http://clarityandresolve.com/archives/2005/01/american_taqiyy.php
IM: Participants at this interfaith lovefest which was held in the Boys and Girls Club in Lodi across the street from the mosque were not only duped into signing a "Declaration of Peace" with an Al Qaeda operative, they were also hoodwinked into a Da'wa session by Imam Adil Khan who is now jailed on terrorism charges. He told the newspaper that he wanted " them (infidels) to come see how we pray", adding :"this is our country" but neglecting to point out that the "our" pertained to Muslims, and working together meant that everyone had to submit to Allah's will by converting to Islam. As for 'Rabbi' Gwasdoff, who gushed to the Muslims that they "were lucky to have such learned leaders" one must conclude that he has never heard of the concept of Jihad and Da'wa . Perhaps he could cut a deal to ferry kosher meals to Imam Adil in prison in exchange for learning more about Islam and Al Qaeda in the interests of further interfaith dialouge. Which begs the question of how the Rabbis, pastors, and other religous leaders who took part in the Lodi and Sacramento love fests will be able to explain how Imam Adil Khan, co signer of their interfaith "Declaration of Peace is now accused of terrorism. Past experience with interfaith dhimmitude shows that rather then blame themselves, or show outrage at being made to look like fools, they will most likely claim that Khan didn't understand what he was signing and offer to translate the document into Arabic next time.
We want them to come see how we pray"
This is our country," said Mohammad Adil Khan. "We have to work together."
"I have learned so much about Islam," (Rabbi) Gwasdoff told Muslims on Friday. "You are so lucky to have such learned leaders."
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MIM :A quote by 'Rabbi' Gwasdorff in a newspaper article after Khan's arrest showed that you can fool some of the people all of the time. It is an obscene travesty that Gwasdoff is more concerned about Khan's reputation being damaged then the plans to sow death and destruction by blowing up of supermarkets and hospitals by Khan's Muslim brothers in Lodi He dismisses Khan's ties to Osama Bin Laden as"guilt by association".
"...Rabbi Jason Gwasdoff of Stockton's Temple Israel has met Khan at several interfaith sessions.
"My impression of Mohammad Adil is that he's a warm, kind, generous man," he said. "He's the kind of person who greets outsiders with open arms. I'm hoping that it's not guilt by association. Think of how damaging this is to his reputation."
"...The FBI, though, paints a link between Khan's father -- Salimullah Khan -- the head of Farooqia Islamic University in Pakistan, and an associate, Fazlur Rehman Khalil. Khalil signed a 1998 fatwa of Osama bin Laden advocating the killing of Americans and their allies.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/11871438.htm
By Ross Farrow
http://www.pakistanlink.com/Community/2003/June/06/05.html
The Celebration of Abraham, a movement that started a year ago among several religious leaders and lay people in the Lodi area to spread cultural respect and world peace, has spread to Stockton and other Northern California communities.
Last year's celebration was held before a packed house at the Lodi Boys and Girls Club in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy. The event focused on the common belief in the patriarch Abraham and his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, among the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths.
As part of the Celebration of Abraham last year, three religious leaders and three lay people signed a document called the "Declaration of Peace," which denounces violence and fosters respect among the three major faiths.
The Declaration of Peace was signed by one member of the clergy and one lay person from each faith -- Norm Mowery, who was pastor last year at First United Methodist Church in Lodi; Mohammad Adil Khan, imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque; and Rabbi Jason Gwasdoff of Temple Israel in Stockton, the only synagogue in San Joaquin County...
What was primarily a Lodi event last year has become a San Joaquin County celebration, with Gwasdoff, the Stockton rabbi, taking the lead.
Gwasdoff, Pastor Bill Cummins of Bear Creek Community Church in south Lodi and representatives from three Stockton churches gathered at the Lodi Muslim Mosque on Poplar Street for the Muslims' special Friday prayer.
"We want them to come see how we pray," said Mohammad Adil Khan, no relation to Taj Khan.
Cummins told a packed house of Muslims he was honored to have Imam Mohammad Adil Khan come to his church for a service a few weeks ago.
