This fall, a group called The Islamic Circle of North America is planning to place ads in 1000 New York City subway cars. The ads are designed to explain the true nature of Islam and dispel common misconceptions about the religion for the 4.9 million people who ride the city’s underground every day.
The ads, which will run during the month of Ramadan — the Muslim month of fasting — come in sets of two, with the first reading “Q: Prophet Muhammad?” or “Q: Islam?” or “Head scarf?” and the second always providing the answer: “A: You deserve to know,” with a telephone number (877) WHY-ISLAM and a website address (whyislam.org) for those interested in getting more information about the Islamic faith.
One of the projects’ aims is to banish the notion that Islam is centered around acts of violence. But US government officials have already accused the group of having links to a plot to blow up city landmarks. According to the New York Post’s rather inflammatory article on the subject, entitled, “Jihad train,” the imam for a Brooklyn mosque, Siraj Wahhaj, who appears in a YouTube video promoting the project has been accused of defending convicted bomb plotters. Formal charges have never been filed against Wahha, although he served as a character witness for the defense in the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, one of the people serving a life sentence for their role in the organization of the 1993 WTC bombings. Wahha is also alleged to have called the FBI and the CIA “the real terrorists.”
Republican congressman Peter King has urged the Metropolitan Transit Authority to reject the ads, because of the identities of some members of the group behind them and because the ads would run during the seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Subway officials said the ads are protected as free speech under the First Amendment and the city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, agrees. Officials say the content of the ads themselves is not offensive or suggestive of violence or terrorism.
Islamic Circle spokesman Azeem Khan has called the situation a “perfect microcosm” of what the ads seek to address — the way in which Islam is portrayed in the American media.
This article was published Thursday, July 31, 2008.
