Boston City Councilor Proposes Resolution Recognizing 'Significance To City' Of Imam Abdullah Faaruuq -- Who Exhorted Worshipers To 'Grab Onto The Rope... Grab Onto The Gun And The Sword,' Called Israelis Not Jews But Zionists With 'Souls Tainted With The Evils Of Greed', Said 'Islam Is America's Future... Without Islam America Will Meet Its Demise', And Termed The U.S. A 'Terrible Place'

A Boston City Council Meeting held on December 13, 2023 included a proposal for a "Resolution to Recognize" local Imam Abdullah Faaruuq as a person of significant importance to the City of Boston.[1] In his Friday sermons, Faaruuq has condemned the U.S. as a place where "disobedience to Almighty God" and "perversity" are normalized in the form of LGBTQ rights, and where women do not "have the sense" to cover themselves like in Sudan, Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries.[2] MEMRI has reported extensively on Imam Faaruuq's sermons, which also included the statement that "everything that Allah told us is forbidden, [American leaders] permit – homosexuality, gay marriage, marijuana, alcohol, prostitution." Without Islam, he added, "America will meet its demise."[3]

The proposal was made by Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who has also proposed to honor high school students who organized a walkout to protest the "genocide" of Palestinians at the hands of Israel and to call for the liberation of Palestine "from the river to the sea".[4] Another Resolution filed by Councilor Fernandes Anderson called for a ceasefire in Gaza, referring to Hamas as a militant group and to its deadly terrorist attack on Israeli civilians as a military operation.[5]

Screenshot of the minutes of the December 13, 2023 Boston City Council Meeting (source: Boston.gov/public-notices/15958241)

Screenshot of the Minutes of the December 13, 2023 Boston City Council Meeting (source: Boston.gov/public-notices/15958241)

Imam Faaruuq's sermons are streamed and posted on the YouTube channel of the Mosque for the Praising of Allah (Mosque Praise Allah, a.k.a. Masjid Alhamdulilah) in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, which describes itself as "Boston's oldest continually running masjid."[6] The mosque has been a member of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) since 2010.[7]

Most recently, on December 15, Mosque Praise Allah's YouTube channel streamed Faaruuq's Friday sermon in which he said that Israelis are not Jews, but Zionists, whose "souls are tainted with the evils of greed and wanting to control people."[8]

Terror Ties

Faaruuq, a former Northeastern University chaplain,[9] has made headlines because of his controversial sermons and the Boston-area terror suspects attending them. One such worshiper at the Mosque for the Praising of Allah was Usaamah Rahim, a terror suspect killed as he brandished a knife at police as he allegedly sought to behead them.[10] Rahim's family worshiped at the mosque and referred to Faaruuq as a "close friend";[11] Faaruuq condemned the police killing of Rahim as "reckless" and "dangerous."[12]

Faaruuq has delivered sermons at a Cambridge mosque operated by the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) and at the ISBCC itself. Several convicted terrorists reportedly worshipped at the Cambridge mosque – among them Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as well as Aafia Siddiqui, who plotted a chemical attack on New York City, and Tarek Mehanna, sentenced in 2012 to 17 years in prison for conspiring to aid Al-Qaeda.[13] Faaruuq publicly defended Siddiqui and Tarek Mehanna; he was active in a movement seeking to free them, and called on Boston Muslims to defend Siddiqui because "after they're finished with Aafia, they're gonna come to your door." As a result, he was dismissed from his position as Northeastern University chaplain.[14]

An ISBCC founder, Abduraham Alamoudi, was sentenced in 2004 to 23 years in prison for his role in a plot to kill Saudi royal officials; he too allegedly worshipped at the Cambridge mosque.[15] A 2010 video of Faaruuq preaching at the ISBCC showed him exhorting worshipers to "grab onto the rope, grab onto the typewriter, grab onto the shovel, grab onto the gun and the sword."[16] Faaruuq also asserted, in 2015, that ISIS was not created by Islamic teachings, but rather by America.[17]

Below are MEMRI's clips of statements made by Imam Faaruq, starting with his most recent response to the Israel-Hamas War.

