If you haven’t yet read IW writer Ahnaf Kalam’s article in the Daily Caller, you absolutely should -- click here.
The short of it: it has emerged that a Colorado newspaper, the Aurora Sentinel, caved to pressure from Islamist bullies and un-published a letter by PK Kaiser, a local Muslim and Democrat politician, which warned about the growing threat of Salafi extremism in his local community.
Below, we have republished his letter in full.
Kaiser’s letter named a particular imam, Karim Abuzaid. After supporters of Abuzaid threatened Kaiser and complained to the newspaper, the Aurora Sentinel decided to remove the letter from their website.
As IW writer Ahnaf Kalam notes, the lily-livered Sentinel could have found plenty of examples of Abuzaid’s extremism through a simple google search. But instead, the newspaper decided to “silence a moderate Muslim” and “kow-tow to the Islamists.”
IW has now put together some video clips of Abuzaid’s extremism, so you can listen to the kind of rhetoric being used to indoctrinate Colorado’s Muslim youth -- the kind of rhetoric that the Aurora Sentinel is too afraid to report:
And now, here is the letter they didn’t want you to see:
Editor,
In recent years, due to inland immigration, increased asylum seekers and refugee intake, the Muslim population has increased greatly in Aurora. And so, their faith-based activities and worship places have increased manyfold and thus brought in all kinds of faith segments — and cults.
America is land of opportunities having unmatched freedom of speech as compared to any other country in the world. So, every immigrant finds America the best place to express their views and thoughts, which may or may not be compatible with American main culture and values.
Aurora offers the best affordable housing opportunities in the Denver metro area, with some of the best school districts in the state and country. That’s why newly moved people from other states and countries find Aurora a great place to call their home.
Due to increased population, members of Islamic faith have also increased more than ever. To fulfill the worshiping needs of the Muslim community, many Muslim activists declared themselves leaders and Imam (priests), and are using the great American religious tolerance for what is actually their financial fortune.
In Aurora, the Muslim community has few places to go for worship. Among them, Colorado Muslim Society, at Parker and Dayton, in Denver, occupies the central focus point of Muslims for worship and others for point of contact. Since this mosque is outside of Aurora boundaries, I am leaving it to a discussion for another day.
The other Muslim worship places in Aurora are the Colorado Islamic Center, at East Iliff Avenue and South Buckley Road; the Colorado Muslim Community Center at East Hampden Avenue and South Chambers Road; and the South East Aurora Islamic Center off South Aurora Parkway, east of C-470 in south Aurora. (There are few other places as well, but not as noteworthy.)
The notable among those are the mosque at Buckley and Iliff, and the converted rec center cum mosque at Hampden and Chambers. The link between both of those mosques are that both of those Imams were fired from Colorado Muslim Society.
The exact reasons of firing those Imams were not made public, but it is stated by many, and I believe, that the Imam of the Buckley and Iliff mosque was fired for behavioral issues, and the Imam of Hampden and Chambers mosque was fired to due to mishandling of charity funds and for his rigid and hardcore extreme views of religion. Imam Karim Abu Zaid (Egypt-born, raised and educated) took his job termination personally and gathered his group of rigid viewers and founded the Colorado Muslim Community Center. Initially, he donated money to himself out of Muslim Community Society’s funds and bought real estate at Iliff and Chambers (which has been sold recently for more than 50 percent profit). Due to Zaid’s extremist Islamic views, he didn’t get much appreciation from educated Muslims, which made him turn his entire focus on immature young minds, molding them with his hardcore religious philosophy.
His style and approach reminded me of the old stories of Anwar al-Awlaki’s (a young American hardcore Muslim who tried to tempt youth against American values and was finally killed in a drone attack in Yemen) youth motivation and Abu Turki’s (a Saudi Scholar who attempted to establish an Islamic publication house in Aurora) use of publications with foreign and local funding — both of whom also had stories here in Denver.
Zaid has ties with Muslim communities in Michigan and New Jersey, allowing him to air his views of the Salafi cult of middle eastern origin, and allowing him to spread his philosophy around the country.
Being a bastion of diversity in the state and nation, Aurora can’t afford such extremities. As a plural community, we believe in complete religious freedom for everyone, but at the same time there is no place for extremism in any walk of our Aurora city’s life.
I have seen it happen that one type of extremism is being dealt with or encountered by another extremism of equal or greater magnitude, which ultimately leads to suffering in the society. There is an old proverb that “When two elephants fights, it is always the grass which suffers.”
P.K. Kaiser lives in Aurora and is a candidate for the Aurora City Council.
