cair-net Digest of: get.2101_2200
Topics (messages 2101 through 2200):
CAIR-NET: Woman Who Lost 8 Relatives on 9/11 Converts to Islam / More
Muslims Arrive in U.S., After 9/11 Dip / Post-9/11 Bias Balanced with
Kindness
2101 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: NY Teachers to Study Israeli PR Curriculum / IN Murder Raises
Questions in Muslim Community / U.S. Muslims Five Years After 9/11
2102 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR to Counter Al-Qaida Tape Aired on 9/11 Anniversary
2103 by: Ibrahim Hooper
CAIR-NET: Californians Asked to Repudiate Mayor's Anti-Muslim Remarks
2104 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Repudiate Al-Qaeda Worldview / MN Muslim
Candidate Plays Defense / Police Seek Motive in Slaying of IN Muslim
2105 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Church Sign Angers Muslims / Plans to Honor Muslim Leader
Bring Out Animosity / Feingold Faults Term 'Islamic Fascist' / 'We
Covered Entire Towns in Cluster Bombs'
2106 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Mosques Urged to Host 'Sharing Ramadan' Iftars
2107 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: MI Muslims Ask GOP Group to Cancel 'Racist' Event / IL
Muslims Condemn Candidate's Remarks on Profiling / MN Muslim Wins Primary /
MD Teacher Charged in Islamic Greeting Incident
2108 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR to Release Report on U.S. Muslim Civil Rights
2109 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Muslim Med Students Face Expulsion for Refusing to Undress
/ Israeli Expert Says No Peace with Muslims, Ever
2110 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Call for Dialogue Over Pope's Comments on Islam
2111 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Opponent Smears MN Muslim Candidate / CT Muslim Group Reports
Threat
2112 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Canadian Mosque Vandalized with Slurs, Nazi Swastikas
2113 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Defining Today's Moderate Muslim / Schools Balance Dress
Codes, Faith / Canadian Mosque Attacked by Vandals
2114 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Anti-Muslim Bias Incidents Jump 29 Percent - Report
2115 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Jews, Muslims Share Their Faiths / Muslims Cite Quran to
Fight Global Warming / CAIR Rep Discusses Pope's Comments on MSNBC
2116 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Bush Meets with Islam-Bashing Radio Host / FL Ministers
Preach Against 'Evil' New Mosque / CA Muslims to Meet with Cardinal
2117 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Asks Muslims to Help Repair Damaged Churches
2118 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Meet with Vatican Ambassador in DC / FBI,
Muslims Establish Better Ties / Muslims' Treatment at FL Airport Spurs Outcry
2119 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fla. AG Asked to Rescind Appointment of Islam-Basher
2120 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR to Host Ramadan 'Iftar' on Capitol Hill
2121 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Candidate Drops Anti-Islam Preacher / CA Muslims Condemn
'Inflammatory' Claims of Jewish Group / FL Med School Updates Policy to
Accommodate Muslims / CO Rep Addresses Hate Group
2122 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Gunmen Fire at Florida Mosque / South African Imam Denied
Entry to US / VT Official Sends Islamophobic E-Mails / OH Stations Say
'Jihad' Car Spots Go Too Far
2123 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Ohio Car Dealer Drops 'Jihad' Radio Ads, Offers Apology
2124 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Muslims Visit Church in Gesture of Reconciliation /
CAIR-MI Rep Speaks at Rosh Hashanah Service
2125 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: MI Muslims Seek Mtg Over Rep's 'Polarizing Language' / Attack
on FL Mosque is Intolerable / Study Challenges Notions About Hijab
2126 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: House Members Attend CAIR Capitol Hill 'Iftar'
2127 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR to Change Domain Names / CO Rep Stands by Muslim Staffer
/ Reward Offered in FL Mosque Shooting
2128 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Ask Post Offices to Stock Eid Stamps / VA Muslim Student
Allowed Islamic Attire in Gym Class
2129 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: More US Hispanics Drawn to Islam / WI Rep - 'Islam is Not a
Religion of Peace'
2130 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: NY Rep Exploits Anti-Muslim Bias / Effort Aims to Push
Muslims to the Polls / CAIR Launches Online Video Library
2131 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: PA Muslims Received Threats / OH Muslims Feed the Hungry / VA
Teens Take Over Duties of Imam Denied Entry to U.S.
