In a classic moment from the film Casablanca, Captain Renault has to quickly make up an excuse why he is suddenly shutting down Rick’s bar – a demand of his Nazi superiors. “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault declares, just as a croupier hands him a bag of coins and says: “Your winnings, sir.”
That wonderful moment came to mind while observing the news out of Britain, once again reeling from the extremist poison that seeped into communities across the country. On the BBC show “Question Time,” the guest was Muhamed El-Khayat, director of trustees the mosque attended by Manchester concert bomber Salman Abeidi. (The Didsbury mosque is apparently of the salafi persuasion.)
During the show, a man in the audience stood up to explain he was a neighbor of the mosque and had attended one of the congregation’s recent open houses. Some mosques hold these as a way to build relations with local non-Muslims… with the added benefit of doing some dawa at the same time.
Watching the exchange triggered a flashback to something I experienced after the 9-11 attacks. Like many, I was shocked that such a terror attack was even possible on American soil – and with such a massive death toll. We were scared of the backlash we would likely face after the carnage.
The neighbor held up for the cameras a leaflet he was given at the mosque on the “Open” day along with a fancy package of DVDs. The leaflet said: “Living in a society in which people have accepted Western lifestyle as their way of life brings immorality at every step. Modesty, shame and honour have no place in Western civilization.”
Doing his best to channel Captain Renault, Director El-Khayat insisted he had no connection to the material and that “the people who distribute the leaflets are not regulars to the mosque.” Right…
Watching the exchange triggered a flashback to something I experienced after the 9-11 attacks. Like many, I was shocked that such a terror attack was even possible on American soil – and with such a massive death toll. We were scared of the backlash we would likely face after the carnage.
A friend suggested I come to an interfaith “Open House” at a local mosque. Initially, I didn’t want to go – these were terrible times where fear overtook reason, and the mosque was run by salafis. But as my friend pointed out, it was the time to show people who we really are. So I gathered my courage and went.
A whole bunch of non-Muslims came to the open house. These were nice people – almost all older upper-class liberal whites – who wanted to show their solidarity and reassure their Muslim neighbors that they would not fall in the trap of condemning all Muslims for the sins of a few terrorists.
The Imam began with a tour of the mosque, explaining that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with Islam, and that he and the group running the mosque were tolerant and open to everyone. Then he handed out materials in English, including some salafi translations of the Quran. I froze.
“Please don’t let the guests actually read the material,” I prayed silently, holding my breath. Thankfully the nice old white folks took the leaflets and the Qurans, nodded politely, bowed slightly in thanks, and then walked out the door.I picked up the materials. And sure enough there were the classic lines:
Non-Muslims are infidels whose fate is hellfire;
Western civilization is evil and must be resisted;
The Jews and Christians are have evoked God’s anger and gone astray.
It kept going. Imagine how ashamed and embarrassed I was. It was clear that the Imam’s nice talk of tolerance was just an act, and as a result made us all look like a bunch of hypocrites. That was when I decided to never set foot ever again in that mosque.
At least at my open house, none of the neighbors raised any objections. But on BBC “Question Time,” Director El-Khayat got called on the hypocrisy in front of a national audience.
It’s becoming a tired routine to see after every terror case how imams and directors of mosques that the terrorists attended refuse to acknowledge any tie between what they preach and what ends up happening. Some feign total ignorance and act shocked – Captain Renault style. Or when caught in the act, like El-Khayat on the BBC, they blame some outsiders who somehow hijacked the “Open House.”
The act is getting old. And the poisonous messages being injected to young men in our mosques is having devastating consequences.