An Islamist imam spoke in support of armed jihad at an event held in a Virginia high school on January 26, a video from the event shows.
The event was put together by the First Hijrah Foundation and held at the TC Williams high school in Virginia. According to the organizers, the event's purpose was to “to commemorate the 1st Anniversary of Ethiopian Muslims peaceful struggle for justice and freedom of religion and Fund Raising for the families of the unjustly detained scholars of Ethiopian Muslims.”
An edited video compiling the statements made at the event by Imam Shaker of Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center is below:
The video shows Imam Shaker making the following statements:
“…the power of armament. You cannot defend yourself by wishful thinking.” He adds that colonial powers would not be driven from Muslim lands by asking them to leave.
“The world respects those who push back, the world only fears those who fight back.”
He condemned leaders who “bow down to Western pressure,” and said Muslims should only bow to Allah.
“[Muslims should be] first in the jihad line.”
“[Muslims are last in line] if anything is being distributed, except for if it is arms for jihad. We are the first to rush and run to defend our community and to defend ourselves. The enemies of Allah are lining up. The question is for us; Are we lining or are we afraid because they may call us terrorists? Let me give you the good news. They are already calling us terrorists anyway! You are a terrorist because you are a Muslim…Make this title worth it.”
“Be a Muslim who spreads peace when peace is to be received and be a Muslim who fights back when there is an attack on yourself, your community, your society, your nation, your religion, your dignity, your honor, your women, your children or your neighbors.”
Imam Shaker ended the speech by calling on the audience to sacrifice like those who are putting their “lives on the line to defend” Islam in Ethiopia. The moderator then came on stage and said that Shaker wasn’t advocating armed struggle in Ethiopia.
Click here to watch the entire speech.
Imam Shaker has a history of radicalism. He is a former Secretary-General of the Muslim American Society (MAS), which federal prosecutors said in 2008 “was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” In January 2012, convicted terrorist and U.S. Muslim Brotherhood member Abdurrahman Alamoudi said, “Everyone knows that MAS is the Muslim Brotherhood.”
[ad] In 2001, Imam Shaker would not condemn Hamas’ attacks on Israeli civilians, arguing that they are legitimate targets and occupiers. In 2002, he said that suicide bombers are “unfairly named” and that if a Muslim land is attacked or occupied, every Muslim must wage jihad “with every tool that they can get in their hand. Anything that they can get in their hand they should fight with it. And if they don’t have a weapon in their hands, then [they will fight] unarmed.”
A 2002 Customs and Border Protection document states that Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, which Shaker has led since 2005, is “operating as a front for Hamas operatives in U.S.” A December 2007 document says it “has been linked to numerous individuals linked to terrorism financing” and “has also been associated with encouraging fraudulent marriages.”
The Center’s constitution mandates that it be affiliated with the Muslim American Society, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). The latter two were labeled as unindicted co-conspirators in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for financing Hamas. The U.S. government described them as “individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.” A 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood document lists them among “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.”
Imam Shaker’s speech was an explicitly anti-Western call to jihad, and it took place in a high school after classes ended. When the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood spoke of a “civilization jihadist process” in its 1991 strategic memo, this is what they were talking about.
Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org's National Security Analyst and a fellow with the Clarion Fund. He is the founder of WorldThreats.com and is frequently interviewed on Fox News.
This article may not be republished without expressed written permission from ClarionProject.org
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