The Baptist-Brotherhood Political Alliance

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dhimmi, interfaith, Islam, ISNA, Jihad, Ryan Mauro

By Ryan Mauro

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, is hard at work developing interfaith political alliances. Of these partnerships, Baptist leaders have proven to be among the tightest.

In its latest newsletter, ISNA promotes an article by Rev. Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty. Walker boasts of how his organization stood with ISNA against “misguided congressional investigations of terrorism focused only on Islam.”

The ISNA official that Walker specifically references as a friend is Sayyid Syeed, former ISNA Secretary-General and current director of its Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances. In 2006, he was recorded stating, “Our job is to change the constitution of America.”

This comment is less surprising when you consider ISNA’s background. A 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memo identifies it as one of its fronts for its “kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.” The federal government acknowledged ISNA as a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity when it designated the group as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Hamas-financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation, a “charity” housed inside ISNA. The group continues to promote Sharia.

The Baptist Joint Committee’s website showcases a suit against the NYPD for its intelligence-gathering program by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has connections to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network. The complaint states that the NYPD “imposed an unwarranted badge of suspicion and stigma on law-abiding Muslim New Yorkers.”

In its latest magazine, ISNA attacks the NYPD and makes the ludicrous statement that “Muslim terrorism is not a threat after 9/11.” Walker likewise downplays the threat, saying that although Islamic terrorism “must be resisted with all our might,” he guesses that “99.99%” of Muslim-Americans are patriotic and opposed to extremism.

Unfortunately, polls show there is a formidable Islamist minority. In a 2011 Pew poll, five percent viewed Al-Qaeda very or somewhat favorably. Another 11% said they only viewed the terrorist group “somewhat unfavorably.” Another 14% chose not to answer the question.

Walker provides a review of some of the defining moments in ISNA’s courtship of Baptists. ISNA’s Syeed helped put together the first National Baptist-Muslim Dialogue in Boston in January 2009. One of the leaders was Dr. Roy Medley, General Secretary of American Baptist Churches USA. Other involved groups included the Alliance of Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist World Alliance. According to ISNA, about 100 Baptist and Muslim leaders participated.

The second National Baptist-Muslim Dialogue sponsored by ISNA was held in December 2012, partially paid for with a grant from the Boston Baptist Social Union. Other sponsors included American Baptist Churches USA, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alliance of Baptists, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Society and the Andover Newton Theological School.

Over 75 Baptist and Muslim leaders took part. Obama Administration officials even came: Rashad Hussain, the U.S. Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook, Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom.

ISNA’s website lists three Baptist groups as official interfaith partners: American Baptist Churches USA, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Progressive National Baptist Convention. All three also belong to the ISNA-allied interfaith coalition named the Shoulder-to-Shoulder Campaign. When ISNA officials recently met with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, the Shoulder-to-Shoulder Campaign was highlighted as one of their top achievements.

ISNA has leveraged its interfaith relationships as a tool to paint its critics as anti-Muslim bigots. On January 15, ISNA sponsored an event about the “Islamophobia Network” at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C. One of the speakers was Rev. Dennis Wiley, co-pastor of the Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ.

ISNA took action when four members of Congress (Reps. Bachmann, Gohmert, Franks, Westmoreland and Rooney) wrote well-documented letters requesting investigations into the relationships between the U.S. government and Brotherhood-linked groups and individuals. ISNA and its allies went into overdrive, generating heaps of negative media coverage of them.

One of the ways they accomplished this was through their interfaith partners. A coalition of 43 interfaith groups wrote a public letter on July 26, 2012 defending ISNA, Muslim Advocates and the Muslim Public Affairs Council of having “long-standing histories of positive and committed work to strengthen the United States of America.”

The coalition said that the letters “betray our foundational religious freedoms.” They vowed, “We will not stand idly by and allow our country to revive federal investigations into innocent individuals based on their religious adherence.”

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty was one of the signatories. The supposedly non-political dialogue with ISNA had political benefits.

This is only a small taste of what’s going on around the country.

This article was sponsored by the Institute on Religion and Democracy.

This article originally appeared on Front Page Magazine and was reposted with permission.

