Another Radical Imam at Islamic Center of Cleveland

(Cleveland, Ohio) Readers may recall from 2004, the imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Fawaz Damra, was convicted of lying to federal authorities on his citizenship application. Damra failed to disclose his support and fundraising for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a recognized terrorist organization. As a consequence, Damra was deported.

This week, the Islamic Center of Cleveland announced that a permanent replacement for Damra has been hired. According to David Briggs of the Plain Dealer:

Imam Ahmed Alzaree, an Egyptian-born cleric who led a mosque in Omaha, Neb., for the past five years until his contract expired in July, will join the Islamic Center of Cleveland Nov. 1, leaders of the mosque said.

They said Alzaree, 37, is a scholar whose strengths include working with young people.

Dr. Jalal Abu-Shaweesh, mosque president, said Alzaree should bring a "great deal of stability" to the Islamic Center.

Alzaree would not confirm his hiring, at one point saying he would not come to Cleveland because a reporter was inquiring about his background.

Interesting. Alzaree won't go to Cleveland because a reporter is asking questions. Which reporter isn't known. However, a query by Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog found a sermon that Alzaree gave at the Omaha Islamic Center in 2003 which contained the following.

“The hour of judgment shall not happen until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Muslims shall kill the Jews to the point that the Jew shall hide behind a big rock or a tree and the rock or tree shall call on the Muslim saying: hey, O Muslim there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him, except the Gharqad tree which will not say, for it is the tree of Jews."

Although there's no indication that Alzaree directly supports terrorism, it appears that he thinks like them.

Additionally, according to Patrick Poole of Ohioans Against Terror, Alzaree laments that Muslims are not receiving the "jizya" tax from non-Muslims as required by the Quran.

One must question Dr. Abu-Shaweesh's definition of a "great deal of stability." Since Alzaree promotes killing Jews and imposing taxes on non-Muslims, there's a great deal of something but it's not stability.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.


[Update 10/30/07]

Alzaree resigns due to bloggers.