From:"abul-hasan Bin-Ramon" 
To:msa-net@msa-natl.org
Subject:FWD: MAJOR MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN KABBANI'S STATEMENTS
Date:Thu, 25 Feb 1999 15:37:20 PST
Message-ID: <19990225233721.16873.qmail@hotmail.com>
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An interesting item on MSA-News today:

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In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

MAJOR MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN KABBANI'S STATEMENTS
American Muslim leaders demand retraction and apology

It is with heavy hearts that we, the undersigned national American 
Muslim organizations, feel compelled to defend our community and its 
representatives from false and defamatory allegations. 

In a January 7, 1999, presentation to a State Department Open Forum, Mr. 
Hisham Kabbani, Chairman of the self-styled "Islamic Supreme Council of 
America," made a number of unsubstantiated allegations that could have a 
profoundly negative impact on ordinary American Muslims. 

In the State Department forum, Mr. Kabbani:

1) Alleged that the "ideology of extremism has been spread to eighty 
percent of the [American] Muslim population." Having also stated that 
"extremists" gained control of American mosques through elections, Mr. 
Kabbani further strengthens the impression that the Muslim community as 
a whole is extremist.

2) Claimed that "there are many, many Muslim organizations, that they 
speak on behalf of the Muslim community, but in reality they are not 
moderate, but they are extremist...These people are very well supported, 
very well affiliated with outside regimes, that they have been sponsored 
by billions of dollars to be active within the United States..."

3) Claiming that the main national Muslim student organization is "being 
run mostly by extremist ideology," Mr. Kabbani raised the bizarre 
specter that the Bin Laden organization was "able to buy more than 20 
atomic 
weapons, atomic nuclear heads, from some Mafias in the ex-Soviet 
Union...and now they are hiring thousands of scientists from the 
ex-Soviet in order to make these atomic warheads into smaller 
partitions, smaller particles, in order to be, like small chips to be 
put in any suit case, even in a handbag, and be shipped anyplace, 
anywhere in the world...If these small nuclear atomic warheads reach 
these (U.S.) universities, you don't know, these students, what they are 
going to do, because their way of thinking is brainwashed and limited."

Adding insult to injury, Mr. Kabbani even promoted and generalized an 
allegation that Muslim women in Europe "who are during the day, covered 
from top to bottom and, during the night, have dates. They are dating 
high officials in many countries around the world to take the 
information from them and to give it to the extremists."

Through outrageous statements such as these, Mr. Kabbani has put the 
entire 
American Muslim community under unjustified suspicion. In effect, Mr. 
Kabbani is telling government officials that the majority of American 
Muslims pose a danger to our society. Additionally, Islamophobic 
individuals and groups may use these statements as an excuse to commit 
hate crimes against Muslims of the kind witnessed following the bombing 
of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City when Muslim-bashers, 
Steven Emerson and others, offered similarly unsubstantiated claims that 
Muslims were behind the attack.

We therefore ask Mr. Kabbani to promptly and publicly retract his 
statements, to apologize to the American Muslim community, and to exert 
his utmost effort to undo the damage these statements have done.

The issue is not that of a mere difference of opinion within an American 
religious community, but involves the irresponsible act of providing 
false information to government officials. This false information can 
jeopardize the safety and well being of our community and hurt America 
itself by damaging its values of inclusiveness, fairness, and liberty.

Signatories (in alphabetical order): 

American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC) 
[American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslim Council (AMC), Council 
on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) & Muslim Public Affairs Council 
(MPAC)] 
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) 
Muslim Students Association of USA & Canada (MSA) 

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Source: geocities.com/capitolhill/senate/8841

( geocities.com/capitolhill/senate) ( geocities.com/capitolhill)