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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Muslims complain that raids on mosques and terrorist arrests "are an act of bias and stereotyping"

Muslims complain that raids on mosques and terrorist arrests "are an act of bias and stereotyping"

Natural born (potential) killers: Militant Islamists jailed while fellow Muslims proclaim their innocence and protest arrests
August 5, 2004

" Individual Muslims may appear law abiding and reasonable but they are part of a totalitarian movement , and as such, all must be considered potential killers." http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1994

Yassin Aref

MIM:The Imam and the founder of the Masjid As Salem,The House of Peace ,arrested on terrorism charges involving trying to buy a shoulder fired missile and plotting to kill the Pakistani ambassador. Their family, friends, and fellow Muslims are defending them and have gone on the offensive against the government and law enforcement .The trustee of the mosque interrupted the Albany mayor's press conference shouting: "Where are the weapons?" It should come as no surprise if mosque trustee Hamza's sarcastic question will turn out to be rhetorical as investigations into the mosque's activities continue.


Yassin Aref (AP Photo)
Aug 5, 2004 Mohammed Hoosain
Mohammed Hoosain (AP Photo / Albany Times Union)

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MIM: After the arrest of the founder and leader of the Masjid As Salem in Albany New York, Americans are beginning to question why the Muslim community, which is so vocal when it comes to crying discrimination, has maintained a resounding silence regarding the arrests of the the terrorists in their midst except when it comes to proclaiming their innocence.

The excerpts from recent news reports below will show that having their leaders and congregants arrested on terrorism related charges is seen by Muslims as proof of victimization instead of a reason to criticise the terror activities of their co religionists.

Not one word of repudiation or condemnation is was uttered by any of the Muslims interviewed.This is further proof that the Islamists view themselves in a "Dar El Harb" (state of war ) with the United States and do not have to abide with laws made by infidels.

Further proof of this Islamo facist weltaanshauung can be found in the belligerence and bellicosity of one of the trustees of the cynically named Masjid As Salam (House of Peace) . At press conference in Albany given by Mayor Jennings was interrupted by the trustee who shouted : "How many weapons did you find ?"

Besides hostility and arrogance which belie their oft vaunted victimhood, the Islamists bemoan their situation, seemingly oblivious to the perverse irony inherent in complaining about oppression while threatening legal action against law enforcement and the government .More proof, if any was needed after 9'/11, of the pyschopathology of militant Islam .

This pathology is clearly illustrated in a recent article by Dr. Daniel Pipes , which recounts how jailed American Muslim Council leader Abdulrahman Alamoudi had suceeded in fooling people into believing he was a moderate Muslim despite the fact he had been caught on videotape calling for Jihad and proclaiming himself a supporter of Hamas and Hizbollah. The article was entitled : "A Slick Islamist Goes to Jail " in it, Dr. Pipes reiterates his contention that :

"Individual Islamists may appear law-abiding and reasonable, but they are part of a totalitarian movement, and as such, all must be considered potential killers." http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1994 http://www.danielpipes.org/article/66

MIM:Since "someone who will kill you will also lie to you" and it should come as no surprise that pathological lying one of the a hallmarks of militant Islam.

The American public is beginning to realize that the militant Islamists enjoy the support of the majority of American Muslims who defend the actions of their leaders and maintain their innocence in the light of overwhelming evidence. These Muslims and many of their organisations consistently attack law enforcement's campaign against terrorism as being "anti Muslim" consistently refusing to speak against the terrorists in their midst, and more often then not, abet their fellow Muslims with propaganda , funding and cover.

A congregant of Masjid As Salem (House of Peace) in Albany ,whose imam and founder were arrested on charges of money laundering with intent to purchase a shoulder fired missle to take down an airplane and/or assassinate the Pakistani ambassador in NY summed up the Islamist weltaanshauung with this comment :

" Unscheduled visits in the middle of the night are really difficult for the Muslim community and create alot of fear"...

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MIM will be documenting Muslim community's response to the recent terrorism raids in the US and Britain and update this page with new quotations and articles of interest.

Excerpts from article about the raid on the Albany mosque :

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/05/terror/main634129.shtml

Some mosque members held morning prayers Thursday on a nearby sidewalk.

"This, we believe, is an act of … bias and stereotyping - an undo scrutiny of the Muslim community," Faisal Ahmad, a worshipper at the mosque, tells CBS Radio News. "It is certainly difficult on the Muslim community to have these type of investigations, especially in the middle of the night, and to come and find their house of worship closed for prayers.

"Unscheduled visits in the middle of the night are really difficult for the Muslim community and create a lot of fear."

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Excerpt :"Two Terrorist Suspects Charged in Albany Missile Plot"

MIM:This excerpt detailing how Albany mayor Jennings news conference was interrupted by the bellicosity of Masjid As Salem,trustee, Rashid Hamza. His obvious contempt for the Albany mayor and aggressive behaviour indicate that the Muslim community and the mosque he represents have no intentions of cooperating with law enforcement and may even attempt to hinder state and federal efforts in America's war on terror.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ae1C72g3kgj8&refer=top_world_news

Repeated Interruptions

Jennings was repeatedly interrupted during his news conference in Albany by shouts from Rashid Abdul Haqq Hamzah, 54, a mosque trustee.

"How many weapons did you find?" Hamzah shouted.

The Justice Department scheduled a news conference at 1:30 p.m. in Washington to discuss the arrests.

The mosque, a two-story brick building with a plate glass storefront, has a sign on the front door below its name that says, "House of Peace." The mosque stands between a discount beauty aid supply store and a food market.

Inside, Hamzah showed a visiting reporter today where he said police kicked in doors, including some that lead to classrooms where children study Islam. White blinds covered the mosque's plate glass windows. A pile of shoes lay outside the green- carpeted worship area.

"There's no connection to al-Qaeda," Hamzah said. "There is none. They found as many weapons in this masjid as they found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

Hamzah said he didn't know what police took during the raid and said the suspects were arrested at their homes.

The mosque on Albany's Central Avenue has been operating about three years and the center has no formal membership list, Hamzah said. "If you are a Muslim, you're welcome," he said. "If you are a non-Muslim, you're welcome."


To contact the reporter on this story Matthew Cox in Albany, New York at [email protected] or William McQuillen in Washington at [email protected]

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MIM: .This " boilerplate" press release issued in the name of the :House of Peace" after the arrest of their Imam and founder, on terrorism charges, and a planned assassination, is ample proof that someone who will kill you will also lie to you.

Note that the press release expresses concern about the arrests of their imam and founder but makes no mention of the terrorist charges against them and disingenously says that "Three men were arrested seperately in their homes apparently in connection with the raid" .

This implies that what they term the "FBI night raid" was due to nothing more then anti Muslim bias stating:"We are concerned with the backlash and hate crimes that result in the stereotyping of Muslims."

The press release exploits the usual cliche's about how "Islam respects the sacredness of life" omitting the caveat that militant Islamists do not hold their own lives in high regard and believe that the afterlife is more sacred then this one.

http://www.jannah.org/masjid/

PRESS RELEASE
Muslims Concerned about FBI Night Raid and Recent Arrest
Thursday, August 5, 2004 9:52 am
Masjid as-Salam: No contradiction between ensuring safety and th
presumption of innocence
(Albany, New York . 8/5/2004)
 Masjid as-Salam (House of Peace) today
expressed concern regarding a raid carried out by the FBI Wednesday
night. The raid took place in the early hours and forced worshippers to
hold their daily prayers on a nearby sidewalk.
Three men were arrested separately from their homes apparently in
connection to the raid.
In a statement released today, Masjid as-Salam president, writes that
Albany Muslims wish to declare that they are against any and all forms of
terrorism. They neither support, nor condone any form of violence against
innocent people.
We are concerned about the backlash and hate-crimes that result from th
stereotyping of Muslims. Muslims constitute about seven million in th
United States. We are a peace-loving, law-abiding people. 
The actions of
few individuals should not reflect upon our mosque or religion.
Islam respects the sacredness of life and shares the belief in one God
and the Hereafter with other Abrahamic traditions.
We further call on media professionals to exercise restraint and not draw
premature conclusions in this case..
-END-
MIM :For more on Islamist phony press releases and petitions see :
http://www.danielpipes.org/
----------------------------------------
MIM:Note that the son of the mosque president is quoted below speaking at a press conference.
His rhetoric,urging people "not to rush to judgement" and "Let us follow the due process of law"
are almost identical to those in the press release above which was written 
by his father.
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1032576&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1032576
Terrorim Sting Nabs Three Suspects
Police kept watch in front of the small brick mosque on Central Avenue, a diverse thoroughfare that leads
to the New York state capital building. Mosque leaders locked the building,
whose name means house of peace, just after noon and drew the blinds. 
Later, just before evening prayer, Faisal Ahmad, whose father is president of the mosque,
 said at a news conference that he hoped the community does not rush to judgment against the men. 
"Let us follow the due process of law and let not the actions of a few individuals be used to brush an entire community as terrorists," he said.
----------------------------------------------------

MIM: Terrorist "arrest widows" pose with their kids for the media and proclaim their weapon procuring attack plotter hubbies are nice guys who did nothing wrong . In their Islamist parallel universe , infidels have no jurisdiction over Muslims who consider the lives of non Muslims as having no value except when they can be exploited for their purposes.(Or until they "revert" to Islam).

The reporter notes the suspect's wife " quavering voice" and appears to feel sympathy for her plight ...

MIM: There is speculation that one of the reasons for the arrests in Albany is that Hosain had gone to New York with to 'purchase plane tickets for his mother in law' . On cue and in a script as cliche ridden as the as as a CAIR "anti terrorism" petition ,: Atef Hossain's wife spews the usual lies regarding her husbands innocence and shows great concern for herself and her situation, never once alluding to the gravity of the terrorist charges which led to her husband's arrrest.

Note that Atef's wife feigns total surprise at her husband's arrest even though it happened "just as he returned home from New York after buying "a plane ticket for her mother to return to Bangladesh" .The purported ticket purchase in New York is even more suspect in light of the fact that Hossain was able to negotiate the purchase of a shoulder fired missile so close to home.

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The subject of airplanes brings to mind Abdulrahman Alomari 9/11 hijackers who lived in Vero Beach, Florida with his wife and four school aged children .The family held a children's party a few days before the attack, and the wife and children left soon after for Saudi Arabia...

Click on URL for complete article by Joel Aschenbach

"You Never Imagine a Hijacker Next Door "

http://billstclair.com/911timeline/2001/wpost091601c.html

"The adult Alomaris didn't socialize much. A wave now and again. They spent time with another Muslim family -- clannish behavior that the American neighbors assumed was normal. Theirs was a nice home, rented for $1,400 a month.

The only problem with the Alomaris were the late-night meetings. Next-door neighbor Betty Egger said that as many as a dozen cars would be parked outside, some on her own lawn. It rattled her to see car headlights flashing through her windows at 2 in the morning.

Alomari told his landlord in August that the family would soon be moving back home, to Saudi Arabia. Then, just before Labor Day, something unusual happened: The Alomaris threw a party for all the neighborhood children. "They invited all the kids, even ones they'd never seen before," said neighbor Andrew Krease.

They served pizza and Happy Meals. Where they come from, Alomari's wife told the neighbors, it is customary to throw a party before moving -- to leave nice memories."

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Wives of Suspects Recount Predawn Raid

PHOTOS
Yassin Aref's family
+ ENLARGE
Zuhur Jalal, left, wife of Yassin Aref, stands with their children, from left, Alaa, 8, Raiber, 7, and Kotcher, 4, at their home in Albany. (Michael P. Farrell / Times Union)

Mohammed Hossain's family
+ ENLARGE
Mossammat Hossain, left, wife of Mohammed Hossain, with four of their five children, Abuhoughifa, 3, front left, Abuhamza, 10, front right, Khalida, 6, back left, more... (Michael P. Farrell / Times Union)

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=273221&category=BUSINESS&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=8/5/2004

What's happening? What's happening?" she kept asking the FBI agents, who had handcuffed her husband as he parked his car on the street below. She said he was returning from a trip to New York City to buy an airplane ticket for his mother-in-law to return to Bangladesh later this month.

"I don't believe it," she said. "Him buying weapons? Impossible. He's so open and friendly to everyone. He has nothing to hide."

The couple came to Albany five years ago from Kurdistan in northern Iraq as political refugees through the auspices of the United Nations, she said. Her husband has been the imam at the mosque for four years and he also works as a driver transporting local patients to medical treatments. She is a homemaker.

"I'm worrying about everything now," she said, her voice quavering. "My husband, my apartment, my children. I don't know what to do now."

Hossain and his wife emigrated from Bangladesh in 1995 with their son, Abuhamza, who was 1 at the time. They were searching for economic opportunity outside their poor homeland.

They opened Little Italy pizzeria at 2 Central Ave. in 1994.

"I'm proud to be an American," Hossain told the Times Union in a profile for its June series on life along Central Avenue. "When I was in high school in Bangladesh, I looked at a map of America and I dreamed of coming to this great land. Since I've been here, opportunity has kissed my feet. Hard work has done the rest."

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"Relatives Defend Terror Suspects"

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040805/APA/408050883

Between tears, Hossain's wife, Mossamat, said her husband is a businessman, not a terrorist. "It's totally wrong and totally false and totally a lie," she said.

Mosque members described their imam as a gentle man.

"The only reason we were created was to worship God, not to blow things up, not to buy things for terrorists," trustee Rashid Abdul Haqq Hamzah said.

Two of Hossain's neighbors said that he spoke enthusiastically about his religion, but not about politics.

Cleo Junco said Hossain gave his son a Koran after the Sept. 11 attacks to try to show the boy that Islam was not a belligerent religion. Jacob McClenahan said he talked often about his faith, but "I didn't think I had any reason to suspect him of being anything but annoying."

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http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/wptv/article/0,1651,TCP_1213_3088860,00.html

It's totally wrong and totally false and totally a lie," Hossain's wife, Mossamat, said in a telephone interview.

She said more than a half-dozen agents stormed the family's apartment at about 1:30 a.m., just as her husband returned from New York City where he had gone to buy a plane ticket to Bangladesh for her mother.

Aref's wife, Zuhor Jalal, said the FBI came to her home about 2 a.m. and told her they had her husband in custody. They took her and her three young children to a hotel then searched their home.

Jalal said she and her husband are natives of Kurdistan and lived in Syria for five years before coming to America.

"We come for freedom and job," she said.

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http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/state/ny-stmosque0805,0,1821356.story?coll=ny-statenews-headlines

Feds Accuse Two in Albany Missile Scheme

Aref, who has a black beard and wore a polo shirt, appeared sullen and stared at his handcuffed hands. The proceedings were painstakingly slow because Aref, who speaks virtually no English, needed a Kurdish translator. He was born and raised in Kurdish northern Iraq and came to Albany five years ago from Syria.

His wife, Zuhur Jalal, said later she "can't believe" the charges against her husband. "My husband is friendly with everybody, Muslim or not," she said.

An elderly member of the mosque who attended the court hearing also said he could not believe the charges were true. Sajid Ahmed, 72, said, "They got trapped ... People get caught up in conversation ... They become angry." He said Hossain "loved the United States. I heard him say it many times."

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http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=273120&category=BUSINESS&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=8/5/2004

Hossain's wife, Mossammat, said her husband went to New York City Wednesday afternoon to obtain visas for two of the couple's five children and a airline ticket for her mother, who was planning to return to Bangladesh later this month.

Her husband returned at around 1:30 a.m. today, when FBI agents swarmed the couple's apartment above the Little Italy pizzeria they operate.

She said agents took $6,000 in cash, the hard drive from her husband's computer and assorted personal records, including bank account records.

"My husband has a very clean heart," she said. "He doesn't hide anything."

Aref and Hossein are being charged with providing material support to terrorism by participating in a conspiracy to help an individual they believed was a terrorist purchase a shoulder-fired missile, the Associated Press reported, citing law enforcement officials. The individual was in fact working undercover for the government and no missile ever changed hands. Aref and Hossain were allegedly involved in money-laundering aspects of the plot, the officials said.

