This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6976

Flying Imams Redux: Tahera Ahmad - Muslim Chaplain Claiming Discrimination On Flight Is Radical Islamist - Works With MSA and ISNA

May 31, 2015

MIM: Tahera Ahmad is a radical Islamist and crying Islamophobia as in the case of 'The Flying Imams' taking a page straight out of the stealth jihadist playbook. She is being defended by radical cleric Yasir Qadhi to whom she is "well known" and CAIR which told Al Jazeera that they are discussing pursuing legal action against the airline. Ahmad has worked with ISNA (where she was touted as the first Muslim woman to read the Quran aloud) and the MSA .She was a speaker at a 2012 MSA conference which included Hamas operative Kifah Mustapha. Ahmad studied at Al Azhar University in Cairo the seat of the Muslim Brotherhood.

  • Yasir Qadhi, who lectured at ISB's Boston mosque in 2009 and again in 2012, advocates replacing American democracy with Sharia Law; characterizes Christians as "filthy" polytheists whose "life and prosperity … holds no value in the state of Jihad"; and accuses Jews of plotting to destroy Muslim peoples and societies. Further, Qadhi is an acolyte of Ali al-Timimi, a Virginia-based Imam who is currently serving life in prison for inciting jihad against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=7797
  • "A US airline has been accused of discrimination after a Muslim woman was allegedly told that she could not have an unopened can of cola because she could use it as a weapon..."

    MIM: Yasir Qadhi's tweet in support of Tahera Ahmad:

    Sr @TaheraHAhmad is well known to me and I am appalled... http://t.co/cAACfZZg2W #UnitedForTahera #DoNotHandMuslimsFullCansOfCokeOrElse ...

    — Dr. Yasir Qadhi (@YasirQadhi) May 30, 2015

    "Muslim civil liberties group CAIR told Al Jazeera it would be meeting with lawyers to discuss whether there were grounds to take legal action against United"

    MIM: Wahajat Ali is the co author of "Fear Inc. The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America" and is doubtless gleeful about the chance to promote a case of claimed Muslim victimhood and the opportunity for a shakedown of an American company whose alleged actions were aimed at airline security. In 2013 Ali was a speaker at a CAIR banquet.

    We fed @TaheraHAhmad wings, cake & gave her an unopened can of Diet Coke to put a smile on her face #unitedfortahera pic.twitter.com/TLyruHlqSS

    — Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) May 30, 2015

    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/veiled-muslim-woman-claims-discrimination-flight-150531165727825.html

    MIM: According to the airline:

    "The flight attendant onboard Shuttle America flight 3504 attempted several times to accommodate Ms. Ahmad's beverage request after a misunderstanding regarding a can of diet soda. The inflight crew met with Ms. Ahmad after the flight arrived in Washington to provide assistance and further discuss the matter. Additionally, we spoke with Ms. Ahmad this afternoon to get a better understanding of what occurred and to apologize for not delivering the service our customers expect when traveling with us. We look forward to having the opportunity to welcome Ms. Ahmad back".

    MIM:Ahmad's bio on the Northwest University website testifies to her involvement in a plethora of Islamist organisations including ISNA,IMAN the CIOGC and the Islamic Foundation a bastion of radicalism.In 2006 Ahmed Rehab Executive Director of CAIR Chicago was the keynote speaker at the IF fundraising dinner.https://www.cairchicago.org/photos_ifsfundraiser.php

    "Chaplain Tahera Ahmad is a dynamic Muslim "scholar-practioner" who was raised in Morton Grove, IL and graduated from Niles West High School where she played Varsity basketball. Ahmad studied classical Arabic and traditional Islamic Sciences at Al-Diwan and Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt and in Department of Islamic Studies and Christian Muslim Relations and Islamic Chaplaincy at Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut. During Women's History Month 2014, Chaplain Ahmad was honored at the White House as a leading Muslim female in the United States and recognized among top ten good Muslim stories of 2013.

    Ahmad serves on the board of ACURA (Association of College and University Religious Affairs) and is the co-president of the ACMC (Association of College Muslim Chaplains). She has supported leadership for premier Muslim organizations including the Islamic Society of North America, Inner-City Muslim Action Network, and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, and served as the Department Head of Islamic Studies at the Nation's largest Muslim Schools, the Islamic Foundation, Villa Park IL. Ahmad is a passionate advocate for social justice and works with young adults in the interfaith movement on artistic and athletic projects to help develop a balanced faith identity in a diverse global world..."

    http://groups.northwestern.edu/mcsa/?page_id=262

    From a posting on an MSA website:

    "The Annual Central Zone Conference, held in Chicago, IL from March 16-18th, 2012 was certainly one to be remembered. Beyond the enthusiasm and energy of the attendees, the dynamic panel of Speakers and Scholars who certainly left a resounding impact on those in attendance.

