zTruth

Hamas-linked unindicted co-conspirator CAIR steps into the Park51 Islamic center fray

CAIR and other Islamic organizations held a press conference yesterday in front of the newly purchased Park51building to extend their help to the GZM-dubbed project. Opponents have been called bigots for opposing the proposed Islamic center at the site where landing gear projectiled threw the roof from one of the planes used as weapons of mass destruction by Islamic extremists on 9/11/01.  The second attack on the WTC by such extremists destroyed the well-known landmarks.

Four days before the attack, CAIR and other Islamic organizations (Library of Congress archive) blasted the U.S. government after a major raid on a key Islamic Internet company called Infocom.  CAIR and others played the victim game big time and claimed it was an "anti-Muslim witch hunt promoted by the pro-Israel lobby in America".  BBC and others reported the raid resulted in a temporary shutdown of websites it hosted for about 500 Islamic customers, including that run by Al-Jazeera television and the newspaper Al-Sharq, both based in the Gulf state of Qatar. 

Its a strange and creepy coincident this anti-American Islamic press conference took place just four days before 9/11/01. 

At Monday's press conference, CAIR's director, Nihad Awad, said this project wasn't a case but a "cause" and its all a misunderstand and misinformation if you are against it.  To handle this they called for a week of "dialogue" next month to help make it all go away.  A cause? 

 

photo credit: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

The years between these two press conference are filled with disturbing rhetoric and actions by CAIR.  They are an outgrowth of the Islamic supremacist Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure in this country, as identified by the FBI.  In Palestine, the MB branch started Hamas which wants to destroy Israel for ISLAM (read it in their charter).  The Muslim Brotherhood is anti-American and pro-Hamas.  At most every opportunity CAIR tries to impede the FBI in doing their job to keep us safe from another Islamic-motivated terror attack.  Whenever CAIR is confronted about their history, they whine its  bigotry aimed at ALL Muslims, which is dishonest. 

I urge every American to become better educated about Islamism (Islamic activism to gain power for Islam) which is far different than the secular and the quiet private practice of one's own religion.  This way if you decide to attend one of their so-called Islamic whitewashing  "National Week For Dialogue" events you know exactly what kinds of questions to ask.  Do not let them off the hook when they try to avoid the question - keep drilling down and repeating the specific question when they try to change to subject.  One way to learn is to review my many pages on CAIR and take some time to study them and other like groups.

Did I mention CAIR is bestowing Helen Thomas, the ex-White House correspondent whose anti-Israel comment led to her downfall and disgrace a lifetime achievement award?  So, it all fits, doesn't it?

They and their leftist partners can have all the dialogue and outreach they want but it won't hide the goals of Islamists to push Islam into stronger more powerful positions at all levels of local, state and federal government and other entities as they try to convert as many of us to Islam to help change our views, our policies and our country with their Islamic activism. 

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Also see:

CAIRtries to squash criticism of agenda through intimidation and lawfare ...

"...Since their founding in 1994, CAIR has sued and/or attacked with consequence such media outlets as: The Washington Times, The Los Angeles Times, The National Post, National Review, Anti-CAIR, various talk radio hosts, and college newspapers. Recently, even The Daily Caller has found itself caught in CAIR’s crosshairs..."

CNN contributor Mona Eltahawy tweets I'm a teabagger!

Recently, columnist and CNN contributor (CNN video) Mona Eltahawy wrote an article tltled Hey, America: I’m a Muslim, Let’s Talk.  She published this on her blog after she spent four days in front of the Park51 building (the controversial site for an Islamic center in NYC) with other supporters and talking to people over the Labor Day weekend.  One thing she said stood out to me; "I learned to resist labelling as a “bigot” anyone who opposed its building."    Park51 tweeted her article yesterday to its followers. Eltahawy is a feminist and a Muslim.

Really?  She wants to talk.  Ok.  I'll give it a try.

I tweeted her a perfectly reasonable question if she supported Imam Feisal Rauf after news that Union City, New Jersey had sued him and that 9/11 truther, Faiz Khan, had preach from his mosque for seven years,  which had come to light this week:

Me:  "so, u support Imam Rauf, a slumlord sued by city who had 9/11 truther preach from his mosque 4 7 yrs? Classy."

She replied with a non-answer: "Who are you and your assumptions and whatever gave you idea I have to justify my "classsiness" to some faceless entity on Twitter?"  and in a follow-up tweet, she wrote;  "I see you're in Oklahoma - I'm here to teach at OU so I guess someone in your home state thought I was "classy" enough"

What?  Come to find out she's here teaching college students how to become blogging activists at the University of Oklahoma.  Great.  I asked her the same question again; "1 more try OU teacher. Do u support Imam Rauf, a slumlord who had 9/11 truther preach from his mosque 4 7 yrs?"

Eltahawy replied "You obviously need to join my class because you lack basic intellectual skills."

Come on Mona, my question was straight-forward and simple.  Why the derogatory reply? 

Me:  "Your predictable leftwing name-calling diversionary response didn't answer my question #OU. 

She sounded as defensive as do most leftists and Islamists when confronted with a prickly question who quickly try to stomp out answering it with ridicule slung hard at the questioner - you know like a verbal slap-in-the-face to shut them up.  So, I did a quick search on the Internet where I found something interesting she wrote about her support for the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization banned in Egypt for its religious supremacy goals and out by the FBI in 2007 for their incrimental and detailed plans to take over the American government through their networks of organizations that will use strong relentless Islamic activism (the "grand jihad") to change it.

I tweeted @ouWGS (OU Women's & Gender who were pleased to have their "Center for Social Justice's Activist-in-Residence Eltahawy there) Are you proud to have pro-Muslim Brotherhood @monaeltahawy at OU???

