Misery Index

ICNA & ICNASE

ICNA has regional chapters around the country.  One group located in Chicago, is currently placing ads on CTA buses for learning about Islam as they want more people to learn about their faith, according to the ICNA national website.  However, the Chicago Tribune says that the group Gain Peace is the organization responsible for this.  Here’s a Fox News video on the topic.  A similar campaign was also run on Seattle buses, South Florida buses and on NYC subways.  With the NYC promo, Imam Siraj Wahhaj was chosen as the pitchman in a YouTube video for “The Subway Project”.  Wahhaj was named by federal officials in 1995 as an unindicted co-conspirator in a plot to blow up city landmarks, although he was never formally charged.

Obviously this organization is serious about converting everyone to Islam.

But this isn’t the organization that is in question at this moment.  That one is ICNASE, with SE meaning SouthEast, located in Atlanta, Georgia.

ICNASE dot NET recently posted what appeared to be a political site advocating for the 2012 reelection of Obama, a blatant violation of ICNA’s status as a tax-exempt organization.  Up until last week, as recent as Dec 25 according to Google cache, icnase.net was being used as a political campaign site for the 2012 reelection of Obama.  Across the top of the site’s webpage hovered an official Obama campaign banner.  Also on the homepage was a video entitled “Obama 2012.”  It discussed the accomplishments of the first Obama administration – how Obama made health care more affordable, how he made it easier for Americans “to live the American Dream,” and how he brought soldiers home from the war.  All this, while Obama hasn’t even begun to serve his first term yet.  The video ended with a boy on a bicycle asking the question, “Can we keep this country moving forward, if we reelect President Obama?”  and a chorus of children replying, “Yes, we can.” 

The webpage has been removed, however it can still be seen via Google’s cache. The video is still playable from the webpage, and is hosted on YouTube.  The organization who uploaded the video is “MoveOn.org”, a liberal advocacy group that was set up against President Bush.  This video seems to have come from MoveOn’s  contest “Obama in 30seconds”, paid for by MoveOn.org’s Political Action group, for the best user-contributed 30-second-spot Obama commercial.  This video however, did not win the contest.

Now, according to the IRS, “Violating this ban [of  using a tax-exempt organization for political campaigning] may result in denial or revocation of the organization’s tax-exempt status.”  Obviously if ICNA is the registered owner of the domain, with ties to ICNASE, then the organization is in violation of said law.  However, this does not seem to be the case, and yes I am disputing what Joe Kaufman has published.

DOMAIN REGISTRANTS

icnase.net
According to Network Solutions WHOIS database, the registrant of icnase.net is an woman named Zakiya Omar of Decatur, GA, with an email address of lawrenceatl@gmail.com and is hosted by 1&1 Internet Inc out of Chesterbrook, PA. 

According to her bio on Associated Content, she is a “48 year old mom of 4 with a wealth of experience in the fashion/beauty related industries.”  Her LinkedIn profile says she owns “sistah!” in the Greater Atlanta area.  According to Manta, the Sistah S Boutique is located in Newton, GA has 2 employees, and has measly yearly sales of only $86,000.  According to Geni, from where the picture is found, this is the correct Omar, from Decatur, GA, and her full name is Zakiya Ahzar Omar. Her profile can also be found on Genebase. 

Omar is also the registrant of the website of the organization Muslim Americans for Obama ‘08 [now defunct and unable to find a cache version].  Muslim Americans for Obama had a blog on the Obama & Biden campaign website.  Many websites state there was originally a  blog about “the Senate pro-Israeli zionist hawk Joe Lieberman,” however, it seems that entry is no longer on the blog.  In that blog was sharp criticism aimed at Obama for getting too cosy with the Israel lobby.  As stated on the blog, that last part was derived from information founded on Electronic Intifada (EI), a terror apologist website based in Chicago, Il.  According to the site’s co-founder, Ali Abunimah, Senator Obama once told him, regarding Abunimah’s anti-American and anti-Israel writings, to “Keep up the good work!”  Omar also has a blog on the Obama & Biden campaign website.