    The event kicked off with lectures by Altaf Hussain, Mufti Hussain Kamani and others, and was deemed a resounding success. Other speakers included: Sh. Jawad Qureshi, Farhan Abdul Azeez, Sh. Omar Qureishi, Sh. Kifah Mustafa, Sa'ad Quadri, Saqib Shafi and Chaplain Tahera Ahmad "http://msanational.org/us/post-central-zone-2012-update/

    MIM:Tamera Ahmad was a participant in the Muslim Leadership Intiative together with many other Islamists. In 2014 MLI members were welcomed at the home of Mustapha Abu Sway a known Hamas operative. The Muslim Leadership Intiative is a perverse "interfaith" program which brings Muslim 'leaders' to Israel. It is headed by a self hating Jew Yossi Klein Halevi and Imam Abdullah Antepli. Its Islamist nature is epitomized by one of the participants who justified his participation as a supporter of the BDS movement who was given the opportunity to meet 'fellow travellers' in Israel. Ahmad took part in the 2015 trip which included former CAIR legal adviser and terrorist defense lawyer Khurram Wahid who is currently the vice chair of the Islamist stealth jihad organisation EMERGE USA.

    "The Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI) was launched in summer 2013 under the directorship of Imam Abdullah Antepli and Yossi Klein Halevi. The program invites North American Muslims to explore how Jews understand Judaism, Israel, and Jewish peoplehood. The program also encourages participants to experience how Palestinians, both inside and outside Israel, identify themselves, while exploring the issues of ethics, faith, and practice...Participants travel to various cities in the West Bank, as well as to northern Israeli Arab communities, where they interact with Muslim religious leaders, educators, students, and activists..."

    http://hartman.org.il/Programs_View.asp?Program_Id=110&Cat_Id=517&Cat_Type=Programs

    "...The Muslim Leadership Initiative is very secretive about its participants, and only a few of last years, and one of this years have come out and identified themselves in public. Those that have been identified in these articles are: Wajahat Ali, Haroon Moghul, Omer Bajwa, Rabia Chaudry, Imam Abdullah Antepli, Dr. Homayra Ziad, Tahera Ahmad, Tayyiba Taylor, Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, and Imam Adeel Zeb in 2014. Amanda D. Quraishi, Mohammed Hameeduddin, Khurram Wahid in 2015.

    And, Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, one of the MLI participants posted a statement on why he is attending and his experience:

    I reiterate my support of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) as a tactic to challenge the moral responsibility of Israelis towards the policies and actions of their government. As part of the Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), I was given the opportunity to meet with Palestinians who champion the BDS movement. The interactions demonstrated how the BDS movement is not monolithic and how its practice in Palestine is so different from elsewhere. However, there is a unanimous consensus on boycotting the Israeli settlements and their products. I asked Dr. Mustafa Barghouti about MLI and whether to continue future delegations. He favored having American Muslims directly organize their own trips to Palestine; he didn't object to MLI and met with its participants. Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway welcomed MLI participants in his home and favored selective BDS as one size doesn't fit all. Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Christian leader from Bethlehem area, gave a historical narrative about the conflict. The MLI participants met with the Islamic leadership including the Grand Mufti of Palestine and the Supreme Islamic Judge. All stressed the need to come to Palestine to maintain presence in Jerusalem. All the people we met with rejected the calls by a small group of Muslim activists in the US to shun MLI participants. Personally, I object to turning the BDS into an extreme theology as demonstrated as it risks alienating friends of Palestine. An example of such inflexibility led to asking Israeli journalist Amira Hass to leave a conference at Birzeit University. The diversity of opinions is healthy, while personal attacks are reprehensible.

    http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/controversy/0020216

    MIM: Tamera Ahmad also studied at the Hartford Seminary which operates under the guise of promoting interfaith dialouge while aiding and abetting da'wa.

    "The 'interfaith' at the Hartford Seminary features Yehezkel Landau as the Jewish useful idiot, as well as convert to Islam Ingrid Mattson, the Vice President of the Saudi funded Islamic propagation Da'wa enterprise known as ISNA, whose intent to turn America into 'The Islamic Society of North America ', by conversion is implicit in the organisation's name..."

    For more see: "Dupes for Da'wa - Muslims exploit interfaith programs in schools and universities to promote Wahhabist Islam via Hartford Seminary"http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1527

    This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6976