US DOJ Inserts Itself Into Tennessee Mosque Controversy

"The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers." - Turkey's Islamist Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan

Our Department of Justice is trying to intimidate a local jurisdiction in favor of the building of a mega-mosque in Murfeesboo Tennessee.

Muslims are only a small contingent of the population of Murfreesboro and its vicinity, but they are planning to build a 52,000 square foot mega-mosque in the area. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro (ICM) claims the space in needed because they have over 1,000 worshipers, although the 2009 ICM annual report shows only 45 active members.

A number of questions about the people involved in the proposed Islamic Center Of Murfreesboro, the murky sources of funding, the process by which permits were issued and the zoning considerations have led to controversy and opposition by many of the local residents.

That led to Thomas Perez, the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, descending with his staff and spending the day making house calls in this part of Tennessee, assuring Muslim leaders — including the imams of the Murfreesboro mosque and the Islamic Center of Nashville — that the Obama DOJ is more than willing to assist them if the court case involved doesn't go their way.

"Basically, what we're being told is that if there's any civil violation of the rights of the Muslim community here, they'll step in," says Abdou Kattih, vice president of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro (ICM), who also met with government officials.

Perez, by the way is intimately involved in the brewing scandal surrounding the Department of Justice's policy of not pursuing violations of the voting rights laws when non-whites like the New Black Panther Party were the perpetrators..and the ensuing attempt at a cover up.

The mosque itself and the cast of characters involved in trying to get it built has a number of details reminiscent of the controversy surrounding the Ground Zero Mosque.

Sheikh Osama Bahloul, the prospective imam of the ICM has refused to address a number of issues that cast significant doubt on whether he will be a voice combating radical Islam and shariah in America.

For instance, the Islamic Center’s reading list includes a number of authors who trumpet the cause of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood like Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi.

Al-Qaradawi has written that Hitler was Allah’s method of judging the Jews and that “Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of believers.” He has a long history of Jew hatred and support of sharia and Islamist terrorism. He supports Hamas, the destruction of Israel, and the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. And he also signed a letter saying that the 9/11 attacks were a “fabricated drama by some influential forces in America in co-ordination with Israeli Mossad.”

That Imam Bahloul would consider al-Qaradawi and other Muslim Brotherhood figures must read material is hardly surprising, since Bahloul received his theological training at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, a veritable petri dish of Muslim Brotherhood jihad ideology.

Bahloul has also yet to explicitly condemn Hamas or Hezbollah publicly.

The ICM's board members are also of interest. Abdou Kattih, the vice president quoted above has issued a number of Islamist pamphlets on subjects extolling the virtues of sharia law, another board member, ICM spokesperson Camie Ayash is a convicted felon with a dubious background who did time in Florida for grand theft and forgery and Mosaad Rawash is an active Hamas and Hezbollah supporter.

Rawash’s MySpace page called for Muslims to wage violent jihad against Israel and support 'resistance fighters' in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq. His page also featured a 'shrine' to Hamas founders Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi.

Rawash was temporarily suspended when all this was unearthed, but was reinstated and is back as a board member of the ICM in good standing.

Sources of funding for the ICM is also a murky issue, and inquiries into it have been met with the same sort of dissembling familiar to people who have been following the Ground Zero Mosque controversy. It's a pretty good bet that the majority of the funds for the ICM and for other massive Islamic complexes in this part of Tennessee planned for Bridgeport and Antioch will be coming from the Saudis and the UAE - most likely via unindicted terrorism co-conspirator and Muslim Brotherhood front group The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which now controls an estimated 80% of American mosques.

Since these mega-mosques are far in excess of the needs of the present Muslim population in central Tennessee, this has the feel of conquest, of staking out territory rather than any legitimate construction for religious purposes.

And as the legal challenges to the ICM unfold, I don't doubt that more questionable affiliations will come to light.

One thing that should surprise no one is that our president, who self-described as one of his main duties 'defending Islam' sent our Justice Department to Tennessee in an attempt to support the building of the Murfreesboro mega mosque and intimidate what more and more looks like prudent opposition to it.

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