At Militant Islam Monitor, an article describes what was on the “Muslim Americans for Obama ‘08” website:

On the Muslim Americans for Obama '08 site, one will find a list of upcoming events, issues and solutions, details on how to join, a links section to sites of interest, and of course, a link to the blog. There's even a toll-free number to call for more information.

Within the events section, a number of the listings pertain to conferences and conventions being sponsored by organizations that have a number of extremist and/or terrorist ties. One is the 44th Annual ISNA National Convention, held in Rosemont, Illinois.

ISNA or the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was recently named an "Unindicted Co-conspirator" for a Dallas trial that dealt with the funding of millions of dollars to Hamas. Beginning in December of 2003, ISNA was the subject of a Senate investigation into the financing of terror groups overseas. The group currently uses its website to propagate violent hatred against Jews and Christians.

Another of the events listed is the 32nd ICNA-MAS Convention, held in Hartford, Connecticut. ICNA or the Islamic Circle of North America, in August of 2006, was the top donor to a Pakistani charity that, at the time, had given $99,000 to the head of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal. As well, four people associated with the ICNA-related ‘Houston Taliban' were arrested and charged with jihad training with firearms, for the purpose of joining the Taliban to attack Americans overseas.

MAS or the Muslim American Society, like ISNA, uses the web to spread violent hatred against non-Muslims. In April of 2004, MAS's Communications Director, Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his activities within the ‘Virginia Jihad Network,' a group that was conspiring with Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) to attack Americans and Indians abroad.

Yet another event listing is the 2007 MANA National Convention, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MANA or the Muslim Alliance in North America was founded in May of 2000, in response to the arrest of cop killer H. Rap Brown, a.k.a. Jamil Al-Amin. The President (Amir) of the organization is Siraj Wahhaj, an individual that was named by the U.S. government an "Unindicted Co-conspirator" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

According to Muslim Americans for Obama '08, it took part in "VOTER REGISTRATION/INFORMATION BOOTHS," at each of the above venues. Taking that into consideration, since Muslim Americans for Obama '08 is officially part of the Barack Obama for President team – or as the campaign puts it, "Community" – one can conclude that Senator Obama and/or his campaign had sanctioned its attendance at these events.

And that would mean, as well, that the following "Issues & Solutions" found on the site have also been approved by Obama and/or his campaign, possibly soon to be incorporated in his speeches:

• Institute a Law to allow Muslim Employees to take an hour off from work for Friday Jummah Prayer.
• Make the 2 Eid's recognized National Holidays on Calendars with days off from work.
• Provide prayer areas suitable for Salah and Jummah, in public and private facilities. (i.e. Malls, Airports, Universities and government buildings.)

Found on the right side of the website's homepage are a series of links, most of which deal with information about Senator Obama and the campaign. One of them, though, is a link to Aswat Al-Islam, a radical Islamic multimedia outlet. Muslim Americans for Obama '08 lists it as "Quran (Audio) English Translation."

Aswat Al-Islam features the works of such Islamist luminaries as: "Uninidicted Co-conspirators" of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Siraj Wahhaj and Bilal Philips; anti-Christian bigot, Ahmed Deedat; pro-wife beating author, Jamal Badawi; suicide bombing supporter, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi; and the chief cleric of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, who has called for the murders of Jews, Christians and Americans and has described Jews as "the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the killers of prophets, and the grandsons of monkeys and pigs," Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais.

According to Muslim Americans for Obama '08, Senator Barack Obama "is the BEST candidate for the job in 2008." But being the best candidate should have as a requisite keeping company that is worthy of respect. Recently, Obama has been cited for having a racist and anti-Israel pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and a campaign advisor that has expressed sympathy for Hamas and Hezbollah, Robert Malley.

icnase.com and icnase.org
According to Network Solutions WHOIS search, the registrant for icnase.com and icnase.org are the same person, Ali Salim of Marietta, GA, ALSO hosted by 1&1 Internet Inc out of Chesterbrook, PA, the same company as icnase.net.

The com domain was created in 2003, changed in 2008 and expires in 2010.
The org domain was created in 2008, last updated in 2008 and expires in 2010.