Eltahawy:  One of my fave tweets! Hilarious! “@ztruth: @ouWGS Are you proud to have pro-Muslim Brotherhood @monaeltahawy at OU???”

Eltahawy:  I'll explain really slowly; u tweet a string of accusations I am supposed to condemn, ur tone is accusatory & u expect an answer? 

Accusations?  But, I continued.

Me:  "Your opinion piece "I Will Stand Up for the Muslim Brotherhood" is quite telling @ouWGS #OU"

Eltahawy:   @ztruth Brandi! You can read! I'm impressed. 'Atta girl!

Eltahawy:  But can you read beyond the headline, I have to wonder. That's a bit more challenging, no?

Ok, she sort-of questioned their misogynistic treatment of women but certainly not their seriously religious supremacist ideology.  And she wrote of the irony of defending them.  This is an organization that openly supports Hamas, which grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.  Their goal is the destruction of Israel for Islam and they are strongly anti-American.  At this point, Eltahawy was not happy with me and called me something she has just written she would refrain from labeling others:

Eltahawy:  "I should've called u a bigot from the get go for ur assumptions. Now this "pro Muslim Botherhood leftie" laughs at ur ignorance"  

Assumptions?  Keep in mind, she hadn't even answered my initial question.  What did I assume? I was asking for claraification. 

Eltahawy:  "And I urge you to collect your fellow teabaggers and protest a leftwing, pro Muslim Brotherhood brainwashing the youth of ur state."

Ok, now she's down and dirty.  This is the first time in my life I've been called a teabagger (I know this is a highly repugnant name but I've chosen not to find out exactly what this means).  

Me:  "Bottom line is you defended a movement that seeks Islamic supremacy @ouWGS #OU."

Eltahawy:   "It's no longer fun dealing with @ztruth. If anyone else wants to explain the world beyond teabags to her, be my guest."

Oh no, Mona doesn't think I'm fun anymore.

Me:  "Defending yr. positions by name calling is weak. And, you teach "Blogging for Social Change" at OU? LOL @ouWGS #OU"

Eltahawy:  Brandi, sweetie, told you already I'm here on stealth jihad not to teach but to brainwash. Now leave me to prepare my nefariousness

How proud OU must be.

By the way, Mona, do you know you misspelled "Muslim" in the title of two recent articles on your blog? 

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Also see:

The Women’s and Gender Studies’ Center for Social Justice  (FB) is sponsored, in part, by Center for Middle East Studies at OU

My other posts on Park51, Imam Rauf and Sharif el-Gamal

9/11 truther, Faiz Khan, a close associate of GZM Imam Feisal Rauf!!!

(Pictured Faiz Kahn above left - source Justice for 9/11)

The Investigative Project, which has one of, if not the largest, database on political Islam and terrorism activity in the U.S. wrote a disturbing article about the relationship Imam Feisal Rauf has or had with a fellow Muslim and 9/11 truther!

Faiz Khan, a physician who claims to have been a first responder after the September 11 attacks, is a founding member of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth and is on the advisory board of the Muslims for 9/11 Truth.

...Khan also helped form ('98 IRS form 1023) the American Sufi Muslim Association in 1997 with Rauf, a group now known as the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA). ASMA and Rauf's Cordoba Initiative are leading the mosque effort in lower Manhattan.

Khan has led Friday prayers at the Al Farah Mosque, where Rauf is the imam, for years. That practice continued at least through December – after the mosque proposal was unveiled -- when Khan was cited and photographed in an article in the German magazine Der Spiegel on the project.

Khan said he was no longer an ASMA officer and had not preached at Rauf's Al Farah mosque "for several years now..."

Kahn claimed he hasn't spoken to the Rauf's for several years now despite a collection of photos of Kahn leading prayers at the old Burlington Coat Factory titled Praying to Allah at Ground Zero that accompanied the December article; A New Manhattan Mosque Hopes to Heal where prayers has recently started in the building that was "half-destroyed" on 9/11. As you may recall some of the leftist new media reported prayers had been conducted there for several years.  And, Imam Feisal Rauf, Daisy Khan and 9/11 truther Faiz Kahn are quoted in the article.   Fox News reports Kahn has preached twice from the new site (see below)!

Khan's bio on the Muslims for 9/11 Truth 2010 advisory board page, linked above, states he "conducted Friday prayers for seven years at Rauf's Al-Farah Mosque in TriBeca, Manhattan."  And, now he conduct prayers at the Islamic Center of Long Island and other NY area mosques now.

screen shot taken 9/13/10:

Khan was a contributor to the book 9/11 & American Empire: Christians, Jews, and Muslims Speak Out Vol. 2

IPT tried to contact Imam Rauf and his wife, Daisey Khan, but they did not respond.  I'm sure they are hoping for more cover from Islamophobia accusations that are hurled by the leftist media and their shills. 

Did I mention Michael Moore is helping raise money for the Park51 project?  He even wrote on his website last Saturday (9/11) that he wants this mosque to be built right on the grounds of ground zero!  And, get this - CNN (sic) actually interviews this man.  And, they wonder why they have so few viewers.

Update 1/04/10:  video:  in 2006, said 9/11 was a covert operation:

 

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Also see:

Associate of NYC Mosque Imam Calls 9/11 Attacks an 'Inside Job ...    Sep 13, 2010 ... Faiz Khan -- who has preached at least twice at the former Burlington Coat Factory building, the site of the proposed mosque -- was for ...

Muslim Perspectives on 9/11 speech (Chicago 9/11 Conference June 2006) given by Kevin Barrett and Faiz Khan.  Khan starts his talk about his conspiracy theory about 9/11 at the 25:10 minute mark

911 Revealing The Truth  Faiz Khan is a Muslim scholar and educator as well as an M.D. with a dual specialty in emergency and internal medicine. He has been living and working in ...

