May 24, 2010

The Muslim Public Affairs Council abhors and condemns recent statements by the Yemeni cleric, Anwar Al-Awlaki, calling on Muslims to kill American civilians.  In an interview released on Sunday with an Al-Qaeda affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula, Al-Awlaki asserts that America is at war with Islam and Islamic teachings, and praises the actions of Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hassan and Christmas Day attempted bomber Umar Farooq Abdulmuttalib as heroic.

SEE: "U.S.-Born Cleric Justifies the Killing of Civilians" (New York Times)

In the interview, Al-Awlaki says in part:

"This is a war about the belief in Allah's unity (tawheed). America wants to destroy the Islam that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. They want to replace it with the falsified Islam that I mentioned... The American people in its entirety takes part in the war, because they elected this administration, and they finance this war."

MPAC reiterates its outright rejection of the notion that the United States is at war with Islam, and deplores the call to murder, mayhem and destruction, as Al-Awlaki and Al-Qaeda continue to recruit people into their cult of death.

"Muslim Americans refuse to be recipients of this evil and un-Islamic call to death," said MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati today. "Al-Awlaki and his Al-Qaeda cohorts have nothing to offer the Muslim community in America and abroad except murder and their distortion of Islam to legitimate their cult of death. The Muslim American community is an active participant in the national life of our country and will not stand for this incitement to terrorism."

MPAC calls upon all Imams, leaders and activists to openly reject this call and provide communities the tools to engage at all levels of religious, civic and political life in America.

Following the Ft. Hood attack in November and again in March, MPAC has condemned the destructive messages of Al-Awlaki as "deplorable and sickening."

The message of Islam and that of the Prophet Muhammad is a call to life, and to service to God and fellow human beings. The tired rhetoric of people like Al-Awlaki represent nothing but a fringe and extreme group of individuals and will not have any place in the religious and civic discourse of Muslim in our country.

CLICK HERE to view MPAC's Townhall Forum on the Ft. Hood Aftermath

CLICK HERE to download a pdf of Dr. Hathout's presentation on "War & Peace in Islam" from the Townhall Forum

During his commencement speech at West Point on Saturday, President Obama underscored the unity of all Americans against Al-Qaeda and all forms of violent extremism, saying:

"Al Qaeda and its affiliates are small men on the wrong side of history. They lead no nation. They lead no religion. We need not give in to fear every time a terrorist tries to scare us. We should not discard our freedoms because extremists try to exploit them.  We cannot succumb to division because others try to drive us apart.... Terrorists want to scare us. New Yorkers just go about their lives unafraid. Extremists want a war between America and Islam, but Muslims are part of our national life, including those who serve in our United States Army."