Starting at the end of this month the Democratic National Convention will open with a focus on Islam.  20,000 Muslims are expected to attend according to the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), the national Muslim American non-profit coordinating the two days of events they claim are non-political.  “Jumah at the DNC” begins August 29 and will start with a Friday afternoon jummah prayer followed by other unnamed programs and events, leading up to the Islamic Regal Banquet. The following day will be an all day Islamic Cultural and Fun Fest which will include discussions on the topics of Islamaphobia, Anti-Shariah, Middle Eastern Crisis, Patriot Act, National Defense Authorization Act and more.  The purpose, according to BIMA, is to attract national and international attention to the plight of American Muslims and to hold political parties accountable for issues that affect them.  However, not all Muslims feel that BIMA represents them and M. Zuhdi Jasser M.D., Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, has expressed serious concerns.

It is troubling that the Democratic National Convention has decided to promote and lend its name and national political platform to the organizers of the “Jummah at the DNC”. The leaders of this event – Jibril Hough and Imam Siraj Wahhaj as advertised are no moderates. They are radicals. These individuals embrace Islamist supremacy and have demonstrated support for radical ideologies.

A quick Google search by the DNC would have shown them that Hough and Wahhaj are leaders in the separatist American Islamist movement. While they may be able to get a few thousand Muslims to attend the event, they are NOT going to be mainstream Muslims.  Most will likely come from Hough and Wahhaj’s radical networks that have long been entrenched in the Charlotte area. Make no mistake they are part of the Islamist movement.

This is not about their right of assembly; this group under a different name pulled the same stunt at the US capitol in 2009 claiming 20k and getting 2-3k. THIS IS ABOUT the DNC calling this an “official function” listing these radicals as typical of the DNC community and more importantly about this organization speaking out AS representing supposedly typical American Muslims (or “Mainstream”).

If that is who the DNC is consorting with then all Americans, Democrats should be concerned. There are many patriotic Muslims who are part of both parties, and when radical ideologues like this do a demonstration of “solidarity” in the name of our faith and choose an imam like Siraj Wahhaj who I saw with my own eyes in 1995 seditiously say it his duty and our duty as Muslims to replace the US Constitution with the Quran– then we need to speak up!

Their jummah (group) prayer is supposedly against the Patriot Act, the NYPD, and Islamophobia and is actually NOT about our democracy but about empowering their Islamist and MB (Muslim Brotherhood) sympathetic groups into the very fabric of the political system so that Americans become anesthetized. We need American Muslims to speak up and marginalize these radicals. The DNC needs to understand and reject them because of their radical history and ideas.

They use our American Muslim identity to speak as “one community” as a political unit or as a “bloc vote” – a political Islamist party when in fact most us Muslims don’t want that political unity and seek reform against their ideology that seeks to hijack our community. They do not represent us. (emphasis mine)

In fact, Zuhdi Jasser is correct, Jibril Hough and Imam Siraj Wahhaj have said and done radical things in their past.  Which means either the Democrats failed to utilize due diligence or they simply didn’t care.  In addition to the Muslims being misrepresented, Democrats and Charlotteans also have a right to know how the DNC has failed them before they even arrive in Charlotte.

Jibril Hough may be a name many in Charlotte are familiar with already.   He is the leader of a Sunni mosque, The Islamic Center of Charlotte, who is been known for being outspoken against Representative Sue Myrick – a North Carolina Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee.  Beyond calling her plan to fight against jihadist activity in America “a fear campaign” and the “new McCarthyism (or Myrickism)”, he confronted her in a Muslim Town Hall he organized in 2010.  According to Jasser, the language used by Hough as his Town Hall was strikingly similar to that of the Muslim Brotherhood when he stated, “As citizens of a non-Muslim country and as American Muslims, we have a contract with America and not a contract on America. This means that we must abide by the laws of this state and we cannot be at war with this state.”  As Jasser points out, “note the deep seeded separatism in this ‘we’ mindset. Basically he is saying that this system of laws is not his or the Muslims he represents but they will follow it-for now.”  Further, Hough commented on his support of laws that would mandate “Muslim” behaviors for American-Muslims, but wouldn’t affect nonMuslims; again Jasser notes Hough’s separatist tone that mimics political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood mindset, which supports “separate legal paths for each faith” instead of “one law based in reason”.  Jibril has also stated he is the North Carolina head of the Islamic Political Party of America(IPPA), based in Charlotte, who in a 2002 press release claimed the Jews were behind 9/11.  As if that weren’t enough, IPPA is close to another organization known as Jamaat Al Muslimeen (JAM), The Islamic Peoples Movement, who (in addition to being Holocaust deniers) had this advice for President Obama:

He should ensure that those Muslims he talks to do represent authentic Islam. All Islamic movements oppose America’s policies. If Obama talks to Muslims who support America’s policies, it will be an exercise in futility.

