New Ground Zero Imam Same as Old Ground Zero Imam

Feisal Abdul Rauf is out as the Ground Zero mosque Imam but his replacement has expressed sentiments that many Americans found so objectionable in Rauf. In fact, Abdallah Adhami seems to be far less savvy than his predecessor. Rauf's tone lent itself to elevator music, which was actually played during one of his radio interviews. Conversely Adhami's nuance doesn't seem to rise to the same floor that Rauf's does.

Last week, it was learned that Adhami believes that Muslims have more of a right to Moses than do Jews or Christians. Now, Aaron Klein at World Net Daily has posted more audio of Adhami. This time, he is heard saying that anyone who converts away from Islam (apostates) and preaches against their former religion should be jailed.

How can this be? Wasn't the Ground Zero mosque supposed to be about interfaith dialogue?

Via WND:

Those who leave Islam and preach against the Muslim religion must be jailed, declared the imam who has become the new face of the proposed Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero in New York City.

"If someone leaves the din, leaves the path privately, they cannot be touched. If someone preaches about apostasy, or preaches their views, they're jailed," stated Imam Abdallah Adhami in a November lecture obtained and reviewed by WND.

Adhami was discussing the Quranic view of apostasy, or Muslims who decide to leave the Islamic religion.

He then went on to express the view that people have the right to leave Islam but not the right to preach against it.

He said, "In Islam, in the Quran, theoretically, if you look over the Quran from cover to cover, you literally have the right to the choice to reject God's message. The only thing you do not have the right to do is to spread this conviction, lest you, quote unquote, pollute others."

This should pose quite the conundrum for Muslims who insist the U.S. Constitution and Shariah law can co-exist. Proponents of the mosque like to assert that they are simply exercising their first amendment rights. This cannot be if they are advocating the ban of others' first amendment rights.

Again, Shariah law is not about the First Amendment. It's about Article VI and specifically the part about the Constitution being the supreme law of the land.

It's still early but Adhami may be more controversial than Rauf. Here's the audio: