| FrontPageMag.com | By Robert Spencer | By Hugh Fitzgerald | Books | Dhimmi Watch | Islam 101 | Qur'an Blog | Raymond Ibrahim | Robert Spencer |  |
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
Here, from FrontPage, is my take on the imam Husham Al-Husainy's recent prayer at the DNC (news links in the original):
Many people in today’s Democratic party have contempt for religion, but they still have time for prayer. Last Friday, during the Democratic National Committee’s Annual Winter Meeting in Washington, Husham Al-Husainy, Imam of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, a Shi’ite mosque in Dearborn, Michigan, offered an invocation. As the assembled Democrats bowed their heads, Al-Husainy prayed:In the name of God the most merciful, the most compassionate. We thank you, God, to bless us among your creations. We thank you, God, to make us as a great nation. We thank you God, to send us your messages through our father Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Mohammed. Through you, God, we unite. So guide us to the right path. The path of the people you bless, not the path of the people you doom. Help us, God, to liberate and fill this earth with justice and peace and love and equality. And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation. Ameen.
A touching moment of ecumenical generosity and hope for peace? Not quite. In mentioning “Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Mohammed,” Al-Husainy no doubt sounded as if he was expansive, broad-minded, and not narrowly sectarian to the assembled Democrats. But in fact, he was almost certainly invoking them in their capacity as Muslim prophets: it is mainstream Islam that all of these were prophets who taught Islam, and that the followers of Moses and Jesus corrupted their teachings to create Judaism and Christianity. The Qur’an says that Abraham was not a Jew or a Christian, but a Muslim (3:67), and depicts Jesus denying his own divinity (5:116) -- and this, of course, is the Imam’s frame of reference. So what seems to be a gesture of ecumenical generosity actually amounts to a declaration of religious supremacism and the delegitimization of other religions.
What’s more, if a Christian priest or minister had prayed at a DNC meeting that those attending be guided away from the path of those doomed by God, the outcry would have been swift and shrill. Those whom God dooms? Hardly a concept that fits comfortably into today’s culture of non-accountability, but evidently it was acceptable to the Democrats when coming from a Muslim, although many of them would almost certainly been among the first to condemn the same sentiment coming from a Christian.In this, in any case, the Imam was echoing the Fatiha, the first sura of the Qur’an and most common prayer of Islam. It asks Allah: “Show us the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast favoured; not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.” The traditional Islamic understanding of this is that the “straight path” is Islam -- cf. Islamic apologist John Esposito’s book Islam: The Straight Path. The path of those who have earned Allah’s anger are the Jews, and those who have gone astray are the Christians. The classic Qur’anic commentator Ibn Kathir explains that “the two paths He described here are both misguided,” and that those “two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them. The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why ‘anger’ descended upon the Jews, while being described as ‘led astray’ is more appropriate of the Christians.”
Ibn Kathir’s understanding of this passage is not a lone “extremist” interpretation. In fact, most Muslim commentators believe that the Jews are those who have earned Allah’s wrath and the Christians are those who have gone astray. This is the view of Tabari, Zamakhshari, the Tafsir al-Jalalayn, the Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas, and Ibn Arabi, as well as Ibn Kathir. One contrasting, but not majority view, is that of Nisaburi, who says that “those who have incurred Allah’s wrath are the people of negligence, and those who have gone astray are the people of immoderation.”
Wahhabis drew criticism a few years back for adding “such as the Jews” and “such as the Christians” into parenthetical glosses on this passage in Qur’ans printed in Saudi Arabia. Some Western commentators imagined that the Saudis originated this interpretation, when in fact it is venerable and mainstream in Islamic theology.
It was also noteworthy that the Democrats continued standing with heads bowed piously while Al-Husainy prayed for an end to “war and violence, and oppression and occupation.” Occupation? In Iraq and Israel, no doubt. After all, according to Debbie Schlussel, during the Israeli incursion into Lebanon last summer Al-Husainy led “almost-daily protests of thousands of Hezbollah supporters on the streets of Dearborn and Detroit, swarming with swastikas and anti-Semitic, anti-American signs.” He also “delivered hate-filled, anti-American rhetoric” at “an anti-Semitic rally of 3,000 Hezbollah supporters at Dearborn’s Bint Jebail Cultural Center.” In August 2004, “he led anti-Bush, anti-American rallies on the streets of Dearborn,” and at other times “he led a number of pro-HAMAS and pro-Arafat rallies in the area.” At a rally honoring Arafat, “he and his followers held signs featuring enlarged photos of Khomeini.” He also has a taste for conspiracy theories: in an interview, Al-Husainy said of Saddam Hussein that “I believe he is an agent of America,” and attributed events in Iraq to the “Zionists”: “We also think some outsiders, with some Iraqis, and, by the way, I don’t want to exclude the Zionists. I think some extremists from the Mossad came in and took a chance to have some revenge, because we don’t know who killed [Imam Mohammed Bakr] Al-Hakim or Sergio Vieira De Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.”
