Dear brothers and sisters

The crux of the matter is that,  an UN-educated person, especially one
who has little or no in depth understanding of world politics and its
intricacies, one who cannot fathom the harm and dangers of his random
and non-coherent utterings could bring upon the ummmah should keep his
mouth tightly shut. Moreover, he represents a handful of people and has
self engrandoised his organization by such ominous sounding name as
SUPREME COUNCIL, which was not elected by the ummah at large to
represent them. This is not a legitimate organization to speak on behalf
of Muslims, full stop. So, we must ask most humbly that Mr Karbani
desists from any public statements concerning Muslims, as he has no
right what so ever to speak on behalf of us - none what so ever.

By the way, Mr Mateen Siddiqui: please remove my name from your spam
list.

Mateen Siddiqui wrote:

> Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem was-salaat
> was-salaam ala Rasulillah wa ala alihi wa
> sahbihi wa sallam
>
> AsSalamu alaykum wa Rahmat Allah wa Barakatu
>
> It is regretful but revealing that AMPCC,
> AMA[alliance], AMC, CAIR,
> MPAC,ICNA,ISNA,and MSA would issue a
> statement condemning Shaykh
> Hisham Kabbani's speech to the state
> department. I pray this be
> a hoax and that these organizations declare
> themselves innocent
> of this slanderous statement.
>
> Notice that not one of Shaykh Hisham's
> statements were refuted,
> rather these organizations tried to quote out
> of context to rally
> Muslims away from a voice of moderation. The
> condemnation is quoted
> in full:
>
> >MAJOR MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN KABBANI'S
> STATEMENTS
> >American Muslim leaders demand retraction
> and apology
> >
> >It is with heavy hearts that we, the
> undersigned national American
> >Muslim organizations, feel compelled to
> defend our community and its
> >representatives from false and defamatory
> allegations.
>
> Notice in what follows no statement is shown
> to be false or defamatory
> to anyone, except that the statements
> criticize extremism.
>
> As for the allegation that the Muslim
> community needs a defense
> against Shaykh Hisham, then this is a clearly
> misleading statement
> that falsely implies that Shaykh Hisham
> accused the Muslim community
> as a whole of extremism. His own words from
> the speech refute that:
>
>  "This is what I want to say to you, to
> present to you from within
>   the Muslim community. We want to tell you
> that the Muslim community
>   as a whole is innocent from whatever
> extremism and extremist ideology
>   is being spread around the world."
>
> >In a January 7, 1999, presentation to a
> State Department Open Forum, Mr.
> >Hisham Kabbani, Chairman of the self-styled
> "Islamic Supreme Council of
> >America," made a number of unsubstantiated
> allegations that could have a
> >profoundly negative impact on ordinary
> American Muslims.
>
> Another attempt to rally "ordinary" Muslims
> against Shaykh Hisham Kabbani,
> again without substantiation. The derogatory
> tone of the authors and
> lack of respect for a Muslim Shaykh is
> obvious.
>
> >In the State Department forum, Mr. Kabbani:
> >
> >1) Alleged that the "ideology of extremism
> has been spread to eighty
> >percent of the [American] Muslim
> population." Having also stated that
> >"extremists" gained control of American
> mosques through elections, Mr.
> >Kabbani further strengthens the impression
> that the Muslim community as
> >a whole is extremist.
>
> A statement purposely taken out of context,
> here is some context:
>
> "...Extremism has been spread to 80 per cent
> of the Muslim
>  population. Not all of them agree with
> it..."
>
> Therefore the word "spread" is clearly
> indicated to mean that the
> extremist ideology has reached 80% of Muslims
> and not that 80% of
> Muslims accepted it and became extremist.
> This is a Shame on the
> leaders of the organizations below that they
> have to resort to such
> quoting out of context to slander a Muslim
> Shaykh. Several lines
> later Shaykh Hisham said to confirm his view:
>
> "...the Muslim community as a whole is
> innocent from whatever
>  extremism and extremist ideology is being
> spread around the world."
>
> As for the second allegation, it comes from
> these words regarding
> extremists:
>
> "They hijacked the mike, or they were elected
> because they are
>  good speakers, but they give a wrong idea
> about Islam."
>
> Note that Shaykh Hisham differentiates
> extremists as follows:
>
> "There are two kinds of extremism: there is
> the extremism ideology
>  and there is the extremist militant
> movement."
>
> The former type is the one Shaykh Hisham
> points to as having
> "hijacked the mike". He explains the rise of
> Wahhabism, and
> its attempted reformation of Islam.
>
> Anyone who has been to many Islamic centers
> in the US knows that
> Wahhabi ideologies are widely spread among
> leaders of many Mosques,
> preventing Dhikr, cursing Tasawwuf,
> preventing Mawlid et cetra. Notice
> that overseas organizations that started
> along similar Wahhabi trends
> are now bombing Muslims in the Caucaus, Sudan
> and many other places
> in the name of purifying Islam from what they
> view as 'Kufr, Bid'a and
> Shirk', but in reality it is traditional
> Islam they attack.
