Islamic Divorce Denied In Maryland

The information below is an encouraging development that provides some anti-dhimmitudinal satisfaction. Nevertheless, the case may not have larger significance in the greater counter-jihad.

Excerpt from the May 7, 2008 edition of the Baltimore Sun:

Saying "I divorce thee" three times, as men in Muslim countries have been able to do for centuries when leaving their wives, is not enough if you're a resident of Maryland, the state's highest court ruled yesterday.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals rejected a Pakistani man's argument that his invocation of the Islamic 'talaq', under which a marriage is dissolved simply by the husband's say-so, allowed him to part with his wife of more than 20 years and deny her a share of his $2 million estate.

The justices affirmed a lower court's decision overturning a divorce decree obtained in Pakistan by Irfan Aleem, a World Bank economist who moved from London to Maryland with his wife, Farah Aleem, in 1985. ...

Irfan Aleem had lived for nearly twenty years at the top echelons of the bankings in the West. But when his wife filed for divorce in Montgomery County, Maryland, in 2003, Mr. Aleem decided to pursue a shari'a avenue to limit the cost of the settlement terms:

But before the legal process could be completed - and without telling his wife - Aleem went to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and invoked the 'talaq', in effect attempting to turn jurisdiction of the case over to a Pakistani court that later granted him a divorce.

The Maryland Court of Appeals nullified his Aleem's plan, although

Muneer Fareed, secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America, said that if Aleem had traveled to Pakistan and invoked his talaq there, it might have been recognized in a U.S. court under the concept of comity, under which nations accept the premise of a law in another country "whether or not we agree with the law or its spirit."

Read the entire article. Additional information about the case is here and here.

The above small victory for anti-dhimmitude, apparently achieved because Irfan Aleem didn't physically travel to Pakistan to invoke 'talaq', is encouraging. But, at the same time, another form of shari'a law — shari'a banking — continues to gain ground within Western nations.

From this source, an article entitled "The Silent Jihad Against the West" (Hat-tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance):

Islamic Sharia banking is coming to the United States and other western nations, thanks to global banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Great Britain is now pledging to become the Islamic banking center of the world. Clearly the headlong rush by all global banks to enter the world of Islamic banking is well underway. Why do western banks seek to participate in Sharia banking; because it gives them a chance to enter the Islamic banking industry which has over $1.5 trillion available today and is growing at a steady and explosive rate of over 15% per year.

The implications for the west, and especially for the United States, are staggeringly destructive. Islamic banking working through global banks is doing for Islam what it could never do on its own: giving legitimacy to Sharia law and infiltrating it into the fabric of western society.

For those not familiar with Sharia Banking; it is a system which creates and sells services and products that are in strict accordance with Sharia law. Sometimes it is referred to in the Islamic culture as "Sharia finance". It dictates how the practices of banking, investment, bonds, loans, brokerage, etc, are to be conducted.
To insure compliance and to become "Sharia banking" compliant, banks must hire Sharia experts to review and approve each product and practice of the bank....There is a shortage of such Sharia experts so there is competition among banks to find such experts to sit on their boards of directors. By having an "expert" involved in banking decisions, this provides the legitimacy to each banking decision because it is made at the director rather management level. However, most of these Sharia experts" are from the radical Wahhabi school of Islam in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and they hold views diametrically opposed to the basic values of Western civilization.

Read the entire article.

For current developments in shari'a banking, please visit Shariah Finance Watch.

[Cross-posted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and at Always On Watch]

The Muslim Vote

(All emphases by Always On Watch)

From this August 24, 2007 article in the Washington Post:

More than 50 candidates in this fall's elections are expected to appear in Reston tomorrow [August 25] at a political picnic organized by a group of Northern Virginia mosques, and organizers say the heavy turnout underscores the growing influence of Muslim voters in local politics.

