Posted on 05/17/2003 4:59:28 AM PDT by joesnuffy
Muslims 'draw line in the sand' in D.C. Civil rights rally touted as largest Islamic gathering in capital
Posted: May 17, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Art Moore © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
U.S. Islamic activists are uniting with a leading anti-war group to hold a civil rights march and rally they tout as the largest gathering of Muslims ever in the nation's capital.
Participants in the May 24 event "will demand an end to the mounting attack on the civil rights of Muslims in America" since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the organizer, the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.
"The time has come where we must draw a line in the sand, stand up for ourselves, and demand an immediate and unconditional halt to the Bush administration's profiling, harassment, and abuse of our community," said Mahdi Bray, the foundation's executive director, in a statement.
Bray, who has called the U.S. war on terrorism a "war against Islam," joined several other Muslims in October 2001 to pray in front of the State Department and denounce U.S. military action in Afghanistan.
One of the rally's featured speakers is Brian Becker of the International A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition, an umbrella group tied to the World Workers Party, a Marxist organization that supports authoritarian regimes and communist dictatorships.
Muslims in the U.S. must reexamine their methods of activism, said Bray.
"We met with Clinton and Bush, we had tea with Hillary, but what have we brought back to the Muslim community other than pictures and press releases?" he said.
Bray added, "We must be willing to trust in Allah, intensify our dawah, make our voices heard in the streets, the ballot boxes, the cash registers and the courts, and only then will federal government officials be willing to sit down and deal with us in a serious manner. Short of that, the American Muslim leadership is fooling itself and the community."
"Dawah" is commonly understood by Muslims as inviting others to Islam, or missionary work.
The Muslim American Society's Sherifah Rafiq told WND that Bray was not referring to Muslim proselytizing but to the task of "not being afraid to explain who you are" to non-Muslims.
Rafiq, the group's national outreach coordinator, said Muslim leaders at the Memorial Day weekend event will "give the Muslim community a chance to display sensitive logical speakers who represent the majority of us."
Along with Bray, those speakers include Dr. Jamal Badawi, professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Siraj Wahhaj, imam of Masjid Al-Taqwa in Brookyn, New York.
Wahhaj is an advisory board member of the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations. He was named by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White in 1995, as one of the "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators in the attempt to blow up New York City monuments," including the World Trade Center in 1993. Wahhaj, who has called for the U.S. government to be replaced with a Muslim caliphate, testified on behalf of Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, who was convicted in the World Trade Center case.
Bray listed a number of grievances he says Muslims have against the Bush administration, including "the INS registration program for Muslim males and the mass arrests of those legally in the country, racial profiling by law enforcement agencies, the unreasonable closings of Islamic charities, the secret detention of hundreds of individuals, and the Bush administration's courting of anti-Muslim extremists like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell."
Along with A.N.S.W.E.R., Bray said the NAACP, AFL-CIO, and ACLU have pledged support for the event, and entertainers Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover will be at the demonstration.
Belafonte and Glover criticized the U.S. during a trip to Havana, Cuba, in December. Belafonte said the Sept. 11 attacks enabled the U.S. "to extend its imperialist, economic and political domination all over the planet."
Other speakers are the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Ibrahim Ramey, director of the Peace and Disarmament Program at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist organization based in Nyack, N.Y.
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Hammond went on to relate how 9-11 triggered Muslim attacks on Christians in Nigeria, with over 130 churches being burned down in two days -- until the Christians picked up guns and defended themselves.
His words have embolded me to frankly discuss Islam's violent intent with casual Muslim acquaitences at the bus stop - and they're petrified by this line of inquiry. Especially effective seems to be "if Islam is the religion of peace, then why did you're family immigrate to the US in order to find a stable place to study and work and make a better life for your family? Is there not one Islamic state you could have done that in? Can you name one peaceful, free, and economically thriving Islamic nation?"
I think we'll have to launch into Africa next, and clean out Sudan, Nigeria, and other places where Islamists are clearly out to establish "religion of peace" dominence over kahfirs.
Hammond went on to relate how 9-11 triggered Muslim attacks on Christians in Nigeria, with over 130 churches being burned down in two days -- until the Christians picked up guns and defended themselves.
His words have embolded me to frankly discuss Islam's violent intent with casual Muslim acquaitences at the bus stop - and they're petrified by this line of inquiry. Especially effective seems to be "if Islam is the religion of peace, then why did you're family immigrate to the US in order to find a stable place to study and work and make a better life for your family? Is there not one Islamic state you could have done that in? Can you name one peaceful, free, and economically thriving Islamic nation?"
I think we'll have to launch into Africa next, and clean out Sudan, Nigeria, and other places where Islamists are clearly out to establish "religion of peace" dominence over kahfirs.
Islam was declared essentially illegal in the U.S. in a New York State Supreme Court ruling along about 1892-1893.
The ruling stated that followers of any imposter, such as "Mohammett," were not to be included in the First Ammendment's protection, but, rather, "..are to be harassed."
This has never been rescinded, retracted nor overturned.
I know! They could move out and go to some other country that doesn't give a rip about 9/11 and the fact that MUSLIMS slaughtered thousands in NYC, DC, and Penn.
one more attack in the US and the government will no longer be able to protect muslims
One need not merely envision this. Just take a look at France if you want to see what the future holds for America!
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