In the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby raises some important Questions the Islamic Society should answer.

The federal monitors have been checking for physical radiation, but there are other ways in which mosques can be radioactive.

Last year, for example, Freedom House issued a report on the extent to which Saudi publications in US mosques promote Wahhabism, the harsh, supremacist version of Islam that is the established creed in Saudi Arabia. Many of these publications, it turned out, were riddled with religious bigotry. They advocated contempt for ”infidels,“ portrayed America as alien territory, and urged Muslims to prepare for jihad. Considering the use of such teachings in recruiting terrorists, one might well view the presence of this literature in the library of an American mosque as ”radioactive,” and a legitimate cause for concern.

Which brings us to the roiling controversy over the mosque being built by the Islamic Society of Boston — a controversy made all the worse by an abusive lawsuit the Islamic Society has filed against its critics.

When completed, the $24 million mosque will be the largest Muslim house of prayer in the Northeastern United States. The Islamic Society has pledged that it will also be a center for moderation, peace, and dialogue among different religious communities. It was in part on the strength of that pledge that the Islamic Society was allowed to buy the land for the mosque from the city for a fraction of its fair market value.

But for more than two years, questions have been raised about just how committed the Islamic Society really is to moderation and interfaith understanding. Beginning with reports in the Boston Herald, news outlets, citizen groups, political officials, and private citizens have been pointing out disturbing signs of extremist ”radioactivity“ around the Islamic Society and its leadership. To mention only a few:

The society’s original founder, Abdurahman Alamoudi, is now serving a 23-year prison term for his role in an assassination plot. The Treasury Department identified him as a fund-raiser for Al Qaeda, and he has publicly proclaimed his support for two notorious terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah.

Yusef al Qaradawi, who for several years was listed as a trustee in Islamic Society of Boston tax filings and on the Islamic Society website — the Islamic Society now claims that was due to an ”administrative oversight” — is a radical Islamist cleric who has endorsed suicide bombings and the killing of Americans in Iraq. In 2002, he was invited to address an Islamic Society fund-raiser, but had to do so by video from Qatar — he has been barred since 1999 from entering the United States.

Another Islamic Society trustee, Walid Fitaihi, is the author of writings that denounce Jews as ”murderers of the prophets“ who ”brought the worst corruption to the earth” and should be punished for their ”oppression, murder, and rape of the worshipers of Allah.” After Fitaihi’s words were reported in the Boston press, the Islamic Society was urged to unequivocally repudiate them. It took seven months before it finally did so.