Saturday, April 09, 2016

North American Shias


http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=33877
On November 15, 1998, Qazwini’s ICOA sponsored an event—attended by more than 1,000 primarily Arab Muslim-Americans—where the featured speaker was the infamous racist and Jew-hater, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Qazwini and his fellow organizers introduced Farrakhan as “our dear brother,” “a freedom fighter,” and “a man of courage and sacrifice.” Political commentator Debbie Schlussel, who attended that event under cover (dressed as a Muslim woman), reports that Farrakhan delivered a lengthy, hateful diatribe against Jews and Christians on the one hand, and in praise of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on the other; that when Farrakhan referred to Jewish Americans as “forces of evil” with a “Satanic mentality,” Qazwini and his congregants registered their approval with a standing ovation; and that Farrakhan used the occasion to issue an open call for “jihad.”


http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jul/07/local/me-shia7
July 7, 2003: The newly created Universal Muslim Assn. of America, billed as the Shia population's first independent national organization, is one effort to foster greater cohesiveness. Another need, many Shias say, is more dynamic religious leadership familiar with American sensibilities and able to hold the interest of youth.
Shias need to free themselves from "blind obedience" to their ayatollahs, said Abdulaziz Sachedina. A Shia scholar from the University of Virginia, Sachedina has called for equality between men and women and among Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
"Our religious leadership is in crisis because it's lost relevance with the people," he said.
In 1998, Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Iraq, one of the world's most prominent Shia leaders, blacklisted Sachedina from speaking at Shia mosques. Sachedina is nonetheless pushing forward his campaign to empower the Shia to follow their own consciences.
The family of the imam Al-Qawzini, whose youthful energy and open manner make him particularly popular with young Muslims, has started a summer seminary with the eventual aim of developing home-grown Shia leaders articulate in English and familiar with contemporary American life.


http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1217
July 20, 2004: Qazwini is a follower of Shirazi Shiism whose "infallible" ayatollah, Al Sayyid Muhammad al Hussayni Al Shirazi, repeatedly relies on theProtocols of the Elders of Zion, to accuse the Jews of controlling the United Nations, spreading aids, corrupting trade, and marketing drugs and pornography to innocent Arab youth. He is also a prominent board member of the American Muslim Council (AMC), a radical Islamic group with strong ties to charities funding Al-Qaeda.
Qazwini's mosque, the Islamic Center of America, has enthusiastically hosted Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, where Qazwini was seen to cheer when Farrakhan denounced Jews as "forces of evil." Delivering a lecture in at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Qazwini was reported by the Boston Globe to have "expressed envy…and hostility towards Jews." In a profile in Rolling Stone, he complained of Jewish influence in the media and of seeing too "many pictures of Israelis mourning their dead."

http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/michigan-governor-speak-extremist-islamist-conference
Hassan Qazwini, imam of the Islamic Center of America in Michigan. The mosque has had Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam as a guest speaker. Qazwini has boasted that Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a spiritual leader of Hezbollah, “considered me his son” and the two met whenever he traveled to Lebanon. Qazwini’s mosque held a memorial service for him when Fadlallah died in 2010.

http://www.investigativeproject.org/4975/the-iran-nuclear-deal-islamist-supporters#
In a 2004 speech that is still publicly available on his personal website under "Speeches/Friday Sermons," Qazwini praised Shia Muslims for "carrying the banner of resistance against the evil forces in the Muslim ummah" and claimed "that the majority of Muslim governments have submitted to the will of the United States and the Zionists."
Qazwini has also proclaimed the supremacy of Sharia over Western law: "You have to respect the laws of the land in which  you live, however  when it comes to a point where Allah is publically being disobeyed or challenged, then you should have no respect to any law. Allah's law comes first... Allah comes first, no government comes before Allah ..."



============

Anti-semite speaker William Baker at a Shia mosque (May 2005)

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2005-04-14/news/0504140226_1_anti-semitic-baker-s-history-william-baker
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2005-05-07/news/0505060634_1_speaker-islamic-muhammad 
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2005-05-01/news/0505010137_1_baker-s-message-jewish-leaders-william-baker 
May 1, 2005:  The imam of the Boca Raton-based mosque said he invited William Baker, president and founder of Christians and Muslims for Peace, to the celebration of the prophet Muhammad's birth because of CAMP's message, not Baker's controversial politics.
"This program is not intended to disparage the Jewish community," Imam Sayed Mohammad Jawad Al-Qazwini said. "He will speak about Islam and Christians ... bridging the gap between all communities. He will not be speaking about political issues."
A South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter was not permitted to hear Baker speak. According to CAMP's Web site, its "goal is to promote peace and understanding between Christians and Muslims throughout the world with the hope of preventing future conflicts."
But to those standing on the curb outside the Boca Marriott Hotel Saturday evening, Baker's message is not peaceful.
"If you read what this William Baker said it's not touchy-feely, nice stuff," Boynton Beach resident Joan Baron said amid signs reading, "Hate is Hate. Nazi or Muslim."
Baker has several self-published books that some Jewish leaders say are filled with anti-Jewish and anti-Israel rhetoric. He also chaired the Populist Party, which nominated former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke for president and was founded by a Holocaust denier.
Al-Qazwini, the mosque's spiritual leader, said he did not know about Baker's controversial past when he invited Baker.
He considered canceling but decided against it with the understanding that Baker speak only about religion.
May 10, 2005:"I'd like someone to show me one quote from him where he was disrespectful of the Jewish faith," Al-Qazwini said.
He was unimpressed when told that in a 1983 speech, Baker said he hated visiting New York City because it is filled with "pushy, belligerent American Jews."
"That's not about the Jewish faith," Al-Qazwini said.
He said he wouldn't be offended if someone branded him a "towel head" because he wears a turban.
"I would take that as a humorous remark," he said. "But if you say my prophet Mohammed is a liar or a terrorist, that is offensive."
Such hair-splitting stuns many Jewish leaders and even some Muslims, who said they would take offense at being called "towel heads."
Hate is hate, Jewish leaders said. And, they add, it's one thing to invite a speaker who finds Jews pushy and quite another to invite one who denies the Holocaust and who has written books, as Baker has, calling for the destruction of the "Zionist state."
Since the early 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church has said there is no way to separate talk of Jewish people and Israel, said Rabbi Richard Yellin, of Temple Emeth in Delray Beach.
"Anti-Zionism is against the Jewish people," he said. Holocaust denial, he said, "is an act against the whole of Jewish people. Anyone who questions the existence of the Holocaust is anathema to civilization."
Despite lingering controversy over Baker's visit, Al-Qazwini said he is not deterred from his mission to find property to establish a school, a mosque and community center for his congregation, which already numbers nearly 500. He said he is eager to reach out to Jewish leaders.
He has met with Bill Gralnick, regional director of the American Jewish Committee, who was sharply critical of Baker's visit.
"I left them on a good note, and I will pursue my relationship with them," Al-Qazwini said.
Gralnick, who said he was impressed with the young imam's intelligence, indicated that Baker's visit had clouded efforts to work together.
"I'm not one to burn bridges," he said. "But the bridge is a little on the shaky side."

