The Masjid Al-Bir is a two year old pale green 15,000 square foot Mosque facility located in a remote rural part of Kissimmee, FL off Old Tampa Highway. As we approached the entrance of the Mosque, the women were instructed to enter through the women-only entrance leading them into a small area enclosed by a 6 foot solid white vinyl outdoor fence one could not see in or out of. We did not see or hear from the women until we met again in the poorly lit outside parking lot after the event was over. CAIR and the Masjid Al-Bir had no sensitivity towards the non-Muslim women who were not allowed out of the enclosure even after the Maghreb (evening) prayers were concluded.
Upon entering the Mosque, my video camera and press credentials were clearly visible when Jamal Hassouneh, Masjid Al-Bir Board Member, approached me and said he will need to speak with the speaker (Hassan Shibly) to see if video would be allowed. A few minutes later Mr. Hassouneh returned and said,
"You can stay but no cameras, no recording...because this is basically for the community and that is our policy...you are welcome to listen, there is nothing secret about it but we will not allow cameras or recording."It is unusual for a publicly advertised community event to be so secretive, but that is Mr. Shibly's prerogative and we graciously complied. Mr. Shibly described his lecture as a "community event" and a "community empowerment session" in his opening remarks, and that couldn't have been further from the truth.
Community Event means Muslim Community Only
Mr. Hassouneh had used the words "community event" several times so it caught my attention, and only later we would learn that the "community" meant the Muslim community as a separate group within the larger Central Florida community.
In an email exchange with this reporter, Mr. Shibly articulates the separatist nature of what was mischaracterized as a Civil Liberties Conference when he wrote,
"Anyway this was not a meeting for the public, it was an education seminar for the Muslim community conducted in a Muslim place of worship. It was advertised only to the Muslim community one of two ways. 1. Fliers were put in the Mosque so the attendees of the Mosque to could attend. 2. An email was sent via constant contact ONLY to the email list of Muslims in Florida. The general mailing list, or the mailing list of media, was NOT included. I think you found out about it because you or someone you know has signed up on our Muslim community email list. Otherwise you would not have even received notice of the event. Anyway that was fine with us. But again this was not a public forum or event, it was a private event for the Muslim community on private property."Mr. Shibly, nowhere on your flyer does it say "Muslims Only". Then again you couldn't really say publicly your civil liberties lectures discriminate against all non-Muslims, could you?
The United West demands that Hassan Shibly attend a personal sensitivity training class to help him understand how his intolerant rhetoric violates the civil rights of all those who do not follow Islamic doctrine and theology. It is the height of insensitivity to say on behalf of CAIR Tampa that your Civil Liberties event was for the Muslim Community only and out of the goodness of your heart you allowed us non-Muslim dhimmis to attend.
Mr. Shibly's lecture next went into the disclaimers when he said, "no recording of this session is allowed whether it's audio, visual, or otherwise and the reason for that is very simple. Anyone that is recording will be trespassing on the property illegally and we will pursue that."
Free Speech Is What I Tell You It Is
Immediately one of the Mosque members got concerned and asked if he could take notes. Mr. Shibly said,
"Notes for personal purposes exclusively are allowed, other than that they are not allowed. So for personal education purposes, so you understand. Anyone writing for the purposes of defaming the Muslim community or writing about the Muslim community or like, that would be considered trespassing, thank you."Mr. Shibly, your proclamation that a person cannot defame or write unflatteringly about the Muslim Community is patently offensive to America's right to freedom of speech, especially at a self-described "civil liberties conference." Mr. Shibly is trying to limit this reporter's 1st Amendment right to comment on anything that may be "defaming" the Muslim community. That is not only absurd, it could not be under any circumstances a "trespass" under applicable statutes and case law, see Winselmann v. Reynolds. There is additional case law backing up this reporter's claim however, this article's purpose is not to go into the weeds on legal theory but to show one or two examples exposing where Mr. Shibly's threats and legal knowledge are intended as nothing more than adult bullying tactics.
The Legal Showdown
Simply put, Hassan Shibly, Esq., cannot dictate and purposefully try to intimidate how this reporter or anyone else writes or speaks about what was observed at the Masjid Al-Bir CAIR Civil Liberties Conference. According to Fl. Statute 934.02(2), Stvenson v. State, any criminal of civil "trespass" claims would be frivolous.
