cair-net Digest of: get.1801_1900

Topics (messages 1801 through 1900):

CAIR-NET: How About an Eid Sale at Macy's? / Nuclear Search Targets 
U.S. Muslims / Missionaries Seek to Convert Muslim Quake Victims
	1801 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CA Muslim Woman Leads Drive to Shelter Tsunami Orphans
	1802 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Files FOIA Request on Radiation Monitoring of Muslim 
Sites
	1803 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Return Smoothly from Canada / Lawyers Plan 
Challenges over Spy Efforts
	1804 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Mecca Calls Detroit Muslims / CAIR-CAN Condemns Hate Graffiti 
on Edmonton Synagogue / Passaic to Stop Holding Detainees at Jail
	1805 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR 2005 Year in Review
	1806 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Threats Force FL Muslim Meeting to Relocate / MI Bank Forms 
Subsidiary for Muslims / Eid Al-Adha Holiday Good for U.S. Market
	1807 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslim Scholars Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda / Al-Arian 
Unlikely to be Set Free / Threatened Muslim Gathering Relocates
	1808 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslims Pray for Trapped Miners
	1809 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Latinas Convert to Islam / AR Muslim Granted Right to Attend 
Prayers
	1810 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: DC Forum on Young Muslims and the Future of Islam / Bush 
Administration Misuses 'Caliphate'
	1811 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Launches Eid Voter Registration Drive
	1812 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Call for Justice in Al-Arian's Case / Battle Waged in Boston 
Over New Mosque
	1813 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslim Leaders Speak Out On Al-Arian / Pig Heads Found 
Outside CA Sikh Temple / CAIR-LA to Air Eid Radio Spots
	1814 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslim Presence Growing in Mississippi / For Muslim New 
Yorkers, Final Rites That Fit / U.S. Muslims Prepare to Observe Eid
	1815 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: AL Muslims Mark Hajj By Feeding Homeless / CAIR-FL Launches 
Eid Voter Drive
	1816 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Eid Mubarak from CAIR
	1817 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: MI County to Accommodate Swimmers' Religious Attire / NJ 
Muslim Girls Basketball Team Stays True to Faith
	1818 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslims Meet with FBI on Radiation Monitoring
	1819 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR to Spot-Check CBP Treatment of Returning Hajj Pilgrims / 
Muslim Funeral to be Held at Arlington Cemetery / CT Parent Claims 
Texbook Too Favorable to Islam
	1820 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslims Seek Role in MLK Celebration Planning / Religious 
Diversity Strengthens National Unity
	1821 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Offers Condolences on Deaths of Hajj Pilgrims
	1822 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Still No Leads in Ohio Mosque Bombing / Posts on Hate Site 
Applaud Hajj Deaths
	1823 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CA Man Pleads Guilty to Anti-Muslim Hate Crime / Evangelicals 
Waving the Israeli Flag
	1824 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Are Bloggers Feeding Anti-Muslim Hate? / CAIR on MLK's Path 
to Justice and Equality
	1825 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Joins Legal Challenge to NSA Eavesdropping
	1826 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Calls for Release of U.S. Journalist in Iraq
	1827 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Sends Delegation to Iraq Seeking Journalist's Release
	1828 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Teen Charged in NJ Arab Student's Stabbing / Quran Used for 
First Time in NJ Swearing-In Ceremony / CA Muslim Cabbies Claim 
Discrimination
	1829 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR to Hold News Conference in Jordan Seeking Journalist's 
Release
	1830 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslim Leaders Call for Release of Journalist in Iraq
	1831 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Police Investigate Possible Bias Crime at NJ Mosque
	1832 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Man Found Rappelling From IN Mosque / CAIR Urges Release of 
US Journalist in Iraq
	1833 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR to Hold News Conference in Baghdad Calling for 
Journalist's Release
	1834 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Delegation Arrives in Iraq to Plead for Reporter's 
Release
	1835 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Video of CAIR Delegation in Iraq / Reviewer Slams Book as 
'Anti-Islamic Polemic'
	1836 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Delegation Returns / TX Mosque Vandalized / VA Halal Law 
Proposed / Muslims and Home Schooling
	1837 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Con Artist Who Targeted Muslims Extradited to U.S.
	1838 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: OH High School Accommodates Muslim Student's Prayer
	1839 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Ask Congress to Reform the Patriot Act
	1840 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Welcomes Release of Female Prisoners in Iraq / AZ 
Muslims to Support Doc Denied Re-Entry to U.S.
	1841 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CA Muslims Seek Reprimand for Radio Host Who Mocked Hajj 
Deaths
	1842 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslim Group Asks CA Radio Host for Apology / VA County's 
First Female Muslim Police Officer / DHS Official Tries to Reassure MI 
Muslims
	1843 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: KFI Host Under Fire for Islamophobic Remarks / Holocaust 
'Offensive to All Humanity' / Documents Show Army Seized Iraqi Wives as 
Tactic
	1844 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Jail Ordered for Con Man Who Targeted Muslims / AZ Muslims 
Rally Behind Banished Doctor / GA Muslims Make Beef Donation for Needy
	1845 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Nazi Swastika Painted on Virginia Mosque / Clinton Warns of 
Rising Anti-Islamic Feeling / CAIR Reacts to Jerry Vines' Retirement
	1846 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslims Urge Bush to Avoid 'Loaded' Terms in Annual Address
	1847 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Seeks Meeting with Danish Ambassador Over Offensive 
Cartoons
	1848 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Condolences on Death of Coretta Scott King / CA Mosque 
Evacuated / WA Muslim Kicked Out of Court Over Hijab
	1849 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: WA Judge Apologizes for Ejecting Muslim Woman from Court
	1850 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CA Radio Station 'Appreciates' Support of Anti-Muslim Racist 
/ NC State Senator Joins CAIR Board
	1851 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Voices Concerns About Cartoons to Norwegian Ambassador
	1852 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Help Defend the Image of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
	1853 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Bomb Damages TN Mosque / Cartoon Controversy: What Would 
Muhammad Do?
	1854 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Reject Violent Response to Cartoon Controversy
	1855 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims to Meet with Danish Ambassador About Cartoon 
Controversy
	1856 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Anti-Muslim Sign Put Up at TX Mosque /  Danish Cartoon 
Controversy was Avoidable
	1857 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Calif. Radio Station, Host Apologize to Muslims
	1858 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Condemns Iranian Holocaust Cartoon Contest
	1859 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Canada Mosque Vandalism May be Linked to Cartoon Tensions / 
CAIR Condemns Attack on Shia Procession in Pakistan
	1860 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims React to Furor with Deft Diplomacy / Seattle 
Muslims Support Detained Imam / Israel to Build 'Museum of Tolerance' on 
Muslim Graves
	1861 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Responds to Cartoon Flap with Educational Campaign
	1862 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Vandals in Denmark Strike Muslim Graves / CAIR-PA Panel to 
Explore Muslims' Feelings for Prophet
	1863 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR to Hold 'Muhammad' Campaign News Conferences Nationwide
	1864 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Declares 2006 'Year of the Prophet Muhammad'
	1865 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR to Host DC Forum on Cartoon Controversy
	1866 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: FBI Probes Attacks on MI Muslims / Coulter Criticized for Use 
of 'Raghead' / CAIR 'Explore the Life of Muhammad' Update
	1867 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Patient Care for Muslims a New Need / MI Imam Assaulted / 
Coulter Calls Muslims 'Camel Jockeys'
	1868 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Threatening Flyer Left at CA Mosque / Action: Plan Mosque 
Open Houses Feb. 24-26
	1869 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Condemns Burning of Nigerian Churches / ADL Says Stop 
Building Over Muslim Graves in Jerusalem / CA Muslims to Support Student 
Grilled by FBI
	1870 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Faiths Gather to Defy Hate / Violence Condemned at Muslim 
Forum
	1871 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Arab Americans See Bigotry Behind Ports Uproar / Woman Leaves 
Death Threat in CA Mosque
	1872 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims to Call for Unity After Attack on Iraqi Shrine
	1873 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslims Disturbed by Ports Security Rhetoric / Security 
Programs Strain Muslim-U.S. Ties / Muslims Take Bigger Role in Terror Fight
	1874 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: DC-Area Interfaith Groups Respond to Cartoon Flap with Open 
Houses
	1875 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CA Muslims, Sheriff Launch Anti-Terror Initiative / Calm 
Urged as FL Neo-Nazis March / KindHearts Rebuts Allegations
	1876 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Ohio Muslims Meet with FBI, DOJ on Charity Shutdown / Mosques 
to Hold Sunni-Shia Unity Events
	1877 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Many Hispanics Finding Faith in Islam / VA Weighs Laws to 
Protect Halal Foods / Flight Attendant's Hijab Invites Conversations about 
Islam
	1878 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CA College Republicans Asked Not to Back Cartoon Display / 
History Channel to Air 'Secrets of the Koran'
	1879 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Racial Slurs Reported in Shooting of Arab-American / U.S. 
Mosques Respond to Freedom House Report
	1880 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Muslim Coalition Seeks Treasury Meeting on Charity Closures
	1881 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Urge Your Senators to Oppose Compromising Civil Liberties
	1882 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Islam Called 'Evil Religion' at GOP-Sponsored Event / FBI 
Opens Probe into Shooting of Arab-American
	1883 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Sen. Lautenberg Accused of Anti-Arab Racism / Con Man Pleads 
Guilty to Fraud of Muslims
	1884 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Turn Angry Over Iraq War's Direction / CAIR-TX 
Offers Diversity Training for Police
	1885 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: 'Sand N**ger' Sprayed on IN Family's Home / NY Times Profiles 
U.S. Imam
	1886 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Find Giving to Charity Now Harder / GI Turns to 
Islam / Islam Empowers Women
	1887 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: LA Muslim School, Home Vandalized / IL Man Guilty of 
Intimidating Muslim Family / NY Imam Plays Matchmaker
	1888 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Justice Department to Probe Attacks on LA Muslims / CAIR-CAN 
Welcomes Apology for Offensive 'Jesus' Cartoon
	1889 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Two New Polls Show Negative Image of Islam in U.S.
	1890 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Growing Number of Hispanics Converting to Islam / $360K 
Settlement for Harassment of Muslim Worker
	1891 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Fighting Islamophobia Should be a Priority / Halal Meats Now 
Easier to Find
	1892 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: CAIR Offers Condolences on Death of U.S. Hostage in Iraq
	1893 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: The Crime of Being an American Muslim Charity / How Islamic 
Inventors Changed the World
	1894 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Jewish Group Promotes 'What's Wrong With Islam' / Serbs 
Who Served in Massacre Brigade Live in AZ
	1895 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Action - Tell Congress Not to Punish the Palestinians
	1896 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: U.S. Leaders Asked to Repudiate Televangelist's Anti-Islam 
Remarks
	1897 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: NC Muslims to Repudiate Attacker's Remarks on Islam
	1898 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Franklin Graham Stands By 'Islam is Evil' Comment / Muslims 
Suspect Profiling in Immigration Delays
	1899 by: CAIR

CAIR-NET: Islam and Bioethics / Muslims Removed from Plane / Israel 
Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
	1900 by: CAIR

 
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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 12/25/05

* Hadith: All Prophets are Paternal Brothers
* CAIR-LA: How About an Eid Sale at Macy's? (LA Times)
            - Islam-Oped: Muslims, Too, Love Jesus
            - Muslims Support Christians Who Want Spiritual Holiday
* CAIR-MI: Nuclear Search Targets U.S. Muslims (Free Press)
            - CNN Video: Muslim Sites Subject to Secret Monitoring
            - Video: CAIR News Conference in Reaction to Monitoring
                        - CAIR Rep on ABC World News Tonight
                        - CAIR Rep on NBC Nightly News
            - NY Times: Widespread Radioactivity Monitoring Confirmed
            - Wash Post: U.S. Monitored Muslim Sites Across Nation
            - LA Times: FBI Monitors for Radiation at Some Mosques
            - AP: US Tracking Radiation Levels in Muslim Areas
            - Reuters: US Monitored Muslim Sites for Radiation
* Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report (NYT)
* CAIR: U.S. Muslims Get Travel Advisory (Toronto Star)
* CAIR-OH: Hundreds Attend Prayer at Bombed OH Mosque
            - God Makes Presence Felt in Mosque Prayer Service
* Missionaries Seek to Convert Muslim Quake Victims
            - Groups 'Proselytizing' Muslim Tsunami Victims

-----

HADITH OF THE DAY: ALL PROPHETS ARE PATERNAL BROTHERS - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Both in this world and in the hereafter, I am the nearest of all the people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one."

Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Hadith 652

-----

CAIR-LA: HOW ABOUT AN EID SALE AT MACY'S? - TOP
Sabiha Khan, Los Angeles times, 12/25/05
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-islamicxmas25dec25,0,5931968.story

[Sabiha Khan is communications director for the Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.]

CHRISTIANS no doubt welcome the movie version of C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," but many Muslims do as well. Neither my fellow Muslim moviegoer nor I was offended by any of the movie's Christian references, and, in fact, we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see smart storytelling on the big screen.

That may come as a surprise in light of popular myths about Muslim beliefs and practices. But Islam teaches Muslims to respect and understand other religions, especially the religions of the people of the book, among them Christians and Jews.

Many Muslim core values - freedom, justice and peace - are shared by followers of the world's other great religions. And Muslims revere Jesus as one prophet of God in a long line of such prophets, among them Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist and Muhammad.

American Muslims believe that Christmas celebrations should not be watered down or banned because they might offend people of other faiths or non-faith. Acknowledging Christmas - or any other religious holiday - in the public square does not infringe on my sensibilities or my right to practice my religion. . .

Many non-Christians merely want their religious holidays to receive the same recognition and acceptance as Christmas. For instance, why shouldn't Albertson's put lamb and hummus on sale during Ramadan? Or Macy's set aside a one-day blowout sale on clothing the day before Eid? Or the local elementary school stage an Eid production with traditional songs?

The Constitution states that government may not endorse one religion over another. This does not preclude the public celebration of our country's many ethnic and religious holidays. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

ISLAM-OPED: MUSLIMS, TOO, LOVE JESUS - TOP
Ibrahim Hooper, Free Lance-Star, 12/25/05
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/122005/12252005/150075

WASHINGTON-- "Behold! The angels said: 'O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God.'"

Before searching for this quote in the New Testament, you might first ask your Muslim co-worker, friend, or neighbor for a copy of the Quran, Islam's revealed text. The quote is from verse 45 of chapter 3 in the Quran.

It is well-known, particularly in this holiday season, that Christians follow the teachings of Jesus. What is less well understood is that Muslims also love and revere Jesus as one of God's greatest messengers to mankind.

Other verses in the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the direct word of God, state that Jesus was strengthened with the "Holy Spirit" (2:87) and is a "sign for the whole world." (21:91) His virgin birth was confirmed when Mary is quoted as asking: "How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me?" (3:47)

The Quran shows Jesus speaking from the cradle and, with God's permission, curing lepers and the blind (5:110). God also states in the Quran: "We gave [Jesus] the Gospel [Injeel] and put compassion and mercy into the hearts of his followers." (57:27)

As forces of hate in this country and worldwide try to pull Muslims and Christians apart, we are in desperate need of a unifying force that can bridge the widening gap of interfaith misunderstanding and mistrust. That force could be the message of love, peace, and forgiveness taught by Jesus and accepted by followers of both faiths. (MORE)

---

FIGHTING FOR CHRISTMAS CONTROVERSY OVER SEASON'S GREETINGS INSPIRES SUPPORT FROM UNLIKELY ALLIES - TOP
Andrea Useem, RELIGION NEWS SERVICE, 12/25/05
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128768912931&path=!opinion&s=1037645509163

The movement defending Christmas as a Christian holiday has attracted some unlikely allies: religiously observant Jews and Muslims.

Their support bucks the assumption that religious minorities prefer a neutral approach to the season, desiring "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" at retail checkout lines or "Frosty the Snowman" over "O Holy Night" at public-school concerts. . .

Islamic support for Christmas stems in part from religious doctrine. While observant Muslims can follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad in respecting Jewish and Christian holidays, they say they have little motivation to value winter-holiday celebrations involving Santa Claus.

When it comes to Christmas, "the more religious it is, the more acceptable it is to Muslims," said Ahmed Bedier, the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Central Florida office.

But there is also the issue of Islamic self-interest. Bedier's organization recently requested that a school board near Tampa, Fla., include a one-day Muslim holiday alongside Christian and Jewish holidays. When the school board voted instead to scrap all religious holidays, Muslim groups - along with their Christian counterparts - protested. The holidays, at least the Christian and Jewish ones, were reinstated.

"We would like to see one standard applied in terms of recognizing religious holidays," said Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Muslims, he said, would welcome religious Christmas displays - for example at a public library - as long as Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday marking the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, was recognized in the same space. (MORE)

-----

CAIR-MI: NUCLEAR SEARCH TARGETS MUSLIMS - TOP
NIRAJ WARIKOO, Detroit Free Press, 12/24/05
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051224/NEWS01/51224002

Federal agents secretly monitored Muslim homes and mosques in Detroit for radiation linked to terrorist bombs, according to published reports -- a disclosure Friday that prompted disbelief and outrage in Michigan's large Islamic communities.

Under the program, agents with the FBI and U.S. Department of Energy targeted a range of private Muslim institutions without court approval or warrants. Federal officials say they set up the program in Detroit and five other cities to thwart a nuclear attack from Islamic extremists, according to a U.S. News and World Report article that was confirmed Friday by the U.S. Justice Department.

But local Muslims say it's ludicrous to suspect that any area mosque or home populated by Muslims would be storing radioactive material for a bomb.

"It's ridiculous," said Imam Abdullah El-Amin, chairman of the board at the Muslim Center in Detroit and head of the Council of Islamic Organizations in Michigan. "It's taking our civil liberties away. . ."

On Friday, after the report was published, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group with a Michigan chapter, called upon the U.S. government to provide details on who it has been monitoring. What disturbed the group was the fact that the government appeared to only focus on Muslims.

The group also assailed the idea that American Muslims would be planning any sort of nuclear or terrorist attack.

"Where is the proof... of any such activity?" said Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan branch of the council. "It's preposterous."

Walid said the FBI should form working partnerships with Muslims rather than "snoop into the personal lives of Muslims indiscriminately."

SEE ALSO:

CNN VIDEO: MUSLIM SITES SUBJECT TO SECRET MONITORING FOR RADIATION - TOP
From Kevin Bohn and Jeanne Meserve, CNN, 12/23/05
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/23/nuke.monitoring/

VIEW VIDEO: http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/us/2005/12/23/meserve.monitoring.mosques.cnn

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Since 2002 the U.S. government has been monitoring for suspicious radiation levels outside more than 100 predominantly Muslim-related sites in the greater Washington, D.C., area, as well as various sites in other cities, several government officials with knowledge of the program confirmed to CNN Friday.

One government official said the authorities don't obtain warrants because the testing is conducted from outside the buildings on what they consider public property.

An official with the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that none of the FBI's programs target gathering places of any specific segment of the population and that non-Muslim sites were also monitored for radiation. ( Watch how sources say the monitoring took place nationwide -- 1:31)

A Muslim advocacy group has said that the program is "misguided" and targets "the wrong people."

"It is a waste of time, it is a waste of resources and it is causing us to be concerned about our citizenship, our constitutional rights," Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told CNN. (MORE)

---

VIDEO COVERAGE OF CAIR NEWS CONFERENCE REACTING TO THE MONITORING - TOP

GOVERNMENT SPYING ON MUSLIM COMMUNITIES EXPOSED
NBC4, 12/23/05
http://www.nbc4.com/news/5630836/detail.html

VIEW VIDEO: http://cf.nbc4.com/dc/sh/videoplayer/video.cfm?ID=5631296

A secret government program monitoring homes and business of Muslims has outraged members of the Islamic community. The monitoring has been taking place since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The government apparently conducted the monitoring program without warrants.

Officials said they implemented the monitoring because they are looking for nuclear bombs. They also said the warrants were unnecessary because the monitoring was being done from publicly accessible areas.

D.C.-area Muslims were stunned by the latest revelations that came out in a news medium article.

They said they thought they had a very good relationship with the D.C. field office of the FBI.

One leader said he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Finally, he said he was very confused about it all.

Another leader said the Bush administration seems to be clueless when it comes to security and terrorism and linking it.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights group, said it would not take the discovery lying down.

"I'm unsure that this administration knows what it's talking about. I'd like assurance from the president that the Muslim community is not targeted because of our religious identity," said Nihad Awad, director of CAIR. (MORE)

---

CAIR REP ON ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT - TOP
December 23, 2005

NUCLEAR SEARCH: SPYING ON U.S. MUSLIMS

ANCHORS: TERRY MORAN
REPORTERS: JOHN COCHRAN (WASHINGTON, DC USA)

TERRY MORAN (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) And now to the war on terror. There is major news tonight about domestic spying, another secret program in the war on terror. We learned today that the federal government's engaged in an effort to look for nuclear materiel in this country that could be used to make crude, dirty bomb weapons. The magazine "US News & World Report" was the first to reveal that much of this program involved surveillance of Muslims in the United States, and it was done without authorization by a court. Here's ABC's John Cochran.

JOHN COCHRAN (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Government officials confirm to ABC News that federal investigators, often hidden in vans, have monitored radiation levels at places Muslims are known to visit or live, in Washington and other cities, including New York, Detroit, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Charleston, South Carolina. Muslim leaders are outraged.

NIHAD AWAD (COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS)

The Muslims seem to be the prime target for this program. And I think this is a -- a sad situation.

JOHN COCHRAN (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Government sources say all the monitoring was based on tips, not on religious profiling. Publicly, the Justice Department will only say "The FBI does not target any particular individual or group based on the group's lawful activities, political or religious beliefs." The program was begun in the early nervous months after the 9/11 attacks, as the government worried terrorists might set off dirty bombs. So far, they have found nothing. Investigators working without search warrants sometimes hunted for nuclear material in outside places often regarded as private, such as parking lots and driveways. Government officials told ABC News that is legal. And some constitutional experts agree.

BRAD BERENSON (FORMER ASSOCIATE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL)

Where the security of the nation is at stake and we're at war and searches are being conducted to prevent attacks or to gain intelligence or for counterespionage, warrants typically are not required.

JOHN COCHRAN (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) Other constitutional experts say the government, as with domestic spying, is on shaky legal ground.

ORIN KERR (FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PROSECUTOR)

If somebody knows they've been monitored, if the site's become clear as to who was monitored, certainly a lawsuit could be brought, then a court could decide the constitutional question.

JOHN COCHRAN (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) But so far, no Muslims know for sure whether they specifically were monitored. And the government is certainly not going to volunteer the information. John Cochran, ABC News, Washington.

TERRY MORAN (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) One other note about tactics in the war on terror, in Italy today, a judge has issued an arrest warrant for 22 people accused of being CIA operatives. They're wanted in connection with the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan two years ago who ended up in Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. Italian prosecutors say the abduction was a serious violation of Italy's national sovereignty.

---

CAIR REP ON NBC NIGHTLY NEWS - TOP
December 23, 2005

HEADLINE: Muslim sites in US screened for nuclear materials without search warrant

ANCHORS: CAMPBELL BROWN
REPORTERS: ANDREA MITCHELL

CAMPBELL BROWN, anchor:

Here at home there is more to report tonight about the government and spying. There are new revelations that the Bush administration has been conducting a top-secret surveillance program without warrants at several locations in Muslim communities. More now from NBC's Andrea Mitchell.

ANDREA MITCHELL reporting:

The FBI confirms that after 9/11, the government secretly tested for nuclear devices at hundreds of mosques and other largely Muslim businesses and organizations in six cities: Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York and Seattle. As first reported today by US News, the top-secret monitoring was done without a court warrant. Was that legal? A leading appeals court judge says yes. But questions focusing largely on Muslim sites.

Judge RICHARD POSNER (US Circuit Court of Appeals): I would not confine surveillance to Muslim Americans. That would be a serious mistake because we have to worry about a whole range of--of terrorists.

MITCHELL: But today a former Senate leader has strong doubts about the screening.

Senator THOMAS DASCHLE (Democrat, Former Senate Leader): We were never briefed, and I wasn't aware of it. Obviously, this is another matter that deserves full investigation.

MITCHELL: Daschle is also challenging the president's claims about domestic eavesdropping. In a Washington Post column and interview with NBC News, he says he twice rejected the president's request to spy on Americans right after 9/11 including literally minutes before the Senate voted to authorize force on September 14th, 2001.

Sen. DASCHLE: We didn't want to give him that broad an authority. We limited it, and we limited it especially to activities overseas. They specifically asked for authority within the United States and we rejected it.

MITCHELL: The president cites that vote and his role as commander in chief to justify the spying.

President GEORGE W. BUSH: Do I have the legal authority to do this? And the answer is absolutely.

MITCHELL: Some legal experts say the president is right.

Judge POSNER: If there's a legitimate national security purpose, I think that's more--personally, I think that's more important than the infringement of privacy.

MITCHELL: But others strongly disagree.

Professor PETER RAVEN-HANSEN (George Washington University Law School): That really is an unprecedented claim of authority.

MITCHELL: And tonight Muslim-American groups are outraged that they were apparently singled out for radiation screening.

Mr. NIHAD AWAD (Council on American-Islamic Relations): We're moving from a nation which is ruled by laws into a nation that's ruled by fear.

MITCHELL: The administration insists that Congress was consulted, but Daschle and others now say they were either misled or given no opportunity to object. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington.

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NYT: WIDESPREAD RADIOACTIVITY MONITORING IS CONFIRMED - TOP
MATTHEW L. WALD, New York Times, 12/24/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/national/24radioactive.html

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The F.B.I. and the Energy Department have conducted thousands of searches for radioactive materials at private sites around the country in the last three years, government officials confirmed on Friday.

The existence of the search program was disclosed on Thursday by U.S. News & World Report, on its Web site. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, government agencies have disclosed that they have installed radiation-detection equipment at ports, subway stations and other public locations, but extensive surreptitious monitoring of private property has not been publicly known.

The federal government has given thousands of radiation alarms, worn like cellphones on the belt, to police and fire departments in major cities.

A spokesman for the Justice Department, Brian Roehrkasse, confirmed that law enforcement personnel were conducting "passive operations in publicly accessible areas to detect the presence of radiological materials, in a manner that protects U.S. constitutional rights."

U.S. News, citing people it did not name, said many of the sites that federal agents had monitored were mosques or the homes or businesses of Muslims, and the report set off a dispute between a Muslim group here and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement: "This disturbing revelation, coupled with recent reports of domestic surveillance without warrant, could lead to the perception that we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but instead one in which fear trumps constitutional rights. All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend toward a two-tiered system of justice, with full rights for most citizens, and another diminished set of rights for Muslims." (MORE)

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WASH POST: U.S. MONITORED MUSLIM SITES ACROSS NATION FOR RADIATION - TOP
Spencer S. Hsu and Michael Alison Chandler, Washington Post, 12/24/05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/23/AR2005122301524.html

Clandestine FBI and Energy Department teams have monitored private property in the United States for signs of radiation without warrants, U.S. officials said yesterday.

Officials said the monitoring, which intensified after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, did not require warrants or court orders because it took place from publicly accessible areas or from parking lots or driveways leading to private facilities, which the FBI believes do not carry privacy protections. . .

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 in 2001 that warrants are required for police to use devices that search through walls for criminal activity, striking down the use of a heat sensor that led to marijuana charges against an Oregon man.

"The message they are sending through these kinds of actions is that being Muslim is sufficient evidence to warrant scrutiny," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, director of outreach for Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, called the surveillance another example of unwarranted activity -- "both unwarranted from the standpoint of spying on Muslims who are only trying to observe their rituals and unwarranted in terms of not having proper judicial review." (MORE)

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LA TIMES: FBI MONITORS FOR RADIATION AT SOME MOSQUES - TOP
Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times, 12/24/05
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-monitor24dec24,1,1818114.story

WASHINGTON - Federal law enforcement officials said Friday that FBI agents have secretly monitored radiation levels at mosques, businesses and homes for several years in large cities, including Los Angeles, to determine whether radioactive, or "dirty," bombs were being assembled.

The officials said no suspicious radiation levels have been found.

The disclosure, following the revelation a week ago that the government has secretly spied on U.S. citizens without court permission, angered some U.S. Muslim leaders. They cited a Supreme Court ruling three months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in which the justices rejected such government monitoring.

"All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend toward a two-tiered system of justice, with full rights for most citizens and another, diminished set for Muslims," said Nihad Awad, an official of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties group. (MORE)

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AP: US TRACKING RADIATION LEVELS IN MUSLIM AREAS - TOP
Larry Margasak, Associated Press, 12/24/05
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/12/24/us_tracking_radiation_levels_in_muslim_areas/

WASHINGTON -- A classified radiation monitoring program, conducted without warrants, has targeted private US property in an effort to prevent an Al Qaeda attack, federal law enforcement officials confirmed yesterday.

While declining to provide details, including the number of cities and sites monitored, the officials said the air monitoring took place since the Sept. 11 attacks and from publicly accessible areas -- which they said made warrants and court orders unnecessary.

US News and World Report first reported the program today. The magazine said the monitoring was conducted at more than 100 Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area -- including Maryland and Virginia suburbs -- and at least five other cities when threat levels had risen: Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York, and Seattle.

The magazine said that at its peak, three vehicles in Washington monitored 120 sites a day, nearly all of them Muslim targets identified by the FBI. Targets included mosques, homes, and businesses, the magazine said.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American- Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights group, said yesterday that the program ''comes as a complete shock."

"This creates the appearance that Muslims are targeted simply for being Muslims. I don't think this is the message the government wants to send," he said. (MORE)

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REUTERS: US MONITORED MUSLIM SITES FOR RADIATION: REPORT - TOP
Reuters, 12/23/05
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-23T195408Z_01_FOR371616_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-USA-SURVEILLANCE.xml

The Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said the report, coupled with news of the domestic eavesdropping, "could lead to the perception that we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but instead one in which fear trumps constitutional rights."

"All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend toward a two-tiered system of justice, with full rights for most citizens, and another diminished set of rights for Muslims," it said in a statement.

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SPY AGENCY MINED VAST DATA TROVE, OFFICIALS REPORT - TOP
ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN, New York Times, 12/24/05
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/24/politics/24spy.html

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials.

The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said.

As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said.

The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials familiar with the program. One issue of concern to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has reviewed some separate warrant applications growing out of the N.S.A.'s surveillance program, is whether the court has legal authority over calls outside the United States that happen to pass through American-based telephonic "switches," according to officials familiar with the matter. (MORE)

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CAIR: MUSLIMS GET TRAVEL ADVISORY - TOP
PATRICK EVANS, Toronto Star, 12/24/05
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1135378223418&call_pageid=970599119419

A travel advisory is warning American Muslims to watch out for trouble at the border when they return from a convention in Toronto this weekend - a conference emphasizing peace and understanding between Islam and the Western world.

The Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations issued the travel advisory before the start of Toronto's fourth Reviving the Islamic Spirit convention, which organizers say started as a way of helping Canadian Muslims support each other after 9/11. The convention's mission has grown to embrace greater communication between Muslims from different sects and cultures and also between Islam and the rest of the world, says convention director Fouzan Khan.

This year's convention, which started yesterday and is expected to attract 15,000 people, features Islamic scholars and religious figures from North America speaking on relations between Islam and the West, relations between Muslim men and women, and tensions between political moderation and extremism in the Islamic world.

The convention made headlines last year when some of its American attendees had trouble getting back into the U.S. The council is involved in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the incident.

"They were fingerprinted, they were photographed and it was confusing as to why they were targeted and why they were detained ... since they were just (returning from) a convention," said Rabiah Ahmed, communications co-ordinator for the council. The council is bracing for more of the same this year. "This is a time where many people travel, especially Muslims leaving for overseas for pilgrimage. And there are a lot of Islamic conferences. We want to make sure that what happened to them last year doesn't happen to them this year."

In addition to the advisory, the group created a "civil rights hotline" for Muslims to report difficulties at the border.Bill Anthony, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Muslims aren't singled out for extra scrutiny at the U.S. border. "People are pulled over for all sorts of reasons, from warrants in the United States, to unpaid traffic tickets, to various watch-lists. It's not inconceivable that people come in and a group of them are pulled aside, especially if their names are similar to people on lists, or if they are themselves (are named) on a list. (MORE)

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CAIR-OH: HUNDREDS ATTEND MOSQUE PRAYER MEETING - TOP
WCPO, 12/23/05
http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/12/23/mosque.html

Hundreds of people from different faiths came together Thursday night, 48 hours after pipe bombs exploded outside a Clifton mosque.

"I just think it's disgusting that someone would want to damage a place where people come to worship. It's outrageous," said Larry Wolf, who lives near the mosque.

The turnout of about 300 for the interfaith prayer vigil was well beyond what anyone expected. Only 60 seats had been set aside.

Those who attended vowed to go about their daily lives and not let the bombs shatter their faith in God and their community.

The chairman of the Islamic Association of Cincinnati, Mohammad Shamma, called the event "heartwarming."

The FBI is offering a $15,000 reward and the Council on American-Islamic Relations with Crimestoppers is offering $5,000 for information that could help lead to an arrest.

SEE ALSO:

GOD MAKES PRESENCE FELT IN MOSQUE PRAYER SERVICE - TOP
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/EDIT0202/512250346/1022/EDIT

It seems like lately, in light of the recent theft from the Nativity set in Cheviot, people in Cincinnati are looking everywhere for Jesus. I found him in what might seem a most unlikely place - a mosque in Clifton. I attended an interfaith prayer service hosted by the Islamic community in response to Tuesday night's bombing of the mosque.

Jews in their yarmulkes, Buddhists in their saffron robes and Franciscans in their brown robes reflected the variety of faith expressions wanting to show their support of the Muslim people. The focus was not on retribution but on the desire to live together in harmony and peace. As various Muslims spoke, I was struck by their love of this country and belief in the goodness of Americans. I also noted how much their words sounded like things Jesus would have said.

The fact that God could be present to a Muslim in a Catholic Church and could also speak to me, a Catholic, in a mosque says something powerful. This is the best Christmas gift I could receive, to know that God's light will always break through the darkness.

Jeanne Kortekamp, Walnut Hills

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CHRISTIAN RELIEF OPENS DOOR OF FAITH TO PAKISTANI MUSLIMS - TOP
Christian Post, 12/24/05
http://www.christianpost.com/article/missions/1931/section/christian.relief.opens.door.of.faith.to.pakistani.muslims/1.htm

Pakistani Muslims are responding to Christianity through the help of Christian relief organizations working in the area after the greatest earthquake in Pakistan's history killed more than 84,000 people.

Persecution watchdog group Voice of the Martyrs donated more than $75,000 used to provide Action Packs, food, medicine, blankets, tents and He Lived Among Us gospel storybooks.

More than 2,000 Action Packs - a vacuum bag that allows donators to personally pack items such as blanket, light jacket, shirt, hat, towel, etc. for quake victims - were distributed in the area.

"You are the first who came to us. We thought Christians were our enemies, but after distributing Action Packs, we came to know that we were wrong," a Muslim leader said to Voice of the Martyrs. "You are the real believers; you have a real compassion for Muslim people."

The Pakistanis living in the devastated areas are predominantly hard-line Muslims that are opening their hearts through this tragedy, reported VOM.

Reports from VOM staffs indicate that mosques are now opening their doors to the Gospel and that one Mullah (Muslim cleric) made sure that every child had a copy of He Lived Among Us. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CHRISTIAN GROUPS 'PROSELYTISING': MUSLIMS - TOP
Sian Powell, Australian, 12/24/05
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17655709%255E601,00.html

TENSIONS between fundamentalist Muslims and Western aid workers have begun to erupt in Aceh as the tsunami-devastated Indonesian province slowly recovers.

Islamic activists have claimed that aid workers are secretly attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity, pointing particularly to World Vision, Aceh Relief, the International Catholic Mission and Church World Service. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 12/26/05

* Hadith: Treat Orphans with Kindness
* CA: Muslim Woman Leads Drive to Shelter Tsunami Orphans
* NY: Muslim Group Charges Bias in Mosque Decision
* LA: Islamic Holidays Less Commercial Say Students
            - Canada: Muslim Kids Not Missing Out
* Spying is Affront to Constitution, Rights of Muslims
* Israel to Expand West Bank Settlements (AP)

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HADITH OF THE DAY: TREAT ORPHANS WITH KINDNESS - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone strokes an orphan's head, doing so only for God's sake, he will have blessings for every hair over which his hand passes. And if anyone treats well an orphan girl or boy under his care, he and I shall be like these two in Paradise." The Prophet put two of his fingers together when he made that statement.

Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1282

The Prophet also said: "The best house among the Muslims is one which contains an orphan who is well treated."

Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1281

VERSE OF THE DAY: SEEK JUSTICE FOR ORPHANS

". . . stand firm for justice to orphans. God has full knowledge of whatever good you do."

The Holy Quran, 4:127

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CA: LOCAL WOMAN LEADS DRIVE TO SHELTER TSUNAMI ORPHANS - TOP
Jessie Mangaliman, Mercury News, 12/26/05
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/13488585.htm

Dian Alyan's first orphanage opens in her native Indonesia today, one year after a massive earthquake triggered one of the world's deadliest waves across the Indian Ocean.

It feels like a lifetime ago that the former marketing manager from Sunnyvale was spending her days "dreaming up ways for women around the world to buy Pantene shampoo."

Last year's tsunami killed uncles, aunts and cousins in Alyan's Aceh province birthplace, 40 family members in all. . .

Located in the central highlands, the orphanage was built with money Alyan raised through her new Bay Area non-profit, Give Light Foundation. Alyan's family in Indonesia donated a 3,000-square-foot piece of land in Takengon, a lakeside village about 150 miles from the coastal city of Banda Aceh, which was devastated by the tsunami.

Alyan runs Give Light strictly with local volunteers. San Francisco lawyer Ruby Kazi guided her through the complicated paperwork required to establish a non-profit. Matthew Mengerink, a high-tech executive, donated $2,000 and joined the corps of a half-dozen volunteers who helped Alyan launch the Sunnyvale-based organization. (MORE)

To learn more about the orphanage and Give Light, visit www.givelight.org.

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NY: MUSLIM GROUP CHARGES BIAS - TOP
CAROL EISENBERG, Newsday, 12/26/05
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-limosq264565721dec26,0,3507970.story

A Muslim group that was denied a variance to build a mosque on a busy East Meadow road is claiming anti-Muslim prejudice.

The Hempstead Board of Appeals denied the application by the Long Island Muslim Society, on the grounds that a new mosque would compromise public safety on the already congested two-lane road.

Members of the society were taken aback by the decision, saying they had already dramatically downsized their plans over the last four years to address the concerns. Calling the 5-to-2 decision "a big disappointment," president Mohammed Saleh said he fears traffic and parking concerns were being used to cloak a more fundamental hostility.

"We know there was tremendous pressure from the community not to grant us the variance and we have a strong feeling that some prejudice was involved," Saleh said, citing emotionally charged community meetings in which anti-Muslim sentiment was expressed. (MORE)

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ISLAMIC HOLIDAYS SIMPLER, LESS COMMERCIAL SAY ULL STUDENTS - TOP
JENNIFER REINERT, The Advocate, 12/26/05
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/122605/sub_muslims001.shtml

LAFAYETTE -- In contrast to the monthlong whirlwind of shopping, cooking and preparing for Christmas, area Muslims celebrated their major holiday months earlier in a decidedly simpler manner.

"The Muslim holidays are very simple," said Badr al-Burikan, 19, an electrical engineering major at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. "You don't have to plan for it. In three days, you can plan for it, not like the Christmas here, where you plan for a month. Very simple. You don't have to do any decorating -- just visit your families. . ."

There are, in fact, several similarities between Eid and Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Despite obvious religious differences, both holidays focus on the importance of good food and time spent with family and friends. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CANADA: MUSLIM KIDS NOT MISSING OUT - TOP
APRIL KEMICK, Free Press, 12/26/05
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2005/12/26/1368080-sun.html

Faisal Joseph's three young children didn't wake up yesterday morning to find presents from Santa under the tree.

