Posted on 08/24/2005 7:10:18 AM PDT by Pharmboy
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The FBI has launched an inquiry into the activities of a grocery store owner who is allegedly the U.S. leader of a radical Islamic group banned in parts of Europe and the Middle East, authorities said. Iyad Hilal, an Islamic author and philosopher who owns an Orange County market, hasn't drawn much attention to his writings or his role in the group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, which means Party of Liberation.
But since the July 7 bombings in London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suggested banning the group there.
Hilal is apparently not suspected of any terrorist acts, but FBI terrorism investigators want to know more about his and the group's activities.
FBI spokeswoman Cathy Viray declined to call it an investigation but confirmed that "we're looking into the matter." She declined to comment further.
Hilal, 56, has lived in the United States for about 20 years and is an Islamic scholar whose writings argue that the religion is not compatible with democracy.
Georgetown University professor John Esposito, author of "Unholy War on Terror in the Name of Islam," said the group saw most Muslim countries as not following Islamic law.
"Theirs is a rigorous, hard-line view of the kind of government they want to see implemented in Muslim countries," he said. "To them democracy is a good thing for the West, but Islam doesn't need it."
The group advocates a return to the days when all Muslims were governed by a religious leader known as the caliph.
In a 1992 essay, Hilal wrote that Western countries contradicted the teachings of Islam.
Salam Al-Marayati, spokesman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, said he did not believe Hizb ut-Tahrir advocated terrorism in the United States, but said he was not surprised the FBI was looking into the group.
"People in Washington think that those who want an Islamic state are terrorists. That's not always the case," Marayati said.
Radical cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, former head of Hizb ut-Tahrir in England, identified Hilal as leader of the U.S. branch in a 2004 interview with the Terrorism Monitor, published by the Jamestown Foundation in Washington.
You will need to go to the link for the picture, I guess!
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The mosque
Name: Omar Al Farouk Mosque
Location: 1220 N. State College Blvd., Anaheim
Size: 32,000 square feet. It is the second-largest of O.C.'s 14 mosques after the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove.
Construction began: July 2001
Construction cost: $5 million, donated by the local community
Anyone know this Michael Webster in Laguna Beach?
Ping
Nope. Not I.
Can you believe there are 14 mosques in little ole Orange County?
There was < /a> at the end of the address...I deleted that and my special powers came in. ;)
NO I CANNOT believe there's that many!!!!!!! Hot dang. Between this and the illegals...I'm tellin' ya!!!!!!!
Turn on kfi. NOW. They're talking about this.
Well, I missed it, but I did catch the beginning of a conversation about Big Foot....LOL!
HAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
Oh Ernest.
Go check your mail, OK? ;)
Unnnngggghhhhh.......
If I start seeing goats and camels around here...
Sheesh!
Great info...thanks.
"Salam Al-Marayati, spokesman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, said he did not believe Hizb ut-Tahrir advocated terrorism in the United States, but said he was not surprised the FBI was looking into the group."
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Haha! Liar. More taqiyyah. More lying moslems -- they just can't grasp the concept of the internet, and the fact that we can catch them up in their lies. Thanks to Algore for inventing it!
Re: Hizb ut-Tahrir -- LGF has this:
"Raman describes Hizb ut-Tahrir as a veteran group with a secretive leadership and structure, which shares al-Qaeda’s goal of an Islamic caliphate under Islamic law, but focuses on mass agitation rather than acts of terrorism.
"The movement emphasized the importance of clandestine penetration of security forces, he said. The violence in Afghanistan illustrated “the extent of its penetration not only in the student community, but also in the Afghan security forces.”
"Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Party of Liberation) was founded in the then Jordanian-occupied East Jerusalem in the early 1950s and has spread across Europe and Asia, with a particularly strong foothold in the Central Asian Republics."
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=15870_Hizb_ut-Tahrir_Teams_Up_With_Newsweek&only
Thanks.
Not always, there was this one guy once who wasn't a terrorist, but they killed him.
Sure, but then I realized it should probably be on the new thread you posted today. Oh well!
Great post!
Thanks for the links
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