November 21, 2019: Press Release – Arizona Muslim Alliance brings to the Valley radical Islamist Imam Siraj Wahhaj
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2019
Media Contact:
Mischel Yosick
American Islamic Forum for Democracy
480 225 7473
mischel@zliberty.com
AIFD calls on Arizonans and especially our Muslim communities to speak out against Siraj Wahhaj, a well-known notorious radical Islamist anti-American cleric whose dossier of Islamist and separatist ideologies is legendary in the United States.
Phoenix, AZ: This weekend the upstart new coalition of selected mosque leadership in Maricopa county who basically represent the Islamist “establishment” in town, calling themselves the Arizona Muslim Alliance (AMA), are having their first annual “Celebrate Unity Leadership Summit” to be held at the Islamic Center of the Northeast Valley in Scottsdale, Az., on Saturday, November 23, 2019. Our American Islamic Forum For Democracy, based here in Phoenix, Az. for over 15 years, was horrified to learn this week that the prominent speaker this leadership coalition had selected to teach our communities is the notoriously radical Siraj Wahhaj, who is the Imam of the Al-Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn, New York.
AIFD calls on Arizonans and especially our Muslim communities to speak out against Siraj Wahhaj, a well-known notorious radical Islamist anti-American cleric whose dossier of Islamist and separatist ideologies is legendary in the United States.
The fact that this local upstart “coalition” of mosques, the Arizona Muslim Alliance, is sponsoring Wahhaj and using his problematic background and Islamist lens as their first impression to their followers at their mosques and Islamic institutions in the Valley is very revealing, consequential and should be concerning as to the ideological underpinnings of various mosque leaderships involved in this so called “unity organization” of many of the mosques in the valley.
AIFD has compiled a report detailing the radical commentary, speeches and associations which Imam Wahhaj has with a number of individuals convicted of terrorism. Some of Wahhaj’s known associates include Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman responsible for the 1993 WTC bombing, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, with the defunct American Muslim Council, now serving 25 years in prison for terror financing and working with Al-Qaida and the Libyan government to assassinate the King of Saudi Arabia, as well as his son, Siraj Wahhaj Jr., recently arrested in 2018 for leading a radical Islamist terror cell in New Mexico which was planning to attack a school and a hospital using small children.
AIFD has been exposing Wahhaj’s comments since our founder and president, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser was first confronted with Wahhaj’s separatism at the Islamic Society of North America in his keynote speech in 1995 as detailed in Dr. Jasser’s book , “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save his Faith” (see excerpts here). Dr. Jasser had the following to say about Wahhaj’s visit to the Valley:
Wahhaj is an Islamist imam with an extensive history of separatism and anti-American, anti-Semitic vitriol. This imam has a long track record of vilifying America, it’s society its citizens and culture. Our report includes a smattering of many of the radical comments he’s made and while the Arizona Muslim Alliance claims to be a “diverse organization” they all seem to be monolithically Islamist having agreed to bring one of the most notoriously radical imams in the United States to their first event. When all is said and done, the AMA leadership selected this leader to represent them and to teach their population here locally while they claim to be a diverse organization. The reasons should be now obvious to all reasonable Americans why truly moderate, pro-American, reformist Muslim organizations like the American Islamic Forum For Democracy and other leaders locally, are not part of this Arizona Muslim Alliance and will likely not only never be a member but will continue to confront and openly expose their Islamic separatism which they pedal under the rubric of pan-Islamic unity.
This Arizona Muslim Alliance is already proving themselves to be just another Muslim Brotherhood legacy establishment group with a penchant to amplify the voices of anti-American separatism and radicalism of leading Islamist icons like Siraj Wahhaj.
We call on local leaders to review our report on our website, here, and publicly express concern that many of the leaders and organizations used for interfaith activities for our local Muslim activities associate with and allow their followers to be radicalized by individuals like Imam Siraj Wahhaj.
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