Robert:

Miftah's article has expired on the Tulsa paper's Web site. So I found it and have it here:

OPINION
Readers Forum: Message of Islam is not jihad, fatwahs
JAMAL MIFTAH
654 words
29 October 2006
Tulsa World
FINAL HOME EDITION
G4
English
© 2006 World Publishing Company. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved.

I moved to the United States in March 2003, with my four kids and wife from Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. There was a call by a local jihadi organization to fight the coalition forces in Afghanistan. One of my dearest friends, Mirza Kohistani, fell prey to that call and joined the group, despite my advice and that of his wife to him.

All the leaders of that organization returned safely after the fall of the Taliban empire, but they left behind the body of my friend and hundreds of other innocent people like him.

I am obliged to respond to Ayman al-Zawahri's recent video message, portraying himself as champion of Islam and others as liars.

My message to Ayman al-Zawahri and Muslims of the world: "Islam" means submission and is derived from a word meaning "peace." Islam, Christianity and Judaism have the same origin, the Prophet Abraham. The prophet of Islam has said that God has no mercy on someone who does not have mercy for others.

I ask that al-Zawahri look at his deeds and those of his master, Osama bin Laden, and other so-called Islamic jihadists.

Because of lack of knowledge of Islam, Muslim youth are misguided into believing by the so-called champions of the cause of Islam that the current spate of killings and barbarism, which has no equal in the recent civilized history, is jihad in the name of Islam. They are incited, in the name of Islam, to commit heinous crimes not pardonable by any religion and strictly forbidden in Islam.

Cowards like al-Zawahri and bin Laden are inciting the ignorant and innocent youths to commit suicide bombings to kill innocent civilians including children, women and the elderly, while they hide in spider holes and caves. They never send their own sons and daughters, born out of half a dozen of their wives, to get killed in the name of Islam. They are themselves hypo crites, cowards, thugs and liars. For 12 years they misappropriated aid received from the U.S. and the West to fight Russia. Now they are ensuring smooth flow of petro dollars from Arab countries in the name of jihad against the West.

Even mosques and Islamic institutions in the U.S. and around the world have become tools in their hands and are used for collecting funds for their criminal acts. Half of the funds collected go into the pockets of their local agents and the rest are sent to these thugs.

They are the reason for branding the peaceful religion of Islam as terrorism. The result, therefore, is in the form of Danish cartoons and remarks/reference by the Pope.

I appeal to the Muslim youth in particular and Muslims of the world in general to rise up and start jihad against the killers of humanity and help the civilized world to bring these culprits to justice and prove that Islam is not a religion of hatred and aggression.

I appeal to the Muslim clerics around the world that, rather than issuing empty fatwas condemning suicide bombing, they should issue a fatwa for the death of such scoundrels and barbarians who have taken more than 4,267 lives of innocent people in the name of Islam and have carried out more than 24 terrorist attacks on civilian installations throughout the world. This does not include the chilling number of deaths because of such activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is well over 250,000.

I appeal to al-Zawahri and his band of thugs to hand themselves over to justice and stop spreading evil and killing innocent humans around the world in the name of Islam. Their time is limited and Muslims of the world will soon rise against them to apprehend them and bring them to justice.

Jamal Miftah is a resident of Tulsa.

Jake:

Thanks so much for providing this valuable link.

Eteraz interviews the author [excerpt]:

"Jihad doesn't mean fighting. Honest earning can be Jihad. I have four kids and a wife. If I go and work and bring honest food for them out of my hard work. That is Jihad. Now, Bin Laden and Zawahiri, they are somewhere in the tribal areas of Pakistan and the Muslims there have to realize that these guys are not Champions of Islam and all they need to do is hand them over to the law. That is Jihad."

Either that sentiment is a minority one, or else the majority is very silent indeed.

Robert, I hate to defend a mosque, but now that I have read this man's article, I can understand why the mosque would be legitimately upset. It's this paragraph:

"Even mosques and Islamic institutions in the U.S. and around the world have become tools in their hands and are used for collecting funds for their criminal acts. Half of the funds collected go into the pockets of their local agents and the rest are sent to these thugs."

If I was a moderate muslim mosque president, I would be really upset that this fellow accused my shul of supporting terrorism.

Don't you see that angle?

Yehupitz:

He is merely saying what everyone already knows about so-called Muslim charities in America and all over the world: that they funnel millions of dollars not to widows and orphans but into the creation of widows and orphans--preferably in Israel.

Solomon:

Most definitely a minority opinion.

We're supposed to pretend otherwise, I suppose. When is this fiction supposed to end?

Solomon:

It will end...at the end. It's just a linguistic exercise. Best to ignore and get on with the essential tasks at hand anyway, right?

First they came for the moderate Muslims....

Jeremiah:

...all ten that we've heard from.

Once again I am led to Seraphic Secret to find an important piece of data - I was trying to find Mr. Miftah's article in the Tulsa World and, as is noted, it expired. Googling led me here.
Well done. You have a fine website.

Moishe3rd:

Glad you found what you were looking for. Have a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.

Hi
Jamal miftah is my cousin and was married to my sister nageena he killed her, and know he is in united state with his 2nd wife under my sister name and passport and green card ,how this happen? Well his sister who is a USA citizen had sponsor him and his first wife (my sister nageena) to come to USA, when green card was approved for them my sister was dead, so he obtain a passport and id card for his wife under my dad sister name (very easily done in Pakistan if you got money) and fooled the American govt. obtaining green card.
I was visiting Pakistan this year and learn about the fraud, on my return I notified the FBI in June, Jamal knows about this because his sister has been interview by the FBI and he know the he will eventually be deported, so he comes up with scam to start a new fraud he bags the Tulsa world to print is article about the terrorist because know that his is a bait and all the media will jump on it and he will become poor Jamal miftah and when the time for his deportation comes he can use this,
Jamal miftah is a fraud do not believe him had fool the American government and now wants to fool the American people.
Riaz Noor