The Eagle, the American University student newspaper, reports:
AU’s Muslim Chaplain Fadel Soliman, who is also the director of World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) International, which has published and distributed a handful of anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and anti-Shi’a Muslim books, said he made at least one of the books available to students curious about other religions.
Soliman said he does not teach from these books, as he focuses his teaching on Islam, though he acknowledges using them as a resource, as they are an encyclopedia of religions.
Until a week ago, The Eagle had two of Soliman’s books published by WAMY in its possession. Entitled “A Handy Encyclopedia of Religions and Sects,” the book was called “a tract of anti-Semitism comparable to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (an infamous fabrication)” in the 9-11 Commission.
The encyclopedia was written by Dr. Maneh al-Johani, . . . the [late] secretary-general of WAMY . . . .
Soliman was asked why a chapter titled “Judaism and its Branches,” which is in Arabic, included Freemasonry in a Feb. 28 interview. Soliman acknowledged that he put marks on the first page and subsequent pages, but didn’t answer the question. . . .
In a phone interview before the page was professionally translated, Soliman said he thought the writing in the book was a good introduction to other religions and that he has used the book as a tool for students in the past and would recommend the book to students interested in other religions.
Inlingua, a translation service with offices in Maryland and Virginia, translated the first two pages of the chapter.
Inlingua translated the first part of the first paragraph as, “The religion ushered in by Moses is pure monotheism. After [King] Solomon, the followers of this religion distorted it, giving rise to Judaism. The acts of the Jews became filled with shameful things and sinful behavior. They became overcome with materialism. They came to view economic hegemony over the world as the only basis for the sovereignty of the Jewish race. They therefore fought with the entire world. They spread moral decay in the world. They supported oppression. They hallowed aggression. They distorted religion.”
In a third interview at a rally in support of him, Soliman was shown the inlingua translation of the first page in person and was asked to comment on it. While he said he would have to study the first paragraph more, he asserted that the second paragraph was “scientific.” The second paragraph includes the line, “Some [Jews] entered Islam to plot its downfall and to light the fire of discord within it.”
The second page of the translation implicates the Lions, Zionism, Freemasons and the International Rotary as complicit in a Jewish conspiracy to “corrupt and tightly control the world.”
In response to the full inlingua translation of both pages, Soliman wrote in an e-mail, “I assure you that I do not agree with most of what you sent as translation of selected parts from the Encyclopedia. I was a member of the interact myself, my wife was a member of the Rotaract, my father was a Rotary member till he died and my mother attends regularly the meetings of the Lions. My best friend in school was a Jew.” . . .
According to Soliman, WAMY is the largest Muslim youth charity in the world and has done humanitarian work all over the world, in addition to setting up youth camps in the United States. . . .
Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi Arabian man who is the executive director of the Saudi Institute, said in an interview in March that WAMY is not only anti-Semitic, but also anti-Shi’a and anti-Jesuit.
The Saudi Institute describes itself as a “private, nonprofit, nonpartisan” organization that “inspires and facilitates the development of transparency and civic society in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Ahmed said Soliman’s book, as well as other WAMY publications, contains even more offensive tracts. According to Ahmed, some WAMY books also say “Shi’a Muslims are actually Jews, founded by a Yemeni Jew” and “Jesuits recruit widowed women and convince their daughters to sell their bodies to raise money for the Jesuits.” . . .
In an e-mail, Soliman wrote that he met Ahmed and they talked about an anti-Shi’a WAMY book. In his words, “[Ahmed] told me about a controversial book that we have about the Shiaa, I read the book and took a decision at once to ban it, then I sent to WAMY in Saudi Arabia, they read the book and within 10 days they banned it and stopped its circulation all over the world for the exaggerations that it continued.” . . .
In response to questions about WAMY and Soliman, Gary Wright, assistant vice president of the Office of Campus Life, said, “my interpretation as an administrator is that we make our judgments based on criteria that we admit students, hire faculty and staff.”
Wright also said that the MSA said the Encyclopedia has not been distributed to their knowledge and that “by his actions, [Soliman] has been honorable.” He went on to say that the chaplains in the ministry must “sign a form that says they will educate and respect the community” and that “we feel that he has honored the requirements.” . . .
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