Islamic group threatens WND

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after spending nearly three decades writing on a wide range of issues for several Upper Midwest newspapers and the Associated Press. Sports, tornadoes, homicidal survivalists, and legislative battles all fell within his bailiwick. His scenic photography has been used commercially, and he sometimes plays in a church worship band.

Islam33

A man who says he represents the United Muslim Nations International organization has warned WND to “moderate” its reporting on issues involving Islam because of how Muslims may react.

The warning came in an email to WND from Faarooq al Mohammedi, who said he was asking on behalf of the Muslim organization that WND “comply as it would be in the companies (sic) best interest as we would not want to take you down the same rout (sic) as we have with other non-complaint media firms.” The email warned WND to take “extra precaution when publishing religiously sensitive material or in creating religiously sensitive suspicions about peoples (sic) religious beliefs and practices.”

He threatened, “We would appreciate it if you could tighten your screening and moderation processes of articles to be published, any fake material published by WND will be taken as a breach of world news standards, religiously sensitive matters are to be based on solid and undeniable facts, failure to produce proofs of such published articles will give us no option but to bring about the complete removal of WND online as well as from the public in any print media.”

The essence of the warning was that WND needed to project an attitude of dhimmitude, the subservient role demanded of nonbelievers in a Muslim society. Dhimmis “recognize” their inferior status and appropriately serve the master Muslims.

Contacted by WND at a telephone number in Africa, Mohammedi could cite no specific issues with WND’s reporting. Instead, he promoted a worldwide Islamic caliphate, a subject mentioned in a WND report several days earlier about a coming conference in Austria.

“Isn’t this interesting?” said WND Founder and Editor Joseph Farah, “This guy makes an indictment, but can provide zero evidence to back it up. Nevertheless, he is making sweeping threats about shutting down WND and enlisting the help of unnamed governments.

“This is why Americans who believe in free speech must never permit international agencies to be involved in policing the Internet. Nor can we afford to allow ourselves to be bullied into self-censorship and standards of ‘political correctness’ by special interest groups.”

Pamela Geller, who writes at AtlasShrugs and long has waged battles against the encroachment of Islamic religious law in the United States, said while she was not familiar with the group, the tactic is common.

“The tactic is pure Islamic supremacist intimidation, a tried-and-true strategy that they employ frequently,” she said. “They cannot answer us, so they try to shut us down.”

Geller repeatedly has fought over the right to have ads criticizing Islam in the same locations as ads that promote Islam. She frequently has to go to court to get the same access that pro-Islamic organizations are freely granted.

Mohammedi told WND in the telephone interview today that his concern is that publishing material he doesn’t like “creates a problem on a global scale.”

“Some people have different ways of reacting to different articles that are published,” he said. “We’re trying to prevent certain unwanted events from happening due to these publications.

“We need that (publication) to come to an end because if you want peace and stability around the world, you would need these things to come to an end as well.”

Regarding WND, Mohammedi could not identify a single specific concern but said he knew there were some, and he would respond by email. The email never arrived.

He could only say there were articles regarding “suspicions” about Islam.

“The religion is very open, very open. There’s nothing to be suspicious about,” he said.

He said the email to WND was part of a campaign.

“I’ve dealt with quite a few people. We’ve got the government involved with ombudsmen, and they’ve made adjustments,” he said.

“Basically, our advice is that people need to take extra precautions and moderate whatever gets published,” he said, referring to recent references about a caliphate, although he could not say they were from WND.

“They carry the (caliphate) message … it’s almost like there’s some suspicion of something terrible. Islamically, the system of the caliphate is supposed to be a good thing. It shouldn’t be seen as something bad,” he said.

“It will prevent a lot of conflicts around the world itself, as well as provide the world with a central government structure.”

Farah said his grandparents “did not flee the Muslim-dominated Middle East so their grandson would have to guard his words about Islamic oppression around the world and, more frequently, right here in the U.S.”

“As long as I am alive, WND will continue to tell the truth about Shariah, jihad and Islamic terror,” Farah said.

While Mohammedi said the organization’s website was not operating at this point, WND located a site that appeared to represent the organization.

The site states: “The true Muslim stands firm and strong against the Kufar (unbeliever), we the Mu’min will always defeat the Kufar and we have love amongst each other.”

The site also said its headquarters is in Jerusalem and explained, “We are not only an organization on a path to unite the entire Muslim Ummah, we are an organization of international human rights as per the commandments/Shariah (Divine Law) of the almighty Allah in the blessed Holy Quran and as prescribed by the Sunnah (examples) of our beloved Nabi (prophet) Mohammed.”

Links there lead to articles titled “The World under the Islamic Caliphate,” “Hezbollah,” the “Palestinian Liberation Organization,” “Islamic Organization of North America” and others.

The earlier WND story on the Caliphate Conference 2012 reported how it was being organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, which was described as a “pan-Islamic extremist group that seeks to establish a global Islamic state, or caliphate, ruled by Islamic Shariah law.”