ISNA Discusses Interfaith Success with Turkey PM

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Islamic Society of North America, ISNA, Mohamed Elsanousi, Muslim Brotherhood, Ryan Mauro, Taksim Square, terrorism

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the embattled Prime Minister of Turkey. (Photo credit: ABC News)

By Ryan Mauro (@RyanMauro)

Tens of thousands of Turks are protesting Islamist Prime Minister Erdogan, but the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood is happy to welcome him. On May 18, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) officials met with Erdogan. Of all the things to talk about, ISNA most emphasized the success of its interfaith political alliances. The lesson will not be forgotten by Turkey as it tries to reclaim its position as the leader of the Muslim world.

According to an ISNA press release, Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi, its Community Outreach Director, briefed Erdogan in San Francisco on ISNA’s activism. As an example of its success, ISNA pointed to an interfaith alliance called the Shoulder-to-Shoulder campaign.

Internal U.S. Muslim Brotherhood documents and the U.S. government agree that ISNA is a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood identity, despite its denials. The importance it places in its interfaith outreach is evident when you look at its Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances, locatedwithin the United Methodist Building in Washington D.C. It is led by former Secretary-General Sayyid Syeed who was recorded in 2006 saying, “Our job is to change the constitution of America.”

ISNA also asked for Erdogan’s involvement in an international campaign to help minorities in Muslim countries. This sounds like a “moderate” goal but there’s an Islamist component even here. The international campaign ISNA is talking about is led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last year, ISNA President Mohamed Magid and Elsanousi traveled to Mauritania for a conference about the “challenges faced by religious minorities in Muslim-majority communities.” It was hosted by the vice chair of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, whose President is Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi. Also present was the Obama Administration’s envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Rashad Hussain.

ISNA’s publicized list of “interfaith partners” includes the United Methodist Church, American Baptist Church USA, Presbyterian Church (USA), Episcopal Church, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, United Church of Christ, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Union for Reform Judaism, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Hartford Seminary and the National Council of Churches in the USA, among others.

Many of these partners belong to the Shoulder-to-Shoulder campaign that ISNA boasted about to Erdogan. The ISNA-allied interfaith coalition published a letter of protest to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on March 12, 2013, blasting the New York Police Department for showing The Third Jihad.

Although the film’s narrator is a devout Muslim, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Shoulder-to-Shoulder labeled it as anti-Muslim “bigoted propaganda.” ISNA’s Muslim Brotherhood origins are mentioned in the film. ISNA uses the coalition to discredit its critics as haters of Muslims. One of the coalition’s stated tasks is:

“Urging each faith group to prioritize ending anti-Muslim sentiment by encouraging their regional bodies and congregations to engage in this work, discussing the issue of anti-Muslim bigotry at their annual meetings, and seeking press coverage of their efforts on the issue.”

Erdogan was also in the presence of ISNA on May 15, when he spoke in support of a $100 million mega-mosque project in Maryland launched by his government. ISNA President Mohamed Magid was in attendance. Also present was the leader of the Islamic Circle of North America, a group that is also identified as a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood affiliate in a 1991 memo.

Turkey’s project will probably be the largest Islamic site in the Western Hemisphere and it will consist of Ottoman architecture, another sign that Turkey aims to relive its glory days. At the meeting with ISNA, Erdogan said that the U.N. Security Council must be changed to fit additional Muslim members; a hint at his aspiration for Turkey to join it and therefore have veto power over any decision.

Erdogan also told the Muslim leaders in San Francisco to unite for the sake of promoting democracy. In ISNA’s words, he talked of “the notion of justice as essential to Islamic rule.” Justice must govern all aspects of society, including the economy, culture and politics and Muslims must push for this, he said.

Erdogan’s version of “democracy” and “justice” is why tens of thousands of secular Turks are now demonstrating against him. His confrontational stance towards Israel is designed to make him the unofficial king of the Islamists.Unlike the more hardline Islamists like Al-Qaeda and the Iranian regime, Erdogan’s implementation of the Islamist doctrine of gradualism has allowed him to maintain popular and international support, with President Obama calling him a “friend.”

ISNA (and now, Erdogan) is well-aware of the success of its interfaith outreach. People of faith who oppose the Islamists must also become aware.

This blog post originally appeared as an article on the FrontPage Magazine website earlier this week.