The event, the group's seventh annual "family and civic picnic," has a dual purpose, organizers say. Through a voter registration drive, they hope to persuade more Muslims to become involved in local elections. In addition, they hope to show the candidates that "we're here, we care, and we do vote," said Shirin Elkoshairi, a spokesman for the Sterling-based All Dulles Area Muslim Society, which has more than 5,000 members.

"[The turnout] definitely shows that candidates feel that Muslims are voting and are a force at the polls," Elkoshairi said.

So far, nothing remarkable in the article.

Then comes the mention of Mukit Hossain, about whom I have blogged on more than one occasion. An index to those postings is HERE.

According to the following information in my first posting on Hossain back in August of 2005,

For Hossain, helping immigrants, most from Central and South America, is a Muslim issue. Charity is one of the five pillars of Islam. So he raised money from Muslim businessmen in Herndon to buy 400 winter coats for the laborers, brought them food through another charity he started, called Food Source, and even rounded up day laborers to attend a Thanksgiving dinner at an Iraqi restaurant where falafel, not turkey, was served.

"I consider them my neighbors," said Hossain...

[...]

Hossain has not only parlayed giving food and coats to illegal migrants into a federally funded exercise in Da'wa (Islamic propagation), he has assisted those who broke the law with legal aid to help them fight to stay in the US. Hossain exploits his 'charitable' work for furthering his Islamist agenda,and openly proclaims this to be his political mission as well.... Hossain is also active in MAS, the Muslim American Society, the group which is in the forefront of campaiging for the release of jailed presidental assassin wannabe Omar Abu Ali. MAS also lauded Hossain as a 'supporter' of their organisation which is directly linked to ICNA and by extension Al Qaeda. The trustee of MAS's Islamic American University is Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi who proclaimed that Muslim women have an Islamic duty to become suicide bombers.

Apparently, Hossain is quite the advocate for immigration, and it doesn't matter to him whether those immigrants are illegal or not because he ties his advocacy with his Muslim duty.

Returning now to the first-cited link in this posting,

There are about 64,000 Muslims registered to vote in Virginia, with the vast majority of them in the outskirts of Washington, said Mukit Hossain, president of the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, which tracks trends and endorses candidates in many local elections.

[...]

Organizers also expect candidates from Loudoun and Prince William counties, which last month approved resolutions aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants. Although the actions were seen as primarily affecting Hispanics, they have sparked concern among Muslims because of fears that the actions could increase racial profiling and curb civil liberties, Hossain said.

"I think since 9/11, the Muslim community has learned that any community can be attacked," he said. "When someone is attacked unfairly, we have to stand in solidarity with them."

As we approach the sixth anniversary of 9/11, here is Hossain whining about Muslims being targeted.

Excuse me, Mr. Hossain, but nearly 3000 innocent people died during those horrific attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon as well as those stop-the-hijackers patriots about Flight 93, which went down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Have you forgotten about those who perished on 9/11? Do you consider the very few verified cases of post-9/11 persecution of Muslims to be more significant than Islamic terrorist attacks? Also, Mr. Hossain, I remind you that Muslim is not a race.

And here is a bit more from Hossain:

Hossain, who has been organizing opposition to the Loudoun and Prince William votes [against illegal immigration], said his group conducted a survey of Virginia Muslims and found that immigration was their top local concern. Education was second, he said, and respect for diversity was third.

Muslims respect diversity? Really? Oh, that's right, Saudi Arabia is one respect-for-diversity country. **snerk**

The article also states the following:

Although Muslims represent a tiny part of the electorate, candidates are beginning to see the value of courting Islamic voters, because small but motivated groups can have a big impact at the polls, he said. That's especially true for off-year elections, which tend to have lower voter turnout. Last fall, more than 86 percent of registered Muslim voters turned out to vote, he said, compared with about 53 percent of the general population.

That has not gone unnoticed among political activists, said Brian Roherty, campaign manager for Michael Firetti, who is running for chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

"Every single vote counts, and smart politicians know that," Roherty said.