>
> >2) Claimed that "there are many, many Muslim
> organizations, that they
> >speak on behalf of the Muslim community, but
> in reality they are not
> >moderate, but they are extremist...These
> people are very well supported,
> >very well affiliated with outside regimes,
> that they have been sponsored
> >by billions of dollars to be active within
> the United States..."
>
> These are actually parts of two different
> paragraphs joined together
> only in this letter by three dots "...". They
> are actually paragraphs
> apart. Here is more context:
>
> "...there are many Muslim organizations that
> claim to speak on
>  behalf of the Muslim community but that in
> reality are not moderate,
>  but extremist. They hijacked the mike, or
> they were elected because
>  they are good speakers, but they give a
> wrong idea about Islam."
>
> This is known to those with experience in
> Islamic centers. Again
> Shaykh Hisham confirms what the authors of
> this letter try to hide,
> that he views the Muslim community as
> moderate. Shame on those
> who slander Muslim Shaykhs with their lies.
> The second half of that
> (mis)quoted above comes in a different part
> of the speech:
>
> "You are not hearing the authentic voice of
> Muslims, of moderate Muslims,
>  but you are hearing the extremist voice of
> Muslims. That's why they are
>  getting a wrong idea, because the extremists
> are very well supported,
>  are very well affiliated with outside
> regimes that have sponsored them
>  with billions of dollars to be active in the
> United States."
>
> Again Shaykh Hisham confirms that Muslims in
> general are moderate,
> he states a well know fact that outside
> regimes are supporting
> extremist[ideological] views in the US.
> Anyone who has been involved
> in Islamic centers knows how certain
> countries frequently will offer
> to give free books with Wahhabi ideology, and
> gradually take over or
> have those who support their views take over
> Islamic centers and
> throw out authentic Muslims who speak the
> truth. An example is the
> preventers of Mawlid, celebration of the
> birthday of the Prophet,
> Salla Allahu alayhi wa Sallam, which is
> practiced in nearly every
> Islamic country, how many a Masjid today
> following extremist leadership
> has banned it and ridiculed its approval by
> the overwhelming majority
> of Islamic scholars.
>
> >3) Claiming that the main national Muslim
> student organization is "being
> >run mostly by extremist ideology," Mr.
> Kabbani raised the bizarre
> >specter that the Bin Laden organization was
> "able to buy more than 20
> >atomic weapons, atomic nuclear heads, from
> some Mafias in the ex-Soviet
> >Union...and now they are hiring thousands of
> scientists from the
> >ex-Soviet in order to make these atomic
> warheads into smaller
> >partitions, smaller particles, in order to
> be, like small chips to be
> >put in any suit case, even in a handbag, and
> be shipped anyplace,
> >anywhere in the world...If these small
> nuclear atomic warheads reach
> >these (U.S.) universities, you don't know,
> these students, what they are
> >going to do, because their way of thinking
> is brainwashed and limited."
>
> Shaykh Hisham defined extremism as:
>
> "Extremism in Islam, or in religion, is when
> you use religion to
>  label intolerance, to turn from religion and
> take ideas that you
>  can extract for yourself, or deduce for
> yourself, and use to make
>  a militant movement and disturb the peace in
> your country or around
>  the world."
>
> He clarified that extremism may be
> ideological or militant. Therefore
> extremist ideology in Islam involves
> intolerence and self deduced
> Islamic rulings, and both of these have been
> clearly seen from the
> leadership of some Muslim student
> oraganizations, some who frankly
> say they do not care what the scholars of
> Islam say, rather they
> will deduce their own understandings of Quran
> and Sunnah. Or they
> demonstrate intolence to authentic Islam, as
> Dhikr, Tasbih, Tasawwuf
> et cetra, calling out "Bid'a", "Shirk",
> "Kufr".
>
> As to Bin Laden and his plans, then the
> authors of this letter
> of condemnation are speaking in ignorance of
> the truth, and
> throwing serious allegations on issues they
> do not have knowledge
> of simply because they sound unlikely to
> them. Why would not a
> well connected multi-millionare as Bin Laden
> be able to procure
> a few of the 22,000 Russian nuclear warheads
> and hire for his
> cause Russian scientists for a steep price,
> when the Russians
> are in very hard economic times. If he were
> to find someone to
> do a devious deed for him in this country,
> and he has stated his
> intention to get American blood, then is it
> so absurd to believe
> he would recruit a disgruntled misguided
> student who has been
> brainwashed into thinking he must get even
> with America.
>
> >Adding insult to injury, Mr. Kabbani even
> promoted and generalized an
> >allegation that Muslim women in Europe "who
> are during the day, covered
> >from top to bottom and, during the night,
> have dates. They are dating
> >high officials in many countries around the
> world to take the
> >information from them and to give it to the
> extremists."
>
> Another lie and quotation out of context. It
> is truly amazing
> that all these Muslim organizations who
> signed below, if this is
> truly their signature, would stoop this low
> to slander a Muslim
> Shaykh.
