Posted on 11/19/2001 10:08:25 AM PST by meridia
An American Story
Sheik Kabbani warned about letting militants hijack Islam's mike
The Wall Street Journal - REVIEW & OUTLOOK - Friday, September 28, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT
You don't have to tell Sheik Muhammad Hisham Kabbani what Arab- and Muslim Americans are going through in the aftermath of the World Trade Center killings.
Invited by the president to attend the prayer service at the National Cathedral, Sheik Kabbani was told by U.S. officials on the way out that he might do better to avoid airports by driving back home to Detroit.
That is how he came to be on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where he found himself subjected to obscene gestures from other drivers and motorists and pulled over by a police officer who said he was checking out something "fishy."
What lends this tale a bitter irony is that Sheik Kabbani is not part of the victimist choir that views such ugly incidents as evidence of an America just itching to break out the white sheets and hoods. To the contrary, this is a man worth listening to.
Indeed, if people had listened to Sheik Kabbani before, things today might have been very different--not least for the thousands of innocent American families now burying their dead and the equally innocent Muslim Americans who find themselves blamed for it.
Mr. Kabbani is a Muslim scholar and leader of the Naqshbandi order of Sufis in North America. Back in January 1999, when we thought the terrorists had given the Twin Towers their best shot and lost, Sheik Kabbani went to the State Department to deliver an address titled "Islamic Extremism: A Viable Threat to U.S. National Security" (now posted at here.). In what today appears to be almost prophetic language, he said that an extremist ideology had openly declared war on America; he noted that extremist elements were well financed by "outside regimes"; and he specifically warned about thousands of "suicide bombers being trained by Bin Laden in Afghanistan who are ready to move to any part of the world and explode themselves."
So how was Sheik Kabbani rewarded for his courage?
Well, a group of organizations denounced him, ranging from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Circle of North America to the American Muslim Council--and issued a statement twisting his words and portraying him as feeding Islamophobia rather than fighting it. But the sheik has stood his ground. In sharp contrast to a coalition of "progressive" pastors who have now issued a statement telling Muslims "don't talk to the FBI," the sheik emphasized on the "Today" show last week how important it was to cooperate with authorities, to help them get the men who have so monstrously blasphemed the Islamic faith.
Indeed, as we peer into the future, we'd say that, far from looking to purge our shores of our immigrant citizens from the Mideast, America is going to need them. And we need them not simply to cooperate with authorities but to become authorities themselves, bringing to the nation's police forces, military services and intelligence agencies the skills only Arab- and Muslim Americans can provide about a critical part of the world we clearly don't yet understand.
The difficulty, Sheik Kabbani tells us, is that voices such as his have trouble being heard because the extremists have been successful at "hijacking the mike." But he reminds us, too, that while many of the self-appointed spokesmen for American Islam have verbally attacked him, thousands of ordinary American Muslims have phoned, faxed or e-mailed their support.
In the aftermath of the worst attack on our home soil in American history, we might do well to heed a leader who did his best to warn us before. News Article LINK
Uh, I don't know, maybe chest-thumbers is OK.
MUSLIM CLERIC CLAIMS 20 'SUITCASE' NUKES PURCHASED BY TERRORISTS IN USA
LINK to Press Release by Kabbani's ISCA
The Islamic Supreme Council of America
1400 Sixteenth Street NW, #B112
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 939-3400 Fax: (202) 939-3410
ISCA Homepage
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Muslims join in a day of mourning following terrorist attacks
(Washington, DC 09/12/01) - The Islamic Supreme Council of America (ISCA) categorically condemns yesterday's hijackings and attacks against the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and all other targets.
From coast to coast, we join our neighbors, co-workers and friends across ethnic, cultural and religious lines in mourning the devastating loss of precious life, which Islam holds as sacred. We pray for the thousands of innocent victims, for their families, for law enforcement and emergency workers, for stranded travelers, and for all whose confidence and security have been shaken. We pray that God's Infinite Mercy reaches us all.
Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, ISCA chairman stated, "We join the US Congress in declaring today a day of mourning and also call on the entire faith community of America to spend the day in prayer for the victims and their families who so tragically died. All of our centers across the world will observe three minutes of silence tonight at our sunset prayer. We stand with the administration and law enforcement agencies in support of discovering the persons responsible and bringing them to justice. We encourage whoever is able to donate generously both blood and money to local chapters of the Red Cross."
