 |
"What in the world does Islam have to do with these charges? Why is religion being brought into play?" Walid wondered. |
CAIRO – The killing of a local imam in Dearborn, near Detroit, by FBI agents is raising eyebrows and sending shockwaves among local Muslims.
"They have no linkage to terrorism nationally or internationally," Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan, told The Detroit News on Thursday, October 29.
The US attorney’s office said Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, was killed in a gunfire with agents at a warehouse in Dearborn.
The FBI described him as a "highly placed leader of a radical fundamentalist Sunni group" whose primary mission was to establish an Islamic state within the US.
Yet, the authorities were reportedly trying to arrest Abdullah on charges of conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms.
The federal authorities didn't seek terrorism charges against him or others in the mosque.
"I'm totally in the dark about these allegations," said Detroiter David Nu'man, who considered Abdullah a friend and had visited the mosque several times.
Walid, the CAIR leader, wondered why the issue of religion was so prominent in the complaint against Abdullah and his followers.
"We have no information about illegal activity going on at that mosque," he said.
"What in the world does Islam have to do with these charges? Why is religion being brought into play?"
Victor Ghalib Begg, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan, agrees.
"Incidents like these, people need to be careful smearing religions and trying to imply that faith has to do with it."
Good-hearted
Those who knew Abdullah described him as a good man.
"[He] would give the shirt off his back to people," Walid said.
"The congregation he led was poor.
"He fed very hungry people in the neighborhood who were Christian. He helped and assisted a lot of troubled youth. People would come to him who were hungry and he would let them sleep in the mosque. He would let them in from the elements."
The same image was painted by Nu'man.
"He successfully fed a lot of people in the neighborhood during the month of Ramadan,” he recalled.
“It was a good humanitarian effort."
Some Metro Detroit Muslims were skeptical about the FBI raid.
“The community is often skeptical, because a vast number of these conspiracy allegations end up being thrown out of court," said Dr. Muzammil Ahmed, 41.
|