=====================

http://www.cbn.com/tv/1340858133001?mobile=false
http://www.hindunet.org/hvk/articles/0106/65.html
January 10, 2006: For many in Dearborn, Michigan, a heavily Arab and Muslim suburb of Detroit, Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi is a true American-Muslim success story.  A native of Iran, Elahi worked for the Iranian Navy, and was wounded by Saddam Hussein's forces during the Iran/Iraq War in the 1980s. He arrived in the U.S. in 1991, and he is now an American citizen.  "When I took the American citizenship and took the vows associated with loyalty to this country, I meant it. So I'm not [an] ambassador of Iran or any other country," Elahi said.  Elahi meets frequently with Michigan Jewish and Christian leaders and political figures. He also speaks at various U.N. events, and has even met with former President Bill Clinton. But most of his time is spent at the Islamic House of Wisdom, a popular mosque located just outside Dearborn.
......
Osama Siblani publishes the Arab-American News. Based in Dearborn, it is the largest Arab-American newspaper in the United States.  Siblani said, "Imam Elahi is not a radical imam. If people call Imam Elahi a radical imam, they have not seen radicalism, apparently."  Siblani said Elahi merely reflects the views of his constituents in Dearborn. Views like this, on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "It's a genocide against the Palestinians--I am telling you this," Siblani asserted. "I am not Imam Elahi, and I am telling you that what the Israelis are doing against the Palestinians is genocide."  Was it even worse than the Holocaust? Yes, Siblani affirms, "It is worse than the Holocaust, of course."  When asked if Hezbollah is a terrorist group, Siblani replies, "No, They are not terrorists. Absolutely not. No. They are freedom fighters."  And what about Hamas? "Freedom fighters as well," Siblani said.


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-07-27/news/0607270148_1_hezbollah-israeli-terrorist-organization
July 27, 2006: Community leaders estimate there are 35,000 Arab-Americans in Dearborn out of 100,000 residents. Of the Arabs, they say, up to 80 percent are Lebanese-Americans, and 90 percent of them are Shiite Muslims from southern Lebanon. The remainder are Sunni, Christian or secular, they say.
....
community leaders say Lebanese-Americans are not supporting terrorism against the United States. Even though the U.S. government has linked Hezbollah with the deadly attack on the Marine barracks and the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in the 1980s, Hezbollah has never attacked America at home, they argue, and has shown no interest in doing so.
And while they encourage the FBI to investigate credible threats against U.S. targets, activists in Dearborn say there is a wide gulf between their expressions of free speech and the fanaticism of terrorists planning attacks.
Still, U.S. law enforcement looks askance at those who lean pro-Hezbollah, they say, even though Dearborn-area residents are intensely proud Americans.


