Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Muslim Youth Jihad Camp Returns to Pennsylvania,Complete With Al Qaeda Linked Cleric Muslim Youth Jihad Camp Returns to Pennsylvania,Complete With Al Qaeda Linked ClericJuly 6, 2006 Muslim Youth Jihad Camp Returns To Pennsylvania, Complete With Al-Qaeda Linked Cleric By Beila Rabinowitz July 6, 2006 - Philadelphia, PA - PipeLineNews.org - Residents of Villanova, Pennsylvania who have opposed the expansion of a facility in which the "Foundation of Islamic Education" is housed should really be concerned over a "Youth Jihad Camp" [Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the group's summer gatherings were openly called "Jihad Camps"] planned to take place in August. According to an article appearing in the Philadephia Inquirer - "Neighbors fight Islamic foundation's expansion" - the FIE is "... a New York non profit religious group headed by a Saudi businessman," who "agreed to to buy the campus of the Northeastern Christian Junior College , the former Morris Clothier estate, for 2.7 million.." Article Link Beila Rabinowitz of Militant Islam Monitor, Al-Qaeda linked cleric among speakers at Muslim Youth camp at Foundation for Islamic Education in Villanova PA 8/2-6/06 has uncovered further information on the Wahhabist ties which go directly to the Saudi government:
"The foundation's trustees are based in Saudi Arabia. The president of the board is Mahmoud Abdullah Taiba, a member of the Majlis Ash Shura and former secretary of the the Energy and Electricity in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. FIE is also directly linked to the radical Islamist University, Al Azhar, a bastion of the Muslim Brotherhood. The head Imam of Al Azhar, Sheik Tantawi, sanctioned suicide attacks against Israeli civilians, characterizing them as all potential soldiers. Bin Laden's mentor, Abdullah Azzam attended the university as well. The FIE works together with the American Open University and describes itself as 'a satellite campus ' accredited to Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. The theme of the Muslim Youth camp being held at the FIE is "Deen and Dunya" - Finding the Balance. The Muslim Youth organization takes their ideological and religious teachings directly from the Muslim Brotherhood - the group which assassinated Anwar Sadat and from which al-Qaeda evolved. The speakers at the upcoming Muslim Youth camp are hard-core Islamists, many of them have documented ties to terror and for that reason the residents of Villanova have good cause to be concerned about security issues. At a 2000 ICNA conference in Baltimore the head of the Young Muslims organization which is running the camp, urged parents to send their sons to fight jihad in Chechnya. According to testimony given by counter terrorism expert Steven Emerson:
At the July 2000 annual convention of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) in Baltimore, speaker Tayyab Yunus pleaded with the audience: The youth is very important…And, we all want to see our youth to succeed to become doctors, to become engineers; but how many of you can actually say that you want to send your sons to Jihad, to Chechnya? How many of you can actually say that? [Takbir! Allahua Akbar!] How many of you can actually say that you want to send your child… How many of you can actually say that you want to send your youth to fight in Jihad or to send them to…to these Islamic Institutions to become educated? I'm sorry. Other than that, I honestly believe in my heart that this is the time, right now is the time." Speakers at proposed Jihad Camp
Now that the Islamist agenda behind FIE is clear, it behooves the Lower Merion Council to refuse the organization's request for a permit to expand and rather initiate proceedings to close the group down. |