Obama will deliver a speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque on Wednesday. It’s interesting that he chose a mosque that for fifteen years had an imam who approved of suicide bombings in certain cases and who helped found a mosque controlled by Al Qaeda. I’m sure the fact that the mosque has deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood didn’t hurt their cause any.
White House Spokesman Keith Maley has confirmed the visit:
“The president believes that one of our nation’s greatest strengths is our rich diversity. As the president has said, Muslim Americans are our friends, and neighbors; our co-workers, and sports heroes — and our men and women in uniform defending our country.”
Obama’s move is getting cheers from CAIR, which has been named as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and was an unindicted co-conspirator in the funding of Hamas through the Holy Land Foundation.
“For a number of years we’ve been encouraging the president to go to an American mosque. With the tremendous rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in our country, we believe that it will send a message of inclusion and mutual respect.”
But critics of Obama’s decision may question his choice of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, where Mohamad Adam el-Sheikh, a native of Sudan and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, led the institution for eighteen years as its Imam.
Before becoming Imam there, el-Sheikh helped found the Muslim American Society, an outfit created by Muslim Brotherhood members.
In 2004, he told the Washington Post, commenting on Palestinian suicide bombers: “If certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwas to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule, but should not be taken as a principle.”
El-Sheikh also helped found the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque, which was once led by the deceased infamous Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al Awlaki.
el-Sheikh took over the radical Dar Al-Hijrah mosque when Al Awlaki was forced to flee the United States. That mosque is considered one of the most radicalized in America.