Mosques

The War On Sharia Started Long Before You Ever Heard 'Ground Zero Mosque'

Rachel Slajda | September 23, 2010, 9:07AM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

Robert Spencer, the author of JihadWatch.org, says he first became aware of the threat of Sharia "after seeing repeated attempts to assert the primacy of Islamic law over American law." One of those early attempts, he told TPMmuckraker, came in late 2006, when Muslim cab drivers in Minnesota made news by refusing to take passengers carrying alcohol. The incidents resulted in the cabbies going to the back of the queue, letting passengers with booze get into another cab.

Spencer has been one of a handful of neocons -- along with Frank Gaffney and Daniel Pipes, among others -- who have been sounding the alarm about Sharia law for years. They warn that Sharia, a system of laws defined by the Koran, is taking hold in the United States, and that it will eventually threaten the very Constitution.

Their warnings, so long spoken from the fringe, are now at the heart of today's anti-mosque rhetoric.

We started digging in the archives to find the origin of this fear. What we found may not be conclusive, but it shows a path that has lead to increasingly mainstream figures, like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, calling for a federal ban on Sharia law.

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Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

World Chess Federation Offers To Buy Cordoba House Site

Eric Lach | September 17, 2010, 5:08PM

It was inevitable. A millionaire Russian politician who claims to have been abducted by aliens, and also happens to be president of the World Chess Federation, has offered $10 million to buy the site of the proposed Cordoba House Muslim cultural center in downtown Manhattan. Like we said, inevitable.

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Dutch Keynote Speaker At Anti-Mosque Rally: 'America, New York And Sharia Are Incompatible'

Jillian Rayfield | September 11, 2010, 10:33PM

If today's rally against the Park51 Islamic center was an exercise in contradictions about tolerance, then Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders was the perfect pick for keynote speaker. In his remarks Wilders repeatedly lauded America's record of tolerance while asserting that "openness can never be open-ended. A tolerant society is not a suicidal society."

"We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us," Wilder said. "New York is rooted in Dutch tolerance. New York is tolerant, not intolerant. What if New York was intolerant?" Then it "would not be New York, it would be Mecca."

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Park51

Anti-Mosque Rally All About How It's Not About Intolerance

Jillian Rayfield | September 11, 2010, 7:54PM

In downtown Manhattan today, about 1,500 people gathered to protest the planned Park51 Islamic center near Ground Zero. Speakers assured the crowd that it's not that they're intolerant, because this isn't about tolerance, exactly -- but so what if it is, because Islam is intolerant? Or something.

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Terry Jones

Jones On Koran Burning: 'Not Today, Not Ever' (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | September 11, 2010, 12:00PM

Pastor Terry Jones

Pastor Terry Jones said this morning that his church has canceled its planned Koran burning permanently.

"Not today, not ever," Jones said on the Today show this morning after flying to New York last night. "We're not going to go back and do it. It is totally canceled."

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September 11

Bolton & Breitbart To Address Protesters At Today's Anti-Mosque 'Rally of Remembrance'

Jillian Rayfield | September 11, 2010, 8:51AM

Protesters In New York oppose the Park51 Islamic center.

When the ceremonies conclude in New York City today for the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, some of the commemorators will break off to attend a different kind of rally -- one that brings the Islamophobic fervor of the past few weeks to a head.

Today at 3 p.m. ET, at the proposed site for Park51 on Park Place and West Broadway in downtown Manhattan, people will gather for the "FDI/SIOA 9/11 Rally of Remembrance: Yes to Freedom, No to Ground Zero Mosque," a rally in opposition to the planned Islamic center.

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Newt Gingrich

'This Is The Final Struggle:' Newt Gingrich Sells A Movie About The Islamic Threat To America

Rachel Slajda | September 10, 2010, 5:24PM

Citizens United trailer for "America At Risk: The War With No Name"

In a straight-to-DVD movie that will premiere tomorrow night in D.C., Newt Gingrich and Citizens United warn Americans of the impending threat of radical Islam. As one of their talking heads says in the trailer, "This is the end of times. This is the final struggle."

The movie, called "America At Risk," paints the world as a dangerous place filled with radicalized Muslims who want to -- and, importantly, can -- destroy America.

"The war on terror, and the ideology behind it, have only just begun," Gingrich's wife, Callista Gingrich, intones while she and Gingrich stand in front of a green-screened New York skyline.

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Koran Burning Still Off, For Now, As One Dies In Afghanistan Protest

Rachel Slajda | September 10, 2010, 9:46AM

Pastor Terry Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Center, with Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida

Pastor Terry Jones, appearing on today's morning shows, says he will not be burning Korans on Saturday even though the imam of a planned Islamic center near Ground Zero did not agree to move his project further from the site.

"Right now, we have plans not to do it," Jones said on Good Morning America.

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Jones May Still Burn Korans: Imam 'Lied To Us'

Rachel Slajda | September 9, 2010, 10:17PM

Pastor Terry Jones

According to the AP, pastor Terry Jones says his Koran burning is suspended, but not canceled, after finding out a New York City imam did not agree to move his Islamic center further from Ground Zero.

Jones told reporters that a different imam from Orlando, who was trying to convince Jones not to burn a stack of Korans on Sept. 11, "clearly, clearly lied to us."

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Donald Trump Offers To Buy Park51 Building -- Developer Declines

Rachel Slajda | September 9, 2010, 5:53PM

Donald Trump

Donald Trump today sent a letter to the developer of the Cordoba House, offering to buy the building proposed for the downtown Manhattan Islamic center for 25 percent more than the developer paid for it.