We also ask our thousands of members across America who are naturally born citizens and descendants of the United States to help their neighbors and communities understand that the majority of Muslims throughout the world are peaceful people and would never condone acts of terrorism.
ISCA has many times warned the nation to guard against the possibility of such actions and reiterates its condemnation of all terrorism, whether ideological, geographical, cultural or religious.
This is simply my SUBJECTIVE BELIEVE, a mere opinion based upon "instantaneous hunch" cognition. There is, then NO FACTUAL BASIS, (as yet) for my deeply held suspicious about this vile barbaric atrocity perpetrated upon Western Civilization.
Thank you, however, for showing that I am not alone, LOL, in my suspicious view of this entire atrocious event.
To find all articles tagged or indexed using JIHAD IN AMERICA
Click here: JIHAD IN AMERICA
I do realize that the hijacking already occured; however, I was unaware that there were moderate Muslim clerics who DID try to do something BEFOREHAND, even if nobody at the State Department listened. I have been wondering WHERE WAS THE ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP -- and only now am I starting to find any articles about this.
For instance here's a link to a page of links to articles about Kabbani and the September 11th Attack on America, which I only came across last night:
Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, official Reuters photo at Yahoo.com
Highlights of ISCA Media Appearances after the terrorist attacks
View selected excerpts from interviews September 14, 2001
National Cathedral Prayer Service, Washington D.C.
Attended by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, ISCA Chairman, by invitation of the White House
September 17, 2001 -- The Today Show, NBC TV - 9:00am
September 19, 2001 -- MSNBC, "Attack on America", National TV LIVE - 11:30 pm
September 22, 2001 -- CNN, "An In-Depth Look at Al Qaeda" - 12:30 pm
September 26, 2001 -- NPR Radio, Todd Mundt Show, National TV LIVE - 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm
September 28, 2001 -- The Wall Street Journal,
"An American Story: Sheik Kabbani warned about letting militants hijack Islam's mike"
October 1, 2001 -- CNN Headline News - "Behind the Headlines" - Imam Mateen Siddiqui, Detroit 7:45 p.m. EST
US News and World Report ,
"Fight to the Finish: has a clash of civilizations threatened an end of history?"
October 11, 2001 -- Detroit News - Sheik: Moderate U.S. Muslims have become 'the silent majority'
In fact, the wahhabi movement (named for Al-Wahab) got started in the mid 18th century because Al-Wahab was an Arab Sufi himself who turned against his former "denomination," and decided to reform it by purging Islam of whatever beauty, grace, humanity it possessed. From what I read, Sufism in Saudi Arabia is about as popular as Christianity there. Since CAIR is largely funded by the wahhabi Saudis, it's characteristic that they would trash Sheikh Kabbani.
However, I now believe it is due to my POOR search skills that I've been unable to find articles by and/or about the Sufi reaction. MANY Sufis have been murdered in different nations by the Islamist fundamentalists....
In the news articles, I don't see Kabbani referred to as a Sufi -- I simply remembered once examining his books at a bookstore, as really they were SO highbrow and intellectual, that they were MEMORABLE, ya know?
Muslim Moderate Kabbani Firm on Terrorist Nuclear Threat
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Monday, Nov. 19, 2001
Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of America (ISCA), stands by and renews his 1999 warning that brainwashed Islamic extremists have infiltrated mosques and Muslim student and community groups, and have bought more than 20 nuclear warheads carried in suitcases.
In his infamous January 1999 address to the U.S. Department of State, Kabbani cautioned officials about imminent danger to America posed by nuclear-armed Islamic extremists. He further described 5,000 suicide bombers being trained by bin Laden in Afghanistan ready to move to any part of the world.
In a recent pronouncement, ISCA said: "Shaykh Hisham Kabbani warned of the dangers of mass terrorism to American cities, and he was brushed aside as a dangerous alarmist. Muslim organizations are no doubt beginning to regret their treatment of him."
Part of that strident alarm sounded by Kabbani in 1999: "We want to tell people to be careful, that something major might hit quickly because they [Islamic extremists] were able to buy more than 20 atomic nuclear [war]heads from some of the mafia in the ex-Soviet Union. ...