http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0814/046.html
July 28, 2006: "Iran is the biggest patron of Hezbollah, delivering $100 million or so a year to the terrorists, according to Senate testimony from Matthew Levitt, now a Treasury Department official. But like any enterprising criminal organization, the Party of God has worked hard to diversify its cash sources. The feds have long suspected it has profited from blood diamonds out of Africa, operating through expatriate Lebanese. It also turns out there are important financial channels right here in the States.
The money comes from, among other sources, illicit trade in tobacco and controlled substances. Last month Imad Hamadeh of Dearborn Heights, Mich. and Theodore Schenk of Miami Beach pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges over their involvement in a cigarette-smuggling gang that avoided $20 million in sales taxes. According to federal prosecutors, the ring was also engaged in diverting funds to Hezbollah.
Hamadeh and Schenk were part of a much larger group. A federal indictment of 18 men unsealed in March charged that the gang spent eight years moving smokes from low-tax and untaxed jurisdictions, like North Carolina and Indian reservations, into high-tax Michigan and New York. Prosecutors say the smugglers had ties “with upper echelon Hezbollah officials” and often charged customers a “resistance tax,” in effect, a terrorist fee levied on top of the black-market price. The indictment says that the group also traded in counterfeit Viagra and stolen infant formula and that “portions of the profits made from the illegal enterprise were given to Hezbollah.” One leader of the ring, Hassan Makki, made calls to Lebanon and Iran to clear his activities with higher-ups. He pleaded guilty in 2003 to materially supporting Hezbollah. Eight other members will stand trial in January. “It has nothing to do with terrorism,” says lawyer James W. Burdick, who points out that his client, Majid Hammoud, has been released on his own recognizance. Eight others are still at large in Canada or in Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries.
Federal prosecutors in Michigan say Hezbollah gets more support in their area than any other Mideast terrorist group. That may have drawn Mahmoud Kourani, a Hezbollah money man, to Dearborn, Mich. after slipping into the U.S. illegally through the Mexican border. The brother of a Hezbollah general, Kourani hosted fundraisers for the Party of God before he pleaded guilty last year to materially supporting the group. He will be deported after he finishes a 54-month prison sentence.
The feds recently went after Talal Chahine, owner of a Detroit-area restaurant chain, for hiding $16 million from the taxman. Court documents say Chahine fled to Lebanon last September and allege that he has “connections at the highest levels of the foreign terrorist organization, Hezbollah.” As evidence, color photos of Chahine sitting next to Sheikh Mohammad Fadlallah, a spiritual leader on the Treasury Department’s terrorist-support list, have been filed with the federal court in Detroit. The allegation of a Hezbollah connection is “without merit,” says Robert Forrest, Chahine’s lawyer. “It’s a tax-evasion prosecution that happens to involve an Arab-American.” In a separate federal case Naji Khalil pleaded guilty in August 2005 to attempting to support Hezbollah after being caught in New York City trying to ship night-vision goggles to Hezbollah and laundering money through a Lebanese bank.
Like the Mafia of old, Hezbollah also gets its hands dirty with drug trafficking, some of it here in the U.S. The Drug Enforcement Administration busted a pseudoephedrine ring in 2002, claiming that it funneled cash to Hezbollah.
South America is a viper’s nest of terrorist financing. Last year Rady Zaiter, a Lebanese citizen, was arrested in Colombia for allegedly heading a cocaine smuggling outfit in Ecuador that sent most of its profits to Hezbollah. The Party of God gets $10 million a year from the area where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet, says a U.S. Naval War College report. Paraguay arrested Ali Mehri in 2001 for peddling pirated CDs and for being linked to Hezbollah, but he escaped. One lucky nab: Assad Barakat, a Hezbollah treasurer known for extracting protection money from Lebanese shopkeepers in South America hoping to keep their relatives back home safe from harm. Barakat was sentenced to six and a half years in a Paraguay jail."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5627457
August 8, 2006: Most Arab-Americans are Christians. But in Dearborn, the majority are Shiite Muslims from southern Lebanon and Iraq. It's not uncommon to see fully covered women strolling down the sidewalks.  The Islamic Center in Dearborn is the largest Shiite mosque in the country.
......
Daily protests occur in Dearborn. At one recent demonstration, organized by the Congress of Arab-Americans, about 1,000 people attended. College-age men asked, in call and response fashion, "Who is your army?" Protestors responded: "Hezbollah." "Who is your leader?" they were asked. "Nasrallah," the chanters responded. Many carried placards of the Hezbollah leader. A few days earlier at an even larger demonstration, more than 15,000 turned out, about half of Dearborn's Arab community.  Those who regularly attend the demonstrations tend to be the most strident.  "Oh, Jews, remember Khaibar," the marchers chant. "The army of the Prophet will return."
The line is a reference to Khaibar, a Jewish town north of Medina that, according to Islamic tradition, was overtaken by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. Once defeated, the surviving Jews of Khaibar were forced into serfdom. Two decades later, they were expelled from the Arabian peninsula.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-09-24-muslim-tension_N.htm
Sep 24, 2007: •Shiite mosques and businesses in the Detroit area were vandalized in January, and a Shiite restaurant owner said he'd received a threatening call mentioning his sect.
Authorities have yet to identify the vandals. But some Shiite Muslims told local news media they believe Sunnis were behind the broken windows and graffiti because Shiites had celebrated publicly when former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, was executed in December by Iraq's Shiite-led government.
•On several Muslim websites in recent months, Sunnis and Shiites from Seattle to Manhattan have traded accusations that they have been rebuffed from worshiping at each other's mosques.
Meanwhile, a small Sunni group known as the Islamic Thinkers Society, which has branded Shiites as heretics and is known for distributing provocative leaflets in New York's Times Square, has gone online to urge its followers to "avoid" contact with a range of Islamic studies scholars and theologians, several at U.S. colleges.
•Muslim Student Associations on a few campuses, such as Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., and the University of Michigan at Dearborn, have disagreed so vehemently over which sect could lead prayers that students sometimes have refused to pray together.
The factionalism on those campuses has cooled recently, but many observers worry it could return. They say it's partly a reflection of the rising numbers of Muslim students. "If you have nine Muslims in one MSA, they have to get along," says Muslim sociologist Eboo Patel, 31, of Chicago. "If you have 90, there's enough to break into splinter groups."
Other Muslim activists, scholars and imams, who lead the important Friday communal prayers in the nation's 1,000 mosques, agree that the episodes partly reflect their community's growth and diversity in America.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/06/24/lebanese-man-says-judge-in-terrorism-case-cant-be-fair-because-jewish.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3560072,00.html
June 24, 2008: DETROIT –  A judge rejected a Lebanese-born defendant's request that he remove himself from a case involving terrorism because the judge is Jewish.  Fawzi Mustapha Assi, 48, has pleaded guilty to providing support for a terrorist group. He addressed the court Monday against the advice of his attorney, saying he heard rumors that U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen is a Zionist and might have pro-Israel sympathies.  Assi said he was concerned the judge could not be impartial when sentencing him for supporting "one of the most hated enemies of the state of Israel."  Rosen said Assi's request was "a little late" and that the court "has bent over backwards" to ensure fairness.  Assi, a former resident of Dearborn, was arrested in 1998 when he tried to board a plane to Lebanon with visual and navigational equipment for Hezbollah. He pleaded guilty in November 2007.  Sentencing is expected within eight weeks.


https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nownews/man_sentenced_for_attempting_to_smuggle_equipment_to_hezbollah
Dec 14, 2008: The US newspaper, The Detroit News, reported on Saturday that a former Ford Motor Company engineer, who was caught trying to smuggle global positioning satellite equipment and other materials to Hezbollah, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a US federal judge on Friday.
Fawzi Mustapha Assi, who was charged with providing support to terrorists in 1998 and pleaded guilty last year, has been in custody since May 2004 and will receive credit for the time he has served, U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen said.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=20090725&id=MmJfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XlwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6836,3891309
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/02/news/adna-american-shias2
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/07/american_shiite_muslims_strugg.html
July 19, 2009: Imam Mohammad al-Asi, a Michigan-born activist, sounded like a spokesman for the Iranian government. The Iranian protesters, he said, were aiding "the political Jews and the political Christians," the U.S. government and the Zionists, in a plot to eradicate Islam. He cited verses from the Quran that he said backed his views. Then, his voice rising, he ticked off his list of American transgressions against Muslims, from supplying Israel with bombs to building U.S. military bases in Islamic countries. "Can't you see the shaytani character of the U.S. government?" al-Asi demanded, using the Arabic word for "satanic."
......
Al-Asi spoke at the annual meeting of the Muslim Congress, a Houston-based group that largely looks to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran's ruling religious establishment as their highest religious authority.
The congress, which first met in 2005 with about 400 people, this year attracted more than 1,200 people over the July 4th weekend to Dearborn, considered the heart of Shiism in the U.S.
On another side of the Shia divide is the Universal Muslim Association of America. Formed in 2002, it seeks full participation in U.S. democracy and broader society. Its leaders generally consider Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a moderate from Najaf, Iraq, their religious authority.
......
Like religiously observant Muslims from other streams of Islam, some Shia immigrants disagree over whether they should become U.S. citizens or vote. They appreciate American freedom and economic opportunity, but resent U.S. policy in the Mideast, and consider liberal American culture a threat to their traditions. Some regard Islamic law -- Shariah -- as the only legitimate system, and say Western democracy has no place in Islam. While immigrant Sunnis haven't fully settled the issue for themselves, many of their leaders, such as those from the Islamic Society of North America, have consistently promoted interfaith outreach and active citizenship, especially since the Sept. 11 attacks. With no unifying religious leader or strong national organization, Shias are a beat behind.
......
"Shias, more than Sunnis, psychologically feel that 'we are the victims,'" said Abdulaziz Sachedina, a University of Virginia professor and expert on Shiism.
That sense of being under siege from enemies pervaded the Muslim Congress, where turbaned clerics in flowing robes set a strict religious tone. Islamic dress was required at all times, and "just wearing a small hijab (veil) is not Islamic attire," one speaker warned. Most of the women wore tunics and tight-fitting headscarves that covered their necks up to their chins. Organizers put men and women in separate dining halls. The event was in an upscale hotel that caters to business executives visiting the nearby headquarters of Ford Motor Co. The few other hotel guests celebrated the holiday in shorts and T-shirts.
The gathering occurred just a few miles away from the moderate Islamic Center of America, considered the most influential Shia mosque in the country. Its interfaith outreach director, Eide Alawan, said he was appalled by the approach of the congress. The mosque is led by the prominent Imam Hassan al-Qazwini who did not participate in the event.
Among the lecturers at the event was Imam Abdul Alim Musa of Washington, who distributed fliers calling the U.S. government "Zionist occupied" and the FBI the "Gestapo." He accused U.S. leaders of fabricating a Muslim threat to national security so Americans could stop the global spread of Islam. An African-American civil rights activist, Musa said he converted to Islam while incarcerated in Leavenworth, Kan., federal prison.
Sheikh Abbas Ayleya, a Muslim Congress board member and lead scholar at the Zainab Center in Seattle, told the audience, "There is no room for pluralism in Islam. It is un-Quranic." Another Muslim Congress board member, Sheik Mohammad Baig, ended an interview when pressed about whether Shias should vote in American elections. "That's up to the people," he said, rising and walking away. Baig leads a mosque in Tampa, Fla., with a seminary guided by the theory that religious scholars should rule Islamic nations -- the principle behind the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran which remains the basis for the Iranian regime.
Event organizers did hold a workshop on interfaith outreach led by a moderate imam. But many attendees seemed sympathetic to the message that Shias should stick with their own. "We think the people in the United States need to realize that Islam is the upgrade from Christianity," said Abdullah Rezah, 29, a U.S. born-Iranian from the Pacific Northwest, who rubbed a string of prayer beads as he walked through the meeting. "The original Christians became Christians for one reason: They were upgraded from Judaism."

https://www.fbi.gov/philadelphia/press-releases/2009/ph112409.htm
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/ten-accused-in-us-court-of-helping-to-fund-hizbollah
http://www.dawn.com/news/914882/us-accuses-10-in-hezbollah-weapons-ring
Nov 24, 2009: According to the indictment, Hassan Hodroj and Dib Hani Harb of Beirut sought to export to the Port of Latakia in Syria about 1,200 Colt M-4 machine guns in June at a price of some 1,800 dollars a piece with the help of a contact who was in fact an undercover federal agent. With the help of Hamdan and fellow Lebanese Hasan Antar Karaki, Harb is also accused of having sought to support Hezbollah using proceeds from the sale of fraudulent passports, stolen money and about 9,200 dollars in counterfeit US currency hidden inside a photo album.
Harb told the undercover agent that the genuine stolen money came from a string of robberies led by Hezbollah supporters and later smuggled into Lebanon to raise funds for the group. He also claimed that Iran manufactured high-quality counterfeit US currency for the benefit of Hezbollah, the indictment said.


Mus­lim Stu­dent Asso­ci­a­tion – Per­sian Speak­ing Group

Extract from the book "Competing Visions of Islam in the United States: A Study of Los Angeles" By Kambiz GhaneaBassiri
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9w8yBohfbgMC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=Mus%C2%ADlim+Stu%C2%ADdent+Asso%C2%ADci%C2%ADa%C2%ADtion+%E2%80%93+Per%C2%ADsian+Speak%C2%ADing+Group&source=bl&ots=Ukuvd06E6t&sig=IxuH7Dkzc9FY12MqryoqhYw6oc0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTspPV1YLMAhWHCBoKHYvxDtYQ6AEIKTAC#v=onepage&q=Mus%C2%ADlim%20Stu%C2%ADdent%20Asso%C2%ADci%C2%ADa%C2%ADtion%20%E2%80%93%20Per%C2%ADsian%20Speak%C2%ADing%20Group&f=false


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av8DJZkVNp8
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2304/virginia-imam-long-radical-record#
Sep 3, 2010: On Sept. 3, Nahidian spoke at a rally in Washington's Dupont Circle to protest Israel's control of Jerusalem. There, he said the 9/11 attacks were "not done by Muslims. It is done by the plot of the Zionists in order to justify to occupy the land of the Muslims such as Afghanistan, such as Iraq, such as Pakistan, now moving on to the rest of the areas. They plot and they scheme and no doubt God is plotting and scheming against them too."
That rally featured other speakers who claimed 9/11 was a U.S.- or Zionist-led conspiracy and was dotted with protesters carrying flags of Hizballah, the Iranian-financed terrorist movement most active in Lebanon.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJoWpgQIr58
http://www.mrctv.org/videos/gta-muslim-school-girl-praises-hezbollah-leaders-defeat-zionist-regime
In 2010, a Shia-affiliated Wali ul Asr school, located in Brampton Ontario, www.waliulasr.ca, staged a speech competition among its elementary school students. In this clip the young lady opens by denigrating Western society in a discussion on the need to wear the hijab. She concludes with praise for the Ayatollah Khomeini and Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the banned terrorist group Hezbollah. Her praise for Nasrallah focuses on his defeat of the "Zionist Regime"


http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-01-19-shiites-american_N.htm
Jan 19, 2010: Pious Shiites have seen threats to their faith from the permissive American way of life and what for many is their first experience of a non-Muslim government. Worried that voting or other civic involvement would violate Islamic law, many have opted instead to turn inward, focusing on preserving their traditions.
But the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror strikes, the war in Iraq and other world events have prompted some significant changes in the U.S. Shiite community in recent years. Shiite clerics and activists are pushing community members beyond the protective walls they built, encouraging them to fully embrace their American citizenship.
At the forefront of the effort is the nonprofit that Bahar al-Uloom helps represent, called I.M.A.M., which tells Shiites they can vote, participate in the 2010 U.S. Census and hold public office without abandoning their faith.
"In the United States, the law here is not against Islam," said Sheik Mohammed el-Ali al-Halabi, a Syrian who came to the U.S. a decade ago, sitting in his bare-bones office at I.M.A.M. "I can be a good Muslim and a good American."



http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/05/ohio_couple_plead_guilty_to_su.php
http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2011/05/24/Couple-guilty-of-assisting-terrorism-2.html
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-05-23-ohio-couple-terror-funding_n.htm
May 23, 2011: Hor and Amera Akl planned for a year to send up to $1 million for Hezbollah, the Lebanese group the U.S. government lists as a terrorist organization and blames for numerous attacks on Israel, federal prosecutors said. An FBI informant provided them with $200,000 for the first shipment that was to be hidden in an SUV before they were arrested last June, the government said. The Akls, dual citizens of the United States and Lebanon, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Hor Akl also pleaded guilty to money laundering, bankruptcy fraud and perjury charges.


