User:Smmurphy/Husham Al-Husainy

Husham Al-Husainy is an Iraqi-American Imam of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, a Shi'ite mosque servicing largely people of Iraqi and Lebanese descent in Dearborn, Michigan. Al-Husainy arrived in the United States in the late 1970s as Saddam Hussain was rising into power. He is a spokesman of the Iraqi expatriate community in America. During the American occupation of Iraq n the early and mid 2000s, Al-Husainy has gone from supporting the toppling of Hussain's regime to criticising the continued occupation as inciting more bloodshed. He has also spoken out against women leading prayer in the wake of Amina Wadud leading prayer in New York in 2005.

Karbaala Islamic Education Center
Husham Al-Husainy was one of the founders of the Karbaala Islamic Education Center in Dearborn. He and others purchased space for the mosque, which opened in 1994. It is somewhat liberal in that there is one prayer room and enterance for women and men. Al-Husainy now serves as Imam for the largely congregation of mainly people of Iraqi and Lebanese descent.

2006 DNC Imam Controversy
During the Democratic National Committee's Annual Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., Al-Husainy offered an invocation. As the assembled Democrats bowed their heads, Al-Husainy prayed:

''In the name of God the most merciful, the most compassionate. We thank you, God, to bless us among your creations. We thank you, God, to make us as a great nation. We thank you God, to send us your messages through our father Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Mohammed. Through you, God, we unite. So guide us to the right path. The path of the people you bless, not the path of the people you doom. Help us, God, to liberate and fill this earth with justice and peace and love and equality. And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation. Ameen.''

According to Debbie Schlussel, during the Israeli incursion into Lebanon last summer Al-Husainy led "almost-daily protests of thousands of Hezbollah supporters on the streets of Dearborn and Detroit, swarming with swastikas and anti-Semitic, anti-American signs." He also "delivered hate-filled, anti-American rhetoric" at "an anti-Semitic rally of 3,000 Hezbollah supporters at Dearborn's Bint Jebail Cultural Center." In August 2004, "he led anti-Bush, anti-American rallies on the streets of Dearborn," and at other times "he led a number of pro-HAMAS and pro-Arafat rallies in the area." At a rally honoring Arafat, "he and his followers held signs featuring enlarged photos of Khomeini." He also has a taste for conspiracy theories: in an interview, Al-Husainy said of Saddam Hussein that "I believe he is an agent of America," and attributed events in Iraq to the "Zionists": "We also think some outsiders, with some Iraqis, and, by the way, I don't want to exclude the Zionists. I think some extremists from the Mossad came in and took a chance to have some revenge, because we don't know who killed [Imam Mohammed Bakr] Al-Hakim or Sergio Vieira De Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights."