Wahhabism In Trouble?

Stephen Schwartz (bio below) has an article in TCS, picked up by Powerline, that is most encouraging. It seems that maybe, finally, the Muslim world is telling the Saudi Wahhabi funders that, not only is the world's perspective of Islam being damaged by their murderous theology, but muslims from the former Yugoslavia have simply had enough of their garbage and will not tolerate any more.
This is very interesting to me because the Islamic Society of North America Headquarters, and the Mosque in Plainfield, IN, (15 min outside Indianapolis, is said to be of the Wahhabi tradition. The article begins with a few lines about the Iraq Study Group, but mostly it refers to clerics and attitudes in the Yugoslavic states.(emphasis and comments mine.)

Only a couple of lines in the report were worthy of comment. One appears on page 29 of the printed version: "Funding for the Sunni insurgency (sic) comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia". This was the first time anybody connected to the U.S. government acknowledged something known throughout the Muslim world. That is, Sunni terrorism in Iraq is not an insurgency, but an invasion; the "foreign fighters" are mainly Saudi, as revealed when their deaths are covered in Saudi media, replete with photographs of the "martyrs."

...

Saudi sources indicate that King Abdullah (who apparently would like to live in a more or less "normal" country) is assembling his forces for a decisive confrontation with the reactionaries(the Wahhabi's). Part of the Wahhabi-line strategy is to depict a U.S. leadership in conflict with King Abdullah, to undermine the monarch's credibility. That is why different versions of a meeting between U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and King Abdullah, late last month, circulate in the MSM and the blogosphere.
According to credible reports, Cheney urged Abdullah to stiffen action against Saudi-Wahhabi involvement in the Iraqi bloodletting...

espresso beans to Powerline

Stephen Schwartz is the author of the bestselling Anchor paperback, The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role In Terrorism, and a consultant on domestic and international affairs in Washington, DC.
He was born in 1948, and has pursued a long literary and journalistic career, having published seven books on modern political history, with special attention to extremism. He was a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle for 10 years.
His articles have appeared in many of the world's leading newspapers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, The Daily Telegraph of London and many more. He is a regular contributor to The Weekly Standard as well as to Reforma in Mexico City, the Toronto Globe and Mail, and leading periodicals in the Balkans.

Saudi Connections and U.S. Funded?

I've been looking for an article on the ISNA, located in Plainfield, IN, that gives some credible information on the connections between the Muslim organization and their Saudi benefactors, and some of their more nefarious alumni. I was beginning to think that all I would find was inflammatory panic-driven speech. But I have read other articles and heard some of the folks mentioned in this FrontPage expose, including comments from Steven Emerson and Sherrie Gossett, both of whom I find quite believable.

But while Mattson’s smiling image may come to dominate the mainstream media in years to come, it is Gossett who caught perhaps the true face of ISNA. In her interview with the Islamic organization’s spokesman, who called AIM’s coverage of Islamic radicalism “scandalous” and “criminal”, she was harshly told: “You will be hurt, you will be pained by this if you continue to write such things.” Which is really nothing to smile about.

I kept looking around and found this from Daniel Pipes blog:

Mohamed El-sanousi, director of community outreach and communications for ISNA, told Gossett his organization received grants in 2003 and 2004 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services. The money did not save anyone from substance abuse or improve mental health, however. Instead, it went to teach other members of the Wahhabi lobby how to milk the government: "We used the grants to train Muslim community leaders in how to apply for grants to do social services," El-sanousi explained.

rcb

Ingrid Mattson: President of the Islamic Society of North America

I'll use this SFGate article to introduce us to Ingrid Mattson...WOMAN LEADS A WAVE OF CHANGE FOR U.S. MUSLIMS written by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Chronicle Religion Writer
Some quotes from the article, that I think pass on the gist (all emphasis mine)---

A former Catholic, Canadian-born woman who is a widely respected scholar is arguably the most influential Muslim in America.
...
http://www.friends-of-tibet.org.nz/news/july_2006_update_11.htmIngrid Mattson, the recently elected president of the 43-year-old Islamic Society of North America, is the first convert, first non-immigrant and first woman to lead the largest Muslim umbrella organization on the continent. Her rise to prominence comes as more women and native-born Muslims are defining the faith, making Islam more of an American religion.
...
The soft-spoken Mattson is not afraid to challenge long-held assumptions among believers. She wears a head scarf and loose clothes, and she is a forceful advocate for women's rights.
...
Mattson had never heard of a Muslim before going to Paris. But within a year, she became one. She believes her Christian upbringing -- and a sister who converted to Judaism -- frees her from inter-religious barriers others might have. She thinks her perspective will allow her to better mediate between a minority faith and Christianity in the United States.
...
After college, in 1987, Mattson volunteered in a refugee camp in Pakistan. There, she met and married her husband, Aamer Atek, an Egyptian engineer and fellow volunteer.

And then this kicker...

"If God had told anyone to bow to anyone but him, then he would tell women to bow to their husbands," Muhammad reportedly said, according to one hadith, a religiously sanctioned compilation of the sayings and deeds of Islam's revered prophet.

Several students disagreed with Mattson's questioning of the verse. They said she was introducing subjectivity into centuries of tradition that had validated the quote.

But Mattson calmly gave them criteria to weigh a hadith's authenticity -- whether it is congruent with the Quran, congruent with Muhammad's other sayings and logically a part of Islamic teaching.

Mattson said the quote didn't pass muster with the Quran's call for gender equality, or Muhammad's body of teachings. Questioning had nothing to do with subjectivity, she said. In fact, Islamic tradition required it.

Another article by the same reporter, same paper -- on a (then)upcoming conference on Bhuddist/Muslim relations featuring the Dalai Lama. This journalist's other writings for the religion page are generally not too awful -- considering the press' need for controversy and the atmosphere of liberal questioning of anything associated with the west...it's hard to imagine this topic being seriously dealt with today. Plenty of fluff.

News Articles Regarding ISNA In Plainfield

This WRTV news article, from July 9, 2005, describes an apparent arson at a mosque in Bloomington, IN. Does it look to you like the reporter is confusing CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper with the ICNA?

....Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the timing of the fire was "suspicious" following so soon after Thursday's bombings in London that killed at least 49 people.
....The Plainfield-based Islamic Center of North America issued a statement Thursday condemning the London bombings. Hooper said his group, based in Washington, had received hate e-mail and phone calls since Thursday.

The Polis Center's Project on Religion and Urban Culture at IUPUI provides timelines of areas around Indianapolis. The one for Plainfield is complete through 1997. From it I've lifted references pertinent to the mosque, but no entries for it after 1982.

1976.......Muslim Student Association (MSA) acquires 124 acres of land in Plainfield to construct the Islamic Center of North America.
1978.......960 people sign a petition against the proposed Islamic Center, stating that the plans violated a residential zoning ordinance. While the appeal is pending in the circuit court of appeals a sign at the entrance to the property is painted with the letters "KKK." The appeal is denied.
1980.......Plainfield population, 9,191. Township population, 17,052.
1982.......Work on Phase I of Islamic Center of North America completed. It consists of a mosque and library. Capacity of mosque is 500 with possibility to increase to 1,500. Building is 40,444-sq. ft. and it has 3 floors.

At the Islamonline.net website, results of a survey have been published. I wouldn't have known this...

* At the average mosque, 33% of members are of South Asian origin (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.), 30% are African-American, and 25% are Arabic-speaking.