Imam Mohammad Qatanani is the guy in New Jersey whom Governor Chris Christie has consistently defended and praised against those concerned with Qatanani’s ties to Hamas. Chris Christie infamously referred to people with such concerns as ‘crazies’ he was ‘tired of dealing’ with when he was asked about his appointment of Qatanani’s lawyer – Sohail Mohammed – to a Superior Court judgeship in Pasaic County, New Jersey.
According to a google post by the Muslim Students Association (MSA), a proven Muslim Brotherhood group, Imam Qatanani is scheduled to speak at an MSA event in Motclair, NJ on February 13th. Here is the post on Google (h/t FrontPage Magazine):
Salaam alaikum MSAers,
This Wednesdays meeting we will have Sheikh Qatanani of ICPC come in to answer questions posed by the MSU community, in our general meeting room of UN 2040 at 3pm.
For those who would like to ask a question anonymously (Muslim and Non-Muslims alike) there will be a sheet available in the Center for Faith and Spirituality Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (until our meeting time), for everyone to write questions. Of course questions may be posed during the meeting as well.
We hope to see you all there,
-The MSA
This clearly demonstrates that Christie is aligned with and welcomed by a group that should have been identified as an enemy of the United States after 9/11. That enemy is the Muslim Brotherhood, of which the MSA is part. That is beyond dispute.
In July of last year, Christie hosted an Iftar dinner at the Governor’s mansion, during which Qatanani was present and Christie expressed solidarity with the Imam in the face of the “intolerance” of Islamophobiacs. The video of that event has since been pulled down but here are some quotes from Christie, with Qatanani in the audience:
“There’s a graze of intolerance that’s going around our country that’s disturbing to me…The fact of the matter is that these are the kind of red herrings that people put up who are bigots, who want to judge people based upon their religious beliefs, want to judge people with a broad brush, rather than be judging each individual on the basis on their own merits, their own accomplishments, and their own character.” (talking about backlash resulting from his appointment of Sohail Mohammed)
Christie then turned his attention to Qatanani…
“…my association over the years and my kind words over the years about Imam Qatanani. And he’s here tonight and welcome sir, glad to have you hear… in many publications around this country, I’m now called an Islamist (voice from the crowd heard saying, ‘welcome to Islam’). I’ve been called worse things… The fact of the matter is that in all my interactions over the years with the Imam (Qatanani), he has attempted to be a force for good.”
The only thing that may be worse than being called an Islamist is being called a traitor.