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Inside a Complex Community Religion: King Fahd Mosque in Culver City struggles to unite a diverse group of people. By TERESA WATANABE TIMES STAFF WRITER March 17 2002 No place in Southern California symbolizes the tension over Saudi Arabia's influence in the world like the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. This marble mosque on Washington Boulevard, built entirely with Saudi funds, tests many of the stereotypes that have surfaced about the oil kingdom since Sept.11. The mosque's leaders admire Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century evangelist. Al-Wahhab inspired the so-called Wahhabi movement, which is prominent in Saudi Arabia but criticized by detractors for oppressing women, shunning non- Muslims and inspiring Osama bin Laden's jihad. The chairman of the mosque's foundation, a former Saudi Embassy official, has helped funnel millions of dollars in Saudi funds to Southland Muslims. Critics suggest this aid comes with a price: suppressing a more flexible brand of Islam in favor of the oil kingdom's puritanical creed. A close look at the 4-year-old mosque and the faithful who nurture it, however, reveals a more complex picture than the caricatures that have shaped public perceptions of Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism. Inside the mosque community, there are those who are sympathetic to jihad and suicide bombings and those who are not. Some object to non-Muslims visiting their sacred space; others warmly embrace them. Some women veil their entire bodies; others throw off such practices as outdated. The King Fahd Mosque's struggles to unite a people drawn from
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FOCUS - 1 of 14 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2002 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times March 17, 2002 Sunday Home Edition
SECTION: California Metro; Part 2; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 2375 words HEADLINE: Inside a Complex Community; Religion: King Fahd Mosque in Culver City struggles to unite a diverse group of people. BYLINE: TERESA WATANABE, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: No place in Southern California symbolizes the tension over Saudi Arabia's influence in the world like the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. This marble mosque on Washington Boulevard, built entirely with Saudi funds, tests many of the stereotypes that have surfaced about the oil kingdom since Sept. 11. The mosque's leaders admire Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century evangelist. Al-Wahhab inspired the so-called Wahhabi movement, which is prominent in Saudi Arabia but criticized by detractors for oppressing women, shunning non-Muslims and inspiring Osama bin Laden's jihad. The chairman of the mosque's foundation, a former Saudi Embassy official, has helped funnel millions of dollars in Saudi funds to Southland Muslims. Critics suggest this aid comes with a price: suppressing a more flexible brand of Islam in favor of the oil kingdom's puritanical creed. A close look at the 4-year-old mosque and the faithful who nurture it, however, reveals a more complex picture than the caricatures that have shaped public perceptions of Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism. Inside the mosque community, there are those who are sympathetic to jihad and suicide bombings and those who are not. Some object to non-Muslims visiting their sacred space; others warmly embrace them. Some women veil their entire bodies; others throw off such practices as outdated. The King Fahd Mosque's struggles to unite a people drawn from a broad range of ideologies, culture and race seem familiar and quintessentially American. The diversity belies the notion of an insular people in ideological lock-step, beholden to a distant desert sheikdom. "We do not want to be seen as a Saudi outfit," says the mosque's imam, Tajuddin Shuaib, a Ghana native who studied Islam for a decade in Saudi Arabia and was sent to the U.S. a quarter-century ago. "We are like the United Nations ... no one nationality dominates." Suspicion of Saudi Arabia Surges Since Sept. 11, American suspicion of Saudi Arabia has surged, particularly because most of the suspected hijackers were Saudi-born, as was Bin Laden himself. Other critics charge the Saudis with encouraging the jihad movement by financing religious schools that preach extremist hate. Saudi officials have vehemently denied the charges, noting that they stripped Bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and that they had long been condemned by him for their alliance with the United States.
330 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company The New York Times October 20, 2001, Saturday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 4; National Desk LENGTH: 1488 words HEADLINE: A NATION CHALLENGED: AMERICAN MUSLIMS; Saudis Seek to Add U.S. Muslims to Their Sect BYLINE: By ELAINE HARDEN BODY: In a costly and quietly insistent campaign to spread its state religion, Saudi Arabia has been trying for decades to induce American Muslims to become followers of the puritanical Islamic sect that sustains the power of the Saudi royal family. By building mosques across the country, sending Americans to the Middle East to be trained as imams and promoting pilgrimages to Mecca, the Saudis have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to stamp their austere version of Islam on the lives of Muslims in the United States. That version is called Wahhabism, although the Saudis are loath to use the term in referring to their proselytizing in this country. As practiced in Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism denies equal rights to women, and its teachings have inspired the violent extremism of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban government that harbors him in Afghanistan. "In America, the Saudis don't call it Wahhabism because they don't want to have all the albatrosses associated with the sect," said Earle H. Waugh, a professor of religion at the University of Alberta, who is the author of several books about Muslims in North America. "But they have a strong mission tradition, and they have used their money to export their ideology to America. Wahhabism says that Islam is the superior religion and must always be so." Despite all their efforts, the Saudis' approach to Islam appears not to have found widespread acceptance in the United States and in fact seems to have faded in popularity here in recent years, perhaps because it is too rigid for a multiethnic society like America's. Experts estimate that of the two million American Muslims who attend mosques regularly, no more than 25 percent, and perhaps many fewer, adhere to the strictures of Wahhabism. As the Saudis themselves explain, their beliefs reject aspects of Western culture that they see as deviating from fundamental teachings of the Koran. Mingling of the sexes, living in a community where alcohol is consumed, eating pork and interacting very closely with non-Muslim society are forbidden. "A knowledgeable Muslim will find it hard to integrate into a non-Islamic society of the United States," explained Muhammad al-Alahmari, a Saudi who is chairman of the Islamic Assembly of North America, an organization based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that sends copies of the Koran to prisons and libraries. About half the group's money, Mr. Alahmari said, comes from the Saudi government, with the rest coming from private donors, most of them Saudi. A number of prominent religious scholars describe Wahhabism as a particularly rigid minority Islamic sect that is intolerant of other forms of Islam, unwilling to accommodate other religions and likely to create a narrow view of the world among its followers.
