Tuesday, February 19, 2008 – Building Islam

Note this establishment directly across the street –

Inauguration of King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles (from July 18, 1998) –

Prince Abdulaziz Ibn Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, Minister of State and Cabinet Member, yesterday opened in Culver City, a western suburb of Los Angeles in California, the newly-completed King Fahd Mosque, work on which began in April of 1996.  The mosque, costing SR 8.1 million (U.S. $ 2.16 million), was financed entirely by private donations from Prince Abdulaziz, who contributed over one million dollars for the purchase of the land, and from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz. 

The mosque has already become a landmark, with its minaret standing more than seventy feet in height.  The mosque occupies an area of about 7,200 square meters and can accommodate 2,000 worshippers at one time.  Other facilities include lecture and meeting halls, classrooms, research centers, a bookshop, a children's playground, and a car park.  The city of Los Angeles has a Muslim population of more than 250,000.

The speakers at the opening ceremony included Pete Wilson, the Governor of California – and Prince Abdulaziz announced that King Fahd has donated a school for the recitation of the Holy Qur'an and education in the Islamic sciences adjacent to the mosque.  At the dinner which followed former White House chief-of-staff John Sununu gave a speech.  And the prince added this – "Islam rejects all forms of terrorism, extremism and aggression and at the same time it does not accept any transgression against it."  He went on to point out that in Islam "there is no form of racism or nationalism since people are all equal before Allah, the Almighty."

The first president Bush and Gerald Ford have both said nice things about this mosque, and about Islam and the Saudis.

But then there was this –

In a rare incidence of good luck, a plan to blow up King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California, U.S.A. was thwarted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The destruction was planned for November 2001, during Ramadan the holiest month of the year.  Mr. Usama Mahda, the community liaison for King Fahd Mosque said of the plot, "There would have been hundreds and hundreds of people, American citizens.  It is scary.  It’s sad and it’s disgusting.  No Muslims, Jews or Christians should suffer like that.” 

Leading the plot against the mosque were top officials from the militant Jewish Defense League (JDL).  The chairman of the JDL, Irv Rubin and the West Coast coordinator, Earl Krugel, were taped and observed planning the crime by the FBI after an informant contacted them, revealing plans in motion.

Here are the details –

On December 12, 2001, Irv Rubin, JDL Chairman, and Earl Krugel, a member of the organization, were charged with conspiracy to bomb private and government property. The two allegedly were caught in the act of planning bomb attacks against the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California and on the office of U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, who is Arab-American. The two were arrested as part of a sting operation after an FBI informant named Danny Gillis delivered explosives to Krugel's home in Los Angeles.

The JDL claims that Danny Gillis struck a deal with the FBI to neutralize the JDL by infiltrating the organization and arranging criminal charges of its leadership. However, according to the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, Gillis was a former JDL member who joined the organization due to conflicts with white skinheads.

In November 2002, while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles awaiting trial, Rubin allegedly cut his own throat with a jail-issued safety razor and tumbled off an 18- to 20-foot balcony. The injuries from the fall resulted in his death at Los Angeles County Hospital several days later. Some people consider the circumstances surrounding his death to be suspicious and Rubin's wife has demanded an investigation into the situation. But defense attorney Mark Werksman said that Rubin had been despondent for months, losing 40 pounds, and that the pressure of an upcoming trial "may have pushed him over top." The Rubin family launched a wrongful death suit against the government. The Bureau of Prisons refused to release videotape, despite the fact that virtually all his visitors report that the entire facility is monitored by video-cameras.

On February 4, 2003, Earl Krugel, Rubin's first lieutenant, pled guilty to conspiracy charges stemming from the plot.

Krugel was sentenced to twenty years in jail.

Then see this item from the Washington Post –

In May 2003, the State Department refused reentry to the chief imam of the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, Fahad al Thumairy, who also was a Saudi diplomat at the consulate in Los Angeles. The Sept. 11 commission report later said the State Department had determined "he might be connected with terrorist activity."

The report also said that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, "spent time at the King Fahd mosque and made some acquaintances there." Al Thumairy, who reportedly led an "extremist faction" at the mosque, denied knowing the two hijackers. While his denial was "somewhat suspect," the report said there was no evidence connecting him to the hijackers.

So now you understand the redneck gun shop across the street.

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.

Technical Note:

Most of these photographs were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  Earlier photography was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik