Khomeini Ayatollapoluza

The Dallas Morning News on December 21, 2004 ran a Board Editorial and a counter-point

explaining this controversial speaking engagement.

Unworthy of Honor: Khomeini's tribute is a disgrace

07:54 PM CST on Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Most Americans remember the Ayatollah Khomeini. He was one of the great villains of the 20th century, who bequeathed his patrimony of fanaticism and hatred to the 21st.

Khomeini led the 1979 Iranian revolution that overthrew the corrupt shah and replaced the government with a brutal Islamic theocracy that today is locked in battle with reformers seeking to end a quarter century of repression. Khomeini preached worldwide violent Islamic revolution, thundering that "those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world."

"Why do you only read the Quranic verses of mercy and do not read the verses of killing?" Khomeini challenged fellow clerics in a 1981 speech. "Qu'ran says: kill, imprison! Why are you only clinging to the part that talks about mercy? Mercy is against God." The tyrant also exhorted his followers to "kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all."

That's some vision. Yet a Muslim group based in Irving hosted a seminar earlier this month paying "tribute to the great Islamic visionary." It's chilling to think that any local Muslim would be willing to honor such a man, especially with the United States under the threat of attack by Islamic terrorists.

Dismayingly, the list of speakers at the Irving event included some of North Texas' best-known mainstream Islamic figures, including Dr. Yusuf Kavakci of Dallas Central Mosque, widely considered a moderate. He and other leaders shared the roster with Mohammed Asi, a radical Washington imam whom, according to The Washington Post, U.S. officials suspect to be an Iranian agent.

Dr. Kavakci declined two invitations to tell us why he attended the conference. We tried to obtain a tape of the conference, but we're told none is available. Another attendee, Mohamed Elibiary, president and CEO of the Plano-based Freedom and Justice Foundation, shares his reasons for attending on the opposite page. Still, we are hard-pressed to understand what good could possibly come from attending – let alone hosting – such a forum.

Event organizer Imam Shamshad Haider told us that Khomeini has been unjustly portrayed in the Western media. He complained in a television interview last week that Khomeini had been unfairly judged on only one aspect of his personality.

Imam Haider insists that the theme of the conference was Muslim unity. Other area Muslim leaders who spoke at the event support this contention, saying they agreed to speak to foster cohesion between Sunni and Shia Muslims, not necessarily to endorse Khomeini.

That may be true on one level. But no amount of good Khomeini might have done can possibly balance his blood-soaked legacy. Unity is a poor excuse for legitimizing the views of Khomeini admirers by appearing at this event, even if it drew fewer than 100 attendees, as one participant told us.

If Muslim leaders want to be perceived by the broader community as men of good will and moderation, they need to make clear what they consider radical and extreme and treat it accordingly.

Pockets of Islamic radicalism exist in North Texas. We don't believe – and this is important to get straight – that they characterize most Muslims in the Dallas area. But these elements are here, and we cannot afford to ignore them. Neither can the Muslim community avoid the responsibility for policing itself.

As former FBI counterterrorism chief and Rowlett resident Oliver "Buck" Revell tells us, "If we continue to be deaf, dumb and blind to what's plainly in front of us, we have no one to blame but ourselves."

Mohamed Elibiary: We can't afford to ignore opposing opinions

Activism is strengthened by being open to distinct views
07:54 PM CST on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 By MOHAMED ELIBIARY

I've been invited to the Metroplex Organization of Muslims in North Texas at least three times before, all around the Friday Jumma prayers, to speak about the importance of voting and participating in the American public square. I was always warmly hosted as a visiting guest.

In regard to the Dec. 11 event, I was invited by a youth member of the MOMIN Center for a typical 15-minute talk. I was informed that Dr. Yusuf Kavakci, imam of Dallas Central Mosque, had also been invited, as well as an imam from Seattle whom I didn't know. I also did not know the gathering would be labeled a tribute to Imam Khomeini.

My speaking engagement was scheduled for 3:30 p.m. I arrived about five minutes late and found them praying Asr prayers, so I prayed in the last row. During the time I was there I didn't hear much of a tribute to Imam Khomeini. The theme, as their promotional flier showed, was Muslim unity. That's why three local Sunni community leaders were invited by the Shiite leaders of the MOMIN Center to share in their program.

Since I began my political activism 13 years ago at the age of 16, I have never been associated with any form of radicalism, simply because those are not the views I believe in. Being raised a Sunni, I must admit, has left me fairly ignorant of Shiite thinkers. I have not read any work by a Shiite religious scholar, much less Imam Khomeini.

