Jihad in Orlando: blood shed, innocence lost, eyes opened.

Written by Debra Corso

On facebook 20-4-2017 https://www.facebook.com/debra.corso?fref=ufi

It has been nearly one year since jihadist, Omar Mateen walked into Pulse nightclub and waged war on the good people of Orlando. Since then, we have grieved persons and innocence lost. We have endeavored to embrace survivors as they heal and to move forward with courage and love as a united Orlando.

In the terrible days following the attack elected officials and faith leaders linked arms with a call for unity. And Orlando, the big-hearted, tolerant community that it is… answered that call. Together, Orlando stood in lines to give blood, donate money and light candles. Together: Gay, straight, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist-- we held fast to one another and to the hope that one day… somehow, Orlando would recover. The journey has been painful. Not only because of what took place on June 12, 2016 but because the wound has been repeatedly and cruelly ripped open.

Wounds re-opened cannot heal.

My family has a personal connection to Pulse. My husband, a local building contractor, helped construct the Pulse nightclub for longtime client and friend, Rosario Poma and his wife, Barbara.Barbara built the club in memory of her brother John who died of AIDS in 1991. When terrorist Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 others, it was as if we heard family had died. After the FBI released the property back to the owners Rosario called my husband to return to the club to properly secure it. He will never forget what he saw there. While we and the rest of the world were reeling from the shock we were also heartened by the strong, principled responses from elected officials as well as from leaders in the Muslim community, particularly Imam Musri who is a very popular and highly respected figure in the Central Florida.

The atrocity at Pulse was horrific but not entirely surprising. I have for years before the attack, been disturbed by the homophobia I’ve heard expressed from within the Muslim community. It has a long and ugly history in Central Florida. In 2008, Hassan Shibly executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), posted a Facebook message, stating, "In studying all the Abrahamic faiths, it is clear without a doubt, that homosexuality like premarital sex, is considered a terrible sin.” The next year, in May 2009, Shibly posted a Facebook message, with typos, stating, “Alcohol, Pre-Marital Sex, Homosexuality, Worshipping a Human are evils.” He noted, “…Pre-Marital Sex and Homosexuality quick ways to earn God’s wrath…” CAIR officials and Shibly didn't return requests for comment. So it was not entirely surprising that after the atrocities at Pulse, that CAIR, led by Hassan Shibly would issue one statement in front of cameras calling the attack “monstrous” but send a very different message months later when inviting Brooklyn Imam, Siraj Wahhaj, as a keynote speaker for its October 2016 annual fundraiser.

In 2008, Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, threatened to bring a mob to storm a gay-friendly mosque. Earlier, he had issued a fatwa declaring it lawful to rob banks and kill Jews, and he also called for jihad against the infidels andreferred to Americans “descendants of apes and pigs.” Knowing all of this history I felt the sting of the LGBTQ community who had certainly not been included in the theme of that fall fundraiser: “Advancing Justice Challenging Hate,” Hassan Shibly strode onto a stage and declared to the crowd of about 300 people, “We stand strong and unafraid, unapologetic and unwavering as champions of justice and unity and civil rights for all.”And, “Anyone...anyone, regardless of race or religion who faces discrimination on account of thecolor of their skin, the language they speak, how they worship God knows that we will be there and that we will be their champion, we will defend their rights, we will have their back!”

I found those words impossible to reconcile with inviting as a guest speaker, an Imam who threatened to take a mob and raze a gay-friendly Canadian Mosque. As someone who believes in plurality and tolerance, the CAIR fundraiser’s theme of “challenging hate” rang hollow when it doesn't include hate by Muslims against others. To me, the important values of justice, unity and civil rights must extend to the LGBTQ community, and there is no more persuasive an argument than the carnage that occurred at the Pulse nightclub this past summer.

