The leader of perhaps the most prominent stealth jihadist organization in the U.S., which is connected to Hamas, Nihad Awad has been given a platform by TIME Magazine to prevent people from connecting his group to ISIS. Unfortunately for Awad, he may have been better off remaining silent.
Awad: ‘Islamic State’ is ‘Anti-Islamic’
Right out of the gate, he asserts that the group known as the Islamic State (ISIS) is anti-Islamic, despite its fighting in the name of Islam.
At issue for Awad is that as the atrocities committed by ISIS continue to dominate news headlines in the U.S., Americans are increasingly suspicious of Islam itself. He writes:
Despite misappropriating and misusing the name “Islamic State,” ISIS is little more than a criminal gang that attaches itself like a leech to revered symbols of Islam. It exploits counterproductive Western policies driving desperate people into its fold and uses injustices in the Muslim world as a smokescreen to cover its own cruelty.
When ISIS uses the Islamic declaration of faith, the Shahada, and the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) seal on its flag, it quite literally – and falsely – claims to uphold the banner of Islam. When ISIS says it is establishing a “Caliphate,” an historic term that resonates with Muslims worldwide, it does so to fool those who have experienced nothing but injustice and oppression into believing past glories will be restored.
Unfortunately, the media, political analysts and public officials – really all of us – are unwilling participants in ISIS’s public relations branding campaign.
Every time we refer to ISIS as the “Islamic State,” call its members “jihadists” or in any way grant it the religious legitimacy that it so desperately seeks, we simultaneously boost its brand, tarnish the image of Islam and further marginalize the vast majority of Muslims who are disgusted by the group’s un-Islamic actions.
Awad then amazingly invokes the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to help make his point:
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the “Muslim U.N.,” said ISIS has “nothing to do with Islam,” and has committed crimes “that cannot be tolerated.”
As Shoebat.com has reported on at some length, the OIC backs the “Istanbul Process”, which seeks to eliminate any and all criticism of Islam. Not only is Awad criticizing a group that calls itself the “Islamic State” and flies flags that express praise for Allah but he points out that OIC is criticizing the “Islamic State” as well.
OIC’s Ex-Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Awad, 2012.
Perhaps an even more stunning admission from Awad came when he suggested that the U.S. should have supported the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in order to prevent the rise of ISIS:
There would be no ISIS in Syria if we had fully supported the struggle for freedom in that nation since 2011. It was only the political vacuum created by our lack of support for the mainstream opposition to the brutal Syrian regime, and the resulting slaughter of more than 200,000 people and the displacement of millions more, which gave ISIS space to form and grow.
We need to support the mainstream Syrian political and military opposition seeking freedom and democracy. A free and democratic Syria and region is the long-term guarantee for the defeat and marginalization of groups like ISIS.
Again, stunning. This necessarily means that the leader of a Muslim Brotherhood front group – Awad – was and is calling for the U.S. to support the same FSA that political leaders told us all was moderate. Last year, Shoebat.com reported that by calling for the Obama administration to take out Bashar al-Assad, U.S. politicians like John McCain and so-called political ‘experts’ like Karl Rove were siding with the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria.
Does not Awad’s call for the same thing prove it?
Check out this list of prominent people who agreed with Awad about who the U.S. should support in Syria.
One of the groups that has successfully lobbied Congress for opposition relief in Syria has been the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF). That group’s former Political Director – Elizabeth O’Bagy – was hired by McCain after a major conflict of interest was unearthed about her last year.
A man who sits on the board of SETF is Bassam Estwani, the former chairman of the notorious Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, VA. During Estwani’s tenure there, no fewer than two 9/11 hijackers visited his mosque, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was hired and Anwar al-Awlaki served as an imam there.
Estwani, Awad, Rove, and McCain are all aligned when it came to how to deal with Syria.
Awad (R) with Bassam Estwani (L)
Any time Islamic terror groups attract attention, stealth jihadists in the U.S. get nervous because the spotlight inches ever closer to them. This is precisely what was done with the Bush administration after 9/11. The stealth jihadists like Awad were extremely proactive in using Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan to gain access to the Oval Office. They even got Bush to speak at the Islamic Center in Washington, DC just six days after 9/11 to tell everyone how peaceful Islam is.
Bin Laden had to be thrown under the bus by stealth jihadists when supporting him became too politically radioactive. Awad’s missive comes at a time when ISIS is as well. This is quintessential Muruna, which is a Sunni Islamic tactic championed by Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi that allows for the Muslims killing Muslims if there is a greater perceived good.
As Shoebat.com has reported previously, Estwani is a student of al-Qaradawi.
Qaradawi (L) and Estwani (seated on floor) at Dar al-Hijrah prior to 1999.
Rove, the same guy who essentially expressed solidarity with Awad on the issue of Syria courtesy of his call for Obama to attack Assad last year and Awad’s expressed support for the same opposition such an attack would have assisted, was a key facilitator of that Bush strategy and either has not learned from his mistake then or more likely can’t make the admission for fear of what it would mean.
Here is Bush speaking at the Islamic Center of Washington mosque just six days after 9/11. Awad is standing directly behind him:
This further demonstrates that Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) was right last week when he said FSA and ISIS are one in the same:
h/t Pamela Geller