In the wake of violence, looting, and riots that swept across Baltimore, Maryland the night of 25 April 2015, Muslim Brotherhood supporters from thirty-eight states gathered in this virtual ghost town over a bloody Memorial Day weekend during which twenty-nine people were shot, including nine reported homicides. While the residents of Baltimore were reeling from their deadliest month since 1999, the 40th Annual Islamic Circle of North America-Muslim American Society Convention revealed that Muslim Brotherhood leadership is also in crisis mode following jihadist attacks against free speech in Copenhagen, Denmark, Paris, France, and Garland, Texas, compounded by a litany of savage brutality from the Islamic State’s campaign to conquer and subjugate in the name of a new Caliphate. Atypical of past Muslim Brotherhood conventions, this most recent ICNA-MAS convention’s almost despondent tone seemed surreal, while confusion emanated from an uncharacteristically subdued leadership, which completely overhauled the convention’s theme at the last minute. Facing an identity crisis and public relations debacle, thanks to jihadist rampages at home and abroad, ICNA-MAS tried hard to send a convincing message of love and peace to non-Muslim Americans. Nevertheless, relentless pressure from Americans both Muslim and non-Muslim, newly-awakened to the shocking reality of Islamic rampages as well as the frightening closeness of Muslim blasphemy code enforcers, clearly took its toll on this conference.
Even the U.S. Brotherhood could not escape the stark reality that Islamophobia is real, it’s reasonable, and it’s spreading with every new beheading, crucifixion, execution, and jihad assault flashing across our screens. The Memorial Day 2015 Baltimore ICNA-MAS conference didn’t change its programming because its leadership disapproves of the jihad assault wave: it changed it because Islamophobes are multiplying, denouncing the jihad narrative, and turning against all who are perceived to support the Global Jihad Movement. And that includes ICNA-MAS.
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