Congrats to Imam Talal Eid & the Bush Administration

Imam Talal Eid, a 54 year old native of Lebanon, today became the first Muslim cleric appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religous Freedom, an organization which which monitors overseas conditions and makes policy recommendations to the president, State Department and Congress. I must admit, I was sharpening my fingers for a highly critical piece, but all that I have found from the news and from blogs indicates that Imam Eid is precisely the type of moderate voice that our administration needs to be singling out and amplifying. For example, this from a Boston-area newspaper in 2005:

Mosque leaders bar Imam Eid from pulpit

Imam Talal Eid was at the Islamic Center of New England's Quincy mosque for the Friday service, as he said he would be. But he preached no sermon and led no prayers.

Moving quickly to enforce a resignation Imam Eid claimed isn't valid, the center's board of directors barred him from the pulpit Friday and sent a board member to act as imam in his place.

. . . [Imam Eia, a] nationally-known native of Lebanon resigned in January, to protest what he said was a move by a hostile board majority to limit his duties as overall religious director for the center's two mosques, in Quincy and Sharon.

Imam Hafiz Masood, a native of Pakistan, has led worship services in Sharon since 1998.

Imam Eid's supporters, most of whom are affiliated with the Quincy mosque, say critics have hounded him for years for being too moderate and too involved with interfaith programs. Zaidi and other board officers deny that's the case.

. . . The dispute has plunged New England's oldest, most diverse Muslim community into the worst crisis of its 41-year history, with charges that conservatives are maneuvering to take control and counter-charges that Imam Eid's supporters are being bad Muslims for airing the dispute in public.

Those divisions were in evidence Friday. As Zaidi and others criticized published comments by Imam Eid's supporters, board member Jamina Hassan of Canton and numerous others spoke of the turn of events in anger and disappointment.

As board member Aboubakr preached in the upstairs prayer room about Abraham's faithfulness and why Muslims should ‘‘leave matters to Allah,'' several mosque members stayed outside.

‘‘I'm not going to pray behind this guy,'' one longtime member said, referring to Aboubakr. . .

Read the entire story here. Gone are the days in the aftermath of 9-11 when a clueless Bush administration was inviting CAIR and their ilk to the White House. It sounds like this appointment of Imam Eid is a good step. Unfortunately, the above article is also a textbook example of the method by which mosques in America have been being taken over for years by radical elements.