Ground Zero mosque organizer Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has been described by the media as a “moderate” and a “bridge-builder.” But not too long ago, the same news outlets gave identical labels to a radical Virginia mosque that has been linked to some of the most infamous Islamic terrorist attacks in recent years. And it celebrated in the same terms a “prayer-leader” who is now one of the most wanted Al Queda terrorists in the world. The Washington Post reported on the Dar al-Hijrah mosque 30 times from Sept. 11, 1983, to Sept. 11, 2001, and the big news stories about the prayer center were its popular summer camp, its charitable activities and its joyful celebrations of Muslim holidays. But to federal investigators and watchdog groups, the big news about the Dar al-Hijrah mosque was that it was a magnet for some of the top names in terrorism – most recently including the Sept. 11 hijackers and the Fort Hood shooter. The mosque’s former imam, Anwar Al Awlaki has been tied to numerous terror attacks in the U.S., and is now serving as a top Al Qaeda leader in Yemen. Al Awlaki will be shot on sight if he is tracked down by the U.S. military, under an order given by President Obama this past April. Media Hail “Moderate” Terrorist Mosque The positive coverage enjoyed by the Dar al-Hijrah mosque wasn’t exclusive to the Post. There was a time when many news outlets, from The New York Times to NPR, described the Dar al-Hijrah and its radical imam the same way they now describe the Ground Zero mosque and Imam Rauf – as “moderates,” and “bridge-builders” between Islam and Western culture. A New York Times article from Oct. 19, 2001, lists Al Awlaki as one of the Muslim leaders who were “calling on their colleagues to tone down the incendiary anti-American messages that have long been a staple at some Muslim events.” Al Awlaki is “held up as a new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West,” the Times reported. The same article lists Rauf as another one of these “assertive” religious leaders. “[M]any mosque leaders who draw large numbers each week for Friday prayers and sermons, including Mr. Al-Awlaki, in Falls Church, Va., and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, spiritual leader of the Al-Farah mosque in Lower Manhattan.” The Baltimore Sun also latched onto the theme. “Al-Awlaki bridges the two worlds as easily as he shifts from lecturing on the lives of the prophets to tapping phone numbers into his Palm Pilot,” reported the paper on October 28, 2001. “He and other Muslims say they support action against terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in retaliation for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks[.]” And while there was no coverage of the Virginia mosque by the major network news stations, other media outlets expressed concern over the difficulties faced by Muslim “moderates” like Al-Awlaki. “The war of ideas in the Muslim world pits extremists, like Osama bin Laden…and moderates, who want to solve the problems without violence. But right now this war of ideas is a lopsided one, says Imam Anwar Awlaki, the prayer leader at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia,” reported NPR on Nov. 1, 2001. “Awlaki, whose mosque is one of the largest in the U.S., sees himself as a Muslim leader who could help build bridges between Islam and the West. [B]ut political scientist Telhami says these are difficult days for Muslim moderates,” the NPR report continued. Of the 30 articles in the Post that mentioned the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, not one questioned the prayer center’s extremist leadership. Instead, many were glowing portraits of the mosque’s summer camp, its charitable activities and its members’ apparent concerns about anti-Muslim hate crimes. “A sparkling sun in a pale blue sky, crisp air, children laughing and friends all around: ‘Yes, it is a beautiful day,’ declared Mohammad Hassan. Outside the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, a festival was going on, a celebration at the end of the holiest month on the Islamic calendar, and now Hassan looked toward the heavens,” began one particularly flattering Washington Post story from Mar. 3, 1995. Even after the federal government began publicly investigating Al-Awlaki for his ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers, some news outlets continued to cover the imam and the Dar al-Hijrah favorably. “It’s very important for [my sons] to learn Islam as it truly is,” Sabahat Adil, the head of the social outreach program at Dar al-Hijrah, told the Post on Dec. 17, 2001. “[At Dar al-Hijrah], they’re seeing it day and night, how Muslims are really doing it. Are they talking hate? Hate Christians, hate whites? No. When people teach hatred, obviously they’re not following true Islam.” On Nov. 18, 2001, just two months after the 9/11 attacks, the Post even had Al-Awlaki answer readers’ questions about Islam on the newspaper’s website. “[T]he greatest sin in Islam after associating other gods besides Allah is killing an innocent soul,” was one gem of wisdom Al-Awlaki offered Washington Post readers. Like Al-Awlaki, the Post has also turned to the Ground Zero mosque leader, Rauf, as a source of spiritual advice. Since 2008, the imam has written 21 columns for the Post’s “On Faith” website. “We must understand that Islam itself is not the enemy – only the misguided interpretation of Islam on one hand and the incomplete application of its principles that has led to corruption and insecurity on the other,” Rauf wrote on the Post’s website on Oct. 6, 2009. The same positive descriptions of Al-Awlaki and the Dar al-Hijrah mosque are used by the media today to describe Rauf. “As a Sufi, Imam Feisal follows a path of Islam focused more on spiritual wisdom than on strict ritual, and as a bridge builder, he is sometimes focused more on cultivating relations with those outside his faith than within it,” wrote the Times reporter and former Council on American Islamic Relations lobbyist Sharaf Mowjood in a Dec. 9, 2009, article that was co-authored with Ralph Blumenthal. A May 26 New York Times article also referenced Rauf’s “bridge-building.” “Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who has led services in TriBeCa since 1983, told the [Manhattan community] board the [Islamic] center would help ‘bridge and heal a divide’ among Muslims and other religious groups.” “We have condemned the actions of 9/11,” the Times quoted Rauf as saying. “We have condemned terrorism in the most unequivocal terms.”
