Steven Emerson/MAS/Khalilah Sabra Incident

by Sheila Musaji

On May 4, 2011, I posted a collection of statements by American Muslim and Arab organizations about bin Laden’s death on The American Muslim site.  This collection included statements by numerous organizations and a collection of articles by Muslims about that event.

One of the many organizations that had issued a statement was the Muslim American Society.  Here is the original MAS statement which was released on May 2nd:

Osama Bin Laden is Dead: Justice Has Been Served

The Muslim American Society welcomes the news of the death of Osama bin Laden. The intentional killing of civilians for political ends is terrorism, and this has been the mode of operation of Al Qaeda. We pray that this development leads to a reduction in radical extremism in the world, and that fewer people fall victim to it. Indeed, fighting against acts of terror, radical extremism, and its root causes must continue to be part of our nation’s agenda. Finally, we pray that the death of bin Laden will bring some solace to the thousands of families, Muslim and non-Muslim, who have been victimized by Al Qaeda’s crimes.

For the last ten years Americans, Muslims and Non-Muslims alike- all of us; collectively and individually, have been worn down and afflicted by years of violence and premeditated death initiated by Osama Bin Laden. His crimes were against all humanity. It is correct and fair that Bin Laden should be held accountable for his crimes and we hold the opinion that justice has been done.

The Muslim American Society apprecites President Obama’s reaffirmation that “the United States is not—and never will be—at war with Islam… Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims.  Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. We concur with the president that his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.

On May 6th, I was made aware of an article that had just been posted by Steven Emerson on his Investigative Project on Terrorism site.  The article MAS Official: Bin Laden a “Visionary” was in response to a Muslim American Society (MAS) press release dated May 4th, which was an article by an individual named Khalilah Sabra entitled “Agreeing to Disagree About the Death of Osama Bin Laden”.  Emerson identified Khalilah Sabra as “the director of the North Carolina branch of MAS’ Freedom Foundation.”  She is also the MAS Freedom National Immigration Coordinator, and the North Carolina Director of Civil Rights for the Muslim American Society.

Emerson opened his “expose” with the statement: A leader of a major American Muslim organization, the Muslim American Society (MAS), is arguing that there “was nothing wrong with” Osama bin Laden’s dream of creating a renewed Caliphate. Khalilah Sabra’s comments are the most recent and worrisome from the group, which has a long history of defending alleged terrorists.

The statement in this article to which Emerson took particular exception was ”“He was a visionary who believed in the possibility of an Islamic state in Afghanistan and the possibility that this thing might someday be,” Sabra wrote. “There was nothing wrong with that dream, even if it differs from that one that all Americans have here for themselves.”

Emerson then referred to a statement by bin Laden himself describing his “vision”:  “In 1997, bin Laden described his vision of a Muslim leader “who can unite them and establish the ‘pious caliphate.’ The pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan” and spread from there.”

He quotes a few more passages from her article that seem to be supportive of bin Laden, at least in the early days when he was fighting the Russians.  And, then he uses the rest of the article to bring up every negative claim ever made about MAS, or any of its’ staff, including Khalilah Sabra.

The first press release (also with Khalilah Sabra as the contact person) is very different from this second press release with which Emerson found fault.  Because I had just posted the collection of statements by American Muslim and Arab organizations about bin Laden’s death, all of which expressed relief, and because the perfectly reasonably statement (quoted above) by MAS was included in that collection — I found it difficult to believe that this second press release could be legitimate. 

I did some research, and the “agreeing to disagree” article was posted not only on the MAS members site, but also on the MAS-Tampa website, and more than one individual on the MAS email mailing list contacted me with their concerns about the content, after having received this article -  - so it did go out to an MAS email list.

I contacted Khalilah Sabra by email to ask whether or not she had actually written this article, and if it had been sent out by MAS.  I received an initial email saying that she had written the article, and then an email saying that she had not written it - ”... the contents have been retracted and my authorship of the entirety of its contents denied.”.  Subsequent emails said that their MAS email had been hacked, and that the authorities had been informed and were investigating. 

At this point, Emerson’s “expose” article went viral and was picked up by many other Islamophobic sites.

I shared my growing concerns, not only with Khalilah Sabra, but with other MAS leadership, and a small group of community activists.  These activists also contacted MAS leadership and asked for clarification, and a public statement from MAS.  Because I do not have permission to share the emails on this incident, I can only say that between May 6th and May 11th, over 100 emails went back and forth between various individuals, attempting to clarify exactly what had happened.  During the course of this discussion conflicting emails were received from individuals at MAS and this was also attributed to an on-going email hacking situation due to which some of these emails were claimed by MAS people to not have actually been sent by the individuals they appeared to have been sent by. 

Finally, on May 11, 2011 MAS issued a retraction.  Those of us who had been involved in the ongoing discussion received an email from MAS with the retraction statement included in that email.  Here is the retraction:

Retraction of Agreeing to Disagree

An email titled “Agreeing to Disagree” was sent on the MASINFO email list on May 4th, 2011. This email does not represent in any way the position of the Muslim American Society and its leadership. We are investigating the matter internally to prevent this from happening again. MAS apologizes to all for the confusion and aggravation this incident has caused.

The Muslim American Society reaffirms its position communicated in the press release issued on May 2nd, 2011. While we do not rejoice at anyone’s death, we hope that with the death of Osama Bin Laden a dark chapter in the history of humanity is coming to a close. MAS rejects Osama Bin Laden’s and Al Qaeda’s distorted understanding of Islam, an ideology that has caused the deaths of many innocent people around the world. MAS has consistently stood firm against terrorism and violence, and we will strive to present Islam with utmost clarity through our programs and the actions of our members.

We condemn all forms of terrorism and extremism and pray that these heinous acts against humanity come to an end in our country and throughout the world. We must unite in reaffirming our belief in human dignity, justice and peace by opposing all forms of hatred, injustice and violence. MAS will continue to work with all people of conscience toward a vision of a just, peaceful and virtuous world.

Ahmad El Bendary, President
Muslim American Society

Since all of this had been so confusing, and because this notification of a retraction came from one of the email addresses that had been hacked, I checked to find the retraction online on an MAS site.  I could not find it anywhere, except for a May 11th update to Steven Emerson’s article in which he provided a link.

I sincerely hope that MAS completes their internal investigation, and ultimately makes the results of that investigation public.  If the email accounts of the staff of one national American Muslim organization could be hacked, and false emails sent out, then it could happen to any of them. 

I also sincerely hope that MAS files charges against whoever is found to have hacked their email accounts and/or server, and gets professinal advice as to how to protect themselves from any further hacking attacks.  I am certain that it will be possible to locate this individual by tracking their IP address, and I believe that such hacking is a felony in the United States. 

UPDATE 6/29/2011

The MAS has issued a press release saying that MAS-Freedom has closed due to a lack of funding. 

Up to this point, no further clarifications have been issued by MAS about the incident with the Khalilah Sabra article.  And, since they have now closed MAS Freedom, it is unlikely that any further information will be forthcoming.

This entire incident was handled very badly.  As an organization calling itself a National American Muslim organization, MAS has a responsibility to the entire community to clarify such incidents. 

NOTES:

1)  MAS original press release dated May 2nd http://www.mastampa.org/?p=330

2)  The second, disputed press release dated May 4th http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=qta9hbcab&v=001FD0CiKT5DjrhRdag3htHw2RoJaJwwytDcl682brRBi8kCPGxmuOibC2Z506ZiWMRjfUb9G8ZfuQPomLAunlN2J0wdFHgg5ESMhbIq9EwvhWIM6VjkvKnJerr3MiWGbKG

3)  The retraction, dated May 2nd or 11th http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=qta9hbcab&v=001rUMZSB4OvtFhANFzxfqAmc8SjkDMRI-FUAuYh7AyDBVcuUmt6tjhwTsPTvx77q3OfYn6SWpt2FR_TRBcgLxv_m09fzyqV5s4yI1JBINMC90jqjQyJqpmsQc3V6l_WtHRIuKdOmN5OrYmxQuv2d_PvYUvOaMckFxT 

Originally posted May 15, 2011