Ah, the dhimmitude of politicians, as they cater to the whim of a "tiny part of the electorate"! Somehow, that phrase is reminiscent of another few words: "a tiny portion of extremists," often used to refer to Islamic terrorists.

Even a champion of the battle against illegal immigration in Northern Virginia, Loudoun Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio is attending the picnic:

Loudoun Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio (R-Sterling), the main sponsor of Loudoun's resolution, said he plans to attend tomorrow's event, partly because the Muslim community reflects his values of being "extremely moral and religious." His district's demographics are among the most rapidly changing in Northern Virginia. For example, Sterling's Park View High School was two-thirds white in 2000; last year, whites made up less than half the school.

"We have a lot of ethnic groups represented here," he said. "Sterling is like the United Nations. It's a very diverse neighborhood."

Oh, yes, Mr. Delgaudio, Muslims are extremely moral. Why don't you do a little reading on the topic? You can start by reading Western Resistance and Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation. Those sites might open your eyes as to certain barbaric customs in Islamic culture.

According to the August 24, 2007 Washington Post article, a good turnout is expected for the pandering to Muslim voters:

Picnic organizers are expecting a broad spectrum of candidates running for the state legislature and boards of supervisors in Loudoun, Prince William and Fairfax counties. The candidates will have a chance to speak to and field questions from the more than 1,000 attendees expected.

Fairfax County Supervisor Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason), whose diverse district in central Fairfax includes two mosques, said her research has turned up more likely voters among Arab Americans than any other minority group.

"Over the past few years we have seen a lot more interest among Arab Americans in the civic culture of our community," said Gross, adding that she tries to go to the picnic each year and plans to attend tomorrow [August 25].

I wonder if CAIR will also attend.

Islamification continues apace on the political front here in Northern Virginia and elsewhere in the United States. As the percentage of Muslims increases, now allied with immigrants legally present or not, expect more of the same types of events and political pandering. Start checking the local section of your newspaper to see what's happening in your area.

Inviting In The Enemy

Our State Department is playing the dhimmi and endangering all of us. Requirements for visas have been relaxed so as to allow Wahhabist-trained imams to come into the United States.

From the August 14-20, 2007 edition of Insight Magazine (subscription required):

Hundreds of Islamic fundamentalist clerics have been allowed to enter the United States to take over mosques in major cities. The clerics come from countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan and have been influenced by al Qaeda. Many are fresh graduates from Saudi-financed Wahhabi seminaries....

According to the article, hundreds of these imams with radical training are already here and teaching in mosques in our major cities, including locations in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and the Washington, D.C. area. Several of these imams are graduates of Cairo's Al Azhar University, which has ties to Al Qaeda, and of various seminaries in Pakistan. Furthermore, despite warnings from various law-enforcement officials and the National Intelligence Estimate, our State Department continues to pursue this import-the-imams agenda.

Even our FBI is supportive of bringing in these imams:

At this point, the FBI, which has played down links between Muslim extremists and white supremacists, has not tried to stop the influx of the imams. Instead, the agency has sought to expand its public relations campaign to change Muslim perceptions of U.S. law enforcement and recruit Muslims to the FBI.

"We, within the FBI, are trying to break down a lot of barriers and create a different brand about the FBI within the Arab-American and Muslim American community," said Gwen Hubbard, chief of the FBI's National Recruitment and Marketing unit.

For at least the past three decades, Wahhabism has been funding the building and renovation of mosques throughout the West. Mosques established well before the Wahhabist push have undergone change in their direction and their leadership. A possible tip-of-the-iceberg example, buried in the local secion of the August 16, 2007 edition of the Washington Post:

For over 25 years Farzad Darui [former manager at the Islamic Center of Washington, the city's oldest mosque]...has been dedicated to preventing radical fundamentalists from taking over Washington D.C.'s Islamic Center," one of the briefs begins.

