Last year it was pointed out that Mehdi Hasan has become a regular on the speaking circuit with ISNA alongside many of the most notorious Islamists in North America. It was also pointed out how he shared platforms with some of these Islamists such as Yasir Qadhi or Zahra Billoo. And that far from robustly calling out and challenging them on their bigoted views, he showered praise both upon people such as Billoo and on ISNA’s Islamist packed events.
This last weekend at his latest ISNA event in Houston, Hasan hit a new low, as this time the Islamist he was sharing a platform with and praising was one of the very worst of those Islamists in Siraj Wahhaj.
Hasan as moderator introduced Wahhaj asking the audience “for an extra round of applause for this great man” and also praised him as “very eloquent” and “very well informed”.
For those unaware, Wahhaj is a well-known Islamist with a 30 plus year track record of espousing bigotry and support for legitimately vile extremist groups and movements.
Wahhaj has reportedly stated his desire to see democracies fall in favour of Islamic law numerous times with remarks such as this one: “Islam is better than democracy. Allah will cause his deen, Islam, to prevail over every kind of system, and you know what? It will happen”.
He has also been recorded telling Muslims “as long as you remember that if you get involved with politics, you have to be very careful that your leader is for Allah. You don't get in politics because it's the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics can be a weapon to use in the cause of Islam”.
Additionally Wahhaj has been recorded saying the following on the topic of hudud punishments: “if you commit zina and you're single, the punishment in Islam is 100 lashes. If you commit zina and you're married, the punishment is death by stoning—capital punishment. What you read in Qu'ran is the punishment for fornication, but the punishment for married and committing zina is death by stoning. You know how angry Allah is by the degree of his punishment for breaking a law. Allah is angry at you when you steal. He sees you. Punishment, chop off the hand. He's angry. When you drink, Brother, punishment? Lashes. You take drugs? Punishment? Lashes.”
He’s also been recorded going on crazy rants about “kafirs” saying “woe, woe, woe to the Muslims who take kafirs as friends”. He has also described homosexuality as a “disease of this society” in his sermons and also referenced the Islamic death penalty.
Finally Wahhaj has also even had links to actual jihadists. He served as a character witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman (aka “The Blind Sheikh” convicted of a terror attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that killed 6 people and injured thousands) where he called him a “respected scholar” and “bold, as a strong preacher of Islam”. He’s also been recorded asking for donations for the Benevolence International Foundation, an Al-Qaeda front which was designated in 2002 as a “financier of terrorism”.
Wahhaj has offered warm words for various extreme groups. Including going to Hizb ut-Tahrir events in the mid 1990’s and praising them as “scholarly brothers, knowledgeable brothers” with “good insight” and that the group were “right in their pushing for the Khilafah”. More recently Wahhaj can be still seen at Nation of Islam events with nutcase anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, who he has long been associated with. There's video of them both at a NOI fundraising event from 2014 where Wahhaj is referring to Farrakhan as “my brother”, and thanking him “for all the great work that you do”.
And all that isn’t even anything close to an exhaustive run down of Wahhaj’s controversial past statements and associations. It’s utterly astonishing that both CAIR and ISNA regularly wheel people such as him out for their events all the time whilst still successfully managing to maintain alliances with people involved with mainstream politics.
So just to recap, Mehdi Hasan has nothing but utter disdain for someone like Maajid Nawaz and is seemingly convinced of his bigotry and celebrated him being ludicrously included on an “anti-Muslim extremist list”. Likewise for someone like Sarah Haider, who Hasan calls an “Islamophobe” and approvingly nodded toward his Al Jazeera colleague Sana Saeed describing her as a “racist brown ex-Muslim/rabid new atheist”.
Hasan makes it very clear he sees their views as bigoted and even worthy of being labelled “extremist” in Nawaz’ case, yet in the case of Wahhaj (who has views that are actually far more worthy of being called “extreme”), Hasan apparently sees no bigotry and describes him as a “great man” (based on what exactly by the way?) who is “very eloquent” and “very well informed”.
Also among the others speakers featured on the poster for this ISNA event included Muzammil Siddiqi, another veteran Islamist who has expressed theocratic views for decades having written that “we must not forget that Allah's rules have to be established in all lands, and all our efforts should lead to that direction”, and of his desire to see “the implementation of Sharia in all areas”.
Another featured speaker was Kamal El Mekki, one of the “instructors” from the notoriously ultra-hardline Al Maghrib Institute, who among the things the beliefs he's stated include advocating that drug dealers should be beheaded, or that thieves should have their hands cut off, and described why apostates are killed in an Islamic state.
This is the sort of company you will find at virtually all ISNA events, and according to their schedule, Hasan is also listed to speak at several more of them over course of the year.
And on a separate note …
The footage of the discussion between Hasan, Sarsour and Wahhaj had poor audio so it was hard to make out what they were saying in parts, but there was one piece of insanity from Sarsour that stood out.
Sarsour stated that “the leaders that I want to follow are the Imams who practice what they preach. I want to follow the Imams who tell me that social justice is part of my deen. Not just the Imams that tell me that Islam is a religion of peace. Yes it is. That’s great. I agree. But Islam is a religion of social justice and always has been”.
She then however added that “some of the examples of those Imams that I want to follow […] is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, is Imam Omar Suleiman.”
Of all the people to use as an example of an Imam from not just a “religion of peace” but “a religion of social justice” she picked Siraj Wahhaj, an Islamist with one of the ghastliest records for extremist views and rhetoric in the country.
Her other example is also equally as awful too. Omar Suleiman is another “instructor” from the Al Maghrib Institute, an Islamist who has stated “we ask Allah to allow us to witness a righteous khilafah”, defended the Islamic punishments for adultery or theft, referred to homosexuality as “a repugnant shameless sin” and a “disease” that will “destroy our children”, refers to Israel as “JSIL” and posts other anti-Semitic tropes such as there being a “Zionist media”, or how the US government is a “Zionist pawn”, plus urged people to support people like CAGE’s Moazzam Begg, or convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, and also wrote a “condemnation” of Anwar al-Awlaki that stated he had been prior to 2007 “our beloved Imam” and “so beloved to our community”.
These are the “leaders” who Linda Sarsour says she wants to follow.
This last weekend at his latest ISNA event in Houston, Hasan hit a new low, as this time the Islamist he was sharing a platform with and praising was one of the very worst of those Islamists in Siraj Wahhaj.
Hasan as moderator introduced Wahhaj asking the audience “for an extra round of applause for this great man” and also praised him as “very eloquent” and “very well informed”.
Video: Mehdi Hasan "can we have an extra round of applause for this great man" Siraj Wahhaj
Wahhaj has reportedly stated his desire to see democracies fall in favour of Islamic law numerous times with remarks such as this one: “Islam is better than democracy. Allah will cause his deen, Islam, to prevail over every kind of system, and you know what? It will happen”.
He has also been recorded telling Muslims “as long as you remember that if you get involved with politics, you have to be very careful that your leader is for Allah. You don't get in politics because it's the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics can be a weapon to use in the cause of Islam”.
Video: Wahhaj on video telling Muslims "you get involved in politics because politics can be a weapon to use in the cause of Islam"
Additionally Wahhaj has been recorded saying the following on the topic of hudud punishments: “if you commit zina and you're single, the punishment in Islam is 100 lashes. If you commit zina and you're married, the punishment is death by stoning—capital punishment. What you read in Qu'ran is the punishment for fornication, but the punishment for married and committing zina is death by stoning. You know how angry Allah is by the degree of his punishment for breaking a law. Allah is angry at you when you steal. He sees you. Punishment, chop off the hand. He's angry. When you drink, Brother, punishment? Lashes. You take drugs? Punishment? Lashes.”
