A Muslim prayer gathering on Capitol Hill on Friday was attended by maybe a tenth of the 50,000 people organizers were expecting. The event's PR was even less successful than its attendance, with conservative media outlets claiming that the event's two main organizers had a history of defending terrorism, making anti-Semitic comments, and expressing anti-American views.
Specifically, Hassen Abdellah, one of the main organizers, was known as the "most aggressively combative" lawyer on behalf of Muslim terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center in 1993, and another convicted of aiding a Pakistani terrorist group. Another, Sheik Ahmed Dewidar has made repeated anti-Semitic comments, and suggested that the U.S. government was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Most of the event's attendees were blissfully unaware of this unsavory backdrop, and the most predominant activity taking place was not politicking, but praying.
"It's the first time we've done this," said Mike Sherif, 23. "It's a pretty good thing."
Hela Kotob, a graduate student at Georgetown University, said the prayer day was "really inspiring."
"It's just great to come together in front of the Capitol Building," she said.
Not all left the politics aside, however.
"Obama's ancestry gives the green light for this crowd to come out of the closet," said Sabina Dzafic, of New Jersey.
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