Your prayers needed

[J.Lee]

I got a phone call from my mom about an hour ago telling me that Sh. Ibraahim has been arrested at Sea-Tac International Airport yesterday.

 

The reason for his detainment is still unknown and neither have The Port of Seattle Police released a statement explaining his arrest, which left many to speculate that it may have had something to do with him fitting a "certain profile," but then again that is just a speculation.

 

For those who don't know him, Sheikh Ibrahim is a Learned Man and an Iman in the very sense of the word. He is also a Pillar of Seattle's Somali Community and a man that many Somalis, including I, and many other Muslims regardless of nationality have come to love and respect.

 

I ask that you please Pray for his quick release and beg Allah so that he may have mercy on this kind and caring individual who has devoted his life to teaching the Message of our most beloved Prophet (S.C.W).

[SeeKer]

Amin Wordette

[Muhammad]

I was watching his video just few days ago!

 

Insha'Allah he'll be in my prayers.

[Baashi]

Same here. Will pray for his immediate release Bi'idniLaah.

 

Wordette keep us posted for any new development.

[Jacpher]

Aamiin. Ilaahey ha ilaaliyo.

 

I too was watching the Sheikh on Somali TV two nights ago. I thought the Sheikh has relocated to the twincities.

[-Serenity-]

What is required in these circumstances is also action.

[Alle-ubaahne]

Inaa lilaahi wa inaa ileyhi raajicuun! Subxaanalaah, Ma shiiq ibraahim Dheere ayaa la xiray oo seattle muslimiinta joogta imaamka u ahaa? Walaahi waa wax laga naxo, ilaaheey waxaan ka baryayaa inuu asagoo nabad qabo inuu kasoo baxo dhibkaas ay u maleegeen gaallada.

 

Walaahi waxaa qofkasta oo Muslim ah la gudboon inuu shiiq Ibraahim Dheere u duceeyo, oo wixii aan qaban karno arintaas ka geysano, sababtoo ah culimadeena hadii aanan u gurman si wada jir ah, dhibku intaas waaka sii badanayaa runtii. xitaa aan isku dayno inaan si wada jir ah baaqyo iyo qoraalo aan arintaas uga cabaneyno soomaali ahaan iyo muslim ahaan u gaarsiino saxaafada iyo cid walba oo nala gurman karta.

 

Ilaaha casiiska ah hana furto, aamiin.

[Valenteenah.]

Hope he is released soon. False arrests of Muslim men are becoming quite prevalent.

[Haneefah]

How sad. MaY Allah help him Insha'Allah.

 

Originally posted by Curling Waterfall:

What is required in these circumstances is also action.

True, the community members should take action immediately Insha'Allah.

[Muhammad]

the charges don't look as bad as I feared,

_________________________________________

 

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

 

Leader of area mosque arrested by U.S. agents

Terrorism task force grabs Somali native, but immigration cited

 

By JOHN IWASAKI

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

 

The respected leader of a Rainier Valley mosque was arrested Monday on an immigration charge, surprising those who knew his work in Seattle's Somali community.

 

Federal agents with the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Abu Abrahim Sheik Mohamed at Sea-Tac Airport as he got off a domestic flight, federal criminal justice sources said.

 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lorie Haley said only that Mohamed, 37, was "in custody on immigration violations" and is being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

 

She declined to specify what immigration regulations Mohamed is accused of having violated.

 

While he is being held only on the immigration violations, the Joint Terrorism Task Force is continuing its investigation, a source said.

 

Mohamed, a native of Somalia, has led prayers as the imam of Abu-Bakr Mosque for the past five years.

 

The mosque originally was on Rainier Avenue South but moved earlier this year to a simple building on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South.

 

"I know the man. I'm shocked to hear that (he was arrested), if he's the one I have in mind," said Hisham Farajallah, president of the Islamic Center of Washington.

 

Farajallah said Mohamed, whom he saw at the end of the recent Islamic holy month of Ramadan, has a green card and is a legal U.S. resident.

 

Several Somali immigrants expressed surprise Tuesday after hearing of Mohamed's arrest, saying the imam was well regarded in the community for his counsel on a wide range of family issues.

 

"He is a leader for all the Somali community, not just for the mosque," Hassan Nur said as he arrived at the mosque for midafternoon prayer.

 

Nur and a man named Ali said that Mohamed would solve "99 percent" of the problems brought to him, helping people with questions related to marriage, parenting, addictions and youths.