"I am making this offer as a resident of New York and citizen of the United States, not because I think the location is a spectacular one (because it is not), but because it will end a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation that is destined, in my opinion, to only get worse," Trump said in a letter, according to Bloomberg.

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Alan Keyes

Alan Keyes: Both 'Ground Zero Mosque' And Koran Burning Can Be Stopped (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | September 9, 2010, 5:28PM

Consider Alan Keyes a subscriber to the Sarah Palin theory on the Florida pastor who plans to burn a Koran on the anniversary of Sept. 11. The theory goes like this: Koran burning is offensive -- just like building a place of worship near the former location of the World Trade Center.

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Palin Finally Repudiates Koran Burning: It's As Bad As Building A Mosque At Ground Zero

Rachel Slajda | September 8, 2010, 6:23PM

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the ostensibly mainstream politicians who has come out vocally against building an Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan, today spoke out against a Florida church's plan to burn Korans on Sept. 11.

"People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation -- much like building a mosque at Ground Zero," Palin wrote in a press release. "Book burning is antithetical to American ideals."

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Even The Mosque-Hatingest Of Mosque-Haters Think Koran Burning Is A Bad Idea

Jillian Rayfield | September 8, 2010, 5:14PM

As Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center gets ready to burn copies of the Koran at his Gainesville, Florida church this Saturday (September 11), many national voices are calling for him to change his plans. House Minority Leader John Boehner, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and RGA Chairman Haley Barbour have all criticized the planned Koran burning. And Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander of the Afghanistan War, has gone as far as to say that the plan could put American troops in danger.

But as Jones forges full-speed ahead with his incendiary event, some of the nation's most prominent Islamophobic voices have expressed their opposition (though usually with caveats), to Jones' idea....

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Islamophobia

Muslims Are Just The Latest American Scapegoat

Rachel Slajda | September 8, 2010, 10:40AM

An opponent of the Cordoba House, left, argues with a supporter in front of the proposed location in lower Manhattan.

You know the stories, by now: The violent attack on a cab driver, the arson in Tennessee, the sometimes unbelievable vitriol associated with a Manhattan Islamic community center. The plans by a radical pastor to burn the holy book of another religion, plans that have been condemned even by his compatriots on the fringe of American thought.

But why? And why now?

"It's been percolating," John Esposito, the director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown, told TPM. As Esposito tells it, America has had a problem with anti-Muslim prejudice since before Sept. 11, 2001. But it was contained, in a way, and even after 9/11 "things were pretty stabilized." The uptick began in 2004, and now it's rising to the surface.

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Eric Holder

DOJ: Religion-Based Violence 'Intolerable'

Rachel Slajda | September 7, 2010, 6:45PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder, after meeting with interfaith leaders this afternoon, released a statement this afternoon saying that anti-Muslim violence won't be tolerated.

"As the Attorney General has noted on previous occasions, violence against individuals or institutions based on religious bias is intolerable and the Department will bring anyone who commits such crimes to justice," spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

At the meeting, Miller said, "the Attorney General reiterated the Department's strong commitment to prosecuting hate crimes, and noted several successes the Department has achieved in recent months."

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Muslims

Holder To Meet With Religious Leaders Today On Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Rachel Slajda | September 7, 2010, 2:17PM

Religious leaders from several faiths are meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder today to discuss the recent spate of anti-Muslim sentiment and violence.

At a press conference this afternoon following an interfaith meeting, Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said he and other religious leaders will meet with Holder, at Holder's request, later today.

The Justice Department confirms and says they will release a "readout" of the meeting after it occurs.

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Islam

Muslim Groups Push Back Against Increasing Hate Speech

Rachel Slajda | September 6, 2010, 9:29AM

The press conference announcing My Faith My Voice.

As anti-Muslim sentiment appears to be on the rise throughout the country, with high-profile protests against mosque construction and a handful of violent episodes against Muslims, Muslim groups are pushing back.

Last Monday, a group of young Muslim professionals from the D.C. area launched My Faith My Voice, a web site that encourages fellow Muslims to upload their own PSAs explaining that although they are Muslim, they're not terrorists.

"When we see our loyalty as Americans questioned, that's something we take very seriously," the group's lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, told TPM. "The point of the campaign is one of bridge building, reassurance, an invitation to listen to who we actually are ... that Americans of other faiths will lend an ear and listen."

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Birthermercial Producer Wants A '9/11 Christian Center' At Ground Zero

Rachel Slajda | September 3, 2010, 11:00AM

Bill Keller

Remember the birther infomercial, produced by LivePrayer.com, that asked viewers for $30 for a "got a birth certificate?" bumper sticker?

The man behind it, Bill Keller, is now railing against the Islamic center planned for lower Manhattan. He says he'll be holding Sunday services from a room at the Marriott across from Ground Zero every weekend until he can find a permanent spot for his "9/11 Christian Center."

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Cordoba House

Gingrich: Make Ground Zero A National Battlefield To Stop The Supposed Mosque

Rachel Slajda | September 2, 2010, 6:26PM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

The majority of New Yorkers want the developers of Park51, known to its opponents as the "Ground Zero mosque," to voluntarily move the community center further from Ground Zero -- but the majority also acknowledges the developers' right to build there if they want.

Newt Gingrich doesn't feel that way. In a radio interview today, he said he wants the national government to step in and stop the developers from building the Islamic community center by whatever means necessary.

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Civil Rights Division

DOJ Investigating Anti-Muslim Incidents

Rachel Slajda | September 2, 2010, 1:43PM

Ahmed Sharif

The Department of Justice is investigating two recent, high-profile anti-Muslim incidents, TPMmuckraker confirms.

A DOJ spokeswoman says the department has opened investigations into the attack on a Muslim cab driver in New York City and an apparent arson at the site of a future mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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