The imam behind the proposed mosque near Ground Zero in New York has been discovered to have ties with the leading sponsor of the pro-Palestinian activists, who clashed with Israeli commandos at sea last week.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a key figure in Malaysia-based Perdana Global Peace Organization, the single biggest donor to the Free Gaza Movement.

This is directly from their website:

Feisal Abdul Rauf has been Imam of Masjid al-Farah in New York City since 1983. Through his sermons and writings, Imam Abdul Rauf seeks to provide spiritual seekers with answers to their eternal questions that often hinder them from developing a personal relationship with the Divine.

He is the founder of the ASMA Society, dedicated to furthering Islamic Art and Culture. He invites non-Muslims to experience the spiritual impulse of Islam, and Muslims to develop on the spiritual path.

Perdana was also a key organizer of the six-ship flotilla that tried to break Israel’s economic blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip last Monday.

Deborah Burlingame, the sister of the American Airlines pilot whose hijacked plane struck the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, said the indirect ties of the imam to the protesters were not surprising.

I think it goes to show he is not the man he represents himself to be. We have two Imam Raufs.

We have the anti-Israel, anti-democratic imam, and we have the smiling, soft-spoken moderate Muslim who says ‘”Why can’t we all get along?”

Imam Rauf is the head of the Cordoba Institute, which is ramrodding the highly controversial project,  a 15-story mega-mosque at the former Park Place Burlington Coat Factory, 600 feet from Ground Zero.

Rauf had earlier said that a mosque at the site would help to “bridge the great divide” between Muslims and the rest of America:

We are Americans, we are Muslim Americans. Many of us were born in the United States. We have no higher aspirations that to bring up our children in peace and harmony in this country.

Freedom of assembly is the right of all Americans.

Let’s take another look at Imam Rauf, shall we? 

On May 25, 2010, Imam Rauf wrote the following for the New York Daily News:

My colleagues and I are the anti-terrorists. We are the people who want to embolden the vast majority of Muslims who hate terrorism to stand up to the radical rhetoric. Our purpose is to interweave America’s Muslim population into the mainstream society. [emphasis added]

March 24, 2010, Abdul Rauf was featured in an article in Arabic for the website Rights4All entitled “The Most Prominent Imam in New York: ‘I Do Not Believe in Religious Dialogue.’”

Right4All is not an unknown blog.  It is the website of the media department of Cairo University, the biggest university in the Arabic-speaking world.

In the article, the imam said the following of the “religious dialogue” and “interweaving into the mainstream society”:

This phrase is inaccurate. Religious dialogue as customarily understood is a set of events with discussions in large hotels that result in nothing. Religions do not dialogue and dialogue is not present in the attitudes of the followers, regardless of being Muslim or Christian. The image of Muslims in the West is complex which needs to be remedied.

Recently, on May 26, one day after his Daily News column –  Abdul Rauf was featured on the popular Islamic website Hadiyul-Islam.   At the same time on that website, a fatwa was being issued forbidding a Muslim to sell land to a Christian, because the Christian wanted to build a church on it.

Responding to a question about his views on Sharia Law and the Islamic State, he said:

 Throughout my discussions with contemporary Muslim theologians, it is clear an Islamic state can be established in more than just a single form or mold. It can be established through a kingdom or a democracy. The important issue is to establish the general fundamentals of Sharia that are required to govern. It is known that there are sets of standards that are accepted by [Muslim] scholars to organize the relationships between government and the governed. [emphasis added]

Current governments are unjust and do not follow Islamic laws.

New laws were permitted after the death of Muhammad, so long of course that these laws do not contradict the Quran or the Deeds of Muhammad … so they create institutions that assure no conflicts with Sharia. [emphasis in translation]

Gosh, how tolerant.

Imam Rauf has held these attitudes for a long time.  He was interviewed on 60 Minutes by host Ed Bradley on September 30, 2001.  Here is a partial transcript:

BRADLEY: Are — are — are you in any way suggesting that we in the United States deserved what happened?

Imam ABDUL RAUF: I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.

BRADLEY: OK. You say that we’re an accessory?

Imam ABDUL RAUF: Yes.

BRADLEY: How?

Imam ABDUL RAUF: Because we have been an accessory to a lot of — of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, it — in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.

In a subsequent interview with Beliefnet on Islam and America, he was asked, “Some Islamic charities are being investigated for terrorist ties. Have you seen what you consider to be reputable Islamic charities being financially damaged?”

He responded:

We believe that a certain portion of every charity has been legitimate.  To say that you have connections with terrorism is a very gray area. It’s like the accusation that Saddam Hussein had links to Osama bin Laden. Well, America had links to Osama bin Laden – does that mean that America is a terrorist country or has ties to terrorism?

So, the Imam claims that America was an accessory to 9/11.  I wonder what he thinks about Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm)?

Rauf wrote the following in The Washington Post:

The historic significance of President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world in Cairo cannot be overstated. Never before has an American president spoken to the global Muslim community. His speech marked a major shift in American foreign policy. … In just a few sentences he demolished the phony theory of the ‘Clash of Civilizations,’ which insists that Islam and the West must always be in conflict. Instead, he declared the United States is not at war with Islam and outlined a plan for how the conflict can be resolved. … He captured the attention of Muslims because, unlike most politicians, he was willing to critique both his own country and Muslims where they fell short of their ideals.

Isn’t that just lovely?

The dapper, gracious, can’t-we-all-just-get-along, Moderate Muslim Cleric, Imam Rauf persona hides the Islamist within.  This planned mosque is nothing but an egregious slap in the face of all the families of the victims of the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.   Mayor Bloomberg is nothing but an ignorant dupe for allowing this.  And, while you’re thinking about this, please remember under which President this outrageous travesty was proposed. 

Sources:  yahoo.com, perdana4peace.net,  dailycaller.com, pajamasmedia.com, wnd.com