2132 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: MN Radio Station Thanked for 'Muslim Jeopardy' Skit Apology
2133 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CA Bishop Makes Good-Will Gesture to Muslims / TN Muslims
Critical of Mosque Incident Probe Delay
2134 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Quran Found in NY College Toilet / Workplace Bias Against
Muslims on Rise / FL Muslims Meet with Archbishop
2135 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: MN Muslim Workers Granted Ramadan Break / Faith Compels CA
Muslim Doctors to Help Others / Anti-Islam Slurs Mar PA Sikh Billboard
2136 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Canadian Muslims Question Entry of Franklin Graham / Rabbi
Defends NY Muslims Against Rep's Smears / ADL Accused of Blocking Speech
by Israel Critic
2137 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Granted Citizenship After Years of Waiting / NY Group
Helps Abused Muslim Women / Gitmo Guards Brag of Beatings
2138 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Get Involved in Politics / Islam's Appeal Spans
Many Cultures / Prophet Mocked Again in Denmark
2139 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Register Online for CAIR's Nov. 18 Banquet in Virginia
2140 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Jewish Groups Block Speech by Israel Critic / Religious
Leaders Support NY Mosque
2141 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Candidates Urged to Avoid Anti-Muslim Rhetoric / Aid Worker
for U.S. Muslim Charity Killed in Iraq / 'Fearmongering' Fueled Lodi
Terror Case
2142 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Preacher Alters Stance on Islam / CA Leaders to Call for
Respect in Political Debate
2143 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: PA Mosque Threatened / FL Preacher's Effort to Work with
Muslims Falls Short
2144 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: An Urgent Appeal from CAIR
2145 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Calls for Exit Strategy From Iraq / Leaders Condemn
Attack on Muslim Candidate
2146 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim, Catholic Scholars Meet in DC Summit / Muslim
Community Effort Gives Homeless a Hand
2147 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: 2nd Quran Desecration at NY University / CA Mayor Who Called
Muslims 'Wing Nuts' Attends Iftar
2148 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Demand an End to Tunisian Ban on Hijab
2149 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: NY Police Look to Mosques for New Officers / CAIR Hosts New
Pakistani Ambassador at Iftar
2150 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR to Release Poll of American Muslim Voters
2151 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Sample Eid News Release / Muslims Mobilize for November Vote
/ Poll: 'Israel Lobby' a Key Factor in Iraq War
2152 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Minnesotan Poised to Be Congress' First Muslim / CA Muslim
Shot to Death / Targeting Muslims - the New Inquisition
2153 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Robertson Calls Quran 'Fraudulent,' Spencer Agrees / CAIR-CA
Says Murder May be Hate Crime / Muslim Cadets at West Point Get Prayer
Hall
2154 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: 2nd S. African Muslim Scholar Denied Entry to U.S.
2155 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Speaks to Muslim Scholar Barred from U.S. /
African-American, Immigrant Muslims Boost Cooperation / Feds Probe a Top Democrat's
Relationship with AIPAC
2156 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Anti-Terror TV Ads to Air in Minnesota / Latina Muslim
Converts Share Newfound Faith
2157 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Poll: U.S. Muslim Voters Diverse, Integrated, Politically
Active
2158 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: TX Mosque Vandalized / MI Arab Assaulted / Top Muslim Kicked
Out of U.S. / Muslim Voters Could Sway Close Contests
2159 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Flex Political Muscle / S. Africa Supports
Muslim Barred from U.S. / FBI in Expanded AIPAC Probe
2160 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fund Established for Family of Murdered Muslim / Cheney and
'Waterboarding' / Church to Become Mosque
2161 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Suspicious Letter Sent to AZ Muslim Newspaper / ADL Director
Calls Muslim Dialogue a 'Pipe Dream' / Fears of Inquiry Dampen Giving
by U.S. Muslims
2162 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Seeks Due Process for American Facing Execution in Iraq
/ U.S. Muslims Mobilize With Eye on 2008 Elections
2163 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: American Leaders Asked to Repudiate Anti-Islam Hate
2164 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Islamic Housing Co-Ops / CAIR Rep Discusses Islamic Attire on
NPR / Rep. Jackson Lee to Speak at CAIR Dinner
2165 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Gov. Bush Slams Anti-Islam Letter / Row Over Barred Muslim
Scholars / Arab-American Candidate Leaves GOP
2166 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Federal Charges Urged in Hate Attack on NY Muslim
2167 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Candidate Asked to Remove Muslim-Basher / War Tears U.S.