 

They said Mohamed even started a summer program at the mosque to keep youths off the street and out of trouble.

 

"I've never heard of him doing anything wrong," Nur said.

 

Mohamed is "a wise man in every aspect," said Mohamed Abdi, president of Somali Community Services of Seattle.

 

Nur said he heard that Mohamed was returning from Dallas when he was arrested. Another man traveling with Mohamed was not detained but was told that the imam was going to be "held for a few hours," Nur said.

 

Mohamed has been the only imam at the mosque, which started six years ago without a prayer leader.

 

Though open to Muslims of all national origins, the mosque is used mostly by Somalis.

 

In November 2004, the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested 14 people at about a dozen Seattle-area locations, including a business one block from the original location of Abu-Bakr Mosque.

 

Among those arrested in the November 2004 raids was Karim Abdullah Assalaam, who told an FBI informant that "his whole Muslim crew" is involved in an ongoing bank fraud scheme for personal gain and because "you can't go to war broke," court documents say.

 

In a tape-recorded conversation about guns, Assalaam told the informant, "I just want to die a Shaheed," which he defined as a martyr "who dies in the cause of Allah."

 

Assalaam is to be sentenced next month after acceding to a federal plea agreement.

 

The agreement has been kept secret.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky contributed to this report. P-I reporter John Iwasaki can be reached at 206-448-8096 or johniwasaki@seattlepi.com.

 

"]http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/248494_imam16.html[/url]

[hodman]

May Allah help him against those who are unjust.Reminds about a dua I always heard at the masjid in Ramadhan that said

"O Allah save us from those who don't fear you and will not have mercy on us"

Amiin

[J.Lee]

She declined to specify what immigration regulations Mohamed is accused of having violated.

 

Wow what a shocker! If it was just a simple immigration problem they wouldn't obtain a warrant to search the Sheikh's house. They wouldn't question his family quite extensively mind you, about his political affiliations, his teachings, his opinions on America, where he was educated and etc. His brother-in-law even recognized one of the men asking the questions for he has seen him often in their neighborhood.

 

Just a thought.

 

However, on the Somali Oral News Network, supposedly, as most Somali tend to speculate, what sparked his arrest was that some Somalis (who are quite known!) in Seattle reported the Sheikh to the Police, accusing him of having stolen money that the majority of Somalis in Seattle have raised collectively to build a new mosque. They also accused him of using it for personal gains.

 

An allegation that is quickly dismissed by many Somalis for there are more than several men, all pillars of the community, who in fact along with the Sheikh, collect the money and keep a record of it.

 

 

What is required in these circumstances is also action.

 

We are working on it.

 

Karim Abdullah Assalaam

 

Bishir Hussein, who runs the Janaale Restaurant, said yesterday that the barbershop had been in operation about eight months. He pointed to scars on his face from the beating he received from an employee or patron of the barbershop a few months ago.

This man is Somali By the way and the reason he was beaten up was because nin madow oo muslim ah ayuu cey yey and that was the only man who fought him. After, he called the police and accused them of doing terrorist activities.

 

However, Assalaam and his "crew" were quite vocal in expressing their anti-american sentiment.

[Yeniceri]

The story doesn't quite add up. As usual, U.S. federal officials are being shady about "sensitive" cases, such as this. But read this below with me:

 

From the Seattle PI:

 

Nur said he heard that Mohamed was returning from Dallas when he was arrested. Another man traveling with Mohamed was not detained but was told that the imam was going to be

"held for a few hours,"

Nur said.

For a few hours, huh.

 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lorie Haley said only that Mohamed, 37, was "in custody on immigration violations" and is being held at the Northwest Detention Center in

Tacoma

.

Tacoma? That's an INS prison in Tacoma and only the baddest of the bad go there, especially people facing deportation. Imagine, they drove him from SeaTac Airport all the way down to Tacoma when Tukwila's INS offices is a couple of miles away from the airport. If they were planning on detaining him for a "few hours", they would've taken him into custody somewhere closer to the Seattle area. But sending him to Tacoma is only a sign of worse things to come.

 

First, they told him he couldn't even visit his family in Saudi Arabia. Now, they arrest him on ambiguous immigration charges.

 

Reer Seattle - we gotta rally behind the only leader the Somali community got in this part of the U.S.

[Jabhad]

What is required in these circumstances is also action.

Indeed. We should all be united and defend our sheikh inshallah.

[Qandalawi]

My prayers are with him, hope he is released soon.