A video has emerged of an imam in Chicago preaching that Muslims should wage war against Israel and that paradise awaits those who die in jihad. The website of his mosque says it has hundreds of members and a full-time Islamic school for children.
The sermons by Imam Mohamed Elimam of the Islamic Center of Chicago, also known as the At-Takaful Islamic Society, took place between July 18 and 25. A documentary on the Society’s website identifies it as the alternative name for the Islamic Center of Chicago and shows children learning at its school.
The organization is listed as a church and is not required to file IRS forms. Its 2012 990 Form lists its revenue for that year as $856,732.
Imam Elimam explicitly tells audience that violent jihad must be waged against Israel and refers to the fighters in Gaza (Hamas) as “the resistance:"
- “Return to the battle of jihad in Palestine.”
- “Oh, those of you who want to wage jihad for the sake of Allah, Palestine is calling you and Gaza is crying out for your help. If you are true believers, true mujahideen, hasten to Palestine.”
- “Paradise belongs to you, oh martyrs, oh fighters, oh mujahideen, oh our beloved Gaza and wounded Palestine.
The objective of this jihad is not to stop Israeli military action in Gaza, but to eliminate the state of Israel and to force Israeli Jews to leave the area.
- “Global Zionism is unadulterated evil besetting all people.”
- “The enemy [Israel] was placed in the midst of the Arab nation…in order to be a thorn in the side of the Arab and Islamic nations. May Allah pull this thorn out, and stick it down their throats. May they be sent back to their countries in shame and disgrace, Allah willing.”
Elimam’s advocating of violent jihad is not just about Israel. He preaches that Muslims are required to participate in jihad against perceived enemies of Islam in general and those who do are rewarded with Paradise:
- “Know that ‘Paradise lies beneath the shade of the swords.’”
- "(The Quran says): ‘Prepare for them what force and steeds of war you can, to strike fear in the hearts of the enemy of Allah and of your own, and others besides them, whom you do not know, but Allah knows.’”
Elimam is not the only American Islamist leader supporting violent jihad against Israel. The National Campus Coordinator of American Muslims for Palestine, Taher Herzallah, posted photos of injured Israeli soldiers on his Facebook and wrote underneath, “The most beautiful site in my eyes.” The post was removed after it got attention.
In another Facebook conversation about Hamas’s rocket fire on Israel, he said the terrorist group’s violence is justifiable legally and morally. He characterized it as a meager defense against an enemy dedicated to genocide:
“Hamas’ rockets are an oppressed people’s audible cry for help. An attempt to resist the brutalization, degradation, humiliation and extermination of the Palestinian identity. An act of resistance that shows that no matter what Israel does to the embattled people of Gaza, they will never submit.”
The Islamic Center of Chicago should have banned Elimam as a preacher immediately after his first jihadist sermon. Its continuance indicates that the ideology of the mosque itself is radical; an observation that becomes exponentially more disturbing when you juxtapose his preaching with the video of children learning at the mosque’s school.
The ideology pushed by Elimam should repulse all peace-seekers. The belief that Israel must be destroyed through jihad is a recipe for endless war with mounting casualties for both Israelis and Palestinians. That mindset, more than anything else, is responsible for the pain that Elimam and other Islamists decry.
The preaching also poses a direct threat to the U.S. By teaching that Paradise is offered to jihadists who die fighting perceived enemies of Islam, Elimam opens the door for targets other than Israel. And no other country is described as an enemy of Islam more than the United States. That logic sets the stage for attacks on the U.S. and its interests and soldiers abroad.
For the sake of peace and security, Elimam’s ideology must be acknowledged, addressed and ultimately defeated by Muslims and non-Muslims.
