Saturday, September 6, 2008
Just a couple short items here on the goings on with the local Muslim Brotherhood:
Executive Director M. Bilal Kaleem circulates an announcement that Siraj Wahaj, unindicted co-conspirator in the case of the Blind Sheik (read all about Wahaj's record here), will be appearing will be appearing at the Islamic Center of Burlington for a fundraiser on September 12. Wahaj is a frequent mosque guest. I've heard his lectures (in contrast to some of this personal beliefs) are quite dull, actually.
Miss Kelly has a little cloak-room gossip on the changing of the guard in the Wellesley College Muslim Chaplaincy: Who Will Be the Next Muslim Adviser at Wellesley? Word has it that Nancy Khalil will be making way for Bilal Kaleem's wife, Najiba Akbar with no announcement or job search.
The Muslim American Society's creeping control over local Muslim institutions, including college Muslim groups, has been a concern for local reform-minded Muslims for some time, as have Nancy Khalil's obscure funding sources. Miss Kelly notes:
...According to several Wellesley Muslim students, there was strong peer pressure in the Wellesley Muslim student group to wear headscarves and cover up. Otherwise, you were not considered a "real Muslim." Another student reported being told "not to run and not to laugh too loudly" at an Al-Muslimat weekend retreat. At Wellesley, Hillary Clinton's college, imagine a woman being told this!...not all Muslims are happy about the "Muslim mafia" and their monopoly on leadership in local Islamic organizations...
More here.
