Radio
Broadcast
Leaders want radio station to stop airing
comments by priest they say defame Muhammad.
The
1/30/2009
Gregg Krupa
In
an Arabic-language broadcast Wednesday on WNZK 680/690 AM, the Rev. Zakariah Boutros said the Muslim prophet Muhammad had engaged in necrophilia
and gay sex, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations. (If Boutros said this, then it is written in the Koran in
Arabic)
Boutros
has previously come under fire from area Muslims, who say he disparages Islam.
The controversial, American-based priest can be heard on purchased time slots
on radio stations internationally. His words have stirred controversy in
Amani Mostafa, who
hosts the program "Questions About Faith" on which Boutros spoke
Thursday, said Boutros was "reading from an Islamic text" when he
said, over the air, that the Prophet
Muhammad slept in the grave of a dead woman and allowed a man to kiss and
caress his chest.
"I
am a former Muslim," said Mostafa, who is now
Christian. "I know exactly what I am talking about. These are the things
we were taught as children. We are quoting the Quran and the Hadiths, and if the Muslims have a problem with that then
they have a problem with their own book."
Hadiths are Muhammad's saying or writings, as
reported by his followers.
Muslims
say that no such wording appears in the Quran or the Hadiths.
"If
that's their excuse, it's lame," said Dawud Walid, of CAIR, which distributed a "national
alert" Thursday asking Muslims to contact the radio station to express
concerns about the broadcast. CAIR also counseled Muslims to be "firm but
polite. Hostile comments can and will be used to further defame Islam and
Muslims."
Sima Birach, who owns
the station, said he had received some complaints on Thursday, though he said
he did not know how many.
In
an interview with The Detroit News last summer Birach
promised to end the broadcasts, upon the request of interfaith Muslim, Jewish
and Christian groups in Metro Detroit.
Birach went so far as to put people
associated with Boutros's broadcasts on conference calls with this reporter,
while he berated them for allowing what some consider hate speech.
"It's
not right," Birach said at the time. "It's
not fair to use some fake or stupid books to accuse someone's religion. Do you
hear me?" But on Thursday, Birach said he had
since heard from "several prominent people in the community," that
what Boutros stated in the broadcasts is true.
"Maybe
we need to have more meetings," Birach said,
referring to members of the Muslim and interfaith communities.