Imam Faiz Khan, MD  By Imam Faiz Khan, M.D., 9/11 First Responder and Co-Founder, MUJCA-NET [Muslims gone Bad] + [Incompetent/overwhelmed Surveillance] = 9/11 ...

Other posts on GZM

Imam Feisal Rauf's bridge building has chilling effect

“If we move from that location, the story will be the radicals have taken over the discourse,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said on CNN’s “Larry King Live last night.”

"The headlines will be in the Muslim World is that Islam is under attack."

71% of Americans find Rauf's building bridges efforts a dismal failure.

Typical twisted Islamist propaganda. 

(Imam Feisal Rauf - photo credit Reuters)

Library of Congress books on Sharia law

The Library of Congress, which is the research arm of Congress, has a rather large collection of books about Sharia law that have been published in English since the horrific attack against America on 911.

I also found GZM Imam Feisal Rauf's 1999 Islam, a sacred law : what every Muslim should know about the Shariʾah there, too.

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Also see:

The sharia-loving GZM/Cordoba House/Park51 Imam Feisal Rauf

GZM/Park51 developer Sharif el-Gamal exposed!

Sharif el-Gamal is the CEO and president of SoHo Properties which paid for the GZM building with nearly $5 million in cash.  The link above is to their password protected website.   So, where did this savory character get all that money especially since we have learned they have not paid the property taxes this year, at all?  Another partnership set up by Sharif is called 45 Park Place Partners. There is also 45 Park Place LH, LLC, too.   I think these partnerships were set up specifically for the GZM project, but am not 100% sure.  They both have the same address as SoHo Properties.

In recent days information about e-Gamal has surfaces you may want to review.  I'll try to keep it updated, too.

• June: GZM mosque developer, Sharif el-Gamal: "the House"  to hold 1,000 for prayer at Jumat!   Islamic Finder   It states their goal is for a full-fledged Islamic Center.

• Fox5 New York investigative report on GZM developer Sharif el-Gamal 

• GZM mossque developer Sharif El-Gamal has a history of run-ins w/ the law New York Daily  "Years before his latest real-estate project ignited an uproar, Sharif El-Gamal racked up at least seven run-ins with the law, including a bust for patronizing a prostitute.

• Ground Zero mosque developers owe $224000 in back property taxes ...

• Rift Imperils Ground Zero Mosque: 

  "...Court records from Florida to New York state reveal that Sharif and his younger brother, Samir "Sammy" El-Gamal, 35, a partner with him in his company SoHo Properties, both have a history replete with intersections with tax and debt issues, dating back to at least 1994 and continuing into this year. In one instance, Sharif told a court he didn't hit a tenant from whom his brother and he were trying to collect back rent. He said to police, the tenant's "face could have run into my hand."

• Major investor of SoHo Properties, Hisham Elzanaty,  gave $6,000 to HLF, Islamic charity later declared terrorist group.  Fox5 New York 9/2/10 video, too.  Claims money for orphans - yeah probably for the children of Hamas martys.

• Family that sold GZM site to developer El-Gamal invested with him 4 months later.  New York Post 9/7/10 

  One developer, Kevin Glodek, offered $18 million cash in 2007 but was rejected.

  While it isn't clear why the higher offer was turned down, it is evident that after the Pomerantz family accepted El-Gamal's lower offer, several of the family members were eager to do business

• Mosque developer has shoddy building record  New York Post 9/7/10

  The developer behind the planned Ground Zero mosque already has a lousy record with the city Buildings Department -- racking up $24,650 in fines for safety and construction violations at a Washington Heights apartment building that his firm owns.

• Ground Zero mosque moneyman, Hisham Elzanaty,  was sued for fraud by State Farm Insurance - New York Post 9/4/10

   

June: GZM mosque developer, Sharif el-Gamal: mosque to hold 1,000!

In June, Sharif el-Gamal, the developer of the GZM or someone in his place placed a listing for The House (Cordoba) on Islamic Finder.  It explained the site of the proposed GZM could hold up to 1,000 people to pray.  Now, they downplay it as just a pray space in a community center:

"...We are trying to establish a full fledged Islamic Center in the lower Manhattan, only 2 blocks from World Trade Center, New York City, NY. It is a neat and clean facility and can accomodate 1,000 people to pray in Jamat at one time."

Screen shot of Islamic Finder entry taken 8/25/10 at 4:00 PM CT:

H/T:  JordanSekulow

There's more at Ground Zero Mosque Developer: Mosque Could Accommodate 1,000 Worshippers (Weekly Standard)

Here's a pdf file of the website if the link stops working:

Download Islamicfinder_org_getitWorld_php_id=102115&lang=english

Holocaust survivor cursed out at GMZ protest by left-winger

This video caught one Alinkicized left-winger at his best (warning offensive language):

H/T FB friends

 

Fox5 New York investigative report on GZM developer Sharif el-Gamal

There's an interesting video report "No Answers from Developer of Mosque Near Ground Zero" about Sharif el-Gamal, the CEO and President of SoHo Properties who holds the title to the GZM/Park51 building.  He repeatedly dodged questions which, of course, raises even more questions.  The report includes an interview with someone who knows him who was fearful to appear on camera without being hidden.

The report showed el-Gamal had help on a loan on a more expensive property from Hisham Elzanaty.

A person with the same name as Hisham Elzanhaty is/was a defendant in a racketeer Influenced and corrupt case in New York filed in 2007.  I cannot confirm, at this time, if they are the same person.

Inside GZM video: segregates women, shows little need for 13 story project!

Yesterday Park51, the name for the GZM project, tweeted a link to a Time video titled Ground Zero: Inside the Park51 Mosque.  There it was, right away, the repugnant and disturbing segregation of women in America! Only a few Muslims were actually there clearly showing little need for a 13 story Islamic center at the site that had it roof ripped open from the landing gear of a plane that hit the World Trade Centers.  Its part and parcel of the 9/11 attack and it will be seen as a victory for Islamism! I can assure you.  The poor taste and insensitivity shown by Park51 continues to create stress and concern for many.

The Time video included the ability to embed it into websites and is one more effort by Time to do fluffy little pieces about the GZM and its backers, including the highly controversial Imam Feisal Rauf.  Time selectively ignores valid concerns showing just how piss-poor they are at what they do.

More posts on GZM are here.

 

 

How close is GZM/Cordoba House/ Park 51 to Ground Zero?

Sometimes a picture or two says it all.

H/T KRMG  
  
Now, review Imam Feisal Rauf's book published in Malasia: "Seruan Azan Dari Puing WTC Dakwah Islam di Jantung Amerika Pasca 9/11" in Malaysia?  Translated?

"A call to prayer from the WTC debris - Islamic Da'wah in the heart of American post 9 / 11"

 Here's a link to the book.

 

The sharia-loving GZM/Cordoba House/Park51 Imam Feisal Rauf

There's such much controversy about the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero, including its wisdom and insensitivity to families who lost loved ones, its financing and worrisome statements made by its key backer, Imam Feisal Rauf. The site of the worst terror attack in our history perpetrated by followers of Islam includes the building purchased for this center.  It was hit on 9/11 when the landing gear from one of the planes crashed through the roof. 

As more and more information emerges about Imam Feisal Rauf I started this page.  So,  with some help from other bloggers who scoured the Internet and reported their findings together with my own research here's a summary: 

• Imam Raul hearts the Caliphate of Cordoba and was the basis for the name of his institute.  A 2008 archive copy (scroll to bottom of page) of the Cordoba Initiative website explained the meaning behind their name.  This reference is now gone from his website.
• Imam Feisal Rauf and the Park51 project spokesperson will not condemn Hamas or comment about Hamas's stated goals to destroy Israel for ISLAM. Hamas is an Islamic supremacist organization.  My tweets to them on this were ignored.  In fact, in an off-air radio stmt he told the interviewer that he urged the U.S. government to meet with Hamas.  See radio interview below. 
• His Sharia Index Project is setting global benchmarks for what qualifies as a true Islamic State.
• An earlier webpage about project (cannot replicate this in wayback, though but looks authentic):
  Shari'ah Index Project - Imagine: a Perfectly Islamic State -
  Goal: To define, interpret and implement the concept of the Islamic State in modern times.
• In February, on Islamonline (chaired by terror supporter Yusef Qaradawi) Imam Feisal Rauf said it was an Islamic community center even though its now being downplayed as just a community center.  The heart of any Islamic center I know is its mosque. 
• Rauf praised terror-supporter Yusef Qaradawi in Oct. 2001.  NYT  Qaradawi has repeatedly approved of martyrdom against Israel and he is banned from the U.S. 
• 5/4/09 article in Alghad compares American principles to Islamic law - Muslims only need Sharia Law. he said.
• Rauf answers questions in Arabic in an interview on  Hadielislam.com about separation of religion and state:  ---Muslims on a personal level are required to follow the prophet (peace be upon him) on all aspects of life and conduct as permissible through a societal level as well. For that, we believe that the state that was erected by the prophet in Medina was the ideal model for an Islamic state.  The challenge today in the Islamic world is how do we accomplish this in our current era.
• In a 60 minute interview on 9/30/2011 Rauf said:

  "...Faisal: I wouldn't say that the United States deserved what happened, but united states policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.

  Bradley: You say that we're an accessory? How?

  Faisal: Because we have been accessory to a lot of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA..."     Video:  http://islamicity.com/video/ch20/CBS60Minutes.ram
• Mysteries Of The Absent Imam Feisal  (Forbes) 8/11/10 - "...Later that same day I found him by phoning a Malaysian office that was listed on the "Contact Us" page of his Cordoba Initiative...", page now removed. Here is a 2008 (the latest available) archive copy showing the Malaysia office.

• The American Center for Law and Justice who represent a 9/11 New York firefighter has issued a press release calling the government to not sponsor a Middle East trip for controversial Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.  They have filed a lawsuit over landmark status denial.

  Rauf was quoted, “If there is any quarrel Muslims have with America, it is that the United States does not always live up to its own ideal of ethics and values” (79). In sub-chapter America: A Sharia-Compliant State, states “(w)hat I am demonstrating is that the American political structure is Shariah compliant, for a „state inhabited predominantly by Muslims neither defines nor makes it synonymous with an Islamic state. ACLJ pdf file
• In Imam Feisal Rauf book What’s Right with Islam is What’s Right with America: A New Vision for Muslims and the West  
• Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a key figure/player (New York Post 6/5/10) in Malaysian-based Perdana Global Peace Organization, according to its Website (z: see their about page at their website and this agenda page/archive agenda page of another page).  Also see archive pageof their initiative to criminalize war signed by Rauf.  "...Perdana is the single biggest donor ($366,000) so far to the Free Gaza Movement, a key organizer of the six-ship flotilla that tried to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip Monday..."

• a 1984 New York Times article which reported "plans for the center Rauf's father led which was first announced in the mid-1960's after organization efforts by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Libya."  Rauf is a permanent trustee of the center. 

  ''...We believe our center will serve the spiritual and educational needs of nearly 300,000 persons,'' said Mohammad A. Abulhasan, representative to the United Nations from Kuwait..."

• In a 2004 article after Imam Rauf's father died:  "..Feisal, an Imam for the past 22 years at Masjid Al Farah in Tribeca, New York, is also trustee of his father's land next to the Islamic Center in New York. The prime real estate in Manhattan on 96th and 3rd street will soon see the creation of an Islamic and cultural center which will have a mosque, school and a residential tower.  So, since then the plans changed???