Mr. Shibly is an American civil rights lawyer using our laws as a billy club to deny this reporter his first amendment rights. It may not seem like much on the surface but Mr. Shibly's quote from above, "... Anyone writing for the purposes of defaming the Muslim community or writing about the Muslim community or like, that would be considered trespassing, thank you" follows one of the most important tenets of Shariah-compliant Political Islam, but it certainly does not follow American law.
Mr. Shibly is right that defaming the followers of Islam, Islam as a political ideology, or the Muslim community (ummah) is a punishable offense called blasphemy. When one defames the Muslim community they are committing blasphemy against Allah and his messenger and it is considered a heinous act to the followers of Islamic political doctrine and theology.
Abu Hanifa and Muhammad explain Free Speech, Shariah Style
One of the most renowned and eminent scholars of Islam Imam Abu Hanifa said,
"Muslim speaking against the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) should be executed and if it is a non-Muslim who doesn't have a contract he should also be executed."To fully understand the importance of defaming the "Muslim community" to a follower of Islam one must go back to the life of Muhammad for proper guidance.
"From "The Life of Muhammad" source document.
"The poets of old Arabia were equivalent to our TV presenters. They tended to make fun of Muhammad and his claims of prophethood. Muhammad was determined to eliminate this mockery.
Muhammad was sorely tried by several poets. One was Asma bint Marwan. When her latest verses were recited to the Prophet, he cried out, "Will no one rid me of this daughter of Marwan?" Umayr ibn Ali, a clansman of hers volunteered. That night she was sleeping, her youngest child still at her breast, when her clansman thrust his sword through her. On that day new converts were won as they could see the power of Islam."A month later an almost identical situation occurred. This time it was the poet Abu Afak, reputedly over a hundred years old, who raised the Prophet's ire. Muhammad exclaimed: "Who will avenge me on this scoundrel?" and Salim ibn Umayr was the helper of God."
The Muslim Community and Law Enforcement
Mr. Shibly said,
"17 out of 20 of the alleged terrorist plots that involved Muslims in the U.S. was actually setup by FBI Agents. What they do is find some idiot, misguided, often mentally retarded, or troubled individual and they provoke him...brainwash him Until he agrees to do something haram, illegal, immoral, and disgusting. When he agrees to do that (terrorist attack) and he doesn't have the means, so they (FBI) give him the means. And when he accepts the means they arrest him."Shibly just told the 40+ Muslims in attendance that the FBI entraps 85% of the Muslims arrested on terrorism charges. These types of claims against the FBI, spoken by a Muslim civil rights lawyer, Imam, and CAIR Director, builds distrust between the Muslim community and all levels of law enforcement. Mr. Shibly also conveyed THAT the FBI preys on the Muslims who are idiots, retarded, and misguided. Mr. Shibly's message can be interpreted by some, that if you talk with law enforcement you are a retarded idiot.
Shibly is cleverly hitting on Islamic cultural hot button triggers. Middle Eastern men are very proud and if you imply they are anything other than strong intelligent men - it is a severe cultural slap in the face, especially by someone who is in a position of authority. The next hot button issue for Muslim men is the topic of women.
The Muslim community and women
Shibly says,
"We have discovered there are over 15,000 paid informants for the FBI, we are not worried about informants...the problem is often they are going beyond the step of being informants to being provocateurs and that is what we are worried about."
Shibly told the story of how one Muslim provocateur was told by his FBI handlers that it was ok to engage in fornication, zina, and adultery with Muslim sisters, and when one does, they will use that against them (the Muslim sisters). "So they (the FBI) are using our own sins as a community against us", Mr. Shibly said.
Mr. Shibly now planted the seed the FBI is instructing Muslim men that it is ok to defile their women and then blackmail the women after they have been defiled. If there were anyone in that "Civil Liberties" lecture who did not hate the FBI before, they do now. At this point the only thing the FBI could do worse is entrap an Imam in a trumped up prostitution scandal.
CAIR is Deathly Afraid of Law Enforcement in their Community
Mr. Shibly next gives a personal example from one of his clients, "Another classic example, we got from one of my clients. They (the FBI) would go to an Imam... and show him a picture of a naked woman. They would say this woman is going to testify you are harboring her for prostitution. Unless on your own time, your own computer, you go to terrorist websites and translate them for us." Shibly says this is a small problem and not the majority but unless we speak up, it will continue.