"Through the universities, there will be the most danger. If the nuclear atomic warheads reach these universities, you don't know what these students are going to do, because their way of thinking is brainwashed, limited and narrow-minded."
Kabbani, an American citizen of Lebanese descent, holds a degree in Islamic jurisprudence, which authorizes him to give legal rulings. He has written several papers and reports on Jihad, the history and evolution of extremism, and radical Islamic groups.
His stock has risen considerably since Sept. 11. He has been appearing regularly on TV and doing high-level briefings. Last month he briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff on Uzbekistan. ISCA, which features the entirety of the 1999 speech on its Web site as a sort of Gettysburg Address, regularly culls the news for any and all clippings that vindicate or corroborate Kabbani's dire warnings.
A recent case in point: the State Department's rigorous new screening of Arab and Muslim men seeking student visas. More obvious: Osama bin Laden's recent boast that he controls chemical and nuclear weapons. Hallmarked by a long flowing beard, robe and headdress, Kabbani is a heavyset man with intense eyes set in a friendly face that is often smiling. He admits being hurt by the alienation he has suffered since 1999 at the hands of Muslim groups, including the Council on American Islamic Relations and Muslim Students Association. At one point he received FBI protection.
However, years after his controversial warning speech, Kabbani's resolve remains and he continues to speak out in ways sometimes unpopular with some fellow Muslims. An example is his recent plea to Muslims to inform on those who might have any knowledge of extremist cells and activities that would help investigators:
"I urge all our members of the Islamic Supreme Council of America and many Muslims, that I know in the United States and abroad, to come with every tip they have, with every information that they have, in order to tell the different agencies about it, and inform them as soon as possible, in order to avoid any harassment for the Muslim community."
An under-fire Kabbani explained in 1999 exactly what he meant when he told the State Department that 80 percent of American mosques had been taken over by extremists. His point, he said, was that a "few extremists" were taking over leadership posts, despite a "majority of moderate Muslims," thus "influencing 80 percent of the mosques."
Today, he sticks even closer to his guns and adds embellishing data: Kabbani visited 114 mosques in the United States. "Ninety of them were mostly exposed, and I say exposed, to extreme or radical ideology," he said.
Kabbani bases his exposure conclusion on speeches, board members and materials published. One telltale sign of an extremist mosque, said Kabbani, was an unhealthy focus on the Palestinian struggle.
When not embroiled in the never-ending fallout from his speech, Kabbani fights what he likes to style his personal "holy war" or "jihad.' Following ancient teachings, he divides jihad into four kinds: "jihad by the heart, jihad by the tongue, jihad by the hand and jihad by the sword."
Kabbani's jihad by the tongue: "Removing all misconceptions and stereotypes in clarifying the image of Islam held by non-Muslims, building a trusting relationship and working with them in ways that accord with their way of thinking, are all primary forms of jihad."
He added: "Islam doesn't teach terrorism, or allow you to kill anyone. Islam tells you to toss a flower on your enemy in order to bring him to your side, not to fight with him."
Kabbani wants to be a voice against terrorism and ideological extremists who use Muslims in America as a vehicle for exploiting foreign political causes.
All this is tough on a quiet scholar who typically goes into seclusion for 40 days each year. "When I was younger, I used to do it for six or nine months at a stretch. That's training your spiritual power and your energy."
I'm going to have to do research into some of these other CREEPY NASTY LIAR groups in America, who caused so much nastiness in the life of Sheik Kabbani, to the point where the FBI had to protect him.
Here's a little something I found in Usenet, which explains my decision:
From: CAIR
Subject: Imam W. Deen Mohammed Endorses Joint Statement on Kabbani
Date: 1999/03/01
Message-ID: <7bfv7m$g1j$1@bolero.rahul.net>
Approved: sri-admin@hrweb.org
Sender: ariel@rahul.net
Organization: Netcom
Moderator: SRI Moderator
NNTP-Posting-User: ariel
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Imam W. Deen Mohammed Endorses Joint Statement on Kabbani
27 February 1999
Alhamdu-lillah, today Imam W. Deen Mohammed expressed his support for and added his organization to the list of signatories of the statement issued by major Muslim organizations two days ago regarding Mr. Hisham Kabbani's recent allegations about extremism in the Muslim community. The support of leadership such as that of Imam Mohammed adds even more weight to the organizations' common stand and the sense of concord in the community on this issue.
