'Eid Prayer @ Masjid Al-Islam (DC)

As-salaamu 'alaikum! May Allah's (swt) mercy and grace be with you during these blessed first days of Dhul-Hijjah.

For those in the DC area Muslim community:

Insha'Allah, the 'Eid prayer at Masjid Al-Islam will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 17th @ 10:00 am. If you're in the area, come join us on this festive occasion! Invite your family and friends!

MASJID AL-ISLAM

4603 Benning Road
Washington, DC 20019

Directions via Metro: Take the blue line to the Benning Road stop and walk 3 blocks to the intersection of Benning Road & C Street SE.

Imam Musa & the DC Police

Many of us are aware of disturbing incidents involving police forces in the U.S. Many times, their brutality goes unnoticed and undocumented, but every once in a while, heinous crimes committed by those who've sworn to "uphold the public safety" are brought to light.

On the afternoon of November 3, 2010, DC police, for no stated reason, held at gunpoint two Muslim sisters, both of whom are respected teachers at our Southeast DC Islamic home-schooling co-op (based at Masjid Al-Islam)--one of whom was Imam Musa's wife. Though neither of the sisters were taken in, Imam Musa was called onto the scene and, after bringing public attention to the blatant harassment of the two sisters, was arrested. Though he was released later in the evening, this incident has brought to the surface several months and years of harassment and pestering carried out by the local police on behalf of "higher powers". After the incident, Imam Musa prepared an open letter to the DC police, which was posted on police cars and distributed to local residents. To read its text, click on the flier image above.

On a related noted, only a few days after the incident with the DC police, Imam Musa was coincidentally (by Allah's will) featured on an RT news piece in which he was asked to comment on the killing of 22-year old Oscar Grant in Oakland, CA, at the hands of a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police officer who was recently sentenced. On January 1, 2009, Grant was shot and killed by Johannes Mehserle while he was lying restrained on a train platform. The shooting was captured on several cell phone cameras and the footage is widely available on the Internet. A few days ago, on November 5, 2010, Mehserle was sentenced to two years, minus time served. The RT news segment can be seen below:

Imam Musa, U.S. Human Rights, & COINTELPRO

With the U.S. government constantly claiming that it is the "leader of human rights" across the globe, it is easy for some of us to forget the sting of its many historical and current injustices, which include the annihilation of Native American peoples and land, brutal trans-Atlantic slavery, Jim Crow laws, torture, discrimination, racial profiling, the monitoring of private communications, illegal arrests and imprisonment (of which our leadership has had a recent experience--more on that soon), and the list goes on... On the upcoming occasion of the first-ever United Nations review of the U.S. record on human rights (though we don't expect much to come out of it), Imam Musa and others offer their thoughts in a recent Press TV discussion. Check it out:








Also, Imam Musa recently appeared briefly in an RT segment about COINTELPRO--the notorious counter-intelligence program carried out in the U.S. from 1956 to 1971 to monitor, discredit, and disrupt any individuals, groups, and organizations who were perceived as a threat by the U.S. government. Check it out below. To read Imam Musa's writings regarding this FBI program and its relevance to our struggle as Muslims, check out the June 1999 of the As-Sabiqun newsletter here.