Fake Website Purporting to Belong to Suburban Chicago Mosque Promotes Violent Islamist Agenda
I’m posting this in case any of you hear about it from any bigots you may know (regardless of their political persuasion as there are both right- and left-wing bigots). Someone has created a fake website for a suburban Chicago mosque, portraying it as pro-terrorist and advocating violence.
Some individual or group has come up with this new method for casting further suspicion on law-abiding American Muslims (and possibly getting some of them killed). The main problem with this sort of thing is that since radical Islamists overseas and hateful Islamophobes in the West basically have the same agenda—to foster mistrust, fear and resentment between Muslims who were born and/or live in the West and the societies they live in—so at this point it’s impossible to guess who might be behind it.
There’s a video at the Chicago Tribune article from local Chicago news station WGN-TV, but I didn’t embed it because it autoplays when I try to do so, which I find immensely annoying. Oh, and try not to giggle when the reporter says “hajeeb” instead of hijab.
Added emphasis is mine.
Law enforcement officials are trying to determine who’s behind a website that promotes violence while using the name and close facsimile of the logo of a west suburban Islamic organization.
The website purports to represent the Islamic Center of Wheaton, a mosque and community center at 900 E. Geneva Road. The center’s website provides information on worship times, Ramadan, classes, events, volunteer opportunities and facility rental.
At the time the site was launched, emails were sent to Wheaton officials, including police Chief James Volpe. Police quickly confirmed that the center’s leaders were not behind the site, Volpe said.
A site with a similar domain name was created about Jan. 6. It advocates violent acts and asserts Shariah law is coming to Wheaton. The site also praises those who launched deadly attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., as holy martyrs.
The site copies information from the center’s program teaching Muslim youths about Islam, Arabic and memorizing the Quran but tops the page with photos of children carrying Islamic State flags and wielding automatic guns. […]
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