Gunmen Kill Nigerian Muslim Leader

Friday April 13, 2007 12:16 PM

KANO, Nigeria (AP) - Unidentified gunmen killed a top Nigerian Muslim hard-liner as he led morning prayers Friday, police said.

Mahmud Adam, the Saudi-trained leader of Nigerian followers of the ascetic Wahabbi strain of Islam, was killed along with his second-in-command in the northern city of Kano, said police spokesman Baba Mohamed.

It was unclear if the killings were related to elections that begin Saturday with voting for state legislators and governors, followed a week later with the presidential and federal parliament polls.

Adam's sect had been squabbling with a rival Muslim group in recent weeks.

The assassination of a top Muslim leader inside a house of worship on Islam's holiest day of the week is without precedent in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria.

About half of Nigeria's 140 million people are Muslim, with the others practicing Christianity or animist beliefs.

Driving Islamophobia

AN INTERFAITH VIEW

By Lawrence Swaim, Columnist

In the 1950s, ultra-conservatives torpedoed their critics by calling them Communist. Today the same tactic is used against Muslim organizations by calling them apologists for terrorism. And like the 1950s, the intent of the ultra-conservatives today is to distract the public from their own undemocratic maledictions. As the French say, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." It was a déjà vu all over again, too, when Republicans in the House of Representatives asked Nancy Pelosi to deny the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) a capital conference room for a seminar. If religious McCarthyism is the intent of House Republicans, so is their ultimate political intent. They want to peel off Jewish voters from the Democratic base, moving them to the right by an appeal to Islamophobia. That was precisely the strategy behind Karl Rove’s gambit of putting Daniel Pipes on the Board of Directors at the Institute of Peace. This latest move also aims to expose the Democratic leadership as unprincipled flip-floppers by hassling Nancy Pelosi until she caves in to their demands. The Republicans want more votes and money from the pro-Israel lobby, while driving the Dems crazy by threatening their base. So how does one react to terror-baiting? Go on the offensive. The more you try to explain that you’re not a terrorist, the more the Islamophobes will control the discussion. Single out your most vulnerable attackers by name and sue them for defamation. Then show how they and their friends are undermining religious liberty in America, and how their political posturing is based on religious bigotry. Show how they support authoritarian government, torture and the Iraq war. Root your arguments in religious and political pluralism, the American constitution, and the American way of life. Show how religious McCarthyism helps the terrorists and besmirches America’s good name in the Muslim and Arabic-speaking worlds. Insist that it endangers the lives of our young people in uniform. Fight back with everything in your legal and rhetorical arsenal. Secondly, we need to find better ways of confronting the underlying problem that drives Islamophobia in America. It’s all about Israel, folks, and the way Jews and Muslims get defined by various contending parties to that issue. More than anything we need a frank and open national debate about Israel/Palestine and the future of American foreign policy, but we’ll never get there until we confront the pro-Israel lobby head-on. What we need more than anything is at least one quality website and publication dedicated solely to monitoring the activities of "the lobby." Such a website/publication would recruit the best writers—Jewish, Christian and Muslim—as well as established experts on the Middle East. It would research and report on the activities of the pro-Israel lobby, with profiles of its major actors and public criticism of their position papers. This news outlet would recruit sources within "the lobby" to keep activists informed of internals power struggles. Above all it would track how money is distributed from the pro-Israel lobby and who receives it. The problem, of course, is funding for such a watchdog group. Regular funding sources wouldn’t be caught dead helping such a project. Funding has to come from within the community most affected, which will be American Muslims. But many well-to-do Muslims haven’t yet figured out the importance of interest organizations in American politics. They’re good at making brick-and-mortar donations for houses of worship and community centers, and also fund quality educational programs about Islam, but may not yet see how important it is to carry on an aggressive daily struggle for Muslim civil rights. That struggle will be increasingly defined by how well we can open up the discussion about Israel/Palestine. Without that discussion, the Islamophobes will use money, influence and gutter politics to impose uncritical support of Israel. The first target in their sights is the organized Muslim community. Lawrence Swaim is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Freedom Foundation. He taught for eight years at Pacific Union College, and his academic specialties are American Studies and American literature. His column addresses current affairs from an American Christian and Interfaith perspective.

Islamic Center Hit By Fire

Wednesday, April 11, 5:17 a.m.

By Ryan Leckey

Click for larger image

Fire broke out at the Islamic Center of Schuylkill in Mechanicsville.

