Things got bad, and things got worse, I guess you will know the tune. Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again. Islam is, of course, the most fantastically complex religion in the world. That is why not just one, but two imams of the Lodi mosque, as well as innumerable other imams and Islamic teachers around the world, can devote their entire lives to the study of the Religion of Peace and still come away thinking that it commands them to wage war against unbelievers. Behold the awesome complexity! From CNN, with thanks to all who sent this in:
(CNN) — Federal agents searched the homes of two Islamic leaders in Lodi, California, and have made four arrests since Sunday, part of an ongoing terrorism investigation, according to the FBI and witnesses.
Two of those arrested are top Muslim leaders in Lodi, including one who publicly condemned the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and issued a declaration of peace with Christian and Jewish leaders in Lodi three years ago.
The other two are a father and son, identified as 47-year-old Umer Hayat and 22-year-old Hamid Hayat. The son allegedly lied about his attendance at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Details of the investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force based in Sacramento will be made public Wednesday morning and until then officials are saying little about the case.
The two Islamic leaders — Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed — were detained on immigration charges and will face an immigration hearing, according to FBI Special Agent John Cauthen.
Khan is the former imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque and Ahmed is the current imam, according to Lodi News-Sentinel religion reporter Ross Farrow, who has interviewed both men in the past.
Khan has been working to establish the Farooqia Islamic Center, an Islamic charter school for young children in Lodi, Farrow said.
In the days following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Khan condemned the attacks, Farrow said. Several months later, Khan joined the leaders of local Christian churches and a synagogue to issue a Declaration of Peace condemning terrorism and stressing the common origins of each religion, Farrow said.