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Reject call for
holy war, Florida Muslim leader says
"How could the Muslim leaders
in the U.S. denounce armed forces against the Taliban when you've got Afghanis
against the Taliban? I see some strong hypocrisy here.''
Andrea Elliot, The Miami Herald,
Saturday, October 13, 2001
A prominent local Muslim leader
called for Muslims in America to "jump off the fence'' Friday and support
U.S. military action in Afghanistan, while rejecting the Taliban's declared holy
war. Cultural ties to the Middle East and fear of retaliation by anti- American
Muslims have stopped local Muslims from publicly denouncing Osama bin Laden's
jihad, or holy war, said Shafayet Mohamed, the religious leader of Darul Uloom
in Pembroke Pines, South Florida's largest mosque.
"This is not a holy war. This
is not justified and does not include all Muslims,'' said Mohamed, who delivered
the khutbah, or sermon, to more than 700 congregants and crews from three
television stations.
Osama bin Laden's video taped
statement, released Sunday, prompted Mohamed's sermon, he said. Bin Laden called
for Muslims every where to unite, further escalating anti-U.S. protests in the
Middle East.
In the video, bin Laden said:
"These events have divided the whole world into two sides. The side of
believers and the side of infidels, may God keep you away from them. Every
Muslim has to rush to make his religion victorious. The winds of faith have
come.''
In response, Mohamed and other
local imams, or religious leaders, have assured their followers that bin Laden
and the Taliban are not qualified to call for a jihad, and that his cause is
political and anti-Muslim by nature. A true jihad, said Mohamed, is dying "in
the path of God, by doing good, without killing anyone.''
Mohamed said he felt compelled to
summon the media to his mosque Friday and announce support for U.S. military
action in Afghanistan, even though he believes his sermon will invite criticism.
"I am going to be very much
criticized for this. I do not support the pack,'' said Mohamed, of
Trinidad. "Coming from the West and being a Caribbean [man], I do not
have the cultural background to have emotions get in the way of my judgment.''
Local Muslims with family members
in the Middle East - including many who attend Darul Uloom -- are more likely to
struggle over whether to support U.S. military action, he and other leaders
said.
"Over there are our
relatives, our friends. It might happen to them. If they die you think we're
gonna be happy? We're not gonna be happy,'' said Palestinian-American Sofian
Zakkout, director of the Muslim Association of America, AMANA in Miami. Zakkout
said he is resolutely opposed to military activity by the United States in
Afghanistan. He said America should try to bring those responsible for the Sept.
11 terror attacks before a court of law.
"I am supporting our
government but not by the war. No religious Muslim, Jew or Christian would ever
support a war in this earth,'' he said.
"We have to work in a more
intelligent way against the terrorists but not by killing. We can't go an eye
for an eye.''
Mohamed, 42, told his congregants
the opposite, reading chapter five, verse 45 of the Koran, "an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth.''
"I am quoting the Koran,''
Mohamed said. "How could the Muslim leaders in the U.S. denounce armed
forces against the Taliban when you've got Afghanis against the Taliban? I see
some strong hypocrisy here.''
Munir Khan, the imam of the
Islamic Movement of Florida in Hollywood, offered a view that fell somewhere
between those of Zakkout and Mohamed.
"I don't think anybody would
be comfortable with any kind of bombing,'' he said, "but if that's what it
takes to bring about justice then that's what we will have to do.'' After
hearing Mohamed speak, 56-year-old Abdul Omar Ali agreed that the United States'
military strategy is appropriate.
"What is a holy war?'' asked
Ali, a Trinidadian who lives in Hollywood. "Are we going to use our
knowledge to determine what is a holy war or are we going to be led by other
people who have their agenda?''
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