Quran 9:39. 44. Those who believe in God and the Last Day would not ask permission of you to be excused from striving [i.e., fighting] with their wealth and their lives.
This is just ordinary Islam, the same as in any country that there are Muslims.
Muslim man trespassed from mosque: ‘Jihad will start from here’
A Muslim man is accused of telling an Islamic leader “jihad will start from here” after he was trespassed from an Auckland mosque.
Abdulla Hamam, 23, is charged with intimidating former New Zealand Muslim Association president Ghulam Haide Lone after he and several associates confronted him at his Sandringham home in May.
A charge of threatening to kill was amended in Auckland District Court this morning, and the defendant maintained his not guilty plea.
The incident came about after a group of Muslims accused of extremism – including Hamam and his father Salafist Imam Sheikh Abu Abdullah – were trespassed from the Avondale Islamic Centre.
Days later Mr Lone was viciously assaulted; though the court heard there was no suggestion Hamam was involved.
Mr Lone’s facial injuries were so extensive he said he eventually needed a plate inserted into his face and he was recovering at home with his family when Hamam and others visited the property last year.
At Hamam’s trial, which began today, the court was played a video of the incident filmed by one of the men on his phone.
A man tells the camera: “We’re just going to have a laugh at the hiding and the make-up he has on his face”.
Imran Patel, 25, knocks on Mr Lone’s door and the group break into fits of laughter as the complainant answers and the camera gets close to his face, showing his black eye.
Various people shout “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is great) and ask the former Islamic leader why they had been trespassed.
“You think you’re God, eh? You’re nothing. You’re not a man. Come out of your house,” they say.
As the group look set to leave, Hamam is pictured approaching Mr Lone.
He told the court the 23-year-old warned him: “jihad will start from here”.
Hamam’s lawyer Greg Morison disputed that and suggested his client had spent most of his time pacifying Patel.
Mr Lone told police prosecutor Sergeant Jason Ekins he was worried about his safety and that of his family and deliberately positioned himself by the front door to deter the men from entering his house.
But Mr Morison said he could have easily retreated into the property and waited for the police to arrive.
“Your behaviour is not consistent with someone fearful for their life,” he said.
Patel pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening behaviour and was last year ordered to do 60 hours of community work and pay $300 to Mr Lone.
Hamam’s trial, before Judge Nicola Mathers, was scheduled to last one day but will be continued at a date yet to be set.