Sadly, Mr. Shibly is not alone in Central Florida Muslim Community regarding the views which vilify, and instruct persecution of LBGTQ persons. Last March, an Iranian imam, Farrokh Sekalesfar, spoke at Husseini Islamic Center in Sanford, Fla., delivering a speech, “How to deal with the phenomenon of homosexuality?” Similarly themed speeches given by Sekalesfar include a videotaped sermon he delivered at the University of Michigan in Dearborn. In that lecture, the imam stated cooly, “Death is the sentence. We know there’s nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence… We have to have compassion for people. With homosexuals, it’s the same— out of compassion let’s get rid of them now.”

Yet another controversial Orlando imam, Marcus Robertson is videotaped screaming gay epithets, like “f*gotts” and “f*ggoteurs.”in a sermon delivered July 2008 at the Masjid al-Ihsaanin Orlando. Robertson preached here for years and founded the “Islamic Knowledge & Seminary” or “FIKS” in Orlando. In yet another video, he said, “Allah talks about these f*ggots in the Quran”. On August 23, 2011 the FBI arrested Robertson, who went by the name “Abu Taubah” charged him first with possession of firearm by a convicted felon. He would later be charged with conspiracy to commit tax fraud in a scheme, prosecutors stated, to assist a man, Jonathan Jiminez, financing an overseas trip for purposes of jihad. In the federal sentencing memorandum the prosecution also claimed that during his membership in a gang known as the“Forty Thieves,” he “murdered several individuals; participated in assassination attempts; used pipe bombs, C-4, grenades, other explosives, and automatic weapons.” The FBI said Robertson also acted as a bodyguard to Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the “Blind Sheik,” mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Ultimately Robertson pled guilty to the weapons charge and was convicted on tax fraud as well.

Robertson, who was released in June 2015, resurfaced back in Orlando teaching online at Timbuktu Seminary. He has never disavowed his homophobic hate sermons. Sadly, the homophobia and hate doesn’t end there. Even as Orlando grieved and tended to the physical and emotional wounds inflicted in the attack, the Ibn Seena Institute in Orlando, an Al Maghrib Institute affiliate would continue to schedule cleric Kamal Al Makki to ‘teach’ in Orlando. Al Makki has a long history of mocking homosexuals in speeches, referring to non-Muslims as evil, justifying amputations as punishment and killing apostates. He also refers to any woman having the temerity to believe “they should be able to do the same jobs as men” as “Crazy radical feminists” Kemal el Mekkis next ‘seminar’ in Orlando is scheduled for the weekend of May 12, 2017.

While there is an irrefutable history of homophobia and extremism in the Muslim community in Central Florida, (some of which I’ve documented here) I think Orlando felt secure in believing that the vast majority of the Muslim community here were utterly unaffiliated with the above-captioned hate clerics or their appalling views. There is such kindness here. Orlando is a happy place! This is the home of the Magic Kingdom. And it is magical. Not only for the delights of Disney and the giddy array of playful theme parks. Our little kingdom was magical for being a rich tapestry of diversity fashioned by trust and tolerance. And it was so strong not even Omar Mateen could destroy it. But these threads of trust have been worn and frayed. The fabric of our community has been damaged by the incredible cruelty and disrespect involved in repeatedly inviting clerics preaching the hate and death to gays (and others) responsible for the murders of 49, injuring dozens of others and traumatizing an entire city. And the most shocking and dispiriting of these cruelties was rung in with the New Year. On January 7 the Mosque under the management of much loved and respected co-host of “The Three Wiseguys” radio show, Imam Mohammad Mursi, would also welcome yet another radical cleric to Central Florida, Syrian hate cleric Imam Al-Nabulsi. The same charming Imam who I listened to and laughed with on “The Three Wise Guys” radio show, the one who made eloquent and heart-rendering appeals for unity and tolerance after the attack at Pulse was at the helm of a Mosque that rolled out the welcome mat for a Syrian Imam who states on video: “All homosexuals deserve the death penalty”. "Homosexuality offers a filthy place and does not generate offsprings. Homosexuality leads to the destruction of the homosexual," Al-Nabulsi said. "That's why homosexuality carries the death penalty.” As if that weren’t bad enough, Al-Nabulsi’s resume also includes a long and well-documented library of sermons and writings which sanction suicide attacks and violence against Jews. Al-Nabulsi penned a treatise titled "ruling on martyrdom operations in Palestine" which sanctions suicide operations and asserts that all Jewish people are combatants" acceptable as targets for attacks in Israel.

