“And a number of Somali leaders said they have worked diligently to combat Islamic radicalization messages aimed at younger members of their community. ‘We have not seen so far any single case in which we would be concerned that there is something happening,’ said Zerqa Abid, president of MY Project USA, a Columbus-based youth organization that has about 200 members — mostly Somali refugees.”
That’s odd. Not even a single case? And yet the mosque in Columbus has been frequented by jihad terrorists: “Mosque Near Ohio State Campus Has History Of Attendees With Terror Ties,” by Kerry Picket, Daily Caller, November 28, 2016:
Columbus, Ohio, is no stranger to attacks like the one seen at Ohio State University Monday and a controversial mosque just a mile from OSU has already been at he center of six separate terror cases.
It is presently unknown if the suspect at OSU Monday, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, attended the Masjid Omar Ibn El Khattab mosque, but the mosque has a history of former attendees who have been involved in terror activities.
The Masjid Omar mosque was home to one of the largest known al-Qaeda cells since 9/11, reported PJ Media’s Patrick Poole back in August. Although only three members — Lyman Faris, Nuradin Abdi and Christopher Paul — were charged, it is known that there were over a dozen members of the cell.
Poole, a resident of Ohio, told Daily Caller the mosque is popular with OSU students.
According to Poole, a counter-terrorism expert, three persons who lived just a few yards from the mosque for two years joined ISIS in Syria in July 2014….
Mosque President Basil Gohar insisted to NBC earlier this year the ISIS recruits and convicted al qaeda terrorists had very little to do with their mosque.“We share the shock and horror of these actions, and we wish that we could have found out or stopped them … It’s quite unfortunate what these people went and did, but the fact they attended has no bearing on their actions,” Gohar said. “Anyone can come to our mosque. We have an open door policy. It’s not possible for us to screen someone’s ideology.”
However, after Paul’s arrest in April 2007, the Justice Department stated in press releases and federal court filings that he was conducting training inside the mosque.
Another terror case from November 2015 showed that four men, who were former OSU students and attended Masjid Omar were charged with conspiring to send thousands of dollars to al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki between 2007 and 2009. Two were arrested and the other pair left the country….
There is much more. Read it all.
Meanwhile, “Noah said he’s not worried about a backlash against Somalis or Muslims in Columbus. ‘I believe and I trust the intelligence of our society,’ he said.”
Really? Then why did he hold “community meetings to calm parents and children who are scared to return to work and school”?
“What’s more of a concern, Noah said, is the everyday discomfort a tragic event like this could bring to the youth he mentors – such as people staring at Muslim girls wearing a hijab. ‘These are the things that really bother me,’ he said.”
Stares? That’s what really bothers you, sir? Not a jihad terror attack? Stares?
And finally: “‘We don’t know who he is,’ said Horsed Noah, who runs the Masjid Abubakar Asiddiq Islamic Center, the largest such center in Columbus.”
Has anyone checked up on this claim? Or would that be “Islamophobic”? There is reason to think this: after a Muslim who supported the Islamic State shot a police officer in Philadelphia, the local mosque leaders initially denied knowing him, but then it turned out they were lying, and the jihadi attended the mosque frequently. The same thing happened after jihadis attacked our free speech event in Garland, Texas: the mosque they attended in Phoenix denied knowing them, but it turned out they were regular members.
This Columbus mosque should be investigated, but it is more likely that Noah’s claims that he didn’t know Artan will be accepted at face value.
“Ohio State attack suspect wasn’t well-known in Columbus’ Somali, Muslim communities,” by Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com, November 28, 2016:
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Ohio State University attack suspect Abdul Artan, a Somali refugee living in Columbus, was not well-known among the city’s Somali or Muslim communities, local leaders said Monday evening.
“We don’t know who he is,” said Horsed Noah, who runs the Masjid Abubakar Asiddiq Islamic Center, the largest such center in Columbus. When Artan’s face appeared on television, Noah said, no one in his congregation – which totals more than 2,000 people – recognized him.
Noah was one of a number of Somali and Islamic leaders in Columbus, speaking at a press conference, who strongly condemned the campus attack, which left 11 people injured and Artan dead.
“Any twisted mindset that would claim or justify such a sickening act of violence isn’t a part of us,” said Abdi Dini, a Somali-American from Columbus. ‘The act of an individual shouldn’t be blamed on the rest of the community.”…
Shortly before the attack, Artan is believed to have written an anti-American Facebook post invoking the name Anwar Al-Awlaki, a radical American-born al-Qaeda cleric, according to ABC News. He also told Ohio State’s student newspaper that he was “scared” to pray in public.
But a motive for the attack has not yet been established, as area leaders repeatedly pointed out….
And a number of Somali leaders said they have worked diligently to combat Islamic radicalization messages aimed at younger members of their community.
“We have not seen so far any single case in which we would be concerned that there is something happening,” said Zerqa Abid, president of MY Project USA, a Columbus-based youth organization that has about 200 members — mostly Somali refugees….
But, Abid acknowledged, such efforts might not be able to reach everyone.
Noah said he’s not worried about a backlash against Somalis or Muslims in Columbus. “I believe and I trust the intelligence of our society,” he said.
What’s more of a concern, Noah said, is the everyday discomfort a tragic event like this could bring to the youth he mentors – such as people staring at Muslim girls wearing a hijab.
“These are the things that really bother me,” he said.