>
> The lie:
>
> "promoted and generalized an allegation that
> Muslim women in
>  Europe..."
>
> Here is the proper quote in context from
> Shaykh Hisham's speech
> after explaining how extremist organizations
> are not following
> Islam as is well known many sell drugs to get
> cash for weapons
> and supplies, he adds the following:
>
> "Recently they found in London, between
> London and France and all
>  that area in Western Europe, that there is a
> big network of women
>  that one of the very famous Arabic
> newspapers - either al Wasat
>  or al Watat al Arabi - revealed in a big
> report two or three months
>  ago. They found a network run by Muslim
> women who, during the day,
>  are covered from top to bottom and, during
> the night, have dates.
>  They are dating high officials in many
> countries around the world to
>  take the information from them and to give
> it to the extremists. We
>  have to ask ourselves: is this Islamic or
> un-Islamic?"
>
> Note this is NOT generalized to Muslim women,
> and again the point
> which the authors of this condemnation try to
> hide is that Sahykh
> Hisham is defending Muslims from false Islam,
> not as they falsely
> claim attacking Muslims.
>
> >Through outrageous statements such as these,
> Mr. Kabbani has put the
> >entire American Muslim community under
> unjustified suspicion. In effect,
> >Mr. Kabbani is telling government officials
> that the majority of American
> >Muslims pose a danger to our society.
>
> Notice that not a single statement quoted
> above justified the false
> conclusion of the authors. The letter builds
> itself up then ends up
> being a slanderous baseless shameful gang
> attack on a Muslim Shaykh
> who has worked hard to promote Islamic unity
> and understanding.
>
> >Additionally, Islamophobic individuals and
> groups may use these
> >statements as an excuse to commit hate
> crimes against Muslims of the
> >kind witnessed following the bombing of the
> Murrah Federal Building
> >in Oklahoma City when Muslim-bashers, Steven
> Emerson and others,
> >offered similarly unsubstantiated claims
> that Muslims were behind the
> >attack.
>
> The authors seemed to have missed the whole
> point of Shaykh Hisham's
> speech. There is no justification for
> terrorism. There are no excuses
> for hate crimes. Muslims will not stand
> behind those who commit crimes
> in the name of Islam. Islam is not extremist,
> a few Muslims may be,
> the Muslim community is innocent of their
> deeds.
>
> Furthermore the worst "Muslim-bashers" are
> those who commit terrorism
> and say it is Islam and that they are good
> Muslims. Islam is more
> harmed by those among us that "excuse"
> extremism, than by those
> outside us who may falsely allege that islam
> is itself extreme.
> In the latter case many people are wise
> enough not to take a
> non-Muslims view about Islam as being very
> accurate.
>
> >We therefore ask Mr. Kabbani to promptly and
> publicly retract his
> >statements, to apologize to the American
> Muslim community, and to exert
> >his utmost effort to undo the damage these
> statements have done.
>
> It seems that the apology should be from the
> undersigned to
> Shaykh Hisham for falsely representing his
> speech as is clear
> above and to the Muslim Community for lying
> to them.
>
> >The issue is not that of a mere difference
> of opinion within an American
> >religious community, but involves the
> irresponsible act of providing
> >false information to government officials.
> This false information can
> >jeopardize the safety and well being of our
> community and hurt America
> >itself by damaging its values of
> inclusiveness, fairness, and liberty.
>
> The undersigned seem to commend America for
> its values of
> "inclusiveness, fairness, and liberty". Yet
> some affiliated
> with them have notoriously banned and
> slandered Shaykh Hisham
> Kabbani. Shaykh Hisham held the Islamic Unity
> Conference and
> invited all, yet a concerted effort by
> hypocrites was to prevent
> people from attending a conference where
> Terrorism was condemned
> and Islam was declared innocent of Terrorism.
> Those hypocrites
> showed no inclusiveness, no fairness and no
> liberty. They spread
> false rumors about Shaykh Hisham throughout
> Mosques and on
> the internet. They tried their best as the
> undersigned do today
> to slander and destroy one who is working to
> clear the name of Islam
> and the majority of Muslims. The undersigned
> never stood up to
> defend the honor of a Shaykh of Islam, yet
> when Extremism is
> condemned they quickly organize to condemn
> the one who has
> condemned it.
>
> >Signatories (in alphabetical order):
> >
> >American Muslim Political Coordination
> Council (AMPCC)
> >[American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American
> Muslim Council (AMC), Council
> >on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) &
> Muslim Public Affairs Council
> >(MPAC)]
> >Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
> >Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
> >Muslim Students Association of USA & Canada
> (MSA)
>
> May Allah guide us and Forgive us.
>
> Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik 'ala
> Sayyidina Muhammad
> wa 'ala Alihi wa Sahbihi wa al-Tabi'ina ila
> yawm al-din
>
> WasSalamu alaykum,
>
> Abu Kareem
>
> ___________________________________________
> An official statement will follow shortly