Flames ripped through an Islamic center in Schuylkill County Wednesday morning and now members of that place of worship plan to come together to see how they can repair the damage.

Flames broke out at the Islamic Society of Schuylkill County in Mechanicsville around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. It's located just outside of Pottsville.

From the outside, there is not much damage visible, but inside the damage on the walls tells the tale of what happened.

"The cafeteria has all been burned, lots of damage in that area. The entire building has smoke damage and water damage," said Islamic society priest Shiraz Mansoor.

Click for larger image

Portions of the interior were heavily damaged.

The Islamic Society has been in the borough of Mechanicsville for around 20 years.

Firefighters managed to save the second floor from flames where worship takes place, however it still has heavy smoke and water damage.

"We'll just have to get over it and work together in getting the place good again," added Shiraz Monsoor.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Muslims Mute on Terrorism?

Sunday, March 18, 2007

It is very easy to give simple answers to difficult questions. Anyone can do it, even George W. Bush. Why do they hate us? Because we elect our leaders. Why Muslims kill Muslims? Because they hate each other. Why young Muslims turn into suicide bombers? Because they hate life. Why no progress in the Middle East? Because Arabs are born lazy and backward. Why Islamic terror? Because Islam inspires violence and condones terrorism. Where is the Muslim outrage? Don’t hold your breath! They all support terror.

Past victims included Jews, blacks and Native Americans. Jews were demonized to justify discrimination and extermination. The African brain was “found” to be less capable. Millions were enslaved, misused and killed because they were lesser humans. “The only good Indian is a dead Indian,” the invaders discovered. So genocide claimed the lives of millions of natives in North America.

Now it is the Muslims’ turn. Push them to the limit; if they fail it is because of their religion and race; if they react stupidly or violently, it must be their faith and genes. Either way, you win.

Since those who fight back follow the same faith or come from the same race, we are all responsible. We should not only dissociate and condemn them, but also fight them along with the invaders. Neutrality is no longer an option. The problem is if we do so our people will curse us, if we don’t the crusaders who are looking for an excuse to oppress us will find one.

The bottom line is we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

American columnist Thomas Friedman, in a recent article, wants to know why Muslims are mostly mute toward suicide bombing. He fully knows why 1,300 million Muslims are angry, and he also knows that only a few thousand Muslims are in a violent mode. As an “Israel-First” American, he must have known that his uniformed terrorists in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan kill thousands of civilians for every enemy combatant they eliminate, and destroy towns and villages for every enemy cell they demolish.

The terrorists in nice suits and cool uniforms are the ones who drive young men and women to so much desperation that life equals death to them. Some find no weapons to fight back the superpowers of the day but their own bodies. In World War II, the European resistance fighters were called martyrs when they jumped the enemy’s guns. The Japanese, who did similarly, were called maniacs. In our case, they are called terrorists. Victor’s justice includes name-calling.

“Where is the outrage?” Friedman “innocently” asks. Answer: The public outrage due is against your wars on Islam and Muslims. Our terrorists fight us as much as they fight you, and we are fighting them back. Listen to our mosques and follow our media and you will find lots of battles, speeches, fatwas and articles against them — that is if you don’t limit your readings to Israeli MEMRI (founded and run by a former Mossad colonel).

This is our outrage, but where is yours? Where is the outrage against the US soldiers who randomly shot and killed 16 Afghan civilians on a highway in revenge for an earlier Taleban attack? Or against the Marines who raped innocent Iraqi women and killed family members in retaliation for a roadside bomb? Or against the killing, maiming and displacing of a million Lebanese civilians in response to the capturing of two Israeli soldiers?

We are fighting our terrorists, but are you fighting yours? Our bad and ugly are taken to court, humiliated and hanged; when are yours going to be tried and punished? We call our terrorists “terrorists,” you call yours presidents, prime ministers and patriotic “men and women in uniforms.” We don’t blame your religion and race for the crimes against us, but you blame ours to justify collective punishment.

Yes, we have our hate speakers and fear merchants, but they are mostly in caves and prisons, hunted and doomed. Yours, however, are members of legislative bodies. They lead legitimate governments, businesses, churches, synagogues and media organizations. Friedman is trying to compete with a league of villains like Ann Coulter, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James C. Dobson, and Franklin Graham. Google them out and see what kind of hate speeches they make against Arabs and Muslims every day. Our extremists are civilized in comparison. If you want us to go out of our way to denounce our extremists, you should show us the way by denouncing yours. It takes two to tango.