Nor did the smiley youngsters partake in the lighting of the menorah to signal the first night of Hanukkah.

In the Joseph family's north London home, there was no menorah or tree, because the Muslim family doesn't celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah.

But though some might assume Iman, 6, Jameela, 7, and Shareef, 9, would feel left out as their Christian and Jewish friends celebrated, they weren't troubled at all.

"I don't mind because we have celebrations of our own," said Shareef, 9, who sipped hot chocolate with marshmallows.

"Two of our own," he added with a smile, citing Ramadan and Eid festivities that are special for Muslim children the way Christmas is for Christian kids.

"I feel happy for my friends," Iman chimed in. "And I have friends who celebrate the same things as me." (MORE)

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SPYING: IT'S AN AFFRONT TO THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE RIGHTS OF AMERICAN MUSLIMS - TOP
ALAMDAR S. HAMDANI, Houston Chronicle, 12/24/05
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3546863.html

For more than four years I have watched FBI agents pose inappropriate questions to my clients. In the name of the War on Terror, agents have questioned thousands of Muslims, often U.S. citizens, in violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.

These agents have approached Muslims in their homes, businesses, and even places of worship, as part of intelligence gathering missions in reaction to 9/11. And, working in pairs, one taking notes while the other asked the questions, agents have probed activities, religious or otherwise, that would not be scrutinized if the subjects of the interrogation had been non-Muslims.

For instance, because two Muslim men, both of them U.S. citizens speaking with Arab accents, complained to an apartment manager about the apartment complex's sales staff, the FBI approached the men. During the interview the agentsasked about what occurred at the complex, but also attempted to ask the men which mosque they attended, who else attended that mosque, whether they prayed five times a day, what their political views were and whether they were Sunni or Shiite.

Asking such questions without a compelling reason places an impermissible "chilling effect" on First Amendment activities such as the rights to free speech or free association. In other words, agents often insinuate that because a person belongs to a particular religious group or holds a particular belief, that that person is somehow involved with terrorist groups.

Couple that suspicion with confused interviewees who speak English as a second language, and people can become afraid of attending a mosque or voicing political views. Worse yet, they are sometimes detained for simply misunderstanding a question.

Based upon recent revelations, these interviewees could also have become targets of the National Security Agency's domestic spying program. (MORE)

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ISRAEL TO EXPAND WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS - TOP
JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3548187.html

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel said Monday it will build more than 200 new homes in Jewish West Bank settlements - a blow to peace efforts despite word that Ariel Sharon's new party plans a major push for Palestinian statehood if it wins upcoming elections.

In a separate sign of accommodation, Israeli officials said they will likely permit east Jerusalem's Palestinians to vote in next month's Palestinian election. Israel had recently threatened to bar east Jerusalem residents from voting.

The latest settlement construction, revealed in newspaper ads published Monday seeking bids from contractors, would violate Israel's commitments under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/27/05) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today announced the filing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all government records relating to a secret government program that monitored the radiation levels at more than 100 Muslim homes, businesses and mosques in the capital region and in other areas nationwide.

According to an exclusive online article by U.S. News & World Report:

"In search of a terrorist nuclear bomb, the federal government since 9/11 has run a far-reaching, top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques, homes, businesses, and warehouses, plus similar sites in at least five other cities, U.S. News has learned. In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program. Some participants were threatened with loss of their jobs when they questioned the legality of the operation, according to these accounts. . . No dirty bombs or nuclear devices have ever been found - and that includes the post-9/11 program. 'There were a lot of false positives, and one or two were alarming,' says one source. 'But in the end we found nothing.'"

SEE: Nuclear Monitoring of Muslims Done Without Warrants

SEE ALSO: Widespread Radioactivity Monitoring Is Confirmed

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed the FOIA request with the Department of Justice, including the FBI, and the Department of Energy.

In the request, CAIR asked for: 1) "Records concerning the authority of President Bush to delegate or personally authorize surveillance without obtaining a court order as required by FISA," and 2) "Comprehensive lists and addresses of the over a hundred Muslim sites (including mosques, organizations, businesses, warehouses and homes) in Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit, New York, Las Vegas and Seattle which have been targeted for radiological surveillance by this top secret program."

We are concerned that, under this secretive program, our government has overstepped constitutional bounds by intruding on private property without any probable cause or valid court orders, said CAIR National Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar. The targeting of so many Islamic homes, businesses and mosques will inevitably create the impression that American Muslims are considered suspect solely because of their faith.

On Friday, CAIR held a news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters with national and local Muslim and interfaith leaders in reaction to the U.S. News & World Report exclusive.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: Arsalan Iftikhar, 202-488-8787 or 202-415-0799, E-Mail: arsalan@cair-net.org; CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor, 202-646-6039 or 571-278-4658, E-Mail: csaylor@cair-net.org; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

To contact the moderator of the list, e-mail: cair@cair-net.org

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 12/28/05

* Verse: Never Too Proud
* CAIR-FL Rep Discusses 'Munich' on FOX
* MI: U.S. Muslims Return Smoothly from Canada (Free Press)
* Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges over Spy Efforts (NYT)
* U.S. Secret Surveillance Up Sharply Since Sept. 11 (Reuters)
            - Bush was Denied Wiretaps, Bypassed Them (UPI)
* Why European Women Are Turning To Islam (CSM)
* NY: Lawyer to Host New Show on Muslim TV (AP)
* Fisk: Telling It Like It Isn't in the Mideast (LA Times)
* Egypt: No Posters from 'Islamists' in U.S. Mission (NYT)
* DC: Indonesian Embassy to Mark Tsunami Anniversary

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VERSE OF THE DAY: NEVER TOO PROUD - TOP

"Surely those who are close to thy Lord are never too proud to worship Him."

The Holy Quran, 7:206

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CAIR-FL REP ON FOX NEWS DISCUSSING THE FILM 'MUNICH' - TOP

CAIR-FL Rep Ahmed Bedier appeared on FOX News live to discuss how Director Steven Spielberg handled the film "Munich." To watch the video segment use the below link:

[FOX NEWS VIDEO, BROADBAND]
http://www.cairfl.org/video/051226_FOX_News_cairfl_munich.wmv

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U.S. MUSLIMS RETURN SMOOTHLY - TOP
Shabina S. Khatri, Detroit Free Press, 12/28/05
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051228/NEWS06/512280312

No news was good news Tuesday -- at least for American Muslims returning to the United States after a weekend convention in Toronto.

Despite a federal judge's ruling Thursday that empowered customs officers to conduct security checks on people who went to the Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference, there were no reports of border-crossing difficulties, said Arsalan Iftikhar, civil rights director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Ron Smith, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that customs officers reported no border incidents.

"On behalf of the American Muslim community, it is heartening to see that, in this case, American Muslim citizens are finally being treated like other American citizens upon their return back to our country," Iftikhar said. "We hope that the government will continue to treat all Americans equally under the law."

Razi Jafri, 23, of Woodhaven said he and his friends were stopped and questioned for more than two hours after last year's conference. Jafri, who returned to Michigan on Monday night, said the customs officer asked a handful of questions before letting the car he was in pass into the United States.

Last week, CAIR, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights group, advised Muslims attending the four-day conference in Toronto to report any incidents with customs officers.

Last year, dozens of conference attendees said they were targeted for hours-long security checks, fingerprinting and photographs. The New York Civil Liberties Union sought an injunction this year prohibiting border agents from stopping and searching American Muslims basely solely on their attendance at the conference.

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DEFENSE LAWYERS IN TERROR CASES PLAN CHALLENGES OVER SPY EFFORTS - TOP
Eric Lichhtblau and James Risen, New York Times, 12/28/05
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/28/politics/28legal.html?hp&ex=1135832400&en=90d025b930c5720f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.

The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out.

The expected legal challenges, in cases from Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia, add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom victories in terror cases, legal analysts say.

The question of whether the N.S.A. program was used in criminal prosecutions and whether it improperly influenced them raises "fascinating and difficult questions," said Carl W. Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who has studied terrorism prosecutions.

"It seems to me that it would be relevant to a person's case," Professor Tobias said. "I would expect the government to say that it is highly sensitive material, but we have legal mechanisms to balance the national security needs with the rights of defendants. I think judges are very conscientious about trying to sort out these issues and balance civil liberties and national security."

While some civil rights advocates, legal experts and members of Congress have said President Bush did not have authority to order eavesdropping by the security agency without warrants, the White House and the Justice Department continued on Tuesday to defend the legality and propriety of the program.

Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House, declined to comment in Crawford, Tex., when asked about a report in The New York Times that the security agency had tapped into some of the country's main telephone arteries to conduct broader data-mining operations in the search for terrorists. (MORE)

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U.S. SECRET SURVEILLANCE UP SHARPLY SINCE SEPT. 11 - TOP
Reuters, 12/27/05
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27337667.htm

WASHINGTON - Federal applications for a special U.S. court to authorize secret surveillance rose sharply after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the panel required changes to the requests at an even greater rate, government documents show.

President George W. Bush acknowledged this month he had secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the international phone conversations and e-mail of Americans suspected of links to terrorists without approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The domestic spying order has set off a furious debate over whether the war on terrorism gives Bush a blank check when it comes to civil liberties and whether the president, in fact, broke the law.

The Justice Department's reports to the U.S. Congress on the surveillance court's activities show the Bush administration made 5,645 applications for electronic surveillance and physical searches from 2001 through 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available. In the previous four years, the court received a total of 3,436.

The 11-judge panel modified 179 of the Bush administration's requests. By contrast, only one was modified in the preceding four years. The court has reportedly handled almost 20,000 applications since it was set up and has rejected only a handful.

Reasons for the modifications were not stated and could range from minor alterations to more substantive changes.

The highly classified court was set up by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, in the wake of Cold War spy fears and President Richard Nixon's misuse of U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on the anti-Vietnam War movement and other political dissidents.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a Freedom of Information request with federal agencies seeking government records relating to Bush's executive orders authorizing surveillance of Americans.

The group said on Tuesday it also filed a similar request with the Justice and Energy Departments for information on the secret radiation monitoring of Muslim sites in six U.S. cities, first reported by U.S. News and World Report.

The magazine reported last week that more than 100 sites, including private homes, were monitored without court approval as required by FISA.

"We are concerned that, under this secretive program, our government has overstepped constitutional bounds by intruding on private property without any probable cause or valid court orders," CAIR's national legal director, Arsalan Iftikhar, said in a statement. (MORE)

ALSO SEE:

BUSH WAS DENIED WIRETAPS, BYPASSED THEM - TOP
United Press International, 12/26/05

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush decided to skip seeking warrants for international wiretaps because the court was challenging him at an unprecedented rate.

A review of Justice Department reports to Congress by Hearst newspapers shows the 26-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court modified more wiretap requests from the Bush administration than the four previous presidential administrations combined.

The 11-judge court that authorizes FISA wiretaps modified only two search warrant orders out of the 13,102 applications approved over the first 22 years of the court's operation.

But since 2001, the judges have modified 179 of the 5,645 requests for surveillance by the Bush administration, the report said. A total of 173 of those court-ordered "substantive modifications" took place in 2003 and 2004. And, the judges also rejected or deferred at least six requests for warrants during those two years -- the first outright rejection of a wiretap request in the court's history. (MORE)

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WHY EUROPEAN WOMEN ARE TURNING TO ISLAM - TOP
Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor, 12/27/05
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1227/p01s04-woeu.html

PARIS - Mary Fallot looks as unlike a terrorist suspect as one could possibly imagine: a petite and demure white Frenchwoman chatting with friends on a cell-phone, indistinguishable from any other young woman in the café where she sits sipping coffee.

And that is exactly why European antiterrorist authorities have their eyes on thousands like her across the continent.

Ms. Fallot is a recent convert to Islam. In the eyes of the police, that makes her potentially dangerous.

The death of Muriel Degauque, a Belgian convert who blew herself up in a suicide attack on US troops in Iraq last month, has drawn fresh attention to the rising number of Islamic converts in Europe, most of them women.

"The phenomenon is booming, and it worries us," the head of the French domestic intelligence agency, Pascal Mailhos, told the Paris-based newspaper Le Monde in a recent interview. "But we must absolutely avoid lumping everyone together."

The difficulty, security experts explain, is that while the police may be alert to possible threats from young men of Middle Eastern origin, they are more relaxed about white European women. Terrorists can use converts who "have added operational benefits in very tight security situations" where they might not attract attention, says Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm.

Ms. Fallot, who converted to Islam three years ago after asking herself spiritual questions to which she found no answers in her childhood Catholicism, says she finds the suspicion her new religion attracts "wounding." "For me," she adds, "Islam is a message of love, of tolerance and peace."

It is a message that appeals to more and more Europeans as curiosity about Islam has grown since 9/11, say both Muslim and non-Muslim researchers. Although there are no precise figures, observers who monitor Europe's Muslim population estimate that several thousand men and women convert each year. (MORE)

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LOCAL LAWYER TO HOST NEW SHOW ON MUSLIM TV - TOP
David Tyler, Democrat and Chronicle, 12/28/05
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051228/BUSINESS/512280356/1001

Rochester lawyer Sharon P. Stiller is headed to television for a weekly legal affairs show on Bridges TV, the Buffalo-based network for American Muslims.

Called Predominantly Legal, the 30-minute weekly interview show will tackle a range of issues from immigration and border detentions to discrimination in the workplace and racial profiling, Stiller said. Bridges has filmed 13 shows at its Buffalo studios, and it will debut at 10 p.m. Thursday.

Stiller said not to expect your typical cable talking-head shouting matches.

"I try to circle an issue and represent all the viewpoints surrounding the issues," she said.

The show will be a bit difficult to access in Rochester. Bridges is on Dish Network channel 578, where it is a premium pay channel.

The year-old Bridges is attempting to work its way into the regular lineups of cable providers nationwide. The company just received a license to broadcast in Canada, Bridges Chief Executive Mo Hassan said.

The legal show is the first foray into television for Stiller, 55, a partner at Jaeckle, Fleischmann & Mugel who works in the firm's labor and employment practice. Stiller also served for eight years as an assistant district attorney in Monroe County.

Stiller was persuaded to join the show by Hassan, who knew Stiller from his days in Rochester as an Eastman Kodak product manager. Hassan, a native of Pakistan, also received graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Rochester.

"At first I said 'No, no, no,' but as I thought about it, it just seemed like a great thing to do," Stiller said. (MORE)

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TELLING IT LIKE IT ISN'T - TOP
Robert Fisk, Los Angeles Times, 12/27/05
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-fisk27dec27,0,6099761.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

[ROBERT FISK is Middle East correspondent for the London Independent and the author, most recently, of "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East," published last month by Knopf.]

I FIRST REALIZED the enormous pressures on American journalists in the Middle East when I went some years ago to say goodbye to a colleague from the Boston Globe. I expressed my sorrow that he was leaving a region where he had obviously enjoyed reporting. I could save my sorrows for someone else, he said. One of the joys of leaving was that he would no longer have to alter the truth to suit his paper's more vociferous readers.

"I used to call the Israeli Likud Party 'right wing,' " he said. "But recently, my editors have been telling me not to use the phrase. A lot of our readers objected." And so now, I asked? "We just don't call it 'right wing' anymore."

Ouch. I knew at once that these "readers" were viewed at his newspaper as Israel's friends, but I also knew that the Likud under Benjamin Netanyahu was as right wing as it had ever been.

This is only the tip of the semantic iceberg that has crashed into American journalism in the Middle East. Illegal Jewish settlements for Jews and Jews only on Arab land are clearly "colonies," and we used to call them that. I cannot trace the moment when we started using the word "settlements." But I can remember the moment around two years ago when the word "settlements" was replaced by "Jewish neighborhoods" - or even, in some cases, "outposts."

Similarly, "occupied" Palestinian land was softened in many American media reports into "disputed" Palestinian land - just after then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, in 2001, insstructed U.S. embassies in the Middle East to refer to the West Bank as "disputed" rather than "occupied" territory.

Then there is the "wall," the massive concrete obstruction whose purpose, according to the Israeli authorities, is to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from killing innocent Israelis. In this, it seems to have had some success. But it does not follow the line of Israel's 1967 border and cuts deeply into Arab land. And all too often these days, journalists call it a "fence" rather than "occupied" territory. (MORE)

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NO POSTERS FROM ISLAMISTS IN U.S. MISSION - TOP
Abeer Allam, New York Times, 12/28/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/international/africa/28egypt.html?pagewanted=print

CAIRO, Dec. 27 - The American Consulate here opened its doors to reporters on Tuesday in an unusual step to dispel reports that it employed hard-line Islamists who kept posters of the militant group Hamas on the walls.

In fact, the only posters were those of the black-robed Coptic Christian pope, Shenuda III, and Santa Claus.

The mission was responding to reports published Monday in The New York Post asserting that the State Department had been investigating up to 20 hard-line Islamic employees in the consulate section of the American Embassy who had reportedly denied visas to the United States to thousands of Coptic Christians.

The newspaper also said there had been complaints that the Egyptian employees kept posters of supporters of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which the State Department classifies as a terrorist group.

"We do not see any Hamas posters here," said the consul general, Peter G. Kaestner. "It is difficult to be diplomatic and to describe the article appropriately."

"The bottom line is there is no investigation," Mr. Kaestner said. "None of my staff is under investigation for any purpose." (MORE)

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INDONESIAN EMBASSY, ISLAMIC RELIEF TO HOST ONE-YEAR TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE PROGRAM - TOP

WASHINGTON, DC (December 27, 2005) - The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, along with international non-governmental organization (NGO) Islamic Relief, and the International Institute for Psychosocial Development will be hosting a remembrance event for last year's tsunami victims.

The event, entitled "A Year After - Remembrance for the Tsunami Victims" will be held at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Washington, DC. The Indonesian Community Association (IKI) is also helping coordinate the event.

Islamic Relief immediately responded to the needs of tsunami victims in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India, providing emergency food, shelter, healthcare, and income generation projects. Long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction projects are underway. The International Institute for Psychosocial Development is currently assisting tsunami victims in Indonesia with much-needed mental health programs.

Representatives from the U.S. State Department are scheduled to attend the event. In addition, over 30 NGOs, Ambassadors from tsunami-affected countries, and representatives from USAID and the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery have also been invited to participate.

WHAT: One Year Tsunami Anniversary Remembrance Program

WHEN: Thursday, December 29, 2005 from 3:45 - 5:15pm

WHERE:
The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
2020 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington DC, 20036

Hors d'Oeuvres and light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP by calling Ms. Dewi Masfar at (202) 775-5300/5306 or email dmasfar@embassyofindonesia.org.

Media Contact: Rizwan Mowlana of Islamic Relief at rizwan@irw.org or (202) 725-2353.

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 12/29/05

* Hadith: Piety is the Best of Provisions
* MI: Mecca Calls Detroit Muslims (Detroit News)
            - CAIR Issues Travel Advisory for U.S. Muslims
            - CAIR: U.S. Muslims to Leave for Hajj
* CAIR-CAN Condemns Hate Graffiti on Edmonton Synagogue
* CAIR: U.S. Mosques Monitored for Radiation (Wash Post)
            - Majority of Readers Say Don't Blame Islam for Terror
* NJ: Passaic to Stop Holding Detainees at Jail (Star-Ledger)
* Muslim Investors Top 2005 Faith Funds Table (FT)
* MN: Muslim Woman Green Party Candidate (Women's Press)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: PIETY IS THE BEST OF PROVISIONS - TOP

"The pilgrimage shall take place in the months appointed for it. And whoever undertakes the pilgrimage in those (months) shall abstain from lewd speech, from all wicked conduct and from quarrelling. Whatever good you may do, God is aware of it. Take necessary provisions with you for the journey - but the best of all provisions is piety."

The Holy Quran, 2:197

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MI: MECCA CALLS METRO MUSLIMS - TOP
Thousands of faithful make great pilgrimage
Gregg Krupa, Detroit News, 12/29/05
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051229/LIFESTYLE04/512290327/1041/LIFESTYLE

DEARBORN -- At the age of 30, Gader Mirza has seen much of life: growing up in Iraq, immigrating to the United States, owning businesses, his marriage. But, lately, Mirza says that, almost like a child, he has had trouble falling asleep in anticipation of a grand event.

Mirza joins a few thousand Muslims from Metro Detroit who, after long preparation, are leaving this week for the Hajj, the great Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. A few million worshippers are expected to participate in the once-in-a-lifetime Hajj, one of the five tenets of faith mandatory for all believers in Islam.

Having attended to four of the "Five Pillars of Islam" -- by testifying to his faith, supporting the needy, praying five times daily and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan -- Mirza's pilgrimage fulfills what Muslims believe God, Allah, asks of them.

"I will feel complete," Mirza said, wearing the plain, white gown of the pilgrims, next to his wife, Fatima, the daughter of a prominent local imam.

"It is as if I will be like a baby when I return. I won't have done anything bad. I will start a new life. I will give more. I will pray more. I will talk of the good more. My slate will be clean."

Pilgrimages long have been part of the practices of the three so-called Abrahamic religions -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam -- so named because they all trace their roots to the prophet Abraham. But only in Islam is a pilgrimage a mandatory focal point of a spiritual life.

While there is no official tally and estimates vary, local Muslim leaders and some agents who help arrange travel say about 3,000 of the estimated 125,000 to 200,000 Muslims in Metro Detroit will make their Hajj this year and join Muslim pilgrims from around the world. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR ISSUES TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR U.S. MUSLIMS - TOP
http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1918&theType=NR

U.S. MUSLIMS TO LEAVE FOR HAJJ - TOP
http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1904&theType=NR

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CAIR-CAN CONDEMNS HATE GRAFFITI ON EDMONTON SYNAGOGUE - TOP
http://www.caircan.ca/itn_more.php?id=2206_0_2_0_C

The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) has condemned the vandalism of an Edmonton synagogue and is calling on police to bring the perpetrators to justice.

According to news reports, a swastika and other graffiti were spray-painted onto the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton. The hate crime unit of the Edmonton police is investigating the incident.

In a statement released today, CAIR-CAN said:

"CAIR-CAN stands with all Canadians in condemning this act of hate, which was maliciously perpetrated during a time of religious significance for Canadian Jews. We call on the police to swiftly bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice to send a clear message that such religious intolerance and hate will never be accepted."

For more information, please contact Halima Mautbur at 613-254-9704 or 613-795-2012.

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U.S. SAYS IT DIDN'T TARGET MUSLIMS - TOP
Mosques Among Sites Monitored For Radiation
Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 12/29/05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801520.html

Faced with angry complaints, U.S. officials defended an anti-terrorism program yesterday that secretly tested radiation levels around the country -- including at more than 100 Muslim sites in the Washington area -- and insisted that no one was targeted because of his or her faith.

One official knowledgeable about the program explained that Muslim sites were included because al Qaeda terrorists were considered likely to gravitate to Muslim neighborhoods or mosques while in the United States.

"If you were looking [for] the needle in a haystack, that's the haystack you would look at," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. "You'd look at the [likely] targets and the places the operators were."

No indications of radiation were found at the businesses, homes, warehouses or mosques that were included in the program. The official said that radiation monitoring of the Muslim sites started after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and lasted through 2003.

The focus on the Muslim sites, which was first reported last week by U.S. News & World Report, has stunned and angered officials at mosques and Muslim and Arab-American organizations. Two such groups have filed Freedom of Information requests, known as FOIAs, in recent days to try to learn which sites were monitored. They also have requested meetings with the FBI, which ran the program along with the Energy Department. . .

"We'd like our federal law enforcement agencies to know the American Muslim community stands firmly behind protecting our nation's borders," said Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of the groups that are seeking the addresses of the sites involved. "But, at the same time, we are not willing to give up our guaranteed constitutional and legal rights in order to do that."

He said his group constantly received phone calls from Muslims who believed they were under surveillance. But none had specifically mentioned possible radiation testing. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

READERS GRADE CONDUCT BOTH MERITORIOUS AND UNBECOMING IN 2005 - TOP
Sandi Dolbee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/29/05
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20051229-9999-lz1c29rated.html

One reader drew a frowning face at the top of his moral report card this year, which about sums up a year of FEMA flubs, political scandals and ongoing culture wars that remind us we all can't get along very well for very long.

Our discomfort with each other came through in a printed message at the bottom of a ballot sent in from east San Diego County: "If I give my name, you might put it in the paper. I have to live with my neighbors."

Nearly 500 people filled out the San Diego Union-Tribune's Religion and Ethics' annual moral report card, in which we ask readers to grade conduct in various events and ask for nominations for best and worst behavior of the year. . .

PERCEIVING ISLAM

Terrorism in the name of Islam has been in the news since the U.S. attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. This year, attacks spread to London subways and the hotels of Jordan.

The violence has damaged the reputation of the world's second largest religion - despite repeated insistence by Islamic leaders that their religion does not condone these criminal acts.

Your wariness was reflected in the results of the seventh question, about whether Islam was to blame. Forty percent said it is at fault and 60 percent said it isn't.

The majority sentiment: it's the radicals, not the religion, at fault.

"All types of people are to blame. It is hard to blame one people," wrote Joan Porter.

Another reader said we all need to better understand each other's point of view.

For those on the other side, they say they cannot trust the religion, that it needs to go through a modernization, and that its leaders should be vocal and specific about condemning violence.

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PASSAIC TO STOP HOLDING IMMIGRANT DETAINEES AT JAIL - TOP
County came under fire for treatment of foreigners facing deportation
BRIAN DONOHUE, Star-Ledger Staff, 12/29/05
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-2/113583529242450.xml&coll=1

Dogged by protests and national controversies over their treatment of foreign detainees, Passaic County officials have decided to end the 20-year-old practice of holding immigrants facing deportation at the aging and overcrowded county jail, officials said yesterday.

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the county has decided to opt out of the contract under which the federal government has paid the county to hold an average of 200 detainees on any given day. . .

In recent months, Passaic County Sherriff's Department officials have bristled at federal policies that prohibited them from using dogs to control detainees as well as a drumbeat of criticism from human rights groups.

"We've been fighting to end this contract since we started," said Flavia Ayala, member of the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee. "We're getting what we wished for. . ."

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Passaic and Hudson county jails became the nation's largest holding cells for hundreds of Muslim men rounded up in a series of immigration raids. In the following months and years, civil rights groups increasingly criticized the treatment of detainees, several of whom launched hunger strikes to protest their detention. (MORE)

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MUSLIM INVESTORS TOP 2005 FAITH FUNDS TABLE - TOP
Financial Times, 12/29/05
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10619670/

In a year when the Standard & Poor's 500 index has nudged up barely 5 per cent, investors would have done better by investing according to the principles of the Koran.

Among the small but rapidly growing band of faith-based mutual funds, the main US Muslim fund has beaten funds run according to the principles of the Catholics, the Mennonites, the Presbyterians, and the evangelical Christians. In fact, with the $100m (£58m, €84m) Islamic Amana Growth fund posting a 22 per cent return for the year, they have pretty much beaten everyone, according to data provided by Lipper. MORE)

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PAINT THE TWIN CITIES GREEN - TOP
Joanna Imm, Women's Press, 12/29/05
http://www.womenspress.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=2163

Before this year, Elizabeth Dickinson and Farheen Hakeem didn't have much in common. Dickinson is a former community affairs manager and lobbyist for the Minnesota AIDS project, an actor and a founding member of the advocacy coalition Clean Energy Now. Hakeem has a bachelor's degree in math and studied math education at the graduate level; she works for the Girl Scout Council of Greater Minneapolis. But this year, both women ran strong Green Party grassroots campaigns against the incumbent mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and both voiced the same reason for running: they felt they had no choice.

When Hakeem announced her candidacy for mayor of Minneapolis, she became the first Muslim-American woman to run in Minnesota and, at 29, one of the youngest candidates ever. After seven months working with a fraction of her opponents' budgets, Hakeem won 14 percent of the vote in the September primary. She was particularly encouraged by the support she found in south Minneapolis. Supporters will see her pounding the pavement again: she's planning to run in the 2006 elections, though she hasn't yet decided for which office. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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CAIR 2005 YEAR IN REVIEW

Help CAIR continue its important work.

To become a CAIR member, go to:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp

To donate to CAIR, go to:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/donate.asp

-----

CAIR-FL REP NAMED IN TOP TEN PERSONALITIES
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/30/Columns/Love__em_or_hate__em_.shtml

Ahmed Bedier. The Central Florida director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations was at the center of the debate about adding a Muslim holiday to the school district's calendar. Throughout the discourse, he remained thoughtful and upbeat, even winning over people who didn't think Eid al-Fitr should be among the religious school holidays. His reasoned approach is a lesson for all.

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2005 CAIR HIGHLIGHTS

In its 11th year, CAIR experienced tremendous growth and success. Defending the civil rights of American Muslims and advocating for their interests in the public square, CAIR continued to do what it does best but it took its struggle to another level.

CAIR took the lead in examining the root causes of two of the most compelling phenomena affecting today s world -- Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism -- by hosting a conference that examined the causes and remedies of these two issues.

In today s climate of heightened scrutiny of Islam and Muslims, CAIR also helped coordinate the first ever U.S. fatwa against terrorism and extremism. The fatwa was issued by the Fiqh Council of North America and endorsed by more than 300 U.S. Muslim groups, leaders and institutions.

CAIR continued to challenge hate on the radio and negative portrayals of Islam and Muslims in the entertainment industry throughout the year. Working with media corporations like FOX and ABC, CAIR took proactive steps to help balance portrayals of Islam and encourage Muslims to enter the fields of writing, producing and acting.

CAIR s Civil Rights Department documented more anti-Muslim incidents than ever and resolved many cases of discrimination and hate crimes. The data compiled goes into CAIR s one-of-a-kind annual report on Muslim civil rights in America.

Yet, these are just a few of the accomplishments CAIR achieved this past year with your continued support. This following information provides a more detailed glimpse into the works of CAIR in 2005.

This is just a fraction of what we have achieved with your support. We invite you to read more about what CAIR accomplished in 2005.

ISLAMOPHOBIA AND ANTI-AMERICANISM

In May, CAIR hosted its first annual conference, Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism: Causes and Remedies, in Washington, D.C. Over 300 people attended the conference which brought together scholars, researchers, religious leaders, and community activists to discuss the twin phenomena of growing anti-Muslim bigotry in the West and increasing anti-Americanism in the Islamic world. Speakers included: former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim; Amnesty International USA Board Chair, Chip Pitts; Gerald Michael Feierstein, US State Department s Bureau of Near East Affairs; and Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul University law professor.

CAIR also hosted a special keynote breakfast address by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University Professor of Islamic Studies, on Shias, Sunnis, and the Future of U.S. Relations with the Muslim World at the Washington DC Press Club.

CAIR helped distribute a brochure designed to help promote the rights of Muslim women and improve their status at Islamic centers. CAIR also hosted a panel on Muslim Women Leaders in Public Life.

In light of the recent French riots in the suburbs of Paris, CAIR hosted a panel discussion with the French ambassador to the U.S. at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The panel was broadcast live right after CAIR officials returned from Brussels, where they were invited by the State Department to dialogue with the Belgian Muslim community.

FATWA AGAINST TERRORISM

In July, CAIR offered its support for a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism and extremism issued by the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and endorsed by more than 300 U.S. Muslim groups, leaders and institutions. The fatwa, released during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., states in part:

Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram or forbidden and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not martyrs ... In the light of the teachings of the Qur an and Sunnah we clearly and strongly state: 1. All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam. 2. It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence. 3. It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to protect the lives of all civilians. We issue this fatwa following the guidance of our scripture, the Qur an, and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.

CAIR also announced the release of its radio and television versions of CAIR s 30-second Not in the Name of Islam public service announcement (PSA) in English, Arabic and Urdu. The PSA ties into CAIR s Not in the Name of Islam online petition drive designed to disassociate the faith of Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims. More than six million American TV viewers have already seen CAIR s Not in the Name of Islam public service announcement.

CAIR s 30-second PSA features American Muslims stating: We often hear claims Muslims don t condemn terrorism and that Islam condones violence. As Muslims, we want to state clearly that those who commit acts of terror in the name of Islam are betraying the teachings of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad. We reject anyone - of any faith who commits such brutal acts and will not allow our faith to be hijacked by criminals. Islam is not about hatred and violence. It s about peace and justice.

MEDIA RELATIONS

Early this year, CAIR met with representatives of the Fox network and producers of the hit drama 24 to discuss concerns about the depiction of a Muslim family at the heart of a terror plot in that popular program.

CAIR was concerned that the portrayal of the family as a terrorist sleeper cell would cast suspicion over ordinary American Muslims and increase Islamophobia.

At the meeting, which included CAIR and Muslim Public Affairs Council representatives, Fox officials agreed to distribute a CAIR public service announcement to network affiliates and ask that it be aired in proximity to 24. Network officials also agreed to air a disclaimer stating that American Muslims reject terrorism. Fox s disclaimer, read by actor Kiefer Sutherland, stated:

Hi. My name is Kiefer Sutherland. And I play counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer on Fox s 24. I would like to take a moment to talk to you about something that I think is very important. Now while terrorism is obviously one of the most critical challenges facing our nation and the world, it is important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism. So in watching 24, please, bear that in mind.

When an ad in the National Journal depicted soldiers rappelling off an aircraft onto the roof of a building labeled Muhammad s Mosque in Arabic, CAIR wrote to top officials of Boeing, Bell and Textron demanding that they withdraw the advertisement and investigate how it was approved for publication.

In response to CAIR s letter, Boeing Co., Bell Helicopter, Textron and the National Journal magazine apologized and retracted the ad.

Boeing wrote: The CV-22 advertisement that appeared in the National Journal is clearly offensive, and did not proceed through the normal channels within Boeing before production.

We consider the ad offensive, regret its publication and apologize to those who like us are dismayed with its contents, said Mary Foerster, Vice President of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Communications.

ISLAMOPHOBIC TALK SHOW HOST FIRED

When a DC Radio host refused to apologize for his on-air Islamophobic comments, CAIR initiated a campaign against WMAL and the station s advertisers.

Radio host Michael Graham had stated on air that: 1. Islam is a terrorist organization. 2. Islam is at war with America. 3. The problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam. 4. We are at war with a terrorist organization named Islam. Other listeners said that Graham even encouraged a public backlash against Muslims.

After hundreds of complaints, WMAL finally decided to fire Graham because he refused to retract his anti-Islamic statements, make an on-air apology and conduct outreach efforts to the Muslim community and others who were offended.

AMERICAN MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDED

CAIR was retained as legal counsel by Muslim workers of Somali heritage at a Dell, Inc. plant in Nashville, TN. The workers felt they were being forced to choose between their prayers and keeping their jobs.

After CAIR negotiated with Dell, workers were allowed to return, given back pay, and were provided with religious accommodation. The settlement also required managers to undergo further training on religious accommodation.

When a Muslim American received a credit card solicitation letter addressed to Palestinian Bomber , CAIR immediately called on JPMorgan Chase to investigate. The recipient, a 54-year-old American citizen, has lived in this country for 51 years and served in the United States Army.

In continuing its proactive stance, CAIR recently announced the 2005 Rosa Parks Civil Liberties Award Recipient, to be offered in honor of Rosa Parks to students studying in fields that promote civil rights, social justice and conflict resolution.

NARENDRA MODI VISA DENIED

In March, CAIR applauded a decision by the US to deny a visa to Narendra Modi, an Indian official accused of complicity in the massacre of Muslim civilians. Modi had been scheduled as a keynote speaker for the annual convention in Florida of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.

Weeks before, CAIR and other groups joined forces to block Modi s entry, urging the Bush administration to deny his visa based on Section 604 of the International Religious Freedom Act making any foreign official who has engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom inadmissible to the US. Media reports indicate that US officials used that provision to revoke his visa, citing his role as Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots that left more than 1,000 dead.

In October, CAIR held is third annual Ramadan iftar on Capitol Hill. Some 100 congressional staffers, community leaders and diplomats from Islamic-majority nations attended. The iftar, held in the Rayburn House Office Building, was co-sponsored by 11 House members.

EXPLORE THE QURAN CAMPAIGN

CAIR initiated its Explore the Quran campaign in response to allegations that American military personnel desecrated the Quran at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay. The campaign promotes understanding and appreciation of Islam by making the Quran widely available. Muslims are encouraged to sponsor the $25 package which includes a Quran and guidelines for handling. To date, more than 20,000 people have requested free copies of Islam s holy text, including law enforcement officials, students, religious leaders, and ordinary people of all faiths.

A North Carolina physician wrote: I appreciate what your group is doing to foster better understanding between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. I look forward to reading the Quran and learning more about Islam.

Another recipient from California wrote: It just arrived today and I ve only read the intro and forward and started reading the verses. My reaction surprises me: I feel an attraction to the words that I never expected. . . .No matter what, I will learn so much about Islam thanks to your generosity.

This summer, CAIR launched an initiative called Muslims Care to promote volunteerism. The summer-long, nationwide campaign offered resources to help Muslims improve their neighborhoods and communities. Muslims Care is designed as an annual effort, with this year s focus on health awareness, helping the needy, and activities for youth.

A new website, www.muslims-care.com, contains a downloadable toolkit with information about volunteerism and suggestions for activities such as blood drives, health awareness fairs and student tutoring. The Muslims Care kit also provides advice to Islamic leaders on promoting volunteerism in mosques. It also suggests establishing partnerships with groups such as the American Cancer Society and Habitat for Humanity.

These are just a few of the proactive efforts undertaken by CAIR in the service of the American Muslim community. To learn more about CAIR, go to: www.cair.com

HELP CAIR CONTINUE ITS IMPORTANT WORK.

To become a CAIR member, go to:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp

To donate to CAIR, go to:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/donate.asp

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/1/06

* Verse: God Gives Every Community Rites of Sacrifice
* CAIR-FL Honored for Ramadan Food Basket Program
            - CAIR-OH: Muslims Believe Simple Burials Focus on Soul
            - CAIR-LA: Rights Being Eroded (Press-Enterprise)
            - CAIR-CT: Immigrant Boom Unlikely to Slow (Norwich Bulletin)
* CAIR Patriot Act Blog a 'Web Winner' (Philadelphia Inquirer)
            - Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program (NY Times)
* TX: Eid Al-Adha Holiday Good for Local Market
            - Eid Al-Adha Holiday to Start on Jan. 10 (AP)
            - DC: Mosques to Mark End of Pilgrimage (Wash Post)
            - Muslims Will Celebrate Some Holidays Twice in 2006
            - U.S. Muslims Journey to Mecca (Kansas City Star)
* FL: Blogs, Threats Force Muslim Meeting to Relocate (SP Times)
* MI: Bank Forms Subsidiary for Muslims (Ann Arbor News)
* MA: Mosque is an Answer to Prayers (MW Daily News)
            - FL: Mosque Designs Modified (Bradenton Herald)
* FL: Centuries of Peace Between Jews, Muslims (Sun-Sent)
* CA: Muslims Share Love of Mary, Jesus (Tracy Press)
            - CT: Clarifying Muhammad's Role (Hartford Courant)
* Forum: Ignorance is the Enemy (Post-Gazette)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: GOD GIVES EVERY COMMUNITY RITES OF SACRIFICE - TOP

"For every community We established rites (of sacrifice) so that they may pronounce the name of God over the (animals) that He has given them for food. But the object is one and the same: to remember that your God is one God. So submit yourselves to Him and give good news to the humble, whose hearts tremble (with awe) at the mention of God; who endure adversity with patience, who establish prayer, and spend in charity out of what we have given them. . .It is neither (the sacrificial animal's) meat nor their blood that reaches God; it is your piety that reaches Him."

The Holy Quran, 22:34-37

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CAIR-FL HONORED FOR RAMADAN FOOD BASKET PROGRAM - TOP

WHAT'S HAPPENING
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/01/Hernando/What_s_happening.shtml

The Hernando County Commission recently recognized the local Islamic community and the Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations for establishing the Ramadan Thanksgiving Food Basket Program.

The proclamation read: "Hernando County is well known as a caring community with a charitable heart, and each year individual citizens, community groups and diverse religious organizations provide food and other basic necessities to needy families in Hernando County.

"The Ramadan Thanksgiving Food Basket Program was established in November 2001 to help needy families in Hernando County."

