Left: Imam Hassan Qazwini speaks, as Victor Begg,
Brenda Rosenberg, David Gad-Half and Muslim cler-
gy listen.

Below: David Gad-Harf addressing the crowd.

BE ALL
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Jewish and Christian
leaders join Muslims to
condemn desecration
of Koran.

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'FT

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DON COHEN

Special to the Jewish News

D

avid Gad-Harf, director of the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit, unwittingly became the speech-
writer for Imam Hassan Qazwini of the Islamic
Center of America at a Friday, June 10 rally con-
demning instances of alleged desecration of the
Koran by U.S. military personnel.
The next day, the Detroit Free Press reported that
Imam Qazwini, standing on the steps.of his new
Dearborn mosque with Gad-Had and almost a
dozen others before a crowd of more than 100 peo-
ple from the mosque, had said: "This is not about
bashing America, this is not about bashing the U.S.
military," and that other speakers agreed.
While true that no one disagreed with Imam
Qazwini, it was Gad-Harf who made those remarks
first, and the imam prefaced his remarks by saying
"I agree with my friend David Gad-Harf."
The rally's purpose was to express opposition and
concern about reports that American soldiers and
contract employees had disrespected the Koran at the
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility housing prisoners
affiliated with Al Qaida or captured in Afghanistan.
A member of the mosque, serving as master of cere-
monies, called the event "... a brief expression of hurt
and disgust at this calculated ideology of hatred being
instilled ..." He later said, "If any of the monotheistic
faiths are attacked, or even the non-monotheistic
faiths are attacked, we should stand up for them.
Imam Qazwini's remarks were magnanimous in

nature. He said, "We should not tolerate religious
bigotry against the Jewish faith, the Muslim faith
and the Christian faith. And I believe that one of
the beauties of this country is that Muslims,
Christians and Jews all live together ... This is the
lesson that America should promote is religious
diversity and religious tolerance ... We are all
Americans and we all love this country. And it hurts
us that some people are trying to damage the United
States as a diverse and tolerant country.
"There are billions of people around the world
that believe in God and they are all offended by this
outrageous crime, this desecrating of the Koran. We
hope this will result in a better understanding."
Imam Qazwini called for the Pentagon to "issue
an apology to all Muslims around the world for
what happened. It will demonstrate the sincerity of
our government and our administration that Islam
is a major part of this country."

Reciprocity Cited

Earlier, Gad-Harf had told the crowd: "I know from
the last few years, there have been many horrible
things that have happened to our communities and
to our religions. Just a handful of years ago, a syna-
gogue in Turkey was attacked by terrorists, and I'd
like to tell you that Imam Qazwini was among the
first people that we in the Jewish community heard

Prior to the rally speakers at the Islamic Center of
America, Muslim community members carry signs
protesting incidents of desecration of the Koran by the
U.S. military.

from expressing his great sorrow for that desecration
of our holy place, the synagogue in Turkey.
"And I know that God forbid, if our Torah, the
Jewish scripture were ever desecrated, God forbid, I
know that Imam Qazwini would once again stand up
on your behalf and denounce that just as I denounce
the desecration of the holy Koran. I just want to
extend to you the support of the Jewish community
and let us hope that it never happens again."
Besides Gad-Harf, other non-Muslims who spoke
were Father Larry Kaiser of Sacred Heart Parish in
Dearborn and Steve Spreitzer of the Detroit-based
National Council for Community and Justice
(NCCJ). Brenda Rosenberg of the Children of
Abraham Project stood with the speakers, as did
Victor Begg of the Unity Center in Bloomfield Hills.
On June 3, the Pentagon confirmed five cases in
the past several years of inappropriate treatment of
the Koran, fotir of them accidental. It also found 15
cases of intentional mistreatment of the Koran by
Muslim prisoners. ❑

6/16

2005

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