The Real Islam 

By  Steven Luotto

Rome is the Capital of Catholicism. Though far from true, for simplicity's sake, let's call it the capital of Christianity.

It took a bit of a fight (so did the building of the first MacDonald's) but the Muslims pulled it off. They got to build a Mosque. And in a show if good will, they were allowed to build it in a lush green park and make it the biggest Mosque in all of Europe.

It didn't matter at the time that no churches were allowed to be built in Saudi Arabia.

Okay. Who gets to be Imam? It's a very sensitive spot. There's tension, but also a genuine attempt at goodwill on the part of the Catholics towards Islam. Everything has to be perfect, because willy nilly everything will be under scrutiny. Logically it will be the best face of Islam which calls itself the religion of peace and brotherhood.

They get an Egyptian fellow called Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa.

Perched high on his pulpit, his voice reverberates against the Carrara marble walls:

"Oh Allah bring triumph to the Islamic fighters in Palestine and Chechenya and elsewhere in the world. Oh Allah, help us annihilate the enemies of Islam. Oh Allah make certain everywhere the victory of the Nation of Islam!"

Then Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa thundered:

"In the eyes of Islam, there is not the slightest doubt that the operations of the mujahidin against the Jews of Palestine are legitimate. They are operations of martyrdom, and the "authors" (perpetrators) are martyrs in the name of Islam. Because all of Palestine is a 'Dar al-harb', Territory of War. The entire Jewish society illegally occupies an Islamic Land."

Moral of this short story: the Imam's words are recorded by a reporter from the left wing and politically correct "La Repubblica" newspaper (Italy's leading leftwing daily) and the Minister of the Interior busts Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa for inciting violence.

Though the issue has simmered, most Muslims were upset and calling it an injustice (interference with their freedom of religion). I undertook a quick and haphazard tour of some Italian Islamic sites and read articles and editorials. Most strenuously defend Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa (even going so far as to consider him a worker who was illegally fired). The only exception was an Imam from Salerno.

So if not "true Islam," this is Islam in front of the POPE, where imaginably they would want to show their very best and friendliest side, all the more so in light of the Pontiff's pacifist stance in the war on Iraq, his kissing of the Koran and the "positive" comments he had recently made during his visit to Kazakistan about "genuine" Islam.