Few took notice last year when Muzammil Siddiqi, a Muslim leader of national renown, criticized U.S. support of Israel at a protest rally.
But when his comments resurfaced in a newspaper article after the Sept. 11 attacks, they sounded inappropriate, angry--even anti-American.
FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Thursday November 15, 2001 Home Edition Part A Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 3 inches; 81 words Type of Material: Correction
American Muslims--A Nov. 3 story in the California section on the public-relations war between American Muslim groups and their critics reported an attempt by a national Muslim group to discredit Sheik Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, a Muslim moderate, as a hypocrite. The Muslim group sent The Times a photograph of Kabbani's spiritual mentor, Mawlana Sheik Nazim of Cyprus, lunching with the founder of Hamas, Shaykh Ahmed Yasine, in 1998. Supporters of Kabbani say the two were attending a gathering of Muslim leaders meeting to promote the peace process by discouraging violence.
"America has to learn," Siddiqi was quoted as proclaiming to a crowd of cheering Muslims outside the White House. "If you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come."
American Muslim leaders, who once had the luxury of directing such fiery comments to relatively small groups of like-minded adherents, are finding snippets of their most impassioned sermons resurfacing in the national media's intensive exploration of Islam.
Most of this scrutiny is the result of a quiet fax war that has raged since the attacks: Pro-Israel or Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Defense League and the Middle East Forum think tank have provided news organizations with reams of critical documentation on Muslim leaders in recent weeks.
These gleanings from surreptitiously recorded speeches at mosque events, protest rallies and other functions have shown Muslim leaders harshly denouncing American hegemony and supporting militantly fundamentalist Middle Eastern groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Both groups, widely associated with attacks on Israel in support of a Palestinian state, are on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations.
Several of the Muslim leaders who have felt the sting of this war met with President Bush at the White House after the attacks. Siddiqi, a former president of the Islamic Society of North America, also read from the Koran at a Washington National Cathedral memorial.
Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, insists that the Muslim organizations "are extremist groups in the guise of moderate groups." Pipes, a regular contributor to the New York Post, has riled Muslims with articles like "Muslims Love Bin Laden" and his scathing commentaries on the Fox News Channel and on his Web site.
Muslim leaders complain that their words and views are being intentionally twisted.
In the case of Siddiqi's wrathful remarks, more conciliatory comments he made in the same speech were not used in a Washington Post article and a Fox News broadcast.
