Posted on 06/09/2004 7:22:59 AM PDT by SJackson
AN offshore bank account has been established by supporters of one of Australia's most hardline Islamic clerics to raise donations in Saudi Arabia to help pay for a $2.65 million mosque in southwestern Sydney.
Supporters of Sheikh Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud are trying to raise the funds before next month's settlement date on the property, which is near their existing small prayer hall in Lakemba.
Monitored by ASIO, the prayer hall has been at the centre of controversy. Members of its congregation include alleged terrorism suspect Faheem Khalid Lodhi, charged with preparing a terrorist attack and recruiting for a terrorism group in Sydney and Pakistan.
Sheikh Zoud married French terror suspect Willie Brigitte to Australian Melanie Brown at the hall before the Frenchman's deportation last October. Other members include Bilal Khazal, charged last week with allegedly publishing terrorist material and whose release on bail triggered criticism by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.
It is unclear if the hall will close and its growing congregation move to the larger, unused mosque in Belmore when the purchase is settled.
Sheikh Zoud - who refuses to comment on the mosque purchase - is among clerics teaching a fundamentalist form of Islam called Salafi.
Supporters bought the mosque and two adjoining properties before it went to auction in May with deadline for settlement at the end of July.
They have since been appealing to wealthy Saudis to donate to its purchase, claiming Jewish and Buddhist communities were keen to take it over.
Australia's leading Islamic cleric has weighed into the fundraising campaign, warning Saudis against such donations. Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali has told Saudi media that the mosque is expensive and unnecessary.
"No Buddhist or Jewish group competed to own it, in any shape or form. Spreading such allegations is only to arouse emotions and to blackmail in order to win over the emotions of Muslims," he told one newspaper.
Saudi Arabian and other Arabic newspapers have written articles on the appeals for money by Sheikh Zoud's supporters. And Middle Eastern websites and chat rooms have cited a bank account number at the Saudi-based Al-Rajihi Banking and Investment Company for donations.
"The Australian Government is tightening the noose on the Muslims not to enable them to establish mosques," one of the Australian supporters says in an article in Al-Watan, a Saudi newspaper.
The Foreign Investment Review Board said its approval was unnecessary unless the Saudi Arabian Government became involved or the mosque was worth more than $50 million.
The Sheikh better get with the program. If the money isn't there for the closing, someone's at fault. Jews, Buddhists, who else could it be?
"No Buddhist or Jewish group competed to own it, in any shape or form. Spreading such allegations is only to arouse emotions and to blackmail in order to win over the emotions of Muslims,"
Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali
Take back the mosques ... one step at a time
I'd pay six hours rent for a bulldoser, and a ton of salt.
They allow them to come ashore at their own peril.
Thousands of mosques in the US have been funded or bought by Saudi's with links to terrorism...
Neglected to mention, she was an Iraqi who escaped Saddams regime, and wound up in the US. She further wound up going undercover in the mosques here in the US, and established many ties between terrorists and charitable Islamic organizations. GREAT BOOK!
Now that much of their terrorist funding has been cut off I'm hoping more of them can be purchased & converted to commercial use. Food courts or Starbucks, etc.
Booosh?
someone's at fault. Jews, Buddhists, who else could it be?
Jooooooooooos
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