At a State Department presentation, Mr. Kabbani, Chairman of the self-styled "Islamic Supreme Council of America," had made a number of statements that painted a picture of American Muslims as an extremist community that poses potential dangers for the rest of society.The Muslim organizations demanded retraction and apology.
Meanwhile, local groups are displaying a lot of support for the joint statement, forwarding it, distributing copies of it, and endorsing it. Those groups who seek to express public support for the Joint Statement can do so by sending the following statement to the American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC) by fax to (202) 879-6728 or by e-mail to MPACDC1@aol.com.
"We fully support the Joint Statement of Major Muslim Organizations of February 25 condemning Mr. Hisham Kabbani's irresponsible remarks. Please add our name to the national list of Muslim organizations who are standing up to defend Muslim integrity and interests".
Name:
Signture:
Title:
Organization:
Address:
Phone:
Fax:
Email Address:
May Allah always guide us all to the path of righteousness.
Signatories (in alphabetical order):
American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC)
American Muslim Alliance (AMA),
American Muslim Council (AMC),
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Muslim Students Association of USA & Canada (MSA)
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
MAJOR MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN KABBANI'S STATEMENTS
American Muslim leaders demand retraction and apology
It is with heavy hearts that we, the undersigned national American Muslim organizations, feel compelled to defend our community and its representatives from false and defamatory allegations. In a January 7, 1999, presentation to a State Department Open Forum, Mr. Hisham Kabbani, Chairman of the self-styled "Islamic Supreme Council of America," made a number of unsubstantiated allegations that could have a profoundly negative impact on ordinary American Muslims.
In the State Department forum, Mr. Kabbani:
1) Alleged that the "ideology of extremism has been spread to eighty percent of the [American] Muslim population." Having also stated that "extremists" gained control of American mosques through elections, Mr. Kabbani further strengthens the impression that the Muslim community as a whole is extremist.
2) Claimed that "there are many, many Muslim organizations, that they speak on behalf of the Muslim community, but in reality they are not moderate, but they are extremist...These people are very well supported, very well affiliated with outside regimes, that they have been sponsored by billions of dollars to be active within the United States..."
3) Claiming that the main national Muslim student organization is "being run mostly by extremist ideology," Mr. Kabbani raised the bizarre specter that the Bin Laden organization was "able to buy more than 20 atomic weapons, atomic nuclear heads, from some Mafias in the ex-Soviet Union...and now they are hiring thousands of scientists from the ex-Soviet in order to make these atomic warheads into smaller partitions, smaller particles, in order to be, like small chips to be put in any suit case, even in a handbag, and be shipped anyplace, anywhere in the world...If these small nuclear atomic warheads reach these (U.S.) universities, you don't know, these students, what they are going to do, because their way of thinking is brainwashed and limited."
Adding insult to injury, Mr. Kabbani even promoted and generalized an allegation that Muslim women in Europe "who are during the day, covered from top to bottom and, during the night, have dates. They are dating high officials in many countries around the world to take the information from them and to give it to the extremists."
Through outrageous statements such as these, Mr. Kabbani has put the entire American Muslim community under unjustified suspicion. In effect, Mr. Kabbani is telling government officials that the majority of American Muslims pose a danger to our society.
Additionally, Islamophobic individuals and groups may use these statements as an excuse to commit hate crimes against Muslims of the kind witnessed following the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City when Muslim-bashers, Steven Emerson and others, offered similarly unsubstantiated claims that Muslims were behind the attack.
We therefore ask Mr. Kabbani to promptly and publicly retract his statements, to apologize to the American Muslim community, and to exert his utmost effort to undo the damage these statements have done.
The issue is not that of a mere difference of opinion within an American religious community, but involves the irresponsible act of providing false information to government officials. This false information can jeopardize the safety and well being of our community and hurt America itself by damaging its values of inclusiveness, fairness, and liberty.
Signatories (in alphabetical order):
American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC)
American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
American Muslim Council (AMC),
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Muslim Students Association of USA & Canada (MSA)
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