https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10223/iran-canada-us 
One of three schools run by the mysteriously well-funded Jaffari Mosque was also shut down during a 2012 hate crimes investigation. The teaching materials used by the mosque were from Iran (the Al Balagh Foundation) and from the Mostazafan Foundation of New York, which is identified as an arm of the Iranian government. Among its teachings, the mosque's school suggested that boys should play sports so they can be "physically be ready for jihad whenever the time comes for it." Girls, on the other hand, were told that they should "stick to hobbies that prepare them to become wives and mothers."



https://clarionproject.org/canadian-muslim-rights-activist-caught-hezbollah-weapons-smuggling-scheme-36/ 
15 July 2012:
A Canadian Muslim became the first woman to be charged with supporting foreign terrorism, a violation of a law enacted after Sept. 11, 2001. An investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found Mouna Diab, 26, was involved in a scheme to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Diab had previously been arrested at Montreal’s Trudeau airport for violating an international arms embargo against Lebanon when parts of AR-15 assault rifles were found broken down in her luggage. 
Police say her most recent crime is far more serious, however. If convicted, she could face a life sentence.
Ironically, Diab had a reputation as a community activist who fought the stereotyping of Muslims. When a small town in Quebec made an “immigrant code,” Diab was part of a Muslim delegation dispatched to the town to dispel “misconceptions" about Muslims. The city code said it welcomed immigrants but forbade the stoning and burning of women, female genital mutilation and the covering of faces. The code also stated that men and women were equal; drinking alcohol, listening to music and trimming a Christmas tree were activities that were allowed.
The National Post reports that “The Hezbollah presence in Canada goes back at least two decades. In 1993, a Hezbollah member named Mohamed Hussein Al Husseini told the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that Hezbollah had operatives in all of Canada. Several senior Hezbollah members are alleged to be Canadians, including Faouzi Ayoub, a former Toronto man who took part in a hijacking and was added to the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list last July.
“Militaristic Hezbollah flags have appeared at demonstrations in Toronto and Montreal as recently as last August, and in 2007, members of Windsor’s Lebanese community erected a commercial billboard featuring Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah. It was taken down following complaints.”
On Friday Canadian Minister Vic Toews said that the government was working with international partners “to ensure that Canada will not be a source of weapons or other resources for groups or individuals associated with terrorism.”
Before her arrest, Mouna Diab was vice-president of the Association of Young Lebanese Muslims.






http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/09/10/south-bay-man-arrested-in-mexico-along-with-members-of-hezbollah/
Sep 10, 2012: The FBI confirmed Monday that a man who led a South Bay mosque has been arrested in Mexico on a parole violation and is in federal custody.  According to the FBI, Rafic Labboun was arrested over the weekend along with two known agents from the terrorist organization Hezbollah. He was transported to a prison in Houston and made a brief court appearance on Monday.  A judge ordered Labboun to be returned to the Bay Area.  Labboun was a once prominent Northern California Muslim leader and was an imam with the Shia Association of Bay Area (SABA) in San Jose.
“It was determined that he was wanted out of a district of California for a probation violation,” San Francisco FBI spokesperson Julianne Sohn said. Labboun was arrested along with two known Hezbollah members in Merida, the capital city of Mexico’s Yucatan state. This summer, Labboun was released from federal prison, where he served 27 months for credit card fraud. Authorities said several companies were defrauded of a combined $100,000. At the time, authorities thought the fraud was linked to a money laundering operation for Hezbollah in the United States.

Sep 24, 2012: Pro­test­ers at the Hous­ton rally, which was co-sponsored by the Islamic Edu­ca­tion Cen­ter (IEC), a Houston-based Shi’a mosque and pri­vate school with a record of employ­ingstereo­typ­i­cal anti-Semitic nar­ra­tives in its pub­li­ca­tions, held a ban­ner that read: “Insult of Islam = Free­dom of Speech? Inquiry on Holo­caust= Anti­semitism? Dou­ble Stan­dards!” Pro­test­ers also chanted slo­gans blam­ing Zion­ists for the film’s pro­duc­tion and held posters with “Yes to Moses, Yes To Jesus, Yes to Muham­mad, No to Zion­ism” writ­ten on them.
Although they were billed as “peace­ful protests” to “honor Divine Prophets, includ­ing Abra­ham, Moses, Jesus and Muham­mad,” a Mus­lim Con­gress press release issued after the events called the film “a by-product of a cul­ture cre­ated by … war-profiteers, and the Zion­ist lobby.”
The same release included a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for lim­its on free­dom of speech and asked for “all Amer­i­cans of faith [to] stand together against the plans of the Zion­ist to dis­unite us, as the Zion­ists respect nei­ther Judaism, Chris­tian­ity or Islam.”
The Mus­lim Con­gress has reg­u­larly fea­tured anti-Semitic speak­ers such as Abdul Alim Musa of the extrem­ist As-Sabiqun group and Moham­mad al-Asi at its annual conventions.
Sim­i­lar to the protest in Hous­ton, pro­test­ers in front of the Los Ange­les Fed­eral Build­ing held up posters denounc­ing the film and blam­ing the vio­lence seen in sev­eral Mid­dle East­ern coun­tries on Zion­ism. One poster read, “Yes to Torah, Yes to Bible, Yes to Quran, No to Zionism.”
PressTV, the Iran­ian government’s pri­mary medium for pro­mot­ing anti-Semitic con­spir­acy the­o­ries to English-speaking coun­tries, described the Los Ange­les protest as a reac­tion to the anti-Islam film pro­duced “thanks to Jew­ish dona­tions total­ing USD five million.”
The false claim that the film was the work of an “Israeli Jew” ini­tially spread when the film­maker said in inter­views that his project had 100 Jew­ish back­ers who had invested $5 mil­lion to pro­duce it. It was later revealed that the film was cre­ated, pro­duced and pro­moted by sev­eral Chris­t­ian anti-Muslim activists con­nected to a net­work of anti-Muslim organizations.