The men were taken into custody early this morning and whisked to FBI headquarters in Albany. FBI agents removed documents from the mosque.

An FBI spokesman said a news conference was tentatively set for this afternoon in Washington.

-- Staff writer Bruce A. Scruton con

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http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=2142374

The two men are in Rensselaer County Jail.

F-B-I agents yesterday raided the Masjid As-Salam (mas-GHID' es-sal-AHM') mosque, where Aref is the imam and Hossain a trustee.

Mosque members call them peaceful family men.

A senior law enforcement official confirms Aref's name, address and phone number were found in an address book after U-S soldiers raided an Ansar al-Islam camp in northern Iraq last year.

Aref was referred to as quote-"the commander." Ansar al-Islam is affiliated with al-Qaida.

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MIM: For more on terrorism and the Muslim family see : (The Khadrs) "Canada's First Family of Terrorism" http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1639

Below :Neighbors say they are "disconcerted" but "not surprised" to have Jihad in their backyard.

See excerpt from Dr.Daniel Pipes article "A Slick Islamist Heads to Jail" detailing the arrests of Abdelrahman Alamoujdi, the head of the Muslim American Council, and leaders of several large Islamist organisations :

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Leaders of Albany Mosque held in Sting

2 Accused of Role in scheme to buy missiles for terrorists.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/06/MNGUT83SSA1.DTL

Some Albany residents said they were shocked that a small brick mosque in a run-down neighborhood just two miles from the New York State Capitol, and a tiny pizzeria with a plastic green awning between dilapidated mom-and-pop shops across the street, turned overnight from neighborhood landmarks into sites of an alleged terror plot.

"It's disconcerting and shocking that there can be something like this in the middle of our neighborhood. It's always so peaceful here. I'm very concerned," said Otis Williams, who observed the crowd of reporters and police who gathered around the mosque from a bar entrance across the street.

Others, like Jennifer Kerressey, who strained to hear Ahmad's speech from outside the crowd of reporters, said they had been half-expecting terrorists to come to their town since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"In a way it's a shock, but after the last couple of years we know it can happen in our backyard," said Kerressey.

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Excerpt from Dr. Daniel Pipes most recent article : "A Slick Islamist Heads to Jail

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Alamoudi is hardly the only high-profile, seemingly non-violent leader of an Islamist organization to associate with terrorists. At the Council on American-Islamic Relations, five staffers and board members have been accused or convicted of terrorism-related charges and the same has happened with leaders of the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland, Holy Land Foundation, Benevolence International Foundation, and the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom.

The Alamoudi story points to the urgent need that the FBI, White House, Congress, State Department, Pentagon, and Homeland Security – as well as other institutions, public and private, throughout the West – not continue guilelessly to assume that smooth-talking Islamists are free of criminal, extremist, or terrorist ties. Or, as I put it in late 2001: "Individual Islamists may appear law-abiding and reasonable, but they are part of a totalitarian movement, and as such, all must be considered potential killers."

Militant Islam is the enemy; even its slickest adherents need to be viewed as such.

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MIM:Miscellaneous 'bon mots' proving that denial is more then just a river in Egypt ...

Below : A student laments the arrest of Al Arian crony, professor Husam Jubara. as "an innocent man who was unfortunate enough to have worked with two souls suspected of terrorist links."

My Professor in Jail

Filed under: — Carthik @ 7:55 am

The professor I am a T.A. for is in jail. Its unbeleivable. He is just an innocent man unfortunate enough to have worked for two souls suspected of having terrorist links. I hope he gets out and cleared soon enough.

Feds arrest UCF professor

By Jim Leusner and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez
Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted March 20 2003

A computer-engineering professor at the University of Central Florida – an associate of two prominent Palestinians facing federal charges – was arrested Wednesday and charged with immigration violations.

Hussam Jubara, 42, also known as Hosam, was arrested at his home south of Orlando by FBI and immigration agents and Orange County deputy sheriffs.

Jubara, a visiting professor at UCF, was charged with making false statements on immigration forms used to fight U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service deportation proceedings in 1998, a federal affidavit says. http://blog.carthik.net/vault/2003/03/26/my-professor-in-jail/

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