Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Philadelphia High School students targetted as converts after car shooting incident is exploited for da'wa by Muslims and CAIR
Philadelphia High School students targetted as converts after car shooting incident is exploited for da'wa by Muslims and CAIR
CAIR calls for federal charges in parked car shooting
December 16, 2005
MIM: CAIR and the North Penn mosque which works closely with the Al Qaeda linked Islamic Circle of North America lost no time in exploiting the parked car shooting a chance to get students from North Penn High School and a so called 'Reconstructionist' sect of Judaism to visit in January to 'learn' about Islam in the hopes of recruiting them as converts. The ICNA Philly website lists the conversions which they perform with pictures and short biographies of their newest accolytes.'
A spokesman for the mosque blamed the incident on "lack of communication" which begs the question as to why proseltysing has suddenly become a form of 'communication' and is considered a valid part of a public High School curriculum. Which begs the question as to if North Penn High School officials have informed the parents of their students that they will going to a mosque to hear someone attempt to convert them to Islam under the guise of 'an educational presentation'.
The result of which Muslims hope will lead to more announcements like these:
Br. Scott accepts Islam at Lansdale Masjid
">Submitted by Ziaulhaq on Mon, 2005-07-18 14:51. CollegevilleDars | NorthPennMosque | WhyIslam
Br Scott visited the Lansdale masjid and accepted shahadah. He also visited the Collegeville dars last Friday.
May Allah accept his faith and help him in success in this world and the hereafter.
">Submitted by icnacom on Tue, 2005-06-28 13:58. NorthPennMosque | WhyIslam
Al Hamdilillah brother Brent took the shahadah at Lansdale masjid on Friday. He was directed to the masjid by a visitor to the Why Islam booth on Lansdale day. May Allah accept his faith and help in following Islam.
MIM: The North Penn Mosque is milking the shooting incident to portray themselves as hapless victims of a misquided infidel who would actually convert to Islam if he would only hear about what a warm and fuzzy religion it really is.
They also brazenly exploit the American weakness for the perceived 'underdog'. The Da'wa (conversion) component of this message is revealed by this sentence:
"We need God's mercy and guidance for us and others to spend more time in Masjids (mosques) and prayers".
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Announcement at North Penn mosque -Peace
"....At Friday prayers, a message was read regarding the recent firing incident:
Whenever incidents such as this happen, it is due to misinformation and lack of knowledge about Islam.
We need to spread the message that Islam means Peace, Compassion, Mercy, Love and Tolerance.
We need to ask God's mercy and guidance for us and others and spend more time in Masjids in Prayers.
The Masjid is receiving a large number of emails and calls from the Local Community, News people, Church leaders etc expressing solidarity with the Masjid at this time.
http://icnaphilly.com/?q=taxonomy/term/4
MIM: The administration of North Penn HIgh School should present this 'field trip' to the North Penn mosque for what it really is - a naked attempt to convert their students to Islam. The parents should refuse permission to allow their children to participate.
The North Penn Mosque is aggressively behind a Da'wa campaign Why Islam? which was mounted by the Islamic Society of North America, and this shooting incident has played right into their hands.
MIM: For more on ICNA, their 'Why Islam' campaign and Jihad through conversion see:
Jihad through Conversion : 'Star spangled' bus ads by Al Qaeda ...
Jihad through Conversion : 'Star spangled' bus ads by Al Qaeda linked Muslim
organisation asks "Why Islam?" More Islam in Motion: Bus ads lead to phone ...
www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/475 - 14k -
Jihad through "Con"version : Exploiting good faith, and the ...
Jihad through "Con"version : Exploiting good faith, and the Constitution, to
recruit converts to Islam. July 9, 2004. Conquest or Conversion : Da'wa as ...
www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/212 - 58k -
MAS & ICNA: 'Muslim American Subversives' and 'Islamist ...
| The Islamic Society of North America is part of the MAS/ICNA network. ... In 2003 the MAS/ICNA organisation opened the 31 acre Universal Heritage Foundation ... www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/216 - 127k - |
LESSONS ON ISLAM - TOP
Mark D. Marotta, Reporter Online, 2/15/2005
http://www.thereporteronline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15758292&BRD=2275&PAG=461&dept_id=466404&rfi=6
A Jan. 4 visit by about 40 North Penn High School students to the North Penn Mosque is among the ways area schools teach about Islam.
The field trip will take place almost exactly two months after two cars parked at the mosque were vandalized by gunfire.