"I've gotten to know the imam the last couple of months," Cummins said after the prayer. "I thought it was important to share Jesus with any group. We need to be proponents of peace. Jesus Christ is the prince of peace."
Khan encouraged Muslims on Friday to participate in the Celebration of Abraham from 6:30 to 8 p.m. June 8 at Church of the Presentation, 6715 Leesburg Place, Stockton. At the celebration, representatives of different faiths will give their own interpretation of Abraham.
"I have learned so much about Islam," Gwasdoff told Muslims on Friday. "You are so lucky to have such learned leaders."
In preaching for world peace, Gwasdoff said, "We have only one world, and we have to learn to live together in peace. We are all children of one God and one Creator. The problem is politics."
Cummins praised the commonality of "obedience to God over everything else" among Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Other churches participating in Friday's prayer at the mosque were Gary Putnam, pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Stockton; Alexis Easton of Grace United Methodist Church in Stockton; Sister Sylvia Post of Church of the Presentation, a Catholic church in Stockton; Carol McCandless, director of religious education at Presentation; and Kenny Montet, youth minister at Presentation.
McCandless said she is excited about meeting people of other faiths because she teaches a history of world religions course at San Joaquin Delta College.
"I think it's important to acknowledge that Abraham is the father of faith, and I don't think a lot of people realize it," McCandless said.
"This is our country," said Mohammad Adil Khan. "We have to work together."
(Courtesy Lodi News-Sentinel, 5/24/03)
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MIM: Imam Adil who is now in jail on terrorism charges also took part in this interfaith event in Sacramento. The article ended with what can now be regarded as a rhetorical question in the case of Imam Adil .
http://www.pakistanlink.com/Community/2003/sept03/26/01.html
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Children of Abraham Share Heritage By Ras H. Siddiqui It all began with the Prophet Abraham, one who is recognized by three faiths as one of theirs. And since neither one of these faiths, Judaism, Christianity nor Islam (listed here by seniority) can claim exclusive ownership of the Abrahamic heritage, a few people in Lodi, California led by Randy Rosa (http://www.celebrateabraham.org/ ) decided that instead of separately honoring a figure that all three admire, this admiration should instead be converted and used as a tool for creating inter-religious peace and community harmony.
In this idea of a common bond via a Prophet of God an event called "A Celebration of Abraham" was announced. And just recently on Thursday, September 11 and Saturday September 14, 2003 two major gatherings were held in Sacramento and Woodland, California respectively to bring together three communities of believers who have decided not to let international events get in the way of sharing their common bonds.
On September 11th, a day which we now solemnly commemorate due to the thousands of American lives lost to terrorism and one which now has also erroneously become a symbol of the clash between religions, over 300 Jews, Christians and Muslims gathered at the SALAM (Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims) Community Center to not only reflect on the serious nature of the 2nd Anniversary of 9/11 but to share their Abrahamic heritage and look back upon the wonderful work that the local Interfaith Service Bureau (ISB) has done since that tragic day. Muslims were the hosts at SALAM led by Dr. Metwalli Amer, as a panel presented its views via the wisdom of Dr. Amer, Jewish Rabbi Bloom, Christian Reverend David Thomson and ISB Executive Director Dexter McNamara (who did not have to play Referee but did coordinate the panel/audience activities). The activities here were assisted by Fr. James Murphy and a number of people from the local Sacramento and Lodi Muslim community (Mr. Taj Khan and Imam Adil). Dexter started off by describing this gathering as an opportunity to listen and learn. One commentator said that "the human dimension is far more important than our differences." Dr. Metwalli Amer welcomed everyone and introduced them to SALAM and described this as a memorable evening where a Jewish Rabbi, a Christian Minister and a Muslim Imam were together on this solemn anniversary. He thanked everyone for joining together this evening and encouraged the sharing of food and ideas. Rabbi Bloom next presented his six points on the Jewish beliefs associated with the Prophet Abraham and emphasized the monotheistic aspect of the faith in one God and spoke of the ultimate test given to him by asking for the sacrifice of his son Isaac. He also spoke of various Jewish concepts and beliefs and