Posted on 01/01/2006 5:45:05 PM PST by Pikamax
TEMPLE TERRACE - Chantal Carnes didn't recognize herself.
A friend had e-mailed her a blogger's article. It described Carnes as a supporter of terrorists, a fan of suicide bombing.
Her friend thought the article was a joke.
"No, dude," Carnes said. "This is really serious."
Carnes, a Chicago resident who converted to Islam 11 years ago, was scheduled to speak at a spiritual retreat for Tampa Muslims this weekend.
But after bloggers alleged that the event was a thinly veiled terrorist indoctrination, anonymous callers bombarded the Muslim American Society of Tampa with death threats and curses.
The director of the Lithia church camp that was to host the event decided to close the camp for the weekend after she, too, received threats.
So when Carnes finally faced a small audience of adults in a block building in Temple Terrace on Saturday, there was an urgency to her words.
"Since everything that's happened, this is the right time for me to talk about who we are," Carnes told the group. "There are a lot of people out there who want to define who we are for us."
* * *
On Dec. 27, blogger Joe Kaufman began writing about an event he called "a jihad retreat for children."
Over the course of the week, he wrote that Carnes was "well known in the radical Islamist American community."
He wrote that the retreat's other speaker, Mazen Mokhtar of New Jersey, was linked to al-Qaida.
Other bloggers quickly picked up the theme.
"You gotta start your kids on the road to martyrdom early, or there'll be no one left to murder," a blogger known as "Ace of Trump" wrote about the retreat.
On Dec. 29, Kaufman appeared on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto to talk about the retreat. On the air, he said that Mokhtar "should be behind bars, and in shackles."
In fact, federal agents searched Mokhtar's New Jersey home in 2004 after another man was arrested in London for running a Web site that helped fund terrorist groups.
An identical site was found registered under Mokhtar's name. But he was never arrested.
This week, Mokhtar said that he sold server space to host other people's Web sites. He never knew about the content of that particular site, he said.
"It is not now nor has it ever been my position that a Muslim should ever partake in an attack on an innocent person," he said on Friday.
He said the theme of his lectures at the retreat would be the story of Joseph, which the Koran has in common with the Bible.
"You can read Joseph in many ways, but the primary message is that God's power is everything and patience and perseverance pay off," he said.
"Joseph went through so many trials, but he continues to stand up for what he believes in."
* * *
In Chicago, Carnes worried.
What if her father saw what Kaufman wrote? Her own family had been upset when she converted to Islam. What would they think now?
"I go skiing, I play soccer, I listen to Nickelback," she said. "That's me, the big ol' "radical."'
Nothing like this had ever happened to her before, she said.
But for the Muslim American Society of Tampa, this had happened before.
An earlier paintball outing for Muslim youths was painted as terrorist training by conservative bloggers, said Rania el-Sioufi, whose husband Mohamed Moharram is the society's president.
Bloggers interpreted a lecture about the afterlife as preparation for suicide bombing, she said.
"If you go to one of these Web sites, you'll be surprised how much they're watching what Muslims are doing, and how much they're twisting it," she said.
Still, this was the first time blog posts had sparked threatening calls and e-mails.
Moharram said he tried to argue with each caller. He tried to explain that the purpose of the retreat was to teach the "true Islam" - the moderate, mainstream Islam.
"We're trying to help," he told them. "Let us do this."
Meanwhile, calls were also coming in to Cedarkirk camp and conference center in Lithia, where the retreat was to be held.
The Rev. Debbie Bromkema, a Presbyterian minister who runs the Cedarkirk center, called the Sheriff's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations to ask if there was any truth to the allegations against Carnes and Mokhtar.
"They informed us there was nothing about the scheduled speakers or this group that would not allow (them) to come on retreat," she said.
But after the calls became threatening, she contacted the Sheriff's Office and the FBI again, to make a complaint about the threats.
And she decided to close the camp for the weekend.
* * *
On Saturday, retreat participants showed up to a block hall on the grounds of a mosque in Temple Terrace. It was the alternate location that Moharram had found at the last minute.
"It's a disaster," said Moharram. He had e-mailed the new venue to all the participants, but some still had gone out to Lithia instead, he said.
By noon about 20 people had shown up. Inside the hall, they sat quietly listening to a Koran recitation.
Many were college students. They were black, white and Arab. Some had grown up in Islam; others had converted. The men sat on one side and the women on the other.
When the recitation ended, Carnes took the floor to speak.
"We're going through a lot of challenges," she said. "Islam is still considered a foreign religion."
She pointed out that the structural design of the Sears Tower, in Chicago, was the work of a Muslim engineer. The ice cream cone, she said, was invented by a Muslim.
