MPAC’s Salam Al-Marayati was quoted in the AP story about a proposal to map the locations of Los Angeles mosques as saying: “We will work with the LAPD and give them input, while at the same time making sure that people’s civil liberties are protected.” But don’t get the wrong idea! MPAC has now announced that it has “not officially endorsed, supported or agreed to work with the LAPD on a proposed mapping program,” and that media reports to the contrary were “misleading.”
In reality, “MPAC will NEVER endorse a policy, program or idea (not even ‘in concept’) that violates the trust of our community or the principles of Islam.” Interesting. The “principles of Islam”? That’s a very sweeping statement, giving rise to many specific questions about which principles of Islam MPAC will adhere to, but I’m sure that if I asked those questions to Al-Marayati, he would not answer except with his customary abuse.
Meanwhile, MPAC comes out strongly for the law enforcement efforts to pretend that Malibu surfers and Methodist grandmothers pose just as much of a terror threat as young Muslim males: “MPAC strongly opposes, and will defend against, any profiling program that singles out Muslims (or people of other faiths) for purposes of counterterrorism intelligence that violates our privacy, civil liberties and human rights.”
“MPAC Disturbed by Media’s Mischaracterization on Its Position on ‘Mapping’ Program” can be found at the MPAC site. A defense of the LAPD proposal can be found here.