Audio: Wahhaj on record going on crazy rants on topics such as stoning adulters, chopping off hands and on kafirs
He’s also been recorded going on crazy rants about “kafirs” saying “woe, woe, woe to the Muslims who take kafirs as friends”. He has also described homosexuality as a “disease of this society” in his sermons and also referenced the Islamic death penalty.
Finally Wahhaj has also even had links to actual jihadists. He served as a character witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman (aka “The Blind Sheikh” convicted of a terror attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that killed 6 people and injured thousands) where he called him a “respected scholar” and “bold, as a strong preacher of Islam”. He’s also been recorded asking for donations for the Benevolence International Foundation, an Al-Qaeda front which was designated in 2002 as a “financier of terrorism”.
Audio: Wahhaj on record raising money for the Benevolence International Foundation
Video: Siraj Wahhaj praising Louis Farrakhan at a 2014 NOI fundraising event
And all that isn’t even anything close to an exhaustive run down of Wahhaj’s controversial past statements and associations. It’s utterly astonishing that both CAIR and ISNA regularly wheel people such as him out for their events all the time whilst still successfully managing to maintain alliances with people involved with mainstream politics.
So just to recap, Mehdi Hasan has nothing but utter disdain for someone like Maajid Nawaz and is seemingly convinced of his bigotry and celebrated him being ludicrously included on an “anti-Muslim extremist list”. Likewise for someone like Sarah Haider, who Hasan calls an “Islamophobe” and approvingly nodded toward his Al Jazeera colleague Sana Saeed describing her as a “racist brown ex-Muslim/rabid new atheist”.
Hasan makes it very clear he sees their views as bigoted and even worthy of being labelled “extremist” in Nawaz’ case, yet in the case of Wahhaj (who has views that are actually far more worthy of being called “extreme”), Hasan apparently sees no bigotry and describes him as a “great man” (based on what exactly by the way?) who is “very eloquent” and “very well informed”.
Also among the others speakers featured on the poster for this ISNA event included Muzammil Siddiqi, another veteran Islamist who has expressed theocratic views for decades having written that “we must not forget that Allah's rules have to be established in all lands, and all our efforts should lead to that direction”, and of his desire to see “the implementation of Sharia in all areas”.
Another featured speaker was Kamal El Mekki, one of the “instructors” from the notoriously ultra-hardline Al Maghrib Institute, who among the things the beliefs he's stated include advocating that drug dealers should be beheaded, or that thieves should have their hands cut off, and described why apostates are killed in an Islamic state.
This is the sort of company you will find at virtually all ISNA events, and according to their schedule, Hasan is also listed to speak at several more of them over course of the year.
And on a separate note …
The footage of the discussion between Hasan, Sarsour and Wahhaj had poor audio so it was hard to make out what they were saying in parts, but there was one piece of insanity from Sarsour that stood out.
Sarsour stated that “the leaders that I want to follow are the Imams who practice what they preach. I want to follow the Imams who tell me that social justice is part of my deen. Not just the Imams that tell me that Islam is a religion of peace. Yes it is. That’s great. I agree. But Islam is a religion of social justice and always has been”.
She then however added that “some of the examples of those Imams that I want to follow […] is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, is Imam Omar Suleiman.”
Video: Sarsour lauds Islam is a "religion of social justice" then cites Siraj Wahhaj as an example an Imam to follow
Her other example is also equally as awful too. Omar Suleiman is another “instructor” from the Al Maghrib Institute, an Islamist who has stated “we ask Allah to allow us to witness a righteous khilafah”, defended the Islamic punishments for adultery or theft, referred to homosexuality as “a repugnant shameless sin” and a “disease” that will “destroy our children”, refers to Israel as “JSIL” and posts other anti-Semitic tropes such as there being a “Zionist media”, or how the US government is a “Zionist pawn”, plus urged people to support people like CAGE’s Moazzam Begg, or convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, and also wrote a “condemnation” of Anwar al-Awlaki that stated he had been prior to 2007 “our beloved Imam” and “so beloved to our community”.
These are the “leaders” who Linda Sarsour says she wants to follow.