https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/shiite-muslims-quietly-establish-a-foothold-in-us/2012/10/02/f21dc568-0cd6-11e2-ba6c-07bd866eb71a_story.html
Oct 2, 2012: "As their numbers grow, Shiites are increasingly divided themselves, often according to the different religious scholars they follow overseas. Not long after the Shiite center in Quincy was founded, some of the more conservative members objected that males and females were not segregated, and founded yet another center in Boston."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqiFkRKw-zI
http://knightnews.com/2012/12/ucf-muslim-group-respond-to-video-jewish-students-call-anti-semitic/
http://knightnews.com/2012/11/speaker-hosted-at-ucf-causing-uproar-among-jewish-students/
Nov 29, 2012:  On Nov. 17, the Ahlul-Bayt Islamic Society invited Sheikh Jaffer Ladak to UCF to speak on Islam and Anthropology. Some of his comments, however, have supporters of Israel offended and demanding action take place by UCF against hate speech and discrimination. 
“We are considered Homosapiens, although I will say there are some who have probably, you know, gone backwards, and are more Neanderthal in their thinking, their from Mars, or probably from the state of Israel,” Sheikh Jaffer Ladak said in the video. “That’s why I don’t want this being recorded. I’ll never be allowed back in the states.”


http://blog.adl.org/international/hassan-allahyari-san-diego-tv-anti-semitism 
January 8, 2014: Ahl-e-Bait TV, a San Diego-based Islamist satel­lite sta­tion fix­ated on attack­ing main­stream Sunni Islam, has been pro­mot­ing con­spir­a­cies that include anti-Semitic alle­ga­tions of a Sunni-Jewish alliance.
....
The sta­tion, report­edly founded in 2009, has seen its pop­u­lar­ity grow in the Arab and Mus­lim world as a result of its provoca­tive mes­sages, which can be accessed through mul­ti­ple online plat­forms as well.
The bulk of the station’s broad­cast fea­tures live dis­cus­sions between callers from the Mus­lim and Arab world and the California-based Sheik Has­san Allah­yari, a Shi’a cleric orig­i­nally from Afghanistan whose reli­gious views and pub­lic crit­i­cism of promi­nent Mus­lim fig­ures has increased his pro­file in the Mus­lim world in recent years.
In an episode that was posted online on Decem­ber 13, 2013, Allah­yari accused one of the most revered Sunni fig­ures, the sec­ond Mus­lim Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab, of sup­port­ing Jews. Allah­yari said, “This man [Umar ibn Al-Khattab] deeply loves the Jew­ish nar­ra­tives and the satir­i­cal reli­gious sto­ries and hereti­cal lies which Jews claim about sev­eral of God’s prophets, such as Joseph, Lot and Abra­ham.” Allah­yari also sug­gested that ibn Al-Khattab loves “the fal­si­fied Torah” and that he was mar­ried to a Jew­ish genie.  
In a live dis­cus­sion in Novem­ber with a caller from Alge­ria about ibn Al-Khattab’s deci­sion to allow Jews to remain in their homes fol­low­ing the Mus­lim con­quest of Jerusalem, Allah­yari accused ibn Al-Khattab of “serv­ing the Jews by let­ting them live in Pales­tine.” Allah­yari added that Umar ibn Al-Khattab pre­ceded con­tem­po­rary Israeli lead­ers in the effort to estab­lish a Jew­ish pres­ence in Palestine.
Although the station’s pri­mary tar­get is gen­er­ally Sunni Mus­lims, Ahl-e-Bait TV has also attacked Chris­tians, Jews and other Shi’a Mus­lims in the past who dis­agree with their views. In a March 9, 2012 broad­cast, for exam­ple Allah­yari ridiculed an Iran­ian Chris­t­ian caller for believ­ing in the trin­ity. Allah­yari con­cluded his con­ver­sa­tion with the caller by telling him, “If you had any intel­li­gence, you wouldn’t be a Christian.”Allahyari has also attacked con­tem­po­rary Sunni states for seek­ing sup­port from Chris­tians and Jews in their con­flicts, claim­ing that Saudi Ara­bia forged alliances with Jews and Amer­ica against Sad­dam Hus­sein dur­ing the 1991 Gulf War."


http://en.abna24.com/service/important/archive/2014/05/28/611813/story.html
http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.595668
http://www.businessinsider.com/canadian-hezbollah-commander-killed-in-syria-2014-5?IR=T
http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2014/06/10/news/doc539742bd962d9472168572.txt
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canadian-terrorist-who-was-a-senior-hezbollah-member-killed-by-syrian-rebels 
May 16, 2014: TORONTO — Fawzi Ayoub was a hijacker, international terrorist operative and senior member of Hezbollah. He was also a naturalized Canadian citizen, but on Monday Lebanese media reported he was dead, killed in an ambush by Syrian rebels.
The 48-year-old former Toronto supermarket employee, who rose through the ranks of Hezbollah despite his tendency for getting arrested before completing his missions, was declared a “martyr” on a Facebook page filled with photos of him in battle fatigues.
The Lebanese-Canadian had been on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list since 2009, when he was indicted for using a false American passport to enter Israel “for the purpose of conducting a bombing” for Hezbollah, according to his wanted notice.
While several Canadian jihadists have died over the past year while fighting to topple President Bashar Al-Assad, Ayoub is the first known to have lost his life defending the dictator. He was reportedly killed in Aleppo on Sunday by the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.


http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/news/id_8464/FBI-arrests-local-man-for-alleged-Hizbullah-ties,-family-speaks-out.html
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4318/dearborn-man-arrested-trying-to-join-hizballah
May 18, 2014: A Dearborn resident was arrested Sunday night and charged with providing material support to the Shi'ite terrorist group Hizballah.
Mohammad Hassan Hamdan, who was born in Lebanon and has been living in the United States since 2007, tried to travel to Syria to fight alongside Hizballah fighters in the civil war that has been raging there for the last three years.
According the complaint, Hamdan told an FBI informant around Christmas that he wanted to go to Syria to fight with Hizballah. He couldn't leave yet because his sister took away his Lebanese passport to prevent him from going overseas to wage jihad. Hamdan, a permanent U.S. resident, applied for naturalization as an American citizen. He also applied for a new Lebanese passport.
...
Hamdan claimed to have been active with Hizballah before coming to America, the complaint said. That included the terrorist group's 2006 war with Israel. He told the informant he received military training and worked with Hizballah's public assistance programs. He did not disclose this in his U.S. immigration papers.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/259928/boca-hezbollah-imam-praises-louis-farrakhan-joe-kaufman
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6981
June 3, 2015: From the time the American Islamic Center of Florida (AICF) was founded, there have been three imams leading it. The latest has been Mohamad al-Ali al-Halabi, a radical cleric who was born and raised in Syria and received his Islamic education in Iran beginning in 1987.
Since immigrating to the United States in 1999, Al-Halabi has become a very important figure in the American Shiite community. He is the head of the Education and Research Department of the Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya (IMAM), and he sits on the Executive Committee for the Council of Shia Muslim Scholars in North America (CSMSNA).
On al-Halabi's Facebook page, there are a number of disturbing posts.
This past March, al-Halabi posted a video of virulent anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan [3], praising Farrakhan, stating "This man is a brave one." In the video, Farrakhan denounces America as a corrupt nation with blood on its hands. In another video al-Halabi posted, in September 2014, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, refers to America as the "mother of terrorism" and the source of all terrorism in the world. Of this video, al-Halabi wrote, "Nice words." Al-Halabi further posted different videos from Hezbollah's television station, al-Manar.
Being that al-Halabi grew up in Syria, one would think that he would recognize the terror and devastation that Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad, has unleashed against his own people. Over 100,000 Syrian civilians have been killed at the hands of those loyal to the Assad regime. Yet, al-Halabi seems to be a big fan of Assad, posting a number of Assad propaganda pieces to his Facebook page. When Assad stated that the US only claims to fight terror and instead funds and arms ISIS, al-Halabi wrote of it, "Good points."
In October 2012, al-Halabi posted a graphic on his Facebook page linking to a heavily anti-Semitic video [3], titled ‘Iran Bashing, Terrorism and Who Chose the Chosen People, Anyway?'
The video suggests that Jews will deliberately commit crimes against the US knowing they will be protected by "the Zionist-controlled Main Street Media;" that the US itself is controlled by Zionists; and that Jews are conspiring to hide certain details about the Holocaust which they do not want "the un-chosen people" to know about.
The video doesn't just attack Jews. It also explicitly targets America. The video claims that, regarding sanctions placed on Iraq in the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, "long before the events of 9/11, the United States led an act of international terrorism which is almost beyond belief."