362 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 1998 Moneyclips GCC Ltd. Middle East Newsfile July 19, 1998
LENGTH: 847 words HEADLINE: Prince Abdulaziz opens King Fahd Mosque in LA BYLINE: By TALAAT WAFA and AHMED AL YAMI RIYADH DAILY BODY: LOS ANGELES-Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, state minister and cabinet member hailed the significant support given by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz and his Crown Prince for the support of Islam and Muslims worldwide. In a speech following his opening of King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles, Prince Abdulaziz noted that Islam has called for the formation of one nation with no geographical barriers or ethnic differences. He pointed out that King Fahd and his Crown Prince who realize the noble objectives and lofty meanings of the eternal message of Islam are keen in the construction of mosques for the spread of the proper Islamic creed, to demonstrate the reality of Islam as a religion of love, tolerance and the top advocator of human rights. He underlined that by the opening of this mosque a great accomplishment, that Muslims in this area have been looking forward to see. He noted that the project has received all support from friends in the United States, a matter which confirm the strong relations and friendship between the Kingdom and the United States. He added that the basis of this relation laid more than 50 years ago by the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman and President Franklin Roosevelt. Concluding his speech Prince Abdulaziz announced that King Fahd donated funds for the construction of an Islamic Sciences and Quran Memorization School to be annexed to the mosque. Answering reporters questions later, Prince Abdulaziz noted that the Kingdom, since its establishment, is concerned with Islamic issues, adding that it is the duty of the Kingdom to be concerned with Islam and Muslims everywhere. Asked about the role of the West American mosque, Prince Abdulaziz said that the objective of this mosque was to enable all Muslims and the entire Islamic community here to easily and comfortably practice Islamic rituals. Moreover, it will link Muslims here with the causes of Muslims worldwide. Prince Abdulaziz said that the Kingdom has no specific set plan for the construction of other mosques in the United States, but added that if the Kingdom sees that there is a need for establishing a mosque in the United States or any other place it will be happy to give all support for Muslims. On reaction of American officials towards the establishing of this mosque, Prince Abdulaziz said, "I would like first to deeply thank our friends in the United States for their cooperation and the support they give for the establishing of this mosque and other Islamic centers and schools. As it is known, the United States supports such projects and know that our objective (behind these projects) is only the service of Muslim community in this country and others." Prince Abdulaziz praised the Islamic role played by Saudi students studying in the United States.
363 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 1998 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times July 18, 1998, Saturday, Home Edition
SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1117 words HEADLINE: ANSWERED PRAYERS; MOSQUE OPENS ON WESTSIDE WITH HELP FROM SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY BYLINE: JOHN DART, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: Praising American freedom of religion, a Saudi prince Friday dedicated an $ 8.1-million mosque in Culver City~ the first major Muslim house of worship on Los Angeles' Westside and the first Islamic center in North America to be fully funded by the Saudi Arabian royal family. With its 79-foot-tall minaret towering over Washington Boulevard and its twin domes, one of them glass, the gleaming white King Fahd Mosque "is one of the five most beautiful mosques in this country," said Muzammil Siddiqi, an Orange County Islamic leader who is president of the Islamic Society of North America. The new mosque, covered with imported marble and decorated with blue tiles inside and out, "is a welcome addition," said Hassan Hathout, outreach director of the Los Angeles-based Islamic Center of Southern California. About 75 mosques serve the growing Muslim community in Southern California. Estimates of the population vary. Local Muslim leaders say it is as high as 300,000, although non-Muslim demographers say that estimate is too high. Some U.S. Muslim leaders said privately that Saudi influence is not always greeted happily in America, where freedom of expression and faith are taken for granted. The Saudi Arabian kingdom—guardian of Islam's holiest sites, Mecca and Medina—enforces a rigidly orthodox code for Muslims in that country and bars the slightest non-Muslim religious expression, making it illegal, for instance, for a Christian to wear a cross. Imam W.D. Mohammed of Chicago, leader of the American Muslim Society, a primarily African American Muslim organization, extended official congratulations to the prince, Abdul Aziz, and the directors of the new mosque. But in a brief interview, Mohammed said he "was not pleased with the problem of not accommodating people of nonMuslim faith in the kingdom; we ought to do something about it." Others, however, said the new mosque and Saudi internal affairs are separate matters. The Saudi donors and foundation "are doing a good thing by building a mosque," Hathout said. "It is irrelevant in this context to bring up the full spectrum of opinions about the internal affairs of Saudi Arabia." Similarly, William Baker, an advisor to the Rev. Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, said, "In truth, there is intolerance all over the world, against both Christians and Muslims." Baker heads a bridge-building organization called Christians and Muslims for Peace. Aziz spoke of "peace and love" for fellow Muslims and for religious cooperation with non-Muslims in this country.