especially centered on the sharing of food and hospitality. Rev. David Thomson who spoke next turned out to be a tremendously entertaining speaker. His views on OBL, the sacrifice of Abraham and the concept of "the Promised Land" (which he found problematic) and the local interfaith journey were extremely well received. He spoke about God the creator and commented on the basis of this gathering. He ended by saying, "If Abraham is the father of Ishmael then every Arab is a Hebrew." Dr. Metwalli Amer ended the speech segment as he explained that Islam came last and how Muslims viewed the Prophet Abraham by holding him in very great regard and how we can all learn from the traditions that have followed since. "As children of Abraham Muslims are taught to reach out to people of all faiths," he said. A lively Question and Answer session was held soon after giving all the panelists an opportunity to respond to very pertinent questions on beliefs, the causes of and the possible abolition of war. It was also pointed out that 9/11 was a complete contradiction of what Judaism, Christianity and Islam taught us. Food, conversation and renewed friendship ended the evening. On September 14th the Holy Rosary Parish Community Center in Woodland, California was filled to maximum seating capacity as close to 500 people from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim community from Davis and Woodland gathered to celebrate the added Abrahamic legacy of the three faiths and dwelled on what we all have in common as opposed to our differences. This more formal event most certainly succeeded in bringing those that did not know each other previously as I shared a table with Mr. Khalid Saeed of the local American Muslim Alliance, a Jewish political activist, another Jewish couple, a Catholic couple and a two Methodist Christians. And at this table only three of us knew each other previously. The host, Father John Boll of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Woodland spoke first and bid everyone (Jew, Christian and Muslim) welcome. He said that Abraham was the first to believe in the one God. On 9/11 he commented; "That terrifying day has changed the world." Commenting on the gathering, he added, "This is one of the positive results out of our national tragedy." Randy Rosa from Lodi spoke next. As the originator of this Abraham event concept, Randy may have surprised some by stating that he was raised as a racist. But then he described his change of philosophy after he visited various parts of the world and became friends with Muslim and Jewish people. He spoke of Isaac and Ishmael and hatred and violence in the Middle East. "It is a joy for me to see this gathering," he said. "This is something historical that you are a part of," he added. He ended his speech talking about good neighbors and for us to take the opportunity to get to know one another at this event. I had spoken with Randy earlier in Sacramento when he described his feelings on a cross burning incident in Lodi close to a decade earlier and the friendship that he had developed with a Pakistani family. He said that after 9/11 he and some friends decided to do what they had planned earlier and get Muslims, Christians and Jews together to develop a greater understanding under the common heritage of Abraham. Michael Hirsh of the local (Jewish) Congregation Bet Haverim in Davis described Abraham as the human father of all of our faiths. "In the name of religion we have killed one another," he said but added, "that can change." He went on to say that "today can be the start of a truly historic journey." Rabbi Greg Wolfe of the same congregation next heralded the Jewish segment of the Abrahamic faiths individual segments. Opening with "Peace, Shalom Salam," Wolfe suggested that peace can be obtained bit by bit and that we were heading towards a world of peace, understanding and respect. A scriptural reading by Ernie and Hannah Biberstein with an interpretation by Rabbi Wolfe and a musical presentation (Lechi Lach) ended the individual Jewish segment. The Christian segment started off with Rev. Kathy McIntosh-Smith of the Woodland Presbyterian Church presenting a prayer seeking world peace followed by Reverend David Affleck of the St. Lukes Episcopal Church, Woodland who read from the scriptures. Reverend Eileen Lindsay of the United Methodist Church, Davis presented an interpretation and mentioned. She spoke of Abraham bringing us together and the breaking of barriers. The Christian segment ended with the recognition of our common heritage and deep roots together and a hymn sung by Leoni called "The God of Abraham Praise." And now to the Muslim segment. Mr. Khalid Saeed who is a well-known personality in Muslim and interfaith circles in this area bid "Shalom" to the Jews, "Peace" to the Christians and "Salam" to the Muslims at the gathering. The segment started off with an Abrahamic prayer recited by Imam