WHO IS SHEIKH AL-ASI?
Sohail Mohammad
Salams, a brother asked: Who is Sheikh Al-Asi?
Another asked who elected him?
Muhammad Al-Asi and his congregation was expelled from Islamic Center in
Washington DC (by booted police) on orders from Muslim (?) ambassadors,
many years ago. He was elected by his congregation. For many years the
brothers have held Friday prayers outside the Islamic Center.
Further information from Crescent International (zine) in Markham,
Ontario, Canada Tel 905 474 9292 (fax 9293).
WA.
http://www.ummah.org.uk free webspace/mirroring
AbdulraHman Lomax
as-salamu 'alaykum.
soh...@ethic.com (Sohail Mohammad) wrote:
>Salams, a brother asked: Who is Sheikh Al-Asi?
>Another asked who elected him?
>Muhammad Al-Asi and his congregation was expelled from Islamic Center in
>Washington DC (by booted police) on orders from Muslim (?) ambassadors,
>many years ago. He was elected by his congregation. For many years the
>brothers have held Friday prayers outside the Islamic Center.
If I am correct, I was there during the occupation of the Islamic
Center in Washington by Al-Asi and his people. The story is not as
simple as one might conclude from Sohail Mohammad.
The Islamic Center in Washington was started by the ambassadors from
Muslim countries. In about 1980, during the crisis over the U.S.
Embassy hostages in Iran, a group of people beat up the appointed Imam
of the Islamic Center and by force took over the masjid. The board of
trustees of the masjid was apparently very reluctant to call in the
police; little was done for many months. If this man Al-Asi is who I
think he is, I once had a conversation with him.
There was a banner posted across the front of the masjid. It said,,
"We support Imam Khomeini." Every Friday, there were crowds of
demonstrators across the street protesting against Iran. It was quite
a mess. Anyway, I was talking with one brother and stating my opinion
that the masjid should be for all muslims, and not all of us supported
Imam Khomeini. The brother said, you should tell that to the imam.
Now, I had seen another brother forcibly dragged out of the masjid by
a group of thugs because he dared to contradict the imam. But, anyway,
I went with the man, and he introduced me to the imam. I said to the
imam what I had said to the other, and he said, "If you don't like it,
go pray somewhere else." The brother who had brought me said, "No, you
should listen to this brother." Apparently my friend had some kind of
clout, because the Imam softened his tone slightly. He then said, "You
don't know Arabic, do you?" I said, "Not very much." He said, "When
you have learned Arabic, then you can comment on Islam."
It was my first contact with Arab chauvinism....
Ultimately, the police were called, which was perfectly legal from
both U.S. and Islamic law. The masjid was built by a group of people
for their use, and these very people were ejected from the masjid by
others through illegal process. If al-Asi was elected, it was an
election at which those who had started the masjid were excluded.
AbdulraHman Lomax
mar...@ioa.com
khut...@yahoo.com
There has been much malignment of the injustice that has taken place at the=
Islamic Center as a result of the election of Imam MuhammadAl Asi and his =
as well as the jama'ahs attempt to re-enegise Muslims. The US in cohoots wi=
th Saudi Arabia is subverting the needs of justice to ensure that the matte=
r is placed beyond the determination of the Muslims.
The below links have useful infomation:
http://www.crescent-online.net/2013/03/thirty-years-of-neither-fear-nor-fav=
or-afeef-khan-3669-articles.html
http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/whathappened.htm
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/adamslist/OxFyvPjwaMc
Wa Salaamualaykum