MUSLIMS DECRY TERROR LOCAL LEADERS SPEAK OUT: WIDESPREAD MURDER IN THE NAME OF ISLAM NOT SANCTIONED.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Antelope Valley's Islamic leaders say terrorists are trying to hijack the religion's name.

Scores of Muslims from two local mosques gathered Friday night at Palmdale's business intersection to condemn London terror bombings, waving American and British flags and carrying signs that said ``Not in our name'' and ``Terrorists are not jihadists.''

``It is the duty of every Muslim in the United States and around the world to show their disdain for terrorists and their actions,'' said rally organizer Abdul-Wahab Omeira.

Passing motorists honked and waved Friday evening as men in ties, sport shirts and traditional garb, youngsters in baseball caps and women in head scarves and skirts stood along Rancho Vista Boulevard across 10th Street West from the Antelope Valley Mall.

Participants included members of the American Islamic Institute of Antelope Valley in Palmdale and the Islamic Center of North Valley in Lancaster, where the rally had been announced at Friday services. The rally drew non-Muslims as well.

Omeira, who is the Muslim chaplain at the state prison in Lancaster as well as a board member of the Lancaster mosque, said the rally was in response to people who ask why Muslims don't speak out more against terrorism.

``Here we are answering those calls,'' Omeira said. ``Muslims are victims of terrorism, just like everybody else.''

Among the participants was Dr. Basam Hadaya, a Lancaster physician who has practiced medicine in the Antelope Valley for 28 years.

``We think a lot of people are hijacking Islam and they are giving it a label of of terrorism and criminals,'' Hadaya said.

Palmdale businessman Kamal Al-Khatib, a leader of both the Palmdale mosque and of Guidance Charter School in Palmdale, carried American and British flags.

At Friday services at the Palmdale mosque, Imam Amr Elsamny told worshippers that a good Muslim is a good citizen, Al-Khatib said.

``This is basically saying in a very strong manner to the terrorists that they don't represent Islam. They are doing murder, not jihad,'' Kamal said. ``If every community does what we are doing, they could isolate those murderers. They would not be getting support anywhere.''

A Muslim Web site defines jihad as a struggle against injustice.

The Antelope Valley Muslims' approach is one advocated by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, which launched a petition drive, called ``Not in the Name of Islam,'' designed to disassociate Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims.

The petition, signed by some 700,000 Muslims, states in part: ``We refuse to allow our faith to be held hostage by the criminal actions of a tiny minority acting outside the teachings of both the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad.''

Last week, CAIR turned that petition into a television public service announcement that is being distributed nationwide. Arabic and Urdu subtitled versions will also be made available to television stations in Muslim countries.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Islamic women hold up signs at a rally Friday against Muslim terrorists by Islamic Center of the North Valley.

(2 -- color) Kamal Al-Khatib, left, president of the Antelope Valley institute, and Abdul-Wahab Omeira, prison chaplain, hold American flags at the rally.

(3 -- color) Aasma Hasan and her 9-month-old daughter join the rally of Islamic Center of the North Valley and American Islamic Institute of the Antelope Valley against London bombings on Friday night in Palmdale.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer