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| Olajuwon sez he trusted charities |
| 2005-02-16 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon said yesterday that contributions made by a mosque that he established and financed had been intended for charities performing humanitarian work. He said there had been no way to know, when the contributions were made, that the groups receiving them had links to terrorism. Olajuwon was responding to a report last week by The Associated Press that said the Islamic Da'Wah Center of Houston had donated more than $80,000 to charities that the United States government later accused of being connected to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Olajuwon, who retired in 2002 after 17 seasons with the Houston Rockets and one with the Toronto Raptors, is in Jordan studying Arabic. "It took my whole career to build my name and the causes that I choose to support," Olajuwon said yesterday from Amman, Jordan, during a 40-minute teleconference that he initiated. "It took my whole career, and it's difficult to accept when my name is coming linked into anything such as terrorism." The mosque donated $61,250 in 2000 and $20,000 in 2002 to the Islamic African Relief Agency, in addition to $2,430 in 2000 to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, The A.P. reported on Feb. 9. The United States government shut the Islamic African Relief Agency in October, accusing it of having supplied money to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the A.P. reported. The government shut down the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in 2001, saying that it had raised money for Hamas, according to The A.P. Olajuwon, who was born in Nigeria and converted to Islam, insisted that he had no knowledge of any connections the charities had to terrorism. Had he known, he said, he would not have allowed the mosque to make the donations. "At the time they were raising the money in 2000, we didn't even know anything about a terrorist," he said. Olajuwon said he had no reason to suspect that the charities had terrorist links, noting that the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was an American-based nonprofit organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service. The mosque's donations were reported properly to the I.R.S., he said. "It was reported in our tax return," Olajuwon said. "This wasn't something that was secretive," he added. "It was very open. That's what I'm referring to. This was clear. This was not something like, you know, like it was underground. It was clearly a fund-raising for the relief organization." Olajuwon, 42, said the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development had approached the mosque seeking support for a program for orphans. "You see their work, you see their brochure, they've been doing it for years and they're approved by the government," Olajuwon said. "And it's not just us. And they go to different communities to raise funds, because they have this permit." He added: "We don't want to give the money where most of the money is spent on the administration. We're going to make sure that this organization is actually spending the money," he said, on "what they're supposed to." He said such money should go for "medicine, schools, doing well in Africa in the villages." Olajuwon said the mosque must do a better job researching charities before making donations. "But we were careful before," he said. Olajuwon said he was surprised that the initial report became international news. Sounding deeply distressed, he said that an "article that linked me with a terrorist group" had been published in Nigeria. "This is where, you know, we have a responsibility as friends to report stories sincerely," he said. Olajuwon argued that The A.P.'s report was misleading and that it had taken facts out of context. Olajuwon, who is an American citizen, said that he was worried about how people would view him when he returns to the United States in a few months. He called himself a public figure who tries to "help the community and give back." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 He could start by donating an equivalent amount to 9/11 victims. Then, he could convince us of his sincerity by becoming a voice for Islamic moderation, using his status as a sports star to loudly condemn violence. This would go a long way towards making me believe he was innocently duped, and might start a larger movement towards strong condemnation of Islamic fascists. But it won't happen, I think. |
| Posted by: gromky 2005-02-16 11:46:01 PM |
| #2 I'm sure Olajuwon truly was duped by these scumbags. His generosity is legendary. When the Nigerian soccer team arrived in the US for the Women's World Cup, they had shabby uniforms and not enough decent boots. Olajuwon reached into his own pocket and bought the entire team top of the line uniforms and shoes so that they wouldn't be embarrased. That's hardly the gesture an Islamist would make...they don't even like men running around in shorts. That anti-woman prejudice is probably what caused them to have no gear in the first place. |
| Posted by: JDB 2005-02-16 7:28:41 PM |
| #1 The facts are the facts |
| Posted by: Live to Ride 2005-02-16 3:24:03 PM |