I was so dispirited I actually emailed “The Three Wiseguys” writing this: ,

"I decided to speak to the pattern of practice of those in the Central Florida Muslim community welcoming Clerics who endorse hudud punishments of homosexuals, suicide bombings, targeting civilians, violent jihad. Because it not only poisons our community but it maligns our honest, kind, hardworking Muslim
neighbors who do not espouse those views.” I continued, “No person of conscience can idly watch so much poison poured into Orlando and not expect that it won't explode in more religiously sanctioned violence like that carried out at Pulse Nightclub. And so my heart sank again to learn that this past Saturday none other than Sheik Mohammad Rateb al-Nabulsi was invited to speak at Albir Educational Center in Osceola County. .” I continued, “As someone who knows people directly affected by the attack at Pulse this is profoundly disturbing. It left me feeling physically ill that once again, a person who has repeatedly promoted a violent 'interpretation' of Islam would be welcomed to Florida. It's not OK. In closing. I call upon each one of you to make a public commitment to reject hosting or promoting any clergy of any religious or political persuasion who has advocated violence. We're all in this together. I look forward to your responses and to your continued efforts to champion civil discourse, elevate understanding built on an unwavering foundation of rejecting violence and those who advocate it.Blessed are the peacemakers. I wish you all blessings of love, light and wisdom as you pave the path for peace and reconciliation in Central Florida.

In remembrance of those slain, injured, traumatized and grief stricken as a result of the terrorist attack at Pulse- and terror attacks everywhere. Mrs. Debra Corso”

Reverend Bryan G. Fulwider, one of the hosts of “The Three Wiseguys” was kind enough to write back and to call me. We had a long conversation that assured me that this was being taken very seriously. I took him at his word as he vouched for the honor and sincerity of his fellow “Wiseguy” Imam Musri. In a news report Channel 9’s reporter, Field Sutton interviewed Imam Musri reported him stating: “after the Pulse nightclub attack he hopes the visiting scholar no longer feels the way he used to feel.” And that perhaps those views can be changed. But in a letter of apology issued months later Imam Musri alternately asserts he had no idea Al-Nabulsi espoused these views. Moreover and more importantly, not once did Imam Musri clearly and unequivocally condemn and reject Al-Nabulsi’s views or sanctions of violence. And I was very sad to learn that Imam Musri’s affiliation with figures supporting jihad dates back to June 14, 2009 when he hosted Hamas fundraiser, George Galloway from Britain at his Mosque on Goldenrod Road in Orlando.

This pattern must end. It is a terrible affront to those killed, the families who grieve them. This is an insult to those injured in the attack at Pulse and to the victims of terror everywhere. It is an anathema to the sense of safety every person living in Orlando should be able to enjoy. This is a stain on the reputation of all of our honest, peaceful, hardworking Muslim neighbors in Orlando who do not share these views. This rips open the wounds inflicted on the trust and goodwill of the people of Orlando.

Avoidance and doublespeak creates fear and mistrust. This promotes so-called Islamaphobia. It does not cure it. Year after year after year of homophobic rhetoric, welcoming radical clerics who openly advocate death to gays, Jews, apostates. Even in the wake of a terrorist attack fueled by such hate. This…must…end. Or the wound never heals.I have no doubt our City Beautiful will meet the upcoming anniversary of the attack at Pulse with courage and strength, that those lost will be tenderly remembered. I know Orlando will lead with love and remain committed to serving the One Pulse beating in humanity with an open heart…and opened eyes. My wish is for genuine healing rooted in honesty, compassion and humanity. It is possible.

All things are possible with Love.