RUTHFULLY YOURS

The Democratic Party is sanctioning a Muslim prayer event in conjunction with its nominating convention in Charlotte that will feature a radical Islamic leader who has called for the overthrow of the “filthy” U.S. government and establishment of Islamic law.

“Jumah at the DNC” is being presented by the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs, or BIMA, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1. A brochure for the event says the group has “been authorized by the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to conduct Jumah prayer as well as host festivities and Islamically related functions.”

BIMA claims the event is nonpolitical and nonpartisan. However, the brochure for the event has a section for participants to “support the DNC” and make a contribution in an amount ranging from $500 to $10,000.

The Washington Times reported the DNC lists the Muslim event as an “official function” and claims that the Islamic leaders of the program are typical of the DNC community.

The event is expected to draw up to 20,000 Muslims and will include a Friday Jumah prayer ritual and an issues conference. A letter posted on BIMA’s website says its purpose is to “address the concerns and issues that are challenging to the American Muslim Community in the 21st century.” The letter calls on Muslims to stand up and “repel the outright injustices being perpetuated against the American Muslim Community.”

BIMA spokesman Jibril Hough told the Charlotte Observer that among the grievances are the Patriot Act, National Defense Authorization Act and the New York Police Department’s wiretapping program that Hough says was used to spy on Muslims.

Islam expert Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch.org, said it is apparent the group plans to use the event as a platform to claim Muslims are being persecuted in America.

“A reading of its agenda makes it clear that the conference will be used to portray Muslims as the innocent victims of a bigoted, racist, ‘Islamophobic’ government and law enforcement establishment that unfairly scapegoats Muslims for the misguided deeds of a few misunderstanders of Islam on Sept. 11,” he said.

Spencer noted that Hough’s mosque, the Islamic Center of Charlotte, is owned by a Muslim Brotherhood front group. The North American Islamic Trust, or NAIT, which owns the mosque, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist funding case. The largest terrorist funding case in American history, it resulted in multiple convictions.

When confronted about the Muslim Brotherhood connection on a radio show, Hough refused to denounce NAIT, saying he was “not necessarily” a member of the group.

Hough has also stated in a video that Muslims have been living in America since before the first Christians arrived.

The Grand Imam for the Jumah at the DNC is Siraj Wahhaj, one of the most sought-after speakers by Muslim organizations.

WND reported Wahhaj urged the violent overthrow of the “filthy” U.S. government and the establishment of Islamic law. Additionally, Wahhaj was listed as a “potential unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and testified as a character witness for “blind sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman, a convicted WTC terrorist mastermind.

He has also is on record saying Islam is a militant religion.

“We don’t have a turn-the-other-cheek philosophy” like the Christians, he said. “Allah has given us permission to fight them” so that “the word of Allah can be uppermost.”

Another speaker at the DNC event will be Capt. James Yee, who is listed in a promotional video as the BIMA national representative for the DNC. The brochure lists Yee as a “chaplain in the U.S. military” who was an “eyewitness to the unjust treatment of military detainees and prisoners of Guantanamo Bay” and was himself “detained” when he took steps to “prevent this injustice.”

Yee was charged by the government with possessing classified information after being discovered with detailed maps of the detention facility along with other classified materials.

The charges against Yee were eventually dropped over national security concerns about evidence in the case.