Muslims, Jews Apart
2168 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Good News - FL Candidate Drops Islamophobe
2169 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Might Sway U.S. Polls / U.S. Muslims Carry Burden of
Mistrust / Hospitals Opening Muslim Prayer Places
2170 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR-NY Responds to Beating of Muslim / MN Somali Vote May
Put Muslim in Congress
2171 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Get Out and Vote / For U.S. Muslims, It's the American Way /
Forum on Hispanic Muslims / Muslim Stamp Causing Controversy
2172 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Voters Reject Islam-Bashing, Profiling of Muslims
2173 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Congratulates First Muslim Elected to Congress
2174 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Condemns Israeli 'Massacre' of Civilians in Gaza / Pork
Found Outside Canadian Mosque
2175 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: First Muslim in Congress to Speak at CAIR Event in VA
2176 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Explosion Destroys FL Muslim Family's Home / FL Rep Supports
Muslim-Bashing / Muslim Veterans to Lay Memorial Day Wreath / NJ
Muslims Vote for Democrats
2177 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Attorney Says VA Prosecutor Condemned Islam / FL Rep Defends
Anti-Muslim Comments / Record Number of U.S. Muslims Turned Out at
Polls
2178 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Al Qaeda Trashes First U.S. Muslim Rep / Islam Brings Convert
Close to Irish Roots / Islam and Hunting
2179 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Co-Sponsors Karen Armstrong Talk on Capitol Hill / FL
Muslims Sponsor Thanksgiving Baskets for Needy
2180 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Reports on Election Efforts / New Muslim-Liberal
Coalition / Democrats' Wins Hinged on Muslims
2181 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Bank to Close U.S. Muslim Charity's Accounts / FL Rep Says
Constituents Agree with Anti-Muslim Comments
2182 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CNN Host Asks if First Muslim Rep is 'Working With Our
Enemies?' / Al-Arian Prosecutor Dates Reporter Who Covered Case
2183 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR-LA Calls for Probe of UCLA Taser Incident / Student
Given Multiple Stun Gun Shocks
2184 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: How Muslims View the Afterlife / Myths About Muslim Americans
/ Jihadist Punditry Targets First Muslim Rep
2185 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR-DC Banquet Sold Out / Muslim Students Upset Over Posters
at Yale / Taser-Shocked Student Claims Racial Profiling / Muslim Women
to Form Rights Council
2186 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: First Muslim Congressman Addresses CAIR Banquet
2187 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Celebrate Thanksgiving with Halal Turkeys / 9/11
Prisoner Abuse Suit Could be Landmark
2188 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Calls for Probe Into Detention of Imams in Minnesota
2189 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR to React to MN 'Flying While Muslim' Incident
2190 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Hearings on Profiling Sought After Imams Removed from MN
Flight
2191 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims and Thanksgiving / Islam and Health Care / Muslims
Call Airport Detention Bias
2192 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Condemns Baghdad Attack / Praying in Public Concerns
Muslims
2193 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Love for Jesus Can Bring Christians, Muslims Together / U.S.
Muslims Develop a Taste for Turkey
2194 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Protest with Prayer / Muslim Rap Group / Islamic
Clothing Designer / Mary an Ideal Woman in Muslim Eyes
2195 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Radio Spoof Draws Support for Nazi-Like Treatment of U.S.
Muslims
2196 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Anti-Muslim Slurs Shouted During Detroit Assault
2197 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Rep Meets with Officials, Muslim Leaders in France / DC
Radio Spoof Draws Support from Muslims / Canceling of Pro-Israel
Speaker Sparks Controversy
2198 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: MI Man Charged in Beating of Muslim / Imams Forced Off
Airliner Set the Record Straight / Blog Uproar Over Muslim Rep Taking Oath on
Quran
2199 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Pig Races Used to Deter Texas Mosque / Nuke Mecca and Medina?
/ More U.S. Muslims Gaining Political Ground
2200 by: CAIR
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"Be steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth
in all equity, and never let the hatred of others to you make you swerve
to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: (for) that is closest to
piety. . .God has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those who
believe and do deeds of righteousness."
The Holy Quran, 5:8-9
-----
FL: FAITH'S FRICTION -
TOP
Tampa woman who lost eight relatives in the attacks converts to Islam as
tensions simmer from the memories and new terror plots. But she presses
on.