of the Woodland Mosque translated by Mr. Saeed. The segment also included a reading from the scriptures in Arabic by Dr. Ahmad Khairat, a Professor at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt with a translation by Hamza El-Nakhal of the Islamic Center in Davis. An interpretation and speech was delivered by Dina El-Nakhal and a wonderful singing of ‘Tala'a al Badru Alayna' by a group of children from SALAM School in Sacramento closed the Muslim segment at this venue. But all was not over. A unique hand-washing ceremony and the symbolic breaking of bread at each table by members of the three faiths closed the formal program with prayers by representatives of each. In conclusion one has to commend a lot of individuals for working together and coming up with something positive for people of the three Abrahamic faiths as an answer to the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. While admitting that at these gatherings we may not have found solutions to the complex problems of the world one has to agree that small yet formidable beginnings are being made right here in America. And for those of us who are skeptical or even critical of such experiments one can only ask one question. What is the alternative? | ||||||||||||||
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------------------ http://www.beliefnet.com/story/91/story_9151_1.html MIM: Metwalli Amer, who was cited above as the moderator of the Sacramento interfaith event invited the now jailed Imam Adil Khan as a speaker . Amer's terrorist track record for playing host to Muslim clerics with also includes Bin Laden second in command Ayman Al Zawahari. In the 1990's 'Muslim community activist' Amer extended his hospitality and arranged a fundraiser for Ayman Al Zawahari at the Masjid Annur mosque in Sacramento. It appears that Al Zawahari pitch was so convincing that raised thousands of dollars that were used to perpetrate terrorist attacks which included the bombings of two US Embassies in Africa resulting in hundreds of deaths. When asked to comment on the fact that he helped Al Zawahari raise money for terrorist attacks, Amer Amer, who is a college professor and was lauded for his "wisdom" at the 2003 Sacramento interfaith event disingenuously stated that : "I'm trusting, and sometimes it shakes my trust," said Amer, a college professor who runs an organization called the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims. "You bring people here and you don't know if they have a hidden agenda.." MIM: In the 1990's is was known fact that any Muslim who was appealing on behalf of 'widows and orphans' in Afghanistan was referring to the families of Muhajideen fighters against the Russians, so any claim that the Muslim community did not know that their contributions would be going to aid the 'war effort' is totally false. The son of one of the wealthiest Muslims in America, Ethan Allen CEO Farouq Kathwari, was killed fighting Jihad in Afghanistan in 1992. http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/597 Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman was also a guest of Metwalli Amer who "said that twice during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he helped host a visit to Sacramento by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the infamous blind cleric from New Jersey who was later convicted of plotting to blow up bridges and tunnels in New York. Rahman is said to be the spiritual leader of the group that carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people. During his Sacramento trip, Rahman was preaching about Islam but not fund raising, Amer said. Still, when Amer heard of Rahman's terrorist ties years later, "I was shocked," he said. "I cannot forget that." During the Afghan-Soviet war, Islamic relief organizations were in Sacramento once or twice a month Metwalli Amer's hosting of terrorist Al Zawahari who was in the US fundraising for Muslims in Afghanistan begs the question as to if Amer will attribute his hosting of now jailed Imam Adil Khan at a California interfaith event is due to his 'trusting nature' or will be blamed on his having forgotten about his previous guest's masterminding of the first World Trade Center bombing.The fact that Amer Metwalli, who helped two Al Qaeda terrorist masterminds raise money for their activities in Sacramento, is now hosting the interfaith dialouge under the aegis of group called Salam, is the proof of the obscene travesty of interfaith. Amer has helped finance armed Jihad and is continuing to wage pyschological Jihad that that the same person who raised money for Jihad through Da'wa via his (and Salam's ) interfaith events in Sacramento. ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.beliefnet.com/story/91/story_9151.html