Boston Imam Abdullah Faaruuq: Israelis Are Not Jews, They Are Zionists; Saying They Are Crazy Is Not Enough, Their Souls Are Tainted With The Evils Of Greed; All of Us Will Pay If We Don't Stop Them – December 15, 2023

In a December 15, 2023, Friday sermon at Boston's Mosque Praise Allah, streamed live on the mosque's YouTube channel, Imam Abdullah Faaruuq said that Israelis are not Jews, they are Zionists. He added that saying they are crazy is not enough, because "their souls are tainted with the evils of greed and wanting to control people." Faaruuq went on to say that Allah will make everyone pay if they do not stop the Zionists. He said that "the corrupt killers" want people to think that the conflict began on October 7, while in reality it began on May 15, 1948, with the founding of the State of Israel. He prayed that Allah treat the people of Israel "justly," and he added: "If He is going to treat them justly [...] then we don't have to worry about cursing them."

To view the clip, click here or below:

Imam Abdullah Faaruuq: "Now, the people that are running this land that they refer to as 'Israel'—we refer to it as 'occupied Palestine'; I don't refer to them as Jews, I refer to them as Zionists. I won't say that they are crazy, that's not enough. Their souls are so tainted by the evils of greed and wanting to control people that they don't care anything about God or their fellow man, and all of us will pay, for not stopping them, if we don't.

"So you, who are the corrupt murderers and killers of children, who are trying to get us to look at October 7, as though that was the day the strife started, I want you to go back to May 15, 1948, when you illegally took the land. You feel that the United Nations and Britain had the right to give you that land? They had no right to give you that land. It's not owned by you, it's owned by Almighty God.

"We pray for the people of Palestine. We even pray for the people of Israel, that God would guide them, and if he doesn't guide them, then He is going to treat them justly, and if He is treating them justly for what they have done, then we don't have to worry about trying to curse them. He will give them what they deserve."

Boston Imam Abdullah Faaruuq: America Is A Terrible Place, Unlike Sudan Or Afghanistan, Where Women Have The Sense To Cover Themselves – March 18, 2022

Boston Imam Abdullah Faaruuq delivered a Friday sermon at the Islamic Society of Boston, in Cambridge Massachusetts, on March 18, 2022, in which he said that America was a "terrible place." He said that women in America do not "have the sense" to cover themselves like women in Sudan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan or India. Faaruuq also said that America is a land where "disobedience to Almighty God is the norm" and gave the examples of gay marriage and transgenderism, commenting: "You can chop it off, put it on. You could do whatever you want."

To view the clip, click here or below:

Abdullah Faaruuq: "We are in America. We are not in Sudan. We are not in Afghanistan. We are not in places where women have the sense to cover themselves. We are not in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, India. We are in a land where disobedience to Almighty God is what is the norm. Disobedience is normal.

"Perversity is average — men can marry men, women can marry men... Oh yeah, that's true, women can marry men... That's good, Allah be praised. Women can marry women. This is a land in which anything is possible. If you don't like your gender, you can change it, you can chop it off, put it on. You could do anything you want. This is a terrible place."

Boston Imam Abdullah Faaruuq: Europeans, Go Home; America Is The Land Of The Coward And The Home Of The Slave – February 24, 2017

During a sermon in Boston, MA, Imam Abdullah Faaruuq said that the people native to America will never think of America as great until "you Europeans act right or go home. He said: "Go back to where you came from... [America] is not the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is the land of the coward and the home of the slave." He added that the future of America lies in Islam even if they "lied about all men being created equal," and said that Americans are outnumbered and afraid that their women will love Muslims or people of color. He also asked: "What's wrong with you, you sick Americans?" Faaruuq concluded by advising America to become Muslim and to "open the doors of this nation." The sermon was uploaded to the mosque's YouTube channel on February 24, 2017.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Imam Abdullah Faaruuq: "The natives of this land, people who are indigenous to this land, will never think of America as great until you Europeans either act right or go home. One or the other. Either straighten this country up so that it can be great, and know that it's always going to be inclusive of the faces I have in front of me now, and everybody who wants to submit to the will of God, because this is, first of all, God's land. The natives that belonged to this land, if anybody belongs to it, they would tell you that there's a great spirit. There's even a statue outside the Museum of Fine Arts of a native upon a horse with his arms like this, like he's supplicating to Allah. I think it's by Dallin, the sculptor, and it's called 'Appeal to the Great Spirit.' What is that? Supplication to Allah. Calling upon God Almighty to send the European home, probably. Go back where you came from, because you've done nothing but cause hell in this country and all over the world. You can hear me, America, you know you've done it. This is not the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is the land of the coward and the home of the slave.

