Yet another Islamic cleric misunderstands the Religion of Peace™, even as he preached nonviolence and tolerance. One would almost start to suspect that Islam had a doctrine sanctioning religious deception*. Naah! That would be “Islamophobia”!

“San Diego religious leader among those charged with aiding Somali terrorists,” by Dana Littlefield, Susan Shroder and Kristina Davis for the San Diego Union Tribune, November 3 (thanks to all who sent this in):

SAN DIEGO — The arrest of the leader of a City Heights mosque, a man described as a revered figure who was known for advocating nonviolence and tolerance, has stunned the close-knit Somali community in City Heights, where many refugees of the war-torn country live, work and pray.Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud, 38, appeared in federal court Wednesday to answer to charges that he was involved in a conspiracy to provide money and other aid to al-Shabaab in Somalia, which U.S. authorities have designated a foreign terrorist organization.

Mohamud and co-defendant Issa Doreh, 54, pleaded not guilty. A third defendant, Basaaly Saeed Moalin, 33, pleaded not guilty to similar charges Tuesday.

Mohamud has been the imam — the religious leader — of Masjid Al-Ansar on Winona Avenue for 10 years, said Bashir Hassan, secretary of the small mosque that primarily serves Somali refugees. Doreh and Moalin both attended the mosque, Hassan said.

Mohamud is married and has several children, Hassan said Wednesday.

“He is the center of the community here,” Hassan said. “Everyone likes him. When anyone needs help, he is the first person to help. His arrest was very shocking. He is a godfather person to the community.”…

* Qur’an 3:28 warns believers not to take unbelievers as “friends or helpers” (َأَوْلِيَا — a word that means more than casual friendship, but something like alliance), “unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them.” This is a foundation of the idea that believers may legitimately deceive unbelievers when under pressure. The word used for “guard” in the Arabic is tuqātan (تُقَاةً), the verbal noun from taqiyyatan — hence the increasingly familiar term taqiyya. Ibn Kathir says that the phrase Pickthall renders as “unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them” means that “believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers” may “show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly. For instance, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Ad-Darda’ said, ‘We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.’ Al-Bukhari said that Al-Hasan said, ‘The Tuqyah [taqiyya] is allowed until the Day of Resurrection.” While many Muslim spokesmen today maintain that taqiyya is solely a Shi’ite doctrine, shunned by Sunnis, the great Islamic scholar Ignaz Goldziher points out that while it was formulated by Shi’ites, “it is accepted as legitimate by other Muslims as well, on the authority of Qur’an 3:28.” The Sunnis of Al-Qaeda practice it today.