Exploiting the 9/11 Tenth Anniversary

by Joseph Klein

As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the Islamists and their supporters are busy preparing a disinformation campaign to whitewash Sharia law and Islamic ideology under the banner of an operation they call “Prepare New York.” The intent is to use a front of “interfaith” alliances with progressive groups to marginalize those who are trying to expose the truth about the Islamist agenda and to exploit the 9/11 anniversary for propaganda purposes.

Prepare New York is following the blueprint laid out by the Muslim Brotherhood in its 1982 manifesto entitled Toward a Worldwide Strategy for Islamic Policy, a 12-point strategy to “establish an Islamic Power on the earth.” To do this, the Muslim Brotherhood set out to “channel thought, education and action” to “influence centers of power both local and worldwide to the service of Islam,” and to “work within various influential institutions and use them in the service of Islam.”

In a document entitled the Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America, written in 1987 and published in 1991, authored by the Muslim Brotherhood operative Mohamed Akram, the work of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates in America was described as “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

The method for “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within” would include developing “a mastery of the art of ‘coalitions,’ the art of ‘absorption’ and the principles of ‘cooperation.’”

One of the first steps for Islamists upon arriving in a non-Muslim country to live is to declare the common bonds between Islam and the more prevalent religions in the host country through bridge-building and interfaith sessions. As they gain more of a foothold, the Islamists become more vocal about the host country’s need to accommodate the special demands of Islamic law, which they couch in human rights terms of free expression of religion, anti-racism and anti-discrimination. They find willing partners among progressive religious groups and opinion leaders to help carry this phony message of tolerance and anti-bigotry.

Prepare New York is a leading example. It describes itself as “a coalition of New York based interfaith organizations who have joined together to help create a city-wide climate that promotes healing and reconciliation in anticipation of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.” Their website mentions such “Steering Committee Partners” as the Interfaith Center of New York, Intersections International, Odyssey Networks, and the Tanenbaum Center.

Prepare New York was formed, its website says, “in part as a response to the national and international headlines surrounding last summer’s proposed Muslim Community Center in lower Manhattan. The purpose of the coalition is to shift the discussion from one of fear and mistrust targeting any belief or group to one that celebrates New York’s extraordinary diversity of religious freedom and expression.”

With such lofty goals and with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and an array of prominent progressive Christian and Jewish groups supporting the mission of Prepare New York, how can anyone criticize it? It all sounds so warm and fuzzy until you look behind the facade and examine common threads amongst at least some of the coalition partners and you discover how they are really all about preparing to “channel thought, education and action” and to “work within various influential institutions and use them in the service of Islam.”

Let’s start with the fact that one of Prepare New York‘s “Action Partners” is the unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist financing case, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Council for American Islamic Relations.

Then there are the connections of various Steering Committee Partners of Prepare New York to the Cordoba Initiative, or the “Ground Zero Mosque,” and to its founder, Imam Feisal Rauf . Rauf was the imam behind the Ground Zero Mosque project and a co-founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, an organization receiving funding from a number of leftist organizations and from foreign nations that are members of the Organization of Islamic Conference and whose objective is to promote a positive image of Islam to the American public.

Rauf, who withdrew from direct involvement with the Ground Zero Mosque after a number of his controversial statements came to light, has praised Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a prominent Muslim scholar and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who supports the killing of Jews, the death penalty for apostasy and homosexuality, and the right under Sharia law for Muslim husbands to beat their wives, as “a very, very well known Islamic jurist, highly regarded all over the Muslim world.”

Rauf’s book, What’s Right with Islam Is What’s Right with America, was originally published in 2004 in Malaysia, under a different title: A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble: Islamic Dawa in the Heart of America Post-9/11. What’s Right with Islam was an edition of the book published for an American audience and was produced after the original, with Feisal’s cooperation, by the unindicted co-conspirator and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islamic Society of North America.

Intersections International, one of Prepare New York’s steering committee partners, lists Rauf as one of its “partners.” Intersections International receives funding from Odyssey Networks, another steering committee member, which is also a direct funder of Prepare New York.

Odyssey Networks includes as one of its members the American Society for Muslim Advancement and lists as one of its “personalities” none other than Feisal Rauf. Odyssey Networks features on its site a video in which “Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf shares his insights on immigrant rights in the USA in the context of Islam and other religions.” It is listed as one of the Cordoba Initiative’s supporting partners. Odyssey Networks’ blog also published scathing criticisms of Congressman Peter King’s congressional hearings into the radicalization of American Muslims.

The Interfaith Center of New York, another Prepare New York Steering Committee member which boasts the word “interfaith” in its title, lists Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as one of its vice chairs and a donor. It too is listed as a supporting partner of the Cordoba Initiative.

One of the key “advisory committee partners” of the Prepare New York coalition is the Abraham Path Initiative. Contributors to the Abraham Path Initiative include the Saudi Arabian Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation. On the board of directors of the Abraham Initiative is Amir Mohammed Mahallati, former UN ambassador from Iran who is said to have been one of the early moving forces behind the idea of another downtown mosque in New York. Mahallati also happened to have served on the board of directors of the Interfaith Center of New York where, as already noted, Rauf is one of the vice chairs.

