"President Obama on Wednesday will visit a U.S. mosque for the first
time in his presidency. According to the White House, during this visit
he will “celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation
and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life.”
Over the past two years, in the president’s efforts to counter violent
extremism, he has emphasized the responsibility of Muslim “scholars and
clerics” to help ensure that mosques are not used as a platform to
preach Islamist extremism.
Such extremism isn’t limited to
out-of-the-way mosques where radical clerics operate in the shadows. It
is occurring in mainstream and leading mosques world-wide, including at
one of the most important religious institutions in Islam, the Al Aqsa
mosque in Jerusalem.
Consider a Jan. 16 sermon at Al Aqsa by Sheikh Abu Taqi Al-Din Al-Dari,
a Palestinian cleric who called for jihad against the West and Europe,
and for the burgeoning Islamic State to “conquer Rome, Washington and
Paris.”
Despite
Al Aqsa’s importance to Islam—it is considered the religion’s holiest
site outside Saudi Arabia—few Westerners are aware of the content of the
sermons, lectures and lessons offered there. Many of these sermons are
posted on the mosque’s two official YouTube channels and have been
translated from the Arabic by my organization, the Middle East Media
Research Institute.
What we have found at Al Aqsa is a steady
stream of calls for jihad and martyrdom, venomous attacks on Jews,
Christians and other non-Muslims, and praise for al Qaeda, Islamic
State, or ISIS, and other jihadist groups...
...A year ago in Washington, D.C., at the opening of the Summit on
Countering Violent Extremism, President Obama urged Muslims to “push
back” against extremism in mosques. He will have an opportunity to
restate that message on Wednesday in Baltimore. Acknowledging the
Islamist threat, and those who support it, must be part of any realistic
attempt at countering violent extremism. "
For the rest of this article see:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-mosque-as-extremist-megaphone-1454459321
Another pertinent article recently sent to me:
http://www.torontosun.com/2016/02/09/obamas-not-listening-to-the-right-muslims
