Under God

Fringes heading to the White House for sharia showdown

By Michelle Boorstein

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(Credit: PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

It took me nearly five months to recover from standing in the blazing sun for days waiting to see if Terry Jones, leader of a tiny Florida church, would burn a Koran, and now word has hit that he's heading for the nation's capitol.

Tonight.

Jones, who captured the world's angry attention last fall when he and his curiously-named Dove World Outreach Center church threatened to burn Islam's holy book, is headed here as I type for what promises to be a weird showdown in front of the White House Thursday. IF it happens.

Some media are reporting that Anjem Choudary, a showy and controversial British Muslim cleric, is staging a rally Thursday afternoon to promote the idea that the United States should be governed by Islamic law. I haven't been able to reach Choudary's organization, sharia4america.com, and the Web site asks people to contact them by filling out a form that includes bizarre requirements such as confirming that you never "collaborated with, supported or glorified" any "terrorist" organizations including the U.S., British or Israeli armies.

Jones' group is riding up from Florida to the rescue, adding an element of what in America can only be called "fame," and possibly bringing dozens (or more?) people to Obama's front lawn on Thursday for a counter-protest.

The National Park Service and the Park Service Police said today that they've received no requests for permits (which are required for groups over 25 people), and it's too late to request one at this point, so I'm not sure if this is a hoax. No calls for a permit but Park Service says they have gotten nearly two dozen questions from media organizations, including from some unnamed conservative outlets asking how the Park Service could even consider giving a permit to a group like Choudary's.

Things are already steaming up and nothing has even happened yet. But we'll keep you posted.

By

Michelle Boorstein

 |  March 1, 2011; 5:28 PM ET  |  Category:  God in Government , Under God Save & Share:  Send E-mail   Facebook   Twitter   Digg   Yahoo Buzz   Del.icio.us   StumbleUpon   Technorati  
Previous: Boehner: We have a 'moral responsibility' to deal with debt, 'start praying' | Next: Update: White House Sharia showdown cancelled

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That http://www.shariah4america.com/ is a great site. My favorite part:

The Islamic Demolition of the Statue of Liberty

One of the founding principles of the Islamic constitution is to ensure that all sovereignty and supremacy belongs solely to God;

The Statue of Liberty, designed by Frederic Bartholdi, stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor; representing Libertas, the Roman (false) goddess of Freedom, it is symbolic of the rebellious nature of the US constitution that elevates the command of man over the command of God.
...

thus as a temporary measure, it is proposed that a large burkha is used to cover the statue, thereby shielding this horrendous eye sore from public view as well as sending a strong message to its French creators.

Posted by: WmarkW | March 1, 2011 9:10 PM
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Why is Anjem Chaudhry allowed to get a US visa? This guy is a certified nut, who has no respect even amongst British muslims. The US government denies visas to such moderate voices of reason as Tariq Ramadan and Yousuf Islam, and lets this guy come on?? Something fishy going around here with this "showdown" involving a muslim nut being allowed to say and speak for muslims, what all muslim haters want to hear. Is the Obama administration gonna create a new boogeyman? I sincerely hope not, because for that they need to find another tool. This idiot chaudhry cannot speak a coherent sentence and will only provide comedy stuff for Colbert and Stewart.

Posted by: yasseryousufi | March 2, 2011 2:20 AM
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Shariah is a misunderstood and misused concept. Critics of Islam frequently employ terms like “creeping shariah” to stoke fear amongst the masses. The Park 51 controversy and now this drama provide an opportunity to educate Americans about the true teachings and practices of Islam concerning shariah.

Shariah literally means “a path to life-giving water,” and refers to a defined path upon which all God-fearing people are advised to tread. It is grounded in the recognition of God’s existence. Shariah presupposes that there is a God. God reveals His desire of how man should shape his destiny, and God’s will is manifested in the form of certain laws or principles. These laws or principles constitute shariah.
The Qur’an does not specify any specific form of government other than a beneficent one that is based on adl or absolute justice.
Pluralism and religious tolerance are Islamic values. The Qur’an stresses: “There is no coercion in religion” (2: 257)
Extremists and their religious clerics invoke shariah to justify the killing of the innocent and vulnerable. They abandon the Quranic principles of governance in favor of discriminate and grossly improper applications of Islamic law. They view shariah as an instrument of conquest and carnage instead of justice and decency.

Religion should not be the business of the state. As Muslims who believe in the Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has a clear vision that religion should not legislate in the domain of man’s relation to God. Islam offers guiding principles in matters of man’s relation to man. These principles can easily be translated into secular laws based on justice, tolerance and love for mankind. The law of one’s homeland has predominance over all other laws. True shariah is conducive to a system of government that is beneficent, ensures universal human rights and minority protections and dispenses absolute justice for all people.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the oldest Muslim organization in North America, has consistently advocated the principles of non-coercion, absolute justice and separation of mosque and state. Its motto is: “Love for all hatred for none.” For the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, there can never be any contradiction between being observant Muslims and being loyal, law-abiding citizens.
Source: http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/10/demystifying_shariah.html

Short URL of this page to share http://alislam.org/e/722

Posted by: Alislam1 | March 2, 2011 1:16 PM
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Google "Muslims bible burning" to get all said references about Muslims burning the bible but note that once the "bowers" of Islam see how they have been conned by their imams and ayatollahs for the last 1400 years, they too will burn their copies of the koran i.e. the angel Gabriel never existed so there is no way that the warmongering, womanizing, and hallucinating Mohammed got any koranic passages from some god. Tis the great angelic con game. Joe Smith was the latest to pull it off with his "angelic" Moroni. The significant stupidity and gullibility of it all!!!!!

And ditto when we the "pew peasants" of Christianity finally realize the con that has been pulled on us, we too will burn our bibles. I have not burned my copy but have relegated it to the mostly fictional section of my reference library.

Posted by: YEAL9 | March 2, 2011 6:20 PM
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ALISLAM1,

You wrote: "The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the oldest Muslim organization in North America..."

Ahmadiyya are NOT Muslim. Read the Constitution of Pakistan.

Posted by: clearthinking1 | March 3, 2011 2:21 AM
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It would be fun to watch these crazies fight over which god is the real one. In the light of all we know about the real world - gods were made up by our ancient ancestors - who lacked all knowledge, and couldn't tell the difference between the real world and the world of the imagination.

In the 21st century it's time to dump magical thinking, before we all get killed.
Reflecting on the crusades - we can see now that defending one invisible god while attacking those who imagined a different one - was a kind of lunacy, which we can chuckle at now - from our enlightened perspective.

Have we learned nothing from the past? Are we just as superstitious as our ancestors were? Do we still think gods are real? How tragic.

Trouble ahead.

Posted by: Rongoklunk | March 3, 2011 2:09 PM
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