Dinah Lord: Minneapolis mosque denies link to Lost Boys of Minneapolis

Of course they deny it. What do you expect them to do? They're represented by a Moslem lawyer that was quoted as saying: "What's the national security concern for lying about your child?"

From InForum.

The leaders of a south Minneapolis mosque on Tuesday renewed their denials that the mosque is connected to the disappearance of young Somali men from Minnesota.

For the second time in recent weeks, the leaders of the Abubakar As-Saddique mosque said they have been unfairly accused. Some Somali families have said they're concerned their teenage sons or nephews may have been brainwashed to return to Somalia to fight in that country's civil war.

Abdirashid Abdi, a board member and former executive director of the mosque, said officials there "share the pain and grief that the families of the youth who went to Somalia are experiencing."

But he added: "It is unfortunate that some individuals in the Somali community unfairly accused Abubakar Center to have links to the disappearance of the Somali young men. We strongly deny these unsubstantiated allegations. Abubakar Center didn't recruit, finance or otherwise facilitate in any way, shape or form the travel of these youth."

The trigger for Tuesday's news conference was a report in Sunday's Star Tribune on the disappearance six months ago of Mustafa Ali, an 18-year-old St. Paul man who had been active in the mosque.

The mosque plans to hold an open house and testimonials were given by local youth (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain) and of course, CAIR was there calling for the law enforcement to investigate and resolve the disappearances ASAP. (yawn.)

Same old - same old. Let's learn a little bit more about the situation on the ground there in Abubakar mosque's hood and across the river at the Dawah Institute, shall we?

Little Mogadishu aka The Towers.

From NPR.

The heart of the Somali community in east Minneapolis is a cluster of six tall public housing buildings known as Riverside Plaza. Somalis here just call the apartment blocks "The Towers." The place is cut off from the rest of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood — an island of sorts. Somalis here could spend their whole lives suffering through the 20-below winters and never stray more than a couple of blocks. It is so cold, people who do venture out run from building to building.

The local mosque is a storefront right next to a bar called Palmer's Pub. The mosque's back doors open out onto The Towers so that those who come for the five daily prayers don't so much as have to cross a street to get there. This area in Minneapolis is like a little Mogadishu.

Nearly all of the young men who have disappeared lived in The Towers. Take an elevator up to any floor, and the doors open to reveal hallways that look 1970s public housing chic — all fluorescent lights and linoleum tile. The floors gleam, as if they have just been waxed. Women gossip at one end of the hallway. Their sons skip down the corridors.

Single parent, devout Muslim households.

Hassan's single-parent existence is mirrored by the other young men who have disappeared. All of them were reared by single mothers, and all of them were particularly devout Muslims. They all prayed and signed up for youth programs at two local mosques — one near The Towers and another across the river in St. Paul. The local mosque was Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, the biggest mosque in Minneapolis and just a stone's throw from The Towers. The Dawah Institute in St. Paul was the other.

About the Dawah Institute... we don't need a stinking open house.

Seems like there's a whole lot of obfuscation going on in Little Mogadishu. First the Imam states no Dawah boys are missing, the next thing you know he's getting all defensive and loudly wondering why the parents of the missing boys haven't come to see him. Go figure. (Just for the record, some of the parents have visited but have received no answers.)

The imam has used henna to dye his beard a bright orange, as many devout Muslims do. When we speak to him, he is joined by the mosque's youth director, an African-American from Queens, N.Y., named Neelain Waled Mohammed. He is defensive, too, and provides a flurry of denials.

"If I were a parent, I'd be saying 'Where's my youth?' " he bellowed. "They should be banging on the doors, and we've had nothing like that."

The imam agrees, nodding his head vigorously. "Exactly," he says, motioning his assistant to go on.

"If I was a parent, I'll be saying 'Where's my son?' " Mohammed continues, pounding a table for emphasis. "You've sent him away."

It is hard not to notice that Mohammed's thumbs both look like they have been broken after the first joint. He says he used to work security for luminaries like Muhammad Ali. That background, he says, has made him just the guy to run karate and self-defense classes for the youth at the mosque. He says he does it for discipline.

Does this sound like patriotic discipline to YOU? (From the Dawah's website and if you ask this kafir it sounds like a double secret call to jihad to me)