Because of that Nov. 8 incident Robert Blackburn 53 of Hatfield faces charges of ethnic intimidation criminal mischief recklessly endangering another person disorderly conduct and possession of an instrument of crime. A formal arraignment in county court is scheduled for Jan. 27.
In the days following the shooting incident Niaz Hannan an 18-year-old seminary student whose family lives in North Wales said the mosque would sponsor interfaith meetings to discuss prejudice and that local schools would be invited to learn more about the Muslim community.
Brian Knaub a social studies teacher at North Penn said students taking world religion classes will be going to the mosque on the morning of Jan. 4.
Additionally a group of eighth-graders from a Reconstructionist synagogue in Fort Washington will visit on Jan. 22 said Kareem Afzal the mosque's youth group coordinator.
He added that young people from the mosque will make a presentation about Islam to the visitors followed by a time for discussion and questions.
Afzal said that the mosque was also trying to arrange a visit by Pebble Hill Interfaith Church in Doylestown Township.
He called the upcoming visits "an incredibly positive development."
Afzal attributed incidents like that of Nov. 8 to "ignorance due to miscommunication."
The mosque tries to counteract misconceptions about Islam through a variety of means‚ Afzal said. For instance‚ he said‚ it seeks to have its young people become involved in the community – such as by helping out at Manna on Main Street food cupboard and soup kitchen in Lansdale.
Afzal also said the mosque has held community days since its opening three years ago. He added that the mosque would be interested in making presentations at local schools.
Knaub said that he spends about 10 days on Islam in the world religion classes he teaches. He added that he talks about who Mohammed was‚ how Islam started‚ its five main practices‚ major groups within the religion‚ and how the faith has progressed and spread.
"We touch base on the importance of the Quran‚" Knaub said.
While the world religion class is an elective‚ all 10th-graders are required to take a world cultures course‚ Knaub said. He added that he spends a couple of days teaching about Islam in that class.
Knaub also said that students make announcements to the entire school to explain the significance of some Muslim holidays.
Jack Silva‚ director of secondary education for the Souderton Area School District‚ said‚ "We do have instructional units at our high school about Islam. It's part of our global studies course‚ where students spend approximately a quarter of the school year studying the religion‚ political institutions and everything else related to the complex situation in the Middle East‚ and Islam."
He added‚ "In many ways‚ current events have caught up to our instructional program as far as the importance of that topic."
Silva said the 10th- and 11th-graders take the course‚ which is a requirement.
At Christopher Dock Mennonite High School‚ Preston Bush‚ a teacher of Bible and social studies‚ said students are introduced to what Islam is.
According to Bush‚ Christopher Dock teaches that Muslims are people of "really profound faith‚" and that Islam is related to Christianity and Judaism.
"Of course‚ we worship in different ways‚" Bush said.
And while Christians believe that Jesus is God's "most complete and final answer‚" they share many common grounds with Muslims‚ he said.
"We try to introduce our students to these things‚" Bush said.
Students at Christopher Dock are introduced to Islam in their freshman social studies class‚ called world cultures‚ and in a Bible course taken in their junior year. As seniors‚ students can take an elective class on the Middle East‚ Bush said.
He added that Christopher Dock had not engaged in any outreach to the local Muslim community since the vandalism at the North Penn Mosque.
"We have not addressed that incident in particular‚" he said.
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November 09, 2005
Calls For a Federal Case
After Tuesday's early-morning vandalism outside a Landsale mosque - a Hatboro man allegedly fired dozens of shots into two parked cars - a national Islamic civil rights group is calling for federal charges.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) notes that Robert Blackburn, 53, was charged with ethnic intimidation after allegedly using a .22-caliber rifle to cause more than $5,000 in damages shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday. He was also charged with criminal mischief, firearms violations, misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering another person, and disorderly conduct. He's being being held in Montgomery County prison on $50,000 bail; a preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 18.
The cars were owned by a religious leader and a member of the North Penn mosque.
In a news release, CAIR noted that a man recently shouted such religious slurs as "dirty Arabs" and "raghead" at a Muslim family driving near Blue Bell. "Only traffic charges were filed against the alleged assailant, despite requests to probe the apparent bias motive for the attack," the Council contends.
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Posted on Thu, Nov. 10, 2005
Hatfield man held in mosque attack
He is charged with peppering cars parked near the building in Lansdale with more than 50 rounds of rifle fire this week.
