Dearborn community leaders push back on Wall Street Journal piece calling it the 'Jihad Capital'

FOX 2 (WJBK) - Police patrols in Dearborn are on alert after a Wall Street Journal opinion piece referred to the city as 'America's Jihad Capitol.'

Community leaders and Muslim advocacy groups are defending the city, which has the largest Muslim population in the US.

"How dare you talk about this community and say that we are a jihadist state," said Nabih Ayad, Arab American Civil Rights League.

Arab American leaders are demanding a retraction from the Wall Street Journal after the paper published the opinion piece Friday.

Mariam Charara is with the Arab American Civil Rights League.

"Words have consequences," Charara said. "The inflammatory and dehumanizing language you served as fuel for fire that ignites the bigotry, intolerance, and ultimately violence against innocent civilians we have seen in this country."

"Make no mistake about it, we’re not talking about the Palestinian issue, we're not talking about the political issue, we're not talking about any other issue," said Ayad. "We're talking about the safety of this community."

Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, the president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP was also in attendance.

Related: 'It brings fear to community members': Wall Street Journal op-ed sparks Dearborn safety concerns

"The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' In the recent article entitled 'Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital,' published by the Wall Street Journal on Feb. 3, written by Steven Stalinsky, herein lies a key example of the ignorance of the facts of life in the City of Dearborn."

Abed Ayoub represents the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

"We've got to just step back and ask ourselves when is enough, enough," Ayoub said. "Is it when a child gets shot and killed in the city? Is it when a mosque is attacked? When is enough, enough? The Wall Street Journal needs to ask itself the same question. Because they will be held responsible if anything happens inside this city or to any Arab American or Arab across the country."

FOX 2 reached out to the Wall Street Journal for comment, but it has yet to respond.