If this case above about the Imam is true, Hassan Shibly, has an obligation to cite the case and the court it was filed under. Maybe Mr. Shibly was referring to NY Imam Bilal who was arrested for prostitution in 2011.
Mr. Shibly was silent about the Orlando Imam, Abu Tabau, who was arrested this year and pled guilty to gun charges. He was quiet about Imam Hafiz Khan, Imam Izhar Khan, Ali Rehman, Amina Khan and Alam Zeb who were charged with funneling money to the Taliban for firearms and supporting acts of murder, kidnapping, and maiming in Pakistan in 2011. This type of illegal activity according to Islamic political doctrine is called performing Jihad with your money, and obligatory, according to Umdaat al-Salik. After hearing Mr. Shibly's views one would speculate there was some major entrapment going on against some "idiot, retarded, and misguided" Miami Muslim Imam.
Mr. Shibly also forgot to talk about CAIR Michigan Director Dawud Walid's anti-Semitic views which were exposed in June 2012 by the Investigative Project on Terrorism. Walid preached about a slaughter of Jews by Muhammad's army. "It was a correct" decision, Walid said.
Is it any wonder that in 2009 the FBI severed all relations with CAIR based on their links to terrorism financing in the Holy Land Foundation trial? IPT News reported that a White House aid acknowledged "hundreds of examples" of face-to-face meetings between the Obama administration and officials with CAIR. George Selim, director of community partnerships for the White House declined to comment. President Obama invited the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to Washington so it's only natural he would defy the FBI and invite CAIR, who has ties to The Muslim Brotherhood, in for hundreds of clandestine meetings.
Back to the women
The women's area inside the Mosque could seat approximately 50 people and was surrounded by a six foot high white vinyl privacy fence that one could not see in or out of. It is customary in Islam to separate the men and women during prayers including the Maghreb prayers that took place before the civil liberties lecture. However, after the evening prayers the women were not asked to join Mr. Shibly's "non religious" "community empowerment" one hour conference.
The sequestering of the women during Mr. Shibly's "civil liberties" lecture is problematic because, in America, civil liberties apply to both men and women equally. Many of the women in attendance believed their civil liberties were violated because they were not treated as equal to the men. Mr. Shibly, as an Imam and a lawyer, should have been fully aware of this offense since he controlled who could do what inside the Mosque for his one hour lecture.
Mr. Shibly responded to my question, by email, on the subject of women not being allowed out of the women's area after Maghreb prayers. Mr. Shibly said,
"Usually when people go to a sacred worship grounds they respect the religious tradition of the place of worship they are in...So if planned ahead of time, I'm sure exceptions and accommodations can be made by the mosque."Mr. Shibly's explanation would have sounded good if Mr. Hassouneh had not spilled the beans earlier and said the speaker decides what is allowed and not allowed during his speech. Sorry Mr. Shibly, you could have let the non-Muslim women out of their enclosure but the matter was of small concern to you. You owe these and all women reading this article a heartfelt apology.
Conclusion
Mr. Shibly said in his lecture that if this meeting was to take place in his home country of Syria that we would all be arrested, and he would be right. The right to assemble is allowed here in America but illegal in Syria and most other unfree Middle Eastern Shariah-compliant countries.
Yet Mr. Shibly uses our man made laws to try and deny this reporter his right of expression and free speech, under threat. It is the essence and application of these American Civil Liberties that result in Freedom and Liberty for the Individual.
Mr. Shibly - thank you for articulating better than I ever could why our United States man made laws are superior to what you believe as your divinely inspired Shariah Islamiyya (Islamic Law).
That is the essence of our struggle: U.S. Man Made Laws v. Allah-worded Islamic Law.
Anyone writing for the purposes of defaming the Muslim community or writing about the Muslim community or like, that would be considered trespassing, thank you." Hassan Shibly 5/16/2012God Bless America and God Bless our Troops.
"Muslim speaking against the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) should be executed and if it is a non-Muslim who doesn't have a contract he should also be executed."Imam Abu Hanifa
Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Alan Kornman is the regional coordinator of The United West-Uniting Western Civilization for Freedom and Liberty. His email is: alan@theunitedwest.org
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