By Larry Fish
Inquirer Staff Writer
While Lansdale police were holding a Hatfield man accused of firing scores of bullets into cars in a mosque parking lot, mosque members said they had been the target of a "big-time hate crime."
"The whole community is shocked," said Abdul Hannan, one of the founding members of the North Penn Mosque, where the attack took place early Tuesday morning.
"Everyone is very scared," the mosque's imam, Mostafa Hossain, said. "We are quiet people."
Lansdale police said they arrested Robert Blackburn, 53, on a variety of charges, including ethnic intimidation. He was intercepted as he started to drive away from the scene, just after a patrol officer heard heavy gunfire about 3:45 a.m.
Blackburn was being held in the county prison on $50,000 cash bail.
The police said Blackburn's Ford Escort held a .22-caliber rifle and "numerous live and spent .22-caliber rounds of ammunition."
The FBI has started an investigation, and "will be working closely with the Lansdale Police Department to determine if any federal violations have been committed," said FBI Special Agent Jerri Williams, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia office.
In the Montgomery County mosque's parking lot, police counted 37 bullet holes in a 2000 Honda Accord and 15 in a Lincoln Town Car.
The Honda belonged to Mohammad Ensad, 35, a journalist and businessman who has been attending the mosque for about two months. He said he left his car in the mosque's lot while he was in New York City.
Ensad and others at the mosque yesterday said they knew of no connection between the mosque and Blackburn, and said they had had very good relations with the community, except for a troubling uptick in vandalism in recent months.
Ensad, whose pen name in the Bangladeshi newspaper he helps run in New York is Niaz, said most of the mosque members were also from Bangladesh. Up to 300 or 400 people attend Friday prayers, he said, and the mosque is open every day.
The building sits on Maple Avenue, in a somewhat inaccessible pocket of Lansdale tucked against the SEPTA tracks.
It is a medium-size brick-and-cinderblock building that looks as though it had started life as a small manufacturing plant. The only visual clue that it is a mosque is a single sign outside.
Ensad's car was towed away as evidence. He isn't sure whether it is drivable. The Lincoln belongs to the imam.
"On the left side it's a mess, and inside on the seat," he said.
He's sure the gunman chose the cars on the mosque property, and spared others, just feet away, in a backyard.
Hannan, who has been attending since the founding of the mosque in 1993, said the mosque had had very little trouble until recently.
"After 9/11 we were fine," though there was a minor bit of graffiti, he said. "The neighbors are nice, and we do community service."
But he said "recently, within the last three or four months, we've had a lot of problems."
At 1:30 one night, he said, some children were jumping up and down on the roof. And then someone shot out a window with a BB gun.
Elsewhere in Philadelphia and nationally, monitors say Muslims have been the target of apparently random but persistent attacks. "On the national level, we tend to see spikes in these kinds of things during times of international crisis," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.
He said mosque attacks had taken place roughly at the pace of one a month across the country.
In Philadelphia, Adeeba Al-Zaman is director of communications for the local chapter of the council. She said a Blue Bell woman recently reported being harassed by another motorist on Route 202, yelling insults about "Arabs."
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The Da'wa activities of the North Penn Mosque are disquised as 'civic projects' this 'free car wash for the elderly', is but one example. Of course in order for the elderly to get the free car wash they must come to the mosque, which inevitably means they will be forced to listen to an explanation of Islam and be invited to come and 'see for themselves' how Muslims play. Da'wa efforts often focus on the elderly and the homeless and take advantage of their loneliness and vulnerability by pretending to take an interest in their plight - when they are actually being targetted as the easiest source of potential converts.
CAR WASH FOR THE ELDERLYON MONDAYS DURING THE SUMMER, THE NORTH PENN MOSQUE YOUTH GROUP WILL BE CONDUCTING CAR WASHES FOR THE ELDERLY RESIDENTS OF ELM TERRACE GARDENS IN LANSDALE PA (PHILADELPHIA SUBURB). THE EVENT IS FROM 2-4 PM EVERY MONDAY. RESIDENTS SIGN UP FOR TIME SLOTTED TIMES ON THE HALF HOUR.
Date: 8/1/2005 through 8/29/2005 (2:00:00 PM- 4:00:00 PM)
Where: NORTH PENN MOSQUE 600 MAPLE AVENUE LANSDALE PA 19046
Contact: NORTH PENN MOSQUE YOUTH GROUP, KAREEM AFZAL
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