Queens Muslim Group

NYT reports The young Muslim men, with beards and bullhorns, work the streets of Jackson Heights on the weekends. They surface at parades and protests around the city, loudly declaring America the enemy and advocating for an Islamic state. Several weeks ago, they publicly tore up an American flag as payback for the reported desecration of the Koran at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Their own videos of violence against Muslims, one with the title "Muslim Massacres," have recently appeared on Queens Public Television. In the annals of New York City's political outspokenness and fringe-group culture, the Islamic Thinkers Society may seem unremarkable at first glance. But after 9/11, in the city most damaged and unsettled by the terrorist attacks, the emergence of this young, however limited, Muslim-American voice is strikingly bold. In its fliers and on its Web site, the group describes itself as an "intellectual and political nonviolent organization," but it bears a strong resemblance to Islamist movements in England that try to unite Muslims by inciting anger. "Wake up and realize that the line has been drawn between the camp of Emaan and the camp of Kufr and there is no middle ground as of right now," reads a glossy publication by the group that is titled "Islamic Revival." In Arabic, Emaan can be translated to mean "faith" and Kufr, "disbelief."

Charles Johnson blogged Suddenly this morning, two stories appear in mainstream media about the Islamic Thinkers Society, covered two weeks ago at LGF; the first is in the New York Times, where the headline stresses the group’s claim that they are “non-violent:” Queens Muslim Group Says It Opposes Violence, and America. The second piece is in the New York Observer, telling the story of a woman who was denigrated and assaulted by this “non-violent” group of Muslim activists: Local Insurgents: ‘Islamic Thinkers’ Menace Gay NY.

Michelle Malkin blogged Lo and behold, the NYTimes profiles the Islamist flag-desecration brigade in Queens exposed a few weeks back by the intrepid Robert Spencer.

Cori Dauber blogged Play Nice - The Times covers an Islamic group in New York that, while claiming to be nonviolent, even the Times clearly finds disturbing. Yet the Times still insists on prettying things up.

In Arabic, Emaan can be translated to mean "faith" and Kufr, "disbelief."

Yeah, it can be translated that way, but given the ugliness of the rest of their rhetoric, isn't it a bit more plausible that in context they mean it as "infidel?"

I am certain there are some reasonable, peaceful Muslims, but they need to start speaking up loudly, and helping us to distinguish between them and the jihadists.