Your Most Trusted Source of Foreign
News About the United States
|
By Dr. Hamid Abdullah
Edited by Rob Gibran
June 28, 2005
Baghdad: Eyewitnesses in the city of Fallujah reported that an American soldier publicly adopted the Muslim faith in one of the city’s mosques, with a crowd of people and clerics in attendance.
Dr. Ziad Al-Fahdawi, a witness to the event, said that the soldier, George Douglas, recited the two creeds [“There is no god but God, and Mohammad is His prophet”] in The Mosque of Mohammad’s Presence after asking the mosque’s imam to witness his conversion to Islam.
Douglas was reported as saying that he is certain that Islam is the best religion that a person could espouse, for its teachings of forgiveness, nobleness, love, righteousness and courage. When Douglas was finished with his declaration, the mosque attendants shouted “Allahou-Akbar” [God is Greater] and embraced and congratulated him.
The American soldier then changed his name, as of May 30th, from George Douglas to Mujahed Mohammad. He also explained that he was very moved by the courage of the people of Fallujah, their stance as Arabs and Muslims, and their readiness to defend their country and to die for the liberation of their land, no matter what pretexts the invaders give for their aggression.
Douglas is the 4th American soldier to embrace Islam in
The American officer said that he did not convert to Islam for Dr. Samar, but because he was convinced that the Muslim faith is the best of all religions.
Two soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade, Sean Blackwell (27-years-old)
and Brett Duggan (37-years-old) also converted to Islam following the
American forces have already mounted two attacks on Fallujah, the most violent and destructive of which came in November 2004. Fallujah was also a witness to some of the ugliest crimes committed by the American Army against the people of that city, including when an American soldier murdered an injured man near one of the mosques.
About 70 percent of the city’s houses have been completely destroyed. This has forced large numbers of the city’s population to erect tent cities for shelter, where they have been dwelling in ever since.