http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-drugs-hezbollah-idUSKCN0VB05A
http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-us-arrests-hezbollah-members-on-charges-of-sending-drug-money-to-syria-2016-2?r=US&IR=T
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2016/Feb-02/335174-us-arrests-hezbollah-members-on-charges-of-sending-drug-money-to-syria.ashx
Feb 1, 2016: WASHINGTON: Members of Hezbollah were arrested on charges that they used millions of dollars from the sale of cocaine in the United States and Europe to purchase weapons in Syria, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said Monday.  Hezbollah has sent fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad in the country's almost five-year-old civil war. It is designated a terrorist organization by the United States.  Those arrested include leaders of the network's European cell, who were taken into custody last week, the DEA statement said. Among them was Mohammad Noureddine, who the DEA accuses of being a Lebanese money launderer for Hezbollah's financial arm.  The United States has labeled Noureddine a specially designated global terrorist, it said.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBlwxqqAprQ
http://www.watermarkonline.com/2016/03/25/anti-gay-preacher-set-speak-orlando/
April 16, 2016:  “When is the death sentence given? It’s when they kill the souls of at least four people by doing the act in public,” Sekaleshfar said in a 2013 discussion at the University of Michigan in Dearborn titled “Islam and Homosexuality.”  “If you are to die, you will sin less, and with this sentence you will be forgiven and you won’t be accountable for the behavior,” said Sekaleshfar.  “Given Dr. Sekaleshfar’s extensive background in bioethics and Islamic spirituality, we have invited him to share his views and research,” Husseini Islamic Center secretary Imran Pirmohamed told Watermark via email. They have yet to clarify whether or not they endorse their Sekaleshfar’s views that gays be killed.  The Center is located at 5211 Hester Ave in Sanford.


http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2016/08/15/dearborn-man-fix-teeth-terror/88797544/
August 15, 2016:
Detroit — A Dearborn man pleaded guilty Monday to lying about his plans to travel to Lebanon, which included intentions to fight for Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist group.
Mohammad Hassan Hamdan, 24, admitted he initially lied in March 2014 when he told federal agents he was going to Lebanon to “get his teeth fixed,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hamdan was arrested before boarding a flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. On Monday, he admitted telling an FBI confidential source he was going to Lebanon to join Hezbollah and fight in Syria, according to prosecutors.
Before trying to board the flight, Hamdan packed up all of his possessions, gave his car to a relative and sold his house, prosecutors said.
Hamdan will be sentenced Nov. 14 and could face more than five years in federal prison.
“It is illegal to lie to federal agents because false statements undermine their ability to investigate crime,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a statement.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Detroit.
“This investigation demonstrates the real threat of individuals residing in the United States who want to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization and threat to our national security,” said David Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit office, in a statement.

https://www.facebook.com/WalidPhares/posts/10154354967720239
http://elaph.com/Web/News/2016/10/1112019.html
30 Sep 2016: [Shia] Imam in Detroit: "We stand with Trump because we lost hope in US policy towards the Middle East"  
An Islamic Imam who participated in a large popular rally in Detroit along with a number of Mideast American leaders including Muslims and Christians, and who met with Donald J. Trump at the rally told Elaph that "we are backing Trump because of two matters. We want to push back against radical Islamists, Shia and Sunni, and build bridges with moderates. And the other matter is to reform the economy of this country to make it accessible to middle class."
Sheikh Mohammed el Haj Hassan was born in Lebanon and emigrated to the United States where he leads a moderate group of Muslims and now has become a board member of the Middle East Americans for Trump.


Sep 30, 2016: Shia Imam, MidEastern Christians at Trump rally Large numbers of Mideast American leaders including Shia,...





http://www.freep.com/story/news/2017/09/14/f-2-minnesota-moms-indicted-genital-cutting-case-they-gave-doctor-their-blessings-cut-their-daughter/667482001/ 
14 Sep 2017: 2 #Dawoodi #Bohra moms charged in genital cutting case; gave doctor their blessings to cut daughters



 
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265756/hamas-linked-cair-holds-event-hezbollah-imam-joe-kaufman

This past August, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sponsored a roundtable event featuring a meal at the American Islamic Center of Florida (AICF) located in Pompano Beach, Florida. Representing CAIR was the group’s Regional Operations Director, Nezar Hamze. Representing the mosque was its imam, Mohamad al-Ali al-Halabi, aka Mohamad al-Fouani. It was an interesting dynamic, given the background of the two, Hamze being from a group associated with Hamas and al-Halabi being a devotee of Hezbollah.
...
Al-Halabi’s association with Hezbollah continues to this day, as he has family involved with the terror group. This includes a favorite nephew, Ahmed Ali Haji, aka Ahmed HD, located in Damascus, Syria. When Ali Haji proclaimed his membership in Hezbollah, in February 2015, while posting a photo on his Facebook page containing a large Hezbollah logo and a militant aiming a rifle, under the photo, al-Halabi commented in Arabic, “May God protect you and grant you victory...”
Al-Halabi has used his own Facebook page to promote Hezbollah, displaying a number of Hezbollah videos. In September 2014, al-Halabi posted a video of a speech made by Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah. In his speech, Nasrallah refers to America as the “mother of terrorism” and the source of all terrorism in the world. Of this video, al-Halabi wrote, “Nice words.”