154 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2002 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times February 23, 2002 Saturday Home Edition
SECTION: California Metro; Part 2; Page 4; Metro Desk LENGTH: 564 words HEADLINE: Los Angeles; Muslims, Jews Join to Honor Abraham; History: Seeking to learn of Islam, temple group visits mosque on a day dedicated to their common patriarch. BYLINE: TERESA WATANABE, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: On one of Islam's most important holidays, a day dedicated to the remembrance of Abraham, Los Angeles Muslims and Jews met Friday and reminded themselves of their common patriarch. With 45 members in tow, Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom journeyed from Encino and crossed mountains, literal and otherwise, to meet with the Muslims of King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. For many from Schulweis' Conservative congregation, it was their first visit to a mosque prayer service—yet, they said, it somehow seemed familiar. Judy Geller noticed the absence of statues and pictures; Judaism and Islam shy away from what the Bible calls graven images. Others noted the physical separation of men and women, also common to Orthodox Judaism. Schulweis, half-jokingly, noticed the collection boxes. And there was Abraham, the common patriarch-who was the subject of Imam Tajuddin Shuaib's Friday sermon and is praised in calligraphy adorning the mosque's domed hall. Shuaib spoke about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice a son until God lifted the command. That event was celebrated Friday by Muslims worldwide during the start of the threeday festival Eid ul-Adha, marking the end of the hajj-the pilgrimage to Mecca. "There is the shock of recognition that we have common roots and desires," said Schulweis. The trip to the mosque was the rabbi's first foray into the sometimes prickly arena of Muslim-Jewish relations. One of the Southland's most influential rabbis, Schulweis broke ground more than three decades ago in nurturing JewishCatholic ties. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's two visits to his synagogue several years ago, he said, startled Catholics and Jews. Now, Schulweis said, it was time to reach out to Muslims. Groundwork for the trip was laid last fall, when Schulweis invited Nazir Khaja of the Islamic Information Service to speak on Islam as part of the synagogue's lecture series on world religions. The lecture, delivered two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, drew 2,200 people, the largest crowd of the series. In return, Khaja arranged the reciprocal visit to the King Fahd Mosque, which the Jewish Defense League allegedly sought to bomb last year.
52 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2002 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times December 1, 2002 Sunday Home Edition Correction Appended
SECTION: Main News Main News; Part 1; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1330 words HEADLINE: U.S. Muslims Divided Over Saudi Aid FOR THE RECORD BYLINE: Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer BODY: One of the nation's most prominent Islamic organizations has accepted a $500,000 donation from a Saudi prince, sparking a blunt debate among American Muslims over whether foreign contributions are compromising their independence and the integrity of their organizations. "To what extent is this part of the larger Saudi effort to co-opt our organizations?" asked Mairaj Syed, a UCLA graduate student in Islamic studies who opened an online debate about the donation on San Francisco-based AMILAnet, a Muslim-oriented discussion group. It has been one of the main forums for debate over the donation. "For too long we've depended too often on overseas financing to keep our institutions alive. This comes at the price of our intellectual independence and integrity," Syed said. Omar Ahmed, board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which received the gift, said the donation would be used to support a $2.5-million project aimed at placing Islamic educational material in the nation's 16,000 public libraries. The contribution came with no strings attached, he said. "We run our own agenda and no one can influence us," said Ahmed, who added that he had received no complaints about the donation from the council's roughly 28,000 registered members. Foreign donations make up about 20% of the council's fund-raising for its national office in Washington, D.C., and 15 regional chapters, and are accepted only if no conditions come with the money, Ahmed said. The gift to the council from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and one of the kingdom's richest men, comes at a time when the Saudi royal family's spending on Muslims in the United States has been the subject of new questions. Last week, it was disclosed that Saudi Princess Haifa al Faisal, the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, apparently gave thousands of dollars to two Saudi nationals in San Diego, who then provided funds to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. FBI investigators have said that they do not believe the royal family deliberately aided the terrorists, but the issue has fanned concerns on Capitol Hill over Saudi financial support of Muslims here. Saudi Arabia is the largest single contributor to Islamic causes ~ ranging from mosques to religious literature to refugee aid ~ around the world. Experts say, however, that its support of American Muslims has significantly dropped in the last decade. Critics of the prince's gift have begun publicly questioning it, calling it everything from immoral to a "strategic mistake" that would fuel criticism of American Muslims as Saudi mouthpieces.
8 of 363 DOCUMENTS The Associated Press State & Local Wire
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press. May 10, 2003, Saturday, BC cycle SECTION: State and Regional LENGTH: 368 words HEADLINE: SoCal Saudi envoy and religious leader is deported BODY: LOS ANGELES - U.S. officials denied entry and expelled from the country a Saudi consular official and Muslim leader suspected of having terrorist links. Fahad al Thumairy, 31, was detained at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday after arriving from Frankfurt. He was deported Thursday on a plane headed for Saudi Arabia and may not return to the United States for five years, according to authorities. "He was placed on an international flight, destined for Riyadh," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. Al Thumairy, who has worked for the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles since 1996, apparently was not aware that U.S. authorities had revoked his diplomatic visa in March. He held a post in the Islamic and cultural affairs section of the consulate and was the imam at the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, which has one of the largest Muslim congregations in the region. The mosque, which was built with financing from the Saudi government, was the target of a foiled bomb plot by a member of the militant Jewish Defense League in 2001. Al Thumairy's name had been placed on a computerized list of travelers who should not be allowed to enter the United States because of suspected links to terrorism, but officials would not immediately provide details on the alleged connection. Officials of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles and the Saudi Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the incident Friday. Al Thumairy was described as extremely spiritual, beloved and nonviolent by officials at the King Fahd Mosque. "He never dealt with politics, in his public comments or in private gatherings," said Tajuddin Shuaib, a native of Ghana who directs the mosque, which is run by a nonprofit group. "Like the rest of us, he was really shocked about Sept. 11. He felt it was wrong and, in the long term, that it would harm Muslims. His impression was that it would have some bad repercussions." Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has increased scrutiny of visa applications from Muslim nations around the world. The number of Saudi Arabians who received visas dropped nearly 70 percent in the 2002 fiscal year to about 14,100.
