NOTE: Masjid at-Taqwa is a mosque in Brooklyn, whose pastor, Imam Siraj Wahhaj is known for his fiery and charismatic speeches. His sermons on tape are sold widely on the internet.
Propaganda campaign mounts against Masjid At-Taqwa "Don't snap a photo of the Masjid At-Taqwa in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn unless you want to be hauled away by a group of angry Muslims in Islamic attire to the basement of the facility where a group of twenty "security guards" in karate suits will interrogate you. "This might sound preposterous. But it happened on Saturday, April 24, at 3:00 in the afternoon…" It goes downhill from there. Bos Hog (I mean Bos Smith, pardon me) was deep in the heart of enemy territory doing surveillance work on one of the known terrorist cells in North America, when they were abducted at Qur'an point by enemy forces and taken down into the dungeon of the mosque and subjected to harsh interrogation techniques. (Or so they would like their gullible readers to think). The reader is invited to go to the following link and read Bos' propaganda account of his DAYTIME adventure at Masjid At-Taqwa: http://americansaga insthate. blogspot. com/2008/ 04/escape- from-brooklyn- mosque_28. html But before doing so, however, please read Ali Abdul Karim's less colorful, but more accurate description of what really happened when Bos Hog (excuse me, Smith) decided to go native for a sunny afternoon in good ol Bed-Sty. === The Real Deal by Ali Abdul Karim This is a full account of what happened when Bos Smith and his crew came to Masjidat-Taqwah to take photographs of the masjid building. I was conducting my routine martial art classes on Saturday afternoon, made up mostly of 20 children and about 6 adults, when one of the members of the masjid summoned me from my class. I went to see what he wanted and observed two Caucasian males with him. The brother explained that they were taking photographs of the masjid and he invited them to speak to someone in authority to see how we can best assist them in this endeavor, which is our protocol when any media is interested in filming Masjidat Taqwah. There was no hostility shown toward the two men, nor were they held under any duress; they had freedom of movement and they could leave at anytime. The brother informed me that when he observed them taking photographs he inquired about nature of the photographs, and when they informed him of the nature of the photographs, that's when he invited them to speak to someone in authority. They complied with the invitation willingly, without duress, and without force, which is not masjid policy. I inquired about the nature of their business with Masjidat-Taqwah. Bos Smith informed us that he was doing a documentary on Muslims in America, and going around to different masajid photographing them. I never at any time informed him that he could not take photographs of the masjid. I asked him who he represented, and did he have a business card. He replied that he was freelance and didn't have a business card. I then asked him if he had a contact number and he gave that to me willingly. I then proceeded to give him Imam Siraj's office number and informed Bos Smith that, as it is our policy to accommodate all media in these types of endeavors, the imam and the community would be more than happy to oblige him in this project, and they left peacefully. Note, Bos Smith says he has a law degree. Why would he come into a basement without being forced or [with the] threat of force. This non incident happened in broad day light, with the usually high level of pedestrian traffic and police presence in our area. Furthermore, we understand people's first amendment rights, and I am sure Bos Smith knows [also]; so why didn't he ignore the request made to him. He could have walked away or summoned the police for unlawful detention or restriction of movement. It's because it never happened the way he wrote about it in the article. The article is a biased attempt to defame and discredit Imam Siraj, Masjidat-Taqwah, Islam and the Muslims as a whole. Truth be known, Bos Smith has written a book soon to be released called, "Within the Belly of the Beast: Jihad in America." There is a chapter devoted to radical mosques. So he has a hidden agenda that ALLAH (SWTA) has exposed through this event; and ALLAH KNOWS BEST. ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *** WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE ------------------------------------ *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended: http://www.ikhwanweb.com http://www.islamonline.net http://www.islam-guide.com http://www.prophetmuhammadforall.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! 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