Continuing our look at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in preparation for their annual national convention to be held next month in Columbus, we examine today an address delivered by Hamza Yusuf Hanson at the 1995 ISNA convention. In Hanson’s speech, he identified Judaism as “a most racist religion”:
The Jews would have us believe that God has this bias to this little small tribe in the Middle of the Sinai desert and all the rest of humanity is just rubbish. I mean that this is the basic doctrine of the Jewish religion and that’s why it is a most racist religion.
Ah, yes, those ISNA conferences draw such interfaith moderates! Wonder how the folks at the Columbus Jewish Federation will feel about that one?
Exposing Hamza Yusuf Hanson’s racist diatribes is essential as he will be a featured main session speaker again this year at the 2008 ISNA convention. But don’t worry folks! He says that he has “grown out of” his hatred for Judaism.
For some more of Hamza Yusuf’s greatest hits, including his recent extremist statements, check out the article at the Center for Islamic Pluralism, “The ‘Sufi’ Master of Deceit: Hamza Yusuf Hanson”. Stephen Schwartz says of our upcoming Central Ohio visitor:
Even in his alleged Sufi incarnation, Hamza Yusuf Hanson propagandizes for the Islamization of America. . . . It is Hamza Yusuf Hanson who is dishonest, when he calls himself, ridiculously, “the mufti of California,” and when he claims to be a Muslim moderate. He is neither. . .
Be sure to check out some of our other recent ISNA-related posts:
The New York Sunreported earlier this month that federal prosecutors have responded to a filing by the Islamic Society of North American (ISNA) to have itself delisted as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial.
In their reply brief, the Department of Justice not only defended their designation of ISNA as unindicted co-conspirator, but cited more than two dozen government exhibits connecting ISNA and its financial arm, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), to the HLF criminal conspiracy to raise money for the HAMAS terrorist organization. The NY Sun quotes the trial brief:
“During last year’s trial, numerous exhibits were entered into evidence establishing both ISNA’s and NAIT’s intimate relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestine Committee, and the defendants in this case,” the prosecutors wrote. “They were intimately connected with the HLF and its assigned task of providing financial support to HAMAS. . . . That ISNA and NAIT appeared in these documents and share a common history with these defendants is a reflection of the evidence, not any attempt to ‘disparage’ or ‘vilify.’
But that’s not all. More from the trial brief:
ISNA checks deposited into the ISNA/NAIT account for the HLF were often made payable to “the Palestinian Mujahadeen,” the original name for the HAMAS military wing. Govt. Exh. 1–174. From that ISNA/NAIT account, the HLF sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to HAMAS leader Mousa Abu Marzook, Nadia Elashi (defendant Ghassan Elashi’s cousin and Marzook’s wife), Sheikh Ahmed Yassin’s Islamic Center of Gaza, the Islamic University, and a number of other individuals associated with HAMAS. Govt. Exh. 20–55, 20–56.
ISNA was also discussed during the 1993 Philadelphia conference, a meeting of the Palestine Committee convened to discuss the impact of the Oslo Accords. Govt. Exh. 16–47. During the conference, Palestine Committee members discussed using ISNA as official cover for their activities. Govt. Exh. 16–0059 at 10–11; 16–60. In short, evidence introduced during the course of a public trial demonstrates that ISNA and NAIT are indeed co-conspirators/joint venturers, and no relief that the Court can grant would alter the state of the record in that regard. (p. 14)
For more on the DOJ brief, see the related report by the Investigative Project on Terrorism. And here are some of our recent ISNA-related posts:
A newly declassified FBI memo, released yesterday by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, discusses examining the extremist ties of the North American Islamic Trust, the financial arm of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), concludes:
. . . ISNA conferences provided opportunities for the extreme fundamentalist Muslims to meet with their supporters.
Where is the next ISNA conference to be held? Oh, that’s right! Columbus! Next month!
In a stunning development, and no doubt shamed by my repeated exposes about the long trail of Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and HAMAS enthusiasts and Muslim Brotherhood extremists that have come through the Noor Islamic Cultural Center over the years, we are pleased to announce that Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy will be speaking at Noor this coming Saturday, July 26 from 7–9pm (event flier below and full size flier here). Curiously, nothing as of yet has appeared on the Noor website about this important community event.
I previously posted about Dr. Jasser back in April. Then I said:
Dr. Jasser is a welcome alternative to the long line of extremists that have paraded around town identifying themselves as “moderates”, but openly support terrorism and radicalism when they think no one is looking. And he is exponentially better than the bevy of Wahhabis and Muslim Brotherhood preachers regularly imported to our area by the usual suspects — Islamic Society of Greater Columbus, Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, Noor Islamic Cultural Center, etc.
May we have more true moderate Muslim voices in Central Ohio! And Dr. Jasser, you’re welcome to Columbus any time.
So I’m delighted that Zuhdi will be in town and that others in the area will finally be able to hear his message of mainstream Islam, not the garden variety extremism we’re used to here in Central Ohio.
As evidence of the opposition to his message, read about how he has been viciously attacked by extremist publications in his own community in Phoenix, and more recently by mosque leaders in Florida.
On a more positive note and as a testament to his character, Zuhdi recently received the FBI Director’s Community award in Phoenix for his work in advancing mainstream Islam:
Here’s the press release announcing his upcoming talk at the Noor Center:
M. Zuhdi Jasser to Address Columbus Muslim Community “Upholding Our Islamic Responsibility: Countering the Ideologies that Fuel Terrorism”
Phoenix, AZ — July 8, 2008 — The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), a think tank and activist Muslim organization focused on the separation of spiritual Islam from political Islam, announced today that M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D, President AIFD, will speak about “Upholding our Islamic Responsibility: Countering the Ideologies that Fuel Terrorism” on Saturday July 26, 2008, 7 pm at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center, 5001 Wilcox Road, Dublin Ohio.
AIFD openly engages all American Muslims to proactively be in the forefront of the domestic and foreign struggle (jihad if you will) against the primary driving force of militant Islamism and its terrorist offshoots. Militant Islamists are fueled ideologically by a radicalization of the faith of Islam. This radicalization includes both militant components and a more central political desire (Islamism) to establish Islamic states. Islamists view pluralistic societies like America as an anathema to Islam. AIFD rather seeks to build coalitions of Muslims which not only reject the means of terror as an anathema to Islam but more globally reject the ends of the Islamic state which Islamists seek.
“Without Muslims leading the effort to reject the ends of the Islamic state and defend societies like America which are rooted in universal religious freedom and the separation of religion and government, we will not see the ultimate defeat of militant Islamists,” says Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser.
AIFD believes that the contest of ideas needs to begin, first, in the mosques if there is to be any hope for the domestic and global Muslim community to marginalize the militants, depoliticize the ummah (faith community), and promote a spiritual theology immune from radical militant anti-national interpretations. “AIFD is founded upon the premise that it is our primary Muslim responsibility to foster ijtihad (modern interpretation of our scripture). Today that ijtihad must be focused on the rescue of spiritual Islam from the clutches of political Islamists. We reject political Islam regardless of whether Muslims are a minority or a majority, and we believe that when given the opportunity to bring this discourse to the mosque most devout Muslims will agree that the most sacred and pure practice of Islam is one which is wholly free and unencumbered by coercion or any mandate from the state or government,” continues Dr. Jasser. AIFD believes that Islam, like any faith, is no longer a faith but becomes a coerced autocratic system when its laws and belief system are in any way enforced by government.
It is this debate over the role of shar’ia (Islamic jurisprudence) and the Islamist desire of imposing the faith of Islam in government which AIFD believes needs to be raised.
“With the ever-increasing threat of militant Islamist terror, it is imperative that the activist Muslim community wake up and direct their valuable resources toward fighting the root cause of terrorism which arises from dreams of political Islam,” adds Dr. Jasser. “The reality is that our security is not threatened as much by the tactic of terrorism, but more so by those individuals who are driven by the political ideology that feeds the mind-set of radical Islamism.”
“The only effective counter-terrorism is one that attacks the fuel and root cause of the Islamist terrorists — political Islam and their dreams of an Islamic state,” concludes Dr. Jasser.
When Iram Qureshi of Dublin, Ohio was dismissed from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine last month after having to repeat her first year and then failing two “systems” in her second year after she stopped attending classes, she did what any normal American Muslim woman would seem to do these days — she called the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and sued.
Tragically, perhaps fatally one day for one of her future patients, a Kanawha County Circuit Court judge has granted her a temporary restraining order so that she could resume her “studies” and clinical rotation beginning this month while her dismissal appeal is reviewed, the Charleston Gazette reports. Curiously, the Charleston Gazette waits until half-way through their article before telling readers that the cause of her dismissal was poor academic performance, not religious discrimination.
Her academic failure, however, hasn’t stopped her attorney, James McQueen, from making a series of allegations of religious discrimination in her defense, including her reluctance to conduct chest and pelvic examinations on male subjects. She claims that her alleged persecution grew so bad, she stopped attending classes altogether and is now forced to take anxiety medication.
Qureshi’s pretended plight has garnered significant attention in the medical community nationwide, with at least one medical student online forum engaging in extensive debate about the situation, including some of Qureshi’s classmates. Many of the participating students seem unsympathetic to her claims for preferred treatment even beyond what many other female Muslim students have agreed to, as the following comments represent:
In preparation for next month’s 2008 ISNA national convention, we are looking at some of the organization’s highlights.
Today we remember the efforts by Rep. Pete Hoekstra and Rep. Sue Myrick asking the Department of Justice to reconsider the decision to have a recruiting booth at the 2007 ISNA convention. These efforts followed the revelation by the Washington Times that DOJ would participate in the event, even though DOJ prosecutors had just named ISNA an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism finance trial. Tomorrow we will reveal what happened when DOJ went ahead with their plans to appear at the ISNA event
An image of the Hoekstra/Myrick congressional letter [pdf] is immediately below:
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is coming to Columbus for its annual convention at the end of August (46 days and counting!), and I thought it appropriate to remind our readers exactly who and what ISNA really is.
For instance, in 1997 after he was deported to Jordan (two years after he was designated a terrorist by the US government) HAMAS terrorist leader Mousa Abu Marzook published an open letter in the Washington Report of Middle East Affairs in thanks of the support by American Islamic organizations that had aided him and contributed money to his defense fund in the two years he was incarcerated while the US government was trying to deport him (Jordan would also deport Marzook and the rest of the HAMAS leadership).
And as is seen in this graphic taken from his open letter, ISNA is right in the middle of the organizations that this HAMAS terrorist thanks:
For more detail on ISNA’s legacy of terror and extremism, see the extensive report prepared by the International Assessment and Strategy Center, “Extremism and ISNA”.