[...]

According to Darui's filings, the Saudi government was funneling money secretly to Khouj. The filings don't explicitly give a reason but assert a Saudi desire to control the influential mosque.

Photo from WhiteHouse.gov
In his June 2007 speech at the D.C. Islamic Center, President Bush took off his shoes and stated the following, which gives credence to some of the content in the Insight article:

...Today I am announcing a new initiative that will improve mutual understanding and cooperation between America and people in predominately Muslim countries.

I will appoint a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. This is the first time a President has made such an appointment to the OIC. (Applause.) Our special envoy will listen to and learn from representatives from Muslim states and will share with them America's views and values. This is an opportunity for Americans to demonstrate to Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship....

In my own experience, when I drive around the D.C. area and travel to other areas of the United States I have noticed the proliferation and renovation of mosques and hal-al markets sprouting up all over the place. I suspect that you've noticed the same in your area and in your travels.

Not so long ago, I met with a Jordanian who told me of a mosque he had visited in our Heartland. The mosque had been built several decades ago and had recently undergone a huge renovation. And guess what was on the materials table? Books and videos of Wahhabist orientation, even though the imam at that particular mosque was clearly not a Wahhabist. Apparently the funders of the renovation attached some strings to the financing of the upgrading of the mosque.

Getting back now to the content of the first link in this posting....If indeed America is importing Wahhabist imams, then radicalization of young Muslims will pick up speed within our borders. We're already noted the progression of Europe toward Eurabia as homegrown terrorists become a significant threat to national security. Importing Wahhabists to the United States will lead to the same radicalization here.

Convenient Amnesia

From this article in the August 14, 2007 edition of the Washington Post:

On April 19, 2005, Darrick Jackson completed an application to work as a private security guard at an entrance gate to Andrews Air Force Base.

"Have you ever used or been known by another name?" he was asked in the second of 20 queries.

"No," Jackson answered.

He got the job.

Federal prosecutors now allege that Jackson intentionally withheld his Muslim name, Abdul-Jalil Mohammad, to conceal a connection to a controversial imam in Southeast Washington....

Controversial may be an understatement:

Abdul Alim Musa, 62, is the outspoken imam at the mosque, Masjid al-Islam. In public statements, Musa has called Jews cowards, denounced the United States as the most criminal government in the world and lauded suicide bombers as heroes. He has praised Hezbollah and Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, and advocated the creation of an Islamic state in the United States by 2050.

In the interview, Musa joked that two of every five men at the Benning Road mosque could be undercover FBI agents. Musa said he recently taught three sessions of "How to Punk the FBI" at his mosque. Lessons included such "counter-harassment techniques" as asking an interrogating agent if his mother bought him his shirt, according to one of his Web sites.

[...]

...At issue are two essays, though it is unclear who wrote them. An essay titled "The Politics of Suicide and Self-Sacrifice" argues that Palestinians who conduct "self-sacrifice operations" do so in the same heroic spirit as Japanese kamikaze pilots. The other, "A Thought Provoking Process," faults the United States for its historical treatment of African Americans and Native Americans and, in a more conspiratorial vein, for allegedly spreading AIDS in Africa.

Musa uses both MuslimSpace and MySpace. On one site yesterday, visitors in an audio section could hear him lauding Hezbollah for kidnapping two Israeli soldiers last year. "It shows the rest of the Arab world that these Jews ain't nothing [but a] bunch of sissies and cowards," he said.

Prosecutors want to tell jurors that Musa once said Muslims would "burn America to the ground" if the mistreatment of Muslims continued. He was speaking at a fundraiser for Jamil Al-Amin, the imam who was formerly H. Rap Brown, a once-prominent Black Panther who in the 1960s famously said: "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down."...

Read the entire article.

At present, Jackson a convert to Islam is free on his own recognizance until a hearing on September 4 and living with his wife and child in a house next door to the mosque.