Anwar al-Awlaki Was a ‘Moderate’ Imam at Washington Mosque ‘Known for His Interfaith Outreach, Civic Engagement and Tolerance’

I’m [not] shocked!  Someone that everyone thought was a ‘moderate‘ suddenly turns out to be a murderous zealot?  Surely, that could never happen in America where Muslims are granted freedoms and opportunities that they could only dream about in Islamic nations.  What are they learning that would cause them to change their minds? …

By Michael Hernandez – “FALLS CHURCH // Mohmed Kabbach, a street vendor, sat on his collapsible plastic chair outside a mosque near Washington on Friday, waiting for the faithful to finish prayers.

The 47-year-old had not yet heard that Anwar Al Awlaki, one of America’s most wanted terrorists, was killed in a US drone strike in Yemen.

‘Who is Awlaki?’ said Mr Kabbach. Al Awlaki was also an imam at the Dar Al Hijrah mosque, in this small town just 10 miles from the capital, from 2001 to 2002.

He ‘was known for his interfaith outreach, civic engagement and tolerance in the Northern Virginia community’, said a statement from the mosque on Friday.

The description differs significantly from the man US authorities called a leading figure in Al Qaeda.

He was alleged to have links to several planned and actual terrorist attacks, including the failed attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight by the ‘underwear bomber’ and the shooting deaths of 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood, both in 2009.” Read more.

Dr. Wafa Sultan: Muslim ‘Radicals’ Do Not Exist, They Are ‘Simply the Ones Who Are Adherents to the Faith’ – “For years we’ve heard Muslims commonly defined by a couple of different terms, ‘radical’ or ‘moderate.’ Yet what exactly do these terms mean? Dr. Wafa Sultan, born and raised in the Muslim culture of Syria, who now resides in the US, and is a strong advocate of women’s rights, recently provided some interesting insight on this topic during an interview. What immediately caught my attention was her comment that the term ‘radical’ doesn’t exist in the Muslim world. No ‘radicals?’ What is she talking about? ‘This is a term invented by the West,’ according to Dr. Sultan. She also indicated those who suggest Islam has been ‘hijacked by radicals’ were off base. Those whom the West calls ‘radicals’ are quite simply the ones who are adherents to the faith.” Read more.