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' Fall 1998 Magazine Serving the Global Islamic Community
The King Fahd Mosque in Gibraltar, seen above, is one of the many mosques and Islamic Centers established with Saudi funds outside the Islamic world.
" rr e shall make every effort to strengthen our relations with our brothers in Muslim and Arab countries, and we shall do our utmost for the Muslim community. " This statement, made by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, reflects the depth of Saudi Arabia's dedication to Islam and to the service of Muslims worldwide. Saudi Arabia's commitment to serve the Muslim community takes many forms. The Kingdom has provided tens of billions of dollars in aid throughout the world. To allow Muslims to make the annual pilgrimage to the Holy Mosque in Makkah in safety and comfort, it has built a vast network of airports, seaports, roads and other facilities, and it has invested huge sums on the expansion of the Holy Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. It is active in ventures to promote the interests of Muslims everywhere. Saudi Arabia has also undertaken a range of other, albeit less visible, programs. One of these is the effort to serve Muslim minority communities in non-Muslim countries.
http://www.saudiembassy.net/publications/Magazine-Fall-98/serving.htm
9/24/03
Joel Mowbray: Saudi Money Everywhere Akbar Was
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townhall.com Saudi Money Everywhere Akbar Was Joel Mowbray (back to web version) April 9, 2003 With the Islamic connection seemingly undeniable in the Asan Akbar grenade case—the black Mulim engineer was heard by other soldiers immediately after the attack ranting, "You guys are coming into our countries and you're going to rape our women and kill our children." (notice "you guys" and "our")—the question that must be asked is "where is the Saudi money?" In the case of Akbar, the answer is "everywhere." Akbar grew up attending a Saudi-funded mosque in South Central Los Angeles, and then he went to a mosque dominated by a Saudi-created and funded organization. In the military, his Muslim chaplain at Fort Campbell was trained and certified by Saudi-funded organizations. It's possible that all this Saudi money produced no Islamic extremism at any of these points in Akbar's life—but empirical evidence suggests that's unlikely. Attending the mosque across the street from his place, Akbar spent a lot of time during his formative years at the Bilal Islamic Center, according to the center's Imam, Abdul Karim Hasan. When asked about any possible Saudi connection to his mosque, Hasan—perhaps understandably defensive in the anti-Saudi climate—is quick to say that he does not take money from the "Saudi government," though he conceded that he receives funds from Saudi "individuals." That's not entirely true, however. According to the web site of the Islamic Development Bank—a multibillion dollar investment outfit run by many Arab governments, but based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia—Bilal Islamic Center recently received a $295,000 grant from ISD to build a new school. Considering the stated purpose of ISD—to advance Muslim communities in accordance with "Shari'ah" (Islamic law of the kind found in Saudi Arabia)—one wonders what the Center's new school will be teaching. But it's not just the money that raises questions. Bilal Islamic Center "works closely" with King Fahd Mosque in Culver City (roughly 30 minutes from South Central LA), according to a source at the latter mosque—which is not just named after King Fahd, but also funded by him. And based on the annual statement released by the House of Saud on its efforts to spread Islam throughout the world, Bilal Islamic Center is also funded by the kingdom (under the name "Bilal Mosque of Los Angeles"), although the exact amount is not specified. When he left for college in 1989, Akbar did not leave the Saudi-funded experience behind. At the University of California at Davis, Akbar was seen as a devout Muslim by friends, and multiple reports state that he spent large amounts of time at the nearby Islamic Center of Davis. The Islamic Center of Davis, as it happens, is home to the UC-Davis chapter of the Muslim Students Association, a Saudi-created and funded national organization with branches on campuses across the country. It is also past and possibly present home to someone with surprisingly similar anti-American sentiment. In a puff piece in December 2000 on the Muslim students of the Islamic Center of Davis, then third-year law student Masood Khan spouted a vitriolic contempt for America that in many ways mirrors what Akbar said while cowering in the bunker after his killing spree. "There have been over one million innocent Iraqis killed by the United States," Khan said. "It's a war crime." Not a far cry from the equally obscene comment from Akbar that "you guys" are going to "rape our women and kill our children." While stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Akbar was one of roughly 20 soldiers who attended weekly services—and his Muslim chaplain there was trained and certified by institutions with significant Saudi funding. According to a military source, Captain Mohammed Khan trained at the Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences (GSISS), which has a history of Saudi funding and was one of 24 Mulim organizations raided in the Justice Department's Operation Greenquest last year, and he was certified by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which was not raided but is affiliated with the SAAR network (named for its wealthy Saudi benefactor Suleiman Abdel Aziz al-Raghi).
http://www.towiuhall.com/colurnnists/joelmowbray/printjm20030409.shtml
9/24/03
Saudi Arabian Information Resource - Saudi commitment to establishing Islamic cen... Page 1 of 5
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15/02/2002 Saudi commitment to establishing Islamic centers, mosques and institutes Riyadh, 15th February 2002 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has paid great attention to establishing mosques and Islamic centers, institutes and universities in a number of non-Islamic countries all over the world. Sure that this is the most effective way to spread Islamic culture and Arabic language, the Kingdom, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, has established 210 Islamic centers in non-Islamic countries in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia. Among the biggest is King Fahd Islamic Center in Malaga, Spain, on an area of 3,848 sq. m., whose foundation stone was laid in 1998. The university-like Center embraces academic, educational, cultural, and propagatory activities. King Fahd has donated five million US dollars for the cost of the Islamic Center in Toronto, Canada, in addition to 1 .5 million US dollars annually to run the facility. The Islamic Center in Brasilia;
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Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 11:28:41 -0400 From: Postmaster <postmaster@9-11 commission.gov>'H To: ""
(bad email address) Original Message From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:39 AM To: [email protected] Subject: FYI
Inside a Complex Community Religion: King Fahd Mosque in Culver City struggles to unite a diverse group of people. By TERESA WATANABE TIMES STAFF WRITER March 17 2002 No place in Southern California symbolizes the tension over Saudi Arabia's influence in the world like the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. This marble mosque on Washington Boulevard, built entirely with Saudi funds, tests many of the stereotypes that have surfaced about the oil kingdom since Sept.11. The mosque's leaders admire Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century evangelist. Al-Wahhab inspired the so-called Wahhabi movement, which is prominent in Saudi Arabia but criticized by detractors for oppressing women, shunning non- Muslims and inspiring Osama bin Laden's jihad. The chairman of the mosque's foundation, a former Saudi Embassy official, has helped funnel millions of dollars in Saudi funds to Southland Muslims. Critics suggest this aid comes with a price: suppressing a more flexible brand of Islam in favor of the oil kingdom's puritanical creed. A close look at the 4-year-old mosque and the faithful who nurture it, however, reveals a more complex picture than the caricatures that have shaped public perceptions of Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism. Inside the mosque community, there are those who are sympathetic to jihad and suicide bombings and those who are not. Some object to non-Muslims visiting their sacred space; others warmly embrace them. Some women veil their entire bodies; others throw off such practices as outdated. The King Fahd Mosque's struggles to unite a people drawn from
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9/23/03
FOCUS - 1 of 14 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2002 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times March 17, 2002 Sunday Home Edition
SECTION: California Metro; Part 2; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 2375 words HEADLINE: Inside a Complex Community; Religion: King Fahd Mosque in Culver City struggles to unite a diverse group of people. BYLINE: TERESA WATANABE, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: No place in Southern California symbolizes the tension over Saudi Arabia's influence in the world like the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. This marble mosque on Washington Boulevard, built entirely with Saudi funds, tests many of the stereotypes that have surfaced about the oil kingdom since Sept. 11. The mosque's leaders admire Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century evangelist. Al-Wahhab inspired the so-called Wahhabi movement, which is prominent in Saudi Arabia but criticized by detractors for oppressing women, shunning non-Muslims and inspiring Osama bin Laden's jihad. The chairman of the mosque's foundation, a former Saudi Embassy official, has helped funnel millions of dollars in Saudi funds to Southland Muslims. Critics suggest this aid comes with a price: suppressing a more flexible brand of Islam in favor of the oil kingdom's puritanical creed. A close look at the 4-year-old mosque and the faithful who nurture it, however, reveals a more complex picture than the caricatures that have shaped public perceptions of Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism. Inside the mosque community, there are those who are sympathetic to jihad and suicide bombings and those who are not. Some object to non-Muslims visiting their sacred space; others warmly embrace them. Some women veil their entire bodies; others throw off such practices as outdated. The King Fahd Mosque's struggles to unite a people drawn from a broad range of ideologies, culture and race seem familiar and quintessentially American. The diversity belies the notion of an insular people in ideological lock-step, beholden to a distant desert sheikdom. "We do not want to be seen as a Saudi outfit," says the mosque's imam, Tajuddin Shuaib, a Ghana native who studied Islam for a decade in Saudi Arabia and was sent to the U.S. a quarter-century ago. "We are like the United Nations ... no one nationality dominates." Suspicion of Saudi Arabia Surges Since Sept. 11, American suspicion of Saudi Arabia has surged, particularly because most of the suspected hijackers were Saudi-born, as was Bin Laden himself. Other critics charge the Saudis with encouraging the jihad movement by financing religious schools that preach extremist hate. Saudi officials have vehemently denied the charges, noting that they stripped Bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and that they had long been condemned by him for their alliance with the United States.
330 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company The New York Times October 20, 2001, Saturday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 4; National Desk LENGTH: 1488 words HEADLINE: A NATION CHALLENGED: AMERICAN MUSLIMS; Saudis Seek to Add U.S. Muslims to Their Sect BYLINE: By ELAINE HARDEN BODY: In a costly and quietly insistent campaign to spread its state religion, Saudi Arabia has been trying for decades to induce American Muslims to become followers of the puritanical Islamic sect that sustains the power of the Saudi royal family. By building mosques across the country, sending Americans to the Middle East to be trained as imams and promoting pilgrimages to Mecca, the Saudis have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to stamp their austere version of Islam on the lives of Muslims in the United States. That version is called Wahhabism, although the Saudis are loath to use the term in referring to their proselytizing in this country. As practiced in Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism denies equal rights to women, and its teachings have inspired the violent extremism of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban government that harbors him in Afghanistan. "In America, the Saudis don't call it Wahhabism because they don't want to have all the albatrosses associated with the sect," said Earle H. Waugh, a professor of religion at the University of Alberta, who is the author of several books about Muslims in North America. "But they have a strong mission tradition, and they have used their money to export their ideology to America. Wahhabism says that Islam is the superior religion and must always be so." Despite all their efforts, the Saudis' approach to Islam appears not to have found widespread acceptance in the United States and in fact seems to have faded in popularity here in recent years, perhaps because it is too rigid for a multiethnic society like America's. Experts estimate that of the two million American Muslims who attend mosques regularly, no more than 25 percent, and perhaps many fewer, adhere to the strictures of Wahhabism. As the Saudis themselves explain, their beliefs reject aspects of Western culture that they see as deviating from fundamental teachings of the Koran. Mingling of the sexes, living in a community where alcohol is consumed, eating pork and interacting very closely with non-Muslim society are forbidden. "A knowledgeable Muslim will find it hard to integrate into a non-Islamic society of the United States," explained Muhammad al-Alahmari, a Saudi who is chairman of the Islamic Assembly of North America, an organization based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that sends copies of the Koran to prisons and libraries. About half the group's money, Mr. Alahmari said, comes from the Saudi government, with the rest coming from private donors, most of them Saudi. A number of prominent religious scholars describe Wahhabism as a particularly rigid minority Islamic sect that is intolerant of other forms of Islam, unwilling to accommodate other religions and likely to create a narrow view of the world among its followers.
362 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 1998 Moneyclips GCC Ltd. Middle East Newsfile July 19, 1998
LENGTH: 847 words HEADLINE: Prince Abdulaziz opens King Fahd Mosque in LA BYLINE: By TALAAT WAFA and AHMED AL YAMI RIYADH DAILY BODY: LOS ANGELES-Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, state minister and cabinet member hailed the significant support given by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz and his Crown Prince for the support of Islam and Muslims worldwide. In a speech following his opening of King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles, Prince Abdulaziz noted that Islam has called for the formation of one nation with no geographical barriers or ethnic differences. He pointed out that King Fahd and his Crown Prince who realize the noble objectives and lofty meanings of the eternal message of Islam are keen in the construction of mosques for the spread of the proper Islamic creed, to demonstrate the reality of Islam as a religion of love, tolerance and the top advocator of human rights. He underlined that by the opening of this mosque a great accomplishment, that Muslims in this area have been looking forward to see. He noted that the project has received all support from friends in the United States, a matter which confirm the strong relations and friendship between the Kingdom and the United States. He added that the basis of this relation laid more than 50 years ago by the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman and President Franklin Roosevelt. Concluding his speech Prince Abdulaziz announced that King Fahd donated funds for the construction of an Islamic Sciences and Quran Memorization School to be annexed to the mosque. Answering reporters questions later, Prince Abdulaziz noted that the Kingdom, since its establishment, is concerned with Islamic issues, adding that it is the duty of the Kingdom to be concerned with Islam and Muslims everywhere. Asked about the role of the West American mosque, Prince Abdulaziz said that the objective of this mosque was to enable all Muslims and the entire Islamic community here to easily and comfortably practice Islamic rituals. Moreover, it will link Muslims here with the causes of Muslims worldwide. Prince Abdulaziz said that the Kingdom has no specific set plan for the construction of other mosques in the United States, but added that if the Kingdom sees that there is a need for establishing a mosque in the United States or any other place it will be happy to give all support for Muslims. On reaction of American officials towards the establishing of this mosque, Prince Abdulaziz said, "I would like first to deeply thank our friends in the United States for their cooperation and the support they give for the establishing of this mosque and other Islamic centers and schools. As it is known, the United States supports such projects and know that our objective (behind these projects) is only the service of Muslim community in this country and others." Prince Abdulaziz praised the Islamic role played by Saudi students studying in the United States.
363 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 1998 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times July 18, 1998, Saturday, Home Edition
SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1117 words HEADLINE: ANSWERED PRAYERS; MOSQUE OPENS ON WESTSIDE WITH HELP FROM SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY BYLINE: JOHN DART, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: Praising American freedom of religion, a Saudi prince Friday dedicated an $ 8.1-million mosque in Culver City~ the first major Muslim house of worship on Los Angeles' Westside and the first Islamic center in North America to be fully funded by the Saudi Arabian royal family. With its 79-foot-tall minaret towering over Washington Boulevard and its twin domes, one of them glass, the gleaming white King Fahd Mosque "is one of the five most beautiful mosques in this country," said Muzammil Siddiqi, an Orange County Islamic leader who is president of the Islamic Society of North America. The new mosque, covered with imported marble and decorated with blue tiles inside and out, "is a welcome addition," said Hassan Hathout, outreach director of the Los Angeles-based Islamic Center of Southern California. About 75 mosques serve the growing Muslim community in Southern California. Estimates of the population vary. Local Muslim leaders say it is as high as 300,000, although non-Muslim demographers say that estimate is too high. Some U.S. Muslim leaders said privately that Saudi influence is not always greeted happily in America, where freedom of expression and faith are taken for granted. The Saudi Arabian kingdom—guardian of Islam's holiest sites, Mecca and Medina—enforces a rigidly orthodox code for Muslims in that country and bars the slightest non-Muslim religious expression, making it illegal, for instance, for a Christian to wear a cross. Imam W.D. Mohammed of Chicago, leader of the American Muslim Society, a primarily African American Muslim organization, extended official congratulations to the prince, Abdul Aziz, and the directors of the new mosque. But in a brief interview, Mohammed said he "was not pleased with the problem of not accommodating people of nonMuslim faith in the kingdom; we ought to do something about it." Others, however, said the new mosque and Saudi internal affairs are separate matters. The Saudi donors and foundation "are doing a good thing by building a mosque," Hathout said. "It is irrelevant in this context to bring up the full spectrum of opinions about the internal affairs of Saudi Arabia." Similarly, William Baker, an advisor to the Rev. Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, said, "In truth, there is intolerance all over the world, against both Christians and Muslims." Baker heads a bridge-building organization called Christians and Muslims for Peace. Aziz spoke of "peace and love" for fellow Muslims and for religious cooperation with non-Muslims in this country.
