A Dutch organization identifying itself as the “Landelijk Platform Nieuwe Moslims” (National Platform For New Muslims” has announced that it is sponsoring its third Islamic camp with the theme “European Muslims breaking through the challenges” to be held October 8-15 in Cairo, Egypt. The announcement indicates that the following individuals will be speaking at the camp which is oriented toward new Muslim converts:
- “Dealing with non-Muslim environment” by: Prof. dr. Jamal Badawi and Salah Sultan
- “Family” (spouse, children, parents, others) by: Nagi and Prof. Kathleen., Jamal Badawi
- “Muslim diversity” (ethnicity, ideology, mentoring) By: Fadel Soliman and Salah Sultan
- “Making the Change” (culture, work, psychological) by: Nuha Salama and Kathleen Nagi
The announcement also indicates that Landelijk Platform Nieuwe Moslims (LPNM) will be working with an organization known as the “New European Muslim Assembly” that is said to be working throughout Europe with local foundations and associations to Islamic converts. The website for the LPNM indicates that it is associated with Ontdek Islam (Discover Islam) which, as discussed in an earlier post, sponsored lectures for new converts earlier this year by Kuwait Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Suwaidan, listed by federal prosecutors as an Unindicted Co-Conspirators in the terrorism financing case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, convicted of providing funds for Hamas.The lectures were co-sponsored by the LPNM.
Sources in the Netherlands report that Jacob van der Blom, the leader of Ontdek Islam (Discover Islam) is a rising star in the Dutch Muslim Brotherhood . He is secretary of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in the Netherlands (FION) and board member of the Europa Trust Nederland, both organizations part of the Federation of Islamic Organizations In Europe (FIOE) representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. Van der Blom attended a conference of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) in Turkey where he met its leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi as well as IUMS leaders Salman al-Awdah and Abdallah bin Bayyah. He was also attended at least two events in Kuwait last year, meeting Taraq al-Suwaidan.
New converts at the camp in Cairo will be hearing from Dr. Salah Sultan (aka Solah Sultan, Sallah Sultan) who in April 2010, accused Jews of using Christian blood for Matzoh (substitute for bread used during the Jewish holiday of Passover) in an example of what is called “blood libel”, the accusations that Jews use human blood in religious rituals. (Historically these are accusations that the blood of Christian children is especially coveted and date back to the 1st Century .) Dr. Sultan had left the U.S. following negative press reports in the U.S. media which led the authorities there to suspend his application for American citizenship and, as discussed in a previous post, relocated to Bahrain in 2007. Dr Sultan’s online resume indicates that he is or was a member of several important U.S. and European Muslim Brotherhood organizations including the European Council for Fatwa and Research, the Fiqh Council of North America, and the Islamic American University, closely associated with the Muslim American Society (MAS).This resume also expresses Dr. Soltan’s vision “To live happily. To die as a martyr.” Another previous post discussed some of Dr. Sultan statements including an appearance on Saudi TV where Dr. Sultan asserted that the US planned the 9/11 attacks as a pretext for terrorizing the world and praising Osama bin Laden confidante Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani. A recent MEMRI TV report identified previously virulently anti-Semitic and anti-American comments made by Dr. Sultan on Egyptian TV in late December. Another post discussed a seminar featuring Dr. Sultan sponsored by the European Assembly for Imams and Spiritual Guides, closely associated with the Federation of Islamic Organizations In Europe (FIOE).
According to an online profile, camp lecturer Fadel Soliman is director of the Cairo- based Bridges Foundation, a body that specializes in presenting Islam to non- Muslims. He is also an Islamic daawa activist, former imam of the American University in Washington DC, and was appointed the National Chaplain of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in North and Central America (WAMY, reported by U.S. government agencies and officials to have sponsored terrorism in places such as Bosnia, Israel, and India. Another profile reports that Dr. Soliman is a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi. Other Bridges Foundation board members of interest include Murad Wilfried Hofmann, a German Islamist closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood in that country and Zaghoul El-Naggar, an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader with a history of virulent anti-Semitism and a mentor of Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani who is wanted by the U.S.in connection with his support of Al Qaeda in Yemen and is also said to be, in turn, the “spiritual mentor” for the late Osama Bin Laden.
Also a Bridges board member is fellow camp lecturer Dr. Jamal Badawi, a leader in many of the most important organizations of the Global Muslim Brotherhood including the Islamic Society of North America, the Council on American Islamic Relations (Canada), the Fiqh Council of North America, the Muslim American Society, and the European Council for Fatwa and Research. He recently retired from an academic position at St. Mary’s University in Halifax and continues to be one of the most widely traveled North American Muslim Brotherhood leaders. An earlier post discussed his role in the top leadership structures of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.