Over the past couple of days I finished a CD course from the University of Chicago that taught me quite a bit about the man's political views and accomplishments. I also finished another CD by Karen Armstrong called The Battle for God. Her analysis of Imam Khomeini's fundamentalism certainly enlightened me.

Since the event, I have learned in my conversations with one organizer that the date chosen for this event was Imam Khomeini's birthday and their aim was to highlight "the aspect of Imam Khomeini's life that promoted Muslim unity." I would liken that to choosing the birthday of Martin Luther to discuss his fight against corruption in the church, without bringing up his anti-Semitic views.

I was informed that Imam Khomeini said: "If you call yourself a Sunni or Shiite, then you're neither Sunni nor Shiite. There are only Muslims."

I have been asked whether, if I had realized before I spoke that the event honored Imam Khomeini, I would have left immediately. I don't know. My activism, which is designed to bring Muslims into the mainstream, calls upon me not to cede any territory to radical views without presenting a moderating counterpoint.

I have learned that, to his supporters, Imam Khomeini is not the hostage crisis, or the one who hated America as the "Great Satan," but a liberator from the shah's hated dictatorship. As Natan Sharansky correctly points out in his book The Case for Democracy, people flock to promises of freedom, because all human beings desire to be free.

I have been asked what I would say to someone who believes that there is no good reason to attend a tribute to Imam Khomeini. If their concerns revolved around the American experience of him, I would say that I echo their feelings. But if anyone wishes to learn about their opponent, they must listen, or they'll remain ignorant and make mistakes that cost them in their struggle to defend their values and views.

Just because I listen to Osama bin Laden's tapes and agree that the West routinely insults Muslim dignity, that doesn't make me al-Qaeda. By listening I gain a better understanding of a philosophy I wish to counter. Just because I agree with Che Guevara that nonregulated capitalism is exploitive of the poorest in a society, that doesn't make me a communist – just one who sees the benefit of Teddy Roosevelt's crusade against business monopolies.

Imam Mohammad Asi, who also spoke at the MOMIN event, is more troubling than Khomeini, in my opinion, because his views are a direct threat, not just a historical one, to our American way of life. He does believe that America is the "Great Satan" and opposes the reformers in Iran who are calling for a dialogue between Islam and the West. He sees "Zionist Jews" as controlling the entire world (outside Iran, of course) and strongly ridicules full political participation by Western Muslims.

I don't know what to say about all this other than that it's diametrically opposed to the views of the invited speakers – Imam Kavakci, Iyas Maleh and myself. Mohammad Asi's beliefs run counter to the very existence of our organizations, decades of activism, everything we said and saw from the leadership at the MOMIN Center.

Mohamed Elibiary is president and CEO of the Plano-based Freedom and Justice Foundation. His e-mail address is me@freeandjust.org.

Here are two news articles, where F&J's President gave interviews to WorldNetDaily and the Dallas Area CBS affiliate.

 http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41939

U.S. Muslim event hails Khomeini
Mainstream figures speak at 'tribute to the great Islamic visionary'

Posted: December 15, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Art Moore
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A Texas Muslim organization held a special event honoring the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, advertised as a "tribute to the great Islamic visionary."

With the aim of cultivating "the unity of the Muslim ummah [brotherhood] around the globe," the Metroplex Organization of Muslims in North Texas, a Shia group, invited prominent local and national Muslim leaders to the seminar Saturday, including Mohammad Asi, the former imam of the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., who has been monitored by U.S. law enforcement for ties to Tehran's radical regime.

Asi wrote in a 1994 public letter to Khomeini's successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "I ... swear allegiance to you as leader of the Muslims." Other speakers included the director of the local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which casts itself as the nation's leading Muslim civil-rights group, and an NBA player. A Dallas-area Muslim leader who has been honored for his civil-rights work told WorldNetDaily he spoke at the day-long seminar in Irving, Texas, and heard a couple of other speakers. But Mohamed Elibiary claimed he was not aware of the event's general theme and "tribute" to Khomeini. In a phone conversation yesterday, WND directed him to an ad for the seminar posted on the Metroplex Organization of Muslims in North Texas website, which includes a photo of Khomeini alongside a message speaking of "Islamic revolution." [Editor's Note: Since the publishing of this story, the Muslim group has removed the page. The link goes to a Google, cached version.]