Of course, many of these ideas are mainstream among Democrats nowadays, so it is perhaps not surprising that Al-Husainy would have been welcome at the DNC meeting. The peculiar episode of his invocation is emblematic of the larger alliance between the Left and the global jihad – an alliance that may make the DNC’s conversion to Islam unnecessary, as the anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism of the jihadists is already abundantly in evidence among them. Perhaps this is a marriage of convenience for the Left, but, as the jihad continues to advance, it is one they will almost certainly someday come to regret.
Posted by Robert at February 7, 2007 3:20 AM
Print this entry
| Email this entry
| Digg this
| del.icio.us
|
The Left and the global jihad, a marriage of convenience for the Left, which not only they (the Left) but all of us may some day soon have occasion to regret if the Left is given control of the government.
Posted by: unicorns62000![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 7, 2007 5:27 AM
Also a marriage that the left will come to regret bigtime!
Also it looks like he did, what this iman was taught to do, hijack both Moses and Jesus. Does not suprise me at all.
Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at February 7, 2007 5:35 AM
"And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation."
....sounds like the Democrats plan of "cut and run" or "troop redeployment"......
....Fits right in with the DNC.....a fitting prayer request.....
Posted by: exsgtbrown at February 7, 2007 6:25 AM
Assimilation ? Tain't gonna happen. Instead of "the Russians are coming" during the sixties, it's now, "the Islamics are coming !" All we need now is, "the Aliens are coming !" and I'm sure we're re-living history in which history repeats itself ! ......where's Hitler ?
Posted by: Jeff at February 7, 2007 7:22 AM
democrats liberals deplore all religions, and this bowing of heads while grand muffin does his song and dance is only smoke and mirrors coming from both sides of this.
Posted by: ZenaWarriorPrincess at February 7, 2007 8:44 AM
LOL, love the "Grand Muffin" in Zena's above comment. Funny, Zena! I've also seen "Mein Koran" on this site and that's a good one, too. Plus, "the religion of pieces of body parts." Good Ones!
If the jihad comes and Al Pelosi (another good one!) knocks on my door for shelter, I will tell her to go and knock on the Grand Muffin's door.
Posted by: darcy at February 7, 2007 9:03 AM
Okay folks. The muslim Jesus is NOT the Jesus Christ of the scriptures.
They say that Jesus did not die on the cross but had a look-alike take his place.....so they deny that he provided salvation.
They say that Jesus was a muslim.
They say that allah has no son.
Let's remember something VERY important.
If something is DIFFERENT....it is NOT the same.
Any Christian that is stupid enough to think that we share the same Jesus is deceived by the 'entity' that gave Islam the lie in the first place.
at February 7, 2007 9:25 AM
Any Christian that is stupid enough to think that we share the same Jesus is deceived by the 'entity' that gave Islam the lie in the first place.
Let me rephrase that. Any so-called NOMINAL Christian....
This would explain those folks sitting in the DNC.
I'll bet they got all warm and fuzzy from that prayer.
Posted by: The Goobs at February 7, 2007 9:27 AM
Ecumenical???
http://tcrnews2.com/genjp2000.html
WHO were they praying to???? WHICH God???????
Posted by: The Goobs at February 7, 2007 9:33 AM
Well, for some reason, I now feel it is my obligation to point out what all of us already know: That the democratic Party has become another enemy of America. This is nothing new. It has been siding with America's enemies for over forty years. First the Reds, now the muslims. Whether they do what they do out of arrogance/stupidity or deliberate treason is immaterial now. The fact is they are on the side of the enemy. They must never be trusted ever and opposed at all times. Our nation's survival may very well depend on it.
Posted by: A.I. Steamroller at February 7, 2007 9:33 AM
My God, this whole Democrat/muslim thing is really becoming a nightmare. It's like the movie "Red Dawn" for real!
Posted by: A.I. Steamroller at February 7, 2007 9:34 AM
Assisi Interfaith Prayer
Do a google search.
This ecumenical crap has been coming on for some time now.
Mother Ecclesiastica, your quote is absolutely correct.
"Ecumenicalism" and "multi-faith" are antithetical.
But the pc will not know or care for the differences.
Posted by: The Goobs at February 7, 2007 9:36 AM
Geraldine Ferraro and Alan Colmes did their best last night to explain that the Imam was just like any other rabbi, priest or preacher. and what he said was nothing that the others would not have said. unfortunately with colmes, ferraro, hannity and coulter all trying to talk over each other, the whole absurdity of having this radical imam at the dhimmi retreat was totally overshadowed. anyone viewing the program who did not have a knowledge of the subject would have not understood what was being discussed. ms ferraro even admitted she knew nothing of the imam's background, most likely Pelosi and Co never checked it out either.
Posted by: TheOmegaMan at February 7, 2007 9:38 AM
Goobs-
I'll SAY its not the same 'Jesus'. The Muslim Jesus is in 'paradise' stuffing his face and
f-cking his brains out in their great whorehouse in the sky.
at February 7, 2007 9:46 AM
This prayer event doesn't show the DNC to be openminded and tolerant.
