Febuary 6, 2006

More Fallout from Imam Elahi Interview

Regular readers of this blog are well aware of the views of one Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi. For the uninitiated, I traveled to Dearborn, MI in December to interview Elahi--an influential Iranian cleric who runs the Islamic House of Wisdom, one of the largest mosques in America. Needless to say, I was disturbed by what I heard from Elahi and another Muslim leader in Dearborn, Osama Siblani. Siblani publishes the Arab-American News, which is the largest Arab newspaper in the U.S. 

Elahi believes the U.S. should have supported the 1979 Iranian revolution, which brought the Ayatollah Khomeini and Islamic sharia law to power in Iran. He also thinks that the Israeli Mossad may have been involved in the 9/11 attacks, and that the current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was not making an anti-Semitic statement when he called for Israel to be wiped off the map (yes, he's a regular Oskar Schindler). It's no wonder: Elahi's Web site features photos of him with Khomeini and other Iranian government officials, not to mention the spiritual leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Fadlallah.

As for Siblani, he says the Israelis are committing genocide against the Palestinians, one "even worse than the Holocaust." He also calls Hamas and Hezbollah not terrorists, but "freedom fighters." Despite these outrageously anti-Semitic, pro-terror views, the FBI meets with Siblani and Elahi as part of its community outreach program to Muslims. Elahi even has his own column at the Detroit News. Yes, it seems that Siblani and Elahi are considered Muslim "moderates" by a sizable majority of government officials and media types in the Detroit metro area.

Like me, radio host Sharon Hughes is outraged by Elahi and Siblani's red carpet treatment. I appeared last week on Sharon's excellent program, Changing Worldviews, to discuss my experience in Dearborn. You can listen to the interview here. Sharon is a Christian and one of the top female conservative commentators in America--she does outstanding work on the Middle East and War on Terror. Be sure to give her a listen--you won't be disappointed.     

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