An Islamic Hell Grows in Brooklyn

[Ambiorix]

An Islamic Hell Grows in Brooklyn

by Denis Schulz

05 May, 2008

Isn’t a public thoroughfare a stated place of safety upon which a private citizen can expect to move from one destination to another without molestation? Isn’t it against the law for a private citizen or a group of private citizens to dragoon other private citizens off a stated public thoroughfare, to drag them into a building, say into a mosque, to interrogate them about their reasons for being on said public thoroughfare?


Siraj Wahhaj

It would seem so, but that is exactly what happened to Bus Smith, a Wall Street investment banker, and his companions when they were dragged off a public thoroughfare by a group of angry Muslims and into the Masjid At-Taqwa Mosque in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn for ostensibly taking photographs of said mosque. They had not secured permission. Permission for what…to take pictures…to breathe the air? Was it a photograph-free zone? Is there some sort of double standard in play in Bedford-Stuyvesant? Could be. Militant Islam is not at all shy about taking photographs of anything that catches its fancy and the target doesn’t have to be on a public thoroughfare—bridges, nuclear power plants, military installations even George W. Bush hasn’t heard of, CIA headquarters, anything. Perhaps the Prophet PBUH has extended privileges to Muslims he has denied dhimmis and kafirs
Smith and his two companions were taken to a basement beneath the mosque where they were grilled by a character named Ali Kareem. There was no sense in making a run for it. Security was tight. About 20 Muslims dressed in Karate suits had gathered around them. Maybe it was Tae Kwan Do Day at the mosque. They were asked what they had been doing in the street in front of the mosque—a public thoroughfare where a private citizen can expect to be safe from molestation from other private citizens…one would think.

They said they were sightseeing. That did not work. It was only when they said they were admirers of Islam and wanted to learn about the religion of peace and tolerance, and begin sprinkling their words with Allahu akbars that the frowns and scowls on the faces of their captors turned to smiles. By then Bus and his pals must have learned everything about paranoia, xenophobia, intolerance and Islam they would ever want to know. They said their intent had been to obtain information about conversion. Sure. After a few more Allahu akbars and a couple of Shaloms they were allowed to go.

It had been a close call. Thank God for the Allahu akbars!  (Many a quick-thinking Jew caught in similar situations in Nazi Germany survived by shouting Heil Hitler) It is amazing how the instinct for survival can come to the fore in a tight spot. Bus and his friends were lucky.

And where did this incident take place? In Brooklyn…are you sure? It couldn’t have! Not in the Brooklyn where Peewee Reese played shortstop and Jackie Robinson broke the color line. Not in the Brooklyn of Woody Allen and George Gershwin. Not in the Brooklyn of The Three Stooges and Vince Lombardi. Not in the Brooklyn of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Mickey Spillane. There must be some mistake! Were that there was. It took place in that Brooklyn…in Bed-Sty.

Alas! Alas! Say it ain’t so, Joe! What kind of Hell has descended on Bed-Sty…on Brownsville…on Bensonhurst…on East Flatbush?

Not Hell, dear dhimmi, something worse than Hell—Islam!

The Masjid At-Taqwa Mosque is the haunt of Imam Siraj Wahhaj. Wahhaj was one of the six imams hustled off a plane at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport back in November of 2006 for harassing passengers. The imams insisted they had behaved normally— as if spouting anti-American slogans, praying ostentatiously, jumping up and down, switching seats, talking loudly and asking for belt extenders was normal behavior. They acted more like The Three Stooges than purveyors of peace and tolerance. They made more noise than the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir embarking on the Love Boat. The Bowery Boys could have commandeered a bus with more savoir-faire and less disruption to the passengers. Of course, the imams took great umbrage when the gendarmes arrived to escort them from the plane. The religion of peace and tolerance would see them in court! Yes, in court, sir! But in the life of Siraj Wahhaj this was only a minor episode.

Guest speakers at the mosque have included blind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman who is currently whiling away the last days of his life in a Missouri Federal Penitentiary for his part in the first World Trade Center bombing and Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani founder of the American branch of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, an organization suspected in 35 acts of terrorism in the United States. (Jamaat ul-Fuqra means Community of the Impoverished. Whether the impoverishment is economic, spiritual or mental or all three is yet to be determined) Add Clement Rodney Hampton-El known as Dr. Rashid, also in jail for participating in the first WTC bombing, and the usual hangers on at the mosque and one has a cast of characters that would have kept Shane out of Grafton’s Saloon and Eliot Ness out of Greasy Thumb Guzik's favorite speakeasy.

Wahhaj was listed as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center bombing, but that did not keep him from appearing at the trial as a character witness for Sheikh Rahman. He has served on the advisory board for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and was the first imam to deliver a Muslim prayer before the US House of Representatives. He gets around. In 1999, he was the guest of Madeleine Albright at a State Department dinner. Wahhaj has told his followers that a society governed by strict Islamic law, in which adulterers would be stoned to death and thieves have their hands cut off, would be superior to American democracy.

How far have the limits of Hell been extended since the first World Trade Center bombing? Less than four years ago, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz proclaimed August 15, 2004, “Siraj Wahhaj Day” in honor of the imam’s “lifetime of outstanding and meaningful achievement.”

From the Burgerbrau Keller to the Beer Hall Putsch…from the first World Trade Center bombing to 9/11…from Brownshirts to Karate suits…

“In time this so-called democracy will crumble and there will be nothing. And the only thing that will remain will be Islam.”—Siraj Wahhaj, guest speaker at the Universal Heritage Foundation meeting at Kissimmee, Florida, December 2003.

Who will tell the people?