In an article from the Religion News Service, brought to you from increasingly Islamized Dearborn, Jeff Karoub and Noreen Nasir assert that the “US growth of Islam creates” the “need for religious scholars.” No, it doesn’t. What it does create is more need to protect free societies from Islamization, not any need for unregulated religious scholars, especially those trained in countries that implement Sharia.
The article features imam Sayed Mohammad Baqer Al-Qazwini of Dearborn, Michigan. All meat in Dearborn public schools is halal. An Arab-American National Museum held a town hall on Japanese internment and the Trump travel ban — implying that Trump’s temporary ban on countries of concern (which were chosen by Obama) was an atrocity. Even Politico raised concerns about Dearborn since 2016:
Dearborn, Michigan may be the closest thing America has to a Mollenbeek, the seething, Islamicized neighborhood of Brussels believed to have harbored the terrorists involved in both the metro and airport attacks this week and last fall’s slaughter in Paris.
Al-Qazwini’s father Hassan Qazwini, is supposedly descended of Muhammad, and Hassan Qazwini’s father, Sayed Mortadha Al Qazwini, was an Iraqi Ayatollah. Hassan Qazwini states:
“In many other states there are mosques with no … functional imam, who can assume the responsibilities of the religious leader or even speak,” said Islamic Institute of America leader Imam Hassan Qazwini, who started the seminary with his son. “I thought maybe a long-term solution for facing this shortage is to have our own Shiite Islamic seminary in the U.S., instead of waiting for imams to come.”
In 2012, Robert Spencer warned about Hassan al-Qazwini calling on America to enforce Sharia blasphemy laws. Qazwini was again featured on Jihad Watch in September 2019 for his support of the Houthi attacks on Saudi oil fields, while absolving Iran of any responsibly. Instead, he blamed Trump, as Spencer writes:
Islamic supremacists, and increasingly their Leftist allies as well, never, ever take responsibility for what they have done. It is always someone else’s fault, the fault of someone they hate. Qazwini here blames Trump and Israel, predictably enough, for the attacks on the Saudi oil fields.
“US growth of Islam creates need for religious scholars,” by Jeff Karoub and Noreen Nasir, Religion News Service, November 4, 2019:
DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — “Brothers and sisters,” the seminary instructor tells his class, don’t believe in God because of your parents’ beliefs but because “you know why God exists.”
The challenge spurs a discussion about beliefs. But more than Imam Mohammad Qazwini’s interesting delivery, deep understanding of Islam and his formal training at a seminary in the holy city of Qom, Iran, have drawn them to this suburban Detroit classroom just off the large prayer room of a mosque.
He speaks their language — literally.
An increasing number of U.S. Muslims want guidance from religious instructors who they can understand linguistically and culturally. The Quran, Islam’s holy book, is written in classical Arabic, but many of the students aren’t well-versed in the language. Qazwini navigates the intricacies of Arabic effortlessly — in the everyday English they use, opening a door for many of the students and meeting an increasing need.
Traditional imams and scholars who once came from the Middle East or were educated in schools there are having more difficulty entering the United States. The Trump administration imposed a travel ban in January 2017 on people from several Muslim majority countries, and the government has made it harder to enter the U.S. entirely, with more rigorous interviews and background checks.
“In many other states there are mosques with no … functional imam, who can assume the responsibilities of the religious leader or even speak,” said Islamic Institute of America leader Imam Hassan Qazwini, who started the seminary with his son. “I thought maybe a long-term solution for facing this shortage is to have our own Shiite Islamic seminary in the U.S., instead of waiting for imams to come.”
Al-Hujjah is the newest of several seminaries focused on the Shiite branch of Islam in the United States and Canada working to address a shortage of leaders.
The seminary started in fall 2017 with about 35 registered students. Now it has nearly 400, with some attending in-person, others watching live and still more watching recorded videos online. In addition to the Qazwinis, there are four other instructors.
Although there are students in 25 countries the emphasis is on North America because of the desire to deepen the bench of U.S.-trained imams, scholars and speakers, according to the elder Qazwini, a native of Iraq.
In a class on a recent evening, the younger Qazwini led an intense session on faith, proposing case studies, playing devil’s advocate and prompting a philosophical back-and-forth with his students. His execution is informal but authoritative. The students understand him.
“I need to make sure he speaks the language, he’s knowledgeable, he’s respectful, he’s truly caring and he’s trying to adapt to the country we live in,” said Alia Bazzi, 32, a graphic designer and seminary student. “Why would my imam speak Arabic if we live in America and the main language we speak is English? … I want to know he’s up to date, he knows what’s going on.”….