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Imams question focus on bin Laden - Only 2 of 12 Muslim leaders believe U.S. has proved its case
Ottawa Citizen ^ | Saturday, November 10, 2001 | Bob Harvey, with files from David Stonehouse and Christopher Guly

Posted on 11/11/2001 7:35:50 PM PST by NorthernRight

Imams question focus on bin Laden
Only 2 of 12 Muslim leaders believe U.S. has proved its case

Bob Harvey, with files from David Stonehouse and Christopher Guly
The Ottawa Citizen

Saturday, November 10, 2001

Muslim imams across Canada are not convinced that Osama bin Laden is guilty in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

In a telephone survey conducted by the Citizen, all but two of a dozen imams said either that Mr. bin Laden, the chief suspect in the attacks, does not have the expertise necessary to plan the attacks, or that the United States has not yet provided convincing evidence of his guilt.

"My personal feeling is that he was not involved at all," said Yahia Fadlalla, imam of the Hamilton mosque.

He said the Allies could have classified information that proves Mr. bin Laden did organize the attacks, "but it is not the Muslim world that did it.

"This was terrorism, and terrorism is not welcome in Islam," he said.

"Islam does not say you should be in paradise for doing this. Somebody who kills thousands of people makes God angry," said Mr. Fadlalla, a former computer professor at the State University of New York.

"This act (of Sept. 11) was very sophisticated, very planned and very organized. It is beyond his reach," said Mohammad Alnadui, one of Canada's few full-time imams, at the southwest mosque in Calgary.

"The right thing for the Americans to do is put the proof before an Islamic court of law. If he is proven guilty, his head will be chopped," said Al Niaj, the president of the Muslim Association of New Brunswick and interim imam at the association's mosque in Saint John.

Mr. Al Niaj, who works at the Irving Oil Refinery , says the Muslim world is not yet satisfied that Mr. bin Laden is guilty, "so emotions are running high and people are against the U.S.A."

Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress and a part-time imam at the University of Waterloo, was one of two dissenters.

He said Mr. bin Laden's televised statements did not directly admit his role in the attacks, but he did incriminate himself. "For me, it was clear that he has been involved. How much and at what level, I don't know."

Mr. Elmasry said that from an Islamic point of view, Mr. bin Laden should seriously consider surrendering himself, whether he is guilty or innocent.

"We hope that he does. This will give no excuse for bombing civilians. Even if he is unjustly tried, even if he loses his life in the process, he will have done a good deed. It would save the lives of many innocent people," he said.

Ahmed Kutty, imam of the Jami Mosque in Toronto, said the majority of Muslims cannot believe anyone could commit such a crime in the name of Islam.

However, he said that "lately many Muslims are starting to believe that he (Mr. bin Laden) may have a hand in it or may have contributed to it because of what they heard him say or do in the wake of these attacks.

He was reported as celebrating and also making statements to the effect of justifying the killing of innocent people."

All of the imams condemned terrorist attacks on civilians as "un-Islamic."

In brief taped statements on the Arab al Jazeera television network, Mr. bin Laden has urged Muslims to participate in a holy war against the U.S., and portrayed himself as sent by God to end the humiliation and oppression of Muslims.

He has also publicly taken credit for attacks on U.S. soldiers in Somalia in 1993, on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and has been linked to an attack last year on the USS Cole.

In a lengthy release of evidence of Mr. bin Laden's involvement in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the British and American governments said that before Sept. 11, the Saudi millionaire told others that he was about to launch a major attack against the U.S.

The Allies have also said the attacks were planned by one of Mr. bin Laden's associates, and that three of the 19 hijackers have been linked to his al-Qaeda network.

The imams were also unanimous in calling for an end to the bombing of Afghanistan.

Petitions against the bombing are being circulated in mosques by Muslim organizations throughout North America.

Munir El-Kassem, acting imam of the Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario, in London, said the U.S.-led military campaign is only exacerbating the feelings of those already hostile to the Americans, and may instigate further terrorist activities against the U.S. and its allies, including Canada, which, he says, is "relinquishing its long-time peacekeeping role" by participating in the war in Afghanistan.

© Copyright 2001 The Ottawa Citizen


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
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This is getting tedious.

Time to start filling up boats. Papers, please!

1 posted on 11/11/2001 7:35:50 PM PST by NorthernRight
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To: NorthernRight
Guess they missed his new videotape wherein Osama admits he attacked the WTC towers...
2 posted on 11/11/2001 7:38:48 PM PST by Southack
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To: Southack
Seriously, what's to prove anymore?
3 posted on 11/11/2001 7:40:36 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: Magician; Inyokern; Ben; NativeNewYorker; Nachum; beowolf; STD; vrwc54; American in Israel...
FYI
4 posted on 11/11/2001 7:47:36 PM PST by NorthernRight
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To: NorthernRight
These Muslim (note none are women, cuz they ain't people in Islam's neighborhood) leaders don't dispute that the people that did these deeds are followers of Islam. People that followed Islam killed 1,000's of people in the name of Islam. Either you are with Islam or against Islam.

