 A billboard in Florida in a similar Islam-promoting campaign |
A new $60,000 advertising campaign by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations that claims on Florida buses that Jesus was a Muslim is drawing protests.
“Apparently they will say anything to try to get people to convert to Islam. What ever happened to honesty?” asked a blogger on IslamInAction.
According to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, dozens of people turned out today for a rally to publicize their opposition to having transit buses in the region carry the message, funded by CAIR, that says: “ISLAM: The Way of Life of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.”
“We’re hoping the counties of Broward and Miami-Dade will remove the signage from the buses,” rally organizer Joe Kaufman told the newspaper.
The campaign comes on the heels of a similar campaign in New York City subways several months earlier, as well as a billboard campaign in Florida.
According to JihadWatch,org, signs with “catchy phrases” and images also have gone up in Tampa Bay, Orlando, Portland, Ore., and San Antonio, Texas.
Altaf Ali, of CAIR’s south Florida chapter, told the newspaper the bus campaign statement is simple and correct. He said anyone who submits their will to God is Muslim.
By that definition, he said, “Abraham and all the prophets are Muslim.”
Several dozen of the regional fleet of nearly 300 buses have been carrying the message for several weeks.
“We owe it to our fellow Americans to let them know that Islam stands for peace,” Ali told the newspaper. “Muslims are here and Muslims are part and parcel of the United States.”
Kaufman, who runs an organization called Americans Against Hate, however, said the message is offensive for Jews and Christians.
IslamInAction said the campaign by CAIR simply “has gone way overboard,” but there’s a reason for it.
“Their goal is to try and put a positive spin on Islam as more and more non-Muslims are slowly waking up to the true threat of Islam,” the commentary said.
Phyllis Berry, of the Broward County Transit system, told the newspaper the CAIR promotion didn’t violate guidelines banning ads that demean religions.
Several participants in the Sun-Sentinel forum page were less than enthused about the religious promotion by CAIR.
“The phony islam religion never even showed up til that crackpot muhamad (sic) dreamed it up 550 years later,” wrote one.
“Never have so many people been brainwashed by such a death cult,” added a second. “They worship a fake moon god that commands them even to murder their own daughters in ‘honor killings.'”
“It just never ceases to amaze me the things CAIR gets away with!!” wrote a third.
Just a few months earlier, the Islamic Circle of North America posted promotions for Islam in the subway system in New York City, drawing concerns over their message.
WND previously has reported on a number of disputes involving CAIR, including when leaders were served with a legal notice of a lawsuit on behalf of Muslims who claim the group victimized them in a fraud scheme involving a lawyer who is unqualified to practice.
CAIR is a spinoff of the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine, launched by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and former university professor Sami al-Arian, who pleaded guilty several years ago to conspiracy to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Several CAIR staffers have been convicted on terrorism-related charges, and CAIR founder Omar Ahmad allegedly told a group of Muslims they are in America not to assimilate but to help assert Islam’s rule over the country.
