While CAIR and other American Muslim advocacy groups try to strong-arm the American public and law enforcement agencies into accepting on faith that all American Muslims are benign, peaceful people, a veritable who’s who of Islamic radicals is planning a conference in Florida. “Some anti-hate groups are outraged that a Saudi cleric who called on God to ‘terminate’ the Jews and urged Muslims to shun peace with Israel is the invited keynote speaker at an Islamic conference scheduled this month in Osceola County.” This from the Orlando Sentinel, with thanks to LGF.
The organization that is bring Shaikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais to Florida, the Universal Heritage Foundation, “envisions a home base in Florida’s tourist corridor that would attract Islamic scholars and promote tolerance among religious groups.” However, “some anti-hate groups . . . fear Shah may be inviting radicals to Central Florida who will stir up prejudice and divisiveness. . . .
Zulfiqar Ali Shah, chairman and chief executive officer of the UHF, “said his motives are pure. He also said he wasn’t aware that the man invited to be the keynote speaker, Al-Sudais, was quoted in various newspapers in April 2002 as calling Jews ‘the scum of humanity, the rats of the world, the killers of prophets and the grandsons of monkeys and pigs.'”
I wonder if Shah reads the Qur’an, where Jews are called monkeys and pigs in Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:116.
“Al-Sudais is senior imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca. . . . Rita Katz, who heads a nonprofit anti-terrorism research center in Washington, D.C., said American Muslim leaders should not invite individuals like Al-Sudais, who are ‘virulently intolerant of the West and other religions.’
“‘He’s incredibly antisemitic, and widely publicized as so,’ said Katz, who heads the SITE Institute. ‘Post 9-11, why are they seeking someone so radical?’ she asked, noting that Al-Sudais represents the conservative Saudi Wahabi sect of Islam.
“Joe Kaufman, president of a South Florida group called Americans Against Hate, said Al-Sudais should be denied entry into the United States because of his antisemetic remarks, which were broadcast on Arabic TV and radio.
“‘The biggest fear is that the group this person will be speaking to is largely a who’s who of the most radical figures in our country from the most radical organizations in our country,’ Kaufman said. ‘This could spark a violent act.’
“No federal or state agency said it plans to prevent Al-Sudais from entering the country.
“The Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced Kaufman as an advocate of a radical Jewish group. Kaufman fired back that the council is connected to Palestinian militants. Both sides deny the accusations.
“Altaf Ali, Florida director of the council, said Al-Sudais and the other speakers are highly respected and that it has been “open season” on Muslims since the 9-11 attacks.
“‘I personally have never heard any of these individuals say anything hateful,’ Ali said. ‘Anybody associated with a mosque is immediately [considered] a terrorist suspect. We are being found guilty by association.’
“In addition to Al-Sudais, the announced speakers include:
“Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an ‘unindicted person who may be alleged as (a) conspirator’ in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, according to former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White. His Masjid al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., hosted the blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted in a conspiracy to bomb the Holland and Lincoln tunnels in New York. Wahhaj testified as a character witness for Rahman. Wahhaj, whom his supporters say is ‘mainstream,’ has made numerous anti-American statements.
“Imam Maulana Shafayat Muhammad, principal of the Darul Uloom Institute & Islamic Training Center in Pembroke Pines. Dirty-bomb suspect José Padilla attended his mosque. Padilla, Brooklyn-born Muslim convert, is accused of plotting with al-Qaeda to explode a bomb containing radioactive materials in the United States.
“Muzzamal Siddiqui, who has spoken at pro-Hezbollah rallies, supported the creation of an Islamic state in the United States and praised martyrdom for the Islamic cause, according to the SITE Institute. In spite of his statements, Siddiqui has been a guest at the White House, and he spoke at Washington National Cathedral post 9-11.
“Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America and former director of academic outreach at the International Institute of Islamic Thought. Federal agencies raided the institute last year on suspicion of funneling money to suicide bombers.
“Areej Zufari, spokeswoman for the Islamic Society of Central Florida, said attempted censure of the speakers is un-American.” Evidently Zufari would have us welcome with open arms those who would destroy us.
Charles at LGF notes that “Shah himself is former president of the Islamic Circle of North America, a group allied with the militant fundamentalist movement of Jamaat-e-Islamiya in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Steven Emerson’s book American Jihad describes the Islamic Circle of North America: ‘ICNA openly supports militant Islamic fundamentalist organizations, praises terrorist attacks, issues incendiary attacks on Western values and policies, and supports the imposition of shari’a (Islamic code of law). . . . In 1995, ICNA’s president made the following comments on the topic of jihad at a conference in Columbus, Ohio: ‘Sometimes, especially nowadays, I hear some Muslims defining jihad, and they will talk and talk and talk about everything in jihad, but they’ll be very careful that there is nothing of qital [battle, fight, combat] mentioned in there. Well, at least you should not be disrespectful of the people you’re talking to. They can pick up a Koran of any translation, and see what is in there in an instant. And a strong part of Islam is qital, and all nations and all people have a legitimate use of violence and war. And in Islam we came up with the first international law, that when you have qital, you have “culture of qital.” There’s a method, there’s a decision-making body. It’s not that a person gets angry and he starts his own qital. But when you present jihad you have to present it in its entirety.'”