No matter what they say anyway. They are speaking to us Infidels and telling fibs to us is allowed in their cult.

5 posted on 11/11/2001 7:48:16 PM PST by isthisnickcool
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To: NorthernRight
Definite OJ jury material. These fools (i.e. the 10) need to know two things: 1. We don't care what they think. 2. "You are either with us or you are with the terrorists." Time to choose, as we intend to act.
6 posted on 11/11/2001 7:50:18 PM PST by Faraday
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To: Southack
Guess they missed his new videotape wherein Osama admits he attacked the WTC towers...

They'll just say that was an actor, a Jewish actor, playing the part of Osama. The Tape doesn't exist. It's a forgery. It's a Jewish plot. Stephen Speilberg made the tape....

7 posted on 11/11/2001 7:50:18 PM PST by NorthernRight
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To: isthisnickcool
Tells you something about these people when they continue to try and spin falsehood when the perp himself admitted he was behind it!
8 posted on 11/11/2001 7:50:33 PM PST by MHGinTN
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To: NorthernRight
Oy vey...
9 posted on 11/11/2001 7:53:05 PM PST by Southack
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To: NorthernRight
Sheesh. Isn't this encouraging (NOT).
10 posted on 11/11/2001 7:55:48 PM PST by Lent
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To: NorthernRight
"The right thing for the Americans to do is put the proof before an Islamic court of law.

HAHAHAHA. Let the Shari'a (aka charade) take it. Right. Let's get right on that International Islamic court.

11 posted on 11/11/2001 7:58:42 PM PST by Lent
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To: NorthernRight
Do we care what the other 10 imams think?

vaudine

12 posted on 11/11/2001 8:10:34 PM PST by vaudine
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To: NorthernRight
Muslim imams across Canada are not convinced that Osama bin Laden is guilty in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Perhaps the good imams could take a read of this?

"If avenging the killing of our people is terrorism then history should be a witness that we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents and this is legal religiously and logically." - OBL

13 posted on 11/11/2001 8:11:10 PM PST by budman_2001
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To: NorthernRight
LOL. Even after OBL's bloviating this weekend. Hopeless, and pathetic at the same time.
14 posted on 11/11/2001 8:36:06 PM PST by Fulbright
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To: Southack
Guess they missed his new videotape wherein Osama admits he attacked the WTC towers...

...perhaps you misunderstand: that wouldn't faze them. For them, facts only confuse the real issue (which is lie, lie, lie at all costs; deny, deny, deny, by all means).

15 posted on 11/11/2001 10:07:50 PM PST by Migraine
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To: budman_2001
"If avenging the killing of our people is terrorism then history should be a witness that we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents and this is legal religiously and logically." - OBL

Which is not much stronger than the other 4 near confessions, but it is certainly close enough to a confession.

But even more damning to any legal case for this confessed killer than what he DOES say are the things he DOES NOT SAY. If you were accused of murdering someone and you didn't do it, and someone asked you "Did you do it?" would you say "he deserved to die"?

If ANY INNOCENT PERSON were accused of a crime against humanity that they didn't commit, they wouldn't release long interviews condemning the victim of the crime. They'd be screaming about their innocence - duh.

Either these "imams" are extremely stupid or they are extremely evil. And far more likely the latter. Any tax deductions for "religion" can not apply to anybody who supports Osama, nor can they pretend to be religious.

Osama did it, anybody who maintains otherwise is either:
  a. Completely out of touch with the news
  b. Extremely stupid, or
  c. An ally in his actions on 9/11.

These "imams" fall into category "c". They should be deported right to Kabul. Soon.

16 posted on 11/11/2001 10:26:48 PM PST by EaglesUpForever
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To: NorthernRight
I'll bet they are willing to believe the Jews did it without the need to prove the case. In fact we know they believe that the Jews did it since it was reported so widely these past few weeks from Muslim media from Mauritania to Malaysia.
17 posted on 11/11/2001 10:47:25 PM PST by rebdov
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To: NorthernRight
Drop kick them into the Kabul hot zone. We have enough liars in North America and don't need to import Muslim ones. Especially lying Muftis Mullahs and Imams. Just look how miserable these religious crazies make their own Muslim homelands.
18 posted on 11/12/2001 12:09:35 AM PST by dennisw
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To: Migraine
...perhaps you misunderstand: that wouldn't faze them. For them, facts only confuse the real issue (which is lie, lie, lie at all costs; deny, deny, deny, by all means).

Sounds just like "Imams" Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, James Carville and the rest of the Dems.

19 posted on 11/12/2001 4:13:55 AM PST by isthisnickcool
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To: NorthernRight
btttttttttttttt
20 posted on 11/12/2001 5:21:36 AM PST by dennisw
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