154 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2002 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times February 23, 2002 Saturday Home Edition
SECTION: California Metro; Part 2; Page 4; Metro Desk LENGTH: 564 words HEADLINE: Los Angeles; Muslims, Jews Join to Honor Abraham; History: Seeking to learn of Islam, temple group visits mosque on a day dedicated to their common patriarch. BYLINE: TERESA WATANABE, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: On one of Islam's most important holidays, a day dedicated to the remembrance of Abraham, Los Angeles Muslims and Jews met Friday and reminded themselves of their common patriarch. With 45 members in tow, Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom journeyed from Encino and crossed mountains, literal and otherwise, to meet with the Muslims of King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. For many from Schulweis' Conservative congregation, it was their first visit to a mosque prayer service—yet, they said, it somehow seemed familiar. Judy Geller noticed the absence of statues and pictures; Judaism and Islam shy away from what the Bible calls graven images. Others noted the physical separation of men and women, also common to Orthodox Judaism. Schulweis, half-jokingly, noticed the collection boxes. And there was Abraham, the common patriarch-who was the subject of Imam Tajuddin Shuaib's Friday sermon and is praised in calligraphy adorning the mosque's domed hall. Shuaib spoke about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice a son until God lifted the command. That event was celebrated Friday by Muslims worldwide during the start of the threeday festival Eid ul-Adha, marking the end of the hajj-the pilgrimage to Mecca. "There is the shock of recognition that we have common roots and desires," said Schulweis. The trip to the mosque was the rabbi's first foray into the sometimes prickly arena of Muslim-Jewish relations. One of the Southland's most influential rabbis, Schulweis broke ground more than three decades ago in nurturing JewishCatholic ties. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's two visits to his synagogue several years ago, he said, startled Catholics and Jews. Now, Schulweis said, it was time to reach out to Muslims. Groundwork for the trip was laid last fall, when Schulweis invited Nazir Khaja of the Islamic Information Service to speak on Islam as part of the synagogue's lecture series on world religions. The lecture, delivered two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, drew 2,200 people, the largest crowd of the series. In return, Khaja arranged the reciprocal visit to the King Fahd Mosque, which the Jewish Defense League allegedly sought to bomb last year.
52 of 363 DOCUMENTS Copyright 2002 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times December 1, 2002 Sunday Home Edition Correction Appended
SECTION: Main News Main News; Part 1; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1330 words HEADLINE: U.S. Muslims Divided Over Saudi Aid FOR THE RECORD BYLINE: Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer BODY: One of the nation's most prominent Islamic organizations has accepted a $500,000 donation from a Saudi prince, sparking a blunt debate among American Muslims over whether foreign contributions are compromising their independence and the integrity of their organizations. "To what extent is this part of the larger Saudi effort to co-opt our organizations?" asked Mairaj Syed, a UCLA graduate student in Islamic studies who opened an online debate about the donation on San Francisco-based AMILAnet, a Muslim-oriented discussion group. It has been one of the main forums for debate over the donation. "For too long we've depended too often on overseas financing to keep our institutions alive. This comes at the price of our intellectual independence and integrity," Syed said. Omar Ahmed, board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which received the gift, said the donation would be used to support a $2.5-million project aimed at placing Islamic educational material in the nation's 16,000 public libraries. The contribution came with no strings attached, he said. "We run our own agenda and no one can influence us," said Ahmed, who added that he had received no complaints about the donation from the council's roughly 28,000 registered members. Foreign donations make up about 20% of the council's fund-raising for its national office in Washington, D.C., and 15 regional chapters, and are accepted only if no conditions come with the money, Ahmed said. The gift to the council from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and one of the kingdom's richest men, comes at a time when the Saudi royal family's spending on Muslims in the United States has been the subject of new questions. Last week, it was disclosed that Saudi Princess Haifa al Faisal, the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, apparently gave thousands of dollars to two Saudi nationals in San Diego, who then provided funds to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. FBI investigators have said that they do not believe the royal family deliberately aided the terrorists, but the issue has fanned concerns on Capitol Hill over Saudi financial support of Muslims here. Saudi Arabia is the largest single contributor to Islamic causes ~ ranging from mosques to religious literature to refugee aid ~ around the world. Experts say, however, that its support of American Muslims has significantly dropped in the last decade. Critics of the prince's gift have begun publicly questioning it, calling it everything from immoral to a "strategic mistake" that would fuel criticism of American Muslims as Saudi mouthpieces.
8 of 363 DOCUMENTS The Associated Press State & Local Wire
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press. May 10, 2003, Saturday, BC cycle SECTION: State and Regional LENGTH: 368 words HEADLINE: SoCal Saudi envoy and religious leader is deported BODY: LOS ANGELES - U.S. officials denied entry and expelled from the country a Saudi consular official and Muslim leader suspected of having terrorist links. Fahad al Thumairy, 31, was detained at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday after arriving from Frankfurt. He was deported Thursday on a plane headed for Saudi Arabia and may not return to the United States for five years, according to authorities. "He was placed on an international flight, destined for Riyadh," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. Al Thumairy, who has worked for the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles since 1996, apparently was not aware that U.S. authorities had revoked his diplomatic visa in March. He held a post in the Islamic and cultural affairs section of the consulate and was the imam at the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, which has one of the largest Muslim congregations in the region. The mosque, which was built with financing from the Saudi government, was the target of a foiled bomb plot by a member of the militant Jewish Defense League in 2001. Al Thumairy's name had been placed on a computerized list of travelers who should not be allowed to enter the United States because of suspected links to terrorism, but officials would not immediately provide details on the alleged connection. Officials of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles and the Saudi Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the incident Friday. Al Thumairy was described as extremely spiritual, beloved and nonviolent by officials at the King Fahd Mosque. "He never dealt with politics, in his public comments or in private gatherings," said Tajuddin Shuaib, a native of Ghana who directs the mosque, which is run by a nonprofit group. "Like the rest of us, he was really shocked about Sept. 11. He felt it was wrong and, in the long term, that it would harm Muslims. His impression was that it would have some bad repercussions." Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has increased scrutiny of visa applications from Muslim nations around the world. The number of Saudi Arabians who received visas dropped nearly 70 percent in the 2002 fiscal year to about 14,100.