The Islamic community and CAIR Florida, working in partnership with the United Way of Hernando County and Publix Supermarkets, recently distributed 200 Thanksgiving food baskets to needy families in Hernando County.

The mission of CAIR is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-OH: MUSLIMS BELIEVE SIMPLE BURIAL PUTS FOCUS ON SOUL - TOP
Sherri Williams, COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 12/31/05
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/12/31/20051231-B2-01.html

Nasir Abdi was shrouded in the simplicity and spirituality shown during Muslim burials when his body, wrapped in white cloth, was lowered into the ground without a casket.

It is a minimalist practice that focuses on the soul and spirit of the deceased, said Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin, president-elect of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Ohio.

"Traditionally, Muslims are not buried in caskets and coffins," she said. "The idea is, from dust we are created and to dust we will return, and from dust we will be brought back again. In that remembrance there is not a need to preserve the physical shell."

Abdi, a Muslim Somali, was buried Thursday after being fatally shot by Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Evans. Deputies said Abdi threatened them with a kitchen knife while four deputies were trying to take him to a mental-health care facility.

His customary burial without being enclosed in a casket is legal and increasingly common here, said Scott Zinn, manager of the Rutherford Funeral Home. (MORE)

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CAIR-LA: RIGHTS BEING ERODED - TOP
Press-Enterprise, 12/30/05
http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_H_op_31_letters.21faa253.html

In response to the editorial "Wiretap dancing" (Our Views, Dec. 28), perhaps The Press-Enterprise needs to put the news of hundreds of wiretaps of Americans into perspective in order to realize the magnitude and frequency of the Bush administration's erosion of people's rights -- not only in this country, but abroad as well.

Here is a partial list: the indefinite detention of thousands of people in Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay without charges or due process; the reports of abuse and torture at those detention camps; the CIA torture centers in Europe; the illegal practice of rendition of prisoners; the monitoring for radiation of Muslim businesses, mosques and private homes without court order; and the news of hundreds of wiretaps on Americans.

With all of these costly mistakes and abuses, The Press-Enterprise does not want us to have an independent judicial process to oversee the practices of the Bush administration?

Just because someone has the power to do something is not an invitation to abuse that power.

HUSSAM AYLOUSH, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Southern California, Corona

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CAIR-CT: IMMIGRANT BOOM IN EASTERN CONNECTICUT UNLIKELY TO SLOW - TOP
ADAM BOWLES, Norwich Bulletin, 1/1/06
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060101/NEWS01/601010303/1002

Many of the arrivals first move to New York and New Jersey, only to discover jobs are easier to find and pay is higher here, he said. Family members are spreading the word to other family members and friends. . .

Hazma Collins, the civil rights director of the Connecticut Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said the Islamic Center of New London started caring for three or four new families in the last few months.

New families often arrive from Pakistan or other Muslim countries, he said.

"There will be growth," he said. "People are coming at a young age -- in the mid-20s and early 30s. They will have children here." (MORE)

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WEB WINNERS - TOP
Reid Kanaley, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/1/06
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/13524274.htm

A short-term extension of the controversial USA Patriot Act, after acrimonious debate between the House and Senate, gives us all more time to digest the impact of the law that expanded government surveillance powers after 9/11. The congressional debate resumes in the new year. . .

Patriot blog. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, wary of the act, posts news updates on this blog.

http://cairpatriotact.blogspot.com/

SEE ALSO;

JUSTICE DEPUTY RESISTED PARTS OF SPY PROGRAM - TOP
ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN, New York Times, 1/1/06
http://nytimes.com/2006/01/01/politics/01spy.html

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 - A top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and refused to sign on to its continued use amid concerns about its legality and oversight, according to officials with knowledge of the tense internal debate. The concerns appear to have played a part in the temporary suspension of the secret program.

The concerns prompted two of President Bush's most senior aides - Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now attorney general - to make an emergency visit to a Washington hospital in March 2004 to discuss the program's future and try to win the needed approval from Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, the officials said.

The unusual meeting was prompted because Mr. Ashcroft's top deputy, James B. Comey, who was acting as attorney general in his absence, had indicated he was unwilling to give his approval to certifying central aspects of the program, as required under the White House procedures set up to oversee it.

With Mr. Comey unwilling to sign off on the program, the White House went to Mr. Ashcroft - who had been in the intensive care unit at George Washington University Hospital with pancreatitis and was housed under unusually tight security - because "they needed him for certification," according to an official briefed on the episode. The official, like others who discussed the issue, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the program. (MORE0

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TX: MUSLIM TRADITIONS GOOD FOR LOCAL MARKET - TOP
JERRY LACKEY, San Angelo Standard-Times, 1/1/06
http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/bu_columnists/article/0,1897,SAST_4919_4353700,00.html

Goats in New York City?

That's right ... thousands of West Texas-raised goats and lambs go to the East Coast every year to supply a growing ethnic population. The largest shipment will take place this week.

Most of the sheep and goats sold in San Angelo every year are purchased and shipped to New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania markets where they are slaughtered and eaten in celebration of ethnic religious holidays, said Benny Cox, sheep sales manager for Producers Livestock Auction.

Cox said the firm's first sale of 2006 is the only one before the Muslim "Holiday of Sacrifice." He said for the last eight years, Muslim buyers have attended the sale and purchased animals for their customers. The buyers prefer young goats, he said.

"It takes 35 hours to truck the goats to the East Coast, and the Muslim customers require that the animals arrive alive. Being fresh is a big factor, so the goats are slaughtered on arrival with the head remaining on the carcass," Cox said.

The buyers don't have holding facilities where they can feed and care for the animals. Most of the deliveries are to small ''mom-and-pop'' stores where the customers may take one or two, even 10 goats, Cox said.

About nine Muslim handlers - people who purchase for and serve the East Coast market - will show up for the sale Tuesday. The auction may be the only time during the year that Producers will see the handlers, Cox said. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

EID AL-ADHA HOLIDAY TO START ON JAN. 10 - TOP
Associated Press, 1/1/06
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-mideast-eid-date,0,668490.story

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The Eid al-Adha, a four-day feast capping the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, will begin Jan. 10, Saudi religious authorities announced Sunday.

The Eid al-Adha, or feast of sacrifice, is the most important holiday of the Islamic year. It commemorates God's provision of a ram for Abraham to sacrifice as he was about to slay his son.

The Supreme Judiciary Council said the hajj will climax Jan. 9 and the feast will start the following day.

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DC: MOSQUES TO MARK END OF PILGRIMAGE - TOP
The Washington Post, 1/1/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/31/AR2005123101042.html

Area mosques will celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday marking the culmination of the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, with prayer and entertainment from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW. The celebration will take place Jan. 10 or 11, based on moon sighting.

Activities will include a poster contest, a talent show, a moon bounce, a vendor bazaar and a hajj forum, at which Muslims who have made the pilgrimage will talk about their journeys.

For more information, visit www.dceid.org.

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MUSLIMS GET TO DOUBLE CELEBRATION IN NEW YEAR - TOP
LEILA PITCHFORD-ENGLISH, Advocate, 12/31/05
http://2theadvocate.com/stories/123105/rel_facets001.shtml

The new year, as well as 2008 and 2009, brings an unusual occurence. Muslims will celebrate some holidays twice.

While Muslims use the Gregorian calendar in everyday life (the calendar used in the United States), for their religious life they use a lunar calendar that is shorter (354 days) and doesn't match the divisions of the Gregorian calendar. Months alternate between 30 and 29 days. This means that the Muslim holidays move in relation to the U.S. calendar, moving about 11 days earlier each year.

So Eid al Adha will be marked at the start and the end of 2006. The First of Muharram will fall twice in 2008 and Ashura will fall twice in 2009.

Eid al Adha

This festival marks the end of the annual Islamic pilgrimage known as Hajj.

The Hajj is a journey that Muslims are to make at least once in a lifetime if they are financially and physically able. But, even those who don't travel to Mecca celebrate the journey's end.

While listed as starting Jan. 10, the holiday may start before or after because its start is based on the sighting of the moon. Some celebrate up to four days.

Adha is also known as the Festival of Sacrifice because it commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael in obedience to God. (This story is more familiar to Christians with Abraham's son Isaac.) It also celebrates the mercy God has shown to the people.

Adha is celebrated with communal prayer in the morning. Many Muslims gather at the mosque for a sermon. In many parts of the world, including Mecca, people slaughter an animal as a remembrance of the ram given in substitute for Ishmael because of Abraham's faith.

Festive food, gatherings in homes and mosques, and gifts to children make up the rest of the day. (MORE)

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MUSLIMS JOURNEY TO MECCA - TOP
KAREN DILLON, Kansas City Star, 1/1/06
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13525893.htm

Tears of joy streamed down the face of Farzana Papa as she hugged her daughter, Mariam, at Kansas City International Airport on Saturday.

Farzana, who wore a dark sapphire-blue hijab over her head, was there to see off Mariam, a 22-year-old University of Kansas pharmacy student, who was on her first pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Two groups of more than two dozen Kansas City area Muslims are joining an estimated 3 million Muslims for the Hajj, the annual Islam pilgrimage.

The Hajj, considered by Muslims to be the ultimate religious fulfillment, is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The five pillars require that Muslims declare their faith, pray five times a day, help the poor, fast during the holy month of Ramadan and make at least one pilgrimage. (MORE)

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FL: BLOGS, THREATS FORCE MUSLIM MEETING TO RELOCATE - TOP
S.I. ROSENBAUM, http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/01/Hernando/What_s_happening.shtml
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/01/Tampabay/Blogs__threats_force_.shtml

TEMPLE TERRACE - Chantal Carnes didn't recognize herself.

A friend had e-mailed her a blogger's article. It described Carnes as a supporter of terrorists, a fan of suicide bombing.

Her friend thought the article was a joke.

"No, dude," Carnes said. "This is really serious."

Carnes, a Chicago resident who converted to Islam 11 years ago, was scheduled to speak at a spiritual retreat for Tampa Muslims this weekend.

But after bloggers alleged that the event was a thinly veiled terrorist indoctrination, anonymous callers bombarded the Muslim American Society of Tampa with death threats and curses.

The director of the Lithia church camp that was to host the event decided to close the camp for the weekend after she, too, received threats.

So when Carnes finally faced a small audience of adults in a block building in Temple Terrace on Saturday, there was an urgency to her words.

"Since everything that's happened, this is the right time for me to talk about who we are," Carnes told the group. "There are a lot of people out there who want to define who we are for us."

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MI: BANK FORMS SUBSIDIARY FOR MUSLIMS - TOP
STEFANIE MURRAY, Ann Arbor News, 12/31/05
http://www.mlive.com/business/aanews/index.ssf?/base/business-4/113602744499430.xml&coll=2

More than two years after it began offering Islamic-friendly banking products, Ann Arbor-based University Bank said it has formed a subsidiary to focus solely on serving Muslims.

University Islamic Financial Corp. raised $15.5 million in capital to get off the ground by selling 40,000 shares of private stock, bank president and chairman Stephen Lange Ranzini said Friday.

University Bank owns 80 percent of its new subsidiary; the other 20 percent is held by Virtue Investors LLC, which Ranzini said was a group of private Grand Rapids investors.

"The formation of the subsidiary allows us to have a financial institution which is 100 percent in compliance with the Muslim Shariah, the legal code of the Islamic religion," Ranzini said. (MORE)

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MA: WAYLAND MOSQUE IS AN ANSWER TO PRAYERS - TOP
Katie Liesener, Daily News, 1/1/06
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=118183

Two years ago, space was tight at the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland.

During Ramadan -- the Muslim holy month of fasting -- worshippers overwhelmed the main prayer hall, spilling out into the outside foyer. Sunday school classrooms were subdivided to create learning space where minimal space existed. An old house nearby served as storage and extra class space.

The completion in November of the center's $3.9 million expansion project changed all that, nearly quadrupling the size of the former mosque from 5,000 to 19,000 square feet.

Now, after Friday prayers, men and women mingle and children play in the large entry hall, where natural light streams from windows set near the high ceilings, illuminating the pale yellow and orange interior.

When the center hosted this year's interfaith Thanksgiving service in Wayland, more than 250 people attended -- the largest number of people since the tradition began.

"We used to feel so scrunched," said Sonia Ali, a member of the center. "(The building) functions as a proper community center now."

That community includes the 140 Muslim families who regularly pray there, as well as the greater religious community of Wayland, whom the Islamic Center regularly invites for inter-faith dialogues. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

FL: MOSQUE DESIGNS MODIFIED - TOP
RICHARD DYMOND, Bradenton Herald, 12/31/05
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/13520947.htm

SARASOTA - Without the 85-foot minarets that caused some controversy, a new $1.5 million mosque will break ground this spring, said Hytham Bakr, a member of the board of directors of the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Bradenton.

The new Islamic center at 4350 N. Lockwood Ridge Road will have 11,500 square feet of interior space, including a 5,000-square-foot main prayer hall, Bakr said.

The building, which will be built toward the rear of the 2½-acre property, will be no more than 40 feet tall including its dome, said Bakr, whose Sarasota engineering firm, The Bakr Group, is the mosque's project management firm.

The small home near the road, which has been used as a mosque, will be torn down once the new building is erected.

Originally, the mosque's leaders submitted plans to Sarasota County for a 62-foot tall building, including dome, and two 85-feet minarets, Bakr said.
But Sarasota County ruled that the building too greatly exceeded the county's height restriction of 35 feet and approved a maximum height of 40 feet.

"Well, we will make the best of it," Bakr said. "Nothing changed but the height. Neighbors came out in massive numbers and influenced the decision. They were unhappy with the height." (MORE)

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FL: DELRAY EXHIBIT CELEBRATES CENTURIES OF PEACE BETWEEN JEWS AND MUSLIMS - TOP
Lisa J. Huriash, Sun-Sentinel, 12/30/05
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-jturkishdec30,0,4621306.story

The history, culture and traditions celebrating centuries of Jews and Muslims living together are the focus of an art exhibit that runs through Jan. 10 in Delray Beach. . .

In the 17th century, more Jews lived in the Ottoman Empire than in the rest of the world combined.

"It shows really two things: that there was a period of time when Jews lived comfortably and expressed themselves with their own identity in a Muslim country, and more importantly, it shows that a Muslim community and a Jewish community can work happily, successfully and joyfully together," said William A. Gralnick, the southeast regional director for the American Jewish Committee. (MORE)

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MUSLIMS SHARE LOVE OF MARY, JESUS - TOP
Riaz Hasan, Tracy Press, 12/31/05
http://www.tracypress.com/ourTown/2005-12-31-muslims.php

Looking at a calendar recently, I noticed that Dec. 8 is the day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Since it is a Catholic tradition, I asked some of my Catholic friends what it meant, and at first, they thought it was about the conception of Jesus.

With some thought, though, they remembered that it was a celebration of the conception of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.

The mother of Mary expected to have a boy, whom she would dedicate to the priesthood at the temple in Jerusalem. She said, "My Lord, I dedicate to your service that which is in my womb. Accept it for me. You alone are the Hearer and Knower."

When she gave birth to a girl, she said, "My Lord, I have given birth to a female, and I have named her Mary. Protect her and her descendents from Satan, the outcast."

You do not have to search the New Testament to find the meaning of the Immaculate Conception. If you could get a copy of the Quran - regarded by Muslims as the direct word of God - from a coworker, friend or neighbor, you would find the above quotes in verses 35 and 36 of Chapter 3 in the Quran.

Some other verses state that "Her Lord accepted her with a gracious reception and vouched her to grow up beautifully" (3:37). Mary was purified, another verse says, and chosen over the women of all peoples (3:42). In fact, an entire chapter in the Quran is named after Mary:

"Behold! The angels said, 'O Mary! God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God." (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CT: CLARIFYING MUHAMMAD'S ROLE - TOP
Hartford Courant, 1/1/06
http://www.courant.com/news/local/northeast/hc-badne0101.artjan01,0,4030156.story

I would like to commend the organizers of NE magazine for the prayers from the religious communities on the December 25th issue.

As one of the authors, there was one issue that needed correction. On the front page were the names of God in different faith traditions, and on this list was Muhammad.

Muhammad is not regarded as God. Muslims believe in one God, the same monotheistic God worshipped by Jews and Christians. Allah is the Arabic word for `The One God' and Muslims prefer that term as it has no gender or plural. A Muslim is a person who submits to the will of God, which means we accept God's will in our life as our unique challenge in life.

"Say: He is God, the One and Only. God the Eternal, the Absolute. He begets not nor is He begotten and there is none like Him." (Koran 112).

Muhammad was a human being raised as a prophet, similar to Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus, whom Muslims believe were human beings raised to honor God, who gave them the prophetic office. Islam is not considered by Muslims to be a new religion but simply the calling to the worship of one God and the submission to his will as preached by all prophets.

"Say! We believe in the One God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to all prophets from their Lord: we make no difference between one and another of them and we bow down to the One God." (Koran 2:136)

Reza Mansoor
Muslim Coalition of Connecticut

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FORUM: IGNORANCE IS THE ENEMY - TOP
Douglas MacKinnon, Post-Gazette, 1/1/06
http://post-gazette.com/pg/06001/630385.stm

Ignorance is far from bliss. In fact, ignorance is quite dangerous and has been the root of unnecessary death and destruction since recorded history began.

Of late, ignorance fueled the blind and twisted hate that emboldened 19 hijackers to kill 3,000 innocent men, women and children. Ignorance next picked up the baton of hate and passed it off to an uncounted number of people around the world who unfairly channeled their anger, pain, blame and frustration against one religion.

Ignorance is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of knowledge. In a world gone mad, ignorance is a failing we can no longer afford. While all of us, from Bill Gates to Condoleezza Rice, are ignorant about something, when it comes to relations with the humans who share our planet, we need to eradicate misunderstandings, misinformation, and mistrust. Should we not, the price of failure is obvious.

Recently, while in Egypt, I was given a timely lesson in such ignorance eradication.

I was fortunate enough to bear witness to a celebration that was one of the most wonderful and beautiful I have ever seen. I was in the historic port city of Alexandria, where, after observing the holy month of Ramadan for 30 days, what seemed like the entire population of the city turned out into the streets to celebrate Eid el-Fitr.

Part of the tradition of celebrating the three-day Eid is for Muslim parents to buy their children new clothes. By the tens of thousands, mothers, fathers, children and grandparents had filled the sidewalks and streets of Alexandria, and everywhere I looked, I saw entire families walking hand in hand. All smiling, all laughing and all enjoying a spectacular Fall evening.

I was on a bus full of Brits and Americans coming back from the Pyramids of Giza, and the one thing that struck us all as our bus would many times come to a complete stop because of the thousands of people in the streets, was the love of family we saw. Teenage sons and daughters holding the hands of their parents and grandparents as they strolled the sidewalks. A British woman sitting near me said, "I've never seen anything so moving or lovely. Most of the teenagers in England are angry, disenchanted and hate all of us parents."

We all agreed this was a sight we had never seen but had a deep hunger to see more. If not seen, the true joy and sense of family of the people cannot be adequately explained in words. Many, if not the majority of these Egyptians, lived near or below the poverty line, and yet, they found real happiness in family and faith.

More than a few of the Western passengers on the bus had been nervous about the five-hour round-trip from Alexandria to Cairo and back. They were wondering how safe they would be in a "Muslim country."

All of those fears were dispersed when, while stopped in the street and surrounded by thousands of Muslims -- including hundreds of young men -- they were greeted with nothing but smiles, waves and shouts of "thank you for visiting Egypt." Not one angry gesture or angry word. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/2/06

* Verse: Pilgrimage Brings Inner Peace
* CAIR-FL: Al-Arian Unlikely to be Set Free (SP Times)
            - FL: Threatened Muslim Gathering Relocates (Tampa Trib)
* Yee: Muslim Defendant Goes on the Offense (AP)
* Muslims Mark Hajj Season with Pilgrimage to Mecca (VOA)
* Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda (NYT)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: PILGRIMAGE BRINGS INNER PEACE - TOP

"Undoubtedly the first House for the worship of God ever built for mankind is the one at (Mecca), a blessed site and a guidance for all the worlds. In it are clear signs and the Station of Abraham where he used to worship. Whoever enters it finds inner peace."

The Holy Quran, 3:96-97

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CAIR-FL: AL-ARIAN UNLIKELY TO BE SET FREE - TOP
Even after his acquittal on eight of 17 charges, his detention order remains in effect on the undecided nine.
JENNIFER LIBERTO, St. Petersburg Times, 1/2/06
http://sptimes.com/2006/01/02/Tampabay/Al_Arian_unlikely_to_.shtml

TAMPA - Why must Sami Al-Arian sit in a Hillsborough County jail while awaiting his legal future?

That's what supporters and his family want to know.

Tried and acquitted on eight of 17 charges, Al-Arian has spent the past three weeks in a jail cell after more than two years in solitary confinement. As many as nine jurors, a majority, thought that prosecutors didn't present enough evidence to persuade them to convict on the remaining charges that hung the jury, according to Times interviews.

But practically speaking, legal experts say Al-Arian has little chance of stepping out of jail onto American soil as a free man, given other pending legal - not to mention political - entanglements surrounding the former University of South Florida professor. . .

Al-Arian's local attorney, Linda Moreno, declined to say whether they plan to file what's called a "bond motion," to ask a judge to let Al-Arian out of jail while prosecutors decide the next course of action.

Several attorneys said Al-Arian's attorneys could be holding onto their bond motion while waiting to see what the government is going to do, because there are so many criminal charges remaining.

"It's more practical to wait and see what the government decides," said former federal prosecutor Ed Page of the law firm Carlton Fields.

Moreno did say she thinks the next move is up to government prosecutors. . .

Basically, even if Al-Arian gets cleared of all federal criminal charges, ICE can levy similar terrorism-related civil charges, a practice used in the past. . .

"They have the authority to do it (levy immigration charges), although they usually don't in most cases," said Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Bedier suggested that as bad as the Orient Road jail is for Al-Arian, it could be a step above an immigration jail, where inmates have fewer rights and legal opportunities. "Once you're in the immigration system, it's a much different ballgame."

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FL: THREATENED GATHERING RELOCATES - TOP
CHRIS ECHEGARAY, Tampa Tribune, 1/1/05
http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQNF6SWHE.html

TEMPLE TERRACE - Except for the Arabic symbols on the PowerPoint presentation and the occasional hijab in the audience, the retreat could have been for young people of any religion. The men and women listened intently, their hands shooting up for a question here and there.

But this retreat went on despite a last-minute relocation and threats of torture and death.

Local members of Tampa's Muslim American Society will gather through Monday in Temple Terrace to learn about their faith, leadership and the biblical Joseph's role in the Koran.

A right-wing blogger's Web site alleged a different curriculum - Joe Kaufman suggested in a link on AmericansAgainstHate.com that it would be a "children's jihad retreat, with a guest speaker who exalts terrorists and another who is linked to al-Qaeda."

The retreat was scheduled for Cedarkirk Camp and Conference Center, a Presbyterian-affiliated center in Lithia. A flurry of threatening e-mails and phone calls to Cedarkirk, its director and Muslims prompted the campground's board of directors to close the camp and cancel all activities this weekend.

At home on the Cedarkirk grounds Saturday, camp director the Rev. Debbie Bronkema declined to comment about the closure. She later posted a statement on the conference center's Web site that said the Muslim group provided a copy of its retreat curriculum in November and invited Cedarkirk staff to attend.

Law Enforcement Cleared Speakers

"During the week of December 25th, terrorism allegations were made against the Muslim American Society and retreat speakers," it reads. It states Cedarkirk officials contacted local and federal law enforcement to check on the speakers and learned "there was nothing at all about the scheduled speakers or this group that should cause us to not allow this group to come on retreat."

Still, "due to threats received," Cedarkirk's board decided to close the camp down for the Dec. 31 weekend.

Mohamed Moharram, the Muslim society's president, said workshops were held in other Florida towns for the last four years without a problem. He said Kaufman's false accusations are harmful and silence moderate voices.

"I am very upset about this," he said. "If you allow lunatic extremists to feed hate, we will lose the war on terror. This is not the American way."

Moharram said the e-mail and phone calls ranged from threats of physical harm to derogatory comments. He said the threats have been forwarded to authorities.

A 23-year-old Muslim convert said one e-mailer wrote her that he would paint her body with pig fat and light her on fire. (MORE)

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YEE: MUSLIM DEFENDANT GOES ON THE OFFENSE - TOP
DOUG ESSER, Associated Press, 1/1/06
http://www.modbee.com/arts/books/story/11644911p-12374523c.html

"For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire," by James Yee; Public Affairs; $24.

James Yee answers the headlines with his side of how a Muslim Army chaplain was charged with spying for al-Qaida at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

In "For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire," written with Aimee Molloy, Yee says that although he was a West Point graduate, he came under suspicion as a Muslim chaplain because of his religion.

"We say that the war on terror is not against Islam, but that's not how it felt most days at Guantanamo," Yee writes. (MORE)

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MUSLIMS MARK HAJJ SEASON WITH PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA - TOP
Amin Fekrat, Voice of America, 1/2/06
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-01-02-voa5.cfm

The annual season of Hajj is now under way. Every Muslim who is financially able to do so is obliged under the Koran, the holy Muslim scripture, to make the pilgrimage to Mecca during Hajj at least once in his or her lifetime. The season culminates on the "Id-Al Adha," the festival of sacrifice, which this year falls on Tuesday, January 11 and continues until January 14. The arduous annual Hajj pilgrimage takes place this year against the background of the continuing war in Iraq and the increasing militancy on the part of the Islamic extremist groups against broader interests of the West and of particularly, the United States. (MORE)

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MUSLIM SCHOLARS WERE PAID TO AID U.S. PROPAGANDA - TOP
DAVID S. CLOUD and JEFF GERTH, New York Times, 1/2/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/02/politics/02propaganda.html

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - A Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by American soldiers has also been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work, according to current and former employees. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/3/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today urged Americans of all faiths to pray for the safety of 13 West Virginia coal miners trapped underground since early Monday.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on leaders of each faith community to ask their members to offer individual and communal prayers for the miners.

CAIR quoted the Quran, Islam's revealed text, which tells of the relief God granted to Job: "And (remember) Job, when he cried to his Lord, 'Truly distress has seized me, but You are the most Merciful of all those who show mercy.' So We listened to him. We removed the distress that was on him and We restored his people to him. . ." (21:83-84)

The Quran also states: "When my servants question you about Me, tell them I am close at hand. I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me." (2:186)

"We call on all people of faith to pray for the safe return of the trapped miners and for the health and safety of all those worldwide who are suffering as the result of natural or man-made disasters," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

-----

CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/3/06

* CAIR-Philly Seeks 'Eid Basket' Sponsors for Needy
                - CAIR-FL: Islam Calls Jesus an Envoy of God
                - CAIR: AR Muslim Granted Right to Attend Prayers
* FL Latinas Convert to Islam for Emphasis on Family
* MI: Detroit Muslims Get Ready for Hajj (Free Press)
* IL: Decade After Bosnia Atrocities, Refugees Call Chicago Home
            - MA: Planned Islamic Center Faces Opposition (Globe)
* CA: FBI Ambassador Fluent in Arabic (Union-Tribune)
* VA: Muslims to Help Rebuild Pakistani Churches (ADAMS)
* Officials: U.S. Air Raid Kills Iraqi Family (Reuters)

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CAIR-PHILLY SEEKS 'EID BASKET' SPONSORS FOR NEEDY - TOP

(PHILADELPHIA, PA, 1/3/06) - CAIR-Philly is urging community members to help their neighbors who are in need by sponsoring an "Eid Fruit Basket" to be distributed to people of all faiths in North Philadelphia, Central Philadelphia, Lansdale, and Villanova. The cost of sponsorship is $125. (Eid ul-Adha is the Islamic holiday, celebrated next week, marking the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. See: "U.S. Muslims to Leave for Hajj," http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1904&theType=NR )

Last Eid, 29 families received similar baskets. DO NOT DELAY.

WHAT: Eid Basket Sponsorship
WHEN: Deadline is Thursday, January 5, 2006, 9 a.m.
COST: $125.00
CONTACT: Kareem Afzal: keembo6@yahoo.com, 267-808-4906

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-FL: ISLAM CALLS JESUS AN ENVOY OF GOD - TOP
Altaf Ali, Sun-Sentinel, 1/3/06
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-brmail814xjan03,0,1070801.story

[Altaf Ali is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida.]

As our Christian brethren celebrated one of their most important holidays, we as Muslims are reminded of Jesus as one of the greatest messengers of God.

I spent the last two Thanksgivings with Christians at the St. Katherine Drexel Catholic Church in Weston. As I sat listening to the sermon delivered by Father Paul Edwards, I thought of how much we Muslims and Christians have in common. What a remarkable achievement, that such a diverse group of people, from many different cultures, ethnicities and faiths can be bonded together as Americans. We can indeed be an example to the world.

There is always room to broaden our understanding. Barbara Walters broadcast a special feature "Heaven," on Dec. 20. In that show, she mentioned, "Muslims do not believe in Jesus." This statement struck at the core of my beliefs. The Quran refers to Jesus in 25 various passages.

During Christmas, Christians celebrate their love for Jesus.

We Muslims also love Jesus; one of God's greatest messengers, held in high honor, and his teachings live on in our hearts.

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CAIR: ARKANSAS MUSLIM GRANTED RIGHT TO ATTEND FRIDAY PRAYERS - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/3/06) - A Muslim woman employee in Little Rock, Arkansas, will now be allowed to attend Friday Islamic communal prayers following intervention by CAIR's Civil Right Department.

After receiving a letter from CAIR, the employer adjusted the woman's work schedule so that she can attend the prayers.

CAIR offers a booklet, "An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices," designed to help companies provide legally-mandated religious accommodation for their workers. SEE: https://www.cair-net.org/comersus/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=3

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SOME S. FLORIDA LATINAS CONVERTING TO ISLAM FOR EMPHASIS ON FAMILY, WOMEN'S ROLES - TOP
Tal Abbady, Sun-Sentinel, 1/3/06
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pconverts03jan03,0,7380692.story

Melissa Matos slips into an easy communion with her newest circle of friends.

At regular meetings, they invoke their families' native towns in Cuba or the Dominican Republic, or recipes for arroz con pollo. English is interspersed with Spanish. And, posing no incongruity to the women, hijabs, or Muslim head scarves, frame their faces.

When she converted to Islam in May, Matos, a Dominican-American raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, expected the passage to be lonely.

"I said to myself, `Great, I'm going to be the only Muslim Latina in the whole world,'" said Matos, 20, a student at Florida International University who recently joined a group of Latina converts to Islam.

Scholars say Matos is part of a growing number of Latin women converting to Islam for its emphasis on family, piety and clearly defined women's roles, values converts say were once integral to Hispanic culture but have waned after years of assimilation.

The women are among 40,000 Hispanic converts to Islam in the United States, according to the Islamic Society of North America. About a decade ago, Latino converts began forming Internet groups such as the Latino American Dawah Organization and the women's group Piedad that trace Hispanics' ties to Islam back to the Spanish Moors. (MORE)

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MI: DETROIT AREA MUSLIMS GET READY FOR PILGRIMAGE, OR MAKE DO AT HOME - TOP
SHABINA S. KHATRI, Detroit Free Press, 1/3/06
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060103/NEWS05/601030337/1007/NEWS

Safwan Badr's friends and family consider him to be one of the lucky ones. On Monday, the West Bloomfield resident and his 70-year-old mother caught a plane to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where they will join millions of Muslims from around the world in performing the hajj.

"I'm looking forward to it," Badr said of the spiritually intense and physically taxing pilgrimage that followers deem to be the pinnacle of their faith. "We all yearn to go back to the source."

Thousands of American Muslims are making the 5-day pilgrimage, which officially begins Sunday. And many -- including Badr -- are finding it easier to get the time off work to make the journey this year because it falls so close to other holidays. (MORE)

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IL: DECADE AFTER BOSNIA ATROCITIES, MANY REFUGEES CALL CHICAGO HOME - TOP
JOHN BIEMER, Chicago Tribune, 1/3/05
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/13538838.htm

CHICAGO - The Bosnians didn't choose to come here to start a new life. They were forced to when their houses were burned down, when they were herded into concentration camps, when they were raped or their loved ones killed in a bloody war that claimed some 200,000 lives.

But in the 10 years since the U.S.-brokered Dayton Peace Accords brought a rocky truce to Bosnia-Herzegovina, they have gradually and ambivalently made a new life for themselves in Chicago. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

MA: PLANNER OF MUSLIM CENTER BUYS POST FROM LEGIONNAIRES - TOP
Lisa Wangsness, Boston Globe, 1/3/06
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/01/03/veterans_profit_from_building_sale/

Just after World War II, an American Legion Post in Brighton found the perfect home: For just $500, the City of Boston sold the Mary L. Brock School, a historic building on Chestnut Hill Avenue.

For almost six decades, former soldiers and sailors gathered at Post 17 for dances and for suppers of franks and beans. But as its members aged, dues payments diminished, and the building fell into disrepair. Fixing the structure was not affordable, so members hit upon an idea: Sell it and split the proceeds. The dilapidated post turned out to be a gold mine, fetching $1 million. . .

The building has been purchased by Anwar Faisal, a businessman who says he plans to convert it to a center for Muslims that will host daily prayer sessions, lectures, and other activities.

Criticism has emerged on two fronts, from those who say the veterans should not keep the money and from residents who have raised concerns about the center.

The residents say the center may aggravate traffic problems, drive down property values, and cause other difficulties in a neighborhood that has seen much development.

Faisal, a longtime Allston real estate manager, said he hopes his Islamic center will not only nurture a growing Muslim community in the area but will also foster interfaith relations. While he said many residents have welcomed him into the neighborhood, a few have not.

"There are some people, their heart is not open, their mind is not open, and I can't tell you why," he said. (MORE)

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CA: FBI AMBASSADOR FLUENT IN ARABIC - TOP
Kelly Thornton, Union Tribune, 1/2/06
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060102-9999-1m2fbi.html

James Stephan was standing on the balcony of his home in suburban Beirut, Lebanon, when a bomb exploded 25 feet away, spewing shrapnel into his skin.

After that it was an easy decision.

He spent a month in the hospital and then, with one of the 13 pieces of metal still lodged in his liver, he left the violence and political upheaval behind in 1983 and moved to the United States.

He became a U.S. citizen, a husband, an entrepreneur, and ended up in a career more gratifying than he could have hoped: Stephan, 51, is one of the FBI's first Arabic-speaking civilian employees to be sent into the Muslim, Arab and Middle Eastern communities to build relationships and repair damage that occurred as the FBI vigorously - some say imperiously - investigated some members of San Diego's large Muslim community in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. (MORE)

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VA: FUNDRAISING DINNER TO HELP REBUILD PAKISTANI CHURCHES - TOP

The All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) will hold a Fundraising Dinner on Saturday, January 21, to help rebuild churches in Sangla, Pakistan, that were destroyed by mobs on November 12, 2005.

WHEN: January 21, 2006, 7 p.m.
WHERE: All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), 46903 Sugarland Rd, Sterling, VA
CONTACT: Mr. Shirin Elkoshairi -- 571-217-9286 or Mr. Rizwan Jaka -- 703-624-6352

Speakers:

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, Washington DC
Visiting Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Reverend Clark Lobenstine
Executive Director, Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington

Imam Mohamed Magid
Executive Director and Imam, All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)
Chairperson, Fairfax Faith Communities in Action

Tickets: $100 per person
All ticket sales and funds raised will go directly toward rebuilding efforts.

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U.S. AIR RAID KILLS IRAQI FAMILY - OFFICIALS - TOP
Reuters, 1/3/06
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-03T112903Z_01_ROB335262_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-STRIKE.xml

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike killed several members of one family in the oil refining town of Baiji in northern Iraq, Iraqi security forces said on Tuesday.

There were conflicting official accounts of the death toll.

An Iraqi official in Tikrit at the Joint Coordination Center (JCC), which handles information and liaises between U.S. and Iraqi forces in the province, said 14 died when their house was destroyed in the raid late on Monday.

A police officer in Tikrit later contested that account and put the toll at six with three wounded but the JCC spokesman insisted 14 had been killed. No independent information was immediately available and the U.S. military offered no comment.

"There were 14 martyrs ... in the house of Ghadhban Nahi Hussein," the JCC official said, naming the owner of the house.

It was not clear why the building was targeted.

Another four houses were hit and two people were injured in the raid on Monday night, the JCC official said, amending his earlier casualty account of three wounded.

"We have this information from the Iraqi police and army in Baiji," said the official, who declined to give his name. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/4/06

* Hadith: Hajj Leads to Forgiveness
* CAIR Forum: Young Muslims and the Future of Islam
* CAIR-MI: Muslims to Mark Eid by Distributing Meat to Needy
* CAIR-OH: Mecca Pilgrimage About to Begin (Enquirer)
            - Muslim-Americans Create Niche Market for Hajj (RNS)
* Commentary: Bush Administration Misuses 'Caliphate' (NPR)
            - Will FBI Come Knocking On Patriots' Door?
            - Bush Could Bypass New Torture Ban (Globe)
* First Islamic Sorority (Washington Times)
* VA Muslim Solider Killed in Iraq (Wash Post)
            - U.S. Strike on Home Kills 9 in Family

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HADITH OF THE DAY: HAJJ LEADS TO FORGIVENESS - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Those who perform the Hajj. . .are people who have come to visit God. If they pray to Him He will respond, and if they ask Him for forgiveness He will forgive them."

Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 800

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CAIR PANEL: "YOUNG MUSLIMS AND THE FUTURE OF ISLAM IN AMERICA" - TOP

WHAT: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) invites you to a panel discussion, titled "Young Muslims and the Future of Islam in America." Panelists Noorain Khan, a student and Rhodes Scholar from Rice University, and Mohamed Sabur, an aide for Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), will discuss the status of Islam and Muslims in American and the challenges that lay ahead of them.

WHEN: Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Office, 453 New Jersey Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C.

Seating is limited. Refreshments will be provided. To R.S.V.P., please e-mail events@cair-net.org by January 20.

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CAIR-MI: MUSLIMS TO MARK EID BY DISTRIBUTING MEAT TO NEEDY - TOP

(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 1/4/06) - On Saturday, January 14, Islamic centers in Dearborn, Detroit and Hamtramck, as well as Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, will serve as distribution centers for an Eid ul-Adha meat distribution program serving needy families.

The Eid ul-Adha holiday marks the end of Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which Muslims are obligated to make at least once in a lifetime if physically or financially able. Along with communal prayers, Muslims sacrifice an animal or pay for an animal to be sacrificed in remembrance of Abraham's willingness to offer his son at God's command. The meat is distributed to relatives and to the needy.

The Islamic Shura Council of Michigan and Islamic Relief hope to distribute some 15,000 pounds of lamb in Southeastern Michigan.

"We hope this first-of-its-kind initiative leads to more such charitable efforts to serve needy families in our state," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.

CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-569-2203 or 248-842-1418, E-Mail: dawud07@yahoo.com

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CAIR-OH: MECCA PILGRIMAGE ABOUT TO BEGIN - TOP
Jennifer Edwards, Cincinnati Enquirer, 1/4/06
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060104/NEWS01/601040360/-1/CINCI

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HAJJ
For details on the annual Hajj season, go to
http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/jlthajj/LifeTimeJourney.shtml

BLUE ASH - Several local Muslim families have left town this week to make a religious journey of a lifetime - the pilgrimage to Mecca.

During the hajj season, an estimated 2 million people worldwide travel to Saudi Arabia for a five-day religious journey.

In a typical year, six to 12 families in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky make the trip, said Karen Dabdoub, director of the Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Blue Ash.

Every adult Muslim who is financially and physically able is obliged under the Quran, the holy Muslim scripture, to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city in the Islamic faith, during hajj at least once in his or her lifetime, she said.

The season commemorates God's provision of a ram for Prophet Abraham to sacrifice as he was about to slay his son. It culminates with the Eid al-Adha, a festival of sacrifice and one of the most important holidays of the Islamic year.

The hajj starts Monday and ends Jan. 13.

"The essence of the pilgrimage is one's personal relationship with God," Dabdoub said. "It's about repentance, forgiveness and mercy. A lot of people who go want to spend a couple weeks there. They want to spend time in prayer and contemplation and absorb the blessedness of the place."

