Imam Saeed Hajj rejects interfaith dialogue. PHOTO: MEMRI TV

On Eve of Synagogue Attack in Denmark, Copenhagen Imam Incited Against Jews

During a Friday, February 13 sermon – one day before the weekend’s terror attacks in Copenhagen – Hajj Saeed, the Imam of the Al-Faruq Mosque in the city, rejected interfaith dialogue with Jews, watchdog MEMRI TV reported, publishing footage of the lecture.

From his pulpit, Saeed called interfaith dialogue a “malignant idea,” and claimed that, “the people responsible for interfaith dialogue want to make all religions equal. [By doing so] they want to equate Truth with Falsehood. Between heresy and deception, between the religion of the Prophet Muhammad and man-made laws, legislated by these criminals in order to rule the world.”

Behind Saeed hung a black flag, commonly associated with the Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international pan-Islamic political organization with the goal of uniting all Muslim countries under the aegis of an Islamic State. His sermon was posted on the internet by the group’s Scandinavian chapter.

Regarding Jews specifically, Saeed said that the Prophet Mohammad had Jewish neighbors in Medina, but instead of trying to call for reconciliation with them, “in the manner of…those who call to reconcile Truth with Falsehood,” he called them to accept Islam. And when they rejected his call to Islam, “he waged war against the Jews.”

He echoed Hizb ut-Tahrir’s line that, “all people are called to convert to Islam.” Those refusing to do so, “after having been presented with clear evidence,” are to be considered heretics and infidels, and there are religious laws governing how to deal with such people, particularly when living in their countries. “The so-called interfaith dialogue is not part of these laws,” he said, instead noting that there should be “an ideological conflict to refute their arguments of Falsehood.”

Saeed also rejected UN aid for Muslim communities, saying, “Do we…want the United Nations to create charity projects for us? The United Nations and its predecessors of the league of nations were created in order to fight Islam, to destroy the State of Islam, and to draw Muslims away from their religion.”

Saeed’s speech was a sharp contrast from the sermon given in January by Imam Tareq Yousef Al-Masri, of the Oulel-Albab Mosque in Brooklyn, New York. In his sermon, Imam Al-Masri advocated for tolerance and acceptance towards non-Muslims.