| Submit your comments on this article |
| Fifth Column |
| Unmasking the Radical Imam |
| 2005-05-14 |
| This weekend, the Central Performing Arts Center in Hollywood, Florida, will play host to one of the most radical Islamist leaders in America—but few will know it. The occasion is a conference, titled "America & The Rights of Those Who Believe in God," which will feature Maulana Shafayat Mohamed, the supposedly moderate religious leader of the Darul Uloom Islamic Institute. In fact, Darul Uloom, a madrasa (religious school) located in Pembroke Pines, Florida, is notorious for the number of terrorists that have worshiped and taken classes there, including the so-called "Dirty Bomber" Jose Padilla and Adnan Shukrijumah, who is on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list. At the center of it all is Maulana Shafayat Mohamed himself. Born in Trinidad, West Indies, he graduated from Darul Uloom Deoband, the largest Islamic university in India. This fundamentalist madrasa served as a prototype for another madrasa located in Pakistan, the Darul Uloom Haqqania. Scores of Taliban leaders, including Taliban head Mullah Muhammad Omar, were taught at Darul Uloom Haqqania. Indeed, it acted less as a place of learning than as an al-Qaeda recruitment center. There is a disquieting resemblance between this Taliban terror factory and Shafayat Mohamed's current institution, Darul Uloom. Shafayat Mohamed opened Darul Uloom on February 24, 1995, with himself as the Registered Agent. On the list of founding directors—and still a director—for the madrassa is Nashid Sabir, a lawyer for a former Darul Uloom student, Imran Mandhai. Authorities suspect that Mandhai intended to take part in a jihadist-hatched campaign of terror bombings in South Florida. Set to join him in the terror spree was Mandhai's friend Hakki Aksoy, another Darul Uloom alumnus. Despite his ties to terrorism, Shafayat Mohamed postures as a moderate. Interfaith activities particularly are a big part of his life. Beyond serving as president of the Hollywood Interfaith Council and co-founder of JAM (Jews & Muslims & All), Shafayat Mohamed presides over a monthly publication called Al-Hikmat Insight, which devotes an entire page to interfaith activities. In fact however, the publication, founded by Shafayat Mohamed in 1983, provides a revealing showcase of his extremist views. Rest at link. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #1 damn shame if he died....abruptly... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-14 17:52 |