Did Obama Use Material
From Controversial Imam’s Book?
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the controversial Islamic leader behind the proposed Ground Zero mosque, has claimed President Obama’s historic address to Muslim world was “all taken” from Rauf’s book.
“If you examine this chapter you will find that the [Obama] speech in Cairo was all taken from this section,” Rauf stated in a February recording, which was first posted by Islam critic Walid Shoebat.
Rauf mistakenly referred to Obama as “Bush” but was clearly speaking about Obama’s address to the Islamic world from Cairo, Egypt June 4, 2009.
Speaking in a combination of Arabic and English, Rauf was describing chapter six of his 2004 book, What’s Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West.
That chapter, entitled “Toward a New Cordoba,” presents the strategies of Rauf’s organization, the Cordoba Initiative, for “healing” the relationship between the Islamic World and the West.
The same book was translated into Arabic under a different title, “The Call From the WTC Rubble: Islamic Dawah From the Heart of America Post-Sept. 11.” Dawah refers to the preaching of Islam.
In the February recording, Rauf said the part of the book “taken” by Obama mapped out a “blueprint” outlining how the West and Islam can reconcile.
Obama’s speech in Cairo was a lengthy address in which the president broached multiple issues. He vowed “America is not – and never will be – at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security.
“Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace,” Obama declared.
Imam Rauf, meanwhile, recommended that President Obama support the Islamic revolution in Iran. Rauf also argued against the U.S. aiding the pro-democracy protesters who were being violently suppressed by the Iranian regime.
Just after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was accused of voter fraud in last year’s presidential elections in Iran, Rauf penned a Huffington Post piecein support of the Iranian regime.
Rauf recommended Obama “should say his administration respects many of the guiding principles of the 1979 revolution – to establish a government that expresses the will of the people; a just government, based on the idea of Vilayet-i-faqih, that establishes the rule of law.”
The Iranian regime was accused of violently suppressing pro-democracy supporters, some of whom were filmed by international news outlets holding banners protesting the Islamic government.
The Iranian government has confirmed the deaths of 36 people during the protests, while protest leaders allege there were 72 deaths.
Obama largely refused to interfere in the protests, calling the disputed election an internal Iranian issue.
Rauf touted the decision. He also hailed the Islamic revolution of 1979 that brought to power Iran’s Shiite theocracy.
He wrote: “The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was in part to depose the shah, who had come to power in 1953 after a CIA-sponsored coup overthrew democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossaddeq. And in part it was an opportunity to craft an Islamic state with a legitimate ruler according to Shia political theory.
“After the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took the Shiite concept of the Rightly Guided Imam and created the idea of Vilayet-i-faqih, which means the rule of the jurisprudent. This institutionalizes the Islamic rule of law. The Council of Guardians serves to ensure these principles.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been accused of state support of terrorism and of aiding the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq. Iran is a main backer of the Hamas and Hizbullah terrorist organizations.
While You Weren’t Looking:
Ground Zero’s Other Mosque
While the nation has been focused on a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero, a mosque has been functioning just four blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks with rumored plans to build even closer to the spot that once housed the World Trade Center.
The mosque, the Masjid Manhattan, recently boasted of plans to construct a “House of Allah” next to the World Trade Center, exclaiming on its website, “Help us raise the flag of ‘LA ILLAHA ILLA ALLAH’ in downtown Manhattan!”
The Masjid Manhattan has been holding classes at 20 Warren Street, four blocks from Ground Zero. The mosque also holds prayer services several times a day at a cramped location at 384 Broadway, eleven blocks from the former World Trade Center site.
The mosque reportedly has raised about $8.5 million to begin construction of a permanent site after it lost its lease in 2008 at a different building on Warren Street, also about four blocks from Ground Zero.
In May, FoxNews.com quoted a source stating he believed the Masjid Manhattan is considering a five-story building on 23 Park Place, closer to Ground Zero than the 13-story Islamic center the controversial Cordoba Initiative is considering.
This column’s phone calls to the mosque seeking comment were not returned.
The Cordoba Initiative claims it is seeking to build an open cultural center with a prayer room, while Masjid Manhattan, already functioning near Ground Zero, is a conservative mosque that preaches strict Islamic law.
Prior to the FoxNews.com article, Masjid Manhattan’s website touted plans to construct near Ground Zero. But now the website’s rallying call, “Build the ‘House of Allah’ next to the World Trade Center! Help us raise the flag of ‘LA ILLAHA ILLA ALLAH’ in downtown Manhattan!” has since been scrubbed. Now the site reads, “Help us build the House of Allah and He will build one for you in Jannah.”
Jannah is Islamic paradise.
Tax Dollars Fund Mosques Worldwide
The State Department is funding the construction of mosques around the world as part of the U.S. government’s outreach programs to Muslims.
Six million dollars in taxpayer funds will be used this year to restore dozens of Islamic cultural sites and mosques around the world as part of State’s Ambassador Fund for Cultural Preservation.
The State Department website documents some 29 of those projects.
Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for Internet giant WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York’s 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m.
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