• In March, Imam Feisal was referenced or wrote an article on an Arabic website of the media department at Cario University titled “The Most Prominent Imam in New York: ‘I Do Not Believe in Religious Dialogue,’” (cannot find this article but several bloggers claimed it was at http://www.rights4all.net/?p=67, which is not there anymore, so I can verify this to be true )

• Imam Rauf's book on calling others to Islam is titled "Seruan Azan Dari Puing WTC Dakwah Islam di Jantung Amerika Pasca 9/11" in Malaysia?  Translated?

  "A call to prayer from the WTC debris - Islamic Da'wah in the heart of American post 9 / 11"

   Here's a link to the book.

• Imam Rauf called critics bigots and claims he will rebuild community.  Said he is against terrorism although he has yet to specifically call Hamas or Hezbollah specifically.  NYDaily 5/21/10

   

• ASMA Society (Imam Rauf Founder and CEO) ASMA Society audit    Qatar government fund  $576,312,00

• First-hand account of 2008 conference "Third International Conference on the Muslim World and the West: Bridging the Gap" coordinated with the help Cordoba Initiative.  Free speech was attacked.

• The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre/UniSA International and The Migrant Resource Centre  Tuesday 12 July 2005.  Rauf and here's the audio:

  Rauf mentioned leading Islamic scholars who issued fatwas against terrorism like Tatiani and Yusef Qaradawi.  However, both men had also issued fatwas approving of martyrdom which he failed to mention, then he went on to say .

  ...We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al Qaida has on its hands of innocent non Muslims. ..."...And I personally - my own personal analysis tells me that a one-state solution is a more coherent one than a two-state solution..."  

• When Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was asked whether the State Department was correct to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization, he said on New York's WABC Radio in June 2010: "I do not want to be placed nor will I accept a position where I am the target of one side or the other."   Source ABC News 8/23/10 (last paragraph)

• In Huffington Post June 19, 2009, Imam Rauf wrote that Pres. Obama and his administration should speak of its respect for many of the guiding principles of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew the government.

• Edited CSPAN video:  Imam Rauf says the U.S. constitution is Sharia Compliant (warning his stmts are spliced to show disturbing real life situations under Sharia law)  Here is the unedited version.  His version does not match the four major school on Islamic jurisprudence, though.  This is an example of presenting a sanitized version of Islam because history and Sharia law don't support what he says.

• "I was interviewed by Barbara Walters, who is doing a special on heaven and she's interviewed suicide bombers who are expecting the embraces of 72 virgins in paradise, and she asked me do women get the same privilege as well, and I answered her telling her: well, the Koran says you shall have whatever your heart desires."   Imam Rauf  6/12/05 from his public lecture. 

• "I welcome the questions regarding my record. However, I must say also that a number of things have been twisted and spun in a way that does not correctly, honestly, explain my work and what I stand for... [W]hen you try to bridge relationships between any two sides where there have been tensions reaching such a level, one of the things you have to explain to each side is why the other side feels angry.   Rauf's answer to what he said in the 60 Minute's interview.  Audio with transcript from Huffington Post of a July 16th, 2010 interview.

• Radio interview with Imam Rauf:  "...9/11 was a watershed, a major milestone, a major catalytic force in, in catalyzing the attention towards the issues of of Islam, its presence in the West..." audio includes his off mic comments. 
• Audio from 2006 forum:  Imam Rauf claims U.S. has engaged in terrorism and causes Islamic terrorism.
• Imam Rauf has history of tenant and financial troubles, according to NorthJersey.
• Islam, A Sacred Law - What Every Muslim Should Know About Shariah  Book by Imam Raul
• "In a true peace, Israel will, in our lifetimes, become one more Arab country, with a Jewish minority" --Imam Feisal Rauf   NYT 1977 per WSJ

• Sketchy tax break for GZ imam 'prayer pad'  New York Post 9/2/10  The leader of the Ground Zero mosque got hugely valuable tax-exempt status for a Muslim organization he founded after claiming as many as 500 of its members prayed daily in a small, one-bedroom Upper West Side apartment also listed as his wife's residence, The Post has learned.

• It's provacative for Malaysian Christians to use the word Allah. 

Rauf: "...My message to the Christian community in Malaysia is that using the word Allah to mean the Christian God may be theologically and legally correct, but in the context of Malaysia, it is socially provocative. If you want to have influence with people in Malaysia, you must find a way to convey your message without provoking this kind of response..."  Islam owns us... Seeking harmony in Malaysia 1/13/10

• Imam Rauf's 9/11 truther associate, Faiz Khan preached at Rauf's mosque for seven years and from Park 51 bldg.

• Lawsuit filed by Union City, New Jersey against Imam Rauf and his company for failure to properly maintain commerical property he owns. 9/14/10  Union City mayor heaps scorn on imam for being 'slumlord'

• Imam Rauf ordered to pay Union City $12,960 while fire alarms weren't working. 9/24/10

• Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, today announced that the "Ground Zero Imam" and his mosque, the Cordoba House/Park51, were served with the class action complaint filed by First Responder Vincent Forras.  9/14/10

•  Anti-mosque lawsuit slammed as bigotry in countersuit by Rauf and Sharif el-Gamal.  They seek its dismissal  10/11/10

• Video: Talk to Al Jazeera - Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf 10/24/10
  
   

Cordoba Initiative hearts the Cordoba Caliphate!

The Cordoba Initiative is run by Imam Feisal Rauf who is one of key leaders for the ground zero mosque called Cordoba House - oops, now Park51. 