According to DomainTools, Ali Salim owns about 15 other domains however, this information is only available via purchase.

QUESTION

Perhaps ICNASE is not responsible for the posting on the dot net domain, since they are owned by different people however, it is interesting to note that all three websites are registered to two people in the greater Atlanta area, and both are managed by 1 and 1 out of Pennsylvania.  And a dot net domain is generally not used for non-profit organizations, dot orgs are however.  But again, they are owned by two separate individuals.  As of this moment, the only connection that can be made between Salim and Omar is the use of the letters “icnase” and the use of the same hosting company.  But it’s interesting to note, they are using the same hosting company, based out of Pennsylvania, for two people who both live in the greater Atlanta, GA area.

I haven’t however, found anything to show that Omar is active in ICNASE in Atlanta, or with ICNA in the United States.

Sounds like there is a radical running around in the ICNASE, but ICNASE isn’t innocent either, in the larger picture.

ICNA AND TERRORIST TIES WITH JI, BIN LADEN AND HAMAS?

[Hat Tip to Joe Kaufman however, for much of this information.]

ICNA seems to have ties to the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islam group who spawns numerous radical movements around the world,  charged with the responsibility of spreading Islam across the world to create an Islamic world order.  [How interesting that ICNA seems to be pushing an ad campaign in cities for Islam.]  One of the Muslim Brotherhoods main organizations underneath it, is Hamas.  Because Hamas is on the State Departments list of terrorists, any group who helps finance it, is to be shut down, according to law.

If you look at the domain information for ICNA’s official website (as well as the site for Why Islam), one will find that the site is registered to farrukh.net, a former mirror (replica) site of JI’s media division. Farrukh.net is registered to Raza Farrukh out of New Jersey. 

Today, farrukh.net is being used to showcase the works of Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Islahi, a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader.  And ICNA does not seem to hide this fact they have a relationship with Islahi.  In an article from Nov, 2008 titled “ICNA Welcomes New Muslims to Radicalize”.  This article is pretty damming about ICNA.

The central strategy of Islamists in the West is lawful Jihad or soft Jihad. 

One of the key tools used by Islamist to spread their message and recruit individuals is that of aggressive proselytizing – thus distinguishing Muslim converts who are on a spiritual mission to Islam from those being indoctrinated towards a political ideology is a key task.

The language restates the doctrine of a website run by Jamaat-e-Islami Hindi, the Indian branch of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a major Islamist political party based in the countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as India and the South Asian immigrant diaspora. 

The desire to “establish” and “propagate” Islam in the public sphere by both ICNA and JI, is a clear indicator of its theorcratical political intentions.

Moverover, links between the two organizations are easy to confirm.  Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Islahi, sits on the central board of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind website, and is also on the board of “Why Islam,” a project of ICNA.  Islahi also leads Muslims in prayer in a Why Islam produced video at the end of July called ‘Why Islam Introduction.’

Why Islam also has a website that provides information to the public about Islam.  Such efforts at dawah (Islamic proselytizing) are utilized by ICNA to spread its message that Islam has the answers to society’s problems, as it’s mission statement suggests.  The problem is that it also promotes anti-Semitism, misogyny and homophobia.

In summary, ICNA is a front for JI, a violent movement that advocates revolution and the erection of an Islamic order.

In 2000 at a “Unity Meeting” that took place in New York between ICNA and and its Baltimore-based rival, Jamaat al-Muslimeen. [pdf] Speaking for the side of ICNA, in his native language of Urdu, was none other than the President (Amir) of JI, Qazi Hussain Ahmad (who is still the head of JI). During the meeting, he stressed the need for “participation in Jihad;” he stated that “Islam must be translated into political dominance;” and he said that “the sword and the Quran go together…” His sharp rhetoric was not unusual, given his public support for the Taliban and his numerous get-togethers with Osama bin Laden.

