Conservatives Speaking out=low Turnout at Muslim Prayer Event

What was originally being billed as a 50,000 Muslim prayer gathering, has now been documented as approximately 1000 Muslims showing up today at Capitol Hill. Muslims are stating that reason for the low turnout was that they were in fear of showing up because of the conservatives who have spoken out against the event. Christians even counter protested there today. I applaud everyone who has spoken out against this event. Remember we still have the numbers here, and within the law we can win this.

Muslims Gather at the Capitol for Prayer Event

About 1,000 people gathered Friday morning on the west front lawn of the Capitol, with more streaming in via charter buses and Metro, for a day of Muslim unity that organizers said was about prayer, not protest.

"We are decent Muslims," said one of the organizers, Imam Ali Jaaher from Dar-ul-Islam mosque in Elizabeth, N. J. "We work, we pay taxes. We are Muslims who truly love this country."

Organizers had said they hoped 50,000 worshipers would show up for the traditional Muslim afternoon prayer at 1 p.m. But they said many people have been frightened away by the backlash against the event. Some conservative Christian groups and bloggers have been calling it anti-Christian and un-American.

Two groups of protesters gathered across the traffic circle from the gathering, waving banners and flags and passing out flyers with crosses and pro-Christian messages. One group, which stood next to a large wooden cross and two giant wooden tablets depicting the 10 commandments, was led by the Rev. Flip Benham of Concord. N.H.

"I would suggest we convert to Christ," Benham shouted over a megaphone that was barely audible from the Muslim gathering. Islam "forces its dogma down your throat."

Benham said he heard about the event last week and brought about a dozen supporters from around the country to protest it. He called Islam a "false religion."

"Unfortunately, our president has opened up the door to this," he said, gesturing toward people streaming toward the gathering. He "has prostrated Christianity to the level of other religions. That's just stunning to me."

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Muslims to Turn Capitol Hill in Giant Outdoor Mosque!

Inspired by President Obama's pro-Islamic speech in Cairo, approximately 50,000 Muslims are expecting to attend a prayer service outside Capital Hill. They claim that this is about them loving America. If they really loved America as we know it, they would be in the streets protesting against the Sharia push, and the Islamic preachers of hate in America. But they do not, this is all about them pushing Islam on America.

Hat tip to Creeping Sharia.

Elizabeth mosque organizes national prayer event in D.C.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Jeff Diamant
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

A mosque in Elizabeth, Dar-ul-Islam, is spearheading a national prayer gathering next month in Washington, D.C., that organizers are billing as the first event of its kind -- organized prayer for tens of thousands of Muslims outside the U.S. Capitol building.

The event will not include political speeches or placards, just prayer, said Hassen Abdellah, president of Dar-ul-Islam and a main organizer of the event, which is scheduled for Sept. 25.

"Most of the time, when Muslims go to Washington, D.C., they go there to protest some type of event," Abdellah said. "This is not a protest. Never has the Islamic community prayed on Capitol Hill for the soul of America. We're Americans. We need to change the face of Islam so people don't feel every Muslim believes America is "the great Satan,' because we love America."

A permit from the Capitol Hill police, granted July 28, allows access to the area by the West Front of the Capitol building from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 25, but the main gathering will occur at 1 p.m., for the Friday prayer service.

Abdellah said he expects 50,000 people to attend, from mosques around the country, though non-Muslims are welcome, too. About 400 people are expected from his own mosque, which is raising money from donors to help pay the cost of the event, expected to surpass $200,000.

The gathering will occur by the site where presidents have been inaugurated since 1981. In fact, it was President Obama's words at his inauguration in January, and then his speech in Egypt in June, that led Abdellah and an area imam, Abdul Malik, to begin discussing the idea, Abdellah said.

"For the first time in my lifetime," Abdellah said, "I heard someone of his stature speaking about Islam and Muslims not in an adversarial sense, but in the sense of being welcome and acknowledging we are integral citizens in the society -- that we're gainfully employed, we're educated."

"He said he had his hand open to the Islamic world," he said. "The Islamic world wants to open their hand and shake it."

The website set up for the event, islamoncapitolhill.com, features a logo with a red, white and blue hand shaking a light brown hand, with the words to the preamble of the Constitution and a page of Arabic text in the background.

Mosque members have been working since July to organize the event, through e-mails, phone calls and visits to mosques and Muslim Students Associations in different states.

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