[...]

"Islam is America's future. Without Islam America will meet its demise. Islam means submission to the will of God. This is one nation, under God. I believe that even if you lied about 'we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,' and you never believed that, and you didn't consider your fellow men as being equal or fair. You're a bunch of cowards because you don't want to get on the basketball courts with us, because we'll whip you. You don't want to let us on the baseball field because we'll whip you. You don't want to let us in the board rooms because we'll whip you, or at least give you a run for your money.

[...]

"You're outnumbered and you're afraid that even your women might love some of the people who say that they're Muslim, or people of color. Don't be afraid. We're all human beings. What's wrong with you? I'm asking you, you sick Americans, what's wrong with you? Not all of America, there are plenty of white people who are just as good as any other person. Wonderful people. There are many Asians, wonderful. There's even some of you black people, and brown people, some of you are wonderful. Wonderful is what we aspire to be. And how do you become wonderful? Submit to the will of God, or this country will fail. The world will fail if you keep on marginalizing and hurting the little people, who are looking just for a chance for life. Stop alienating, and be Muslim. I advise you, America, be Muslim, and open the doors of this nation. Even you people who say that you're Muslim, be Muslim, submit to the will of God. This is the answer."

 

Boston Imam Abdullah Faaruuq: American Leaders Have 'The Wrong System... Following The Ways Of Men' Because 'Everything That Allah Told Us Is Forbidden, They Permit – Homosexuality, Gay Marriage, Marijuana, Alcohol, Prostitution' – November 21, 2016

During a sermon at Boston's Masjid Alhamdulillah, also known as the Mosque for the Praising of Allah, Imam Abdullah Faaruuq said that those who are waiting for Jesus to save them or who believe in Bush, Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Trump are "fools," because these politicians do not follow an Islamic system. He criticized politicians for permitting "everything that Allah has forbidden," including gay marriage, marijuana, alcohol, and prostitution. Faaruuq invited Hillary Clinton and then-President-Elect Donald Trump to join Islam, saying that they are going to die someday and that they should "get ready to meet [their] Lord." The sermon was uploaded to the mosque's YouTube channel on November 21, 2016.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Imam Abdullah Faaruuq: "If you're Arab, black, white, whatever the case is, all humanity can be saved by this message. But you can't wait for Jesus to save you. You can't wait for Trump to make changes. You couldn't wait for Obama to make changes. The change is in your hands.

[...]

"If you believe Obama, if you believe Trump or Hillary, or anybody else, Bush, any one of them, you're a fool. Why? Because even if they have the best intention, they've got the wrong system. They don't have the system of truth, so they're following the ways of men. Everything that Allah told us is forbidden, they permit. Homosexuality, gay marriage, marijuana, alcohol, prostitution... Everything that God has said 'don't do,' they do, and then they legalize it.

[...]

"I don't care who's supposed to be running the show now. I'm inviting Mr. Trump to be Muslim. Submit to the will of God, Mr. Trump. Hillary, I know you lost, but I want you to be Muslim, too. I want you to submit to the will of God, that's all it means. Don't keep on doing your own thing or you're going to find yourself in terrible loss, in a lost state. You're soon to meet your demise, Mr. Trump, you're the same age I am, 70 years old. You're going pretty soon. Don't think about these last few years of glory. Cancer's going to come and get you, or one of them other diseases. If not, a heart attack. It's going to get us all, so I'm not threatening anybody, I'm just telling you the facts of life. You're soon out of here. You, Hillary, you're soon gone, so get ready to meet your Lord."