A 2008 archive copy (scroll to bottom of page) of the Cordoba Initiative website explained the meaning behind their name:

The Cordoba Name

For hundreds of years during the middle ages, Cordoba was the capital of Muslim Spain. During much of its “golden age” from the 8th to 12th centuries, the Cordoba Caliphate witnessed a great flowering of culture, art, and philosophical inquiry amid a remarkable climate of religious tolerance. Religious freedom, while not perfect, was sufficient that many Jewish and Christian intellectuals emigrated to Cordoba, where they lived, wrote and flourished side by side with their Muslim counterparts in a strikingly pluralistic society. The Cordoba name reminds both Muslims and non- Muslims that a great Islamic civilization was once the most open and tolerant of its era.

Islamic conquest?  Ground zero mosque? 

Wake up!

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Also see:

Mysteries Of The Absent Imam Feisal (Forbes) 8/11/10

"...Later that same day I found him by phoning a Malaysian office that was listed on the "Contact Us" page of his Cordoba Initiative, just under the New York office coordinates. In Malaysia, the street address is that of a luxury high rise in the capital of Kuala Lumpur. Rauf came to the phone. When I began asking about the funding of his Malaysian office, he got right off again, saying he was in an "important meeting." Personnel at his Malaysian number then told me all media questions should be referred to Khan, at the their office in New York..."

Here is a 2008 (the latest available) archive copy showing the Malaysia office.

A subchapter in Imam Feisal Rauf book What’s Right with Islam is What’s Right with America: A New Vision for Muslims and the West is titled America: A Sharia-Compliant State (ACLJ pdf file):

"...Rauf states “(w)hat I am demonstrating is that the American political structure is Shariah compliant, a „state inhabited predominantly by Muslims neither defines nor makes it synonymous with an Islamic state. It can become truly Islamic only by virtues of a conscious application of the sociopolitical tenets of Islam to the life of the national, and by an incorporation of those tenets in the basic constitution of the country.‟ By the same token, a state that does incorporate such sociopolitical tenets has become a de facto Islamic state even if there are no Muslims in name iving there, for it expresses the ideals of the good society according to Islamic principles. For America to score even higher on the „Islamic‟ or „Shariah Compliance‟ scale, America would need to do two things: invite the voices of all religions to join the dialogue in shaping the nation‟s practical life, and allow religious communities more leeway to judge among themselves according to their own laws” (86)

Review all my posts on the ground zero mosque here

ACLJ calls on State Department to end sponsorship of ground zero Imam Rauf

The American Center for Law and Justice who represent a 9/11 New York firefighter has issued a press release calling the government to not sponsor a Middle East trip for controversial Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf who is a key figure associated with the ground zero mosque who has refused to call Hamas a terror group and has said America was an accessory to 9/11. 

Why is our government sponsoring the promotion of Islam, or any religion, in any shape or form?

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents a New York City firefighter who survived the 9-11 terrorist attacks, today called on the U.S. State Department to immediately remove Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf from a taxpayer-funded trip to the Muslim world to promote what the government calls fostering a "greater understanding" of Islam. The ACLJ says the publicly-funded trip is absurd in light of the fact that the Imam has, on at least one occasion, refused to declare Hamas a terrorist organization and in the days following the tragic attacks of September 11th said the United States was "an accessory" to the crimes of 9-11.

...The ACLJ is planning to file an official letter of protest with the State Department - demanding that the government "cease and desist" in its plans to sponsor the Imam's globe-trotting journey.

The ACLJ already has filed suit in New York challenging a vote by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), which denied landmark status to the building where the mosque is planned.

ACLJ Petiton

Add Your Name to the
Petition of Protest to the State Department

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Also see:

For Obama, All Politics Is Local . . . Except When It’s Not

Now it emerges that the Obama State Department is not only footing the bill for Imam Feisal Rauf’s fling to the Persian Gulf region; it has also posted Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s speech in vigorous support of Rauf’s Ground Zero project on its website (here).

Ground zero mosque site only half owned!

Well, here's a new development. The property owned by the ground zero developers is not fully owned by them, according to the Washington Post's Half-baked mosque.  Seems there are two building connected together with common walls and Con Edison owns the other building.  But, the backers apparently failed to tell inform the Landmark Commission, if this article is accurate. 

Sharif El-Gamal, who heads SoHo Properties bought one of the two buildings with cash and leased the 2nd building.  Yet, a few short years ago he, apparently, was a waiter: 

Ok, there's more -  SoHo Properties Buys Chelsea Building for $45.7 M!   What a truly amazing success story for former waiter now SoHo CEO, El-Gamal.  Don't you find it odd, though, SoHo's website is password protected?

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Also see:

Further Travels Of Imam Feisal 

"..Since locating the absent Rauf last week in Malaysia, I have now discovered that he's about to embark on a nearly month-long swing through the Middle East, with plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar..."

Sharif El-Gamal The CEO of SOHO Properties The Developer Of The Ground Zero Mosque Grew Up And Went to School in Liberia And Waited Tables in NYC.

Another Review for Mosque Plans Downtown? Wall Street Journal

Ground Zero mosque/Cordoba House morphs into Park51

Today the Landmark Preservation Commission in New York City will decide if a 150 year old historic building can be torn down in order to build a 13 story mosque/community center.  There have been indications in the press they will approve this move.

The primary front people and backers of the mosque are Kuwait-born Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife, Daisey Kahn, who have recently stopped calling it the Cordoba House, apparently, because that name is a constant reminder of the real Islamic conquest of Cordoba, Spain centuries ago. So in case you hadn't heard, it's now called Park51. 

