Why Islam indeed?

and why outside Carlisle PA pray tell?

Beats the heck out of me.

I was driving back to Princeton from a quick trip out of town to tend to some family matters via the PA turnpike (a brutally boring drive)when I saw a billboard advertising www.WhyIslam.org

This billboard said it was sponsored by Islamic Circle of North America and it piqued my interest. I visited the site and was encouraged to: ask a question, visit a mosque, correspond by email. On the face it seemed relatively harmless but digging a little deeper and finding articles like, The Veil Has Set Us Free, made me uncomfortable.

Who the heck are these guys, I wondered.

Well, according to the Militant Islam Monitor they are linked with Al Qaeda and

make no secret of their goal to train Muslims to implement a United States of Shari'a and reminds them of 'Islam as a universal and eternal way of living for mankind.'

They have formed the Islamic Learning Foundation to "enrich the lives of Muslims in general and Muslim youth in particular" Why?

The main objective for ILF is enriching the lives of Muslims in general and Muslim Youth in particular by educating their minds and affecting their hearts with sound knowledge of Islamic Shariah thus deepening their awareness of Islam as a universal and eternal way of living for mankind and providing a new caliber of Muslim leaders.

Now, I don't know about you, but this sounds like Madrassa home schools to me. Especially when our ICNA/ILF pals go on to state that Most Muslims get their Islamic knowledge from: Islamic lectures, listening to audio-video tapes and going to conferences and conventions. Maybe like this weekend's fiesta at Six Flags?

They hired some guy named Sheikh Ibrahim Negm to head up this "learning foundation" and according to MIM:

The new head of the ILF is Ibrahim Negm, who not surprisingly was given a fellowship to conduct research at Harvard Law School. Given that Harvard has an Islamic law program which is Saudi and Bin Laden family funded, it should come as no surprise that Negm had no problem going from Harvard to assistant researcher of the Graduate School of Social Sciences which was raided for terrorism support and funding. Negm's affiliation with Al Qaeda linked ICNA would be considered an asset on his CV. It is also worth noting that Negm's speakers bio on the ICNA website adds the fact that he "memorised the Koran as a child" and that his father was active in the Islamic Movement in Egypt which means the Muslim Brotherhood, the group which was responsible for the assassination of Sadat and whose list of founders includes Bin Laden mentor Abdullah Azzam.

Here is the curriculum for this fall's courses on al-Aqidah or al-itiqad:

"The firm creed that one's heart is fixed upon without any wavering or doubt. It excludes any supposition, doubt or suspicion. The Quran gives this serious matter the name Iman."

The ILF closes their pitch for funds for these charter madrassas (will they get vouchers?) by quoting the everpresent Koran (66:6) "O you who believe; save yourself and your families from the fire..."

Digging a little deeper I find this tidbit about their ties to Pakistan's radical islamists, Jamma'at-i-Islamia, over at CNSNews.com. Read it all, it will tell you all you need to know about this outfit, including this.

The Islamic Circle of North America is one of a number of American Muslim groups currently under federal investigation for possible ties to al Qaeda and Palestinian terrorists. In December 2003, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), requesting detailed information on 25 U.S. Muslim organizations.

Wake up and smell the goat breath, people! They are breathing down our backs and would like nothing better than to have their foot on our necks...


P.S. I find that the handsome Patrick al Kafir at Clarity and Resolve has had a Why Islam billboard encounter, too. This one in South Florida and sponsored by those rats at CAIR. Feh.

P.P.S. There is definitely a vast red crescent conspiracy going on. There's an ad on a bus in Utica. Some background:

Farooqi hopes more will come from people such as Roger Perry, 21, of Oneida. Perry converted to Islam in October after reading articles on the WhyIslam? Web site.

"I thought I would look just to learn something new, but as I read, I realized that it really fit my beliefs," Perry said.

He called the hotline and converted by telephone, he said. Now, Perry prays five times daily and worships alongside refugees from eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East at the Muslim Community Association on Kemble Street, where Friday prayer services usually draw between 150 and 200 people.

Utica's Muslim population numbers up to 6,000, said Sabur Abdul-Salaam, the mosque's board president. Most, like the mosque's imam, are Bosnian Muslims, resettled through the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees.