Building on the Islamic interest in Obama's inauguration, when Muslims claimed in a magazine that "It's our time," the event planners are calling for 50,000 Muslims to attend the 4 a.m. event on the National Mall on Sept. 25.
The organizer is Hassen Abdellah, who leads a Elizabeth, N.J., mosque, and two special guests for the event, according to the website, will be Sheik Muhammad Jebril and Sheik Ahmed Dewidar.
According to the website, Jebril's degree is in Islamic Law and he learned the Quran by the age of 9.
According to blogger Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs, Jebril specializes in Shariah law and served as the imam of an extremist mosque in Cairo starting in 1988.
Likewise, the prayer day website reported Dewidar studied law at the University of Alexandria and took a master's degree in Shariah. He moved to the United States to lead a Muslim community in New Jersey and later established the Islamic Center in Manhattan.
Atlas Shrugs reported Dewidar's comments about Islam and the White House were captured by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
In the interview, Dewidar talked about sermons he'd heard that "Muslims should march on the White House…"
The interviewer asked for an explanation.
"One cleric said in his sermon: 'We are going to the White House, so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will become into the Muslim house,'" he said, according to the MEMRI report.
Dewidar denied that this was a plan for a physical occupation of the building.
"They say that through the domination of Islam and its ideas, the White House will change," the report quotes Dewidar saying.
Atlas Shrugs also cited Dewidar's comments for a Muslim Brotherhood website that American society is controlled by Jews.
On an Arabic website, he also hinted that the American government may have been responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
His translated comments include, "Whether or not these events were planned, or pinned on the Muslims, or something else – [it] provided an opportunity for [the American government] to legislate dubious laws that restrict the growth and presence of Islam in the U.S," Atlas Shrugs reported.
Organizers themselves have credited Obama's advocacy for Islam for their inspiration.
"The organizers say that it was Obama's inauguration speech in January and his speech broadcast from Egypt in June that gave them the idea for this prayer gathering on Capitol Hill," wrote Geller.
While he praised Islam during his inauguration, Obama elaborated during his speech in Egypt months later.
He carried a greeting from "Muslim communities" in America, complained how Muslims had been "denied rights and opportunities," and stated, "I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam at places like Al-Azhar that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's renaissance and enlightenment."
Besides crediting Islam with significant responsibility for the development of civilization in Europe, Obama also said Muslims have served similarly in America.
"And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States," Obama said. "They have fought in our wars. They have served in our government. They have stood for civil rights. They have started businesses. They have taught at our universities. They've excelled in our sports arenas. They've won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building and lit the Olympic torch. And when the first Muslim American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same holy Quran that one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, kept in his personal library." Read more here ...
Source: WND
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