Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The Voice of Moderate Islam

Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi is a monthly columnist for the Detroit News. His "Faith and Policy" columns usually are aimed at urging understanding for Islam and acceptance. He says things like this:

"(Islam) existed 1,000 years before the establishment of this great republic and always promoted the message of love, peace and justice."


He is presented as a moderate voice of Islam, and he is very popular among Detroit's Muslim community. Today's column:

Lebanon, one of the most beautiful and hospitable countries in the world, has gone through unimaginable pain and suffering in the past two weeks. Israel declared this unjust and immoral war under the excuse of its two soldiers being captured by the Lebanese resistance. Lebanese forces said they took the Israeli soldiers to negotiate the release of their own captured people and 495 other hostages- Palestinian women and children who have been held a long time.


Lebanese resistance not Hezbolloah. And, Israel is holding 495 women and children hostages? Propaganda much? This man is a student of Joseph Goebbels.

The Lebanese started firing their Katyusha rockets on northern Israel three days after the Israeli invasion or, more accurately, after three decades of Israeli occupation and aggression. Israel never left the Lebanese Shaba farmlands, and Israel was planning this war for a long time.
*********
There was no need to create this headache for the region. Israel's real enemy is not Hezbollah, Iran or Syria but its own arrogance.


Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up.

Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi is head of something called the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Sounds like a nice place? You wouldn't think it was an organization lead by a man who cozies up with Hezzbollah and the Ayatollah Khomeini, but that's exactly what it is.

So, when Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi offers that Hezbollah isn't the bad guy, he isn't exactly speaking from a position of disinterest or moderation.

This from CBN News:

A research paper for the U.S. Institute of Peace state that, "in 1991, Mohammad Ali Elahi received a four-month visa which enabled him to inspect American branches of Hizbullah (Tehran's network of agents) and to reinforce Tehran's influence on Shi'ite communities (in Dearborn)." 


That's a pretty serious accusation, if true.

Regarding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent call to wipe Israel off the map, Elahi wrote:
--"It is very clear that Mr. Ahmadinejad was not making an anti-Semitic statement."
--"The Iranian president's quip can best be understood in the context of the Declaration of Independence."
--and, "Israel must stop instigating violent conflicts in the Muslim world." 


This is the voice of "moderate" Islam? Yikes. A bit more:

Elahi denies that he is an agent of the Iranian government. But he says Iran is a democracy--and that the U.S. should have supported the 1979 Iranian revolution, the same revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini and Islamic Sharia law to power.
“That was what people wanted,” Elahi said, “and they stood for it. I mean, that was a revolution made by the people.”
And what about 9/11? According to a 2001 upi article, Elahi suggested that the Israeli Mossad was behind the attacks on the World Trade Center. Elahi says he was misquoted. But he still is not convinced that al-Qaeda carried out the attacks alone.
“Honestly, in my heart? I don't have an answer for that,” Elahi said. “Maybe, and maybe not. They may have done it just by themselves, or they may have had some help from some others.”  
But Elahi said he is still not sure whether Israel was involved in the attacks.


Ok, let me see if I can sum up the views of moderate Islam: Israel's only problem is its own arrogance; calls for wiping Israel off the map are not anti-Semitic, but Revolutionary; Iran is a democracy; and the Israeli Mossad may have been behind 9/11. Did I miss anything?

Shesh, It's no wonder there is so much support for Hezzbollah in Detroit.