The visitor was seeking humanitarian assistance for war victims in Afghanistan. So Sacramento Muslims did what they routinely do when presented with a good cause: They gave money. They were lied to. The man touring mosques in Sacramento and elsewhere in the United States in the early 1990s, claiming to raise money for widows and orphans, was actually financing terrorism. The man wasn't just any fund-raiser, either. He was Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, then the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and now the right-hand man of accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. Traveling under an alias, al Zawahiri is believed to have raised roughly $500,000 in the United States for such activities as the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan, according to terrorism expert Peter Probst. Al Zawahiri raised $3,000 to $4,000 at Sacramento's Masjid Annur mosque, said Metwalli Amer, a prominent Sacramento Muslim who unwittingly helped host al Zawahiri's trip to the city. Al Zawahiri's U.S. fund-raising success illustrates the dilemma facing American Muslims--and the problems confronting the Bush administration as it tries to crack down on bin Laden's financial network. Giving to charity is one of the foundations of Islam, and much of bin Laden's money comes from Islamic charities and other nonprofit groups in the United States and abroad, experts say. Although some donors knowingly support terrorists, most are in the dark, experts say. Some charities cover their ties to terrorists by funding schools, ambulance corps and the like, complicating shutdown efforts and generating confusion among donors. "I'm trusting, and sometimes it shakes my trust," said Amer, a college professor who runs an organization called the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims. "You bring people here and you don't know if they have a hidden agenda." Farouk Fakira, president of Masjid Annur--the Sacramento mosque that hosted al Zawahiri in the early 1990s -- said the mosque demands to see paperwork confirming a charity's federal nonprofit status before allowing any fund-raisers. Fakira said these safeguards preceded the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Most of the people are very wary," he said. "There are a lot of scam organizations." Fakira, who came to Sacramento in 1995, said he wasn't familiar with reports of al Zawahiri's visit to the mosque.
The Sept. 11 attacks have hurt Muslim giving. Muslims are expected to donate annually 2.5 percent of their savings to charity, but many in America have scaled back after the terrorist attacks, said Aslam Abdullah, editor of Minaret Magazine, an Islamic publication in Los Angeles. One reason is they're unsure where the money's going, he said. Sorting out the good from the bad also raises problems for federal investigators. In its effort to cut off funding to bin Laden's network, the Bush administration has run into diplomatic difficulties by including on its list of targets some charities known for their good works. The Rabita Trust, for instance, has ties to the Saudi government and was established by the Pakistani government to resettle refugees from Pakistan's war against Bangladesh. While there are many legitimate Islamic charities, experts say some groups are mere fund-raising fronts for terrorism. Others are legitimate organizations that have been infiltrated by terrorist sympathizers who siphon funds, said Raphael Perl, a terrorism analyst at the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service. Still others do genuine humanitarian work but deliberately funnel some of their donors' money to terrorists, Perl said. "There is both intentional and accidental leakage" of funds, Perl said. That adds to the difficulty of cutting the flow of funds. Hezbollah and Hamas, two high-profile Mideast terrorist organizations, have plenty of U.S. donors in part because they provide essential social services in a region of the world where governments usually fail to deliver, said Probst, a former terrorism analyst at the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency. "Both Hezbollah and Hamas have schools for children and do take care of the widows and orphans," said Probst, who is now with the Institute for Terrorism and the Study of Political Violence. "They provide the social safety net...a chicken in every pot." The Justice Department's crackdown on a suburban Chicago organization called the Quranic Literacy Institute illustrates the complexities of trying to track terrorists' funds through charities. In 1998, the department obtained a court order freezing $1.4 million in assets belonging to the Quranic group and a man associated with it, Mohammad Salah. An FBI agent's affidavit said Salah served a five-year prison term in Israel for funneling money to Hamas. Salah's attorney, Matthew Piers, said his client merely sent money to families of Palestinian men deported by Israel. But Piers acknowledged the money could have been diverted to illegitimate uses by a man working with Salah.