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' Fall 1998 Magazine Serving the Global Islamic Community
The King Fahd Mosque in Gibraltar, seen above, is one of the many mosques and Islamic Centers established with Saudi funds outside the Islamic world.
" rr e shall make every effort to strengthen our relations with our brothers in Muslim and Arab countries, and we shall do our utmost for the Muslim community. " This statement, made by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, reflects the depth of Saudi Arabia's dedication to Islam and to the service of Muslims worldwide. Saudi Arabia's commitment to serve the Muslim community takes many forms. The Kingdom has provided tens of billions of dollars in aid throughout the world. To allow Muslims to make the annual pilgrimage to the Holy Mosque in Makkah in safety and comfort, it has built a vast network of airports, seaports, roads and other facilities, and it has invested huge sums on the expansion of the Holy Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. It is active in ventures to promote the interests of Muslims everywhere. Saudi Arabia has also undertaken a range of other, albeit less visible, programs. One of these is the effort to serve Muslim minority communities in non-Muslim countries.
http://www.saudiembassy.net/publications/Magazine-Fall-98/serving.htm
9/24/03
Joel Mowbray: Saudi Money Everywhere Akbar Was
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townhall.com Saudi Money Everywhere Akbar Was Joel Mowbray (back to web version) April 9, 2003 With the Islamic connection seemingly undeniable in the Asan Akbar grenade case—the black Mulim engineer was heard by other soldiers immediately after the attack ranting, "You guys are coming into our countries and you're going to rape our women and kill our children." (notice "you guys" and "our")—the question that must be asked is "where is the Saudi money?" In the case of Akbar, the answer is "everywhere." Akbar grew up attending a Saudi-funded mosque in South Central Los Angeles, and then he went to a mosque dominated by a Saudi-created and funded organization. In the military, his Muslim chaplain at Fort Campbell was trained and certified by Saudi-funded organizations. It's possible that all this Saudi money produced no Islamic extremism at any of these points in Akbar's life—but empirical evidence suggests that's unlikely. Attending the mosque across the street from his place, Akbar spent a lot of time during his formative years at the Bilal Islamic Center, according to the center's Imam, Abdul Karim Hasan. When asked about any possible Saudi connection to his mosque, Hasan—perhaps understandably defensive in the anti-Saudi climate—is quick to say that he does not take money from the "Saudi government," though he conceded that he receives funds from Saudi "individuals." That's not entirely true, however. According to the web site of the Islamic Development Bank—a multibillion dollar investment outfit run by many Arab governments, but based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia—Bilal Islamic Center recently received a $295,000 grant from ISD to build a new school. Considering the stated purpose of ISD—to advance Muslim communities in accordance with "Shari'ah" (Islamic law of the kind found in Saudi Arabia)—one wonders what the Center's new school will be teaching. But it's not just the money that raises questions. Bilal Islamic Center "works closely" with King Fahd Mosque in Culver City (roughly 30 minutes from South Central LA), according to a source at the latter mosque—which is not just named after King Fahd, but also funded by him. And based on the annual statement released by the House of Saud on its efforts to spread Islam throughout the world, Bilal Islamic Center is also funded by the kingdom (under the name "Bilal Mosque of Los Angeles"), although the exact amount is not specified. When he left for college in 1989, Akbar did not leave the Saudi-funded experience behind. At the University of California at Davis, Akbar was seen as a devout Muslim by friends, and multiple reports state that he spent large amounts of time at the nearby Islamic Center of Davis. The Islamic Center of Davis, as it happens, is home to the UC-Davis chapter of the Muslim Students Association, a Saudi-created and funded national organization with branches on campuses across the country. It is also past and possibly present home to someone with surprisingly similar anti-American sentiment. In a puff piece in December 2000 on the Muslim students of the Islamic Center of Davis, then third-year law student Masood Khan spouted a vitriolic contempt for America that in many ways mirrors what Akbar said while cowering in the bunker after his killing spree. "There have been over one million innocent Iraqis killed by the United States," Khan said. "It's a war crime." Not a far cry from the equally obscene comment from Akbar that "you guys" are going to "rape our women and kill our children." While stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Akbar was one of roughly 20 soldiers who attended weekly services—and his Muslim chaplain there was trained and certified by institutions with significant Saudi funding. According to a military source, Captain Mohammed Khan trained at the Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences (GSISS), which has a history of Saudi funding and was one of 24 Mulim organizations raided in the Justice Department's Operation Greenquest last year, and he was certified by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which was not raided but is affiliated with the SAAR network (named for its wealthy Saudi benefactor Suleiman Abdel Aziz al-Raghi).
http://www.towiuhall.com/colurnnists/joelmowbray/printjm20030409.shtml
9/24/03
Saudi Arabian Information Resource - Saudi commitment to establishing Islamic cen... Page 1 of 5
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15/02/2002 Saudi commitment to establishing Islamic centers, mosques and institutes Riyadh, 15th February 2002 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has paid great attention to establishing mosques and Islamic centers, institutes and universities in a number of non-Islamic countries all over the world. Sure that this is the most effective way to spread Islamic culture and Arabic language, the Kingdom, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, has established 210 Islamic centers in non-Islamic countries in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia. Among the biggest is King Fahd Islamic Center in Malaga, Spain, on an area of 3,848 sq. m., whose foundation stone was laid in 1998. The university-like Center embraces academic, educational, cultural, and propagatory activities. King Fahd has donated five million US dollars for the cost of the Islamic Center in Toronto, Canada, in addition to 1 .5 million US dollars annually to run the facility. The Islamic Center in Brasilia;
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