Imam Resigns As Incoming FDNY Chaplain

An imam slated to be sworn in today as the Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history, instead resigned.

New York Newsday reports the almost chaplain revealed he doubted that 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people:

"I as an individual don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting that story, he talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"

Questioned about who he believed was responsible for the attacks, Habib said he didn't know.

So how does someone who expouses idiotic conspiracy theories become a NYFD Chaplain? A spokesman for the Fire Department said that Habib was recommended by the department's Islamic Society and was hired "based on his credentials as a religious person. We don't ask new employees about their political views before we hire them."

I agree with Michelle Malkin, who posts "It's one thing for C-list rappers (see also here) and academic moonbats to peddle such conspiratorial claptrap. But a New York Fire Department chaplain? Have we no respect for the 9/11 dead? Have we no respect for ourselves?"

Thank goodness the chaplain wannabee had the decency to resign. Good riddance!

Comments

[California Yankee]

Kip, I can't answer your questions as to the numbers, but I think the reason the FDNY hired a Muslim chaplin is because the Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel sued the City. See More On the NYFD Chaplain Wannabee.

[KipEsquire]

Are there so many Muslims in the FDNY that they need to hire a chaplain-imam?