Rauf's father, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Rauf, moved to New York in the 60s, probably after President Johnson changed the immigration laws which allowed many more citizens from Middle East countries to immigrate here (coincidentally that's around the time when the Muslim Brotherhood first started some of their organizations here).   Did you know another Islamic Cultural Center (NYT 1984) was also built in New York City with funds from Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Libya?  Imam Feisal is on its board of trustees and his father was its first director.  It has been reported Dr. Rauf was a Muslim Brotherhood member but I can't find confirmation of this, at this point.  The Cultural Center's first shiekh, Muhammad Gemeaha, apparently said (NYT 11/4/01)''only the Jews'' were capable of destroying the World Trade Center and added that ''if it became known to the American people, they would have done to Jews what Hitler did.''  The interview with Gemeaha took place less than a week after he resigned (NYT 10/23/01)as Imam and suddenly moved to Egypt to live.

Yesterday,  Kahn said  they would include a memorial to the 9/11 victims which I think is the most insulting of all their promises.  Gee, that makes everything all better - NOT!

In March, Imam Feisal was referenced or wrote an article on an Arabic website of the media department at Cario University titled “The Most Prominent Imam in New York: ‘I Do Not Believe in Religious Dialogue,’” according to Pajama Media!  The page that linked to his statement has been removed.

Here's a link to a copy of a 60 Minute interview Rauf did on on Sept. 30 2001 that which is posted on Islam for Today:

...Bradley: it is the Islamic belief in the afterlife that could be an incentive to die in the name of Islam. According to the prophet Mohammed, the next life is paradise, offering forgiveness.

Faisal: In the Islamic belief system, the next life is the primary life. The next life is more real, more intense, and more vivid.

...Bradley: And throughout the Muslim world, there is also strong opposition to America's foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East because of its support of Israel and economic sanctions against Iraq.

Faisal: it is a reaction against the US government politically, where we espouse principles of democracy and human rights, and where we ally ourselves with oppressive regimes in many of these countries.

Bradley: Are you in any way suggesting that we in the United States deserved what happened?

Faisal<: I wouldn't say that the United States deserved what happened, but united states policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.

Bradley: You say that we're an accessory? How?

Faisal: Because we have been accessory to a lot of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.

Did you also know Imam Rauf's book on calling others to Islam was titled "Seruan Azan Dari Puing WTC Dakwah Islam di Jantung Amerika Pasca 9/11" in Malaysia?  Translated?

"A call to prayer from the WTC debris - Islamic Da'wah in the heart of American post 9 / 11"

 Here's a link to the book.

There are very serious reasons for concern about the Ground Zero Mosque/CordobaHouse/Park51 backers, the funding of it and their promises.

Update 8/3/10 10:10 AM CT:  Landmark Preservation Commission denied landmark status to building

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Also see:

Planned Sign of Tolerance Bringing Division Instead NYT 7/14/10

"...On Sept. 11, the landing gear assembly of one of the planes used in the attack crashed through the roof of what was then a Burlington Coat Factory..."

Must read: More about Imam Feisal, leader of proposed Ground Zero mosque

A Muslim case against the mosque  Stephen Schwartz executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism

Statement On Islamic Community Center Near Ground Zero  (ADL)

"...In recommending that a different location be found for the Islamic Center, we are mindful that some legitimate questions have been raised about who is providing the funding to build it, and what connections, if any, its leaders might have with groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values..." 

 

 

Ground Zero Mosque, Cordoba House, too similar to Islamic conquest of Cordoba

***Be sure to read the latest updates linked at the bottom - there are new developments.***

 

Cordoba, Spain was once ruled by Islamic supremacists for hundreds of years.  It was a major Islamic conquest.

AhluBayt News Agency reports that an Islamic TV channel is currently planned in Spain. This station will be funded by Saudi Arabia Risalat-ul-Islam Institute!   The name of the TV station?  Cordoba TV.  The article goes on to explain more about Cordoba, Spain:

Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain. In the Middle Ages it was capital of the Islamic caliphate which conquered and ruled Spain for nearly 800 years. During this time Cordoba was one of the largest cities in the world whose name continues to represent a symbol of Islamic conquest to many faithful Muslims around the world.

In another article from May by the same news source about the Ground Zero mosque it claimed there was no opposition to the mosque.

The Cordoba House - that's the name of the Islamic center will be - will stand above the former Burlington Coat Factory building, World Trade Center.

“The Muslim community must provide an opportunity to educate individuals about Islam through education and organized experiences of art, culture, and entertainment,” as quoted from a release.

“We decided we wanted to look at the legacy of 9/11 and do something positive,” said Daisy Khan, the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

Initiator of the project, Cordoba Initiative, is now concerned with raising funding at around $100 million.

This will apparently be accomplished smoothly as the initiator said there was no criticism as well as opposition so far, adding that full support of the Cordoba House Islamic center is supported by surrounding Muslim community.

Calling the Ground Zero mosque "Cordoba House" is insensitive and insulting:

screen shot taken 7/25/10:

Location of the Cordoba House:

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Also see

Read all my posts about the ground zero mosque, including recent developments here.

Who is funding the Ground Zero Mosque?

Rep. Pete King was on Fox News a couple of days ago and raised legitimate questions about the proposed ground zero mosque:

There was also a boisterous debate this week from the public who argued this building should be designated a landmark a historic building; Ground Zero Mosque & Landmarks Preservation Commission (Part 1) (video) and not be torn down.   CAIR New York Board President Zead Ramadan called the opposition (video) to the mosque Islamophobia at the meeting (yawn). 

