Group Behind Islamic Billboard Connected to Extremists

Monday, September 14, 2015

Aleck Z. Woogmaster and Brendan Murray, GoLocalPDX Contributors

One of the billboards erected by the Islamic Circle of North America; courtesy icna.org

Portland residents that frequent the Rose Quarter may have noticed a new feature in the city's skyline: a billboard that aims to dispel negative connotations about Islam in the United States. However, the Islamic Circle of North America, who paid for the advertisement, has some questionable connections to Muslim extremists.

The billboard, located at the intersection of North Vancouver Avenue and Northeast Broadway Street describes the prophet Muhammad as believing in peace, social justice and women’s rights. It is one of 100 such advertisements erected on billboards around the country, each paid for by the ICNA.

Naeem Baig, President of the ICNA, said the idea for the signs came after attacks in Paris on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store dominated headlines. He said the group was seeking to counter the violent and extreme image of Muslims typically portrayed in the United States.

Despite their focus on peace and understanding, the group has ties to terrorists, including a former Chapter President who was convicted of war crimes and a lecturer that was killed by a U.S. Military drone strike.

Jon Mandaville, a Professor Emeritus of History at Portland State University, told GoLocal the connections to extremists do not necessarily conflict with the group’s message of peace.

“I don’t think it’s too much of a big deal,” Mandaville said. “Anyone can have connections.”

Concerning Connections

The ICNA was founded in 1968. They utilize community outreach programs and conventions across the country to educate and provide an alternative to those messages offered by extremist Islamic organizations. They feel that these extremists have created a largely negative, and for that reason inaccurate, depiction of Islam in America.

The group has not avoided its fair share of controversy, however.

In 2002, Anwar al-Awlaki appeared and spoke at a conference organized by the group in Baltimore. In 2007, al-Awlaki was accused by the United States government of working with terrorist group al Qaeda and was eventually killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

The ICNA contends that prior to 2007, al-Awlaki was considered a popular Islamic lecturer and not acknowledged as an extremist. The group later denounced al-Awlaki.

In 2013, the Dhaka-based International War Crimes Tribunal found Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, then the President of the group’s New York Chapter, guilty of committing war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War in Bangladesh. His name was removed from the New York chapter's web page in October of 2013.

Todd Green; courtesy Luther.edu

“Benefit of the Doubt”

Todd Green is an Associate Professor of Religion at Luther College in Iowa and an expert on Islam and Islamophobia. He told GoLocal it is important not to assume that the actions or words of one person represent the philosophy of an entire organization.

“That’s a kind of guilt by association that happens all too often when we talk about Islam in the United States,” Green said. “In my experience with ICNA I have not witnessed any extremist or violent behavior or tendencies.”

Mandaville, with PSU, said that groups like the ICNA that promote understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims should be careful to show that any connections with extremists have been terminated.

Green said that those trying to determine whether the group’s calls for peace and understanding are authentic should follow the American ideal of innocent until proven guilty.

“Asking them to prove their intentions is a difficult thing to do,” he said. “I think we all need to give people like this who are trying to promote peace the benefit of the doubt unless or until they prove otherwise.”

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