People Wait For Tomorrow's UWS Apple Store Opening
FIT Students Busted For Drug Dealing Get Probation
Oreo The Dog Is Dead, Blame Game Is Not
Giuliani Livid Over Bringing 9/11 Trials to NYC
Digital Billboard Wreaks Havoc on Canal
Mayor Bloomberg's personal security detail was temporarily increased in recent weeks, and security officials were tracking the source of a possible threat against his life made by an American-born New Yorker and Muslim convert named Edwin Thomas. According to WNBC, intelligence officers kept tabs on the man for weeks, finding out that he had a history of mental illness and concluding that he was not capable of following through on his threats.
Police first learned of Thomas when they heard from the Al Farooq mosque on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, which the Daily News reports gained a reputation for radicalism in the 1990s and following 2001. Thomas prays at the mosque frequently and began to solicit help from other members to carry out his idea of killing Mayor Bloomberg.
Members of the mosque characterized him as a nut and notified the police of Thomas' nascent plans. Twenty-eight-year-old mosque member Mohamed Houras said Al Farooq is frequently a destination for such people: "They come in all the time. These guys go to jail, convert and then show up at the mosque with plots. They talk jihad, but they're out of their minds. Of course we call cops."
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I wish more of this "citizen muslim" stuff would get reported. Muslims have a huge PR problem and aren't such a huge part of the community in NYC that everyone has a few muslim friends. When the only thing the media reports are the brewing plots, etc, it is tough not to end up looking at muslims with suspicion.
we all work with a muslim, not all muslims have beards and look like OBL.
as another poster mentioned, most muslims are from SE Asian. and they don't have names like farooq assault, they have normal westernized sounding names.
what is with "finding" god or allah when locked up.
if these convicts found buddhism, we'd be a lot better off.
Muslims gotta stop blowing stuff up, and try blowing each other.
Well, edEx, Buddhism doesn't have a virus nature the way the monotheistic religions do. That's why.
Really, when was the last time you hear about a Buddhist blowing someone/something up, spreading intolerance, or killing someone because of their religion? It's always a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or some other. Never a Buddhist. If any religion should be the official religion of the world, it probably should be Buddhism.
Heypatrick:
While I think I get the feeling you're trying to express, How about a better idea: No "official world religion"? No national religions, no regional religions, no factional religions, no inter & intra-religious strife?
Even the Buddhists (sects, not the indivs) get pissy sometimes. When the big DL (Dalai Lama, gotta love the guy) chooses his next successor, think China won't be a little riled? How about stuff like Nichiren/Nikken/Yakuza/Ikeda stuff.
I would prefer the opium of the masses be opium.
I'm not anti-religion, just a 21st century ignorer of mysticism & deism.
Hereby nominate realism as the un-official world ideal.
Dadoc