The Kuwaiti news agency has provided further details on the fifth annual Nationale Bekeerlingendag (National Converts Day) that took place Sunday in the Dutch city of Utrecht . The KUNA report begins by providing a short introduction to the event:
UTRECHT, HOLLAND, May 7 (KUNA) The fifth annual Dutch Muslim Converts Day was held in the city of Utrecht on Sunday during which four Dutch women and one Dutch man announced their conversion to Islam. The conference was held with the support of the Centre for Cross Cultural Dialogue of Kuwait. It was addressed by many speakers, including Dr. Jamal Badawi, a well-known Egyptian-born Canadian Islamic preacher and was attended by a large number of Muslims from several European countries.
Following testimonials by conference participants, the article report comments by the event’s Kuwaiti sponsor:
Jamal Al-Shati, board member of the Centre for Cross Cultural Dialogue of Kuwait, told KUNA that it is a new Centre to promote dialogue with non-Muslims and secondly to take care of new converts to Islam. “This conference is one of the events supported by the Centre, ” said Al-Shati, “We take care of the new Muslims by giving them positive knowledge to live in his country as good citizens and a positive outlook. This great responsibility can be best carried out when our fellow Musims in these countries are trained an educated with the proper knowledge necessary for the success of this task,” he said. He added that the message of Islam is best received by people when it is delivered by one of their own. The Centre provides focused training in proficient organizational work, community development, and building a global network connection between Muslims in the West, noted Al-Shati
According to KUNA reports, Jamal Nasser Al-Shati is also the General Manager of the Islam Presentation Committee (IPC) as well as the Assistant Secretary-General of the Kuwaiti Al-Najat Charitable Society that, in turn, is the sponsor of the IPC. As discussed in an earlier post, in December 2010 the IPC sponsored lectures in Kuwait for new converts that were attended by the chairman of the Landelijk Platform Nieuwe Moslims (National Platform for New Muslims) (LPNM). The lectures featured Kuwait Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Suwaidan, listed by federal prosecutors a co-conspirator in the terrorism financing case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, convicted of providing funds for Hamas. Previous posts have detailed Suwaidan’s background as well as his anti-Semitic statements. A post from August 2011 reported that LPNM had sponsored its third Islamic camp held in Cairo, Egypt. Scheduled to address new converts at that camp was also Dr. Badawi as well as Dr. Salah Soltan whose virulent anti-Semitic statements and background in the Global Muslim Brotherhood were discussed in the post. As reported yesterday, Sunday’s event was sponsored in the Netherlands by Stichting OntdekIslam (Discover Islam Foundation) in conjunction with the LPNM.
Dr. Badawi is a leader in many of the most important organizations of the Global and U.S. Muslim Brotherhood including the Islamic Society of North America ISNA), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR- Canada), the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), the Muslim American Society MAS), and the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR). 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.
Also scheduled to speak on Sunday was Dutch Muslim Brotherhood leader Jacob van der Blom. 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 S unindicted alman al-Awdah and Abdallah bin Bayyah.