Game: Malign Islam, one way or the other

SEARS TOWER PLOT:

MUSLIM LEADERS DENOUNCE 7 SUSPECTS

By Margaret Ramirez

Tribune religion reporter

June 24, 2006

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-

Muslim leaders on Friday denounced the seven men arrested in Florida

as members of a religious cult and implored the media not to refer

to them as Muslims.

"The case of this bizarre, cultist group is evidence that the

phenomenon of terrorism is not monolithic," said Ahmed Rehab,

executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on

American-Islamic Relations. "They have broken the laws of this

country as well as the laws of the religion of Islam. As such, they

are to be condemned."

Accounts of the group's behavior suggest their religious practice

may have been a strange hybrid.

According to the indictment that accuses the men of plotting to

attack the Sears Tower and other buildings, they wanted to organize

"an Islamic army" to wage "jihad" in the United States and swore an

oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda.

Relatives have told reporters the defendants are deeply religious

people who took classes in Islam but also studied the Bible. One

cousin told CNN: "The warehouse is the temple where they all go and

pray and meditate."

True Muslims revere the Koran as sacred Scripture and worship in

mosques, Rehab said. The media may be reluctant to say the

individuals are not Muslim because the media might be seen as

"watering down the fight against terrorism," Rehab said.

"That should not be the case," he said. "We should step up and fight

these individuals without having to pull Islam as a religion, and

Muslims as a people, [into] the struggle."

Abdul Malik Mujahid, chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations

of Greater Chicago, agreed that the descriptions of the group's

faith did not sound like Islam.

"They were reading the Bible, not the Koran. They called their place

of worship a temple instead of `mosque.' These are not things that

Muslims do," said Mujahid. "So associating them with Islam and

Muslims, I think, is not only factually wrong, but will continue to

contribute to Islamophobia, which is a form of racism."

The idea of the group targeting the Sears Tower is ironic, Mujahid

said, as the building was designed by Muslim architect Fazlur Khan.

Mujahid cautioned Chicago-area mosques to be vigilant, saying

attacks and hate crimes often follow such reports. Notifications

were sent to nearly 130 mosques to be on the lookout for suspicious

activities.

"Muslims in America have not created this problem," he said. "The

whole society must stand up and fight this together. We have to come

together for the safety of us all."

----------