OnIslam, the Islamic news portal associated with Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, has reported on the 48th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America held over the 4th of July weekend and titled “Loving God, Loving Neighbor, Living in Harmony”. According to the report:
Addressing American Muslim concerns, leading Muslim figures urged thousands of attendants at the continent’s largest Islamic convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to be more involved in the society to stem the growing Islamophobia, The Huffington Post reported. “We have to balance the internal needs of the Muslim-American community with our need as Muslims to defend Islam,” Ingrid Mattson, a member of ISNA’s executive council and a professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary, said during ISNA’s 48th convention. We have to constantly battle those negative threats to define us.” The growing anti-Muslim sentiments were a main concern for the majority of US Muslims over the past year. Witnessing many proposals to ban Islamic shari`ah law in different American states, these new bills were not the only headache Muslims faced in 2010. Different projects for constructing new mosques were also opposed by official complaints or even in the courts. Wishing to stem the growing Islamophobia, attendants at ISNA’s 48th convention, held from July 1-4, suggested different panels that carried titles such as “Muslims Under a Microscope,” “Anti-Sharia Initiatives: How to Respond” and “Not in My Backyard,” regarding to anti-mosque construction campaigns. The sessions at ISNA, which were based upon the requests of members, indicated that Muslims are also concerned about the state of their religion as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches.”
Read the rest here.
The convention program identifies some of the following speakers of interest:
- Feisal Rauf, Ground Zero Mosque Roject
- Tariq Ramadan, Global Muslim Brotherhood leader
- John Esposito, Georgetown University (long-time Muslim Brotherhood supporter)
- Keith Ellison, U.S. Congressman
- Lord Nazir Ahmed, U.K. Peer close to the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood
- Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Congressman
Also reported participating were unidentified representatives from the US Agency for International Development, US Department of State, US Department of Homeland Security, US Intelligence Community, and the White House. Also worth noting was the substantial discusion of the Turkish AKP government. A report from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) documents the historically close relationship between ISNA and Turkish Islamists.
A report by the Hudson Institute has identified ISNA as a major part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. The organization has a long history of fundamentalism, anti-semitism, and support for terrorism and during the recent Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial, ISNA was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. Although recently ISNA has issued condemnations of terrorism which for the first time identify Hamas and Hezbollah by name, there is no indication that the organization has ever addressed or acknowledged its history.