residents of the heavily Catholic neighborhood are in an uproar over a Muslim group's plans to buy a shuttered convent and convert it into a Mosque. Besides concerns about increased traffic and little parking, there are disturbing reports surrounding the organization, the Muslim America Society, which is funding the purchase.
According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, MAS has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a 100-year-old movement that is widely regarded as one of the most influential Islamic fundamentalist groups in the world. Its stated agenda has been to spread Islam and Shariah law throughout the West. Some of its members also reportedly created Hamas.
"The Muslim American Society was created in the early 1990s as the de facto arm of the Muslim Brotherhood," says Steve Emerson, IPT's executive director.
He says the MAS and Muslim Brotherhood claim to oppose terrorism, but "behind closed doors they support terrorism and have defended various terrorists that have been convicted in the United States since 9/11."
But Ibrahim Ramey, the human and civil rights director for MAS Freedom, adamantly denies any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas or terrorism.
"There are people who don't like Muslims and don't like Muslims in their neighborhood who have been vociferously and consistently trying to link MAS with foreign organizations and movements, but that simply isn't true," Ramey says.
"We are not agents of Hamas nor do we answer to them, nor do we provide money for them, nor are we part of any conflict that they have with the U.S. Government, or any authorities in the United States."
Note the careful and evasive wording. There doesn't seem to be any explicit denial of a link to the Brotherhood, at least in Ramey's words as reported here. And no one was charging that he "answers" to Hamas.
Emerson says his group has documentation linking MAS with the Muslim Brotherhood. He also says MAS has been on a spending spree in the last two years, either buying property to establish mosques, as in Staten Island, or taking over existing mosques, like the huge Dal al-Hidrah in Northern Virginia and the very prominent Islamic Society of Boston in Massachusetts."The way to gain influence among the Muslim community is to control the mosques," Emerson says. "The way to control what people think in the Muslim community is to have the right imam preach the right message. So by acquiring these mosques the Muslim American Society gets the right to appoint the imam and distribute the message they believe is necessary to spread Islam around the world."...
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One of the groups that come up often when studying terrorism, counter-terrorism and like subjects is the Muslim Brotherhood. This is a group found in Egypt and is considered by the government there to be terrorists, though the group denies that it has any ties to terrorism or acts of terrorism.
Other groups known to be involved in terrorism and acts of terror are believed to be linked to the brotherhood in Egypt. And alleged members of the brotherhood have been arrested and charged with acts of terror.