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Muslim officials want imam banned from mosque : Supporters say leader should retain role
By Ben Tinsley / Arlington Morning News
FORT WORTH - The Islamic Society of Arlington's board members have requested a temporary restraining order to keep off their property the organization's former spiritual leader - whom the FBI has linked to an associate of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.
The request for a temporary restraining order is part of a petition filed last week against former Imam Mohammed Moataz Al-Hallak, whose employment contract at the Central Arlington mosque recently was terminated, and seven supporters.
The petition alleges that "violent people" are conspiring with the former Imam in an effort to "re-establish him as Imam by force."
The petition alleges incidents of cursing, slandering, pushing and various violent acts, including an incident where one member tried to run over another member's feet with a car in the parking lot of the mosque at 1700 S. Center St.
The imam, who has repeatedly denied any ties to Mr. bin Laden, has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for comment Monday night.
But Mohamad Jibaly, one of the eight people named in the petition, said the allegations are untrue and that most Muslims at the mosque want the imam to remain in his leadership role.
"I cannot right now give you much detail," he said Monday night. "All I can tell you is whatever has been said is not true.
"The majority of [the congregation] is on the side of the imam. Ninety nine percent is in the support of the imam and his side."
Donald Fulton, the Fort Worth attorney representing the Executive Committee of the Islamic Society of Arlington, said a district court judge will hear arguments about the temporary restraining order on March 30. The petition also seeks monetary damages.
Mr. Jibaly said he and the imam met Monday evening to discuss the petition with the other six defendants - Jihad Al Asaad, Ayman Al Asaad, Osamah Al Asaad, Abdullah Jibaly, Anwarul Haq and Mohamed Abdo.
"We have to see what kind of agreement or thing we agree to among the others before we can make any more statements," Mr. Jibaly said. "We don't want to say something others feel is not appropriate to say."
Five society board members accuse Imam Al-Hallak of preventing guest speakers from leading prayer services and other activities at the mosque.
The men - board chairman Hasan Hasan-Ali, executive committee president Saleh Alahmad, board secretary Kassem M. Elhalil, executive committee treasurer Ayman Ali and executive committee secretary Redda al Sadat - also accused Imam Al-Hallak's followers of pushing, cursing and threatening other Muslims in an attempt to impose their will at the mosque on various occasions.
"Defendant Al-Hallak has insisted upon remaining as Imam against the wishes of ISAT and its membership, as though he were 'dictator-for-life,' " according to the petition.
Imam Al-Hallak, spiritual leader of the mosque for the past 12 years, was removed from his position because of his repeated intolerance for change, not because of his alleged closeness to Wadih el Hage, said Syed Ahsani, chairman of the American Muslim Alliance of Texas and a member of the mosque.
Mr. el Hage is in jail in New York on federal charges of aiding an alleged international conspiracy to kill Americans.
Federal authorities say Mr. el Hage has ties to Mr. bin Laden, the millionaire suspected of being behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Imam Al-Hallak has not been charged with a crime, but court filings by federal prosecutors accuse the cleric of providing "cover" for Mr. el Hage. Attorneys representing Imam Al-Hallak have denied the allegations.
Those allegations have nothing to do with the ouster of the former imam, Dr. Ahsani said.
"The direct cause is his contract has not been renewed and therefore he has been able to mobilize his supporters. They tried to hold an emergency meeting. They were in control for 12 years and wanted to regain control," Dr. Ahsani said.
Dr. Ahsani, a former ambassador of Pakistan to Brazil, Sudan and Ghana, said Imam Al-Hallak lost the confidence of Muslims at Arlington's oldest mosque because of his unwillingness to accept others' points of view.
"His has a very particular ideology which has a very strict adherence to the [Koran] and does not tolerate any different form of opinion," he said.
Dr. Ahsani said Imam Al-Hallak resisted registering members of the Islamic community to vote and taking part in the mainstream political process.
"We would like to be part of the American mosaic," Dr. Ahsani said. "But he opposes participation in the mainstream political process because he said our religion does not allow participation in a system in which we do not believe.
"He thinks this system is not based on the correct principles. He will not vote and he will not allow the other people to vote."
The mosque is owned by the North American Islamic Trust, the trustee of which is the Islamic Society of North America. Both organizations recognize the current board of directors as their agents with the power of attorney in this matter, the petition states.
Arlington Police Lt. Carolyn Allen said authorities have been trying to work with both sides and have been reluctant to intervene directly because the struggle has been internal.
But the board members "are the actual owners and operators of the property, which means they get to decide who will be on the property," Lt. Allen said. "We don't enforce civil restraining orders or anything along those lines but we can enforce against criminal trespass and disruption of meetings."
Lt. Allen said Arlington police are also investigating allegations of assault and criminal mischief, although no arrests have been made or warrants issued.
"The tension has been fairly high for the past month or so," she said.