ISNA’s 48th Convention, Jihad Central [incl. Tariq Ramadan]

In going through the online program [see, http://www.isna.net/Conferences/pages/Main-Session-Topics-and-Invited-Speakers.aspx] for the 48th national convention of the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA, unindicted co-conspirator in U.S. vs. Holy Land and widely believed to be a front organization for the Muslim Brotherhood] we note that many of the speakers have a history of working to advance an Islamist agenda, specifically, to Islamize America and the West.

For example, leading the discussion workshop “Islam, Pluralism and Social Harmony,” we find Siraj Wahhaj [a constant speaker on the rubber chicken jihad circuit and listed as a potential unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 plot to bomb New York landmarks] Tariq Ramadan [whose grandfather, Hassan Al Bana founded Egypt’s terrorist Muslim Brotherhood] and Feisal Abdul Rauf [the main proponent for building a mega-mosque on the hallowed soil of Ground Zero in Manhattan].

In an article entitled “Tariq Ramadan and the Muslim Brotherhood,” written for the Montreal Gazette by author Tarek Fatah [a Muslim of Pakistani descent] he quoted French journalist Mohammed Sifaoui [also a Muslim] to clarify his opposition to Ramadan’s ideology, “Tariq Ramadan is an Islamist. He is among those who want political Islam, the European version of the Muslim Brotherhood, to infiltrate institutions, society, associations, parties, the media and so on, in order to pressure these same societies, to ‘reform’ them from inside, to Islamize them or re-Islamize them, the better to pervert them, to progressively bring them to accept a medieval vision of the Muslim religion.”

Another prominent Islamist working the ISNA gig this year is Yasir Qadhi who is leading the forum, “Empowerment Through Engagement: Creating A Wholeness Society.”

Qadhi is an influential American Salafi Muslim [the most radical of the Sunni sects] whose professorial appearance belies his radicalism. In a nearly 9,000 word piece in the NY Times magazine [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/magazine/mag-20Salafis-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1] reporter Andrea Elliott writes about Qadhi’s avoidance of the subject of violent jihad, fearing prosecution, “For an ultraconservative cleric like Qadhi, the picture is more complicated. Engaging in a detailed discussion of militant jihad — a complex subject informed by centuries of scholarship — risks drawing the scrutiny of law enforcement and, Qadhi fears, possible prosecution...”

Qadhi is also a Holocaust denier, in a lecture available at [http://vimeo.com/5496661] he is heard recommending a book entitled, “The Hoax of the Holocaust,” as well as stating that the Jews, “t...want to destroy us.”

Aside from the aforementioned individuals, the event’s program is simply littered with Islamist speakers, making it difficult for ISNA, with its legal baggage and commitment to radicalism, to shed its image as perhaps America’s most dangerous above-ground Muslim organization.

See more on this Topic
George Washington University’s Failure to Remove MESA from Its Middle East Studies Program Shows a Continued Tolerance for the Promotion of Terrorism
One Columbia Professor Touted in a Federal Grant Application Gave a Talk Called ‘On Zionism and Jewish Supremacy’