Abdurrahman Alamoudi: Muslim Leader, or super-secret assassin?

I’ve lost my mojo!

It’s bad enough that Abdurrahman Alamoudi, former leader of the American Muslim Council and several other American Muslim organizations, got caught with his hand in the illegal money cookie jar last year, when he tried to smuggle into the US wads of cash that he took from a Libyan agent. Now, it appears that he played a part in a secret plan by Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi (you know, the one that used to be our enemy but is now our friend?) to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (you know, the one who is our friend but might be our enemy?) Now in custody, Alamoudi seems to have spilled the beans on his secret life as someone who enables regime change the old fashioned way – by arranging assassinations with the help of $2 million in Libyan money. His statements match those of Mohamed Ismael, a Libyan operative being held by Saudi Arabia for participating in the plot. While the sordid details of this case remain unclear (and, quite frankly, it’s hard to care much about the fate of either the Saudi or Libyan heads of state), back at home, the American Muslim community doesn’t seem to care that someone who has been entrusted with the well-being of the Muslim community has – by his own admission – smuggled money into the country while acting out a “James Bond” fantasy of facilitating a potentially destabilizing assassination. And still, some Muslims saw it fit to give Alamoudi a “Community Service Award” only a month ago. “Verily, never will Allah change the condition of a people,” says the Qur’an, “until they change it themselves.” Any takers?

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.