Militant Islam Monitor > Satire > Jihad through Conversion : 'Star spangled' bus ads by Al Qaeda linked Muslim organisation asks "Why Islam?"

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 conversion via 'hotline'
March 5, 2005

MIM: The initiator of the bus ad campaign Shahid (Arabic for martyr) Farooqi 'answers the calls for the New York region'. In the interests of truth in advertising it should be noted that the former president of ICNA (The Islamic Circle of North America) New York branch, and former national vice president was the alleged death squad leader and executioner Ashrafuzzaman Khan :

"...In the aftermath of 9-11, the government of USA became very alert of fundamentalist organizations' work; thus, they banned many subsidiary Islamic organizations – which were found to be connected with the Islamic terrorists and fundamentalists. I would go this far to assert that many shrewd Islamists are working in many so-called civil rights Islamic organizations in USA and other western countries. Some of these organizations had the audacity to harbor many fundamentalist killers. One such killer fundamentalist of Al-Badr death squad of JI in erstwhile East Pakistan is M. Ashrafuzzaman Khan. He was given an official position in the Islamic organization ICNA just to whitewash his sinful past. Mr. Ashrafuzzaman Khan was the leader of a roving death squad that abducted and killed scores of Bengali intellectuals from Dhaka University staff quarter in the first two weeks of December 1971 when Bengalis were fighting a war to rid Pakistani military from the occupied land. " http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/MizanurRMilon40224.htm

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"...Ashrafuzzaman has also been implicated in the murder of some journalists. It was Ashrafuzzaman who kidnapped the shift-in- charge of the Purbodesh, and the Literary Editor, A. N. M. Gholam Mustafa.

Ashrafuzzaman Khan, was a member of the Central Committee of the Islami Chhatra Sangha. After liberation he went to Pakistan. At present he is employed in Radio Pakistan.

Update: Since publication of this book, Ashrafuzzaman Khan has moved to New York and now heads the Queens branch of ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America)..."

http://www.shobak.org/bangla_nuremberg_comments.php?id=54_0_11_0_C

MIM: Why Islam? indeed...

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MIM: For more on ICNA/MAS see: 'Muslim American Subversives' and 'Islamist Conspirators of North America' aim for a United States of Allah:

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/216

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Bus ad invites all to learn about Islam

Thu, Feb 24, 2005

KRISTA J. KARCH
Observer-Dispatch

Observer-Dispatch

Shahid Farooqi, regional coordinator of the Islamic Circle of North America, speaks at the Mosque of the Muslim Community Association at 1631 Kemble St., Utica.

http://www.uticaod.com/archive/2005/02/24/news/20902.html

UTICA -- It's just one bus in the city's fleet of 33, but the city-wide route was exactly what Shahid Farooqi was seeking.

Everyone sees the bus, and that means everyone sees the New Hartford resident's advertisement -- a large poster on the back of the bus, urging the pious, the seeking and the just plain curious to go to www.WhyIslam.org or call (877) WHY-ISLAM.

There, according to the Web site, "Associates are standing by ..." to answer any and all queries about one of the world's fastest-growing faiths.

Drivers stuck behind the bus as it slowly rolls along slush-covered roads have little left to do but stare at the star-spangled sign that advises, "Misled about Islam? Get the facts."

"Some ask whether Islam promotes terrorism and violence, and some ask about women's rights," said Tariq Zamir, one of the hot line's New Jersey-based volunteers.

Others ask where they can find a mosque or request copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. Still others ask to be led in a profession of faith in Allah.

Then, Farooqi said, there are those who call just to let off a little steam. Filled with anger against Muslims, they swear and use profane names toward whoever answers the phone.

"We get all kinds," he said.

The hot line is part of a national "WhyIslam?" campaign led by the Islamic Circle of North America, a Kingston-based nonprofit organization. Farooqi is ICNA's northeast regional coordinator.

Calls go first to the hot line's New Jersey headquarters. If the full-time volunteers are unavailable, the call is transferred to a volunteer in the area from which the call is placed. Farooqi answers calls for the Central New York region.

Since 2000, Muslims have collected funds to have an ad for the hot line appear in their own towns. Farooqi brought the ad to Utica a little more than a year ago.

"When I see ads on the buses, I thought, 'I can put ads on the bus, too,'" said Farooqi, who moved from Brooklyn to New Hartford three years ago.

It took two weeks to raise the $1,500 needed for a year-long spot on bus No. 590, which chugs along a different city route each day. When it came time to renew the ad, local Muslims were more than willing to reach into their pockets a second time.

"Of course, this is for an Islamic cause, so I never feel reluctant to ask anybody," Farooqi said.

The hot line averages about 500 calls each month, Farooqi said. Calls from Central New York have jumped since the ad was placed.

Most calls come from those who are simply curious, but Farooqi hopes more will come from people such as Roger Perry, 21, of Oneida. Perry converted to Islam in October after reading articles on the WhyIslam? Web site.

"I thought I would look just to learn something new, but as I read, I realized that it really fit my beliefs," Perry said.

He called the hotline and converted by telephone, he said. Now, Perry prays five times daily and worships alongside refugees from eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East at the Muslim Community Association on Kemble Street, where Friday prayer services usually draw between 150 and 200 people.

Utica's Muslim population numbers up to 6,000, said Sabur Abdul-Salaam, the mosque's board president. Most, like the mosque's imam, are Bosnian Muslims, resettled through the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees.

"WhyIslam?" brings the message to the general population, he said.

National campaigns, whether evangelical or informational, are uncommon, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based Muslim civil liberties group.

"It's encouraging," he said.

The campaign highlights commonalities between Christianity and Islam, said Zamir, the New Jersey-based volunteer. It works against the media, which highlights the differences, he said.

"The Muslim community is growing throughout the USA, as well as Canada and throughout the world," he said. "People are coming to accept Islam as a religion."

Contact Krista J. Karch at [email protected]

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