It shows them to be ignorant of perspective and shallow.
Posted by: A_Plague_on_Both_Houses at February 7, 2007 10:36 AM
Strictly speaking, it is true that Abraham was neither a Christian nor a Jew. That he was not a Christian is pretty obvious. Abraham was the forefather of the tribe of the Hebrews. "Jews" would originate as the tribe of his great-grandson, Jehuda. Later this name was applied to all citizens of the Davidic kingdom (David being himself a Jehudaite, i.e. Jew), from which most of the Hebrews had seceded. From that point the Bible distinguishes between "Jews" (Davidic dynasty loyalists, who seem to be comprised of the tribes of Jehuda and Benjamin and significant parts of the tribes of Levi and Simeon) and "Israelites" (secessionists). The Israelites were eventually absorbed by the conquering Assyrians with the exception of a small population which became known as the Samaritans, whom the Jews regarded as heretics of the Hebrew tradition.
Ironically, this was due to Samaritan intermarriage with non-Hebrews. Today Jews are many times more "intermarried" than are the few remaining Samaritans. Which is probably also why they are much more numerous.
Posted by: Karl Pov at February 7, 2007 10:42 AM
The creeping Islamascism can only infect minds unaware of it's origination, from the Satanic counterfeit Word, Prophet, and motivation. These ecumenacists equivocate the said goodness, but deny the fruit.
Posted by: Zionisticamerican at February 7, 2007 10:55 AM
So successful was the DNC prayer session, that I heard that the House of Representatives will invite Husham Al-Husainy to offer a prayer at the start of the coming the hearings to investigate possible Bush Administration misdeeds in the commission of the Iraq war.
Husham Al-Husainy: ..... God grant us the strength to follow the straight path to smote the enemies of our true belief.
Democrats stand and applaud, Republicans growl and scowl
Husham Al-Husainy: Let us fly at the controls and soar above their rhetoric and deliver our message to the heart of the towers that they have built to conceal the true intentions behind their actions.
Democrats stand and applaud, Republicans growl and scowl
Let us knock down those towers and bring enlightenment to the world..... Can I have an AMEN!!??
Democrats
Semi-religious Democrats: AMEN!!
Secular Democrats: Hallaugha (don’t go to church so they don’t know how to say other than phonetically.
Religious Republicans conditioned by Church to say AMEN: AMEN!!
Representative Ellison: Stands and says, "I want to testify":
Democrats stand and applaud, Republicans growl and scowl
Husham Al-Husainy: Come up Brother and testify:
Pelosy bangs pink gavel: Gentlemen. Gentlemen.. this is irregular....inaudible...(cheering and yelling)
Ellison: Allah Akbar!!! AALLLLAHHH AKBARRRRRR!!!
Husham Al-Husainy runs out the door...
Pelosy continues to bang pink gavel...inaudible...inaudible....
Ellison: Allah Akbar!!! AALLLLAHHH AKBARRRRRR!!!
KABOOM!!! Hearings are adjourned to tend to dead and dying.
Subsequent Senate hearings find that the dynamite used had been sold by a small farm supply store in Georgia that did some business with Halliburton. There findings: VP Cheney used to work for Halliburton, and since Cheney is President Bush’s VP; then it was a murderous attempt by Cheney and the Bush administration to silence critics of the war. They narrowly defeat a measure to offer Articles of Impeachment for murder of numerous Representatives.
It could happen,.....
at February 7, 2007 11:31 AM
GrimReaperxxx
Oh God forbid Ellison pulls any sort of stunt. And this imam with terrorist ties is now coming to the House of Representatives?! There would be a huge uproar if Jerry Falwell led the House in prayer.
Posted by: wrathofasma at February 7, 2007 12:18 PM
Disgusted doesn't even begin to describe what I feel about this.....So many in that party are the first to flip out about Christian holidays, symbols, and even the name of God in the Pledge, but it's perfectly fine to allow a prayer that is clearly intolerant and exclusive at their national meeting?????? Silly me, I thought that the PC, multicultural,utopian world that the Left-leaning inteligensia created would frown upon such a clearly biased display. I guess their scorn is reserved only for the Judeo-Christian Western intellectual tradition....
Posted by: isolde at February 7, 2007 1:03 PM
Reminds me of how things are going in the UK - when city councils re-name Christmas and call it WINTERFEST.
A sign of things to come I'm sorry to say.
I can at least say that I didn't vote the scum in.
Posted by: The Goobs at February 7, 2007 1:47 PM
See the key to defeating the democrates and the progressive liberals can be found within themselves. Just let do what they do and they will sink their own ship.
Posted by: greatcometof1577 at February 7, 2007 2:54 PM
Comments are turned off and archived for this entry.
(Note: The Comments section is provided in the interests of free speech only. It is mostly unmoderated, but comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying stand a chance of being deleted. The fact that any comment remains on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch, or by Robert Spencer or any other Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch writer, of any view expressed, fact alleged, or link provided in that comment.)