22.2.06

Ahmed Abu-Laban

Under fire for helping to stir a global wave of Islamic rage against Denmark, Copenhagen cleric Ahmed Abu-Laban used his sermon Friday to praise his adopted homeland as "a lovely country, a good and tolerant country."
But his tone shifted sharply when he spoke of what he and many like-minded Muslims across Europe consider the real menace: self-declared moderate Muslims, who put European values ahead of Islam. "These people are rats in a hole," thundered the Palestinian preacher in a hall packed with mostly Arabic-speaking faithful. They are, he said, "cowards" who are "making our real crisis in Europe." Worshippers in the converted automobile workshop cried "God is great, God is great!" Mr. Abu-Laban's sermon shows how the uproar over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper isn't just hardening differences between Islam and the West. It reveals deep divisions among Europe's Muslims over how to engage with broader European societies.
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