The leader of Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, Khomeini famously viewed the U.S. as the "Great Satan" and said "Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males ... to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world." Elibiary – known for his Muslim lobby and vote-mobilization efforts as president of the Plano, Texas-based Freedom and Justice Foundation – stated that this was the first time he had seen the flyer. Replying to a question, Elibiary said he disagreed with the thrust of the message, which reads:

"'Neither east nor west' is the prinicipal slogan of an Islamic revolution in a world of hunger and oppression and outlines the true policy of non-alliance for the Islamic countries and countries that in the near future with the help of Allah SWT, will accept Islam as the only school for liberating humanity and will not recede or sway from the policy even one step.

"I don't know what they mean by revolution," Elibiary commented, "but I see myself as a Westerner." The Muslim leader said he doesn't foresee America becoming an Islamic nation.

"I don't think it's possible," Elibiary said. "We'll always have choice of different faiths. I don't see that disappearing."

He said he is very aware of debates within Islam on such issues, "but I don't bother with them." Asked his view of Khomeini, Elibiary, reared in the U.S., said he didn't know much about the Shiite leader and his revolution. "All I know is what I grew up learning about it, the hostage crisis," he said. "All I know about him is negative stuff. I have never read his writings. I never bothered to learn any positive stuff about his history." 'Grand strike against New York' Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes told WND he finds the Dallas-area event a troubling step in the direction of Great Britain, where radical leaders freely speak of overthrowing the government.

"Historically, in this country, Islamists have had the decency to pretend to not have the view they have and try to accommodate American opinion," said Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum and a presidentially-appointed board member of the U.S. Institute of Peace. "In a place like Great Britain, they don't worry about that anymore," he said. "While on the one hand, that clarifies matters and makes it easier to see who's who, on the other hand, it shows a disdain for majority opinion that is troublesome." The imam Asi drew attention with an October 2001 speech at the National Press Club in Washington in which he called 9-11 "a grand strike against New York and Washington" launched by "Israeli Zionist Jews" who had warned Jews working at the World Trade Center to stay home that day. If America contines to offend Islam, he warned, "the day of reckoning is approaching." Asi's website says he was expelled from the Islamic Center in Washington for the "fiery nature of his speeches" and has been "forced to deliver the Friday khutbah for the past 20 years from the sidewalk across the street" from the center.

Elibiary spoke Saturday for only about 15 minutes – about how citizens can become active in local politics – and did not hear Asi's speech, he said. Yesterday morning, however, Elibiary was forwarded an e-mail that included Asi's message, which he described as "not very flattering." Is he concerned about being linked with such an event and figures such as Asi? "I wouldn't want my name associated with radicalism," Elibiary said, "but I expect people to judge me on what I do. Anybody who has known me for any period of time wouldn't worry about it." In March, Elibiary was awarded the "Invisible Giant" Award at the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Ala., "based upon his work on the electoral process in the Dallas-Fort Worth community," according to a press release. Along with Asi and Elibiary, listed speakers at Saturday's seminar were host Imam Shamshad Haider; Imam Abbas Ayleya of Seattle; Imam Dr. Yusuf Kavakci of the Dallas Central Mosque; Iyas Maleh of the Dallas Fort Worth branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations; and "special guest" Tariq Abdul Wahad, who plays for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. WND was unable to reach Haider for comment.

Elibiary said he doesn't know why Maleh was listed in his role as head of the Dallas-area Council on American-Islamic Relations, pointing out Maleh spoke as a representive of a local activist group called United for Peace and Justice. A founding member of CAIR's first Texas chapter, Ghassan Elashi, was indicted for financial ties to Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzook. Haider, has spoken at events such as Southern Methodist University's "The World of Islam" series in October 2002, which "explored what it means to be American and Muslim in North Texas." Asi once led a workshop at an Islamic conference titled "What the Western Press Calls 'Suicide Bombings,'" defining terrorism as the "poor man's warfare." In a Jan. 1, 2003, story, the Washington Post said that for 14 years, until 1997, Asi ran the Islamic Education Center in Potomac, Md., funded by the New York-based Alavi Foundation, "which law enforcement officials say is closely tied to the mullahs who dominate Iran."

FBI counter-terrorism chief Oliver "Buck" Revell said the bureau has long believed Alavi is "a front organization for the Iranian regime that is engaged in covert intelligence activity on the part of a hostile foreign government," the Post reported. The foundation funds a variety of anti-American causes, including Islamic centers around the nation that espouse support for Khomeini. In 1990, just before the first Gulf War, Asi was recorded saying, "If the Americans are placing their forces in the Persian Gulf, we should be creating another war front for the Americans in the Muslim world – and specifically where American interests are concentrated." An audio excerpt was included in counterterrorism expert Steven Emerson's 1994 PBS documentary, "Jihad in America."

Art Moore is a news editor with WorldNetDaily.com.