The case is very simple. A mosque in Manassas, Virginia had imported tiles from Iran, on which verses from the Qur’an were inscribed, for its brand-new mosque. But a Customs-and-Immigration official, following the American law which prohibits the importing of any goods from Iran –not just Qur’anic-quoting ceramics, but Persian rugs from Kerman and Tabriz, pistachios, oil, and so much more—into the United States, proamptly confiscated the tiles, which must now either be returned to Iran, or destroyed. This outraged the head of the mosque, Abolfazl Nahidian, who had ordered the tiles, and such stout defenders of Everything Islam as Nihad Awad of CAIR. Ilhan Omar and Rashia Tlaib have not yet weighed in on the matter, but they will, they most certainly will.
A report on this sober enforcement of American law is here: “US mosque denied shipment of religious tiles due to sanctions on Iran,” by Matthew Barakat, Times of Israel, August 11, 2021:
A US mosque in northern Virginia is asking the Biden administration to release a set of religious tiles that were confiscated at Dulles International Airport after they were deemed to violate sanctions on Iran.
At a news conference Tuesday at the Manassas Mosque, Imam Abolfazl Nahidian said the custom-made tiles were shipped in June from the Iranian city of Qom, to be used in the construction of a new mosque a few miles away.
He said the tiles were a gift and he paid no money for them, but a Customs and Border Protection officer at the airport blocked the mosque from claiming the tiles, citing the sanctions.
Nahidian said he has received other tile shipments throughout the years without incident, including one shipment that arrived eight months ago.
This statement needs to be examined. Nahidian said that eight months ago he received a shipment of tiles “without incident.” But he does not say where these tiles were from; it’s entirely possible that they came from a. country other than Iran, possibly from a Shi’a ceramic workshop in Iraq. He should be questioned about this at his next press conference. If it turns out that they did come from Iran, it should be pointed out that the failure in that previous case to enforce the prohibition on the importing of goods from Iran does not now justify deliberately ignoring the law.
A letter from Customs and Border Protection informed the mosque that the tile must be shipped back to Iran or destroyed.
Destroying the tiles, which are adorned with Quranic verses, would be especially disturbing, Nahidian said.
“Destroying the tiles is the same as destroying verses of the Quran, or the whole Quran itself,” he said.
“Destroying the tiles” is not in the cards, and the troublemaking Mr. Nahidian knows it. The American government is not crazy. Even if Abolfazl Nahidian defies the law and refuses to agree to have the tiles shipped back to Iran, the government is quite capable of doing it on its own; it doesn’t need Nahidian’s approval. Problem solved – no “destruction” of tiles with Qur’anic verses on them, no world-wide Muslim hysteria (riots in Pakistan, marches in Iran, and so on).
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that whatever one’s views are of the Iranian sanctions, it makes no sense to enforce the rules on a benign piece of religious art.
“They are not weapons of mass destruction,” Awad said. “We believe the government should have common sense.”
The sanctions on imports from Iran are across the board. The American government did not commit itself to exempting what Awad calls a “benign piece of religious art.” It bans imports of all kinds from Iran – pistachios and Persian carpets do no harm, but are among the best-known of the banned items. One might take issue, by the way, with Nihad Awad’s characterization of the Qur’anic-versed tiles as necessarily “benign.” Could it be that among the verses on those tiles are those that call on Muslims to “fight” and to “kill” and “to smite at the necks” and to “strike terror in the hearts” of the Infidels? Or perhaps some tiles include the verses that tells Muslims that they are the “best of peoples” (3:110) and that Infidels “are the most vile of created beings” (98:6)? It would be fascinating to find out. And if any of those verses were included on the tiles, that might make Abolfazl Nahidian more likely to fold than to continue to kick up a fuss. No sense in drawing the American public’s attention to those verses.
Let’s not forget that the U.S. does not distinguish between “good” and “bad” imports from Iran, with the former allowed and the latter kept out. The Islamic Republic is a rogue state, supporting terrorist groups throughout the Middle East – in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza — and engaging in terrorism itself, as it hastens pell-mell toward acquiring nuclear weapons which, the Supreme Leader and his cronies have repeatedly claimed, will be used to destroy the Jewish state. The American government has decided that no Iranian goods or produce can be imported into the United States. These need not be harmful in themselves; their importation alone will help the regime financially, and possibly in other, more subtle ways, as well. Even if the tiles were not purchased but were a “gift” to the mosque, as is claimed implausibly by Abolfazl Nahidian, they would still redound to Iran’s credit, help it to accrue good will, among the members of the mosque, and for that reason – even if a “gift” — should be included in the general ban on Iranian imports.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection confirmed that the tiles were placed on hold on June 21 and that on June 30, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control determined that, under the sanctions imposed on Iran, the tiles could not be imported. The spokesperson said no final determination has been made on the tiles’ disposition.
The Treasury Department declined to comment Tuesday.
Speakers at Tuesday’s news conference suggested that anti-Islam sentiment may be responsible for the confiscation.
