ISIS wants local imam killed
HIt list also names Houston native who decries violence
Urging sympathizers to utilize any means available — guns, knives or explosives — the Islamic State group has called for the assassinations of a Clear Lake Islamic leader and a Houston-born Muslim scholar now living in Tennessee.
Waleed Basyouni, imam of the Clear Lake Islamic Center, and Yasir Qadhi, resident scholar at the Memphis Islamic Center, were among 21 individuals named on a death list published Wednesday in Dabiq, the online propaganda magazine of the militant group also known as ISIS.
Both men have denounced violence committed in the name of Islam.
“I view it as my religious duty to fight against these types of radicals,” Qadhi said in a telephone
interview Friday. “I believe it’s my religious obligation. I can’t remain quiet. … The fact that they have to resort to threats reflects their weakness. If they feel I’m wrong, let’s have a debate. Let’s see what the truth is. The fact that they can’t debate shows their views don’t have any academic or intellectual merit to them.”
Basyouni was traveling Friday and unavailable for comment. Ibrahim Ezghair, the Clear Lake mosque’s associate imam, said Basyouni is “known for his support of peace, justice and co-existence.”
“We’ve worked in this community — to live together and help one another,” he said. Recently, mosque members joined with a Unitarian church for a community cleanup.
“We are not going to be scared,” he said.
Basyouni, who has been imam at the Clear Lake mosque about seven years, also serves as vice president of the AlMaghrib Institute, an international, Islamic studies institute.
A profile on the institute’s website describes Basyouni as one of the “most important leaders of the dawah in the West.”
“Dawah” can be defined as a Muslim invitation to faith, prayer and the Islamic way of life.
He holds degrees from Al-Imam Muhammad University in Saudi Arabia and Indiana’s Graduate Theological Foundation, and is known for his efforts to make Islam more approachable for modern students.
‘It’s nonsense’
An avid scuba diver and mountain climber, prone to mouthing the American colloquialism “Ya know,” Basyouni frequently has been featured on international broadcasts addressing the complexities of Islam and the challenges facing his faith.
Basyouni’s mosque, located in a low-slung modern building a short distance off El Camino Real, resonates a message of brotherhood.
“You can disagree without being disagreeable,” admonishes a notice on the mosque bulletin board. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor like thyself,” encourages another.
Before prayers Friday, mosque worshipers expressed dismay at the ISIS threats.
“I’m not surprised,” said Naser ElKhalili. “Every innocent person is a target.”
ISIS, said member Muhammad Aqib, is composed of “thugs, terrorists.”
“It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s nonsense. All of these scholars (on the hit list) are trying to promote the real Islam.”
Osama Helmy, the Clear Lake mosque’s spokesman, said Basyouni isn’t taking
the threat seriously. “It’s not handicapping him,” Helmy said. The Muslim community, however, is taking it “very seriously.”
“We have a friendly atmosphere and very welcoming neighbors, but it’s hard to predict,” he said. “We’re always seeing faces. We don’t know who’s a threat. … These kinds of threats, they never select a specific person. They hurt the innocent — women and children.”
M.J. Khan, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, said the threats should “really give a wake-up call” to Muslims regarding the nature of ISIS. “Nobody is safe from them,” he said. “They are doing all these horrible things to people, regardless of who they are and what they are.”
If there’s a silver lining, he said, it’s that the threats demonstrate to “people who think all Muslims are
responsible for extremism that these horrible groups don’t discriminate. When it comes to hurting and killing, Muslims are not safe from them — just like anybody else.”
Second-time target
In its call for violence, ISIS urged sympathizers to “kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates, including the imams of kufr to make an example of them.”
“Kufr” refers to an individual who rejects God and Islamic teaching.
All of those on the death list, ISIS said, are “valid — rather, obligatory — targets” of Islamic law.
Qadhi said his inclusion on the assassination list marks the second time in just over a year ISIS targeted him for death. The first time came in March 2015 after he rebuked the terrorist attack on the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people were killed inside and outside the magazine’s Paris office by gunmen who identified themselves as members of an al-Qaida branch in Yemen.
Qadhi said he also has received death threats from American extremists.
“It’s not really impacted my life too much,” he said of the ISIS vows of violence. “These threats are not credible. They need to shore up their publicity. Our message is damaging to them. I wouldn’t go to those regions, but, here in America, I just take reasonable precautions.”
The threats, though, did prompt Qadhi to rethink his intense opposition to firearms.
“I had an American conversion,” he said. “I’m very patriotic about the Second Amendment. When my family’s involved, I will protect them. I am licensed. If you can’t beat them, join them.”