Local Muslim Assails U.S.

In a stinging condemnation of U.S. military strikes against suspected terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan, a leading Southern California Muslim accused the Clinton administration Friday of “hate crimes” and “terrorism.”

While declaring that terrorist attacks on civilians--such as those that killed more than 260 in the recent East Africa bombings that precipitated Thursday’s strikes--are a violation of Islam’s teachings, Maher Hathout strongly denounced the U.S. action.

“Our country is committing an act of terrorism. What we did is illegal, immoral, unhuman, unacceptable, stupid and un-American,” the religious leader declared in a sermon at the Islamic Center of Southern California, where he is spokesman.

At the same time, Hathout voiced fears that Muslims in the U.S. will become targets of the “deranged, the hypnotized, the uneducated and the gullible”--all misled by the false impression that Muslims and their faith support terrorism.

“If our country commits hate crimes, why should we not expect the uneducated to do the same?” he asked.

After the sermon, Hathout declared that the American attacks were “worse” than the Aug. 7 bombings of the U.S. embassies because the missiles killed “innocent” people asleep in their homes.

He was not the only religious leader to speak out against the U.S. strikes. Officials of the National Council of Churches; the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group; and Pax Christi, USA, an unofficial Roman Catholic peace group, all voiced opposition to the U.S. military action.

Hathout also said he and all Muslims appreciated President Clinton’s efforts to draw a clear distinction between Islam, with its millions of “peace-loving” adherents, and “killers who wrap murder in the cloak of righteousness.”