Party leaders are drawing criticism for refusing to repudiate a three-day Islamist gathering before next week's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte featuring radicals Siraj Wahhaj and Jibril Hough.
The Blaze reported that a group called the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA) is holding a Jumah, or Friday prayer session, next week. It will kick off three days of programs and events in Charlotte "relative to the American Muslim plight," a BIMA statement said. Hough is a BIMA spokesman, while Wahhaj is scheduled to speak during the weekend events.
Zuhdi Jasser, head of the American Islamic Foundation for Democracy (AIFD), called on party leaders to disassociate themselves from Wahhaj and Hough, who have long records of radical statements.
BIMA plans to hold an "issues conference" Friday and Saturday covering the issues of "NYPD Illegal Surveillance"; "anti-Sharia bills"; "Masjid Zoning Laws"; and "Islamaphobia (sic)."
The group's "Jumah at the DNC Protocal (sic)" declares that it is "mandatory that concerned Muslims stand up for their Constitutional and Human Rights and repel the outright injustices that are being perpetrated against the American Muslim community."
Wahhaj testified on behalf of blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman in the sheikh's 1995 trial in connection with a plot to bomb New York landmarks, calling him a "respected scholar." Abdel-Rahman was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Wahhaj has also predicted America's demise if it failed to adopt the Islamic agenda and called for the establishment of an Islamic state in the United States.
Jasser points to Hough's comments suggesting the United States is fighting a war against Islam; his work with the Islamic Political Party of America, which backs the supremacy of an Islamic state, and his connection with the Jamaat al-Muslimeen, an Islamic separatist group that calls for the release of convicted terrorists like Abdel-Rahman, Aafia Siddiqui and Imam Ali al-Timimi.
Jasser also faults Hough for failing to condemn statements by JAM and its allies urging support for the Taliban, denying the Holocaust and calling the United States a "satanic system."
Democratic officials have had the opportunity to distance themselves from Wahhaj and Hough but have refused to do so. When asked, they give "a boilerplate answer" that there are "a lot of groups" that function around the convention and dismiss the notion that anything is wrong with BIMA participation, Jasser said.
"If it was the KKK or the Nazis, would they allow them to use their name or their brochures…on the website announcing this program?" Jasser said in an interview with the Fox Business Network.
Read the AIFD's report on Jibril Hough's radical links here.