The pilgrimage takes place this year against the backdrop of the war in Iraq and increasing militancy among Islamic extremist groups. But the tensions are not stopping American Muslims from making the trip, Dabdoub said. (MORE)

ALSO SEE:

MUSLIM-AMERICANS CREATE NICHE TRAVEL MARKET FOR HAJJ - TOP
Omar Sacirbey, Religion News Service, 1/4/06
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/182/story_18233_1.html

Whatever you bring to Mecca, bring patience. That's what travel agents, Islamic scholars and veterans of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city, tell Muslims preparing for the journey.

When 1.5 million people from abroad descend on Saudi Arabia for this annual rite, the possibilities of what can go wrong -- lost visas, cancelled flights, overbooked hotels -- are endless. In addition, there are dirty bathrooms, heat, and throngs of pilgrims running, pushing and driving to complete an arduous circuit of rituals. If ever there was an opportunity to test one's patience, the Hajj is it. But patience, Alia Ahmed acknowledges, is not one of her strong suits. "I'm very hyper. I don't walk, I run. I don't talk, I scream," said the 5-foot Pakistani-American, who did her first Hajj in January 2005.

The Hajj is a six-day pilgrimage which this year, according to the Islamic lunar calendar, runs Jan. 8-13. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and is required of all Muslims who are physically and financially able to go.

Pilgrims exchange their worldly clothing for simple white cloth, underscoring the equality of humanity, then set off on a series of rites, including circling the Kaaba, the small square shrine located in the heart of Mecca's Great Mosque, symbolizing the centrality of God in one's life; asking for forgiveness on the Plain of Arafat; and throwing stones at pillars representing the devil.

Most pilgrims who come spend two to three weeks in Saudi Arabia, spending several days in Medina, where Muhammad is buried, and in Mecca. The Hajj has spawned a niche travel market that caters to Muslims like Alia Ahmed and her husband Hassan, the CEO of a technology company near Boston, who paid about $14,000 to have an agency secure their visas, flights and hotels and provide guides, food and other amenities. (MORE)

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OPINION: BUSH ADMINISTRATION MISUSES THE WORD 'CALIPHATE' - TOP
James Reston, Jr., NPR, 1/4/06
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5125727

Morning Edition, January 4, 2006 · Historian and commentator James Reston, Jr. takes issue with the recent use of the word caliphate. As part of our ongoing series of commentaries on the war of Iraq, Reston says U.S. officials have misrepresented the concept as a threatening stance by Arabs.

SEE ALSO:

WILL FBI COME KNOCKING ON PATRIOTS' DOOR? - TOP
Whittier Daily News, 1/4/06
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/opinions/ci_3368621

AS we headed to the public library to gather some information for my daughter's research paper, my husband clearly and adamantly relayed the message that we should not check out any books, whatsoever on the topic about which she had chosen to write.

My daughter initially looked at him with surprise and rebelliousness, but then a resigned expression appeared. "Oh yeah," she responded, "we're Muslim."

His fear was not unfounded because the topic she had chosen to research for her high school Comparative Religions class was "Jihad; The Conflict within Religion."

Unfortunately, current-day extremists and media have distorted the concept of Jihad and recreated the term to become synonymous with "holy war" and "terrorism." (MORE)

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BUSH COULD BYPASS NEW TORTURE BAN - TOP
Charlie Savage, Boston Globe, 1/4/06
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/01/04/bush_could_bypass_new_torture_ban/

WASHINGTON -- When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief.

After approving the bill last Friday, Bush issued a ''signing statement" -- an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law -- declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. This means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions, the White House and legal specialists said. (MORE)

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AMERICA'S FIRST ISLAMIC SORORITY IS MORE ABOUT GOD THAN BEING GREEK - TOP
Julia Duin, Washington Times, 1/4/06
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060104-122658-7552r.htm

There will be no beer at Gamma Gamma Chi functions, in obedience to Islamic law, nor will there be group fraternizing with the opposite sex.

"Partying is allowed in Islam, but it's how you party," said Althia Collins, an Alexandria businesswoman who has helped create it. "You can have fun with girls and it doesn't have to include men."

Thirteen women at the University of Kentucky will form the sorority's first college chapter this spring, and another group is waiting to start at the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus. A citywide chapter in the District, made up of women from several local universities, is also in the works.

Along with pledges, there will be prayer to Allah. Instead of hazing, there's hijab, the scarf some devout Muslim women wear. Covering one's hair is not mandated within Gamma Gamma Chi; in fact, four out of the five board members do not wear one.

Mrs. Collins' daughter, Imani Abdul-Haqq, came up with concept for Gamma Gamma Chi while rushing sororities at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.

As Mrs. Abdul-Haqq entered the room wearing her scarf, "They looked at her like she had three heads," Mrs. Collins said.

Plus, a lot of sororities had Christian roots or began meetings with a Christian prayer, which discomfited the daughter, who converted to Islam in 1999. Since then, she has designed a line of Islamic wear, including T-shirts for women with slogans like "Real Women Pray" and "NO, I am not oppressed."

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SUDAN NATIVE KILLED IN IRAQ DID 'GOOD DEEDS' - TOP
Martin Weil, Washington Post, 1/4/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010400003.html

Ayman Taha, a Berkeley graduate who was described as athletic, a speaker of many languages, and a friend to all who met him, had only to write his dissertation to earn his PhD, his father said.

But three years ago, Taha, a budding economist and the son of a Northern Virginia couple, Abdel-Rahman and Amal Taha, joined the Army to serve in the Special Forces. About a year ago, he was sent to Iraq.

On Friday, as Staff Sgt. Ayman Taha, 31, was preparing a cache of munitions for demolition in the town of Balad, the explosives detonated and he was killed, the Pentagon said yesterday.

It is "a very terrible thing," Abdel-Rahman Taha said. "He was a son, and a very special son."

The father added: "If you believe in God and you realize that this is God's will . . . it makes it a lot easier." (MORE)

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U.S. STRIKE ON HOME KILLS 9 IN FAMILY, IRAQI OFFICIALS SAY - TOP
Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Omar Al-Neami, New York Times, 1/4/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/international/middleeast/04iraq.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 3- American F-14 warplanes killed nine members of an Iraqi family, including women and young children, during a bombing and cannon strike on Monday night that obliterated a home near the northern industrial city of Baiji, Iraqi officials said Tuesday.

American officials said the warplanes had been pursuing insurgents who had been observed setting up a roadside bomb. They fled to a building, and the American planes struck the building and destroyed it.

The attack enraged Iraqi officials in Baiji, about 150 miles north of Baghdad, who said that the airstrike was unjustified and that it had destroyed an innocent family.

A preliminary investigation indicated the blast had killed the wife of the home's owner, his daughter-in-law and seven children and grandchildren, including one son who worked for the police, said Maj. Muthanna al-Qaisi, a spokesman for the governor of Salahaddin Province. Three more relatives were wounded, he said. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

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CAIR ACTION ALERT #482

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/5/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today urged American Muslims to register to vote at events nationwide next week marking the Eid ul-Adha holiday. CAIR's Eid voter registration drive is part of a major non-partisan Muslim political mobilization effort to be conducted during the 2006 election cycle.

The effort will include in-person and online voter registration drives, candidate forums, production of voter guides, get-out-the-vote campaigns, conducting research on and surveys of American Muslim voters, and other grass-roots activities. CAIR will also be calling on Muslim students to volunteer in political campaigns.

On January 10, Muslims in America will mark the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, or Hajj, with communal prayers and celebrations at locations around the country. The prayers, and the holiday that follows, are called Eid ul-Adha (EED-al-ODD-ha), or "festival of the sacrifice." Eid ul-Adha commemorates the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God's command. The holiday is celebrated with prayers, gifts for children, distribution of meat to the needy, and social gatherings.

"We call on Eid event organizers to set up voter registration booths after prayers and during other holiday activities," said CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor. "If all eligible American Muslims are registered to vote, and then go to the polls on election day, our community's voice will be heard and our issues will be addressed by elected officials."

Saylor noted that the entire U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of the U.S. Senate will be up for re-election in November. He said each state has its own voter registration rules and that CAIR will provide assistance to Muslim activists who wish to organize voter drives. (SEE: National Mail Voter Registration Form)

ACTION REQUESTED:

For information about holding an Eid ul-Adha voter registration drive, contact CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor at 202-488-8787 or 571-278-4658, or e-mail: csaylor@cair-net.org.

Muslims first participated in a bloc vote during the 2000 presidential election. During the 2004 elections, Muslims showed increasing organization through major get-out-the-vote drives in key states such as Ohio and Florida. CAIR also conducted exit polls to track Muslim voting trends.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/5/06

* Hadith: Pilgrims are Under God's Protection
* CAIR-FL: Call for Justice in Al-Arian Case
* CAIR: Battle Waged in Boston over New Mosque (CSM)
            - Muslims, Jews Spar in Ads Over Mosque (Globe)
* CAIR-MI: Area March Honors Civil Rights
* IL: Vote on Mosque Expansion Postponed (Daily Southtown)
* MD: Muslim Holidays Remain a School District Issue
            - IA: Muslims Gather for Celebration of Hajj (DM Reg)
* CA: Pondering Ways and Whys of Islam (Monterey Herald)
* Surveillance Court is Seeking Answers (Wash Post)
            - Levin Protests Move to Dismiss Detainee Petitions
            - NY: Judge Rejects Gov't Claims on Detainees (AP)
* Canada: The Sorrow and Pity of 'Honour' (Globe & Mail)

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HADITH OF THE DAY: PILGRIMS ARE UNDER GOD'S PROTECTION - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "This House of God (the Kaaba) is the pillar of Islam, so whoever heads to it with the intention of performing Hajj or Umrah (the lesser pilgrimage) is under God's protection. If he should die (during his trip) he is granted Paradise, and if he returns home safely, he returns with reward and gain."

Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 5, Number 3A

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COALITION TO CALL FOR JUST RESOLUTION IN AL-ARIAN CASE - TOP

WHAT: On Friday January 6, 2006, a coalition of national and regional organizations will hold a news conference and rally to call for a just resolution in the Sami Al-Arian case. The news conference will take place at the Tampa federal courthouse immediately following a "hearing of determination" on the next legal steps in that case.

WHEN: Friday, January 6, 2006, immediately after 9:30 a.m. hearing for Sami
Al-Arian
WHERE: Sam M Gibbons U.S. Courthouse, 801 North Florida, Ave, Tampa, FL 33602
CONTACT: Ahmed Bedier (CAIR-FL), 813-731-9506, E-Mail: abedier@cairfl.org

Last month a federal jury in Tampa acquitted Al-Arian and his co-defendants of 61 counts and deadlocked on the rest. Despite the lack of a single conviction, Al-Arian and co-defendant Sameeh Hamoudeh remain behind bars.

Participants include: Nihad Awad, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations; Dr. Agha Saeed, American Muslim Task Force and American Muslim Alliance; Ahmed Younis, National Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council; Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, American Muslim Society Freedom Foundation; Rev. Warren Clark, United Church of Christ; Rev. Willard Lee, New Smyrna Full Gospel Baptist Church.

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BATTLE WAGED IN BOSTON OVER NEW MOSQUE - TOP
Jane Lampman, Christian Science Monitor, 1/5/05
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0105/p13s01-lire.html

Worshipers at the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) still pack into their cramped mosque in Cambridge, Mass. The crowd spills out into the parking lot for the Friday prayer service. Their hopes of celebrating this past Ramadan in a brand-new mosque and cultural center were dashed.

The stated aim of the quarter-century-old society was to build a center for worship, education, and community outreach. Instead, the $24 million project in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood is snarled in accusation, acrimony, and lawsuits. It's a microcosm of the suspicions about Islam that have played out across America since 9/11.

A LOFTY GOAL: The Islamic Society of Boston is trying to complete a mosque that would be the largest in this region of the United States.

After the city of Boston conveyed a parcel of land to the ISB, articles appeared in the Boston Herald in 2003 linking society leaders to Islamic extremists. The ISB denied the story, responding in detail to what it saw as inflammatory distortions. "When you place a picture of Osama bin Laden next to a picture of our mosque, that is completely misrepresentative of who we are," says Salma Kazmi, assistant project director.

Boston's Fox TV station followed with broadcasts on the charges, and two local organizations - the David Project, a pro-Israel group, and Citizens for Peace and Tolerance (CPT) - have continued to publicize them and press for public hearings.

CPT says Boston could become a "potential radical Islamic center." The ISB counters that media and local groups, with help from terrorism analyst Steven Emerson, have conspired to halt construction and "incite public sentiment against area Muslims."

The society has filed a defamation suit. A local resident has also sued the city seeking invalidation of the land sale to the ISB.

The specific charges may have to be sorted out in court, but the Boston controversy fits a national pattern.

Four years after 9/11, mosques in many communities continue to encounter wariness and resistance ranging from suspicions raised at zoning hearings to vandalism and worse. On Dec. 20, two pipe bombs damaged an Islamic center in an upscale neighborhood of Cincinnati. The FBI said the powerful explosion could have been deadly had people been present.

"It's all part of the unfortunate temper of the times," says John Esposito, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington. "There is such a thing as Islamophobia."

Others, however, including the Investigative Project run by Mr. Emerson, say there is widespread extremist influence in US mosques. They point to Saudi Arabian literature rife with religious bigotry found in some mosque libraries, and to sympathy for various Islamic movements. Their concerns receive regular media play as the groups press for government investigations.

Law enforcement agencies have had US mosques under scrutiny, but some experts and officials have concluded that they do not present the danger that some mosques in Europe have posed. A 2005 internal FBI report leaked last spring said no evidence has been found of terrorist networks or "sleeper cells" in the US.

"Whether it deals with zoning councils or defamatory statements made about Muslim communities or mosques, unfortunately it's something of a growing phenomenon," says Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director of the Council for American-Islamic Relations in Washington. He calls the Boston case worrisome: "Misinformation has always been a tactic, but false media reporting to circumvent a local project is raising the level of the stakes."

SEE ALSO:

MUSLIMS, JEWS SPAR IN ADS OVER MOSQUE - TOP
Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe, 1/5/05
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/01/05/muslims_jews_spar_in_ads_over_mosque/

Controversy over the mosque being built by the Islamic Society of Boston has done serious damage to relations between Muslims and Jews in Boston, members of both groups say.

The Islamic Society and Jewish community leaders have suspended meetings to discuss their differences, and their stalemate has now been blazoned across the pages of the Jewish Advocate, the newspaper of the local Jewish community.

A full-page advertisement to be published in that paper today calls a defamation suit filed by the Islamic Society an attempt ''to stifle public discussion and dissuade others from asking legitimate and important questions."

The ad was a response to an earlier one paid for by the Islamic Society, which called on Jewish leaders to stand with them against intolerance.

''It is, at the very least, a very tense moment in the lives of both our communities," said Larry Lowenthal, executive director of the Boston chapter of the American Jewish Committee.

Today's ad, paid for by Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater New England, blames the Islamic society for escalating those tensions.

At the heart of the impasse are assertions that former and current officials of the Islamic Society of Boston had connections to terrorist groups and made anti-Jewish statements.

The Islamic Society has denied any connection to terrorism, and officials say they have repeatedly distanced themselves from anti-Jewish remarks by some of the society's leaders. The society has sued media outlets and several organizations, including a pro-Israel group, the David Project, for what the society calls a conspiracy to spread fear about Muslims and to halt construction of a mosque in Roxbury. Lawyers for the David Project and other defendants have repeatedly denied any conspiracy. (MORE)

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CAIR-MI: AREA MARCH HONORS CIVIL RIGHTS - TOP
Aileen Wingblad, Hometownlife, 1/6/05
http://hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060105/NEWS11/601050756/1028

The Huron Valley will take a historic march through downtown Milford this month in a community-wide celebration of diversity, peace, service to others and civil rights.

The first ever March on Milford's Main Street will be held Jan. 16, from Prospect Hill to Central Park in Milford, in honor of the civil rights movement and its leader, the late Martin Luther King, Jr. The symbolic procession begins at 10 a.m., snow, sleet, rain or shine. Following the march will be a short rally at Central Park.

Anyone who wants to join in the march is encouraged to do so and is asked to park at the American Legion Hall on Commerce Street or at Hector and Jimmy's restaurant, then meet at Prospect Hill by 9:30 a.m. A bus ride, provided by the GM Proving Ground, will be available for those who want to be in the procession but are physically unable to walk. There will also be a free shuttle running between Milford High School and Prospect Hill throughout the day. . .

After the Main Street march and rally at Central Park, a community fair and luncheon will be held at Milford High School from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Featured will be a variety of speakers such as Haaris Ahmad from the Council on American Islamic Relations, Kevin Saunderson, recognized as one of the founding godfathers of techno music, and Fleurette King, known for presentations on cultural diversity, social justice and more. There will also be artwork and music that express the civil rights movement and its meaning to the community. Nonprofit organizations will be on hand, as well, to showcase their groups' work and community service opportunities. (MORE)

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VOTE ON MOSQUE EXPANSION POSTPONED YET AGAIN - TOP
Bob Rakow, Daily Southtown, 1/5/05
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/yrtwn/seast/051seyt5.htm

For a third time, Bridgeview's planning commission has postponed a vote on the proposed expansion of the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview.

Commissioners on Tuesday decided to wait one month before making a decision, which will give the village time to determine if mosque-related parking problems in the surrounding area can be resolved.

Commissioners and residents near the mosque are concerned that enlarging the building will worsen the problem of mosque members parking illegally along nearby streets. Homeowners have complained about vehicles blocking their driveways and parking on grass.

New parking restrictions in the neighborhood adjacent to the mosque, 7360 W. 93rd St., limit on-street parking to one side of the street.

Deputy Police Chief Tim Callahan said that over the next two weeks, illegally parked cars will be ticketed. After that, police will begin towing such vehicles.

Callahan said towing will not begin immediately so mosque officials have adequate time to notify members of the new regulations.

Mosque officials said they support the parking enforcement.

"We have no objection to it. If people want to illegally park, they should be towed. We're going to do everything we can to work with you. We've done everything you've asked us to do," Rouhy Shalabi, an attorney for the foundation, told commissioners.

But Mohammed Sahloul, president of the mosque, said postponing the vote was unnecessary and urged the commission to vote Tuesday night. (MORE)

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MUSLIM HOLIDAYS REMAIN A SCHOOL DISTRICT ISSUE - TOP
Marc Lightdale, Northeast Reporter, 1/05/06
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=808&NewsID=687172&CategoryID=5815&on=1

As an important Muslim feast day approaches, people of the Islamic faith are renewing their plea for a place on the county's school holiday calendar.

Muhammad Jameel, a county resident who regularly attends school board meetings, says Muslim children feel left out because schools close for Christian and Jewish holidays, but not Muslim holidays.

"As a result of not having holidays recognized, the students feel alienated," Jameel said.

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, Muslims celebrate Eid Al-Adha, an important feast day associated with pilgrimages to Mecca. Another important date is Eid Al-Fitre, which signifies the end of Ramadan and occurs this year on Oct. 24.

Jameel has no children in the school system, but said he has young grandchildren who will enroll in county schools shortly. He hopes they will abide by Muslim holidays and stay at home when they become students.

He said Muslim students end up being punished because they are marked as absent if they stay home.

But school system spokeswoman Kara Calder said religious absences are considered "excused" absences in which students are permitted to make up the work.

However, excused absences do count against a student's perfect attendance rate, which is sometimes important to qualify for certain scholarships.

Calder said the school system tries to ensure that tests are not given on any religious holidays.

Meanwhile, the school board is studying the issue. A four- member committee has been set up to evaluate the calendar policy and make sure it complies with state law. The committee may issue a report later this month.

Bash Pharoan, who also attends board meetings to lobby for school adjournment on Islamic holidays, said he was encouraged that the board showed "appreciation and understanding" of the Muslim community's concerns at a Dec. 20 meeting.

SEE ALSO:

MUSLIMS GATHER FOR CELEBRATION IN HAJJ SEASON - TOP
Shirley Ragsdale, Des Moines Register, 1/5/05
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060105/LIFE05/601050366/1045

Des Moines-area Muslims next week will join believers from all over the world in celebrating Eid ul-Adha, or the "festival of the sacrifice."

The holy days coincide with the culmination of the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the five pillars of Islam and is required once in the lifetime of all Muslims who are physically and financially able to go.

The Eid observance commemorates the willingness of the prophet Abraham to bow to the will of God and sacrifice his son, according to Ibrahim Dremali, imam for the Des Moines Islamic Center, 6211 Franklin Ave.

"It is a reflection of the greatness and depth of Abraham's obedience to God," Dremali said. "When Abraham confirmed his obedience to God, the angel Gabriel brought a ram at the last moment as a substitute for the son."

The story is central to the teachings of Christianity, Judaism and Islam - three major world religions that trace their ancestry to Abraham.

In the Islamic tradition, the lesson is honored annually with communal prayers and a sacrifice of an animal or payment for an animal sacrifice, said Mohamad Khan, imam for the Muslim Community Organization mosque, 1087 25th St.

"When the rites are completed and after prayer, we give meat to the poor, friends and relatives," Khan said.

"It may be a lamb, goat, cow or camel. In the case of a cow or camel, the meat is divided into seven shares. In the case of a lamb or goat, each is considered one share."

In the spirit of cooperation and sacrifice, members of the two mosques will gather together at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday for Eid prayers at the Olmsted Center Parents Hall at Drake University. (MORE)

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PONDERING THE WAYS AND WHYS OF ISLAM - TOP
Speaker compares Muslim, Christian extremists
Kevin Howe, Monterey Herald, 1/5/05
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/13555339.htm

Would David Koresh be considered a representative Christian? Are members of the IRA Christian terrorists?

These comparisons are worth pondering when looking at how Islam is often portrayed by the news media, according to John Provost, philosophy instructor for Monterey Peninsula College's Gentrain program, who spoke Wednesday at MPC on "Entering the Muslim Mind."

News reports of the fiery deaths that culminated in the FBI siege of Koresh's Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993, and the ongoing war between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, didn't link Christianity and terrorism, he noted, but the actions of Muslim fanatics, and conflicts between Shia and Sunni Muslims, are joined in the phrase "Islamic terrorism."
That's a mistaken view, Provost said, and holding it won't help get a clear view of the problem or work toward a resolution of the conflict between Islam and western secularism.

The fact that a suicide bomber believes that his act makes him a martyr bound for heaven doesn't make that belief true, Provost said, and most Muslim scholars reject that doctrine as "a gross distortion of the Quran."

Martyrdom isn't foreign to Christianity either, he said, and suicide bombers represent "a dark side of Islam that is hard to explain."

But it is the hallmark of the fanatic to seize on a particular aspect of doctrine and apply a literal interpretation that justifies such an action, he said.

"We need to be careful how we speak about religion and politics," he said.

Islam, Judaism and Christianity all sprung out of the Middle East and all trace their lineage to Abraham, but as they have spread to other areas of the world, all three changed as they assimilated into other cultures, Provost said. (MORE)

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SURVEILLANCE COURT IS SEEKING ANSWERS - TOP
Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post, 1/5/05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010401864_pf.html

The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program, according to sources familiar with the arrangements.

Several judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said they want to hear directly from administration officials why President Bush believed he had the authority to order, without the court's permission, wiretapping of some phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Of serious concern to several judges is whether any information gleaned from intercepts by the National Security Agency was later used to gain their permission for wiretaps without the source being disclosed.

SEE ALSO:

LEVIN PROTESTS MOVE TO DISMISS DETAINEE PETITIONS - TOP
Josh White, Washington Post, 1/5/05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010401866.html

Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said yesterday that the Bush administration cannot use recent legislation he helped craft to seek the dismissal of habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, contending that the law applies only to new cases.

Justice Department lawyers filed notice in federal courts in Washington this week that the administration will attempt to have 186 pending cases dismissed beginning Monday. They plan to use the newly signed law to argue that the court no longer has jurisdiction to hear the prisoners' cases.

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JUDGE REJECTS GOV'T CLAIMS ON DETAINEES - TOP
Larry Neumeister, Associated Press, 1/4/05
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Guantanamo_Detainee_Identities.html

NEW YORK -- A federal judge, ruling on a lawsuit filed by The Associated Press, came a step closer Wednesday to forcing the government to reveal the names of hundreds of Guantanamo Bay detainees by rejecting its contention that identifying them would violate their privacy.

The some 500 prisoners at the U.S. prison camp in eastern Cuba have been held for several years without being charged or publicly identified, which has troubled human rights groups.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said in his ruling that the government had not backed up its claim that prisoners faced retaliation by terrorist groups if their identities became known.

"The Department of Defense has failed to come forward on this motion with anything but thin and conclusory speculation to support its claims of possible retaliation," Rakoff wrote.

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CANADA: THE SORROW AND THE PITY OF 'HONOUR' - TOP
Sheema Khan, Globe and Mail, 1/5/05
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20060105/COSHEEMA05/TPComment/?query=khan

In pre-Islamic Arabia, the concept of male honour was so inflated, the birth of a female child was often seen as a source of shame. Female infanticide was not uncommon. Historical records describe a man who took his daughter out to the desert to bury her. As he dug her grave, his innocent child tried to protect him from the dust by brushing away the debris from his beard. Unmoved, he buried her alive.

This heinous practice was directly addressed during the 23 year period of Koranic revelation. First, negative attitudes toward the birth of girls were strongly condemned. The Koran warned that the buried daughter would be raised one day to testify against her murderer. The Prophet Mohammed advocated for the benevolent treatment of children, putting special emphasis on fair treatment of daughters. Many who had either supported or committed female infanticide were moved to remorse. Laws were passed against infanticide. In just over two decades, this barbaric tradition was outlawed by the very tribes that had previously embraced it as part of male honour.

Muslims proudly point to the above example of the establishment of social justice through Islamic principles. Yet, we seem to forget that this example is not merely a showpiece of the past, but rather, a blueprint for addressing injustices of the present.

Last month, after attending the congregational Friday prayer in East Punjab, Nazir Ahmed bought a butcher's knife and methodically slit the throats of his 25-year-old stepdaughter and his three daughters, ages 8, 7 and 4. He suspected the stepdaughter of adultery, an act he considered tantamount to treason. In order to restore his "lost honour," he killed her, and then killed his own daughters for good measure to ensure that they wouldn't follow in her footsteps. When apprehended, he expressed satisfaction that he had preserved his "honour."

"Honour killing" is the mother of all oxymorons. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 260 cases of honour killings were recorded in 2005. This latest femicide has shocked the nation. Such murderous acts also occur in Turkey and the Middle East and have been reported within immigrant communities in Europe. Let's be clear: Such a custom is unequivocally condemned by Islam.

Muslims have reacted in different ways. A few courageous activists have campaigned actively to eradicate this evil. Others understandably seek to distance themselves from such a disgusting practice. On the other hand, conspiracy-seekers point to news accounts of honour killings as another example of anti-Muslim media bias -- showing more concern with negative PR than with the ugly reality plaguing certain Muslim cultures. To protect the image of Islam, some declare that honour killings are rooted in local culture and have nothing to do with Islam. End of story.

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/6/06

* Hadith: The Excellence of Good Deeds in Dhul-Hijjah
* CAIR-LA to Air Eid Radio Spots
            - NY: Muslims Reminisce About Hajj
* CAIR-OH: Hajj Exemplifies Equality Before God (Dispatch)
* CAIR-FL: Muslim Leaders Speak Out On Al-Arian (Tampa Trib)
            - Attorneys in Discussions to Avoid New Trial
            - National Lawyers Guild Demands Al-Arian's Release
* OR: Sloppy Work, But No Abuse in Mayfield Case (AP)
* CAIR Contacts Police About Incident at CA Sikh Temple
            - CA: Two Pig Heads Found Outside Sikh Temple (KBAK)
* IL: Israeli Agents May Testify in Secret (Chicago Trib)
* World's Oldest Quran in Tashkent (BBC News)
            - CAIR 'Explore the Quran' Campaign
* U.S. Says Bomb Hit Wrong House in Iraq (CNN)

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HADITH OF THE DAY: THE EXCELLENCE OF GOOD DEEDS IN DHUL-HIJJAH - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "There are no days on which God likes better to be worshipped than the (first) ten days of Dhul-Hijjah (the Islamic month of pilgrimage). Fasting observed on each of these days is equivalent to a year's fasting, and prayer during each of these nights is equivalent to prayer during Laylat al-Qadr (the holiest day in Ramadan)."

Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 447

The Prophet also said: "No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these days (meaning the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah)."

Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 154

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CAIR-LA TO AIR EID RADIO SPOTS - TOP
Ads explain significance of Hajj, Eid ul-Adha holiday

(ANAHEIM, CA, 1/6/2006) - The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today announced the launch of a radio ad campaign designed to educate the public about Hajj and the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Adha.

The 60-second spots will air several times a day on 980 AM KFWB, one of Southern California's largest AM radio stations, from January 8th to January 14th. The ads will be heard by some 750,000 station listeners.

The campaign, consisting of 30 radio ads, will focus on the spirit of Hajj, its connection with Abraham and the commonalities Muslims share with other religions.

CAIR-LA's ads are a continuation of similar spots aired during Ramadan in the past few years. They are just one part of CAIR's effort to educate fellow Americans about Islam and Muslims. Other campaigns include placing ads in newspapers, sending books and videotapes to libraries across the country and placing educational messages on billboards.

The following is the excerpt of one of the ads. The other two are called "Malcolm X" and "Mercy and Compassion."

CAIR-LA RADIO AD 'ABRAHAM'

"This week, Muslims in America and around the world conclude the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, 'the Hajj,' with Islam's most important holiday called Eid ul-Adha or 'festival of the sacrifice.'

"The central figure in this religious celebration is Prophet Abraham. Muslims believe that Abraham built the first House of Worship to God, known as the Kaaba. The Hajj commemorates Abraham's prayers at the Kaaba. The Quran, Islam's holy book, states: 'Who can be better in faith than one who submits his whole self to God, does good and follows the way of Abraham, the true in faith?'

"This fact offers an excellent opportunity for all of Abraham's children - Muslims, Christians and Jews - to recognize and cherish their shared religious heritage and to promote a harmonious future as people of faith."

LISTEN TO ALL THE CAIR-LA ADS: http://www.cair-california.org/?cls=News&id=43

CONTACT: CAIR-LA: Sabiha Khan, 714-776-1847 or 714-390-0334, E-Mail: socal@cair.com

SEE ALSO:

NY: AREA MUSLIMS REMINISCE ABOUT THE HAJJ - TOP
Suzan Clarke, Journal New, 1/6/05
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/NEWS03/601060317/1019/NEWS03

John J. Nashid remembers when he made the hajj.

It was in 2003, and Nashid, of New Rochelle, went to Saudi Arabia with an American delegation of about 600 people.

Nashid, who is imam of the Masjid Yusuf Shah, a mosque in Mount Vernon, had wanted to complete the journey required of all physically and financially able Muslims since he converted to the religion 41 years ago.

"The actual reality was, I don't think you could put it in words. It's more of a spiritual feeling, but it was overwhelming," the 65-year-old said this week.

Nashid and other local Muslims were remembering their pilgrimages to Mecca while an estimated 2 million others have this week flocked to that city to complete their religious obligation.

Fozia Mujahid of Stony Point fondly recalled the cherished journey that she undertook with her husband, their two young daughters and infant son.

That decision precipitated questions from Mujahid's acquaintances.

"When somebody asked me, 'Oh, you are going with the kids? It's not possible,' I said, 'We will be the guests of Allah,'" she said.

No mere rite of passage, the hajj is perhaps foremost among the five pillars of Islam.

A physically grueling pilgrimage that takes place over several days, the hajj consists of a series of detailed rituals that Muslims believe date back to the prophet Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and to the prophet Muhammad, Islam's final and revered prophet.

The journey takes pilgrims to Medina, the site of Muhammad's grave, then to Jeddah, and Mecca and nearby Mina and Arafat.

In Mecca, pilgrims walk and pray the required seven times around the Ka'aba, a stone building at the site of Mecca's Great Mosque that Muslims believe was built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. (MORE)

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CAIR-OH: MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE EXEMPLIFIES BELIEVERS' EQUALITY BEFORE GOD - TOP
Ahmad Al-Akhras, Columbus Dispatch, 1/6/06
http://www.dispatch.com/news/religion/faith-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/06/20060106-G2-02.html

[Ahmad Al-Akhras of Columbus is vice chairman of the board of directors of the national Council on American-Islamic Relations. He has made the Hajj three times. He may be contacted at: ahmad@cair-ohio.com ]

Muslims from all over the world are taking part in the largest gathering on Earth, the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. The Hajj is a religious obligation that every Muslim must fulfill, if financially and physically able, at least once in his or her lifetime.

During these historic days, white, brown and black people, rich and poor, kings and peasants, men and women, old and young will all stand before God, all brothers and sisters, at the holiest of shrines in the center of the Muslim world, where all will call upon God to accept their good deeds. These days represent the zenith of every Muslim's lifetime.

The Hajj resembles the re-enactment of the experiences of the Prophet Abraham, whose selfless sacrifice has no parallel in the history of humankind.

The Hajj symbolizes the lessons taught by the final prophet, Muhammad, who stood on the plain of Arafat, proclaimed the completion of his mission and announced the proclamation of God: "This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam, or submission to God, as your religion" (Quran 5:3).

This great annual convention of faith demonstrates the concept of equality of mankind, the most profound message of Islam, which allows no superiority on the basis of race, gender or social status. The only preference in the eyes of God is piety as stated in the Quran: "The best amongst you in the eyes of God is most righteous."

During the days of the Hajj, Muslims dress in the same simple way, observe the same regulations and say the same prayers at the same time in the same manner, for the same end. There is no royalty and aristocracy, but humility and devotion. These times confirm the commitment of Muslims, all Muslims, to God. It affirms their readiness to leave the material interest for his sake.

The Hajj is a reminder of the Grand Assembly on the Day of Judgment when people will stand equal before God waiting for their final destiny, and as the Prophet Muhammad said, "God does not judge according to your bodies and appearances, but he scans your hearts and looks into your deeds."

The Quran states these ideals really nicely (49:13): "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other)). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)."

While Malcolm X was in Mecca performing his pilgrimage, he wrote to his assistants: "They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. . . . I said, `The brotherhood! The people of all races, colors, from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God.' . . . All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the oneness of man under one God."

This is what the Hajj is all about.

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CAIR-FL: MUSLIM LEADERS GATHER TO SPEAK OUT ON AL-ARIAN - TOP
Chris Echegaray, Tampa Tribune, 1/6/05
http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBE72JW3IE.html

[NOTE CAIR AND CAIR-FL coordinated today's news conference by national Muslim leaders.]

TAMPA - For the first time, some of the nation's most prominent Muslim leaders will visit Tampa en masse to jump into the Sami Al-Arian fray.

They'll gather today at the federal courthouse downtown to express their frustration over Al-Arian's treatment and rally for a resolution.

Despite support for Al-Arian, many shied away from the routine protests surrounding the case. Now, the "demonizing and criminalization" of Muslims has united organizations, said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation in Washington. The Muslim religion is decentralized, with no top leader or worldwide council.

On Dec. 6, Al-Arian was acquitted of eight terrorism-related charges, including conspiracy to murder or maim people abroad. The jury deadlocked on nine other charges.

A status conference scheduled for today is expected to determine the next legal steps. Al-Arian could be retried.

Two other defendants, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Ballut, were acquitted of all charges. A fourth defendant, Hatim Fariz, was acquitted of 25 charges, but no verdict was issued on eight other counts. Hammoudeh will be deported as part of a sentence in an unrelated case.

Arrested in February 2003, Al-Arian got support from local Muslims, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, academics and activists who championed civil rights.

Ahmed Younis, national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and speaker at today's rally and media conference, said his organization does not get involved in cases that are pending but is interested in policy and broader issues.

"That's been our stance," Younis said. "We don't defend individuals and get into the nitty-gritty. Here, the government presented its case, and there was an acquittal by a jury of his peers. This is more of a seminal case about the Patriot Act and diplomacy issues."

Nihad Awad, who founded the Council on American-Islamic Relations 11 years ago, said Thursday the jury's verdict should be a clear statement to the government, but prejudice may be in the way of releasing Al-Arian.

"The government should just let it go," he said. "We all waited to see what would happen. He was innocent until proven guilty. The verdicts were made, and there is no reason to hold him."

TODAY'S SPEAKERS

Speakers at today's Sami Al-Arian media conference will include:

oAhmed Younis, national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington. Before joining MPAC, he interned with the Office of the Legal Counsel at the United Nations.

oMahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation. Bray, a Muslim convert, is a human rights activist in Washington and president of the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations.

oNihad Awad, executive director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, in Washington. Awad helped found CAIR in June 1994. He joined the Civil Rights Advisory Panel to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security in 1997.

ALSO SEE:

AL-ARIAN ATTORNEYS IN DISCUSSIONS TO AVOID NEW TRIAL - TOP
Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Sun-Sentinel, 1/6/06
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-bk-alarian010106,0,5541921.story

TAMPA -- Attorneys for fired University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian and a co-defendant today said there are ongoing discussions with federal prosecutors to avoid a new trial after jurors acquitted them on some terrorism-related charges deadlocked on others last month.

"We're discussing matters to resolve it," said Assistant Federal Public Defender Kevin Beck, moments after a brief hearing before U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. "And there's a benefit to both parties to resolve it."

Beck is one of several federal public defenders who represent Hatem Fariz, a Spring Hill resident accused of conspiracy to provide material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group.

Al-Arian, who is of Palestinian heritage, has been detained without bail for nearly three years. On Friday, about 100 people braved the cold, blustery winds outside the courthouse to show their support and demand that he be freed.

Speaking later a news conference outside the courthouse, Al-Arian's attorney William Moffitt also confirmed his side is involved in discussions with prosecutors on several issues, but he did not offer details.

"There are things that we can't talk about," Moffitt said when asked about possible negotiations. (MORE)

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THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD DEMANDS RELEASE ON BAIL, AND AVOIDANCE OF DEPORTATION PROCEEDINGS, FOR DR. SAMI AL-ARIAN - TOP
http://www.nlg.org/news/statements/Al_Arian2006.htm

New York. The National Lawyers Guild demands that the government immediately release Dr. Sami Al-Arian on bail and that it guarantee fair procedures in the resolution of outstanding charges against him. An outspoken supporter of the Palestinian people's right to live free from occupation, Dr. Al-Arian has been a political target of the U.S. government.

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OR: SLOPPY WORK, BUT NO PATRIOT ACT ABUSE, IN MISTAKEN FINGERPRINT ID IN MADRID TRAIN BOMBINGS, REPORT SAYS - TOP
Mark Sherman, Associated Press, 1/6/06
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=3788146

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department's internal watchdog on Friday faulted the FBI for sloppy work in mistakenly linking an Oregon lawyer and Muslim convert to the 2004 Madrid train bombings, but said the government did not misuse the anti-terror Patriot Act against him.

FBI fingerprint experts also probably were more resistant to re-examining their conclusion that Brandon Mayfield's fingerprint matched one found on a bag containing detonators like those used in the attacks in Spain because of his religion, Inspector General Glenn Fine said in the publicly released executive summary of a 273-page report that otherwise remains classified.

But he rejected assertions by Mayfield and others that Mayfield's arrest in 2004 was based on abuses of the Patriot Act. "We did not find any evidence that the FBI misused any of the provisions of the Patriot Act in conducting its investigation of Mayfield," Fine said.

Mayfield's adherence to Islam also played no role in the initial, erroneous determination that there was a fingerprint match, Fine said, noting that the experts did not know Mayfield's religion, his marriage to an Egyptian immigrant or his legal representation of other Muslims.

Mayfield was arrested in May 2004 on a material witness warrant. He was released a few weeks later after the FBI admitted it had made a mistake and that the fingerprint did not match Mayfield's.

The FBI has maintained the error was due to the low resolution of the print. Fine disagreed, saying the examiners were overconfident, despite differences between Mayfield's prints and the one on the bag.

Mayfield is suing the government, alleging that he was singled out because of his Muslim faith. (MORE)

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CAIR CONTACTS POLICE ABOUT INCIDENT AT CALIF. SIKH TEMPLE - TOP

A CAIR representative contacted the Bakersfield Police Department and was told that the perpetrators have confessed but claim they were not motivated by bias. A department official noted that there have been other incidents targeting the Sikh temple in the past and that they are trying to determine whether there is a connection to this incident.

The CAIR official explained that American Sikhs have been targeted in the past because they are often perceived to be Muslim because of their religiously-mandated turbans and beards.

CAIR's California office is working with the local Sikh community and will monitor the case for future developments.

CONTACT: Hussam Ayloush, CAIR-LA, 714-776-1847, E-Mail: socal@cair.com

SEE ALSO:

Two Pig Heads found outside Sikh Temple in Bakersfield - TOP
Bill Curtis, KBAK-TV, 12/26/05
http://www.bakersfieldonline.us/news/read/2/59137

Members of the Sikh Religion feel they have been the target of hate crimes after finding two pig heads on the temple property. The Sikh Temple has been on the 8100 Block of Stine road for three years and already has over five-hundred members. Gurujoda S. Khalsa, an attorney, Temple Member and Commissioner on the Kern County Human Relations Commission explains, "We believe that all people are equal and creations of that one creator. So no matter what your spiritual path whether you're a Muslin, Christian, person of Jewish faith, a Sikh, Buddhist. We're all following the same road towards divinity."

That's why the members of the Guru Angad Barbar Temple are saddened to know someone would disrespect their place of worship. Thursday afternoon, members found two pig heads on the temple property. One member says, "They make around, they throw head over here and other head over there"

There are still track marks where the car drove up on the side of the temple and threw the pig heads out. Khalsa explains, "We are vegetarians, we have a simple diet that is a vegetarian diet so to have meat and animals parts thrown on the property is really not appropriate."

Two weeks before, a group of people egged the temple's main entrance. A priest was inside at the time and saw a group of people run off.

Temple members know they don't deserve this kind of treatment, "We have obviously been here in this community a long time, we're an integral part of this community and I think to have this happen at our place of worship is disappointing for us," says Khalsa. . .

Bakersfield Police Detective George Gomez tells 29 Eyewitness News, they are investigating this incident, but have no specific information to lead them to believe this is a hate crime.

Police do ask if you have any information to call the Silent Witness Hotline at 322-4040.

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IL: HAMAS-CASE SECRECY URGED - TOP
Michael Higgins, Chicago Tribune, 1/6/06
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0601060251jan06,1,5347424.story

In an unusual move that raises constitutional questions, federal prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to bar the public from a key hearing in a terrorism case when Israeli security agents are called to testify.

The agents also should be permitted to testify using their "official aliases"--not their real names--and appear in "light disguise," such as wearing sunglasses, Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph Ferguson argued.

Agents of the Israel Security Agency "are prized targets for terrorist organizations sympathetic to the Palestinian cause," Ferguson wrote in a court filing. "Disclosure of the agents' identities would place them and their families at serious risk. ... At least one known Internet site offers reward money for information related to the true identities of ISA agents."

Prosecutors are seeking the restrictions at a hearing, set to begin March 6, to determine whether Israeli agents used torture to obtain incriminating statements from Muhammad Salah of Bridgeview in 1993. The hearing would mark the first time that agents of the Israel Security Agency have testified in a legal proceeding in another country, Ferguson wrote. (MORE)

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TASHKENT'S HIDDEN ISLAMIC RELIC - TOP
Ian MacWilliam, BBC News, 1/6/05
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4581684.stm

The Othman Koran is the oldest in the world

In an obscure corner of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, lies one of Islam's most sacred relics - the world's oldest Koran.

It is a reminder of the role which Central Asia once played in Muslim history - a fact often overlooked after seven decades of Soviet-imposed atheism.

The library where the Koran is kept is in an area of old Tashkent known as Hast-Imam, well off the beaten track for most visitors to this city.

It lies down a series of dusty lanes, near the grave of a 10th century scholar, Kaffel-Shashi.

The Mufti of Uzbekistan, the country's highest religious leader, has his offices there, in the courtyard of an old madrassa.

Just across the road stands a non-descript mosque and the equally unremarkable Mui-Mubarak, or "Sacred Hair", madrassa, which houses a rarely seen hair of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, as well as one of Central Asia's most important collections of historical works.

"There are approximately 20,000 books and 3000 manuscripts in this library," said Ikram Akhmedov, a young assistant in the mufti's office.

"They deal with mediaeval history, astronomy and medicine. There are also commentaries on the Koran and books of law. But the oldest book here is the Othman Koran from the seventh century." (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR 'EXPLORE THE QURAN' CAMPAIGN - TOP
http://www.cair-net.org/explorethequran/

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U.S. SAYS BOMB HIT WRONG HOUSE IN IRAQ - TOP
Strike aimed at insurgents killed 6 family members
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/05/iraq.target/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A bomb that killed six civilians Monday near Baiji, Iraq, missed its target by 65 feet (20 meters) and hit the wrong home, military officials said.

The bomb, which was dropped by a U.S. fighter plane, was aimed at a building that three men entered after planting a roadside bomb as an unmanned surveillance plane watched from overhead, the officials said.

A U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter jet strafed the building before the bomb was dropped, according to a U.S. military statement released after the nighttime attack.

The bomb had "successful effects against the insurgents," the statement added.

The strike flattened a family's home, killing six of the family members and wounding three others, said a spokesman for the Salaheddin provincial governor's office. A father and daughter survived with only minor injuries, he said.

The Baiji strike was one of 58 air missions the U.S. military carried out Monday over Iraq.

U.S. military officials said they are investigating why the wrong building was hit. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/8/06

* Verse: Consider the Human Soul
* CAIR-FL: Video of Al-Arian News Conference
            - CAIR: Al-Arian May Avoid New Trial (Sun-Sent)
* Muslim Presence Growing in Mississippi (Clarion-Ledger)
* For Muslim New Yorkers, Final Rites That Fit (NY Times)
* NJ: For Muslim Women, Marriage's Delicate Dance (NY Times)
* CAIR: U.S. Muslims Prepare to Observe Eid (Houston Chron)
* NJ: Muslim, Jewish Girls Find Shelter & Peace (AP)
* So an Imam Walks Into a Mosque . . . (NY times)
* MA: Religious Tension Grows Over New Mosque (Reuters)
* The Bush Administration vs. Salim Hamdan (NY Times)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: CONSIDER THE HUMAN SOUL - TOP

"Consider the human soul, and the proportion and order given to it, and how it is imbued with moral failings as well as with consciousness of God. Successful indeed will be the one who causes this (soul) to grow in purity, and truly lost is he who buries it (in darkness)."

The Holy Quran, 91:7-10

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CAIR-FL: VIDEO OF AL-ARIAN NEWS CONFERENCE - TOP

On Friday, January 6, the Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations coordinated a news conference by national Muslim and interfaith leaders calling for a just resolution in the Sami Al-Arian case.

To view local media coverage of the news conference, go to: http://www.cairfl.org/video/060106_wfla_arian_newsconf1.wmv

SEE ALSO:

CAIR: AL-ARIAN MAY AVOID NEW TERROR TRIAL - TOP
Pedro Ruz GutieRrez, Sun-Sentinel, 1/7/06
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-alarian0706jan07,0,547457.story

TAMPA -- Attorneys for Sami Al-Arian and a co-defendant on Friday revealed they are negotiating with federal prosecutors to avert a new trial after jurors last month deadlocked on some terrorism-related counts while acquitting them of most charges.

"We're discussing matters to resolve it," said Assistant Federal Public Defender Kevin Beck, moments after representing defendant Hatem Fariz, 32, in federal court. "There is certainly a benefit to both parties to avoid the costs, the risks of another trial."

In court, a prosecutor said the government had not reached a final decision on whether to retry the men. . .

Outside the courthouse, dozens of supporters as well as Muslim and Christian activists braved the cold, blustery winds to demand that he be freed. They waved an American flag on a pole and held an 8-foot effigy of a white-draped Lady Justice and chanted, "What do we want? Justice. And when do we want it? Now."

Like other Muslim-American leaders who flew in from around the country to speak on Al-Arian's behalf, Nihad Awad said Al-Arian was the victim of a politically charged environment three years ago that resulted in the persecution of Muslims.

"Is this about what we did or what we are?" said Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations civil rights group in Washington. "Most of these cases are done for political reasons. . . . I think the government is abusing the system." (MORE)

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MUSLIM PRESENCE IN MISS. GROWING - TOP
Jean Gordon, Clarion-Ledger, 1/7/06
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/FEAT04/601070321/1263

Everyday around noon, Shaheed Muhammad, a 55-year-old African American, finds a private area inside the Jackson-Evers International Airport, lays a small rug on the floor and begins to pray.

At the same time, Turkish-born Sabri Agachan, 27, performs an identical ritual inside his office at Jackson State University.

Muhammad and Agachan represent the metro area's diverse and growing Muslim community, which some observers estimate to include between 2,000 to 4,000 people.
"It verifies Islam to me," said Muhammad, a skycap at the airport for 17 years. "There are people from every corner of the globe."

The region's Muslims will gather early next week to celebrate Eid ul-Adha, the Muslim holy day commemorating the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Drawing some 800 people last year, Jackson's Eid celebration reveals the global nature of Islam. Local believers from countries including Pakistan, India, Morocco, Egypt, Senegal, the Sudan, Turkey and the United States transcend cultural differences through their common beliefs.

"God says in the Quran that he made us different tribes and nations so that we may know one another," Muhammad said. "When I attend the mosque, it's a reminder of the universal oneness of mankind."

More mosques

The two largest mosques in the metro area are Masjid Muhammad in north Jackson and Masjid Omar in the southern part of the city.

Founded in the early 1970s, Masjid Muhammad got its start when Islam began attracting more African Americans.

Once located in inner-city Jackson, the mosque first affiliated with the Nation of Islam, a movement that combines Islam with black nationalism.

"The history of the African-American Islamic movement here began as more of a social movement," said Okolo Rashid, co-founder and executive director of the International Museum of Muslim Cultures in Jackson.

But after the movement's leader Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, Masjid Muhammad's leadership voted to join the American Muslim Mission, which teaches orthodox Islam.

The mosque's membership has historically been African American, but it started a formal push in 2000 to attract members from the faith's international community.

"It was always our desire as we learn more about the religion to make it more reflective of the diversity of Islam," Rashid said. "We openly established a policy to be inclusive."

It now includes members from close to 10 different cultural groups including Arabs, American blacks and whites and people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Sudan. (MORE)

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FOR MUSLIM NEW YORKERS, FINAL RITES THAT FIT - TOP
ALIA MALEK, New York Times, 1/8/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/nyregion/thecity/08burial.html

ERHAN YILDIRIM is singing in Arabic. His voice barely rises above the sound of the water that falls onto ceramic tiles after it spills over the lifeless body in front of him.

In mournful tones, Mr. Yildirim celebrates God - "He is great, and there is no God but God" - as he prepares yet another immigrant for a proper Muslim burial, one that will bring the man closer to his homeland than he has been in years.

On this late November day, Mr. Yildirim, who is trained to be an imam, then performs the man's last ablution. It is the same ritual that every Muslim performs in life before prayer: washing the feet, hands and face. Mr. Yildirim then washes the entire body with olive oil soap before fetching a pure cotton shroud and wrapping it around the naked body like a cocoon.

"This is his clothes," Mr. Yildirim said. "His final clothes."

In Islam, the dead are traditionally buried with neither pomp nor casket, placed into the ground wearing only a white shroud. This practice is in keeping with the belief that in death, all are equal despite any possessions or wealth accumulated in life. The practice is also a parable for the living.

"You came without anything," Mr. Yildirim said, "you going back without anything."

The dead man, a 51-year-old immigrant from Serbia and Montenegro, was like many of the imam's charges. He lived and worked in New York for years; his children are American-born. But like many of his fellow 600,000 Muslims in New York City, as estimated by the Middle East Institute of Columbia University, he wanted an Islamic way of death, even if he was far distant from the heart of the Muslim world.

Mr. Yildirim was able to fulfill the man's wish through a company he founded called Islamic Funeral Services. Located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the venture is one of the first incorporated funeral homes and funeral service providers in the city and the state that cater exclusively to Muslims. New York's Muslims cannot conduct all the rituals of their religion locally; for instance, many Muslims make pilgrimages to Mecca that conclude with Id al-Adha, the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice, which begins Tuesday. But no such limits apply to the kind of funeral rites that Mr. Yildirim conducts.

"It's something less that we are missing," said Imam Kemal Bektesevic, of the Ali Pasha Mosque in Astoria, Queens, speaking of New York's Muslims. (MORE)

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NJ: FOR MUSLIM WOMEN, MARRIAGE'S DELICATE DANCE - TOP
CANDY J. COOPER, New York Times, 1/8/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/08njMUSLIM.html

IT is not so much the eyes of God that Jan Zacharia, a Syrian-America, fears in raising her daughter Valentina, it is the unforgiving gaze of her tightly knit Muslim community. She knows the slightest falsehood could damage her daughter's marriage prospects as easily as any truth.

Once rumors spread -- about a young woman's immodest dress, flirtations with men or even late hours with friends -- they can wash through the community "like a flood all over New Jersey," Mrs. Zacharia said, leaving the family dishonored and cast out, their daughter never to marry.

For her part, Valentina Zacharia, 19, who was born in Syria and moved to the United States at age 2, feels split in half. The two worlds, defined at once by American values and her parents' protective culture, shift within her like tectonic plates.

"It's kind of sad, but if I make the slightest mistake, I'm ruined for life," said Ms. Zacharia, a sophomore at Passaic County Community College who lives in Prospect Park with her parents and a younger brother and sister. "I'm like a piece of glass that can't even get a smudge."

When the thousands of Muslim women who live in New Jersey reach their late teenage years and early 20's -- and about 40 percent of Muslims in America are under the age of 29, according to a 2002 Cornell University study -- a figurative siren sounds, and it is time to find a husband. Whether it is a cousin to whom the young woman has been matched since birth or a non-Muslim American they have chosen, the women are reinventing courtship and marriage and provoking a revolution.

In New Jersey's Muslim immigrant population -- from Arab-Americans in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson Counties to American-born sons and daughters of affluent South Asians in the middle and western parts of the state -- the dramas unfolding among this group of about 400,000 people, the fourth-largest concentration of Muslims in the United States, offer a classic tale about reconciling the old world with the new.

One Islamic feminist from Somerset County who graduated from Drew University last year ticks off her partner preferences as if ordering lunch: I'll have an entrepreneur with confidence and maturity.

A Georgetown University graduate from Basking Ridge recounts her awkward arranged dates as if they are "Saturday Night Live" skits. A Rutgers freshman from Bedminster enjoys wearing the hijab, or head scarf, while speeding to punk-rock concerts with male friends.

Muslim-style marriage today reveals the complexities of the modern age for a generation growing up in the shadow of the World Trade Center attacks and the United States war on terror. Through it all, the next generation of young adults is embracing Islam.
(MORE)

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U.S. MUSLIMS PREPARE TO OBSERVE EID-UL-ADHA - TOP
RICHARD VARA, Houston Chronicle, 1/6/06
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/3570956.html

MOLLY Abbas will celebrate Eid-ul-Adha Tuesday by sending money to her sister in Baghdad for the ritual slaughter of a goat or a lamb. The meat is destined for the poor in the Iraqi capital.

"I will send the money to my sister, and she knows people around there who are homeless and living in the street, living under bridges," said Abbas, a native of Iraq.

Her contribution to the poor is part of the Feast of Sacrifice, the Islamic celebration marking the willingness of the patriarch Abraham to sacrifice his son at God's command.

According to Scriptural accounts, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, but an angel stopped him before he acted, directing him instead to offer a ram. Devout Muslims commemorate his obedience by the ritual sacrifice of lambs, goats, cows or camels.

Eid-ul-Adha is also a high point of hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that begins Sunday. Muslims believe the site of Abraham's sacrifice is near Mecca, Islam's holiest city and birthplace of Muhammad.

Tuesday will be marked worldwide with morning prayer services, the ritual sacrifices and festivities including family gatherings and gifts.

This is the first year Abbas will send money for a sacrifice overseas rather than purchase an animal locally. Her decision is part of a national trend among Muslims, said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"That kind of charitable giving is growing in popularity," Hooper said by phone from his Washington, D.C., office. "If you live in an urban area, it is not always easy to obtain a goat or a lamb to sacrifice. I have seen it as a growing phenomenon over the years." (MORE)

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NJ: MUSLIM, JEWISH GIRLS FIND SHELTER & PEACE - TOP
Associated Press, 1/7/06
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/nation/13571102.htm

UNION CITY, N.J. - What started out as a modest effort to raise money for a homeless shelter has blossomed into a triumph of understanding and goodwill that managed to overcome centuries of conflict between two of the world's most antagonistic groups.

Ten Muslim and 10 Jewish teenage girls, meeting since May, have gotten much more than they bargained for: a genuine understanding of each other's culture and religion, and the realization of things they never knew about themselves.
"Project Provide A Home" was launched by the Palisades Emergency Residence Corp., a 40-bed shelter for single, homeless people. It planned to open a shelter next door for families, and was looking for help.

The shelter hosted a group of Jewish volunteers one week, and another group of Muslims shortly afterward. The symbolism - and the possibilities - were not lost on the executive director, Matt Kamin, a Jew, and Amal Abdallah, a Palestinian who helps line up volunteers to serve meals.

"We were trying to figure out why our communities didn't get along," said Kamin. "We started talking and said, 'Why can't we get these two groups together and do something?' It was that easy."

The word went out to local synagogues, mosques and religious schools, seeking young girls to work on the family shelter. The first meeting was somewhat awkward, with all the Jewish girls sitting on one side, and all the Muslim girls sitting on the other, each side eyeing the other curiously, if not warily.

"One of the girls asked me, 'How do you pray?' and I was so surprised at the question," said Aviva Bannerman, a 17-year-old from Montclair. "I thought everybody knew that Jews pray in groups and we sing our songs aloud, but no one had ever taught her that. I asked her how she prayed, and they use a prayer mat and its more subdued and quiet. I go to a Jewish school and I'm surrounded by Jews 24/7, so I was delighted to be able to share about my religion and share in theirs." (MORE)

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SO AN IMAM WALKS INTO A MOSQUE . . . - TOP
DAVE KEHR, New York Times, 1/8/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/movies/08kehr.html

FRESHLY returned from the Middle East, where his new film, "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" had its world premiere as part of the second annual Dubai International Film Festival, Albert Brooks sounded exhausted, elated and relieved.

"I had the head of a studio telling me that this would cause a fatwa," Albert Brooks says.

"This had never happened before," said Mr. Brooks from Los Angeles. "There's been no other American comedy that's made light of anything after 9/11. Nobody knows what will happen. The audience could stand up and walk out, they could boo, who knows? I don't have any road map here. I was told that, 'We think it will be O.K.,' but I was also told that people don't mince words here. If you hit the nail wrongly, it's like your thumb: you know it right away." . . .

His character in "Looking for Comedy" could be a direct extension of that earlier Albert: his career again in the doldrums (the opening scene finds him being rejected by the director Penny Marshall for a remake of "Harvey"), he is selected by the retired Tennessee senator Fred Thompson (also playing himself) for a high-level government mission: Albert is to travel to India and Pakistan, where he's to research and write a 500-page report on what, if anything, tickles the Subcontinental funny bone. There's no money in it, Senator Thompson tells Albert, but there is the possibility of a big, shiny medal. (MORE)

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RELIGIOUS TENSION GROWS IN BOSTON OVER NEW MOSQUE - TOP
Jason Szep, Reuters, 1/6/08
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-01-06T203705Z_01_WRI674185_RTRUKOC_0_US-RELIGION-MOSQUE-BOSTON.xml

BOSTON - It was to be the biggest mosque in the northeastern United States, a center of worship for Boston's 70,000 Muslims and a milestone for America's Muslim community.

Instead, construction of the $24.5 million center has been stalled by lawsuits and a deepening row between Jewish and Muslim leaders that reflects broader suspicions facing American Muslims after the September 11 attacks.

Jewish leaders charge that former and current officials in the Islamic Society of Boston, which is building the 70,000-sq- ft (6,500-square-meter) mosque, are linked to terrorist groups and have failed to distance themselves from radical Islam and anti-Jewish statements.

The Islamic Society denies any connection to terrorism and considers itself victimized by a campaign to taint the mosque with accusations of ties to radical Islamic teachings. The society says it has repeatedly distanced itself from anti-Jewish statements by some of its leaders. . .

American Muslims are watching the case closely.

"Unfortunately, I see the Boston case as indicative of a growing trend in anti-Muslim rhetoric that has grown after 9/11," said Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest American Muslim civil rights group.

"It has especially impacted local Muslim communities in terms of building their mosques," he said. "High concentrations of Muslim populations are being given a hard time for just trying to practice their faith."

Demographers estimate there are five to six million Muslims in the United States. (MORE)

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THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION VS. SALIM HAMDAN - TOP
Jonathan Mahler, New York times, 1/8/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/magazine/08yemen.html

Jonathan Mahler, a contributing writer for the magazine, is working on a book about the Hamdan case, to be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Today, Salim Hamdan lives in a 6-by-9-foot cell in Guantanamo, awaiting trial by a special military tribunal established by presidential order in the aftermath of 9/11. If everything goes according to the government's plans, the Bush administration will prosecute Hamdan for violating the laws of war by conspiring to commit acts of terrorism against the United States. The government has revealed little about its case against Hamdan -- my portrait is drawn principally from his lawyers, family members and al-Bahri -- but it has charged him with serious offenses, including transporting weapons and serving as a bodyguard to bin Laden. If convicted on all charges, Hamdan could receive a life sentence. . .

This spring, the detainee's lawyers will have the chance to make their case to the Supreme Court, when it hears Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The name alone guarantees that it will be one of the most closely watched arguments of the year, and the eventual ruling will have far-reaching implications not just for Hamdan and the rest of the Guantanamo detainees, but also for presidential war powers and quite possibly for the future of democracy in the Middle East. If the war on terror is, at its heart, a battle to show the Islamic world that there is an alternative to oppressive theocracies and autocratic dictators, nothing is more important than how the United States government dispenses justice to detainees like Salim Hamdan. Until now, America's wartime practice has been to hold onto captured combatants until the end of hostilities, when there is no longer a threat of them returning to the battlefield. In this case, though, the battlefield is unmapped and the hostilities could continue for decades. For the moment, the government has broadly classified nearly all of the more than 500 detainees at Guantanamo as enemy combatants, but eventually it's going to have to start sorting them out. This will entail answering some difficult questions. Are all Muslim men who answered the call to jihad equally guilty? Which detainees represent a threat to the United States? Who is worth prosecuting, and how? (MORE

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/9/06

* Verse: 'Today I Have Perfected Your Religion'
* CAIR-Cleveland: Decency Carried the Day
* CAIR-FL Launches Eid Voter Registration Drive
* AL: Muslims Mark Hajj By Feeding Homeless (Huntsville Times)
            - DC: Muslim Volunteers Sought to Feed Homeless Women
* AZ: Muslims to Celebrate End of Hajj (AZ Rep)
            - CA: Local Muslims Celebrate Their Faith (Tracy Press)
            - FL: Muslims Observe Eid to Honor Abraham (Sun-Sent)
            - GA: Muslims Set to Celebrate Eid (Atlanta Journal)
            - CA: More Local Muslims Going on Hajj (Times-Star)
            - CT: Holiday Gives Muslims Time for Reflection (CT Post)
* U.S. Blamed for Attack that Killed Pakistanis (NYT)
* Australia: Anti-Muslim Posters Removed (AAP)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: TODAY I HAVE PERFECTED YOUR RELIGION - TOP

"Today I have perfected your religion for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me shall be your way of life."

The Holy Quran, 5:3

NOTE: According to all available traditions, the verse above was revealed at Mount Arafat in the afternoon of Friday, the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah, shortly before the death of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Standing in prayer at Arafat on the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah, is considered the most important part of Hajj.

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CAIR-CLEVELAND: DECENCY CARRIED THE DAY - TOP
Akron Beacon Journal, 1/9/06
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/editorial/13572029.htm

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is fortunate to have the Rev. Aaron Wheeler as chairman. His recent response to a potentially volatile situation at Kent State University should be commended.

After an offensive Daily Kent Stater column mocking African-Americans was shown to Wheeler by his son, who attends Kent State, the chairman took immediate action. He set aside his schedule and arranged a series of meetings on campus. The university is a better place because of this.

In his Dec. 10 story on the matter ("Civil rights official responds to KSU student column"), Beacon Journal reporter Stephen Dyer implied that, at Wheeler's pay grade, he had better things to do than spending the day at Kent. Having been in the meetings, I can say this assertion is off the mark.

In fact, Wheeler was an adept listener and facilitator who brought parties together for needed cross-racial dialogue. The meetings, while heated at times, were in no way hostile, with several black student leaders acknowledging the writer's point while decrying his methods.

Editorial wisdom, common civility and respect for diversity were the issues of the day, not freedom of speech.

Wheeler personified the dignity of past civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, who refused to wait for "the right time and place" to demand decency. His timely action sent a clear message: Black students deserve better, and no university can tolerate behavior that creates a hostile environment.

Taxpayers got their money's worth from this dedicated public servant. Wheeler's work at Kent State was invaluable.

Julia A. Shearson
Director, Cleveland Office
Council on American-Islamic Relations

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CAIR-FL LAUNCHES EID VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE - TOP
Florida Muslims urged to register at Eid al-Adha events

(MIAMI, FL, 1/9/06) - The Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) will hold a voter registration drive at events marking the Eid ul-Adha holiday that begins on Tuesday. CAIR-FL's Eid voter registration drive is part of CAIR's non-partisan Muslim political mobilization effort to be conducted during the 2006 election cycle.

WHAT: Eid Voter Registration Drive
WHEN: Tuesday, January 10, 2006, 8:30 A.M.
WHERE: Miami Gardens Mosque, 4305 NW 183rd Street, Miami, FL
CONTACT: CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-272-0490, 954-298-8214; E-Mail: altaf@cair-florida.org; CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor at 202-488-8787 or 571-278-4658, or E-Mail: csaylor@cair-net.org. (Contact Corey Saylor to obtain a step-by-step guide to holding a voter registration drive.)

"Our community's issues will only be addressed if all eligible Muslims first register to vote, and then go to the polls on election day," said CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali.

CAIR Muslim political mobilization effort will include in-person and online voter registration drives, candidate forums, production of voter guides, get-out-the-vote campaigns, conducting research on and surveys of American Muslim voters, and other grass-roots activities. CAIR will also be calling on Muslim students to volunteer in political campaigns.

On January 10, Muslims in America will mark the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, or Hajj, with communal prayers and celebrations at locations around the country. The prayers, and the holiday that follows, are called Eid ul-Adha (EED-al-ODD-ha), or "festival of the sacrifice." Eid ul-Adha commemorates the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God's command. The holiday is celebrated with prayers, gifts for children, distribution of meat to the needy, and social gatherings.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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AL: LOCAL MUSLIMS TO MARK HAJJ BY FEEDING HOMELESS - TOP
First Stop welcomes plan to provide meal for 150
PATRICIA C. McCARTER, Huntsville Times, 1/9/06
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1136801767317881.xml&coll=1

On Tuesday, while Muslims on the other side of the planet are sacrificing sheep to symbolize Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, some Muslims in Huntsville will be offering a different sacrifice.

To celebrate Eid ul-Adha - the final day of the hajj, or annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia - Muslims are expected to tend to the poor and hungry. The meat of the sacrificed sheep in Mecca is given to needy families.

Here, Muslims will sacrifice their time and resources to feed more than 150 of Huntsville's homeless. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

DC: MUSLIM VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT TO FEED HOMELESS WOMEN - TOP

On The Second Monday of every Month, the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center Outreach Committee will sponsor "Muslim Monday" at the Dinner Program for Homeless Women in Washington, D.C.

WHEN: Monday, January 9 (And every second Monday of the month.), 4-7:30 P.M.
WHERE: The Dinner Program for Homeless Women, First Congregational Church, 945 G St. NW (Corner of G and 10th), Washington, D.C. (Parking is available behind the Church)
CONTACT: Ali at 571-345-6577

This is an ongoing program, so if you are unable to join us this month, please come another time.

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AZ: VALLEY'S MUSLIMS TO CELEBRATE END OF HAJJ - TOP
Angela Cara Pancrazio, Arizona Republic, 1/9/06
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0109muslim09.html

Like Muslims worldwide, Valley Muslims will soon mark the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, with a communal prayer and celebration.

Thousands of Muslims will gather for the Eid ul-Adha, or the "Festival of Sacrifice," on Tuesday morning at Phoenix Civic Plaza.

Muslims who are in good health and able to afford the pilgrimage are required to make the spiritual journey to Mecca, the birthplace of Islam in Saudi Arabia at least once in their lifetime.

Eid ul-Adha, pronounced EED-al-ODD-ha, commemorates the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God's command in the Old Testament.

As written in Scripture, God substituted a ram or sheep for the boy. So, throughout the world, millions of sheep and goats are sacrificed, and the meat is usually given as a gift to those in need.

Eid ul-Adha also is a time of giving and sharing among family and friends, said Arif Kazmi, one of the festival's organizers. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CA: LOCAL MUSLIMS CELEBRATE THEIR FAITH - TOP
Phil Hayworth, Tracy Press, 1/9/06
http://www.tracypress.com/local/2006-01-09-local.php

Tracy's Muslim community will celebrate the end of the hajj, a sacred pilgrimage that draws devout Muslims to Mecca from around the world, during an event Tuesday called the Eid ul-Adha, or "festival of the sacrifice."

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is required once in the lifetime of all Muslims who are physically and financially able to go.

The Eid observance commemorates Abraham's obedience to God, shown by the sacrifice of his son, which is central to the teachings of Christianity, Judaism and Islam - three major world religions that trace their ancestry to Abraham. (MORE)

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FL: MUSLIMS OBSERVE EID UL-ADHA TO HONOR ABRAHAM, SACRIFICE - TOP
James D. Davis, Sun-Sentinel, 1/9/06
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-liadhajan09,0,2889315.story

South Florida Muslims join their 1.25 billion fellow believers worldwide in the Eid ul-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, one of the two most important days on the Islamic calendar.

The festival commemorates a story in which Abraham offered his son as a sacrifice on God's command. At the last moment God stopped him and provided a sheep instead. The Bible says the son was Isaac, but the Hadith, the collection of the prophet Muhammad's words and deeds, says it was Ishmael, considered to be the ancestor of all Arabs. (MORE)

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GA: MUSLIMS SET TO CELEBRATE EID-AL-ADHA - TOP
BILL OSINSKI, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/0109muslim.html

Gwinnett Muslims will gather by the thousands Tuesday to celebrate the major Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, a feast of sacrifice marking the end of the Hajj, or the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

About 7,000 people are expected to come to a morning prayer service beginning at about 8:30 Tuesday at a hall at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds in Lawrenceville. At about the same time, 2,000 Muslims are expected for a service at the North Atlanta Trade Center in Norcross. (MORE)

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CA: MORE LOCAL MUSLIMS PARTICIPATING IN HAJJ - TOP
Pilgrimage to Mecca coincides with winter vacations this year
Jonathan Jones, Alamed Times-Star, 1/9/06
http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_3384935

Local Islamic leaders say that this year more Bay Area Muslims, especially younger ones, are visiting Saudi Arabia this week for the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, because the holy week coincided with winter vacations. (MORE)

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CT: HOLIDAY GIVES MUSLIMS TIME FOR REFLECTION - TOP
JOEL C. THOMPSON, Connecticut Post, 1/9/06
http://www.connpost.com/search/ci_3384668

STRATFORD - Muslims from the area Tuesday will observe Idul-Adha, a major Islamic holiday involving the concept of sacrifice.

Imam Abdul Raheem-Ali of the Islamic Community Center in Bridgeport said members of his mosque will gather with other Muslims from around the region to celebrate Idul-Adha at Korner Kicks Sports Center, 1791 Stratford Ave.

The celebration, including prayers and a children's program, will begin at 7:30 a.m. and end at noon. (MORE)

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ATTACK KILLS 8 VILLAGERS IN PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREA - TOP
Mohammed Khan, New York Times, 1/9/06
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/08/news/pakistan.php

PESHAWAR, Pakistan An attack on a residential compound in Pakistan's northern tribal region near the Afghan border has killed eight people and wounded nine, according to the Pakistani military.

Residents said a U.S. helicopter had fired a missile at the compound, but the U.S. military said it had no knowledge of the incident. (MORE)

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AUSTRALIA: ANTI MUSLIM POSTERS STRIPPED FROM TRAM STOPS - TOP
Australian Associated Press, 1/9/06

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17776331%255E29277,00.html

POSTER MELBOURNE, Jan 9 AAP - Posters warning Muslims and ethnic minorities against using public transport have been stripped from Melbourne tram stops.

The posters were erected across city tram stops as part of a public art campaign and parody Metlink's fare evasion campaign.

They were removed earlier today amid widespread condemnation.

One of the posters, in Victoria Parade, read: "Attention passengers in the interests of personal safety non-Anglo commuters are advised to avoid using public transport."

Another poster carried a similar message and was superimposed over a photograph of accused terror suspect Joseph Terrence Thomas, warning Muslim passengers they may be "subject to suspicion."

The posters were produced through the Urban Arts Collective by controversial artist Azlan McLennan, who first attracted criticism with his critique of Israel, which was removed from a Flinders Street window in 2004.

The posters were condemned by Yarra Trams, the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.

"These ads are offensive, they are stupid and they should be pulled down and the government's making it very clear today that we want these ads pulled down," acting Transport Minister Bob Cameron told Channel Nine.

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/10/06

* Hadith: Good Deeds Alone Are Not Enough
* CAIR-AZ Holds Eid Voter Registration Drive (AZ Rep)
            - CAIR-CA Holds Eid Voter Drive (Press-Enterprise)
            - CAIR-FL Voter Dive Begins Today (Miami Herald)
* CAIR-MI: County to Accommodate Swimmers' Religious Attire
            - CAIR: NJ Muslim Girls Basketball Team Stays True to Faith
* CAIR-CT: Family Felt 'Profiled' By Border Search (The Day)
            - Muslim Bashing Seemingly in Vogue (Post-Dispatch)
* NY: Muslim Parents Protest Testing on Holy Day (AP)
            - MI: Detroiters Reenact Hajj Rituals (Free Press)
            - MI: New Muslim Studies Program Underway at MSU

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HADITH OF THE DAY: GOOD DEEDS ALONE ARE NOT ENOUGH - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The good deeds of any person will not make him enter Paradise (i.e., no one enters paradise only through his good deeds)." The Prophet's companions asked: "Not even you?" The Prophet replied: "Not even myself, unless God bestows his favor and mercy on me. So be moderate in your religious deeds and do what is within your ability. None of you should wish for death, for if he is a doer of good, he may increase his good deeds, and if he is an evil doer, he may repent to God."

Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Hadith 577

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CAIR-AZ: VALLEY MUSLIMS CELEBRATE END OF HAJJ WITH PRAYER FOR PEACE - TOP
Angela Cara Pancrazio, Arizona Republic, 1/10/06
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0110feast-ON.html

The imam called Valley Muslims together Tuesday for prayer, his Arabic chant, "let's get together for prayer," soundinglike song.

About 4,000 Muslims - families, men and women who came alone, young and old - gathered in the Phoenix Civic Plaza ballroom for Eid ul-Adha (EED-al-ODD-ha) or "festival of the sacrifice."

Each year, Muslims mark the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, with communal prayers and celebrations like this one. . .

Because there were so many Muslims in one place, Mohamed Elsharkawy, chairman of the Arizona office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and a group of volunteers tried to register as many voters as they could near a red, white and blue banner that read: "I am Muslim, I am American, I vote."

"I tell Muslims, 'rather than complaining, become a full partner in society and vote in issues that affect you.'" (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-CA: MUSLIMS TO CELEBRATE EID UL-ADHA TODAY - TOP
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_P_eid10.dd96a6b.html

Inland Muslims will celebrate Eid ul-Adha with prayer services today. . .

The Islamic Society of Corona-Norco also will sponsor a voter registration drive, part of a nationwide effort by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to encourage eligible Muslims to register to vote during Eid ul-Adha celebrations.

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CAIR-FL: VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE STARTING TODAY - TOP
Miami Herald, 1/10/06
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/

Muslim-Americans will be encouraged to sign up to vote this morning at a nonpartisan Eid Voter Registration Drive, sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The voter registration effort, set to take place at the Miami Gardens Mosque at 4305 NW 183rd Street from 8:30 until 10:30 a.m. today, is one part of a wider grass-roots push to get more Muslim-Americans to cast ballots in local and statewide elections this November.

"Our community's issues will only be addressed if all eligible Muslims first register to vote, and then go to the polls on election day," Altaf Ali, executive director of CAIR Florida, said in a statement.

The voter registration event is timed to coincide with the Jan. 10 celebration of Eid, a holiday marking the end of the four-day pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken by more than two million Muslims worldwide every year.

The day is traditionally celebrated with prayers, parties and gift-giving, as well as by passing out food to the poor.

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CAIR-MI: SWIMWEAR POLICY TO ACCOMMODATE RELIGIOUS REQUIREMENTS - TOP
Washtenaw County to become 1st Michigan county to implement such a policy
ART AISNER, Ann Arbor News, 1/10/06
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-16/113690763014580.xml&coll=2

On one of the last days of school last June, Ann Arbor resident Jumanah Saadeh, then 13, changed into long gym pants, a head covering and a long-sleeved collared shirt and joined her classmates from Ann Arbor Open School at the Rolling Hills Water Park in Ypsilanti.

The outfit was in accordance with Islam's modesty requirements, but violated health and safety regulations at the pool and lifeguards ordered her out of the water.

"This was a terribly humiliating incident for her and she felt like she was forced to choose between her religious beliefs and her classmates," said Michael Steinberg, legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

After six months of planning, the county's Park and Recreation Commission is expected tonight to unanimously pass the first swimwear policy to accommodate individuals who cannot wear traditional swimsuits for religious reasons.

Washtenaw County is slated to become the first county in Michigan and possibly the nation to implement such a policy. . .

Executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Dawud Walid said his organization has received only a few similar complaints over the years but noted that may be because many Muslims avoid public pools strictly because of the clothing issue.

In Islam, females approaching puberty must have their head covered, and body covered from their neck to their ankles at all times in public, said Walid. The clothing should not be form fitting.

Males may be shirtless but must be covered from above the belly button to the knee cap in non-form fitting attire, he said.

Similar requirements are customary for Orthodox Jews and the Amish, county officials said.

The proposed policy, which will apply to all county aquatic facilities, is intended to provide guidelines that protect public health and safety while accommodating the diverse community. Street clothes and shoes remain prohibited in the water, but unlike the state regulations, the proposal defines street clothes.

The parks will accommodate those who cannot wear traditional bathing suits for religious reasons by permitting appropriate clothing with the following conditions:

Clothing must allow free movement of arms and legs and be free from hardware such as belts, buckles and rivets.

The clothing material must be lightweight as to not inhibit a patron's movement or weigh them down in the pool. Fabric such as nylon, polyester, Lycra or thin cotton are acceptable.

Clothing also must not be so loose that it could cause entanglement, entrapment or strangulation in pool equipment. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

NJ: COURTING AN UNDERSTANDING - TOP
Islamic school enjoys the game, while staying true to its faith
GREG TUFARO, Home News Tribune, 1/7/06
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/SPORTS03/601070324/1002/SPORTS

Members of the Noor-Ul-Iman girls basketball team generate curious looks as they run through their pregame warm-up routine.

Beneath white head scarves, matching long-sleeve mock turtlenecks, blue sweat pants and red game jerseys are ordinary teenagers. They are, one could say, as American as the colors they wear.

But because the players are covered from head to toe in the modest attire their Islamic faith requires, they look out of place on a basketball court, where tank tops and shorts comprise the traditional uniform.

Some of the incredulous spectators sitting in the stands at East Brunswick Tech on this December afternoon whisper politely among themselves: "Are they really going to play dressed like that?"