The United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations, which had its roots in the Iranian-driven “Dialogue Among Civilizations,” conceived by former Iranian President Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, is a partner in the Abraham Path Initiative. It is also a funder of Intersections International, one of the Prepare New York steering committee partners with ties to Imam Rauf’s Cordoba Initiative. And the UN Alliance of Civilizations has partnered with the Cordoba Initiative on a conference organized by Imam Rauf’s American Society for Muslim Advancement.

So far, we have only looked at the common thread amongst many of the key players behind the Prepare New York initiative being planned around the tenth anniversary of 9/11. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Recall that part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s grand strategy, in its own words, is to “channel thought, education and action” and to “work within various influential institutions and use them in the service of Islam.” This would include working with progressive organizations to the extent they serve the Islamists’ purposes, such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundation and One Nation, both of which are helping to fund Prepare New York.

One Nation is not only helping to fund Prepare New York. It is putting out a totally whitewashed version of Islamic law on its website regarding such core issues as the treatment of women and religious tolerance.

The One Nation website falsely claims that “the Islamic faith has historically upheld beliefs that respect women and their role in society, although these teachings have often been misrepresented and misinterpreted by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. When Islam first developed on the Arabian Peninsula 14 centuries ago, women and girls faced oppression in many forms. Women were denied basic human rights… With the introduction of Islam, women in the region gained many rights.”

As usual, the propagandists who try to make Sharia law look benign rarely if ever deal with what Sharia law actually says, as embodied in the Koran and the recorded sayings and deeds of Mohammed (the Sunna, consisting of the Hadith and the Sira) on which Sharia law is based. The classic Sharia law text, certified as accurate by the greatest Islamic scholars of today, is the Reliance of the Traveller, which contains the Koran and Sunna passages quoted in this article. Whatever One Nation or other Islamist propagandists claim about Islamic law that is inconsistent with these texts is evidence of their blatant deception.

As to women, the Koran 4:34 says: “Allah has made men superior to women because men spend their wealth to support them. As for women whom you fear will rebel, admonish them first, and then send them to a separate bed, and then beat them.”

Hadith, Abu Dawud 11:2139-2142 says: “The Prophet ( peace be upon him ) said: ‘A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.’”

But aren’t these texts so ancient that the respected Muslim scholars of today do not interpret them literally? Since Imam Rauf has claimed that Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a Muslim scholar and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, is “a very, very well known Islamic jurist, highly regarded all over the Muslim world,” why don’t we see what he has to say about women’s role under Sharia law?

This Islamic scholar said: “Because of his natural ability and his responsibility for providing for his family, the man is the head of the house and of the family. He is entitled to the obedience and cooperation of his wife, and accordingly it is not permissible for her to rebel against his authority, causing disruption.”

If the wife will not obey after the husband has tried to persuade her to end her rebelliousness, said Qaradawi,”It is permissible for him to beat her lightly with his hands.”

Qaradawi does believe in equal rights for women in one sense – to participate in suicide bombings.

The One Nation website is also deceiving its readers about religious tolerance under Islamic law. It falsely claims that a “central principle of the Islamic faith is respect for all religions, based on the belief that humankind universally worships the same God.”

Again, the actual text of the Koran and the Sunna, which make up Sharia law, contradicts this lie.

For example, the Koran 8:12 says: “Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, ‘I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the Kafirs’ [unbelievers] hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers.’”

Koran 9:29 says: “Make war on those who have received the Scriptures [Jews and Christians] but do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day.”

Koran 33:60 says: “They [Kafirs] will be cursed, and wherever they are found, they will be seized and murdered.”

According to Sahih Muslim, Book 1, number 31001, Mohammed said: “I have been ordered to wage war against mankind until they accept that there is no god but Allah and they believe I am His prophet and accept all revelations spoken through me.”

Apostasy is punishable by death. From Bukhari 84:57, which like the Koran is part of Sharia law because it reflects the sayings and deeds of Mohammed: “[In the words of] Allah’s Apostle, ‘Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.’”

Again, these are not simply ancient texts that should be taken no more literally than the Old Testament’s requirement that Jews stone disobedient sons to death, an example cited by the Center for American Progress (which, like One Nation, is spinning for the Islamists). There aren’t any mainstream Jewish scholars who are advocating death to disobedient Jewish sons today. However, the eminent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has stated his understanding of Islamic law that an apostate is “a traitor to his religion and his people and thus deserves killing.”

Harvard University’s Muslim chaplain agreed with Al-Qaradawi. He advised students asking about the punishment for apostasy in Islam that the “preponderant position in all of the 4 sunni madhahib (and apparently others of the remaining eight according to one contemporary `alim) is that the verdict is capital punishment.” He also told them that “debating about religious matter is impermissible, in general.”

Prepare New York is yet another example of stealth jihad. Its backers, with connections to Imam Rauf and the Cordoba Initiative, are trying to exploit the 9/11 tenth anniversary for their own use “in the service of Islam.” They must be exposed as the hypocrites and deceivers they truly are.

Joseph Klein is the author of a recent book entitled Lethal Engagement: Barack Hussein Obama, the United Nations and Radical Islam.

Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/07/14/exploiting-the-911-tenth-anniversary/

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.