Imam Malik Mujahid, producer of the “Stand with the Prophet” conference, which is designed to help “lead the effort against Islamophobia” defended inviting Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings, and according to the Wall Street Journal “has proclaimed that the ‘real terrorists’ are the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency” on Tuesday’s “O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel.
When asked about Wahhaj’s status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings, Mujahid responded “you should be happy that he is unindicted. You are unindicted. I’m [un]indicted, [the rest of] America isn’t indicted. Being unindicted is something good, not bad. We are innocent until being proven guilty.”And “if there was something, you would be indicted.”
After O’Reilly said that in one of the sermons Wahhaj sells he says “this so-called democracy of America, will crumble and there will be nothing. The only thing that will remain will be Islam.” (a Wall Street Journal report on Wahhaj also reports that Wahhaj says this in one of his sermons), Mujahid countered by pointing to the fact that Wahhaj was not indicted for any role in the 1993 WTC attack.
O’Reilly continued to press about the specific quotation in Wahhaj’s sermon, Mujahid invited O’Reilly to come to another conference and declared that there needs to be “a great debate.” He added that many people consider O’Reilly to be radical and emphasized the need to “build bridges of understanding among people and we to have America moving forward. This is the time for unity. This is not the time for division.” And pointed out that a Muslim police officer was killed trying to stop the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo and that Lassana Bathily, a Muslim, played a key role in saving lives during an attack on a kosher deli in France.
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