Aref Assaf
Legally insulted

An op-ed on a ploy by government lawyers to corner a Rabbi by defaming Islam.
May 16, 2008. (See published version in the Herald News)

A misstep with potentially serious ramifications unfolded during the second day of the Imam Mohammad Qatanani's immigration trial. While cross examining Rabbi David Senter, who was testifying as to his knowledge of and friendship with Imam Qatanani, the prosecutor read a statement(which after some research we found it to be  from a sermon the Imam gave in 2007 titled, "The sickness of the heart".) The gist of the sermon was to urge Muslims to have pure hearts. The quoted statement, however, spoke of how God has divided people into  righteous believers, disbelievers and hypocrites. Reliance on out of context quotations to castigate our faith has been the hallmark of many right wing pundits and self-anointed Islamophobes. It is utterly inconceivable that our own government would condone or utilize such specious tactics especially in a court of law. My gripe is not with using a relevant and specific statement or Koranic verse in such a setting but with the very notion of so irreverently diverting legal proceedings into religious bashing and xenophobic incitement.

Having read the statement, the government lawyers then asked the Rabbi if he found it discomforting that such a statement was coming from the Imam and is based on his Muslim religion. The exchange immediately caused the Imam’s attorney to object to such tactics without the proper context and to establish the fact that the matter before the court was the Imam’s residency status and not the religion of Islam.

The presiding judge acknowledged the Imam's lawyer's objection but let the Rabbi answer the question. It was a dramatic response coming from Rabbi, his voice sobbing yet intently escalating. He said that in every religion, one can easily find disagreeable words or statements, including the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Notwithstanding, such passages should never be used by anyone to condemn the followers of that faith. The Rabbi’s statement was indeed a proud moment, a triumphant rebuttal to those who seek to cause sectarian friction and disunity.

A careful examination of the sermon provides little clues as to the government intentions. One could easily deduce that the government, to use their words. was simply on "a fishing expedition" to debase the public support the Imam has received from so many interfaith leaders. Notably, all Friday sermons are available on the mosque's website. The link to the specific sermon is here. (Start time is 2:15). See transcripts below. Here is the entire Sermon in Arabic). It is clear the quotations were not the exact rendition of the Quranic verses but paraphrases used by the Imam to validate his impending argument. Listen to the sermon and tell me if you find anything wrong with the Imam’s interpretation of the Quran or his overall positive message: that hypocrisy does not lead to salvation. Which religion does not command its adherents to follow this path?

I really believe the government's plot was more menacing. By reading the statement, the government had hoped to create a wedge not only between the Rabbi and the Imam but more so between the Muslim and Jewish communities. Considering the volatile political divide that separates Muslims and Jews over Israel/Palestine, it is presumed the government lawyers were intent in instigating doubts and even distrust. It is well a documented fact that because of the two visionary individuals, New Jersey's interfaith efforts, are considered a model for other states.

It escapes no one that the Imam and the Rabbi have risked their personal reputations to forge a deeper respect for the differences but more so to celebrate the commonalties that unite the two monotheistic faiths. Both men are not without criticisms from within their rank and file for their outreach efforts. The government was arguably attempting to fuel sectarian and ethnic strife by first seeking to deport the Imam and if that failed  to ensure his important interfaith accomplishments are stifled.

The Muslim community feels disillusioned by what is happening to Imam Qatanani. He has come to symbolize every thing good and positive about the emerging community.  Its massive and public support for the Imam need to be as a reflection of the community's growing resentment of and distrust in our government's perceived intentions to shatter the achievements of the Imam. An attack on the Imam's good character is seen by many as a direct and indeed a personal insult to every member of the Muslim community and all the friends from across the ethnic and religious spectrum. We hope the court incident will not prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

We remain confident in the justice and fairness of our legal system. We hope the insult was simply an innocent miscalculation and not reflective of a deeper campaign to discredit our faith.  We anticipate the government will expeditiously reach out to our community to resolve this serious infraction. We hope and indeed expect the scenario will not be repeated to avoid further escalation of the rising tensions.

As an American citizen, I am deeply hurt by the attempt of government lawyers to demean and attack the Muslim faith. I am equally offended by the government’s attempt to cause embarrassment to a  courageous Rabbi. We demand, as a first step, a retraction of the offending question and an unequivocal apology. More importantly, we demand a careful reassessment of what is proper for a government attorney to ask without so blatantly violating the civil and religious freedoms of fellow citizens.

Aref Assaf, PhD, president of the Paterson based think tank, American Arab Forum, which specializes in Arab and Muslim Affairs, www.aafusa.org

Related:

• For the story of Imam Qatanani, click here

• Here is the exact statement read by the government lawyer while cross examining Rabbi David Senter:(Note: Translation into English, being instantaneous was not exact but the connotation is the same. Here is the Imam's Sermon in Arabic) You will need RealPlayer.

• I have added missing but implied words to be true to the Arabic version of the sermon. I have also added quotation marks where the Imam was reciting from the Holy Koran.

Imam Mohammad Qatanani
11/16/2007
Start time: 2:15

"Oh Allah make us among those who have pure hearts and pure intentions. And our Lord, glory be to Him (as revealed in Sura Baqara) divided and classified the people into few believers who have righteousness, hypocrites and disbelievers. And (our Lord)  categorized the disbelievers and hypocrites (saying) "in their hearts there's illness and they will be increased in illness and they will be swiftly punished in the Day of Judgment. This belief and hypocrisy and sins, its cause is an illness in the heart."

• Here the English translation of the first 15 verses of Chapter Two to which the Imam was referring:

• Here is one general summary of the whole Koranic Chapter Two:  http://www.parvez-video.com/quran/summary/surah_al_baqarah/index.asp.

• Here is the Rabbi Senter's written response:

“I have been thinking about the cross examination of my testimony in the Imam's trial. Quoting the Koran out of context in an effort to discredit the Imam is frightening. The same thing can be done with the Torah and or Christian scripture, in an effort to cast a shadow on any religious leader.  This is a classic tactic used by hate mongers throughout history. Most notably it was used by the inquisitors to foster Anti-Semitism during the Spanish inquisition. They quoted verses from the Torah and rabbinic texts, out of context to discredit rabbis and Jewish community leaders.  I was shocked that a representative of the US government would use the tactics of hate mongers in an effort to tip the scales of justice. These tactics are the province of the inquisitors and the inquisition, not employees of our justice system. This case is about the Imam's immigration status.  Islam and the Koran are not on trial.  As an American I am embarrassed to see representatives of my government act in this way." Rabbi David Ross Senter

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