A tiny, non-profit Islamic school at the Islamic Society of Central Jersey in South Brunswick, Noor-Ul-Iman has 420 students in grades pre-K through 12. It's one of only a handful of Islamic institutions with high school-aged students nationwide that fields a girls varsity basketball squad, according to Karen Keyworth, director of education for the Islamic Schools League of America. . .

"Sports are universal activities and a great way to communicate diversity of faiths and cultures in a setting that all people can appreciate," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. (MORE)

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CAIR-CT: FAMILY FELT 'PROFILED' BY BORDER SEARCH - TOP
Pakistani-born Man From Old Lyme Kept 3 Hours At U.S.-Canada Checkpoint
BETHE DUFRESNE, The Day, 1/10/06
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=D2BA732C-E077-410F-A74F-3166331EEDC8

Old Lyme -- As director of the Connecticut branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR, Badr Malik keeps an eye out for any incidents that might signal discrimination against Muslims.

Two days into the new year, he said, he became a statistic himself.

On Jan. 2, the Pakistani-born engineering consultant was detained with his family for more than three hours at a U.S.-Canadian border checkpoint near Niagara Falls. The family was driving home to Old Lyme after a holiday visit with relatives in Toronto.

Malik said his wife and four children watched in alarm as security guards patted him down with his hands pressed against the family van. While he was questioned, guards searched the van.

A Homeland Security official was called in from Buffalo, N.Y., he said, before they were finally released. . .

The week before Christmas, CAIR's national headquarters in Washington, D.C., issued a travel advisory for Muslims traveling to Toronto for the annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit convention, which began Dec. 23, and for those traveling to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which began Sunday.

According to CAIR, dozens of U.S. citizens attending the 2004 Toronto convention were interrogated, fingerprinted and photographed at the border crossing, prompting the New York Civil Liberties Union to seek a court injunction prohibiting the targeting of convention-goers for lengthy security checks in 2005. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

MUSLIM BASHING SEEMINGLY IN VOGUE - TOP
By Adam Jadhav, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/9/06
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/metroeast/story/13F9C09A89E25508862570F2001FA09C?OpenDocument

What in the world do dietary supplements have to do with turbans and terrorism?

That political head-scratcher confronted at least some vitamin buyers around the nation who found a flier with their mail-order nutrients carrying the bold headline, "Get a Turban for Durbin!"

An image shows Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, wearing the headwrap, common in parts of the Middle East and south Asia and sacred religious garb in some faiths, including the entire Sikh religion.

The flier's kicker: "Keep Congressional Terrorists At Bay." The flier was distributed last month by a pro-vitamin and supplement group.

Critics say the flier is yet another example of Muslim bashing. The designer of the flier, who has since pulled it, admits that it was over the line but said he put it out to draw attention to what he thinks is improper action by Durbin.

Dietary supplement makers attack Durbin because he wants regulation requiring them to report serious side effects of their products. The proposals are driven in part by deaths related to ephedra, the popular stimulant and diet pill pulled from the market in 2004.

Vitamin and supplement makers oppose the idea, saying that mere coincidence - someone having a heart attack while taking Vitamin C - would scare off consumers and cripple sales. Attacks on Durbin have been led by the Melville, N.Y.-based Nutritional Health Alliance, which published the "Turban" handout.

Durbin decries the flier as offensive and a political cheap shot. The 61-year-old senator says he doesn't want to harm the industry and admits to taking a daily regimen of pills himself - fish oil, a multivitamin, a B complex, an antioxidant and half an aspirin.

"They're throwing around this kind of reckless rhetoric," Durbin said. "The rhyme makes the story here."

Even Jerry Kessler, director of the Nutritional Health Alliance, chief executive officer of N.Y.-based Natural Organics and designer of the circular, said it was a purely political response to regulations proposed by Durbin. He also agreed the flier was "not fair" and "in bad taste."

"Desperate times require desperate actions," Kessler said. "I'm certainly going to do what's necessary to call attention to our cause. If I sound to you like a hate-monger, then I can't help it."

More than a million copies of the flier were sent to vitamin and supplement buyers, and Kessler said he's responded personally to phone calls and letters from people he has offended. Now, a new flier - a newsletter making specific arguments against Durbin's proposals - has been substituted in mailings.

Muslims 'an easy target'

Experts and scholars say the flier is a sign of the times: Political vitriol has always pushed the envelope, and it seems anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice today is almost vogue.

"Muslims are an easy target unfortunately in our culture," said Nancy Snow, adjunct professor of political communication at the University of Southern California. "It's become sort of a hybrid enemy image, like it or not. We may say we have no issue with Islam, but we do fear terrorists and we do see opponents that are from the Middle East."

Civic and political groups, including the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have condemned the flier but say they're not entirely surprised. (MORE)

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NY: MUSLIM PARENTS PROTEST NEW YORK SCHOOL TESTING ON HOLY DAY - TOP
Associated press, 1/10/06
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--schooltests-musli0110jan10,0,4049610.story

NEW YORK (AP) _ Muslim parents and a city councilman criticized the city and state education departments for beginning testing of the state's elementary schoolchildren on Tuesday, the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha.

"This is a problem that could have been avoided if a little thought was put into it, not to have the exam that day," said Moustafa El-Shieakh, of the Astoria section of Queens, whose son is a fourth-grader. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

MI: METRO DETROITERS REENACT HAJJ RITUALS - TOP
NIRAJ WARIKOO, Detroit free Press, 1/10/06
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060110/NEWS05/601100357/1007/NEWS

A digital camera in his right hand, a camcorder in his left, the proud father beamed as his three kids joined hundreds inside a Dearborn mosque Monday in simulating an Islamic ritual carried out by millions in Saudi Arabia.

"I'm getting goose bumps," said Hamzeh Makki, 41, while recording his children. "They look like walking angels."

Draped in white cloth, about 270 kids from metro Detroit gathered inside the Islamic Center of America to reenact the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca -- one of the main pillars of Islam. By reenacting the rituals, the U.S.-born kids were able to familiarize themselves with customs that previously may have been foreign to them in a largely Christian society. (MORE)

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MI: NEW MUSLIM STUDIES PROGRAM UNDERWAY AT MSU - TOP
Matt Miller, Lansing State Journal, 1/10/06
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060110/NEWS06/601100346/1001/news

There is no shortage of misconceptions about the Muslim world.

"In the minds of many people, Islam has become synonymous with terrorism, with fundamentalism, with extremism," said Mohammed Ayoob, a professor of international relations at Michigan State University's James Madison College.

Part of the purpose behind a newly established Muslim Studies program at MSU, a program that Ayoob coordinates, is to show them that it's not.

"The idea is to convey the knowledge that Islam is not just that," Ayoob said.

"Most Muslims around the world are busy living their normal lives, trying to better themselves economically, trying to achieve a degree of political participation and are not hell bent on destroying the world."

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

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To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/11/06) - Leaders of the American Muslim and Arab-American communities met today with FBI officials in Washington, D.C., to discuss concerns about the secret monitoring of radiation levels at Muslim homes, businesses and mosques nationwide.

The meeting with FBI Deputy Director John Pistole, coordinated by the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), included representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim American Society (MAS), Arab American Institute (AAI), the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and several other groups. 

"Today's meeting, while not resolving all underlying issues of concern, offered an opportunity to improve lines of communication and to increase mutual cooperation on issues related to national security and the prevention of hate crimes," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, who took part in the meeting. Awad said any security measures that create the perception that the entire American Islamic community is targeted can create difficulties in communication between Muslims and law enforcement authorities. He said such perceptions can also lead to increased Islamophobia and even anti-Muslim hate crimes. (CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor also took part in the meeting.)

Immediately following the revelation of the radiation monitoring program, CAIR held a news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters to offer the reaction of Muslim and interfaith leaders. CAIR later announced the filing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all government records relating to the secret government program.

In that request, CAIR asked for: 1) "&Records concerning the 'authority' of President Bush to delegate or personally authorize surveillance without obtaining a court order as required by FISA," and 2) "&Comprehensive lists and addresses of the 'over a hundred Muslim sites' (including mosques, organizations, businesses, warehouses and homes) in Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit, New York, Las Vegas and Seattle which have been targeted for radiological surveillance by this top secret program."

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor, 202-646-6039 or 571-278-4658, E-Mail: csaylor@cair-net.org; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from CAIR-NET, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/11/06

* CAIR to Spot-Check CBP Treatment of Returning Hajjis
* VA: Muslim Funeral to be Held at Arlington Cemetery
* CAIR-FL: Let's Seek the Common Ground of Faith
* NY: Muslim Holiday Brings Food Banks Meat (AP)
            - AL: Muslims Give Food to Homeless (Huntsville Times)
            - Eid Greetings from the White House
* CT: Parent Claims Texbook Too Favorable to Islam (NH Register)

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CAIR TO SPOT-CHECK CBP TREATMENT OF RETURNING HAJJ PILGRIMS - TOP
First flights arriving Thursday from yearly pilgrimage to Mecca

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/11/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said today it will spot-check treatment of those returning from the recently-completed Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca.

On Thursday, a team from the Civil Rights Department of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will interview returning "Hajjis" as they arrive on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Spot-Check of CBP Treatment of Returning Hajj Pilgrims
WHEN: Thursday, January 12, 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Washington Dulles International Airport, Dulles, Virginia

In December, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a travel advisory for Muslim citizens participating in the Hajj. The advisory was prompted by concerns that American Muslim travelers returning to the United States would be singled out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials for special security checks and fingerprinting based solely on their attendance at the annual religious event.

Last year, dozens of American Muslim citizens said they were targeted for security checks, fingerprinting and photographs based on their attendance at an Islamic conference in Canada.

CAIR also created a "Civil Rights Hotline" (1-800-784-7526) and a downloadable border incident report form for those who believe their constitutional rights had been violated by CBP personnel.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CONTACT: Arsalan Iftikhar, 202-488-8787 or 202-415-0799, E-Mail: arsalan@cair-net.org; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org

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VA: MUSLIM FUNERAL TO BE HELD AT ARLINGTON CEMETERY - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/11/2006) - On Thursday, January 12, the family of Staff Sgt. Ayman Taha and other American Muslims will perform an Islamic funeral service in Arlington cemetery. Staff Sgt. Taha was killed recently in Ballad, Iraq, while preparing a weapon's cache for demolition. The service will be led by Imam Mohammed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS). (In case of rain, the funeral service will be held at the ADAMS Center in Sterling, Va., with burial to follow at Arlington Cemetery. Call contact below for details.)

WHERE: The service will originate from the cemetery administration building.
WHEN: Service will begin at 1:30 p.m.

During Islamic funerals, those praying stand in rows facing the direction of Mecca, with the prayer leader in front. The body (or bodies) is placed in front of the congregation. The worshipers make a personal intention to offer a funeral prayer. They say "God is Great," then fold their hands on their chests. The opening chapter of the Quran, Islam's revealed text, is read quietly. Prayers are recited for the deceased, the Prophets Abraham and Muhammad and for the Muslim community. Saying "peace be to you" concludes the prayer. The entire funeral prayer is performed while standing.

See CAIR Backgrounder: Islamic Funeral Practices

CONTACT: Rizwan Jaka, 703-624-6352

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EDITORIAL: LET'S SEEK THE COMMON GROUND OF FAITH - TOP
Altaf Ali, TC Palm, 1/11/06
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/editorials/article/0,,TCP_24460_4378472,00.html

In comparing (a column written by Council on American-Islamic Relations National Communications Director) Ibrahim Hooper (headlined) "Love for Jesus can bring together Christians, Muslims" with (that of Jupiter resident) Matt Hunt (published Jan. 4), one can clearly observe the evident bias and prejudice in Mr. Hunt's writing. Mr. Hooper's column did not try to dilute Christianity, but drew upon the beautiful teachings that both faiths appreciate and adore.

I am shocked and dismayed by Mr. Hunt's remarks, which can instigate hatred, anger and unwarranted insults against Islam and Muslims.

On the other hand, it is refreshing to be acquainted with many Christians do not hold similar views as those shared by Mr. Hunt. Many of my Christian brethren - including pastors, priests, reverends and bishops - whom I personally know would not agree with Mr. Hunt's comments. Muslims do revere Jesus and Islam is the only faith, other than Christianity, that requires a Muslim not only believe in him, but that he should be respected and honored. Jesus is mentioned, by name, in the Quran over 25 times while, Muhammad's name is only appears five times. In the Quran, the Muslim holy book, God revealed in chapter 3 verses 45-46, "Behold! The angels said; 'O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God. He shall speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. And he shall be (of the company) of the righteous.'"

The three dominant monotheistic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam have deeply rooted beliefs that can be traced to the same origins.

In the Quran 2:136, God revealed, "Say ye (Muslims): 'We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.'"

I spent the last two Thanksgiving days with my Christians friends at the St. Katherine Drexel Catholic Church in Weston. As I sat listening to the sermon delivered by Father Paul Edwards, I thought of how much we Muslims and Christians have in common.

It is truly a remarkable achievement, that such a diverse group of people, from various cultures, ethnicity, and faiths can be bonded together as Americans. We can indeed be an example to the world.

When Pope John Paul II passed away, I took a delegation of Muslims to a local church to sign a book of condolences. Kindly, the pastor asked me to address the congregation and I told my fellow Christian friends, "You are my brother and sisters, your suffering is my suffering and your happiness is my happiness."

We left that day knowing that this simple gesture of good faith created harmony, tolerance and respect between Christians and Muslims.

I would also like to emphasize that Muslims love Jesus; one of God's greatest messengers, held in high honor and his teachings live in our hearts and this in itself command respect.

Only dialogue and friendship can break the barriers of intolerance. Lets encourage peace to prevail, for the truth overcome falsehood, and build a better world; a world of peace, understanding and tolerance.

Altaf Ali is the executive director of the Florida Chapter/Council on American-Islamic Relations.

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MUSLIM HOLIDAY BRINGS FOOD BANKS MEAT - TOP
Cara Anna, Associated Press, 1/11/06
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13598752.htm

ALBANY N.Y. - In the prepackaged, boxed and canned world of American food banks, fresh meat is a luxury. But what to do when two and a half tons come at once?

Take it, Amy Gabala says happily. Her Washington, D.C.-area Manna Food Center is used to generous holiday giving. But the annual Islamic feast of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, on Tuesday brought a gift she's never seen: "such an extraordinary amount of meat."

Increasingly, American food banks are being presented with chunks of freshly slaughtered goat, lamb and cow as Muslims bring a key religious obligation to a wider audience.

Eid, which comes at the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca, celebrates the storied test of Ibrahim, or Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his own son for God. He was allowed to sacrifice a sheep instead.

Each Muslim family is encouraged to sacrifice an animal and split it in three one-third for the needy, one-third for friends and family and one-third for themselves.

At Eid, Muslims often contract with local farms and have the animals killed at local halal, or religiously acceptable, slaughterhouses.

Ahmed Kobeisy, the director of the Islamic Center of the Capital District in Albany, N.Y., says the center this year is encouraging members to donate meat to non-Muslims and food banks as well. "The poor includes all the poor," Kobeisy says.

Zahid Bukhari with the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University says a growing number of donations in the U.S. go not just to needy Muslims, but to the community at large. The reason, American Muslims say, is simple.

"Especially after 9-11, we need to be a more obvious part of society," says Irma Hafeez, the general secretary for the Montgomery County Muslim Council in Maryland. The group first gave 700 pounds of meat to the Manna Food Center last year. This week, it hoped to donate 5,000 pounds. (MORE)

ALSO SEE:

MUSLIMS' GENEROSITY TURNS INTO LEARNING OPPORTUNITY - TOP
Congregations give food to homeless to mark end of hajj
Kay Campbell, Huntsville Times, 1/11/06
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1136974670135750.xml&coll=1

When Niki Murray, one of the homeless clients at First Stop, learned that Huntsville's Muslim congregations were going to bring lunch over Tuesday, she went to the library.

"I wanted to find out about this," Murray said.

She and more than 100 other homeless clients enjoyed lunches brought to First Stop Tuesday by members of Masjid Tauhid, the predominantly black mosque; the Huntsville Islamic Center, the predominantly Sunni Muslim mosque, and the Alabama Islamic Education Center of Alzahra, a predominantly Shia Muslim mosque.

Leaders from each Muslim denomination brought others from each congregation to coordinate the lunch, given in honor of Eid al Adha, the last day of the annual hajj. The religious festival, Islam's most important and joyous, commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael, according to the Quran, and God's prevention of that human sacrifice.

The day also commemorates the "ummah," the community of hajj, as millions of Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca to walk in the footsteps of Abraham and the Prophet Muhammad.

Muslims traditionally celebrate the day with prayers, family feasts and gift-giving, and acts of kindness to people in need. As well as bringing food Tuesday, the Muslim women also gave white roses to the homeless here.

Tons of meat from the sacrifices made Tuesday in Mecca will be frozen for distribution to poor around the world.

"This is kind of like Christmas for them," Murray said Tuesday as she and Shelia Similton talked together about the lunch. (MORE)

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EID GREETINGS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE - TOP
Office of the Press Secretary, 1/9/06
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060109-5.html

I send greetings to Muslims around the world as you celebrate Eid al-Adha.

When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham placed his faith in God above all else. During Eid al-Adha, Muslims celebrate Abraham's devotion and give thanks for God's mercy and many blessings. Eid is also a time for demonstrating charity and reaching out to family, friends, and those in need.

America is blessed to have people of many religious beliefs who contribute to the diverse makeup of this country. Through generosity, compassion, and a commitment to faith, Muslim Americans have helped make our country stronger.

Laura and I send our best wishes for a joyous celebration. Eid Mubarak.

GEORGE W. BUSH

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CT: CHESHIRE PARENT SAYS TEXTBOOK DISTORTS ISLAM - TOP
Luther Turmelle, New Haven Register, 1/11/06
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15906004&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517514&rfi=6&xb=xuged&xb=yelej

CHESHIRE A controversy has developed over a seventh-grade textbook being used at Dodd Middle School that some parents say provides an unbalanced view of Islam.

Ken Whelan, who has a son in seventh grade at Dodd, said he would like to see the social studies textbook "History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond" removed from the school s curriculum, although the information he finds offensive hasn t been presented to students.

After addressing the Board of Education s Curriculum Committee Monday evening, Whelan said he s prepared to wage a legal battle to get a textbook that offers what he says is a more realistic portrayal of the Muslim religion.

"This isn t over, not by a long shot," Whelan said Tuesday. "There are Christian attorneys that will come in and litigate this if that s what it takes."

Whelan claims he was bullied by teachers and administrators from Dodd at the meeting because of his view that the textbook fails to address Islamic history and teachings in an evenhanded manner.

"They don t teach the not-so-good things, the aggressiveness of Islam," Whelan said. "The book is skewed. There are better textbooks out there, books that tell the whole truth, not half the truth."

Dodd Principal Donald Wailonis has been an educator in Cheshire schools since 1971 and said this is the first time he can recall that there has been controversy over a textbook.

Wailonis said the curriculum addresses the good and bad aspects of religion, which is important if students are to learn critical thinking.

Curriculum Committee Chairman James Sima said Judaism and Christianity are also taught, at different times.

"We look at it in a critical fashion. & I think our students know that religion can be misused," Wailonis said. "We don t teach from a singular perspective. We have no agenda to promote that puts one religion over another."

But Whelan said public schools have no business teaching religion, even in the context of a curriculum segment that deals with the medieval world.

"They re not qualified to teach religion in depth," said Whelan, who is pastor of the Victory Chapel Evangelical Church. "They re taking away the divinity of Jesus Christ, and they ve taken the concept of God as the father of Jesus Christ out of it." (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/12/06

* Verse: God Grants Mercy to the Patient
* NC: Muslims Seek Role in MLK Celebration Planning
* Islam-OpEd: Religious Diversity Strengthens National Unity
            - VA Muslims to Help Rebuild Pakistani Churches (WP)
* CAIR: Monitoring of Muslims Addressed by FBI (Wash Times)
            - F.B.I. Tries to Dispel Surveillance Concerns (NYT)
* CA: Pair Aids Native Pakistan (OC Register)
* TN: Muslims Recall Abraham's Great Sacrifice (Tennessean)
* Incitement Watch: 'Quran Teaches Violence' (Fox)
            - CAIR's 'Explore the Quran' Project
* Iraq: UK Officer Lashes US Army for Insensitivity
            - Changing the Army for Counterinsurgency Operations
* Gitmo: New Prison May Signal Long-Term Detentions (AP)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: GOD GRANTS MERCY TO THE PATIENT - TOP

"Give glad tidings to those who endure with patience; who, when afflicted with calamity, say: 'We belong to God and to Him we shall return.' Such are the people on whom there are blessings and Mercy from God; and they are the ones that are rightly guided."

The Holy Quran, 2:155-157

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NC: MUSLIMS SEEK ROLE IN KING CELEBRATION PLANNING - TOP
Chick Jacobs, Fayetteville Observer, 1/12/06
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=224143

Thirteen years ago, a small group met at the Four Flames restaurant one chilly January morning to prayerfully celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Much has changed since then: the size of the group, the meeting spot, certainly the diversity of those attending.

And a group of Fayetteville Muslims would like to see next year's breakfast branch out even more by including members of their faith in the planning. Doing so would mean a departure from the Christian-only organization.

"We would like for future meetings to be truly comprehensive," said Edward Syed, the community outreach director of Fayetteville's Masjid Omar Ibn Sayyid. "We would like them to reflect all the faiths who hold the works and memory of Dr. King in such high esteem."

"To reduce the program to a matter of faith is to reduce his mission," added Mustafa Shakir, the former imam of the masjid. "He was a voice of conscience for all of us." (MORE)

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ISLAM-OPED: RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY STRENGTHENS NATIONAL UNITY - TOP

ISLAM-OPED is a national syndication service of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) designed to offer an American Muslim perspective on current political, social and religious issues. ISLAM-OPED commentaries are offered free-of-charge to one media outlet in each market area. Permission for publication will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis.

CONTACT: ihooper@cair-net.org
TEL: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726 (c)

Please consider the following commentary for publication.

---

RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY STRENGTHENS NATIONAL UNITY
By Alaa Bayoumi
WORD COUNT: 660

[Alaa Bayoumi is a researcher for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties group. He may be contacted at abayoumi@cair-net.org.]

All too often, we see religious differences turn into a source of divisions within a society. But that need not be the case. Religious diversity, when properly understood and promoted, can in fact help strengthen a society's identity and unity.

A forward-looking attitude on religious diversity is important because religion is important to most people and most societies. When a nation's religious landscape changes, its national identity cannot remain static.

In America, we have a strong sense of our religious heritage. We also take a lot of pride in being a pluralistic nation.

In the last third of the 20th century, 22 million immigrants entered America. Many of these immigrants were Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or members of other faiths. Unfortunately, the spread of these "new" religions tends to raise concerns among a minority of Americans who believe in a zero-sum version of inclusion.

A recent study by Robert Wuthnow, Director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton, makes it clear that America is viewed by many as a Christian nation that should be concerned about the growth of minority faiths.

In "America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity," Wuthnow writes: "We have formulated understandings of who we are individually and as a nation. These understandings have characteristically assumed that American culture and identity, including its distinct purpose in the world and the moral fiber of its people, are explicitly or implicitly related to Christian values."

To validate his findings, Wuthnow conducted interviews with religious leaders and surveyed 2910 adults to determine what Americans think about religious diversity.

Survey results showed that half of the adult population believes that this nation was founded on Christian principles and that America has been strong because of its faith in God. That figure jumps to 68 percent for Christian "exclusivists."

The survey also showed that 50 percent of Americans believe that religious diversity has been good for America and that our nation owes a great deal to its immigrant population.

On the flip side, the survey revealed that 24 percent of Americans believe immigrants have to give up their ways and learn to be like Americans and that about one-third would not welcome a more prominent presence for Hindus or Buddhists in America. More than 40 percent of respondents had negative perceptions of the growth of Islam in America.

For example, the survey showed that 38 percent of the American public would support the idea of "making it harder for Muslims to settle in America." Twenty-three percent of respondents would like to make it "illegal for Muslim groups to meet in America" and 41 percent would feel "bothered" if Muslims wanted to build a large mosque in their community.

In response, Wuthnow urges Americans from all faiths to deal with religious diversity and its challenges from a more "reflective" pluralistic perspective. He says we should admit that religious diversity is a challenge, that religions are different and that we all need to deal more seriously with these differences in order to overcome them.

To accomplish that societal goal, we should all learn more about each other, build personal relationships with people of other faiths, emphasize respect in all circumstances, view compromise and non-violence as the only acceptable ways to deal with our differences, and build strong institutions that can protect and spread a pluralistic vision of religious diversity.

Fortunately, our constitution and political culture are on the side of pluralism. Our laws protect all religions and our culture teaches us to look to ourselves as a religiously-diverse nation that should set an example for the rest of the world.

It is up to us to stand firm and united in the face of any intolerant forces that may seek to divide our nation. Failure to do so will jeopardize our role as a model for tolerance and human rights.

America's Muslim community stands ready to do its part in strengthening our nation through creating opportunities for interfaith respect and mutual understanding.

SEE ALSO:

VA MUSLIMS RAISE FUNDS TO REBUILD PAKISTANI CHURCHES - TOP
The Washington Post, 1/12/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

FUNDRAISING DINNER, "Compassionate Response," 7 p.m. Jan. 21, All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center, 46903 Sugarland Rd., Sterling. Catered dinner of international food. Hosted by a group of local American Muslim women and local interfaith groups to raise money to rebuild recently destroyed Christian churches near Sangla Hill, Pakistan. $100. 703-437-8707 or www.adamscenter.org.

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CAIR: MONITORING OF MUSLIMS ADDRESSED - TOP
Jerry Seper, Washington Times, 1/12/06
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060111-112618-9724r.htm

Arab-American and Muslim leaders met yesterday with FBI officials to discuss concerns that Muslim religious places, homes and other buildings were monitored for abnormal radiation levels without search warrants or court orders.

The meeting with FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole, coordinated by the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), was held in the wake of press reports that the monitoring began after the September 11, 2001, attacks and lasted through 2003. The FBI has denied that it singled out private Muslim sites for the radioactivity monitoring.

Two Muslim organizations have since filed Freedom of Information Act requests to learn which sites were monitored.

"Today's meeting, while not resolving all underlying issues of concern, offered an opportunity to improve lines of communication and to increase mutual cooperation on issues related to national security and the prevention of hate crimes," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who participated in the meeting.

Mr. Awad said any security measures that create the perception that the Muslim community in the U.S. is targeted can create difficulties between Muslims and law-enforcement authorities, adding that "such perceptions can also lead to increased Islamophobia and even anti-Muslim hate crimes." (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

F.B.I. TRIES TO DISPEL SURVEILLANCE CONCERNS - TOP
LYNETTE CLEMETSON, New York Times, 1/12/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/politics/12muslims.html

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 - F.B.I. officials met with Muslim and Arab-American leaders on Wednesday in an effort to dispel anger and concern over the bureau's secret monitoring of radiation levels at Muslim sites around the country.

John Pistole, deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and John Miller, the bureau's assistant director of public affairs, tried to reassure those at the session that the surveillance of mosques and Muslim businesses and homes had been based on intelligence leads.

"There was intelligence that talked about the desire to use a dirty bomb in the U.S.; there were statements from bin Laden indicating that he had those materials and that there were cells in the U.S. trained to blend into Muslim communities," Mr. Miller said after the meeting. "We explained how we work with intelligence and that we did what we did based on the patterns of Al Qaeda, not because of the patterns or activities of any mosque or Muslim neighborhood."

F.B.I. officials struck a conciliatory tone, several attendees said, and acknowledged that the bureau could have responded to their concerns more quickly. But Mr. Pistole offered few details on the monitoring, they said, and he emphasized that the program, which began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and lasted through 2003, remained classified. (MORE)

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CA: PAIR AIDS NATIVE PAKISTAN - TOP
VIK JOLLY, Orange County Register, 1/12/06
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/abox/article_943749.php

Farzana and Salman Naqvi found signs of life returning to normal in a remote, cold corner of quake-stricken Pakistan last month.

In the small village of Bhogermang, at an altitude of 4,500 feet, near the Siran River, where more than 90 percent of the homes were either destroyed or damaged in an Oct. 8 earthquake, two sets of brides and grooms were getting ready to marry.

The families were living in tents. The dowry and some rations for the wedding stashed in their damaged homes were lost in a fire unrelated to the 7.6-magnitude quake that killed thousands in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the country's northwestern region.

Yet the couples were to wed, with a relief agency - for whom the Naqvis are volunteering - providing funds and new homes for the families of the brides. (MORE)

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TN: MUSLIMS RECALL ABRAHAM'S GREAT SACRIFICE - TOP
JEANNINE F. HUNTER, Tennessean, 1/11/06
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/NEWS06/601110415

Shmsia Mohamed, 37, wished she could be half a world away.

While her body was in Nashville, her heart was in Saudi Arabia yesterday morning as she and her family prayed with thousands of local Muslims commemorating the end of a sacred pilgrimage. The pilgrimage is a once-in-a lifetime trek for Muslims who can afford to do so.

"I haven't made hajj yet, but I wish to be there," the Ethiopian native said at the Howard Gentry Center complex at Tennessee State University.

Yesterday, Muslims worldwide began observing Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which commemorates Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his only son, Ishmael, to show his obedience to God, which Muslims know as Allah. Just before killing the child, Abraham stopped because an angel told him he had passed God's test of faith. Instead, God substituted the boy with a ram. (MORE)

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INCITEMENT WATCH: 'QURAN TEACHES VIOLENCE' - TOP

SEND POLITE COMMENTS TO: Comments@foxnews.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org

TV Host Quits Over Muslim Comments
Fox News: Hannity & Colmes, 1/1/0/06
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134671,00.html

COLMES: Welcome back to "Hannity & Colmes." I'm Alan Colmes.

Still to come, some New Orleans residents are fighting to keep the city from bulldozing their homes. But for at least one resident, it's already too late. We'll hear from the homeowner who had the city raze his home without his consent.

Bur first, best selling Christian author and television personality Hal Lindsey will not be returning to his television show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The reason, he claims, is that the network attempted to muzzle his opinions on radical Islam.

The network said they couldn't recall anything specific from Lindsey's program that were anti-Arab but had more of a concern with how Muslims were portrayed, saying his messages were, quote, "too pro-Israel and too anti- Muslim."

Hal Lindsey joins us now.

Mr. Lindsey, thank you very much for being with us. What happened? They said you were preempted because you placed Arabs in a negative light. Is that a fair description?

HAL LINDSEY, CHRISTIAN AUTHOR: Yes, that's it. I wrote a book back in 2002 called "The Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad." And in this, I, you know, after 9/11, I really studied Islam, studied the Koran, studied what they're teaching, and especially why there was a difference between the moderate Muslims and those who are radical.

And so, I saw that there was a tremendous danger facing this country that many Americans really didn't seem to be seeing. So, I started warning that radical Islam was at war with the United States, and that the threat was as great as any enemy we'd ever faced.

COLMES: Is the issue here that you said, for example, in my radio show last week, which you appreciate, you said that you believe that the true practitioner of Islam, real Islam, are the radicals and the moderates aren't practicing real Islam. So actual Islam is a radical religion in your view?

LINDSEY: Yes. It is. And you know, it's kind of like most Christians don't read the Bible very much. I believe most Muslims don't read the Koran very much.

COLMES: You're calling it a violent religion?

LINDSEY: Yes. Well, that's -- that's why most Muslims are not radical. But when someone begins to really study the Koran, and they begin to read the 109 versus that call for violence and war, they become very, very different. They become radical. They feel that they need to convert people by force.

COLMES: OK. I understand why they may be upset with you for your taking an entire religion; you're saying it's a violent religion. You're saying the religion itself is radical. I can understand why some Christians like your former employers might be saying, you know, "That's not the message that we, as Christians, want to put out there. We're preaching peace, love and understanding. We don't like that view that you just expressed," they say.

LINDSEY: Yes, I can understand that. And you know, Paul Crouch and I are very good friends. He's the founder of TBN. And you know, I wish him no ill will. We're still friends.

HANNITY: Hey, Hal.

LINDSEY: But we do differ on the best way to present the gospel and - - and what's really important.

HANNITY: Hal, it's Sean Hannity. Thanks for being on the program.

LINDSEY: Hi, Sean.

HANNITY: I want to make sure we're clear here.

LINDSEY: Yes.

HANNITY: Because Alan is saying, and you're answering the question that you're saying Islam is this way. Are you making a distinction between radical Islam and those that practice mainstream Islam? Or does your study of the Koran tell you something else? Is that what you're saying? I'm trying to understand. I want to understand completely.

LINDSEY: Yes, OK. I believe that I make a very careful distinction between radical Islam and between those that -- what we'd call moderate. They're not interested in fighting a jihad. They're not interested in overthrowing a country and bringing it under the submission to Islam.

But something else that I learned, and what I am teaching, is that when someone becomes devout and they begin to get into the Koran, and they begin to study what it really teaches, they become -- they become what we'd call a fundamentalist or a radical.

Because the Koran itself, and the Hadith, teaches violence, and there are 109 versus that, sometimes called war verses, that Mohammed wrote while he was in Medina and when he had an army behind him. He got much, much more aggressive after that.

HANNITY: Right.

LINDSEY: And these are the -- these are the verses that the radicals begin to take seriously, and they begin to want to overthrow westernization.

HANNITY: All right. Let me ask you this about the controversy with TBN. First of all, do you think there's any chance of reconciliation? And there seems to be some dispute as to what happened. Because originally, they denied there was any connection to your comments. And they said there was a connections to the comments. They dropped you, but then you dropped them.

What actually happened with TBN? And do you think you'll reconcile?

LINDSEY: Well, you know, like I say, I'm good friends with Paul Crouch. Paul Crouch was sick most of the time all of this was going on. The one who was in charge of programming and the one who passed down this edict that she wanted to see all of my scripts before any show would be shown. She wanted to censor them. She said I was knocking -- I was bashing Arabs, I was making all Arabs look bad, I was -- that I wasn't being fair with the Muslims and so forth. And so, she -- she actually took me off the show.

HANNITY: But did you talk to Paul about it? I mean, you said he was sick. Have you talked to him about it?

LINDSEY: Yes, I talked to him yesterday. And there were some things that he didn't really know about this. And at least I -- at least I gathered that he didn't.

But, what -- what I've come out with all of this, is that I feel like, you know -- my specialty is talking about what the ancient Hebrew prophets predicted would all come together just before the return of Christ. And I believe that, you know, Islam is a big part of those things. That's where I try to focus.

COLMES: We -- we thank you for coming on tonight. Best wishes. Thank you very much.

SEE ALSO:

CAIR'S 'EXPLORE THE QURAN' PROJECT - TOP
http://www.cair-net.org/explorethequran/

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IRAQ: BRITISH OFFICER LASHES US ARMY FOR INSENSITIVITY - TOP
Thomas Ricks, The Age, 1/12/06
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/01/11/1136956241154.html

US Army in Iraq has been accused of cultural ignorance moralistic self-righteousness, unproductive micro-management and unwarranted optimism in a magazine published by the army.

The scathing critique of the US Army and its performance in Iraq was written by a senior British officer.

In an article published this week in the army magazine Military Review, Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who was deputy commander of a program to train the Iraqi military, said American officers in Iraq displayed such "cultural insensitivity" that it "arguably amounted to institutional racism" and may have spurred the growth of the insurgency. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CHANGING THE ARMY FOR COUNTERINSURGENCY OPERATIONS - TOP
http://usacac.leavenworth.army.mil/CAC/milreview/download/English/NovDec05/aylwin.pdf

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NEW PRISON MAY BE SIGN OF LONG-TERM DETENTIONS - TOP
MIRANDA LEITSINGER, Associated Press, 1/12/06
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/13608254.htm

Four years after the first detainees in the U.S. war on terrorism were brought to makeshift jails at Guantanamo, construction workers in hard hats are putting up a two-story complex modeled after a mainland maximum-security prison.

This one will have air conditioning, a health clinic, recreation yards -- and arrows pointing toward Mecca, the direction Muslims face while praying.

Officials at "Gitmo," as American soldiers and sailors call the base, say the prison will make life better for detainees. But critics fear it underscores that for many prisoners, detention is apt to be a long road.

"The U.S. government would like to turn Gitmo into a permanent prison camp with no legal recourse for detainees and to create a permanent legal black hole in which hundreds of individuals are held without ever being charged with crimes," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/12/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today offered its condolences to the families of those who died in a stampede during religious observances in the city of Mina, Saudi Arabia. Authorities say 345 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in the stampede at the climax of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca.

SEE: Hundreds Die in Haj Stampede
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1983149,00.html

In a statement, CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed said:

"We offer sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of all those who died or were injured in this tragic incident, and pray that the remaining pilgrims return home safely."

Ahmed also said the incident should be investigated fully in order to prevent similar tragedies during future pilgrimages.

Millions of Muslims from all over the world travel to the holy sites each year to participate in the pilgrimage. Hajj is one of the "five pillars" of the Islamic faith. (The other pillars include a declaration of faith, daily prayers, offering regular charity, and fasting during the month of Ramadan.) Pilgrimage is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for those who have the physical and financial ability to undertake the journey.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

To read CAIR's Mission, Vision Statement and Core Principles, go to: http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=About

CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org.

-----

CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/13/06

* Verse: Don't Use God's Name as an Excuse for Evil
* CAIR-Chicago Annual Dinner Feb. 4
            - CAIR-AZ Job Opening: Civil Rights Director
* FBI: No Leads in Ohio Mosque Bombing (WCPO)
            - CAIR Offers Reward for Info on OH Bombings
* CAIR-CA: Police Oversight Weighed (Davis Enterprise)
* CAIR-CA: Education Called Key to Safe Hajj
            - CAIR Offers Condolences on Deaths of Hajjis
* Incitement: Posts on Hate Site Applaud Hajj Deaths
            - Backgrounder: CA Synagogue Hosts Islamophobe
* OR: University Lacking Islamic Studies (Daily Emerald)
            - AL: Muslim Leader to Build Interfaith Bridges
* Iraq: 'Die Ragheads Die!' (Times)
            - US Blamed for 18 Pakistan Deaths (Reuters)
* Indonesia: Launch of 'Playboy' Protested (AP)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: DON'T USE GOD'S NAME AS AN EXCUSE FOR EVIL - TOP

"Do not use God's name in your oaths as an excuse to prevent you from dealing justly, guarding against evil and making peace between people."

The Holy Quran, 2:224

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CAIR-CHICAGO SET TO HOST HUNDREDS IN ANNUAL DINNER - TOP

WHAT: On Saturday, February 4, the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) will host its annual dinner, titled "Pro-Activism: Set Your Own Tracks."

The keynote speaker for the dinner will be Professor Sulayman Nyang of Howard University. Prof. Nyang is a leading authority on the Muslim experience in America.

WHERE: The Sabre Room, 8900 W. 95th St., Hickory Hills
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 4th - 6:00 pm
RSVP: http://www.cairchicago.org/rsvp2006.php or call 312-212-1520
CONTACT: Ahmed M. Rehab, 847-971-3963

ALSO SEE:

CAIR ARIZONA JOB OPENING: CIVIL RIGHTS DIRECTOR - TOP

CAIR-AZ is looking for an enthusiastic person for the position of Civil Rights Director. The ideal candidate will need to be flexible and able to work independently and as part of a team. Good communication skills are essential.

Send resumes to: chairman@cairaz.org
Cc: info@cairaz.org

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FBI: STILL NO LEADS IN MOSQUE BOMBING - TOP
WCPO, 1/13/06
http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/01/13/mosque.html

It's been 24 days since the Islamic Association of Cincinnati's Mosque was damaged by two pipe bombs.

9News has learned the FBI has no solid leads at this time.

Two pipe bombs were detonated on December 20th and immediately the search began for those responsible.

The FBI received some leads but they didn't amount to much, 9News learned.

If you have any information about this crime, please call Crimestoppers at (513) 352-3040. You don't have to give your name and you may be eligible for a reward if your tips lead to an arrest.