CAIR, ISNA and MPAC Speak Out on Boston Bombing Suspects

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CAIR, Hoda Elshishtawy, ICNA, Institute on Religion and Democracy, Islam, ISNA, Jeff Walton, Mohamed Majid, MPAC, Naeem Baig, Nihad Awad, Radical Islam

Officials from four national Muslim groups speak on the Boston attacks at a press conference Friday, April 19th at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

By Jeff Walton (@JeffreyHWalton)

Officials representing several national Islamic groups earlier today condemned the Boston marathon bombings and asked that the public, media and commentators “not rush to judgment” about suspects’ motives and to “restrain themselves.”

The event at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C. was announced shortly after it was revealed that two suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, are ethnic Chechens from the Muslim-majority Russian Republic of Dagestan. A social media account of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev claims he is an adherent of Islam.

The religious views of the Tsarnaev brothers were not directly addressed at the press conference, with Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) Legislative and Policy Analyst Hoda Elshishtawy merely noting that “We are hearing reports of the ethnic and religious background of the suspects.”

“Our community and faith detest and deplore the actions of these individuals,” announced Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) National Executive Director Nihad Awad. The CAIR official was insistent that the actions of those who planted the bombs were not consistent with the teachings of Islam. “Only those who do not know make these assertions – or those who have a political agenda to divide.”

Asked by a reporter from CNN how concerned the leaders were about people in their communities connecting with extremist teaching, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) President Mohamed Majid replied that “every faith has within it heretical elements, we have pushed back against that.”

Naeem Baig of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) thanked the media “for not jumping to conclusions,” but explained that the Muslim American community felt a burden of others doing so.

“We cannot control what is on the internet,” Baig noted in responding to a query about one of the Tsarnaev brothers following a controversial Australian-born Islamic lecturer.

“Anybody can misinterpret a text,” Awad asserted, adding that the American Muslim community “will not allow ourselves to be hijacked” by the ideologies of overseas extremists.

Asked by a correspondent from Arabic satellite TV network Al Jazeera why the Muslim groups were acting defensive by calling a press conference so quickly, Majid responded “we are not apologizing, we are condemning crimes.”

Media Miss Islamists at the National Prayer Breakfast

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Institute on Religion & Democracy, IRD, Islamism, ISNA, National Prayer Breakfast, Ryan Mauro, Sayyid Syeed, Sharia

(Photo credit: Religions for Peace)

by Ryan Mauro (@RyanMauro)

Dr. Benjamin Carson captivated the media’s attention with his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, but another attendee deserved some of the spotlight: Sayyid Syeed, the interfaith liaison for the Islamic Society of North America, who was recorded in 2006 saying, “[O]ur job is to change the constitution of America.”

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) originates in the Muslim Brotherhood, but has been embraced on a bi-partisan basis. FBI sources reporting back to the mid-1980s identified it as a Brotherhood front. In 2007, the U.S. government designated ISNA an unindicted co-conspirator in the terrorism-financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation, listing it as a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity.

A 1991 Brotherhood memo, which describes its “work in America as a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within,” likewise mentions ISNA and several of its components as its fronts. In 2009, a federal judge upheld ISNA’s designation as an unindicted co-conspirator because of “ample” evidence linking it to Hamas.

The same 1991 memo lays out how the Brotherhood network must “posses a mastery of the art of ‘coalitions,’ the art of ‘absorption,’  and the principles of ‘cooperation.’” It explicitly talks about using the “hands” of the “nonbelievers” to advance its agenda.

The work of ISNA and its allies in forging interfaith partnerships is undoubtedly a fulfillment of this directive. ISNA has used these interfaith relationships to slam its critics as “Islamophobes,” as it did at an event on January 15 at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C.

Sayyid Syeed, ISNA’s Secretary-General from 1994 to 2006, is now the Director of ISNA’s Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances. New footage has been released of him stating in 2006, “[O]ur job is to the change the constitution of America,” as seen in the film, The Grand Deception.

Syeed and ISNA were invited to the National Prayer Breakfast at which President Obama spoke. Syeed also addressed about 100 evangelical leaders during the Middle East/North Africa Prayer Breakfast. Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi, ISNA’s Director of Community Outreach, also spoke.

The National Prayer Breakfast was organized by the Fellowship Foundation and hosted by co-chairs Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Other speakers included Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CA) and, ironically, Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX), one of the brave congressmen who wrote letters asking for investigations into the relationships between ISNA and other Brotherhood legacy groups and the U.S. government.