"Islam is a part of American society," she said. "We're a part of everything that is going on here."
As she spoke, she moved her hands. Under her white head scarf, her eyes shone.
She told the audience that as Muslims, they had to reach out to the greater American society around them.
Then, she said, people would know who Muslims were. They wouldn't hate them. They wouldn't fear them.
"Inshallah," she said - as God wills it - "in time, people will start to see who we are."
If this piece was any puffier it would be a souffle, but who wants to eat it?
Best bet here is for her to see her personal physician and see if she can get an early referral to a qualified specialist.
If she thinks being Muslim is so great, she should try quitting. Talk about threats!
Is this . . . http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20040209-101726-3713r.htm the paintball activity in question?
- ***"in time, people will start to see who we are."***
That's what we are afraid of!
"But - let us seriously consider Italo Marciony (also spelled Marchioni and Marcioni)– who claimed he created the ice cream cone on September 22, 1896! He sold his cones from a pushcart in New York City, and his claim may be the best, since he had a patent for a waffle mold, granted in December, 1903, eight months before the St. Louis Fair! His invention was “…like a waffle iron and producing several small pastry cups with sloping sides.” I have a copy of it courtesy of Anthony Gullo of Hoboken, NJ, who also provided me with more about this fascinating, and little known inventor..." http://www.zingersicecream.com/history.htm
An Italian Muslim?
Was she wearing a Burka?
Would a woman be allowed to speak at a real Islamic meeting?
Didnt Islamics come out against soccer just the other day because men wear shorts?
Skiing in a Burka and head scarf with her face covered.
Has she been raped yet for not covering her face? Maybe she should go to Australia, they do that there.
The portion of the Islamic cult she belongs to must be really progressive if they allow her all this freedom , or is she just another poor stupid American pawn who has fallen into the cult and doesnt realise yet what its about.
"There are a lot of people out there who want to define who we are for us."
Yes, that's correct...they're exploding with the desire to define what islam is all about...their names are Mohammed and Ahmed and ...
We already see who you are. We know what you have done and what you want to do, whether individual dupes within your ranks realize it or not. We, as the American people do not like what we see, know, and have for your goals.
Go home.
Four years after 9/11?
B.S.!!!
Chantal's other problem is that if she ever decides to de-convert from Islam, she can't. It's like the Mafia, there's no way to resign. If you try, it's open season on you, just like on Salman Rushdie.
"It is not now nor has it ever been my position that a Muslim should ever partake in an attack on an innocent person," he said on Friday.
Islamists can honestly say that because they don't see any "infidel" as innocent.
If she was out side the room and spoke through an open window, but she would need to have her head covered. And if she should happen to show a little ankle they would shoot her with an AK.
So who is an innocent person? This phrase is common. I want a direct answer, right now and up front.
So tell me, who/what are you? Have you condemned terrorist's attacks?
This week, Mokhtar said that he sold server space to host other people's Web sites. He never knew about the content of that particular site, he said. "It is not now nor has it ever been my position that a Muslim should ever partake in an attack on an innocent person," he said on Friday.
Define "innocent person". Does that include an infidel?
"If you go to one of these Web sites, you'll be surprised how much they're watching what Muslims are doing, and how much they're twisting it," she said.
Have you a clue as to the watching and twisting that has gone on about Israel? Of course you do.
Moharram said he tried to argue with each caller. He tried to explain that the purpose of the retreat was to teach the "true Islam" - the moderate, mainstream Islam.
By all means, tell me what is the moderate, mainstream Islam? Is it characterized by the segregation of men from women?
Many were college students. They were black, white and Arab. Some had grown up in Islam; others had converted. The men sat on one side and the women on the other.
But after the calls became threatening, she contacted the Sheriff's Office and the FBI again, to make a complaint about the threats.
So, would she be in favor of a government program that would track key words such as death to Carnes, Islam, etc.?
When the recitation ended, Carnes took the floor to speak. "We're going through a lot of challenges," she said. "Islam is still considered a foreign religion."
Yep, when you have men segregated from women, you have something that has been foreign to the US for many decades.
She pointed out that the structural design of the Sears Tower, in Chicago, was the work of a Muslim engineer. The ice cream cone, she said, was invented by a Muslim. "Islam is a part of American society," she said. "We're a part of everything that is going on here."
Right, and Muslims were the perps of 9/11. But that should be forgiven because one gave us the Sears tower and another the ice creme cone?
"Inshallah," she said - as God wills it - "in time, people will start to see who we are."
God has willed that I see who you really are, and it isn't in your favor.
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