In response to Hough accusing Rep. Myrick of being anti-Muslim, he was interviewed on the formerly conservative radio station WBT in Charlotte.  Radio host Keith Larson questioned him as to why his mosque was owned by The North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), an organization blacklisted by the U.S. Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror finance case in U.S. history.  According to the government, NAIT is also a front for HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood in America.  Hough, when presented by Larson with the documents, claimed he didn’t realize his mosque was owned by NAIT and was also unaware that they had been blacklisted.  Hough went on in the interview to defend HAMAS and accuse the U.S. and Israel of the only “real” terrorism.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj is imam of a mosque in Brooklyn, New York, the leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America, a member of CAIR, and an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. As a character witness for Omar Abdel Rahman (the Blind Sheik) who was convicted of plotting to blow up the World Trade Center and other New York City landmarks, Wahhaj described him as a “respected scholar,” and “bold, as a strong preacher of Islam.”  Wahhaj is also a Board of Trustee member of the North American Imams Federation (NAIF)(who’s website currently features an anti-Jewish, anti-black rant), a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, who (coincidentally) held a conference in Charlotte last year on Islamophobia.  Like Hough, Wahhaj is also connected to NAIT by way of his membership in the Islamic Society of North America(ISNA), which was also found by the government to be a front for HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood.  While Hough has been careful to play politics in Charlotte, Wahhaj has not hidden his hatred for America.  He is quoted as calling America, “a garbage can… filthy, filthy and sick.”  As an imam, he has stated, “Where ever you came from, you came to America. And you came for one reason – for one reason only- to establish Allah’s deen (a complete way of life).”  He believes that the only reason to get involved in politics is to use it as a weapon in the cause of Islam.  By his own admission, the question of why Wahhaj would be interested in hosting events at the DNC is obvious.

How BIMA gained access to the DNC is more of a mystery.  Muhammad Heshaam Jaaber, the Executive Director, Jibril Hough, spokesman, and Captain James Yusuf Yee, BIMA National Representative for the DNC are the only publicly identified members and each one appears to be connected to U.S. Representative Keith Ellison; the first Muslim ever to be elected to Congress and a former supporter of Louis Farrakhan.  Ellison, who attended President Obama’s Iftar Dinner earlier this month, made the news last month when Representative Michelle Bachmann called for him (among others) to be investigated for ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  Whether or not he has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Ellison is not far from them having associates within BIMA.  Jasser points out that Hough sought advice from Ellison before proceeding with his Town Hall with Rep. Myrick.  Captain Yee (who will be speaking at the event) appears in BIMA’s promotional video for Jumah at the DNC quoting Ellison as saying, “If you’re not at the table, then you’re on the menu.”  Yee is described by BIMA as “a chaplain in the U.S. Military” and an “eye witness to to the unjust treatment of military detainees and prisoners of Guantanamo Bay” who was allegedly detained “when he took steps to prevent the injustice.”  However, BIMA fails to mention that Yee was charged by the military with sedition, aiding the enemy, spying, espionage and failure to obey a general order; charges ultimately dropped due to national security concerns about releasing evidence in the case.  Also speaking will be Hassen Abdellah, who BIMA has no problem admitting was “a lead defense attorney for the 1993 First World Trade bombing suspects”  Ellison has also appeared alongside Wahhaj on many speaking engagements for organizations such as ISNA and NAIF, despite both organizations being fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood.  If Ellison is the link between BIMA and the DNC, then can it be said that, not only does he not mind the questionable associations of those within the organization, but also the other speakers they will be bringing in?

BIMA has stated they have smaller events planned for the Republican National Convention, however when reached out to, GOP convention staff said they have no knowledge of any events planned in or around Tampa at the time.  With the Democratic National Convention only a couple weeks away, it will be interesting to see if the media chooses to cover what one would assume to be a controversial start to renominate President Barack Obama.

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