The planned Islamic prayer service for this coming Friday as part of the DNC’s 2012 convention has drawn some controversy in recent days, even from some Muslim groups.
One of the points of criticism is that the event is being led by extremist cleric Siraj Wahhaj, who was named by US Attorney Mary Jo White as “unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial, and appeared as a character witness for the mastermind of the plot, the “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman (prosecuted by our PJ Media colleague, former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy).
Here is a video promoting this Friday’s event featuring Siraj Wahhaj:
Back in 2003, Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Barrett highlighted some of Wahhaj’s extremist statements, noting his advocacy of strict shariah law:
He has told his followers that a society governed by strict Islamic law, in which adulterers would be stoned to death and thieves would have their hands cut off, would be superior to American democracy. Speaking of unnamed forces in the government and media, he has preached, “These people want the destruction of Islam.”
Dr. Daniel Pipes also quotes Wahhaj in an article “The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America“, where Wahhaj has a perverse take on Martin Luther King Jr.s “I Have a Dream” speech:
I have a vision in America, Muslims owning property all over, Muslim businesses, factories, halal meat, supermarkets, all these buildings owned by Muslims. Can you see the vision, can you see the Newark International Airport and a John Kennedy Airport and La Guardia having Muslim fleets of planes, Muslim pilots. Can you see our trucks rolling down the highways, Muslim names. Can you imagine walking down the streets of Teaneck, [New Jersey]: three Muslim high schools, five Muslim junior-high schools, fifteen public schools. Can you see the vision, can you see young women walking down the street of Newark, New Jersey, with long flowing hijab and long dresses. Can you see the vision of an area . . . controlled by the Muslims?”
One other troubling element of the history DNC’s jumah prayer leader is that Wahhaj was the keynote speaker at a “Jihad Summer Camp” just two weeks before the 9/11 attacks. Here’s a flyer for the event:
The actual organizer for the DNC jumah prayer event on Friday, Jabril Hough, has also faced some criticism for his group’s advocacy of Islamic supremacist ideology and extremist views.
For example, earlier this week Charlotte TV station WSOC aired an interview with Hough where they covered some controversial topics, including Hough’s claims that American troops are actually the terrorists in Afghanistan:
Eyewitness News asked Hough about his views on several topics, including the war on terror.
“American troops are actually the insurgents. It’s not the people who live there. The people who live there are defending their country,” Hough said.
Hough does not consider himself to be a supremacist, but believes Muslims have not received the credit they deserve.
“This is a fact: Muslims have visited America prior to Columbus. It was a Muslim who guided Columbus on his voyage to the new world,” Hough said.
He insisted he is not a radical, and said his beliefs are shared by mainstream Muslims.
This is the face of American Islam that the DNC would like to portray as “moderates”. And they have the audacity to call others “Islamophobes”.
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