Fadlallah is more popular with the youth than other ulama because his religious edicts (fatawa) are more pragmatic and lenient. Contrary to Seestani, he allows the shaving of the beard. He argues that the ruling given by classical scholars regarding the requirement of keeping a beard has to be properly contextualized. Their edict was predicated on the need to differentiate between Muslims and Jews. This, Fadlallah says, is restricted to cases in which Muslims are in a minority and others in a majority. He further states: "It is understood from the hadith[14] that the prohibition of shaving the beard was contingent on a time-related issue at the beginning of the Islamic message."[15] Fadlallah also differs from Seestani in that he allows playing chess.[16] His liberal views can be discerned from the fact that he even allows men and women to masturbate provided it does not lead to ejaculation.[17] He also permits the viewing of pornographic material under exceptional circumstances.[18]
Fadlallah has written books that deal exclusively with youth and women, addressing issues that directly impact Muslims in the West. In his World of Our Youth, he quotes a tradition from the first Shi'i Imam 'Ali b. Abu Talib exhorting parents to raise their children based on the needs of the time. Fadlallah further calls for a re-evaluation of the traditional Muslim view on sex, saying that it is necessary to impart sex education to Muslim youths. Contrary to popular belief, he says, Islam does not regard it as dirty or an affront to a woman's dignity.
Fadlallah's discourses are bound to lead to a re-evaluation of gender issues in the West. He maintains that gender inequalities in child rearing are predicated on cultural, not religious constructs. Traditionally, he says, a girl is made to assume responsibility for the family's collective virtue in a manner that is not expected of a boy. "This kind of rearing is incorrect. Virtue is an Islamic requirement equally of the male and female. Individually, chastity is required from the boy and the girl."[19]
Fadlallah's appeal to Muslims in the West also lies in the fact that some of his views are in stark contrast to those held by the majority of the Shi'i ulama. Some ulama consider polytheists, atheists, and idolaters to be ritually impure (najas). Thus, their food cannot be consumed. Fadlallah disagrees, saying that in essence, no one is impure. The impurity, he argues, lies in matters of beliefs, not in essence.[20] Hence, he rules that even Hindus and Buddhists are ritually pure and that their food may be consumed. 
.........
The goal of Sunni movements such as the Tablighis and the Jamaat Islami is to urge Muslims to follow the sunna of the Prophet and his early companions.[24] The Shi'i experience in the West is somewhat different. Rather than proselytization through mass movements, there is a definitive emphasis on following the edicts of a marja'in American Shi'ism. This is because the marja'is viewed as the representative of the twelfth Imam in his absence.  
...
Shi'is complain that their precepts and praxis are attacked more by Sunnis than by non-Muslims. Thus, for American Shi'is, the challenge is two-fold: to ensure both that the younger generation is not assimilated to the West and that Shi'is are not influenced by anti-Shi'i rhetoric. Within the Shi'i community, there is greater concern with maintaining a distinct communal and sectarian identity than with reaching out to others. It is correct to say that the primary focus for Shi'is in America is the preservation rather than extension of their religious and spiritual boundaries.


http://www.ltakim.com/articles/Shiilawwest.htm 
"One of the most difficult rulings for Shi‘as in the West to observe is the ruling, enunciated in classical Shi‘a literature, that non-Muslims, including the people of the book, are intrinsically impure (najas). Shi‘a exegetes have interpreted verse 9:28 (Indeed the associators (mushrikun) are impure) to assert the intrinsic impurity of non-believers, including the people of the book (ahl al-kitab). For many exegetes, anyone who denies the fundamentals of Islamic beliefs (monotheism, prophecy of Muhammad and the afterlife) is classified a non-believer and hence considered impure. This includes Christians and Jews. Thus, Al-Sharif al-Murtada (d. 1044), for example, argues that non-Muslim food is prohibited on the basis of verses 6:118-121 and 9:28.32 Before the time of Al-Murtada, most scholars did not consider the people of the book as intrinsically impure.33

For Al-Murtada, and for many scholars after him, non-Muslim food, including that of the people of the book, was prohibited due to their impurity. His contemporary, Muhammad ibn Hasan Tusi (d. 1067) also links verse 9:28 with impurity. He further states that Jews and Christians are to be treated as mushriks (associators) due to their beliefs regarding Ezra and Jesus, compromising thereby the strict monotheism of Islam.34 However, as Ayatollah JannÁti has argued, many Shi‘a jurists also argued for the purity of the ahl al-kitab.35"

...... Jurists like Fadlullah and Makarim-Shirazi consider not only the people of the book but all human beings to be intrinsically pure. Clearly, many contemporary jurists have challenged the erstwhile opinions. The revision of this ruling has greatly facilitated Shi‘a interaction with the people of the book, especially when they are in a minority. The revised ruling is also an important example of how jurists have invoked various principles, enunciated in usul al-fiqh, to challenge classical legal pronouncements.
....
Most mujtahids have prohibited inter-gender handshaking. As a matter of fact, Sistani includes women shaking hands with unrelated men in a list of activities that, ‘if forced to do by her husband, justifies her leaving him and remaining entitled to full maintenance’.56 Fadlullah goes so far as to imply that the alleged haraj claimed by a questioner is nothing but intentional self-deception. Elsewhere, however, Fadlullah acknowledges the permissibility of shaking hands in ‘compelling cases’ but not otherwise. Fadlullah is asked, ‘Is it permissible to shake hands with a western woman in case of extreme embarrassment or in ordinary situations?’ to which he replies:
Shaking hands with a foreign woman is not allowed but in extremely delicate and inconvenient situations. Moreover, the believer must be very precise in judging the delicacy of a certain situation so that he won’t be driven by this permission to become lenient or indulgent as regards his religious commitment.57
The tough stance adopted by the mujtahids on the issue of hand shaking is seen by the fact that Al-Khu’i and Sistani allow it only when other possibilities – including wearing gloves or not shaking hands at all, fail.58 Most jurists have opined that it is permissible to shake hands with a member of the opposite gender only under an unusually critical situation, one that will cause extreme difficulty (al-haraj al-shadid) if one refuses to shake hands. Ayatollah Tabrizi goes even further. He states that shaking hands with the opposite gender is not allowed even under extreme circumstances since not touching the opposite gender is among the distinctive markers and an identity of Islam, something that has to be preserved whenever possible.59


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