Sheik Shaker Elsayed, the imam of the Dar al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Va., advocated armed jihad before an Ethiopian Muslim group gathered at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va. last week.
"Muslim men when it is a price to pay, they are first in line," Elsayed said in comments seen on a YouTube video found by the Creeping Sharia blog. "They are the first in the prayer line. They are the first in the zakat (charity) line. They are the first in the hajj line. They are the first in the clean-up line. They are the first in the community-service line. They are the first in jihad line. They are the first in the da'wa line."
"But they are last if anything is being distributed, unless it is arms for jihad," Elsayed said. "We are the first to rush and run to defend our community and defend ourselves. The enemies of Allah are lining up; the question for us is, 'Are we lining, or are we afraid because, because they may call us terrorists.'"
Being called "terrorists" should not matter to Muslims because Muslims are being called terrorists anyway, Elsayed said.
"You are a terrorist because you are a Muslim," Elsayed said. "Well give them a run for their money. Make it worth it. Make this title worth it, and be good a Muslim."
Elsayed then told Muslims to accept peace when they receive peace, but to fight back when their families, communities, nations and dignity come under attack.
He has been Dar al-Hijrah's imam since 2005. Law enforcement officials have described the mosque as being "associated with Islamic extremists" and "operating as a front for Hamas operatives in U.S.
Elsayed's comments contradict statements he made in a 2005 interview on National Public Radio.
"I believe there is no apology for terrorism. We condemned it; we condemned it on 9/11, I personally signed a paper on behalf of the organization I worked for at that time and sent it everywhere to the press. I spoke with the press," Elsayed said.
This isn't the first time Elsayed has endorsed terrorism. He denounced calling terrorists "suicide bombers, homicide bombers, or murderers, or killers" in a December 2002 speech.
"To decide that this man is a martyr or not a martyr, it is a pure religious matter," Elsayed said. "Nobody who is not Muslim has any right to decide for us, we the Muslims, whose is a martyr or another. We as Muslims will decide that. It is in-house business."
His name also appears in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document detailing the group's plan to wage a non-violent civilization jihad to destroy "Western civilization from within."