New Jersey Imam Starts Workshop To Train Imams To Not Get Caught On Camera Praying For Genocide Of Jews
He is not calling for the prayers for the annihilation of the Jews to be discarded. He is just calling upon imams to be more careful about cameras and microphones when reciting them.
ROBERT SPENCER
FREEDOMOUTPOST.COM
MARCH 31, 2018
According to the law, the call for annihilation constitutes incitement to violence. Naturally, I know that the preacher merely recites supplications he knows by heart, and does not realize that this might be seen as incitement to violence, or anything.”
This is not reform or “moderate Islam.”
He is not calling for the prayers for the annihilation of the Jews to be discarded.
He is just calling upon imams to be more careful about cameras and microphones when reciting them.
There have been numerous incidents recently of imams in the U.S. and Canada calling for Allah to kill the Jews; this imam is trying to stop the PR damage, which has been minimal in any case, since to report fully on such matters would be “Islamophobic.”
“NJ Imam Mohamed Moussa: We Have Started a Workshop Training U.S. Imams How to Avoid Incitement and Hate Speech,” MEMRI, February 2, 2018:
During his February 2 Friday sermon at the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center in New Jersey, Imam Mohamed Moussa, Secretary-General of the Tri-State Islamic Council, called on preachers and Islamic teachers to be mindful of what they say in sermons and schools and to avoid anything that could be considered incitement to violence. His remarks came against the backdrop of several inciting Friday sermons, including from the New Jersey area, published by MEMRI in recent months. Imam Moussa warned that there are “institutions of Islamophobia” with “budgets in the millions, whose only job is [to monitor] us,” and said that “every [Islamic] institution must make sure that anyone speaking on its behalf… is knowledgeable, informed, and responsible.” He suggested that mosques be required to only hire preachers who have been instructed by the Tri-State Islamic Council on what they are allowed and not allowed to say. The Tri-State Islamic Council invited all the imams in the area to a workshop on this issue that was held on February 1. Imam Moussa said that 45 imams attended the successful workshop. He further said that the supplications to Allah to “count [the Jews] one by one, disperse them to the very last one, and not leave a single one of them” – which many preachers recite by heart – are illegal in America and should disappear from the sermons. Imam Moussa’s sermon was posted on the NHIEC YouTube channel.
ollowing is a transcript:
Mohamed Moussa: Setting our priorities straight had an effect on our Islamic discourse in this country. I am saying this because there are entire organizations with budgets in the millions, whose only job is [to monitor] us. These are called “institutions of Islamophobia”. Their job is to monitor everything that we say. There are no longer any hidden mosques, schools, or even small study groups. Out of the blue you find yourself in the mainstream media, and even though you may be preaching in a small mosque, you are harming the entire American Muslim community. It happens all of a sudden. You don’t even notice it.
We need to set our priorities straight, so that our discourse becomes more disciplined. Ever since President Trump announced that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and that the U.S. embassy would be moved there, the feelings of Muslims have undoubtedly been inflamed. Therefore, [preachers] who are not skilled speakers have spoken badly.
In this country, you enjoy total freedom. However, this freedom ends where the rights of others begin. In other words, this freedom ends if you rip the social fabric of society, by attacking a minority or a certain religion, for example. If you attack a minority or a certain religion, this is defined by the law and the constitution as hate speech. It might even be considered a hate crime, if it contains incitement to murder or to violence.
The congregation is undoubtedly a source of pressure on the imams and preachers at the mosques. Many imams and preachers in mosques and teachers in [Islamic] schools give in to the pressure of the common people. An imam like that wants to please the people, so he delivers undisciplined fiery sermons. Then he finds himself in a dilemma: either he is forced to apologize publicly – or the Muslims are forced to apologize on his behalf or to disavow him – or else Islamophobia will exploit this to make much greater strides.
After [Trump’s] declaration, some preachers… As I said, about 2,000 or 2,300 preachers and imams deliver sermons in the U.S., and only six preachers were found [delivering inciting sermons]… Six imams is nothing, but they were used in a lot of propaganda. All the newspapers wrote about them, and the entire media spoke about them. They described the Jews in words that were considered to be hate speech. Furthermore, what some of them said in their supplications could have been interpreted as incitement to violence against that minority. Now there are calls to monitor the mosques, and to deny the preachers any immunity if something like this happens. The New York Post published an extensive article about this. The media has been dealing with this ever since, and this has caused many problems.
The Rest…HERE
