CAIR/ISNA- Troubling Responses-or Silence

There have been several troubling incidents recently in the US involving segments of the Muslim community. Among those are the Zazi case in New York, where the FBI has charged one person with planning terrorist acts and another with lying to the FBI and tipping Zazi off to the investigation surrounding him. There is the recent Chicago case, where the FBI raided a rural Muslim slaughterhouse and subsequently charged two people with terrorism-related violations. There is the on-going case of 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, a convert from Islam to Christianity, who ran away from home and is fighting return to her family in Ohio saying she fears she will be the victim of an honor killing. There is the recent case in Peoria, Arizona, where an Iraqi immigrant struck and killed his 20-year-old daughter with his car because she was becoming too Westernized. And finally, there is the shooting death of a radical Imam, Luqman Ameen Abdullah in Dearborn last week. Abdullah reportedly opened fire when FBI agents came to arrest him and several associates.

These cases are obviously a concern for Muslim leaders and members of the Muslim community since they are bringing bad publicity. It is interesting to see how the principal Muslim-American organizations (CAIR and the Islamic Society of North America) are handling these cases-at least publicly on their websites and through public statements. In some cases, there are no statements whatsoever. Let's take each case individually.

Luqman Ameen Abdullah

Below is a statement from the Islamic Society of North America:

(Plainfield, IN – 11/1/09) The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is disturbed by the recent shootout involving a local imam in Detroit, MI. Luqman Abdullah of Masjid Al-Haqq, an active imam in the Detroit area and member of the board of the Muslim Alliance of North America (MANA), was killed on Wednesday. The details of the incident are still sketchy but the way the incident has been reported in the media is worrisome. A joint statement issued by the Detroit FBI and the U.S. Attorney links the suspects to "a group that is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years and known to be armed." Criminal charges were also filed against 11 followers of Imam Abdullah, eight of whom are already in custody.

The federal complaint accuses Luqman Abdullah of being a member of a group with the mission of establishing a separate Islamic nation within the United States. However, authorities cite criminal charges as the basis for the arrest and have indicated that none of the official charges are terrorist-related. It is still not clear why the incident is presented as a terrorism case when the actual charges involve criminal conduct, including alleged fraud and theft.

ISNA supports the vital work carried out by law enforcement agencies to protect the public against violence and criminal activities, and finds no justification for resisting duly executed arrest warrants. It further calls on all Muslims to reject any attempts that aim at undermining the rule of law or subverting the constitution. The only morally and legally acceptable way to challenge the actions of law enforcement agents is by working through the justice system and the court of law.

ISNA also calls on the FBI and other law enforcement agencies involved in Wednesday's raid to conduct a full investigation and to bring clarity into circumstances that led to the shootout and the killing. The Muslim community must be brought fully on board in the fight against violent extremism and must be persuaded that FBI agents do not use excessive force or act out of an unfounded suspicion and exaggerated fear.

We urge the community leaders to convene community meetings to explore ways and means to prevent the repeat of this troubling incident. The defendants live in a downtrodden part of Detroit, and the community’s long-term response must address the underlying conditions that give rise to alienation and mistrust. We urge privileged Muslim communities to take greater interest in improving the conditions of disadvantaged communities and to join local leaders in dealing with the long standing plight of inner cities.

Contact:
Louay Safi, Director
ISNA Communications and Leadership Development,
louay@isna.net
(317) 838-8130
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CAIR's national website features an article from the Detroit Free Press (below).

DETROIT/DEARBORN: Team to review shooting of imam

Ron Scott, head of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, called Monday for an independent investigation into the killing of Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a Muslim leader who headed the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit.

The FBI said Monday that it has dispatched a Shooting Incident Review Team to Detroit to investigate the incident, which is done when agents are involved in a shooting. Also, the attorney for two Canadians wanted by the FBI in the case said he will fight their extradition to the United States.

Abdullah was shot dead by FBI agents on Wednesday during a raid on a warehouse in Dearborn after he allegedly fired at a police dog, killing it. He and his followers are suspected of federal crimes and are described as Islamic extremists in a criminal complaint.

"We're concerned about the excessive force," Scott said.

Abdullah's family said he was shot 18 times; the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office would say only that he was shot multiple times. Andrew Arena, special agent in charge of the Detroit FBI office, said agents acted appropriately.

CAIR Michigan's website says nothing about the issue, but their regional director, Dawud Walid is quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying,"“Is this the kind of excessive force that we black Americans are all too familiar with?"
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Rifqa Bary

There is no mention of this matter on the CAIR websites, national, Ohio or Florida. Yet, it has been reported that CAIR was quite involved when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was interviewing her family and mosque members in Ohio-acting as go-betweens.

ISNA has similarly been silent.

The Peoria case

Nothing I was able to find on CAIR/ISNA websites.

The Illinois case

I previously saw CAIR post news articles about how bizarre it was that FBI agents raided a rural Muslim slaughterhouse in Illinois in full force. They have seemingly gone silent since the arrests were announced in connection with a plot to attack the Danish publishing house associated with he cartoon controversy.
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That is pretty much it if you peruse the websites of CAIR and ISNA. Perhaps, it is prudent not to comment when facts are not yet clear, but one doesn't get the impression that these organizations are supporting the FBI in its mission to shut down terrorism.

It would be heartening to see stronger words from CAIR and ISNA against acts of violence carried out in the name of honor-which have no place in the United States whatsoever. It would be heartening to hear CAIR and ISNA condemn the things that people like Luqman Ameen Abdullah stand for-and while we're at it, they could take a stand against convicted cop-killer H Rap Brown, now an imam known as Jamil Abdullah al Amin, who is serving a life sentence for murder. Instead, CAIR has been involved in funding his appeal.

They could also speak out against radicals like the toxic imam Abdul Alim Musa, who had this reaction to the Dearborn shooting, which he termed "an assassination" as given to the Iranian news media:


"This is to intimidate the rest of the Muslim community. The Muslims in America are under a lot of pressure and the masjids, the Muslim centers, the community centers are full of government infiltrators, spies, and saboteurs who try to break the back of this wonderful Islamic movement in North America. So what the government is doing by assassinating Imam Luqman is trying to intimidate the Muslim community, especially the black community."

Musa has spoken at my school, UC-Irvine on behalf of the UCI Muslim Student Union. Brown is also apparently a hero to the UCI Muslim Student Union since he currently appears on their on-line publication, Alkalim.

Luqman Ameen Abdullah, H Rap Brown, Abdul Alim Musa. All radical converts to Islam through their black separatist ideologies. How do organizations like CAIR and ISNA fit in with this segment of Islam in America? I ask that question seriously because I am not sure of the answer.

It would be nice to see these organizations be more forthcoming on these recent controversies and where they really stand.