SEE ALSO:

CAIR OFFERS REWARD FOR INFO ON OH MOSQUE BOMBINGS - TOP
http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1923&theType=NR

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CAIR-CA: POLICE OVERSIGHT WEIGHED - TOP
Beth Curda, Davis Enterprise, 1/12/06
http://www.davisenterprise.com/

Hamza El-Nakhal, president of the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, left, speaks with R.C. Smith, a Davis resident who is a Sacramento Sheriff's captain, at a forum Wednesday hosted by Congregation Bet Haverim about forming a police review board.

For the entire article, see:
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2006/01/12/news/354new0.txt

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EDUCATION CALLED KEY TO SAFE HAJJ - TOP
Bettye Wells Miller, Press Enterprise, 1/12/05
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_hajjside13.1d5f3461.html

Inland Muslims on Thursday called for better education for pilgrims participating in the hajj after 345 people were trampled to death near Mecca.

Leaders of the Shura Council of Southern California also asked Saudi Arabian consular officials in Los Angeles for a meeting to discuss orientation and safety measures that would better protect the more than 2 million Muslims who make the annual pilgrimage to the Middle Eastern kingdom.

"There is no excuse for this to happen, period," said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Shura Council. "We do not question their (Saudi officials') sincerity of serving pilgrims. We do question the resources allocated," such as whether crowd monitors are adequately trained to understand the diversity of cultures and languages or the zeal of some pilgrims.

The Shura Council, an organization of mosques and Islamic centers, called the Saudi Consulate on Thursday morning after receiving numerous calls from Southern California Muslims angry that at least 345 Muslims died and 289 were injured in a stampede during the ritual stoning of a symbolic devil.

"We asked for a meeting to help them understand it is not rocket science in the 21st century to manage 2 million people in two weeks," Syed said. . .

Hussam Ayloush, a Corona resident who participated in the hajj in 2000, said anyone who applies for a visa to the hajj should also be required to attend an orientation so they know what to expect.

Some Saudi crowd managers underestimate the religious zeal of some pilgrims, Syed said.

"Some people get too hung up on the ritualistic process to the point where they need to perform the ritual at all costs, even if they push people around," said Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He participated in the hajj in 2000. "Most Muslims behave well during hajj. It is a religious requirement to be nice. A Muslim would lose the full reward of hajj if they were to get angry and push people around."

SEE ALSO:

CAIR OFFERS CONDOLENCES ON DEATHS OF HAJJ PILGRIMS - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/12/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today offered its condolences to the families of those who died in a stampede during religious observances in the city of Mina, Saudi Arabia. Authorities say 345 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in the stampede at the climax of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca.

In a statement, CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed said:

"We offer sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of all those who died or were injured in this tragic incident, and pray that the remaining pilgrims return home safely."

Ahmed also said the incident should be investigated fully in order to prevent similar tragedies during future pilgrimages.

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INCITEMENT WATCH: POSTS ON ANTI-MUSLIM HATE SITE APPLAUD HAJJ DEATHS - TOP

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162022
"I really can't crank out any tears for these people. Like bedbugs and roaches, the sooner the world is rid of them, the better."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162046
"hey l have a great idea, why dont muslims celebrate hajj monthly, that way they can send more to meet their allah!!"

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162051
"For some real fun what you do is release hundreds of thousands of Pork Belly Pigs into the crowd of 2.5 million and you'll see a rock and roll dance on a scale that Dick Clark never dared to envision in his wildest dreams."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162090
"Only 345?? Well, that's a start& I'm with Lulu - they should do this more often!"

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162282
"The only thing I think is a pity is that the number of those who got trampled didn't match the number of innocents killed by muslims in the last year."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162290
"Strategically dropped buckets of pigs blood from low flying airplanes (on top of the sludge (Hajj) celebration) with dropped messages in Arabic, Urdu, Farsi yada yada informing it IS in fact piggies blood on them would lead to upset MAD MAD MAD - MADDER MUSSULMANS!

"Just like Carrie, boy would you have mad Moslems that are likely to trample one another! Inshallah, they would kill themselves and pare humanity their religion."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162325
"I feel a minimum of sympathy for people who cant learn how to get out of each others way."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162336
"Yay, 345 less people that want me dead."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009778.php#c162359
"I'm definitely no expert (and don't want to be) in Islam, but I know enough to know that it is as dangerous and vicious a death-dealing cult now as it was in the 7th century. That is why I exhult in the death of Moslems and that is why I have said (in many fora) that fewer Moslems is better; that they should be forcefully removed from the West and that any destruction visited on them is good for decent people everywhere."

BACKGROUNDER:

CA SYNAGOGUE THAT HOSTED ISLAMOPHOBE URGED TO INVITE MUSLIM SPEAKER - TOP
http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1853&theType=NR

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UNIVERSITY LACKING ISLAMIC STUDIES - TOP
M. Reza Behnam, Ph.D., Daily Emerald, 1/13/06
http://www.dailyemerald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/01/13/43c7870c9d422

In the midst of national scandals, a local scandal has gone on long enough and demands immediate investigation.

An independent commission should be impaneled by the governor to investigate why degree programs in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies do not exist at the University. What forces led to the inclusion of Judaic studies while excluding Islamic studies? Why is it that Judaism, the religion of roughly 15 million people worldwide, is studied, while Islam, the religion of 1.2 billion people, is ignored? Imagine the protestation if the case were reversed.

Why is it that the instruction of social science courses has been dominated by a team of monochromatic non-Muslim faculty members? Are they at all responsible for the inclusion of Judaic studies and exclusion of degree programs in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies?

Is the plan to hire a specialist on medieval Islam and occasional conferences and special programs on the Middle East a prophylactic exercise to disguise the racism and favoritism of faculty members? Why are there no Muslim social science professors on the teaching staff? Where is the balance and where is the continued presence of intellectual diversity on campus? What happened to affirmative action?

These exclusionary practices should thoroughly be investigated by a commission independent of the University with its report directed to the Board of Higher Education and state Legislature. Until then, in the interest of balance and fairness, Judaic studies should suspend operations.

ALSO SEE:

'BUILDING BRIDGES' IS 1ST PRIORITY FOR IMS LEADER - TOP
Kay Campbell, Huntsville Times, 1/13/05
http://www.al.com/living/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/living/1137147345317570.xml&coll=1

One of the aspects of his faith that Aladin Beshir, the new president of the Interfaith Mission Service, treasures is the Prophet Muhammad's teaching about "ummah," or community.

"'Ummah' is not exclusive to the Islamic community," Beshir said last week. "It's everybody, everyone under God - the big family."

Building understanding and respect in this family, while respecting differences, has been a personal goal of Beshir's for years before he became a volunteer with Huntsville's Interfaith Mission Service.

Beshir, 50, an engineer who moved to the United States from Egypt when he was a teenager, grew up in a neighborhood in Egypt where Christians and Muslims helped each other as neighbors, and racial differences were noted only the way hair or eye color is noted in the U.S.

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'I'M A DOOR KICKER-INNER,' ONE YOUNG MARINE BLURTED OUT - TO THE DISMAY OF HIS SUPERIORS - TOP
James Hider and Stephen Farrell, Times Online, 1/12/06
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1981556,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=World

"WHY can't we live together in peace?", read the graffiti written on a wall in Fallujah by a weary American soldier. Next to it a colleague had scrawled: "Die ragheads die!"

The US military has struggled to improve the cultural sensitivity of its troops - often raw youths on their first trip abroad - since the start of the occupation when the first soldiers to hit Baghdad slipped a Stars and Stripes over the head of Saddam Hussein's statue. Jittery superiors swiftly ordered them to replace it with an Iraqi flag.

Long before the Abu Ghraib scandal, there were numerous examples of brutality and insensitivity by US troops to match tales of their courage. Sometimes it was purely a lack of local knowledge: a minor riot ensued when dogs - considered unclean in the Muslim world - were used to sniff staff entering the Oil Ministry.

At other times it was the crudeness of combat troops thrown abruptly into a peacekeeping role. "I don't know how many women I've seen in labour. These people s*** out kids like turds," a National Guardsman muttered to The Times on a patrol in Baghdad.

ALSO SEE:

US MISSILES BLAMED FOR 18 DEATHS ON PAKISTAN BORDER - TOP
Zeeshan Haidar, Reuters, 1/13/06
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL247771.htm

ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani security official and residents of a border region said U.S. aircraft from Afghanistan killed 18 people, including women and children, when they fired missiles at pro-Taliban Islamists early on Friday. Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said up to 14 people had been killed in several blasts in the Bajaur tribal region but said he did not know the cause.

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ISLAMIC GROUPS PROTEST PLAN TO LAUNCH INDONESIAN 'PLAYBOY' - TOP
Associated Press, 1/13/06
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060113143014&irec=4

JAKARTA (AP): Indonesian Muslims reacted angrily Friday to a purported plan by Playboy to launch a local version of its magazine in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Playboy representatives in the United States were not available for comment, but Indonesian businessman Avianto Nugroho claimed he had secured the license to publish the magazine.

He said it would be launched in March and - like a toned down version of the racy magazine the company plans to launch soon in India - it would not contain nude photos.

The company already publishes local editions in 17 other countries.

Nugroho said Indonesian Muslims "did not need to worry" about the magazine because of its more conservative content.

But Muslim group Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia said it would protest if the magazine hit the shelves.

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/15/06

* Hadith: Beware of Anger
* CAIR-CA Director Speaks at CAHRO Conference
* CA: Man Pleads Guilty to Anti-Muslim Hate Crime (CBS)
            - Australian Man 'on rampage hunted Muslims'
* CAIR: Evangelicals Waving the Israeli Flag (Orlando Sent)
            - Backgrounder: Evangelist Censured for Islam-Bashing
* FL: Prosecutors Preview Tactics for Al-Arian Retrial (SP Times)
* MI: Challenges Begin on Return from Mecca (Detroit News)
* 'Caliphate' Resonates With Mainstream Muslims (Wash Post)
            - FL Reader Slams Cal Thomas' Support for French Racist
* What Is the Correct Way to Greet Muslim Women? (Boston Globe)
* Why Hundreds of Ordinary Aussies Convert to Islam
            - Turning Muslim in Texas (Channel 4 UK)

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HADITH OF THE DAY: BEWARE OF ANGER - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The best of you are those who are slow to anger and swift to cool down. . .Beware of anger, for it is a live coal on the heart of the descendants of Adam."

Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1331

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CAIR-SV DIRECTOR SPEAKS AT CAHRO CONFERENCE - TOP
Presentation focused on civil rights, post-9/11 Islamophobia

(SACRAMENTO, CA, 1/15/06) - The Sacramento Valley office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) recently presented at a workshop, titled "Rising Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Islamophobia," for the California Association of Human Relations Organizations (CAHRO) annual conference. CAIR-SV's workshop was moderated by Ronald Wakabayashi, regional director for the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Service.

CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra offered a presentation describing the status of Muslim Civil Liberties in California and CAIR's efforts to fight Islamophobia.

"In order to combat Islamophobia and racism, Americans from all ethnic backgrounds and faiths must work together through pro-active educational measures," said Elkarra.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: Basim Elkarra, 916-441-6269, Email: sacval@cair.com

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CA: MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CHOKING CAB DRIVER - TOP
CBS, 1/14/06
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_014124542.html

(CBS) SANTA ANA, Calif. A man who choked a Pakistani cab driver and threatened revenge after a contractor beheading in Iraq will spend one year in jail beginning March 3rd after admitting to a hate crime.

Scott Kenton Wilson, 39, pleaded guilty yesterday to race-related kidnapping, making criminal threats and assault, which were all felonies.

Wilson, who is white, could have faced 13 years in prison had he gone to trial. Instead he accepted a lesser sentence to resolve the case.

Wilson admitted he was intoxicated, called a cab and felt emotional of the beheading of contractor Nicholas Berg.

On May 22, 2004, he choked the driver of the cab, spat on him and said, "Did you see my homeboy get his head chopped off? . . .I'm going to kill you twice for what your brothers did." The driver of the cab pressed a panic button, which activated a global position system that tracked the vehicle. The vehicle was pulled over in Long Beach and officers arrested Wilson. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

MAN 'ON RAMPAGE HUNTED MUSLIMS' - TOP
Kevin Meade, Australian, 1/13/06
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17807794%255E2702,00.html

THREE British tourists were allegedly terrorised in the Gold Coast hinterland by a man vowing to kill Muslims in a bizarre attack reminiscent of the Sydney race riots and the horror movie Wolf Creek.

The tourists hid in a rainforest in fear of their lives after 41-year-old Shane Robert Stephens chased them along a perilous mountain road, trying several times to run their car off the edge, the Southport Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

Mr Stephens then stabbed the tyres on their rented convertible, slashed the hood, tore off the rear number plate and ripped out wiring and spark plugs, prosecutor Peta Eyschen told the court. . .

Constable Eyschen said the drama began on Wednesday afternoon when Mr Stephens approached sightseers Dale Thompson and Ryan Kelsea in the carpark of the Natural Bridge, a popular scenic attraction in the Numinbah Valley, near the NSW border.

"You're not f..king Muslims," he allegedly said. "I'm going to kill some f..king Muslims."

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CAIR: CHRISTIAN EVANGELICALS WAVING THE ISRAELI FLAG - TOP
Mark I. Pinsky, Orlando Sentinel, 1/15/06
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/lifestyle/orl-chriszion1506jan15,0,2537860.story

From the lectern, the charismatic speaker delivers the rousing declarations the audience has come to hear:

Palestinians never owned the Land of Israel -- they have no legitimate claim to the land whatsoever!

I call upon the U.S. State Department to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- the eternal and undivided capital of Israel!

The president of Iran has called for the destruction of Israel. He has pledged to share Iran's nuclear weapons with the Islamic world! There is no compromise with fanatics that call for Israel to be blown off the map!

Each statement is greeted by thunderous applause. If you didn't know better, you'd think the event was a campaign rally for Israel's hard-line Likud Party. But this night the packed ballroom is at the Altamonte Springs Hilton. And the speaker is the Rev. John Hagee, foremost exponent of "Christian Zionism," who repeatedly brings nearly 1,000 cheering evangelicals to their feet. During the evening, the attendees will open their wallets to contribute tens of thousands of dollars to help buy an ambulance for an Israeli relief agency.

For many, the emergence of this kind of support for Israel among evangelicals -- which has become a national phenomenon -- is puzzling: After all, Jews and Christians have been at odds over their beliefs for 2,000 years. Judean authorities were blamed for Jesus' crucifixion; Jews became targets of anti-semitism after rejecting the Christian faith; and Christians massacred Jews during the Crusades. More recently Christians targeted Jews for conversion.

So why the relatively recent change? The answers lie partly in biblical prophecy, partly in the dangers of the real world. . .

Some Jews are suspicious that the Christian support is aimed at fulfilling that biblical prophecy of the gathering of the Jews in Israel as a prerequisite for Jesus' return to Earth.

Jewish leaders, such as Rabbi Eric Yoffie, head of the Reform movement, and Abraham Foxman, of the Anti-Defamation League, have criticized the religious conservatives, suggesting there is no room for any alliances, largely because of evangelical positions on domestic issues, such as abortion and the separation of church and state.

"It's hard for me to accept one part of the package without accepting the whole package," says Rabbi Steven Engel of the Congregation of Reform Judaism in Orlando. . .

Positions such as Hagee's are, predictably, disturbing to Arab Christians.

The Rev. Fahed Abu-Fakel, former moderator of the Presbyterian Church, USA, and a Palestinian-American, calls Christian Zionism "racist, destructive and unbiblical."

"Palestinian Christians see Christian Zionism as anti-Christian," says Abu-Fakel. "It says they don't exist. It makes them feel abandoned and forgotten. . ."

American Muslims also are concerned.

"The people who push most strongly for the policies of the state of Israel are the same people who are out there bashing Muslims," says Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group. (MORE)

FOR BACKGROUND, SEE:

CAIR-CAN: AMERICAN EVANGELIST CENSURED BY CTS TV - TOP
Station says comments on Islam violated code of ethics
American evangelist censured by CTS TV
http://www.caircan.ca/aa_more.php?id=A599_0_3_0_M

(Ottawa, Canada - 30/10/2003) - In response to a number of complaints by Canadian Muslims regarding Islamophobic comments made by evangelist John Hagee during the fall on Toronto-based CTS TV, the station has apologized to the Canadian Muslim community and warned the Hagee Ministry that its program violated the CTS Code of Ethics.

In particular, CTS indicated to John Hagee that his programming about Islam and the Qur'an violated provisions in the code which stipulate that comments about other faiths must be "accurate and fair" and that the tone of programming must not "misrepresent or incite hatred against any individual or identifiable group." CTS is now pre-screening "John Hagee Today" more closely.

In a letter to CAIR-CAN, CTS TV Program Manager Rob Sheppard wrote:

"...Mr. Hagee's tone in his comparison of what Christians believe according to the Bible and what Muslims believe according to the Quran did not meet our code of ethics. Once we were made aware of complaints made by viewers through phone calls and the CRTC, we responded immediately..."

"...I trust you will understand that we are very sorry for this incident and we are very aware of the affect it has had on the Muslim community. We have made it very clear that he must follow our code of ethics and any program that does not meet our standard will be rejected."

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FL: PAPERS PREVIEW TACTICS FOR AL-ARIAN RETRIAL - TOP
JENNIFER LIBERTO, St. Petersburg Times, 1/14/06
http://sptimes.com/
Search using the term "Al-Arian."

TAMPA - Federal prosecutors on the Sami Al-Arian case offered a legal peek Friday into how they might prosecute the former University of South Florida professor on charges that a jury could not agree upon last month.

Al-Arian was acquitted of eight counts of raising money for violent acts of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Israel after a six-month trial. The judge declared a mistrial on nine other counts because the jurors could not agree.

Al-Arian's co-defendant Hatem Fariz was acquitted on 25 counts, with mistrials declared on eight other charges. Defendants Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Ballut were acquitted of all charges.

Prosecutors had said at a hearing last week that they needed to look into which counts they planned to retry. In a detailed 21-page motion filed Friday, they say all the hung charges are worth pursuing.

Prosecutors say they presented enough proof against both Al-Arian and Fariz on the hung counts for a "reasonable jury to find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

Al-Arian's Tampa attorney, Linda Moreno, said prosecutors "want to pretend that the six-month trial that they put on never happened," adding, "Their definition of a "reasonable jury,' in this case, is one which ignores their lack of evidence and votes blindly for guilt." (MORE)

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MI: CHALLENGES BEGIN ON RETURN FROM MECCA - TOP
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, Detroit News, 1/14/06
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060114/OPINION03/601140319/1031/METRO

MINA, SAUDI ARABIA -- I was one of more than 10,000 U.S. Muslims this past week who joined an ocean of pilgrims to visit the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Prophet Mohammad. I can't bring you the delightful weather here, but I can share some of this sacred journey.

Performing the hajj is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for every Muslim who can afford it. It is one of the most important aspects of Islam.

The supreme purpose of the hajj, or pilgrimage to the desert of Arabia, is to submit to God's superiority; to end superiority based on race, class and nationality; and to reform the pilgrim's relationship with himself, the Lord and society. . .

The pilgrimage has its own difficulties, but the real challenge starts after hajj, when the pilgrims go home and share with their communities the lessons they learned from this journey. I thank God for the opportunity to make this trip.

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RESTORATION OF CALIPHATE, ATTACKED BY BUSH, RESONATES WITH MAINSTREAM MUSLIMS - TOP
Karl Vick, Washington Post, 1/14/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/13/AR2006011301816.html

ISTANBUL -- The plan was to fly a hijacked plane into a national landmark on live television. The year was 1998, the country was Turkey, and the rented plane ended up grounded by weather. Court records show the Islamic extremist who planned to commandeer the cockpit did not actually know how to fly.

But if the audacious scheme prefigured Sept. 11, 2001, it also highlighted a cause that, seven years later, President Bush has used to define the war against terrorism. What the ill-prepared Turkish plotters told investigators they aimed to do was strike a dramatic blow toward reviving Islam's caliphate, the institution that had nominally governed the world's Muslims for nearly all of the almost 1,400 years since the death of the prophet Muhammad.

The goal of reuniting Muslims under a single flag stands at the heart of the radical Islamic ideology Bush has warned of repeatedly in recent major speeches on terrorism. In language evoking the Cold War, Bush has cast the conflict in Iraq as the pivotal battleground in a larger contest between advocates of freedom and those who seek to establish "a totalitarian Islamic empire reaching from Spain to Indonesia."

The enthusiasm of the extremists for that vision is not disputed. However unlikely its realization, the ambition may help explain terrorist acts that often appear beyond understanding. When Osama bin Laden called the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon "a very small thing compared to this humiliation and contempt for more than 80 years," the reference was to the aftermath of World War I, when the last caliphate was suspended as European powers divided up the Middle East. Al Qaeda named its Internet newscast, which debuted in September, "The Voice of the Caliphate."

Yet the caliphate is also esteemed by many ordinary Muslims. For most, its revival is not an urgent concern. Public opinion polls show immediate issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and discrimination rank as more pressing. But Muslims regard themselves as members of the umma, or community of believers, that forms the heart of Islam. And as earthly head of that community, the caliph is cherished both as memory and ideal, interviews indicate.

That reservoir of respect represents a risk for the Bush administration as it addresses an issue closely watched by a global Islamic population estimated at 1.2 billion. Already, many surveys show that since the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, Muslims almost universally have seen the war against terrorism as a war on Islam. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

MOVE THOMAS TO RELIGION PAGE - TOP
Morton Kurzweil Margate, Sun-Sentinel, 1/15/06
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-brmail943xjan15,0,3036887.story

Why do you persist in publishing Cal Thomas on the Opinion page when his column should be on the Faith and Religion page, if it deserves to be printed at all?

His Wednesday column, "Lessons learned (and not learned) from riots," presumed to promote the policies of Jean-Marie Le Pen as an awakening call for Western civilization against the Muslim Menace of Islam and the inevitable conversion of Europe into an Islamic culture within 25 years. This will be accomplished by an explosion of Muslim populations by immigration and increasing birth rates, and that "many of these foreigners live by dealing in drugs and stealing. They have created their own ghettos, have destroyed schools, and attack police and firemen."

Substitute Negro, Hispanic, Jew or Catholic for Muslim to apply this argument to any fascist, racist or hatemonger in this or any country. It is a matter of fact that this hero of the republic believes in France for the French, the way the Nazis believed in the purity of the German Race. Le Pen has a long history of racism, anti-Semitism and pro-Nazi beliefs. None of this is mentioned by Thomas, but is readily available on the Web, including quotes. (MORE)

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WHAT IS THE CORRECT WAY TO GREET MUSLIM WOMEN? - TOP
Peter Post, Boston Globe, 1/15/06
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/01/15/what_is_the_correct_way_to_greet_muslim_women/

Q: What is the correct way to greet Muslim women? Am I allowed to shake their hands? Also, what should I do if a woman is veiled, indicating that she is a more conservative Muslim?

A: In answering this question, I'm assuming the issue is that you are a non-Muslim seeking guidance on how to approach shaking hands with Muslim women. Many Muslims believe that men and women who are not close relatives by blood or marriage should not have physical contact because it could provoke sexual desire or cause temptation on the part of either person.

For a non-Muslim man greeting a Muslim woman, the best approach is to avoid being too forward. Whether the woman is wearing a veil or not, don't offer your hand unless a hand is first offered to you. Instead, when you're introduced, simply say, ''I'm pleased to meet you," while leaving your arms comfortably at your sides. If, out of habit, a situation arises in which you've extended your hand and the other person doesn't reciprocate, don't be offended; simply lower your hand and indicate your pleasure at meeting them.

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WHY HUNDREDS OF ORDINARY WEST AUSSIES CHANGE FAITH - TOP
Paul Lampathakis, Sunday Times, 1/15/06
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,17822298%255E2761,00.html

AXEL Cremer used to turn heads when he'd roar up to prayer time at the Rivervale mosque on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

"When I first turned up, I freaked them out," the 50-year-old reticulation company director said.

"They'd see someone in black leather flying down the road, who stopped, then all of a sudden took all the leather off and walked into the mosque in Islamic clothing. Now they know me and miss me when they don't hear the bike."

Mr Cremer, whose Muslim name is Mohammed, is one of hundreds of West Australians who have converted to Islam in recent years, despite the stigma surrounding the religion that has grown since the 9/11 terror attacks.

Local converts say they number about 200, among about 20,000 Muslims in WA from more than 70 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and eastern Europe. Nationwide, numbers increased about 40 per cent between 1996 and 2001, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, mainly because of migration.

Converts say that in Islam they have found clearer answers to questions of spirituality than in Christianity, a stronger sense of community and rules to live by. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

TURNING MUSLIM IN TEXAS - TOP
Channel 4 (UK)
http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/texas1.html

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/16/06

* CAIR-CA: MLK's Path to Justice and Equality
* CAIR: Are Bloggers Against Hate, or Feeding It? (SP Times)
            - Posts on Internet Hate Site Applaud Hajj Deaths
            - Calif. Synagogue Hosts Anti-Islam Blogger
* Incitement Watch: Muslims 'in a Riot of Reproduction'
* Translator's Conviction Raises Legal Concerns (Wash Post)
            - CA: Attorneys Seek Dismissal over Government Conduct
* NJ Conference Attendees: Torture an Ungodly Act
* NJ: Columbia Prof Discusses Islamic Science (Princetonian)
            - PA: Islamic Center Offers Chance to Learn
* Opening: 'Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World'

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CAIR-CA: THE PATH TO JUSTICE AND EQUALITY - TOP
Dina EL-Nakhal, Davis Enterprise, 1/15/06
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2006/01/15/opinion/letters/351letters.txt

[Dina EL-Nakhal is communications director for Sacramento Valley office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV). She may be reached at: dinae@cair.com ]

The Reverend Martin Luther King quoted the national creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." Prophet Muhammad expressed a similar sentiment more than 1400 years ago when he said, "There is no superiority of a white person over a black, nor an Arab over a non-Arab, except in God consciousness." In other words, all people are equal and should only be judged on the basis of merit rather than physical attributes.

Although it may seem unusual that spiritual leaders such as prophet Muhammad and the Rev. Dr. King would focus on issues of racism, ethnocenticism and arrogance, it is apparent that the history of the world is rooted in them. It is also obvious that their (King's and Prophet Muhammad) strong faith is what kept them upon that difficult path.

Appreciating diversity and pluralism as an asset has been a struggle in our society, especially since ethnic background played a major role in the history of defining this nation, ranging from the civil war to the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II. As we forge ahead let us remember the price paid by our predecessors, such as the late Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat because of the color of her skin or Dr. King who was imprisoned for daring to question the institution of Jim Crow.

On the occasion of MLK Day, one cannot but reflect upon the man whose name became synonymous with the civil rights movement. The movement that he led decades ago is still alive and well. Perhaps it is through perpetual jihad (struggle) for equality that we are reminded of the goal - equality, peace and justice.

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CAIR: ARE BLOGGERS AGAINST HATE, OR FEEDING IT? - TOP
S.I. ROSENBAUM, St. Petersburg Times, 1/16/06
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/16/State/Are_bloggers_against_.shtml

Kaufman's site is only one of a constellation of blogs with names like JihadWatch.com, MilitantIslamMonitor.org, and WesternResistance.com that are dedicated to the surveillance of American Muslims. The blogs link to one another, with more-traveled sites amplifying stories from more obscure ones, like Kaufman's.

He claims he has not found a single mosque in Florida that is not linked to terrorists. . .

A lot of people are listening.

Last month, after Kaufman called a Tampa Muslim religious retreat a "jihad camp for children" and wrote that the speakers were "linked to al-Qaida," death threats poured in to the Presbyterian camp hosting the event.

Muslims say the blogs breed hate.

"He's spreading lies, slandering individuals," said Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Tampa Bay chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "These are vigilantes.". . .

To Kaufman and other bloggers, the events of Sept. 11 were born of Islam's teachings. . .

Jennifer Valko opened her e-mail and saw a message of hate.

I will undress you paint your body with pig fat & light you. America is on to you! Watch your back!

It was the Thursday after Christmas. In two days, the Muslim spiritual retreat she had helped plan was scheduled to take place at Cedarkirk, a Presbyterian camp and conference center in eastern Hillsborough County.

That morning, Kaufman had appeared on Fox News to talk about the retreat.

On his Web site, he had posted articles about it. He posted computer-altered images of masked terrorists standing in front of the Lithia campsite.

He said these images were meant to be "tongue in cheek." But some readers took them seriously. Hate mail and death threats poured in to the Tampa Muslim American Society. (MORE)

SEND NOTE OF APPRECIATION TO: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
COPY TO: abedier@cairfl.org, srosenbaum@sptimes.com

SEE ALSO:

INCITEMENT: POSTS ON HATE SITE APPLAUD HAJJ DEATHS - TOP
http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=351&theType=AA

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SYNAGOGUE THAT HOSTED ISLAMOPHOBE URGED TO INVITE MUSLIM SPEAKER - TOP
http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1853&theType=NR

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INCITEMENT WATCH: MUSLIMS 'IN A RIOT OF REPRODUCTION' - TOP

DESTINED FOR THE SUPPER DISH
Suzanne Fields, Washington Times, 1/16/06
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/sfields.htm

The birth dearth puts us at a growing disadvantage because the most intolerant cultures usually engage in a riot of reproduction. Between 1970 and 2000 the Muslim world accounted for 26 percent of the increase in the world's population while the Western countries accounted for under 9 percent. During those same years the developed world -- the euphemism for the West -- declined from just under 30 percent of the world's population to just over 20 percent, while the Islamic world grew from 15 to 20 percent. The implication of these statistics is clear.

We argue over whether America was founded on the ideals of our Judeo-Christian faiths; we're told it's at least impolite to think so. Muslims, even many of the peaceful Muslims, work for the day when their progeny will live in an Islamic world.

SEND POLITE COMMENTS TO: http://washingtontimes.com/contact-us/index.php?Department=LetterToTheEditor
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org

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TRANSLATOR'S CONVICTION RAISES LEGAL CONCERNS - TOP
Trial Transcripts Show Lack of Evidence
Michael Powell and Michelle Garcia, Washington Post, 1/16/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/15/AR2006011500940_pf.html

NEW YORK -- For three years federal agents trailed Mohammed Yousry, a chubby 50-year-old translator and U.S. citizen who worked for radical lawyer Lynne Stewart. Prosecutors wiretapped his phone, and FBI agents shadowed and interviewed him. They read his books and notepads and every file on his computer.

This was their conclusion:

"Yousry is not a practicing Muslim. He is not a fundamentalist," prosecutor Anthony Barkow acknowledged in his closing arguments to a jury in federal district court in Manhattan earlier this year. "Mohammed Yousry is not someone who supports or believes in the use of violence."

Still, the prosecutor persuaded the jury to convict Yousry of supporting terrorism. Yousry now awaits sentencing in March, when he could face 20 years in prison for translating a letter from imprisoned Muslim cleric Omar Abdel Rahman to Rahman's lawyer in Egypt.

In June 2000, Stewart released to a reporter a version of the letter, which discussed a cease-fire between Islamic militants and the Egyptian government. Prosecutors said that the lawyer and the translator, by these acts, conspired to use Rahman's words to incite others to carry out kidnappings and killings. No attack took place.

"Kill who? What are they talking about?" Yousry asked recently as he sat alongside his wife, Sarah, an evangelical Christian, in their modest Connecticut condominium. "The words I'm looking for, it's insane."

The prosecution and conviction of Stewart, 66, on charges of aiding terrorist activity, drew international attention, overshadowing Yousry's case. But legal experts, civil liberties lawyers and a juror say Yousry's conviction raises many troubling questions, not least how a court-appointed translator working on instruction from lawyers could be held responsible for navigating complicated and dangerous legal waters.

The trial transcripts reveal that prosecutors advanced no evidence to back up certain claims, including the assertion that Yousry was in touch with Middle Eastern terrorists. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CA: HAYATS' ATTORNEYS SEEK TO DISMISS CASE OVER GOVERNMENT CONDUCT - TOP
Layla Bohm, News-Sentinel, 1/14/06
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2006/01/14/news/2_hayat_060114.txt

Attorneys for a Lodi father and son accused of having ties to terrorism on Friday asked a judge to dismiss the case because of the "outrageous conduct" of the government.

The motion was filed along with a number of other documents leading to the Feb. 14 trial of Umer and Hamid Hayat, who were arrested eight months ago during a large FBI investigation in Lodi. The case gained national attention and has been the subject of ongoing newspaper and television stories.

Defense attorneys accused the government of tainting the jury pool by trying to link the father and son to terrorist organizations, as well as revealing polygraph test results even though such results aren't allowed in trial.

"The government's conduct coupled with the widespread national media attention this case has received confirms that the defendants could not have a fair trial with an impartial jury anywhere in the United States," defense attorneys Johnny Griffin III and Wazhma Mojaddidi wrote in their motion. (MORE)

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NJ CONFERENCE ATTENDEES: TORTURE AN UNGODLY ACT - TOP
CHRIS STURGIS, Trenton Times, 1/15/06
http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1137315944245571.xml&coll=5

PRINCETON BOROUGH - Religious leaders from across the nation came together at the Princeton Theological Seminary this weekend hoping to build a powerful, spiritually based chorus condemning torture.

"Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions hold dear," said the Rev. George Hunsinger, professor of theology, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA and founder of Church Folks for a Better America, an online peace initiative.

Speaking at an afternoon press conference yesterday, Hunsinger said torture "degrades everyone involved - policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable." . . .

The final speaker, James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said he learned what it felt like to be treated like the enemy because he is of the Asian race and practices the Muslim religion, despite serving his country in an American Army uniform, as had two generations of his family before him.

Yee said his reports to his superiors about prison guards showing disrespect to the Muslim holy book, the Quran, resulted in his being arrested and accused of espionage, aiding the enemy, mutiny and sedition and failure to obey an order.

The charges were dropped against Yee and he received an honorable discharge, but not before he had been detained in solitary confinement for 76 days. He said he was transported from Guantanamo to Charleston, S.C., in the manner of an enemy combatant, with chains on his wrists, ankles and his waist, opaque goggles rendering him unable to see and headgear rendering him unable to hear.

"I always assumed that if I made any sudden movement, I would have been shot," he said. (MORE)

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NJ: COLUMBIA PROF DISCUSSES ISLAMIC SCIENCE - TOP
Jonathan Zebrowski, Princetonian, 1/16/06
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/01/16/news/14262.shtml

Columbia professor George Saliba discussed the role of pre-modern Islam in advancing the scientific knowledge of the ancient Greeks in a lecture to the Princeton Middle East Society on Sunday evening.

Saliba, who specializes in studying the diffusion of scientific knowledge across cultural boundaries and the role of Islam in the formation of scientific ideas, discussed Arabic modifications to Greek mathematics and astronomy that originated from religious needs but were subsequently used as tools in all aspects of life.

The Islamic obligation to pray in the direction of Mecca several times each day, for example, led to significant developments in astronomical calculations, including a new, more correct measurement of the tilt of the earth's axis and the invention of the law of sines, Saliba said.

It also led Arabic scholars to develop a complex system of tables and charts indicating the precise direction of Mecca from every location in the known world. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

PA: ISLAMIC CENTER OFFERS A CHANCE TO LEARN IN WINDBER - TOP
SANDY WOJCIK, Daily American, 1/15/06
http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2006/01/15/news/monday/news04.txt

WINDBER - Great food, good conversation and most of all, a chance to learn about other cultures and religion, were offered to all on Saturday night at the Islamic Center in Windber.

Celebrating the Feast of Sacrifice, Muslims from throughout Somerset, Cambria, Bedford and Blair counties joined with their families to pray and share. President of the Islamic Center in Windber, Fouad ElBayly, said the local congregation alone has more than 100 members, including men, women and children.

"Our group is multi-national and we always meet on Saturdays at five for Holy Prayers," he said.

ElBayly, who works as a corrections officer in Somerset, said those who attend are from his country, Egypt along with India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria and "of course America."

Because this weekend's event was a special occasion, families were asked to bring their most outstanding food items for a covered dish meal, following prayer led by ElBayly. The smorgasbord of food ranged from rice prepared four or five different ways, meat dishes, including fish, beef, goat and lamb; and sweets, ranging from baklava to nut filled cookies.

And children being children, enjoyed a universal favorite, pizza. (MORE)

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NEW MOVIES OPENING FRIDAY - TOP
San Francisco Chronicle, 1/16/06

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Albert Brooks stars in this comedy about a government diplomat sent to India and Pakistan to determine what makes Muslims laugh. Also starring Fred Dalton Thompson, John Carroll Lynch and Jon Tenney. Rated PG-13. 98 minutes.

SEE: http://wip.warnerbros.com/lookingforcomedy/LFC_content.html

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/17/2006) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that it has joined a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a secret National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program that targeted American citizens without court authorization.

The bipartisan lawsuit, filed in Detroit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), alleges that the NSA surveillance program violates the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution and the constitutional separation of powers because it was authorized by President Bush in excess of his executive authority. It also seeks a court order to bring the program to an end.

SEE: Two Groups Plan Lawsuits Over Federal Eavesdropping

SEE ALSO: Suits Seek to Block Bush's Spy Program
NSA Lawsuit - Stop Illegal Surveillance

"The First and Fourth Amendment protections of free speech and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizure are hallmarks of the Constitution that should not be tossed aside so casually by any branch of our government," said CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed. "CAIR joined this lawsuit to protect the legal foundation of America and the civil rights of all its citizens."

He cited a national media report today that even FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, "raised concerns about the legal rationale for a program of eavesdropping without warrants."

SEE: Spy Agency Data After Sept. 11 Led F.B.I. to Dead Ends

Yesterday, former Vice President Al Gore called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the NSA wiretapping program.

SEE: Gore: Resist Bush's 'Excessive Power Grab'

Ahmed also noted that the NSA surveillance program chills efforts by the American Muslim community to build bridges of understanding between the United States and the Islamic world.

As the ACLU lawsuit states: "[M]embers of the American Muslim community, many of whom are members of CAIR, are engaged in efforts of commerce, education and social services with individuals and institutions in the Muslim world. The work of the American Muslim community in being able to engage freely in commerce, education and social services in the Muslim world is a vital part of building bridges between America and the Muslim world and thus, is integral to America's national security and vital interests."

The plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit include CAIR, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace, award-winning author James Bamford, Larry Diamond of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, author Christopher Hitchens, American Prospect Senior Editor Tara McKelvey, and Barnett Rubin, a senior fellow at the New York University Center on International Cooperation.

In December, CAIR filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all government records relating to President Bush's post-9/11 executive orders authorizing electronic surveillance of Americans and others in the United States without first obtaining court approval, as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar, 202-488-8787 or 202-415-0799, E-Mail: arsalan@cair-net.org; CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR CALLS FOR RELEASE OF U.S. JOURNALIST IN IRAQ

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/17/2006) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called for the immediate release of American journalist Jill Carroll abducted January 7 while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper in Baghdad.

SEE: Abducted in Iraq: An Update on Reporter Jill Carroll

Al-Jazeera reported today that the kidnappers have given the U.S. government 72 hours to give in to their demands.

In a statement, CAIR said:

"Journalists must be free to report on conflicts worldwide without fear of being targeted by combatants. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Jill Carroll and for the release of all hostages held in Iraq. No cause can be served by harming those who only seek to convey the human suffering caused by war."

CAIR's statement will be translated into Arabic and distributed to Middle Eastern media outlets.

In December, CAIR held a news conference at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C., to call for the release of members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams also taken hostage in Iraq.

CAIR has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

-----

CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/18/2006) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today announced that it is sending a delegation to Iraq to call for the release of American journalist Jill Carroll who was abducted January 7th while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

Al-Jazeera yesterday aired a brief video from the hostage-takers showing Carroll and threatening to kill her within 72 hours unless U.S. military authorities released all Iraqi women in their custody.

SEE: Hostage Video Ignites Wide Call to Free Carroll

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that because of the short deadline, its delegation will hold an initial news conference late Thursday in Amman, Jordan, to make a public appeal to the kidnappers for Carroll's freedom. A second news conference will be held in Baghdad on Friday.

