ANDY NEWMAN / NY Times | October 01 2005
Comment: What about the multiple Firefighters and workers who described bombs in the towers? Should they resign too?
Even before he was sworn in, the Fire Department's new Muslim chaplain resigned yesterday after remarks that he made about 9/11 in a newspaper article threatened to cause a furor.
The chaplain, Imam Intikab Habib, was quoted in Newsday yesterday saying he doubted that hijackers were responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center, which killed 343 firefighters. He said that a broader conspiracy might have been necessary to bring the buildings down so quickly.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and the department's Islamic Society, which recommended Imam Habib for the post, said they learned of Mr. Habib's views on Thursday when the reporter who was writing the article asked for a comment.
Mr. Scoppetta said that while he did not demand Mr. Habib's resignation, once he confirmed that the article was accurate, the proper course of action was clear to all involved.
"As a chaplain he would be required to administer to all of our people, and his expressed views make it clear to me that he would not be able to perform that function with any credibility," Mr. Scoppetta said yesterday at a news conference at Fire Department headquarters in Brooklyn.
Imam Habib, 30, had been hired by the department in August to succeed an imam who moved away. Mr. Habib, who was born in Guyana, trained for the clergy in Saudi Arabia and until recently taught at an Islamic school in Queens, was due to be sworn in yesterday at a promotion ceremony on Randalls Island.
But on Thursday, when Carol Eisenberg, who writes about religion for Newsday, was interviewing Mr. Habib for an article about him, she asked whether he thought firefighters might have a hard time accepting him given that he was trained in Saudi Arabia and that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis.
Imam Habib responded that he did not foresee problems, and that in any case, he doubted the official government explanation that the hijackers' crashing jets into the World Trade Center was the sole cause of the buildings' collapse.
"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he was quoted as saying. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"
Yesterday, Imam Habib seemed confused by the controversy. "What can I say? I was innocent," he said. "I didn't know it would come to this extent and that I would have to resign." He added: "My task and job in this department is only to help the department. I never meant to say anything about 9/11."
Mr. Habib reiterated his uncertainty about the authors of the 9/11 attacks. "I don't know if hijackers did it," he said. "I don't know who did it."
Officials at the Fire Department and the Islamic Society said they had not asked Mr. Habib about his political views when he was interviewed. Francis X. Gribbon, a department spokesman, said it would not have been appropriate to do so.
Since his hiring, Imam Habib had appeared at several functions and delivered the closing prayer at a promotion ceremony for emergency medical technicians, Mr. Gribbon said. "He didn't mention 9/11," he said.
The president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Stephen J. Cassidy, called Imam Habib's views "ridiculous" and criticized Mr. Scoppetta for letting him get through the vetting process. "This is a chaplain in the Fire Department whose role is to tend to firefighters post-9/11, to the families, 343 families, that lost their loved ones on 9/11, and he didn't ask what he thought about his role vis-à-vis what happened on that day," Mr. Cassidy said.
Comment: What about the multiple Firefighters and workers who described bombs in the towers? Should they resign too?
Even before he was sworn in, the Fire Department's new Muslim chaplain resigned yesterday after remarks that he made about 9/11 in a newspaper article threatened to cause a furor.
The chaplain, Imam Intikab Habib, was quoted in Newsday yesterday saying he doubted that hijackers were responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center, which killed 343 firefighters. He said that a broader conspiracy might have been necessary to bring the buildings down so quickly.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and the department's Islamic Society, which recommended Imam Habib for the post, said they learned of Mr. Habib's views on Thursday when the reporter who was writing the article asked for a comment.
Mr. Scoppetta said that while he did not demand Mr. Habib's resignation, once he confirmed that the article was accurate, the proper course of action was clear to all involved.
"As a chaplain he would be required to administer to all of our people, and his expressed views make it clear to me that he would not be able to perform that function with any credibility," Mr. Scoppetta said yesterday at a news conference at Fire Department headquarters in Brooklyn.
Imam Habib, 30, had been hired by the department in August to succeed an imam who moved away. Mr. Habib, who was born in Guyana, trained for the clergy in Saudi Arabia and until recently taught at an Islamic school in Queens, was due to be sworn in yesterday at a promotion ceremony on Randalls Island.
But on Thursday, when Carol Eisenberg, who writes about religion for Newsday, was interviewing Mr. Habib for an article about him, she asked whether he thought firefighters might have a hard time accepting him given that he was trained in Saudi Arabia and that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis.
Imam Habib responded that he did not foresee problems, and that in any case, he doubted the official government explanation that the hijackers' crashing jets into the World Trade Center was the sole cause of the buildings' collapse.
"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he was quoted as saying. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"
Yesterday, Imam Habib seemed confused by the controversy. "What can I say? I was innocent," he said. "I didn't know it would come to this extent and that I would have to resign." He added: "My task and job in this department is only to help the department. I never meant to say anything about 9/11."
Mr. Habib reiterated his uncertainty about the authors of the 9/11 attacks. "I don't know if hijackers did it," he said. "I don't know who did it."
Officials at the Fire Department and the Islamic Society said they had not asked Mr. Habib about his political views when he was interviewed. Francis X. Gribbon, a department spokesman, said it would not have been appropriate to do so.
Since his hiring, Imam Habib had appeared at several functions and delivered the closing prayer at a promotion ceremony for emergency medical technicians, Mr. Gribbon said. "He didn't mention 9/11," he said.
The president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Stephen J. Cassidy, called Imam Habib's views "ridiculous" and criticized Mr. Scoppetta for letting him get through the vetting process. "This is a chaplain in the Fire Department whose role is to tend to firefighters post-9/11, to the families, 343 families, that lost their loved ones on 9/11, and he didn't ask what he thought about his role vis-à-vis what happened on that day," Mr. Cassidy said.