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Also see:

Exclusive: Ground Zero Mosque Imam's Radical Connections

NBC, CBS reject ad against ground zero mosque

Dr. Zhudi Jasser Discusses The Ground Zero Mosque

Must read: More about Imam Feisal, leader of proposed Ground Zero mosque

Must read: More about Imam Feisal Raul, leader of proposed Ground Zero mosque

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf (Imam Feisal or Imam Abdul-Rauf)  is the leader of the proposed $100 million 13 story mosque and community center which will be just two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attack.   He is the Chairman and founder of the Cordoba Initiative which receives some of its funding from the Malaysian government.  The new gz mosque and center planned will be called the Cordoba House.   Cordova, Spain was a center of Islamic conquest and caliphate rule that lasted several hundred of years that took place over a 1,000 years ago, by the way.  So, Is the name just coincidental?  I highly doubt it - but who knows.

It appears from a New York Post article, and others sources, there's plenty of information about Feisal that you need to know and which the main stream media will probably not tell you. 

Excerpts from the New York Post:

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a key figure in Malaysian-based Perdana Global Peace Organization, according to its Website (z: see their about page and here)

Perdana is the single biggest donor ($366,000) so far to the Free Gaza Movement, a key organizer of the six-ship flotilla that tried to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip Monday.

...“We have two Imam Raufs," Deborah Burlingame, the sister of the American Airlines pilot whose hijacked plane struck the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, told the New York Post. "We have the anti-Israel, anti-democratic imam, and we have the smiling, soft-spoken moderate Muslim who says, 'Why can't we all get along?'... "

Hummm...  Is it possible Perdana is pro Hamas? 

Rauf said in 2003 "And we believe that 100 years more of targeted assassinations will never dry up the reservoir of young Palestinians willing to give up their lives."  He then stated in 2004 that the U.S. and the West "must acknowledge the harm they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end" and that it was Christians who started mass attacks on civilians.  He also said there was an endless supply of angry young Muslims ready to martyr themselves and there was no sign of the attacks ending unless there was a fundamental change in the world.   Well, that doesn't seem too peaceful to me.  In fact, it's the typical talk of an Islamist.

Oh - but there's more.  Feisal started the Shariah Index that will rate countries’ Islamic law.  He has written of his fondness for Islamic law and claimed he needs no one's permission to build the mosque in the video linked above. 

He said to PBS;  "So any law, anything studied in the Quran or the hadith, is definitely [Sharia],' and  "what really defines Islamic law [is] the sum total of Islamic law as has been practiced by Muslims throughout the last 14, 15 centuries."  In another PBS interview he shilled again for Sharia by claiming people often think of few penalties for certain crimes (z:  those that are gruesome) and fail to consider the sum total of Islamic law.  Not too comforting. 

Critics claim Feisal's father, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Rauf, was a leader in the Islamic supremacist Muslim Brotherhood.  Dr. Rauf was born in Egypt and moved to Kuwait where Imam Feisal was born and then he came to America where he was involved in the building of the Islamic Cultural Center on the Upper East Side, according to a 1984 New York Times article which reported "plans for the center were first announced in the mid-1960's after organization efforts by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Libya."  Imam Feisal, his son, is a permanent trustee of the Center.

On a 60 Minutes program which aired on 9/30/2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Imam Feisal said "I wouldn't say that the United States deserved what happened," -- "but United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened." Rauf further stated, “because we [Americans] have been accessory to a lot of innocent lives dying in the world,” it could be said that “[i]n fact, in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.”  Watch the September 30, 2001 segment at the 8:09 minute mark, but I recommend you watch the entire 15 minute video).

In October 2001, Rauf praised Sheik Yusef Qaradawi as "probably the most well-known legal authority in the whole Muslim world today."  One major problem here, he is the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and is banned from the U.S. for his fatwas approving of martyrdom against Israel! 

On May 20th, just a couple weeks ago, New York Councilman Robert Jackson, Councilwoman Margaret Chin, State Sen. Daniel Squadron, City Comptroller John Liu and Borough President Scott Stringer actually stood with Imam Feisal against a tea party leader who opposed the mosque which he described with poorly chosen words, for which he later apologized.  State Sen. Daniel Squadron, City Councilwoman Margaret Chin and Councilman Robert Jackson, the Council’s sole Muslim, all spoke in favor of the plans.

There's strong and growing opposition to the Ground Zero mosque, including concerns expressed by my favorite Muslim, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, who is  head of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy here and here.

Update 6/7/10:  1000 protest planned Islamic center, mosque near Ground Zero

Update 8/11/10: ACLJ infor on Imam Rauf

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Also see:

Perdana Global Demands Unconditional, Immediate Release Of Peace Activists 

screen shot taken 6/6/10:

 Daisy Kahn is his wife

Video: CNN interview with Daisy Kahn and Pamela Geller.

Kahn danced around the question about who is paying for the center.  She flatly denied Feisal's father was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

 Shariah Index Project

A 2008 archive copy on Cordoba Initiative website

2006 August:  The Shariah Project – Initial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur
Convened in Malaysia by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Shariah Project’s initial meeting assembled five distinguished scholars of Islamic holy law from four countries. In addition to Imam Feisal, the group included:  Professor Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi, Pakistan (Chairman of the Shariah Board for the State Bank of Pakistan and former president of International Islamic University); Professor Dr. Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Malaysia (Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought & Civilization and Former Interim Chairman, Constitutional Review Committee, Afghanistan); Professor Dr. Tahir Mahmood, India (Founder/Chairman, Amity University Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, New Delhi, and former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Delhi University); Dato’ Abdul Hamid Mohamad, Malaysia (Judge, Federal Court of Malaysia … Malaysian Supreme Court).  The Shariah Project is sponsored by the ASMA Society in cooperation with the Cordoba Initiative.

A NATION CHALLENGED: THE AMERICAN MUSLIMS A NATION …

New York Times - Oct 19, 2001
Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki, spiritual leader at the Dar al-Hijra mosque in ... Va., and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, spiritual leader of the Al-Farah mosque in Lower ...

Update 8/11/10:  Archive copy of Cordoba Initiative showing Malaysia office where reporter