CAIR also announced that it will hold a news conference January 19th in Michigan, Carroll's home state, at which local Muslim leaders will also call for her immediate release.

WHAT: Michigan Muslims to Call for Release of U.S. Journalist Held in Iraq
WHEN: Thursday, January 19, 2006
FOR DETAILS, CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, 248-569-2203, E-Mail: cairmichigan@yahoo.com

According to the BBC, Iraqi officials now say that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq will be released.

SEE: Iraq Detainees to be Freed Early

Along with the delegation to Iraq and the Michigan news conference, CAIR is also coordinating a joint appeal by national Muslim leaders for Carroll's safe return to her family.

Yesterday, CAIR issued a statement, which was translated into Arabic and distributed to Middle Eastern media outlets, calling for Carroll's "immediate and unconditional" release.

SEE: CAIR Calls For Release of U.S. Journalist in Iraq

In December, CAIR held a news conference at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C., to call for the release of members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams also taken hostage in Iraq.

CAIR has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org.

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

-----

CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/18/06

* Help CAIR Meet Its January Goal of $50K
* CAIR-AZ: Muslims Take Part in Diversity Luncheon
* CAIR Rep Appears in ABC News Segment on NSA Spy Program
            - Editorial: Spying on Ordinary Americans (NY Times)
* CAIR-CAN: Canadians Demand Answers on No-Fly Lists (Star)
* NJ: Quran Used for First Time in Swearing-In Ceremony
* CA: Muslim Cabbies Claim Discrimination (AP)
            - MO: Flier an Example of Muslim Bashing (KC Star)
* NJ: Teen Charged in 'Arab' Student's Stabbing (Herald News)
* Muslim Lawyers' Group Fears Alito No Friend of Civil Rights
* CAIR: Niche Banks Find Growth in Muslim Market (CNN)
* Human Rights Watch World Report 2006
            - Rights Group Says U.S. Abuse Deliberate (AP)

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HELP CAIR MEET ITS JANUARY GOAL OF 50K - TOP

CAIR is asking everyone to do their part to help us reach our online fundraising goal of $50,000 for January. Whether your donation is $10, $50 or $100, every dollar that you donate today will count and be used to help empower the American Muslim community.

NOW is the time to show your support for CAIR.

To support CAIR's important work, please donate at:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/donate.asp

REMEMBER: Scholars say CAIR is able to receive ZAKAT donations.

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CAIR-AZ: MUSLIMS TAKE PART IN NEWSPAPER DIVERSITY LUNCHEON - TOP

(PHOENIX, AZ, 1/17/05) - Representatives of the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) and local Muslim community members recently participated in a luncheon hosted by the Arizona Republic newspaper's Diversity Committee.

The Diversity Committee consists of staff members of the Arizona Republic who get together periodically for a brownbag lunch that features guest speakers.

Topics presented were Islam 101, Muslim Demographics, Muslims in Politics and Muslims in Arizona. The luncheon and presentations were followed by a Q&A session in which a healthy debate ensued.

Daniel Gonzalez, immigration reporter and coordinator of the event, said that the luncheon was the biggest turnout that the Diversity Committee has seen since its inception more than a year ago.

CONTACT: Nure Elatari (602) 312-2223, E-Mail: director@cairaz.org; Bushra Khan (602) 262-2247, Email: officemanager@cairaz.org

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CAIR REP APPEARS IN ABC NEWS SEGMENT ON NSA SPY PROGRAM - TOP

CAIR National Director Arsalan Iftikar appeared on ABC World News to comment on a lawsuit by a coalition including the CAIR and the ACLU challenging the legality of the NSA secret wiretaps.

To Watch this segment in broadband speed, follow the below link:
http://www.cairfl.org/video/060117_abc_nsa_arsalan.wmv

SPY SUITS: BUSH ADMINISTRATION FACES CHARGES OVER ILLEGAL DOMESTIC SPYING
ABC News: World News Tonight, 1/17/06
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/

ELIZABETH VARGAS (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Now to the administration's legal battle over its secret domestic spying program. The ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed lawsuits today to stop the National Security Agency from spying on people without warrants. President Bush says the program has uncovered potential terrorists. But the lawsuits claim it's doing more harm than good. ABC's Pierre Thomas reports, now, from the Justice Department.

PIERRE THOMAS (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Attorneys for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay believe their telephone conversations and emails with clients have been illegally tapped by the secret NSA spy program.

RACHEL MEEROPOL (THE CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS)

I'm really outraged, having to go back and think about the fact that conversations you had with your clients that you thought were absolutely confidential, that were privileged, that those were probably, you know, are now the property of the US government.

PIERRE THOMAS (ABC NEWS)

(VO) In today's lawsuits, those attorneys, along with authors, scholars and Muslim support groups, claim unauthorized government eavesdropping will limit their ability to do their jobs.

ARSALAN IFTIKHAR (COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS)

If you feel as though you're being wiretapped or placed under surveillance, it would obviously place a chilling effect on your first amendment right to free speech.

PIERRE THOMAS (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Investigative journalist James Bamford is concerned his sources on international terrorism may now be unwilling to talk.

JAMES BAMFORD (PLAINTIFF)

They will be very inhibited from communicating with me from now on knowing that I may be subject to NSA eavesdropping. That greatly affects the way I write, the quality of my writing, the course of my employment and so forth.

PIERRE THOMAS (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But will these lawsuits hold up in court? Some legal scholars believe that potential victims will have to prove they were spied on, something the government is not likely to confirm.

BRAD BERENSON (FORMER ASSOCIATE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL)

It's really questionable whether the courts are going to allow a major lawsuit to go forward based on vague and speculative allegations like that.

PIERRE THOMAS (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Even those filing the lawsuits admit they have no hard evidence they were spied on, and want the government to provide the proof.

RACHEL MEEROPOL (THE CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS)

We want confirmation that we were wiretapped or else confirmation that we weren't.

PIERRE THOMAS (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Today, the Bush administration called these lawsuits baseless.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN (WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY)

I think that the frivolous lawsuits do nothing to help enhance civil liberties or protect the American people.

PIERRE THOMAS (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Even if these lawsuits fail, expect critics of the NSA spy program to try other tactics to hold the government accountable. Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH VARGAS (ABC NEWS)

(OC) All right. Pierre Thomas at the Justice Department. Thanks so much. Bob?

BOB WOODRUFF (ABC NEWS)

SEE ALSO:

EDITORIAL: SPYING ON ORDINARY AMERICANS - TOP
New York Times, 1/18/06
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/opinion/18wed1.html

In times of extreme fear, American leaders have sometimes scrapped civil liberties in the name of civil protection. It's only later that the country can see that the choice was a false one and that citizens' rights were sacrificed to carry out extreme measures that were at best useless and at worst counterproductive. There are enough examples of this in American history - the Alien and Sedition Acts and the World War II internment camps both come to mind - that the lesson should be woven into the nation's fabric. But it's hard to think of a more graphic example than President Bush's secret program of spying on Americans.

The White House has offered steadily weaker arguments to defend the decision to eavesdrop on Americans' telephone calls and e-mail without getting warrants. One argument is that the spying produced unique and highly valuable information. Vice President Dick Cheney, who never shrinks from trying to prey on Americans' deepest fears, said that the spying had saved "thousands of lives" and could have thwarted the 9/11 attacks had it existed then.

Given the lack of good, hard examples, that argument sounded dubious from the start. A chilling article in yesterday's Times confirmed our fears.

According to the article, the eavesdropping swept up vast quantities of Americans' private communications without any reasonable belief that they could be related to terrorism. The National Security Agency flooded the Federal Bureau of Investigation with thousands of names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and other tips that virtually all led to dead ends or to innocent Americans.

About the only result the administration has been able to dredge up on behalf of the spying program is the claim that the information it gained helped disrupt two plots: one to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge and one to detonate fertilizer bombs in London. But officials in Washington and Britain disputed the connection. And that plot to cut down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch has been trotted out so many times that it would be comical if the issue were not so serious. (MORE)

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CAIR-CAN: CANADIANS MUST DEMAND ANSWERS ON NO-FLY LISTS - TOP
Halima Mautbur, Toronto Star, 1/18/06
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1137497167972&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

The issue of no-fly lists is finally registering on the national radar screen. It's an issue that should concern all Canadians, because this snare is catching far more than just the "usual suspects."

One of Canada's shadiest statistics is the unknown number of citizens who have had their mobility rights curbed by the U.S. no-fly list. Some of the notables include Canada's Defence Minister Bill Graham and NDP MP Pat Martin, both of whom were caught by the now infamously inaccurate American watch list.

Most startling about their cases is that neither were flying into the United States at the time - they were flying between Canadian cities.

Complaints filed with the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) have also indicated that Canadian airlines are applying the U.S. no-fly list on flights within Canada, not just those landing south of the border.

The incidents raise an alarming question: Why are Canadians being restricted by American policies in their own country?

It's a conundrum that has left many Canadians without recourse. Yet instead of addressing the problem, Transport Minister Jean Lapierre announced last August that a Canadian no-fly list would be added to the mix.

But even as he unveiled the government's newest anti-terror tool, he kept secret the details of its process and application. Even the exact date of implementation remains unknown, only that it will start sometime this year.

There was one glaring omission from Lapierre's program: The "Passenger Protect" plan did not include an appeal mechanism for those wrongly targeted. "I will be responsible for putting the names on the list," Lapierre told reporters, as though that excluded the possibility for errors.

It didn't inspire confidence in his critics. The plan was later revised to include a removal mechanism for those mistakenly listed, although little is known about how serviceable that process will be, given that individuals aren't permitted to challenge secret information.

The use of watch lists to curb mobility is a departure from traditional legal restrictions, many of which are justified and are applied after fair, open trials. For example, convicted sex offenders can be prohibited from going near schools. But no transparent trials will take place before inviduals are named to the pending Canadian list.

That decision will be made behind closed doors by the transport minister, CSIS and the RCMP. Many may not even find out they are on the list until they attempt to fly to a business engagement or family gathering. Worse, they may end up being detained in a foreign country.

There are other questions that remain unanswered about Canada's list. What criteria will place individuals on the list? How reliable is the information used to add names to the list?

How will the information be shared with other countries, particularly those with poor human rights records? Will Canadian airlines be permitted to continue using the U.S. no-fly list, even on flights between Canadian cities? (MORE)

Halima Mautbur is human rights coordinator for CAIR-CAN, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations.

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BY THE BOOK IN BOONTON: THE QURAN - TOP
Bible replaced in ceremony for Muslim taking seat on planning board
Sara N. Lynch, Daily Record, 1/18/05
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060118/NEWS01/601180313/1005

BOONTON -- The three men stood at the front of the courtroom before the planning board attorney last week, their right hands raised in preparation to become the latest members of the town's planning board.

Two of the men placed their left hands on the Bible to take their oaths and "solemnly swear" before God.

The third man, 49-year-old Tajammul "Taj" Khokhar, placed his hand on his family's Quran and took an affirmation.

Khokhar, a well-known Boonton resident who is also a Boonton Main Street trustee and an active member of the Jam e Masjid Islamic Center, may well have made town history in that moment.

Although other Boonton Muslims have served on various boards, including the Housing Authority and the Library Board, the Pakistan-born American is the only Muslim in anyone's memory to serve on the town's planning board, let alone use a Quran in lieu of a Bible during the ceremony.

Khokhar said he had not even realized that he might be the first Muslim in Boonton to serve on the planning board or use a Quran to take his affirmation.

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CA: MUSLIM CABBIES CLAIM DISCRIMINATION - TOP
Associated Press, 1/17/06
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/13645347.htm

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Muslim cabbies complain they are being unfairly targeted by sheriff's deputies who are enforcing a law requiring them to get a county license.

The taxi drivers, who work for two Muslim-owned cab companies, said they have gotten about 30 misdemeanor citations in the two months for not having Santa Barbara County licenses, a requirement that has been in place for at least three decades.

The drivers said the county license requirement was never enforced until recently.

"We don't want to break the law. If we had known about it, we would have gotten a permit," said Habib Mehai, owner of Fly By Night cab company.

The Rose Cab Co. and Fly By Night cabbies are also concerned the misdemeanor tickets jeopardize their presence in this country.

"You get something on your criminal record, and forget it," said Mehai, referring to an application for citizenship. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

FLIER ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MUSLIM BASHING, CRITICS SAY - TOP
Adams Jadhav, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1/18/06
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/13652644.htm

ST. LOUIS - What in the world do dietary supplements have to do with turbans and terrorism?

That political head-scratcher confronted at least some vitamin buyers around the nation who found a flier with their mail-order nutrients carrying the bold headline, "Get a Turban for Durbin!"

An image shows Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wearing the headwrap, common in parts of the Middle East and south Asia and sacred religious garb in some faiths, including the entire Sikh religion.

The flier's kicker: "Keep Congressional Terrorists At Bay." The flier was distributed last month by a pro-vitamin and supplement group.

Critics say the flier is yet another example of Muslim bashing. The designer of the flier, who has since pulled it, admits that it was over the line but said he put it out to draw attention to what he thinks is improper action by Durbin.

Dietary supplement makers attack Durbin because he wants regulation requiring them to report serious side effects of their products. The proposals are driven in part by deaths related to ephedra, the popular stimulant and diet pill pulled from the market in 2004.
Vitamin and supplement makers oppose the idea, saying that mere coincidence - someone having a heart attack while taking Vitamin C - would scare off consumers and cripple sales. Attacks on Durbin have been led by the Melville, N.Y.-based Nutritional Health Alliance, which published the "Turban" handout.

Durbin decries the flier as offensive and a political cheap shot. The 61-year-old senator says he doesn't want to harm the industry and admits to taking a daily regimen of pills himself - fish oil, a multivitamin, a B complex, an antioxidant and half an aspirin.

"They're throwing around this kind of reckless rhetoric," Durbin said. "The rhyme makes the story here."

"There is this feeling that it's somewhat of an open season on Muslims," said Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Washington. "If you replace Islam and drop in any other religion and said, `Blank is a terrorist religion,' it would never be tolerated."

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NJ: TEEN CHARGED IN PATERSON STUDENT'S STABBING - TOP
Cristian Salazar, Herald News, 1/18/06
http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2ODYyMjIw

PATERSON - Police charged an 18-year-old Hispanic man with the Jan. 9 stabbing of a John F. Kennedy High School student, and a national Muslim rights advocacy organization Tuesday called on the FBI to investigate the attack as a possible hate crime.

Police Detective Robert Vogt said Tuesday that Jonathan Santiago, 18, alsoknown as "Indio", turned himself in to Paterson police Monday after warrants were issued.

Santiago - who says he was born in Puerto Rico - was being held at the municipal jail on $35,000 bail, police said. He is charged with aggravated assault and two weapons possession charges, police said.

Vogt identified the victim as an Arab teenager who lives in South Paterson, but didn't release his name.

A prominent national Muslim rights and advocacy organization, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, called on the FBI to investigate the stabbing as a possible hate crime.

"We're very concerned with a bias motive of the stabbing," said Ibrahim Hooper, the group's communications director.

Hooper said his organization was concerned about the ethnic and religious divisions at Kennedy High School. "Whatever the motivation for the stabbing, the situation at the school needs to be addressed," he said.

Students, faculty and community leaders have described the social climate among youth in and outside the school as split along ethnic lines.

Hooper said he couldn't recall another situation in which ethnic tension had split a school so thoroughly. "We've all gone to school and there's cliques at school, but nothing this severe."

He added that he was shocked to see Muslim and Latino youths divided because they have much in common.

"We more often see the Hispanic community being very sympathetic to the Muslim community," he said, noting that many Latinos have opted to convert to Islam.

Vogt, one of the lead investigators of the stabbing, said there didn't appear to be any ethnic or racial motivation for the attack. "It was very spontaneous," he said.

The fight started when Santiago allegedly pulled the hat off the victim's head. They exchanged words, Vogt said, and began to fight.

"No ethnic or racial overtones had been reported uttered to us by the victim or the suspect," Vogt said.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested Friday on charges of juvenile delinquency in connection with the assault, police said. Vogt said the boy, Santiago's friend, punched the victim, possibly in the upper body and face.

The victim in the attack was released from St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center on Friday after spending four days in the intensive care unit, police said.

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HEAD OF MUSLIM LAWYERS' GROUP FEARS ALITO NO FRIEND OF CIVIL RIGHTS - TOP
Omar Sacirbey, Religion News Service, 1/18/05
http://www.religionnews.com/

The head of an American Muslim lawyers' group is worried that Judge Samuel Alito, President Bush's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, will interpret the Constitution in a way that allows for broader presidential powers at the expense of civil rights.

Farhana Khera, director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Muslim Lawyers Association, said Alito, in four days of judiciary committee questioning that finished Thursday (Jan. 12), had done little to allay the group's concerns regarding his commitment to the protection of civil rights and immigration rights.

"So far, the responses he's given are perplexing," Khera, 36, said. She said she will urge judiciary committee members to further press Alito on these issues in writing.

American Muslims were distressed by reports last month that the administration has engaged in domestic spying and allegedly conducted surreptitious radiation monitoring at Muslim homes, businesses and other sites without warrants.

Khera said she believed Alito "hinted" during the hearings that he believed it is not the Supreme Court's role to address whether such surveillance is within or outside the scope of executive powers, and that he would not challenge such surveillance.

On religious liberty, Alito ruled in a 1999 federal case in favor of a Muslim police officer who contended that a City of Newark, N.J., policy prohibiting beards violated his right to religious expression. Khera said that was one of Alito's "positive" decisions having to do with American Muslims.

Before being named NAML's director in July, Khera served six years as counsel to Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., a key figure on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. As Feingold's lead lawyer, Khera focused on The Patriot Act and civil rights issues such as racial and religious profiling. (MORE)

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NICHE BANKS FIND GROWTH IN MUSLIM MARKET - TOP
Shaheen Pasha, CNNMoney.com, 1/17/06
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/17/news/companies/banks_muslims/

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - In the quest to find new and profitable ways to attract consumers, the banking industry has found religion.

Islamic banking is emerging as a small but growing trend among lenders in the United States, as niche players create specialized products and services for Muslims that fall within the tenets of Islamic law, or Shariah.

Shariah prohibits investments in the liquor, wine, casino, pornography, gambling and pork processing industries, and forbids Muslims from accepting or paying interest -- a challenge for Western banks that are based in the interest-paying system.

Currently there are three banks that offer Islamic banking in the U.S., including international giant HSBC (Research), but experts expect that number to rise as the Muslim population grows and the community begins to demand more specialized services.

No-interest mortgages

Despite the difficulties in creating an entirely different finance system, banks such as Ann Arbor, Mich.-based University Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of holding company University Bancorp (Research), are willing to put in the extra work to create banking alternatives that appeal to the growing market.

While industry experts say it's difficult to determine the exact size of the Islamic market in the U.S. -- given the lack of information from the Census Bureau -- national data accumulated from government studies and independent religious groups estimate that there are between 5 million to 7 million Muslims living in the U.S. And with the Department of Homeland Security indicating that there is a rising number of immigrants from Muslim countries entering the U.S. in recent years, industry experts said its a smart move for banks to start focusing on the growing Muslim community.

University Bank recently formed the University Islamic Financial Corp., a subsidiary that offers Muslims home financing, deposit accounts and Islamic mutual fund shares.

The bank's deposit accounts allow Muslims to open accounts where any profits are shared with customers rather than paid as interest. Stephen Ranzini, president and chairman of University bank said the company currently has $5.5 million in Islamic-compliant deposits.

And instead of traditional mortgages, the bank essentially sets up a special trust for the property the consumer is trying to buy. The borrower leases the property on a rent-to-own basis -- a system called ijara in Islam -- and agrees to take ownership at the end of the agreement, usually written as a 30-year contract. The bank makes a profit from the rent on the property. If the house is sold before it's paid off, the customer would pay the rest of the money committed to the trust with proceeds from the house's sale.

Ranzini said the company is in negotiations with a government-sponsored enterprise to create a secondary market for its Islamic mortgages, which will allow the company to offer another mortgage alternative, called murabaha, nationwide in the near future. Under murabaha, the bank buys the property and sells it to the consumer in monthly installments at the acquisition price plus an agreed profit rate.

He added that the company expects to grow its assets -- pegged near $60 million at the end of 2005 -- to over $100 million in the near-term.

Chicago-based Devon Bank also offers a murabaha mortgage product, and plans to expand its Islamic banking to include compliant money market and checking accounts and CDs upon approval from federal regulators, said David Loundy, corporate counsel for the bank.

While Loundy declined to comment on the bank's financial assets tied to the Islamic bank, he said its compliant mortgages account for over half of the company's residential mortgage volume. . .

"The rise of Islamic banking is a sign of the maturity of the Muslim community in America," said Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswomen for the Council of American-Islamic Relations. "The trend is definitely increasing."

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 2006 - TOP
U.S. Policy of Abuse Undermines Rights Worldwide
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/13/global12428.htm

(Washington, D.C., January 18, 2006) - New evidence demonstrated in 2005 that torture and mistreatment have been a deliberate part of the Bush administration's counterterrorism strategy, undermining the global defense of human rights, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2006.

The evidence showed that abusive interrogation cannot be reduced to the misdeeds of a few low-ranking soldiers, but was a conscious policy choice by senior U.S. government officials. The policy has hampered Washington's ability to cajole or pressure other states into respecting international law, said the 532-page volume's introductory essay.

"Fighting terrorism is central to the human rights cause," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "But using illegal tactics against alleged terrorists is both wrong and counterproductive."

Roth said the illegal tactics were fueling terrorist recruitment, discouraging public assistance of counterterrorism efforts and creating a pool of unprosecutable detainees.

U.S. partners such as Britain and Canada compounded the lack of human rights leadership by trying to undermine critical international protections. Britain sought to send suspects to governments likely to torture them based on meaningless assurances of good treatment. Canada sought to dilute a new treaty outlawing enforced disappearances. The European Union continued to subordinate human rights in its relationships with others deemed useful in fighting terrorism, such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.

Many countries - Uzbekistan, Russia and China among them - used the "war on terrorism" to attack their political opponents, branding them as "Islamic terrorists."

Human Rights Watch documented many serious abuses outside the fight against terrorism. In May, the government of Uzbekistan massacred hundreds of demonstrators in Andijan, the Sudanese government consolidated "ethnic cleansing" in Darfur, western Sudan, and persistent atrocities were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chechnya. Severe repression continued in Burma, North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Tibet and Xinjiang in China, while Syria and Vietnam maintained tight restrictions on civil society and Zimbabwe conducted massive, politically motivated forced evictions. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

RIGHTS GROUP SAYS U.S. ABUSE DELIBERATE - TOP
Barry Schweid, Associated Press, 1/18/06
http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/WorldNews/w011837A.htm

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has a deliberate strategy of abusing terror suspects during interrogations, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in its annual report on the treatment of people in more than 70 countries.

The human rights group based its conclusions mostly on statements by senior administration officials in the past year, and said President Bush's reassurances that the United States does not torture suspects were deceptive and rang hollow.

"In 2005 it became disturbingly clear that the abuse of detainees had become a deliberate, central part of the Bush administration's strategy of interrogating terrorist suspects," the report said.

On a trip to Europe last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told foreign leaders that cruel and degrading interrogation methods were forbidden for all U.S. personnel at home and abroad. She provided little detail, however, about which practices were banned and other specifics.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday he had only seen news accounts of the report, but he rejected its conclusions.

"It appears to be based more on a political agenda than facts," he said. "The United States does more than any country in the world to advance freedom and promote human rights. ...The focus should be more on those who are violating human rights and denying people their human rights."

In a separate report, the organization strongly criticized three insurgent groups in Iraq al-Qaida, Ansar al-Sunna and the Islamic Army for targeting civilians with car bombs and suicide bombers in mosques, markets, bus stations.

However, the group said the abuses "took place in the context of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the ensuing military occupation that resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths and sparked the emergence of insurgent groups."

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Bush administration's war against terrorism before, registering concern that abuses in the name of fighting terrorism were unjustified and counterproductive. In other reports, the group has protested that the Bush administration's promotion of democracy was applied narrowly and missed allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, that were due criticism.

The latest report taking aim at the Bush administration said that the president's repeated assurances that U.S. interrogators do not torture prisoners studiously avoid mentioning that international law prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/19/2006) - Later today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will hold news conferences in Amman, Jordan, and Canton, Michigan, to call for the release of American journalist Jill Carroll who was abducted January 7th in Iraq while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

Carroll's kidnappers threaten to kill her by Friday unless U.S. military authorities release all Iraqi women in their custody. (Iraqi officials say that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq will be released.)

A CAIR delegation is on its way to Iraq to make a public appeal for Carroll's release. Because of the short deadline, the delegation will hold an initial news conference today in Amman. A second news conference will be held in Baghdad on Friday.

SEE: American Islamic Group Heads to Middle East to Plead for Journalist's Release

WHAT: CAIR News Conference in Amman, Jordan, Calling for the Release of Jill Carroll
WHEN: 9 p.m. Local Time (Seven hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time zone.)
WHERE: Intercontinental Hotel, Near 3rd Circle, Amman, Jordan
CONTACT: CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726

CAIR will also hold a news conference today in Michigan, Carroll's home state, at which local Muslim leaders will call for her immediate release.

WHAT: Michigan Muslims to Call for Release of U.S. Journalist Held in Iraq
WHEN: Thursday, January 19, 9:30 a.m. (local time)
WHERE: Muslim Community of Western Suburbs Mosque, 40440 Palmer Road, Canton, Michigan, 48188
CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, 248-569-2203, E-Mail: cairmichigan@yahoo.com

SEE: Let Young Writer Go, Metro Muslims Urge

Along with the delegation to Iraq and the Michigan news conference, CAIR is also coordinating a joint appeal to be issued later today by national Muslim leaders calling for Carroll's safe return to her family.

On Tuesday, CAIR issued a statement, which was translated into Arabic and distributed to Middle Eastern media outlets, calling for Carroll's "immediate and unconditional" release.

In December, CAIR held a news conference at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C., to call for the release of members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams also taken hostage in Iraq.

CAIR has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org.

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/19/2006) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today issued a joint statement by dozens of American Muslim leaders, scholars and organizations* calling for the release of journalist Jill Carroll who was abducted recently in Iraq while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

The joint declaration, coordinated by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), states:

"We, the undersigned representatives of the American Muslim community, call for the immediate and unconditional release of Jill Carroll, a journalist with a well-documented record of objective reporting and respect for both the Iraqi people and Arab-Islamic culture.

"We ask that her captors show mercy and compassion by releasing her so that she may return to her family. Certainly, no cause can be advanced by harming a person who only sought to let the world know about the human suffering caused by the conflict in Iraq."

Carroll's kidnappers threaten to kill her by Friday unless U.S. military authorities release all Iraqi women in their custody. (Iraqi officials say that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq will be released.)

A CAIR delegation is on its way to Iraq to make a public appeal for Carroll's release. The delegation will hold an initial news conference today in Amman, Jordan. A second news conference will be held in Baghdad on Friday.

SEE: American Islamic Group Heads to Middle East to Plead for Journalist's Release

Earlier today, CAIR held a news conference in Michigan, Carroll's home state, at which local Muslim leaders called for her immediate release.

SEE: Michigan Group Appeals for Release of Kidnapped Journalist

"We hope that the combined efforts of all those who are concerned about Ms. Carroll's safety will result in her immediate and unconditional release," said CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed. "The American Muslim community is committed to doing its part in helping to win her freedom."

In December, CAIR held a news conference at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C., to call for the release of members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams also taken hostage in Iraq.

In 2004, CAIR launched an online petition drive, called "Not in the Name of Islam," designed to disassociate Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims. Millions of American television viewers have seen CAIR's public service announcement (PSA), based on the petition drive.

Last year, CAIR coordinated the release of a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism and religious extremism issued by the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and endorsed by hundreds of U.S. Muslim groups, leaders and institutions.

CAIR has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org; Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair-net.org.

* PARTIAL LIST OF STATEMENT SIGNATORIES: (More names are being added. To add your name or that of your organization to the list, e-mail: masoliman@cair-net.org )

* Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Director of The Mosque Cares
* Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman Shura Council of Southern California
* Sayyid M. Syeed, Ph.D., Secretary General, Islamic Society of North
* America (ISNA)
* Imam Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini, Founder and Director of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County, CA
* Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago
* American Muslim Association of North America
* Asma Hanif, Chairperson, Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations of Greater Washington Area
* Imam Mohamed Magid, Imam and Executive Director, All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)
* Rizwan Jaka, President, All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)
* Sheikh Mohammed Alhanooti, Mufti of Washington, D.C.
* Dr. Ahmed Sakr, Director of the Islamic Education Center
* Imam Zaid Malik, Islamic Center of Northeast Florida
* Shaykh Mohammad Ali Al-Halabi, Al-Mahdi Library
* Imam Waleed Basyouni, Clearlake Islamic Center, Houston, TX
* Mukit Hossain, President, Virginian Muslim Political Action Committee
* American Muslim Center, Dearborn, MI
* Imam Gary Al-Kasib, Masjid Wali Muhammad, Detroit, MI
* Samina F. Sundas, Executive Director, American Muslim Voice
* Ziad Taha, President, Islamic Community of Tampa
* Imam Haitham Barazanji, President, Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area
* Imam Dr. Muhammad Sultan, Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area
* Farouk Fakira, President, Council of Sacramento Valley Islamic Organizations
* Palm Beach Mosque
* Islamic Center of South Florida
* Miami Gardens Masjid
* Masjid Al-Ihsan
* Masjid An-Noor
* Nur Ul Islam
* Islamic Center of Boca Raton
* Islamic Jaffaria Association
* Masjid Shamsuddin
* Islamic Foundation of South Florida
* Masjid Al-Faizal
* Masjid Miami
* Masjid Jama Al Mumineen
* Masjid Al-Ansar
* Masjid Muttaqeen
* Masjid Al-Hijrah
* Masjid Al-Iman
* As-Salaam Center
* Masjid-al-Muslimiin
* Masjid Noor Ul-Huda
* Al-Huda Islamic Center, Athens, GA
* Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta
* Masjid Al-Hedaya, Marietta, GA
* Islamic Society of Augusta, GA
* Hadayai Majeed, 1000 Peace Women
* Islamic Center of Marietta, GA

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org

-----

NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of importance to our society.

To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org

To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/19/06

* Help CAIR Meet Its January Goal of $50K
* CAIR: Police Investigate Possible Bias Crime at NJ Mosque
* Video: CAIR-MI Calls for Release of Journalist in Iraq (WXYZ)
* AZ: Feds Call Jamaat al Tabligh 'Undesignated' Terror Group
            - FL: Judge Won't Dismiss Al-Arian Charges (AP)
            - FL: Acquitted, But Still in Detention (SP Times)
* PA: Islamic Studies Program Boosted by $1 Million Gift
* More U.S. Students Study Arabic in Middle East (Balt Sun)

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HELP CAIR MEET ITS JANUARY GOAL OF 50K - TOP

CAIR is asking everyone to do their part to help us reach our online fundraising goal of $50,000 for January. Whether your donation is $10, $50 or $100, every dollar that you donate today will count and be used to help empower the American Muslim community.

NOW is the time to show your support for CAIR.

To support CAIR's important work, please donate at:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/donate.asp

REMEMBER: Scholars say CAIR is able to receive ZAKAT donations.

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CAIR: BOONTON POLICE INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE BIAS CRIME AT CENTER - TOP
SARAH N. LYNCH, DAILY RECORD
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060119/NEWS01/601190320/1005

BOONTON -- Members of the Jam e Masjid Islamic Center on Harrison Street were shocked when they discovered a large American flag nailed above the mosque's doorway.

Police are investigating the incident as a possible bias crime.

The incident came only one day after a controversial planning board meeting. Mosque leaders have an application pending before the board to expand the facility with a 4,000-square-foot, multistory addition that will include the construction of a traditional dome and minaret.

The project, which requires three variances, has generated opposition in the neighborhood from residents who are concerned because the proposal does not also include a parking lot expansion. On Fridays, during prayer services, the streets get busy as members search for parking.

"It was very discomforting to see something blocking the door," said Hamida Amanat, education director of the center. "If it was small, we wouldn't mind. It was someone coming over our property line and doing this at night without permission.

Raising American flag

"We put a flag up ourselves. We have a pole, and we raise the American flag on certain days," she said.

At Tuesday night's board of aldermen meeting, Police Chief Michael Beltran assured the board that the department is investigating the incident, reported to police Jan. 12, and has several leads.

"Right now, our investigation is open, so we're unsure if it's a bias incident or not, but we're treating it as one until we get all the evidence," Beltran said.

The flag was draped vertically over the door and nailed to the building.

Since the incident, police have increased patrols in the area both night and day, Beltran said.

Police believe there may be a connection between the flag-nailing incident and the planning board application.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said such an incident demonstrates a lack of understanding.

"I believe ignorance plays a major factor in this problem, which automatically leads to prejudice," Awad said. "It could be an attempt at saying, 'You're not Americans, but we are.' It may be an attempt to de-Americanize the Muslim community.

"We are patriotic Americans, as well, and nobody has the right to question our love and affection and patriotism just because of our beliefs. I think it's sickening that people may think less of their fellow Americans because of their skin color or their faith." (MORE)

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CAIR-MI: AMERICAN ISLAMIC ACTIVISTS MAKE PLEA FOR CARROLL - TOP
Brandon Truttling, WXYZ-TV, 1/19/06
http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15924_4399849,00.html

The Michigan branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations made a plea, Thursday, for journalist Jill Carroll to be released. The group also sent civil rights activists to Jordan to make the same plea.

A number of Mosque and religious leaders gathered in Canton to issue a demand to Carroll's captors.

Dawud Walid said, "Miss Carroll's non-hostile, non-combatant role in Iraq did not warrant her abduction and threat of death. We call on the immediate and unconditional release of Miss Jill Carroll. We are hopeful that our call to civility will be heard. That Miss Jill Carroll will have the opportunity to safely return to her loved ones here in the great state of Michigan."

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FEDS: ARIZONAN TIED TO TERROR - TOP
Officials detain Tempe doctor
Dennis Wagner, Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0119hassan19.html

An Arizona doctor and mosque leader returned to the United States on Wednesday from a pilgrimage in Mecca to face allegations by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security tying him to a terrorist organization.

Nadeem Hassan, 41, made a phone call to his father from Kennedy International Airport in New York, saying he was in the custody of immigration officials.

Zaheer Hasnain said his son does not know whether he will be jailed or allowed to come home.

Days earlier, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services revoked Hassan's right to work and travel inside the country based primarily on his ties to an orthodox Islamic missionary group that the Department of Homeland Security identified as a terrorist organization.

Hassan, a gastroenterologist at Maricopa Medical Center and former chief executive at the Masjid el-Noor Mosque in Mesa, has worked for years as a coordinator with Jamaat al Tabligh (Society That Propagates the Faith). The worldwide movement calls upon Muslims to live up to their faith.

Jamaat al Tabligh, or JT, previously has not been designated a terrorist group by the government. However, in paperwork rejecting Hassan's application for a green card, Homeland Security described JT as "a terrorist organization (that) . . . provides material support . . . to members of a designated terrorist organization - al Qaida; and provides the same types of material support . . . to an undesignated terrorist organization - the Taliban."

The papers go on to tell Hassan, "You are found to have engaged in terrorist activity by providing material support to an undesignated terrorist organization."

Homeland Security representatives declined Wednesday to discuss Hassan's case. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.

Muslim officials expressed shock at the accusations against Jamaat al Tabligh, insisting it is a loose-knit missionary movement that shuns politics and violence. Hasnain said that his son is not a terrorist and that JT "has nothing to do with the Taliban, nothing to do with al-Qaida."

"It is a totally god-fearing organization," he added. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

FL: JUDGE WON'T DISMISS AL-ARIAN CHARGES - TOP
Associated Press, 1/19/06
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/13658492.htm

(AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday declined to dismiss remaining charges against Sami Al-Arian, making a second trial more likely for the former college professor on charges that he aided Palestinian terrorists.

U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. denied without comment a defense motion seeking dismissal of nine counts on which the jury deadlocked after six months of trial last year. Jurors acquitted Al-Arian on eight counts.

The jury failed to return any guilty verdicts against Al-Arian and three other defendants, who were charged with raising money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Two of the defendants were acquitted of all charges, while jurors deadlocked on some counts against Al-Arian and Hatem Naji Fariz. . .

"I'm extremely disappointed that the judge would deny these motions without having a hearing," said William Moffitt, one of Al-Arian's attorneys.

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AL-ARIAN ASSOCIATE REMAINS CONFINED - TOP
MEG LAUGHLIN, St. Petersburg Times, 1/19/06
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/19/Tampabay/Al_Arian_associate_re.shtml

Immigration officials are still holding Sameeh Hammoudeh because he could have terrorism ties.

TAMPA - Although a jury acquitted Sameeh Hammoudeh of terrorism charges, immigration officials are not convinced.

They want to keep him in jail, and on Wednesday a U.S. immigration judge denied him bail.

"Hammoudeh is being held because (immigration) still believes he has ties to terrorism," said Pam McCullough, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The agency will not release Hammoudeh, a co-defendant in the Sami Al-Arian trial, pending his deportation on a federal tax evasion conviction.

Hammoudeh's situation is reminiscent of Al-Arian's brother in law, Mazen Al-Najjar, who was arrested for violating immigration laws and denied bail because the government said it had secret evidence of his terrorist ties. Al-Najjar spent more than four years behind bars before he was deported.

McCullough acknowledged Hammoudeh's acquittal but said immigration officials don't agree with the jury's unanimous decision. (MORE)

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PA: ISLAMIC STUDIES PROGRAM BOOSTED BY GIFT - TOP
BY ROZINA ALI, Phoenix, 1/19/06
http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2006-01-19/news/15686

Swarthmore's Islamic Studies program is gaining steam thanks to a recent donation of $1 million from the family of Tariq Fischer '08. The gift provides financial support to supplement student and faculty enthusiasm for the Islamic Studies program.

Following Fischer's death in a car accident in Georgia last summer, Paul Fischer, Tariq's father, said that the family donated Tariq's inheritance to honor his love for Islam and for Swarthmore. "Tariq wanted everyone to know that Islam was a good religion and to show by his daily actions that it could bring out the best in people who followed it," Fischer said. "Unbenknownst to us, Swarthmore had been planning to start a program in Islamic Studies for several years. It seemed like a natural fit."

While there is a rising interest in Islamic Studies among students, financial backing is crucial to building and maintaining the program at Swarthmore. The donation made by the Fischers contributes to the Islamic Studies program along with a previous donation of $1 million made by Bruce Gould '59.

Besides monetary gifts to the Islamic Studies programs, additional funds were awarded to the Arabic language program. Those funds will influence overall Islamic Studies at Swarthmore as well. "If we hire people who teach Arabic but also literature and culture, the Fischer grant can cover this. The donation can support two tenure track positions," Provost Connie Hungerford said. (MORE)

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LEARNING ARABIC, AND MUCH MORE - TOP
JUSTIN MARTIN, Baltimore Sun, 1/19/06
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.arabic19jan19,1,6718269.story

AMMAN, JORDAN -- Much has been said in the last five years about the lack of Arabic speakers in the United States, especially those willing and qualified to work for the federal government. After 9/11, America scrambled to find qualified linguists to help fight terrorism.

Long overshadowed by the more easily learned romance languages, Arabic got short shrift at most American colleges and universities. With the rare exceptions of schools such as Georgetown University and Middlebury College in Vermont, which has been recognized for its intensive summer language program, American universities simply did not have advanced Arabic programs or the professors to lead them.

Now, because of the job opportunities Arabic provides, those universities are overrun with students wanting to study Arabic but are unable to accommodate many of them.

But American students have not given up. Instead, they are traveling to the Middle East in large numbers to study Arabic. Determined to meet the demands for Arabic speakers in the current governmental and business job markets, they have migrated eastward by semesters to Arabic schools in the Middle East and North Africa, on year- or summer-long programs.

Universities in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and even far-flung Yemen, for example, are admitting American students wanting to study Arabic, Islamic culture or Middle Eastern media. For the first time, universities in these countries are luring large numbers of Americans from the more traditional study-abroad destinations in Europe. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
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