Sponsored a speech by the Holocaust-denying professor Norman Finkelstein
Protested a Danish newspaper's publication of a series of cartoons lampooning the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad
Boycotted an October 2006 speech by former Palestinian terrorist Walid Shoebat, who spoke out against Islamic terrorism
The Muslim Students Association of Columbia University (MSA CU) is among the oldest of the more than 150 affiliated campus chapters of the national Muslim Students Association. Membership in MSA CU consists of both undergraduate and graduate students. MSA CU's mission is to "creat[e] a strong Muslim community on campus, helping Muslims strengthen their faith, gain knowledge about their religion, build Islamic character and interact with other Muslims." The organization's events are "aimed at promoting an understanding of the oft misunderstood religion of Islam among all members of the Columbia community and providing community service." Each week MSA CU hosts Friday prayers as well as Hifz classes whose purpose is to help students memorize verses of the Koran.
In February 2006, MSA CU was one of 52 Muslim organizations that signed the following press release denouncing a Danish newspaper's recent publication of a series of cartoons lampooning the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad:
"American Muslims are protesting and condemning strongly the continuous insults and humiliation against our Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) by some of the newspapers in European countries knowing how the Muslims around the world value their Prophet. We believe that these actions are designed to inflame the relations between Muslims and the West in general. We are convinced that this insult against Islam and Muslims is not approved by the majority of the Europeans.
"We are protesting the insult made by some newspapers citing the freedom of speech. We are protesting the newspapers' decisions to run the cartoons. We are protesting the newspapers' insult to Islam. … Freedom of expression is not absolute. There are responsibilities and limitations and it should not be used to propagate racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and other xenophobic views. Such views can incite people to hatred. We ask that the European Union, the government of Denmark and other governments recognize that the cartoons malign the honor of Prophet Muhammad and insult the integrity of Islam. Insult and attacks against any group or religion should be stopped and new laws and regulations should be adopted against any violation. …"
Fellow signatories of this press release included the American Muslim Association of North America and the MSAs of the University of Miami, UC Berkeley, Jackson State University, the University of Wisconsin, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. It should be noted that the cartoons in question had set off a wave of raging, sometimes violent riots by Muslims around the world. Yet the MSA petition neither condemned the riots nor called for calm.
At the invitation of MSA CU, the Holocaust-denying professor Norman Finkelstein (of DePaul University) came to Columbia to deliver a March 2006 speech titled "Israel and Palestine: Misuse of Anti-Semitism, Abuse of History." Co-sponsors of Finkelstein's appearance included the United Students of Color Council, the Arab Students Association, the Organization of Pakistani Students, and the International Socialist Organization.
According to a report in the Columbia Spectator, Finkelstein characterized the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a "contrived and fabricated controversy"; he declared that "regardless of intent, Israel is in effect guilty of state terrorism"; and he alleged that the "only difference between Israel terrorism and Hamas terrorism is that Israeli terrorism is three times as lethal."
Finkelstein also criticized Columbia University President Lee Bollinger's refusal to support an anti-Israel divestment campaign or to depict Israel's treatment of Palestinians as "apartheid." Accusing Bollinger of "intellectual terrorism," Finkelstein declared: "I think it's a sorry truth when the president of ... [Columbia] subordinates the pursuit of truth to the pursuit of fundraising."
In October 2006 former Palestinian terrorist Walid Shoebat, at the invitation of the College Republicans and the Columbia College Conservative Club, spoke out against Islamic terrorism at an event titled "From Hate to Love." Members of MSA CU boycotted the event, prompting Shoebat to remark: "It is interesting to note that the official line of the Arab Student groups on campus is not to protest against us peacefully or even to turn up. Yet last week they choose to participate in a violent onslaught [a rowdy demonstration against a Columbia speaking appearance by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project which opposes illegal immigration] regarding a subject that is not directly relevant to their cause. This should prove that standing up to intimidation and bullies is the only option on campus and in the free world."
When fliers containing these comments by Shoebat were placed outside the door of MSA CU's campus prayer room, Omar Siddiqi, President of MSA CU, characterized them as a "desecration" of the prayer room's sanctity: "I feel as though my personal safe space was violated because this happened at our prayer room door." Siddiqi explained that he had chosen not to attend the Shoebat speech because "I knew what he was going to say." "I respect his right to speak," added Siddiqi, "but they [speakers like Shoebat] deprave and dehumanize groups."
During an October 2007 event titled Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (whose mission was to educate U.S. college students about the totalitarian goals of radical Islam), MSA CU Vice President Amreen Vora complained that guest speaker David Horowitz had wrongly suggested during his speech that the word "jihad" meant "holy war" rather than spiritual "struggle," which Miss Vora claimed was its true definition. Horowitz, however, had not used the word "jihad" even once during his speech; Vora was merely parroting one of the talking points she had been given by MSA in advance of the event. When Horowitz asked Vora whether she would be willing to publicly denounce the terrorist group Hamas, which along with the Muslim Brotherhood created the Muslim Students Association, she evaded the question.
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