Related articles:

Chaplain of NYC jails suspended while alleged Tucson remarks investigated NYC jail chaplain will keep his job

General
A1 Communications
Cable Techs Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator

The head chaplain for New York City jails has been suspended while the city investigates claims he made incendiary statements last year in Tucson, including a comment that the "greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House."

The New York Post reported Thursday that Umar Abdul-Jalil made the remarks at a conference sponsored by the Muslim Students Association in Tucson.

It said the Investigative Project, a Washington organization that tracks extremist Islamic groups, recorded the speech, in which he also allegedly said that Muslims jailed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were "tortured" in the Manhattan Correctional Center.

Abdul-Jalil, a prominent imam from Harlem, was put on paid administrative leave Thursday while Mayor Michael Bloomberg, city lawyers and corrections officials reviewed the remarks.

Officials with the Investigative Project said they obtained a tape of Abdul-Jalil's remarks from a student who attended the conference, which was held in Tucson April 15-16.

According to the Investigative Project, Abdul-Jalil said Muslims in the United States have been criminalized, and that "we have terrorists defining who the terrorist is, but because they have the weight of legitimacy they get away with it."

He said Muslims should not allow the "Zionists of the media" to dictate what Islam is, according to the Investigative Project's transcript.

"Believers are compassionate with each other, and they are hard against kufr," he said. A kufr is someone who doesn't believe in God.

The conference was sponsored by the national Muslim Students Association, according to Zachariah Azar, a University of Arizona student who is part of the national group's UA chapter.

Azar recalled attending Abdul-Jalil's talks at the conference but does not remember any inflammatory comments. Also, he said Abdul-Jalil should be afforded freedom of speech, even if it involves criticism of the government.

"The whole Muslim Students Association board has no recollection of any of the speakers making comments which were 'pro-terrorism' or 'inciting violence' or anything to that effect," Azar wrote in an e-mail to the Arizona Daily Star. "We would not tolerate such views. I'm sure the imam's comments were taken out of context."

Azar called Abdul-Jalil's suspension "another example of how our civil liberties are being trampled on in this era of witch hunts for the Muslims."

He said the Muslim Students Association serves Muslim students on the UA campus as an organization for the promotion of peaceful living and that the group is as much against terrorism and inciting violence as anyone else in the country.

According to Azar, the conference had a theme of living in the West and ways and approaches for Muslims to successfully function living in Western societies.

Abdul-Jalil gave two talks at the conference — "Developing Our Ummah: Strengthening Ties Within the Muslim Community" and "Destined to Inspire: Motivating Ourselves By Purifying Our Intentions."

Mohamed Sheibani, national president of the Muslim Students Association, could not be reached for comment Friday.

New York Mayor Bloomberg said Friday that he has a copy of the speech and will examine it before he makes a decision.

Officials must "look at what he said on the job, and how what he says away from the job impacts that, and what his rights are," Bloomberg said on his radio show.

Abdul-Jalil was appointed in 2004 to the $76,000-a-year job, in which he oversees 40 chaplains of all faiths. He was quoted in the Daily News Friday as saying his comments were taken out of context.

"I made statements as a person who has worked on every Republican's campaign, including Bush's," the chaplain said. "I'm a full-blown American."

The Fire Department's Muslim chaplain resigned last fall after suggesting in a published interview that a conspiracy rather than a group of al-Qaida hijackers destroyed the World Trade Center. Department and city officials were outraged over Imam Intikab Habib's comments about the attack, which killed 343 firefighters.