And that's the problem with cracking down on charities, Piers said. "It's very murky," he said. "It is in the nature of money that it is fungible. Therefore, you stop giving to charities?" Representatives of the Quranic institute couldn't be reached for comment. Charitable organizations and religious leaders have often come to Northern California. Sacramento Muslims raised $38,000 in one night for Bosnia Muslims, $30,000 on another occasion for the Muslims of Kosovo, according to Amer. Amer said some of the Kosovo funds went to the Global Relief Foundation, an Illinois charity that reportedly has been investigated by the Treasury Department for possible links to terrorism. The group has denied any wrongdoing, and it hasn't appeared on the government's list of groups whose assets are being frozen. Amer said that twice during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he helped host a visit to Sacramento by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the infamous blind cleric from New Jersey who was later convicted of plotting to blow up bridges and tunnels in New York. Rahman is said to be the spiritual leader of the group that carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people. During his Sacramento trip, Rahman was preaching about Islam but not fund raising, Amer said. Still, when Amer heard of Rahman's terrorist ties years later, "I was shocked," he said. "I cannot forget that." During the Afghan-Soviet war, Islamic relief organizations were in Sacramento once or twice a month. "There were often people coming to collect money for Afghanistan--plenty of organizations," said Dr. Atif Wardany, a Sacramento veterinarian. So there was nothing out of the ordinary when, in the early 1990s, a prominent San Jose physician named Ali Zaki brought to Sacramento a man he said was representing the Red Crescent, the Muslim counterpart to the Red Cross. The visitor raised a relatively small sum in Sacramento--about $3,000 to $4,000--because the visit was hastily organized and took place on a weeknight, Amer said. Amer and Wardany said they helped host Zaki and the supposed representative of the Red Crescent, not knowing he was al Zawahiri, the leader of the terror group Egyptian Islamic Jihad and future bin Laden deputy. Al Zawahiri is bin Laden's ideological mentor and the chief organizer of bin Laden's terrorist network, al Qaeda, said terrorism expert Harvey Kushner of Long Island University. Al Zawahiri served a prison term in Egypt on weapons charges in a case stemming from the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Zaki's lawyer, former California Rep. Pete McCloskey, R-Santa Clara, said no one suspected a thing until early 1999. That's when a former Bay Area resident named Khaled Abu Dahab made a confession to authorities in Egypt. Facing prosecution in a Cairo terrorism trial, Dahab said he and Zaki helped organize al Zawahiri's visit, according to an account of his secret confession reported in the London-based Arabic newspaper al Hayat. Al Zawahiri got into the country with a phony passport, Dahab said. The Long Island newspaper Newsday, citing documents from the same trial, has reported al Zawahiri also raised money in New York and Texas. Dahab said Zaki knowingly assisted the terrorists' activities--a charge denied by the doctor's lawyer. McCloskey said that after the Dahab confession surfaced, Zaki was questioned by the federal grand jury that indicted bin Laden, al Zawahri and others in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Zaki has been "wounded" by the experience, McCloskey said. The lawyer declined to make his client available for an interview, saying he's still cooperating with federal investigators and has been advised by the FBI not to speak to reporters. There is some dispute about the timing of al Zawahiri's visit. Some Arabic papers have placed it in 1995, not the early 1990s. It's possible he came twice, as another ex-Californian with ties to terrorism has testified. That man, Ali Mohamed, is a former Sacramentan and Bay Area resident who fell in with terrorists. Last fall, in pleading guilty to conspiracy in the embassy bombings case, Mohamed disclosed his role in bringing al Zawahiri to America. "In the early 1990s, Zawahiri made two visits to the United States, and he came to United States to help raise funds for the Egyptian Islamic Jihad," he said in U.S. District Court in New York. "I helped him to do this." |
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MIM: Metwalli's Amer's activities on behalf of Ayman Al Zawahari and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman coincide with the existence of the SALAM Center which also houses a achool in Sacramento. The fact that Amer was the chairman of the SALAM Center makes his claims that he did not know about Zawahari's or Rahman's terrorist agendagenda absurd, since he appears to have been strategic person and West Coast contact figure in the North American Jihadi network