“If this were a statue of the Virgin Mary, would we be here discussing this?” asked Rafi Uddin Ahmed, president of the Muslim Association of Virginia.
Rafi Uddin Ahmed doesn’t get it. Anti-Islam sentiment had nothing to do with the confiscation of the tiles from Iran. If instead of Qur’anic-quoting tiles, a statue of the Virgin Mary had been imported from Iran, it would also be impounded by customs officials, either to be returned to the seller in Iran, or to be destroyed.
Furthermore, if those very same tiles had been imported not from Iran but from Saudi Arabia, or Turkey, or Pakistan, they would have without question been allowed into the U.S. But this is something Abolfazl Nahidian, Nihad Awad, and Rafi Uddin Ahmed prefer not to discuss.
Nahidian has led the mosque [in Manassas, Va.] for nearly three decades, and has occasionally drawn scrutiny from critics who say he is anti-Israel and was a supporter of the ayatollahs in the Iranian Revolution. He has blamed the September 11 attack on Israel; in 1979, he and others chained themselves to the railings of the Statue of Liberty after climbing to the top and unfurling banners criticizing the shah of Iran, who was overthrown.
Nahidian’s support for the Iranian Revolution and the murderous Ayatollah Khomeini, his crazed belief that Israel was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, a staple of antisemites (“none of the Jews at the Twin Towers went to work that day”), his history of anti-Israel remarks, suggest another possibility. Perhaps the importation of those tiles was a set-up, arranged between Nahidian and Iranian authorities, designed to make the American authorities look “anti-Muslim” when they were simply enforcing the law against Iranian imports. It’s worth investigating.
Nahidian said his history is irrelevant to whether the tiles should be imported.
On this point alone, Abolfazl Nahidian is correct.
Don Davenport says
Rest assured this incident will be resolved in favor of the mosque.
mortimer says
The mosque and the mullahs are merely playing word games with the government, because ….
THERE IS A ‘PROPER’ SHARIA-LAW METHOD FOR DISPOSING OF KORANIC WRITING !
“The proper way to dispose of the Quran is to first soak it in some water for a few days, and then bury it. So the ink comes off.
Two methods of disposing an unusable Qur’an and Islamic literature:
(1) Wrapping them in a piece of cloth or something pure and burying them respectfully in a place where people normally do not walk upon.
(2) Fastening the items to something heavy such as a stone and placing it respectfully in flowing river.
Other scholars have mentioned three ways of doing that:
(1) Burning, i.e., burning old copies of the Mus-haf in a careful and respectful manner, in a clean and safe place, whilst ensuring that the words are consumed by the fire and the pages are changed. (It must be done thoroughly until there is nothing left but ashes)
(2) Burying, for which a place that is clean and safe from tampering should be chosen. A deep hole should be dug in which it is thought most likely that the buried copies will disappear for a long time. They may be buried in a clean, pure place where they will not be subject to mishandling in the future, to the best of one’s knowledge.
(3) Shredding. This may be the easiest way nowadays. There are machines into which one inserts papers and they shred them into tiny pieces, so that they are no longer regarded as words of the Qur’aan or even legible letters. This is clean and safe and does not involve a lot of effort, as is the case with burning or burying.”
https://blogs.cornell.edu/mideastlibrarian/2012/02/24/disposing-of-copies-of-the-koran-al-mus%CC%A3h%CC%A3af-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%80%D9%85%D9%80%D8%B5%D9%80%D8%AD%D9%80%D9%81/
gravenimage says
Mortimer, we should not have to kowtow to Islamic demands. All of this acknowledges that this Qur’anic claptrap is “holy”, when it is actually anything but.
Keith O says
Got that right GI,The koran was inspired by a sick evil mind and it still influences sick evil minds to this day.
I can suggest a use for the tiles, just so they don’t to be wasted.
They could be used for the floor or walls of a piggery!
Infidel says
Was the mosque in question a shi’a mosque? If not, why were they insistent on getting that from Iran: they could have got something similar from Turkey or Saudi Arabia. And if it was a shi’a mosque, they could have tried out some other places, like Iraq or Bahrein
Like Don Davenport predicts, expect this to be resolved in favor of the mosque
gravenimage says
Yes, it’s Shia.
PMK says
Just wondering how strict the ban is. The tiles were shipped from Qom. But what if they had been sold to a third party in, say, Europe or Saudi Arabia? Would their import from Arabia or any European country have been allowed or would they still have been confiscated because they originated in Iran?
gravenimage says
PMK, here is a list of prohibitions on US citizens dealing with Iran. You cannot:
“Import most goods from Iran, even through a third country like Australia or India”
https://ussanctions.com/2012/01/15/doing-business-with-iran-limitations-and-permissions/
That’s pretty straightforward. Of course, I’m sure some goods imported through third-party nations are simply not caught. Doesn’t make it legal, though.
Kashyap says
Right application of law.
revereridesagain says
Hah. Should have had them shipped across the southern border. Nobody would have dared question a thing.
mortimer says
Exactly … if a covid-infected migrant crossed the Texas border with tiles from Iran … no problem!
– “These are not the suspects we are looking for … let them go.” – said Obi Wan Ken Obi using his jedi mind trick.
William Garrison says
Yes, many “valuable” items (oil, gold, etc.) cannot be imported from Iran into the U.S. Last time that I looked at U.S. import regs, there was an exemption for “religious items” that made it okay to import such items from Iran. I would think they would include ceramic tiles with Quranic text.
Maudi Qutb says
The last time you looked at US import regs? You mean in a fever dream? Please cite the specific regulation stating the exemption for “religious items”. O wait, the Woke don’t need facts, just fantasies, so I don’t expect you to be able to produce such citation.
Raja says
POTUS Biden should apologize for the “incidence” and remind the US citizens that the Trump supporters were responsible for this. If the past is any indication, Biden would love to do that.
It is not just the tyrants who treat its citizen in an ugly way, the Democ-rats/Leftists can go one up !!!
mortimer says
The customs laws are not always consistent in description or policy or application and depend on how the officers scratch their heads.
The mosque should not blame the US for the sanctions, but they should blame the country which chants ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ at every public meeting.
Emilie Green says
“Destroying the tiles is the same as destroying verses of the Quran, or the whole Quran itself,” he said.
Hmmmm, sounds like a good idea to me.
gravenimage says
🙂
Kagman says
“…same as destroying the quran”
I piss on that hate-filled rag…. More pain and suffering has emanated from those pages than from any other work. The quran makes Mein Kompf look like a Hardy Boys novel….
Crusades Were Right says
[“If this were a statue of the Virgin Mary, would we be here discussing this?” asked Rafi Uddin Ahmed, president of the Muslim Association of Virginia]
You mean like THIS one, Mr Uddin?
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/11/italy-muslim-migrant-cuts-off-head-and-hands-of-virgin-mary-statue
gravenimage says
+1
James Lincoln says
Let’s first start with a transcription of all the Koran verses on the tiles – published in, say, the New York Times.
Then everyone will know what is taught in that Virginia mosque…
Raja says
Is NYT listening?
gravenimage says
When US Customs Confiscates Qur’an-Quoting Tiles From Iran, All Hell Breaks Loose
……………..
Oh no! Are the filthy Infidels touching Qur’anic verses? Haram! Haram!
And all these Muslims wanted to do was illegally import goods from an enemy of the US–is that so wrong? Not as pious Muslims see it…
And yes–one does wonder just which Qur’anic verses these might be–many of which are anything but benign.
Speaking of which, why is this Mosque allowed to stay open? And here is more on Abolfazl Nahidian, in his own words:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewihHxGwIZU&ab_channel=MEMRITVVideos
Blaming 9/11 on the Israelis, saying that Infidels created the Sunni/Shia split (never mind that this dates back almiost 1400 years, saying that Infidels create Jihadists (unclear whether he is saying that Jihadists are actually Infidels or that Infidels going against Islam creates Jihad), saying that criticism of Islam leads to the destruction of Infidels at Muslim hands.
He also bizarrely says that the US is occupying Pakistan.
Much of this is direct incitement to violence.
Bella says
Maybe Hitlary can clean them with a rag or something.
Fitna says
One day I believe those of us who oppose Islam will have the upper hand. The reason is that the Left can only hide the truth from the public only so long, that eventually the masses will realize they were fooled and will turn against not just Muslims but Leftists and anyone that supports them.
Honestly I feel that day will be so liberating when we could finally talk freely, out loud (without censorship or fear of being locked up for being ‘Islamophobic’), about how evil and disgusting Islam is. I believe the enemy will eventually get rounded up and then removed from our nations. I think there will be celebrating and dancing in the streets when that happens, the way it did at the end of WW2.
It won’t happen overnight but so long as we keep educating others, in time, the western population will finally get more informed about Islam until most of us will all line up on the same side (against Islam). Any non-Muslim who’d support Islam would be ostracized. It won’t be pretty for Muslims but I don’t care, what they will do to us if they succeed is far worse….so we cannot afford to lose this fight.
Knowledge is the key, this is why Muslims are terrified of people learning about the truth of their evil religion. This is why they demonizes anyone that criticizes or questions their beliefs. They could’ve decided to enjoy all the benefits the West has to offer, but instead they chose to wage war against us, so then we will win it.
As for these tiles, it’d be good to return them along with all the Muslims if we realistically could. The West better learn to not cave to these thugs and barbarians because their bullying will not end even when they have their boots on our necks.
Check Burry says
Im pretty sure there is no one in iran who would/could make a statue of Mary, let alone export it, other than in a million pieces.
Grace M Joubarne says
The mosque has a tiny problem: Islam is not a religion, so says their own authorities, so these are not religious ‘symbols’, they are items used to mark newly-acquired territory in their effort for world domination.
False claims of being ‘religious’ items is akin to calling street drugs ‘medicine’.
Donovan Nuera says
Or the Customs bureaucrats can just accidentally “lose” the shipment like they do with other imports and the shipment ends up in a random landfill …. whoopsie!!!!