It is a message of Islamic supremacism and an imperative to convert or subjugate unbelievers. The circle of children and their care provider represents the target of this threat from Sharia here in the US.
by Rebecca Bynum, The Iconoclast, July 14, 2010
Former Muslims United (FMU) launched a digital billboard campaign today against the expansion of the Islamic Center (ICM) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The ad can be seen on the Lamar Advertising digital billboard located near the Stone’s River Mall and major I-24 exits for Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Nonie Darwish, noted author, human rights activist and executive director of FMU, said, ”This is just the beginning of a national campaign to educate the public about threats to the civil and human rights of former Muslims who leave Islam and the dangers from adoption of Islamic Sharia law to all American citizens”.
The green background of the ad represents the Saudi national flag with the Muslim profession of Faith “the Shahada” inscribed on it: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” It is a message of Islamic supremacism and an imperative to convert or subjugate unbelievers. The circle of children and their care provider represents the target of this threat from Sharia here in the US.
FMU had earlier issued a news release citing the non-response of the ICM Imam and board requesting that they sign a Freedom Pledge. “Islamic Center of Murfreesboro (ICM) Mosque leaders do not honor freedom to choose one’s beliefs as guaranteed under our First Amendment. That is the only conclusion we can draw from the overwhelming ‘silence’ and non-response to letters containing a Freedom Pledge sent to ICM Mosque leaders by our organization,” said Darwish.
The FMU letter and Freedom Pledge were sent on June 29th with confirmed receipt July 1st, requesting ICM leaders to abjure death fatwas to apostates who have left Islam. The letters were sent to all ICM board members and the Imam, Sheik Dr. Ossama Bahloul, a distinguished graduate of Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. A prominent conservative Egyptian Muslim preacher, Sheik Yussuf al-Badri, on a translated German news video said, “God has commanded us to kill all who leave Islam.”
FMU has submitted cases of threats and discrimination to the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice (USDOJ) and has assisted in several individual cases of former Muslims seeking help. FMU issued a proposal earlier this year to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to conduct a parallel session on “Civil Rights, Social Justice, and the Rights of Former Muslims to Religious Freedom and Freedom of Speech in America” at the recently concluded ISNA Annual Convention held in Rosemount, Illinois, July 2-5, 2010. That request was rejected by the ISNA, a leading American Muslim group, which was cited as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Dallas Federal Holy Land Foundation Trial.
In the fall of 2009, FMU mailed copies of the “Freedom Pledge,” to more than 111 Muslim American leaders of 50 organizations asking them to repudiate the Shariah law consensus permitting execution of apostates from Islam. Only two pledges were returned-one from Dr. M. Zhudi Jasser of the American Forum for Islam and Democracy and the other from Dr. Ali Ayami, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Saudi Arabia.
Tags: Murfreesboro Mosque, former Muslims United, Billboard
