Controversial Imam Sparks Protests at Florida University

February is Islamic Awareness Month, and for the record, this is the 9th Annual Islamic Awareness Month.  (Who knew?)  It even has a Facebook page.

Since Islam is a religion with a reported 1.5 billion followers around the world, it might behoove a person to learn more about it.  At UCF (University of Central Florida), the Muslim Student Association planned ten special events for the entire month in order to combat what they called, 'a very negative view of what it means to be Muslim.'   A few of the scheduled event titles:

"Men, Women, and Modesty ... That's so last year, isn't it?"

"Manliness in Islam"

And something called "Convert Stories"

While all of those sound fairly innocuous and even educational, they have been overshadowed by tonight's appearance of a man called "an unindicted co-conspirator for the first World Trade Center bombing."  The Muslim Student Association has brought Imam Siraj Wahhaj to the campus.  Wahhaj is an African-American convert to Islam who also happens to be one of the 170 names listed by the US Attorney in New York as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.  He was also a character witness for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rachman, the blind Egyptian cleric serving a life sentence for seditious conspiracy. Imam Wahhaj is also neutral on Osama bin Laden's role in the September 11, 2001 attacks on America.

MyFoxOrlando reports on the Imam's appearance:

The MSA did receive $6500 in funding from the University for the events, but has not divulged if any of that money was used to bring the controversial speaker to the campus.