Ahmad’s communication with the head of al-Qaeda are serious, but his organization’s dealing with Hamas are much MUCH more dangerous.  And ICNA’s involvement in this is apparent, as well.  Jamaat-e-Islami has a charity located in karachi, Pakistan called the Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF).  AKF touts its work in such fields as: education, health care, and distribution of medical and food supplies.  On Aug 17, 2006, JI announced on its website that AKF had presented a check for six-million rupees [about $100 grand] to Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas.  In addition, JI stated that it “delivered a special message” from JI President Ahmad to Mashaal.  The announcement went on to say, “Khalid Meshaal thanked Pakistani nation for sending the donation to the Palestinian brethren in this hour of need.  Hamas leader assured the delegation that struggling Palestinians will not relinquish their just Jihad and continue to wage it until the First Qibla [Jerusalem] is liberated from Zionist yoke.”

In order to provide money to Hamas, AKF had to raise it.  So the question becomes where did it get the money from?  The answer is on AKF’s website, where the charity lists its donors.  ICNA Relief USA and ICNA Relief Canada are it’s two top donors.  ICNA’s Helping Hand is also on the list.  Additionally, the Al-Khidmat Welfare Society (AKWS), AKF’s sister organization, lists ICNA Relief and Helping Hand as “partner” organizations (along with their logos), out of a list of only three organizations, the final one being Muslim Aid UK, a London-based JI charity.

Providing material support to Hamas, a State Department designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, is illegal.  Given the admission by Jamaat-e-Islami that it has provided significant funds to Hamas through its charity Al-Khidmat Foundation and given that ICNA, the American affiliate of JI, is the top donor of AKR, should conclude that ICNA should be shut down due to its terrorist ties.

OTHER INTERESTING COINCIDENCES WITH TERRORISTS

In 2003, insinuations of links between JI and al-Qaeda were also alleged.  Pakistan’s Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisel Saleh Hayat spoke about alleged links between JI and al-Qaeda, "All of the activists and terrorists who have been apprehended in recent months have had links to the Jamaat-e-Islami, whether we have arrested them in Lahore or here or Karachi … They have been harboring them.”

In 2004, Naeem Baig, Secretary General of ICNA lauded convicted terror supporter Fawaz Damra at a press conference.  Damra, a fundraiser for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the founder of al-Qaeda’s headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, prior to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing had been found guilty, of providing false information on an immigration form when he obtained American citizenship in 1994.  He would be later deported.  Baig stated, “He is a well-respected imam in the Muslim community.  We respect his scholarship and we invited him to the program and we would like to listen to him and what he has to say.”

In July, 2007, there was a protest on the US to freeze ICNA’s funds and to place Jamaat-e-Islami on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.  The protest was held outside the center where ICNA and the Muslim American Society (MAS) were celebrating their 32nd Annual Convention in Hartford, Connecticut.  At the time, Naeem Baig, Secretary General of ICNA stated, “Islamic Circle of North America is a U.S. based Islamic organization.  We have no relations – no links – to any organization or any country outside the United States.”

RANT ON

So, the page with the Obama for 2012 isn’t necessarily attached with ICNASE however, it does seem that a radical Islamic is within their midst, but that would be nothing unusual based upon ICNA’s relationships with known terrorists and terrorist groups.

And ICNA’s main purpose, along with its '”associations” with JI and the Muslim Brotherhood, seem to be to “save” us all by converting us to Islam. [Yea, can anyone who knows me see me walking around in a veil and keeping my mouth shut?  Yea.. AS IF.  I might be crazy, but I’m NOT stupid enough to be interested in being subservient to every man on the face of the planet.  Just one thank you..]

What I do not understand is why if there is a direct link to ICNA donations being sent to Hamas, why the State Department didn’t shut them down prior?  And the same for Helping Hands.

Is this another case of being “lost in the system” and allowed to continue with operation as normal, just like Sheikh Salah Sultan being allowed back in the United States over and over again?

And I find it interesting that ICNA believes that only Muslims would have ruling positions, who pushed for Obama being elected in the last campaign and one person is already pushing for the reelection of Obama for 2012, using the ICNASE abbreviation, amid all the claims that Obama is a Muslim, yet he states he has always been Christian, well.. at least as long as Reverend “KKK” White has been in the picture.  Isn’t that interesting……….