Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Islam On Trial- Why Resistance To Mosque Surveillance Demonstrates The Tenuous Loyalty Of Many Muslims
Islam On Trial- Why Resistance To Mosque Surveillance Demonstrates The Tenuous Loyalty Of Many Muslims
March 3, 2009
Islam On Trial - Why Resistance To Mosque Surveillance Demonstrates The Tenuous Loyalty Of Many Muslims
Islam On Trial - Why Resistance To Mosque Surveillance Demonstrates The Tenuous Loyalty Of Many Muslims
By WILLIAM MAYER and BEILA RABINOWITZ
March 3, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Falling into an all too familiar pattern, the Islamist lobby in league with elements of the MSM [see LA Times, OC Muslims say FBI surveillance has a chilling effect, http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-muslim1-2009mar01,0,1456958.story] is loudly protesting law enforcement surveillance programs designed to keep track of questionable activities at potentially problematic mosques.
That such programs exist is hardly shocking, given the historical pattern linking mosques with jihad in foreign countries as well as the United States.
Item: Despite the influence of a home schooling program steeped in Christianity, in November of 1995 a Southern California 17 year old by the name of Adam Gadahn appeared on the steps of the Islamic Center of Garden Grove. In short order Gadahn made the declaration of Shahada, becoming a Muslim.
At the mosque Gadahn became radicalized, associating with a group of Pakistani fundamentalists. After a dispute at the mosque Gadahn abruptly left and then moved to Pakistan.
Ten years later [September 11, 2005] Gadahn resurfaced as "Azzam the American," a member of al-Qaeda in a jihadist video.
Item: In May of 2007 the Islamic Center of South Jersey [ICSJ] in Palmyra was identified as the spiritual home of Dritan, Shain and Eljvir Duka. The Duka brothers had just been arrested for plotting a terrorist attack against the military installation at Ft. Dix New Jersey.
On December 22, 2008, Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Eljvir Duka along with Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer and Serdar Tatar were convicted on Count One of the seven-count Superseding Indictment that charged them with conspiracy to murder members of the U.S. military. Because of the severity of the charges the defendants face up to life in prison.
What do these two incidents have in common?
Though both of these mosques had established a reputation for "moderation," due to a media savvy program of skillfully executed political and "interfaith" outreach, they still served as incubators for terrorism.
These mosques unfortunately seem to be the norm; as the FBI's chief prosecutor [Andrew McCarthy] in the case against Omar Abdel Rahman, the "Blind Sheikh" - the spiritual advisor of the terrorists in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing - states, "A lot of what happened was planned in the mosque...The recruiting went on in the mosque, a lot of the instruction went on in the mosque, we even had gun transactions in there..." [source, http://www.idahostatesman.com/usnews/story/683745.html]
It stands to reason then that mosques might be looked upon by Islamic radicals as convenient places in which to congregate, to a great extent shielded from the prying eyes of outsiders.
It is precisely this role which the Muslim Brotherhood [the Egyptian terrorist group] envisions for mosques, referred to in their plan to facilitate stealth jihad - a "Civilization-Jihadist-Process" in their own words - against the West which was presented as a key piece of evidence in last year's successful prosecution of the Muslim "charity" the Holy Land Foundation which funneled millions to Hamas.
Understanding the role and the nature of work of "The Islamic Center" in every city with what achieves the goal of the process of settlement. The center we seek is the one which constitutes the "axis" of our Movement, the "permiter" of the circle of our work, our "balance center", the "base" for our rise and our "Dar al-Arqam" to educated us, prepare us and supply our battalions?the center ought to turn into a "beehive" which produces much sweet honey?"
[see, On the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America]
So with this as background it is hard to evaluate the shrill cries of outrage against surveillance of U.S. mosques uttered by self-described "moderate" Muslims [including the Hamas linked CAIR] in anything but a harsh light.
For the most part, the American Muslim community is in denial over the obvious link between terrorism, the "religion of peace" and its houses of worship - to the extent that some absurdly dismiss terror kingpins as not even being Muslim.
Since 9/11 instead of taking extraordinary measures to reassure their fellow non-Muslim citizens that they not only mean no harm but are actively rooting out radicals at their mosques, many have instead eagerly participated in a campaign of vilification against the United States, calling it a racist country where the rights of Muslims are under constant assault and charging that the U.S. government has engaged in multiple imperial wars against Islam in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rather than patriotic Muslims lining up in large numbers outside recruiting offices [as was the case in World War II among young Japanese Americans, for example the Nisei 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team] to enlist in the fight against the parties who are giving Islam such a [as the action line is advanced] public "black eye," instead the few instances in which Muslims in the military come to public scrutiny is in disgraceful episodes such as that of Sgt. Hasan Akbar an American Muslim who was found guilty in a fragging incident of killing two and wounded 14 other troops after tossing grenades into tents while soldiers slept at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait on March 23, 2003 and the case of James Yee, the Muslim chaplain at GITMO who was charged with espionage but escaped prosecution due to concerns that going forward with the trial would further damage national security.
The clamorous charges of racism and Islamophobia by these apologists is thus undercut by their refusal to take any constructive steps to address the very real problem of mosques being used as clearinghouses for jihad. Having firmly seized the moral low-ground in this argument these people serve to stoke the common public perception that something is dreadfully wrong with Islam as a religion, an unintended but thoroughly understandable consequence. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=gadahnid=3.2.09%2Ehtm
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