Will Imam Who Made Death Threats Be Allowed To Speak At Johnstown Campus Of University Of Pittsburgh?
April 24, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The Johnstown campus of the University of Pittsburgh is courting controversy after having promised a local imam - who advocates killing those who forsake their faith in Islam - an opportunity to address its student body.
Responding to a lecture at the campus given by an ex-Muslim promoting a book critical of Islam, the imam of the Islamic Center of Johnstown. Fouad ElBayly called the speaker's comments "poisonous" while advocating that apostates should be killed, "If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death." [source http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/books/s_503977.html]
Preceding ElBayly's fatwa [a determination made by a religious scholar on matters of Islamic jurisprudence] regarding how the speaker should be dealt with, he and the Islamic Center of Johnstown's president, Mahmoud Qazi met with the university's Vice President of Student and Academic Affairs, Dr. Jerry Samples.
During that meeting Mr. Samples agreed to allow the two access to the university so they could present their objections to the speaker's ideas.
Contacted today Mr. Samples stated that he wanted to "give them a separate time for them to come and discuss their religion on campus," and indicated that "they have been here before."
He stressed that the offer had been made so "that they could come and talk about the book" since the university is an academic forum where people should be able to discuss differing ideas.
Samples also made clear that he was unaware of ElBayly's extreme statements and that his offer was extended before they had appeared in the press.
For now at least, Mr. Samples indicated that though the offer for the university to host ElBayly still stands that it is subject to a review process which will take place in mid-summer at which point a final determination will be made.
He indicated that an evaluation of the imam's statements will be part of that review process and that the matter will be run by the university's legal team, "we will sit down and look at all of this information… [and] go to our legal people [to] make sure we are within the bounds of the law."
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