Free Republic

The al-Aksa mosque is mistakenly called, “Omar’s mosque” after the first Caliph of Jerusalem who captured the city in 638CE. This religious shrine was a hoax-gone-bad for Caliph Abd al-Wahd (705-715 CE). Wahd actually completed construction and named it al-Aksa so that it would sound like the one mentioned in the Koran. Wahd desired to draw prayer and, more importantly, attention to the place where he was then ruler, Jerusalem. This attempt failed since Mohammed had a stern restriction regarding Jerusalem. The site fell into disrepair and, up until this century, no Islamic monarch deemed the Dome or the mosque...

Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi is emerging as an unlikely voice of moderation in Islam *************SNIP*************** Today, Palazzi, 43, is emerging as an unlikely voice of moderation in a religion whose leaders are viewed by many as apathetic, if not sympathetic, to terror abroad and oppression at home. A student of Sheikh Muhammad Shaarawi (an Egyptian cleric who promoted Jewish-Muslim relations and backed Anwar Sadat's decision to make peace with Israel), Palazzi is a harsh critic of the anti-Semitism that has come to pervade Islam. A proponent of Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon's voluntary transfer plan, Palazzi opposes the US-backed road...

We often hear that 'Moderate' Moslems are the majority and that terrorist supporters are a minority extremist fringe. However, when genuine Islamic moderate leaders stand firm against terrorism, we do not see majority Moslem support of their views. To the contrary, such moderates are shouted down and even condemned by Islamists, who seem to be the only vocal Moslem group on our college campuses. Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community and a vocal critic of militant Islam, was a guest speaker on March 4th at the University of California in Santa...