Shortly after the National Prayer Breakfast, Syeed was the keynote speaker at the annual legislative conference of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was attended by over 700 faith community leaders, and the Coalition includes the Minnesota Council of Churches, Minnesota Catholic Conferences, Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Islamic Center of Minnesota. He also spoke at the University of St. Thomas’s Muslim Christian Dialogue Center.

Syeed’s preaching is echoed by Muzammil Siddiqi, a member at large of ISNA’s board of directors. He was also the president from 1997 to 2000. He has spoken in support of the long-term implementation of Sharia Law and said in 2001 that Muslims “should participate in the [democratic] system to safeguard our interest and try to bring gradual change for the right cause, the cause of truth and justice. We must not forget that Allah’s rules have to be established in all lands, and all our efforts should lead to that direction.”

The rhetoric of both ISNA officials is in line with the Muslim Brotherhood’s doctrine of gradualism, a phased approach towards implementing Sharia-based governance. Contrary to the Al-Qaeda-type Islamists, Brotherhood Islamists encourage involvement in secular democratic governments if necessary.

Terms made popular by these governments are even reinterpreted through Islamist lenses. Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi preaches, “What I am for is a genuine type of democracy, for a society driven by the laws of Sharia that is compatible with the values of freedom, human rights, justice and equity.”

The Islamist orientation of ISNA is also apparent in the guest speakers it has and the causes it chooses to, or chooses not to, champion. Last year, Tunisian Islamist Rachid Ghannouchi was booked to speak at its annual convention. Last month, ISNA hosted Somalia’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked President.

On the other hand, secular democratic activists opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood are never given a platform. ISNA is silent when crowds of Egyptians protest the Muslim Brotherhood. ISNA says not a word when tens of thousands of Muslims stand against Islamists in Bangladesh in what has been called “the first time ever in the Muslim world there has been a popular uprising against the fascism of Islamist parties.”

ISNA’s presence at the National Prayer Breakfast is exactly what the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood envisioned when it told its network to master “the art of ‘coalitions.’”

This IRD article was originally published at FrontPage Magazine

Interfaith Groups Launch Call-In on Guns

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David Saperstein, Episcopal, GBCS, Institute on Religion and Democracy, interfaith, ISNA, Jeff Walton, National Council of Churches, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, National Latino Evangelical Coalition, NETWORK, PCUSA, United Church of Christ, Washington National Cathedral

(Photo credit: Art Atlanta)

By Jeff Walton (@JeffreyHWalton)

An interfaith group initiated by Rabbi David Saperstein’s Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism is launching a national call-in campaign today, asking congregants to contact their members of Congress and urge them to support additional restrictions on firearms. The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and United Church of Christ each issued their own statements encouraging participation in the call-in.

According to a press release provided by the group, participants include the National Council of Churches, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, the Islamic Society of North America, Bishop T.D. Jakes and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Liberal standbys, including PICO National Network, Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK, the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society and Washington National Cathedral (Episcopal) are also listed.

In their statements, church officials cited instances of gun violence, and then listed four policy changes for churchgoers to advocate: limits on sales of “military-style” weapons and high-capacity magazines, background checks for all gun purchases, improved access to mental health services, and attention to gun trafficking.

“The Spirit is moving across this land to mobilize people of faith to act,” declared Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who personally authored her church’s own statement.

Quoting Zechariah’s prophecy of a repopulated and peaceful Jerusalem, the Episcopal Church prelate announced that “all God’s people should be able to live in peace” and reminded that “even if this seems impossible, with God it is not.”

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness was slightly less grandiose in their announcement, acknowledging that “there are differences in viewpoint and we ask you to convey whichever policies with which you are comfortable.”

The United Church of Christ also acknowledged that “the public dialogue about gun violence can quickly become divisive” and urged support for laws to prevent gun violence, outlining the same four points as the other church lobby groups.

“Tested by our grief, resolute in our faith we remain committed to continuing this drumbeat,” the UCC statement promised.

The National Council of Churches provided sample social media posts as well as pulpit and bulletin announcements as well as linking to their “Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath” materials developed for earlier in January.

The national call-in day follows a recent press conference at the Washington National Cathedral, in which officials touted their own history of gun control advocacy and rededicated their faith groups to further restricting firearms.