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Editor's Letter

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www.jarc.org

A Circle of Suspicion

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he Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) bills itself
as a mainstream, national nonprofit that has worked
for 42 years to build relations between Islam and the
public and to make life better for all religious groups through
interfaith efforts.
ICNA leaders say the New York-
based organization is a partner of and
is funded by the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security and also works
closely with other federal agencies,
including the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
The ICNA, a major Muslim
American network, averages between
10,000 and 12,000 people at its nation-
al conferences and strives to portray a
public image of moderation.
Steve Emerson, a well-respected
American authority on global radicalism, says with such a
large following and given its very active youth program, the
ICNA could serve as a positive force of tolerance and peace.
Instead, it represents a front for suspicious activity, includ-
ing indoctrinating its members to install Shariah (Islamic)
law in the West, says Emerson, executive director of the
Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism. The
ICNA seems to preach democratic values and law, but in the
comfort of its nerve center renders vibes that the Centre for
Social Cohesion in London termed "monolithic, anti-demo-
cratic and isolating."

"As members advance into deeper stages:' Emerson says,
"they are required to master more strident texts, ICNA
bylaws show."
ICNA extremism includes "glorifying the death of another
young Muslim American convert in a Pakistani jihad." It also
includes "admitted links to the radical Pakistani organiza-
tion, Jamaat-e-Islami," according to Emerson.

A Real Concern
How concerned should America be about the ICNA? Its
Muslim Family Day, first hosted at a Six Flags amusement
park in 2000, now attracts nearly 50,000 people a year. That's
a reach and an influence to be reckoned with.
Emerson's investigators probed internal ICNA records to
discover "a long-term campaign to change the country?' A
2003 manual given to prospective youth group members
states that the group strives to teach, train and develop
Muslim youth to be Islamic workers for Iqamat-ud-Deen in
North America — defining that Arabic phrase as establish-
ing Islam in its totality so Allah may make it prevailing over
all religions in North America.
The ICNA charter goes further, investigators found. It
elevates Islam to dominant ranking in all interactive corri-
dors, from economic to political to social. The ICNA seeks to
derive Allah's pleasure by introducing the Islamic system of
life as spelled out in the Koran and in the Sunnah of Prophet
Muhammad, the sayings and living habits of the last prophet
of Islam.
As new ICNA members move along the training track, they
must finish extremist readings, join a buddy system to track
their progress, show religious adherence and
pledge loyalty to the ICNA.
Emerson stresses how ICNA forums reinforce
the message of extremist Islamist thinkers. As
an example, he cited a 2005 conference ses-
sion in which speaker Abdool Rahman Khan,
part of the ICNA Shura Council, railed about
America trying to destroy Islam. "This concept:'
Emerson says, "is the very same narrative that
has influenced dozens of young men to take up
violence against the United States in the name
Emer son probes.
of defending Islam?'

In Clear View
I only had to open the website icna.org to see
that the ICNA aims to please Allah by spreading
the seeds of Islam "in all spheres of life."
"ICNA has many projects, programs and
activities:' the website boasts, that "help in the
process of molding the individual and reforming
society at large."
That's scary.
As Emerson relates in an Aug. 10 Investigative
Project on Terrorism dispatch: When five young
Steve
men left comfortable lives in America last fall
and turned up in Pakistan hoping to wage jihad,
or holy war, against American troops, all eyes shifted to their
community mosque and youth group for answers. The ICNA,
which oversaw the mosque and the youth group, claimed no
ties to the radicalization that drove the quintet to embrace
violence. Other national Muslim groups vowed to introduce
anti-radicalization programs.
The ICNA stood silent, Emerson says, perhaps because such
a campaign would contradict the learning curve it requires of
its members.
Online, the ICNA proclaims it "has cemented its place as
a leading grassroots organization in the American Muslim
community."
I pray that our president and Congress are aware of the
stark difference between the ICNA public persona and its in-
house mission.
Emerson outlines how required reading of ICNA members
features an array of radical scholars and "an ideology that
casts the practice of Islam as incompatible with the West."
That should disrupt every American who believes in the U.S.
Constitution and our nation's enduring democratic principles.

Being Fair
Emerson makes it a point to say not every ICNA member
will be radicalized to the point of violence and most mem-
bers won't try to travel around the world to fight our troops.
Certainly, the vast majority of American Muslims are law-
abiding citizens with bountiful potential to contribute to the
American way of life.
But as Emerson says, the Islamic Circle of North America
doesn't practice the moderation and tolerance that it preaches.
In fact, ICNA records underscore that important distinction.
To diminish that investigative finding is to issue a free
pass to a cunning organization committed to the struggle for
lqamatuddin — total establishment of Islam in America. CI

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a. IL

Have American Muslim leaders spoken out
enough against radicalism in their midst?

Is our government focused enough on the
growing potential for homegrown jihad?

Karen Rosenstein, JARC Judaic

Coordinator. with Rushie Shar

Preparing to celebrate Rosh

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August 26 • 2010 5