SHERRI DAY, St. Petersburg Times, 9/8/06
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/Tampabay/Faith_s_friction.shtml
Her mother named her Elizabeth after the queen of England. More than four
decades later, she took another name: Safia Al-Kasaby, reflecting her new
identity as a Muslima.
Safia, 43, is an unlikely candidate for conversion. She claims Jewish and
Puerto Rican ancestry. She is a former sergeant first class in the Air
Force National Guard. And she lost eight relatives - one uncle and seven
cousins - in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center.
Back then, Safia did not imagine the faith professed by the hijackers
would one day become her own. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR: METRO MUSLIMS
BUILDING A LEGACY -
TOP
As a new mosque rises in Minneapolis, Twin Cities Muslims reflect on
their growing place here in post-9/11 America.
Terry Collins, Star Tribune, 9/9/06
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/665505.html
Dozens gathered Friday at a mountain of dirt in north Minneapolis and
imagined how it would be transformed into a shining dome and the first
minaret in Minnesota.
"This will be the hopes, dreams and desires of many people,"
said Makram El-Amin, imam of Masjid An-Nur, during a groundbreaking
ceremony outside the mosque's headquarters at 18th and Lyndale Avenues N.
"Their efforts and legacy have powered us to move forward. This will
be historic."
Last week, thousands attended a conference that accompanied the grand
reopening at another Muslim institution, Abuubakar As-Sadique Islamic
Center in south Minneapolis.
But that gathering was clouded by frustration that no arrests have been
made in an arson two weeks earlier that destroyed several religious
books.
These two events reflect the simultaneous hope and unease in the Twin
Cities' growing Muslim community, nearly five years after the Sept. 11
attacks.
In the immediate aftermath of the terror attacks, some local Muslims
found themselves the victims of random assaults and federal authorities
shut down several money-wiring services used by Somalis and other
immigrants. The scrutiny was intensified after revelations that Zacarias
Moussaoui, the only man charged in connection with the attacks in New
York and Washington, had been enrolled at an Eagan flight
school.
Since then, Muslim leaders in the Twin Cities say there has been some
progress on both sides on outreach and understanding one of the world's
fastest-growing religions.
"There has been some profound changes. The communication is far ...
greater than five years ago," said Zafar Siddiqui, president of the
Islamic Resource Group in Edina. "But there still is not a clear
picture of who we are as a community."
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman with the Council of American-Islamic
Relations, an advocacy group based in Washington, said Muslims across
the country are expressing similar views.
"We have done surveys where participants say yes, there has been
more tolerance," Hooper said. "But there's a certain percentage
that say they've been discriminated against and a similar amount they've
also experienced kindness.
"They balance each other out in a strange sort of way."
(MORE)
America's newest Muslims arrive in the afternoon crunch at John F.
Kennedy International Airport. Their planes land from Dubai, Casablanca
and Karachi. They stand in line, clasping documents. They emerge,
sometimes hours later, steering their carts toward a flock of relatives,
a stream of cabs, a new life.
This was the path for Nur Fatima, a Pakistani woman who moved to Brooklyn
six months ago and promptly shed her hijab. Through the same doors walked
Nora Elhainy, a Moroccan who sells electronics in Queens, and Ahmed
Youssef, an Egyptian who settled in Jersey City, where he gives the call
to prayer at a palatial mosque.
"I got freedom in this country," said Ms. Fatima, 25.
"Freedom of everything. Freedom of thought."
The events of Sept. 11 transformed life for Muslims in the United States,
and the flow of immigrants from countries like Egypt, Pakistan and
Morocco thinned dramatically.
But five years later, as the United States wrestles with questions of
terrorism, civil liberties and immigration control, Muslims appear to be
moving here again in surprising numbers, according to statistics compiled
by the Department of Homeland Security and the Census Bureau.
Immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East, North
Africa and Asia are planting new roots in states from Virginia to Texas
to California. (MORE)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami on
Friday condemned the September 11 attacks against the United States as an
atrocity and said suicide bombers did Islam an injustice and would not go
to heaven.
Three days before the fifth anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly
3,000 people, the Shi'ite cleric urged Muslims to work against
"Islamaphobia," which he said had grown since Islamic militants
flew hijacked aircraft into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a
Pennsylvania field.
Two crimes were committed on September 11 -- civilians were killed and it
was done in the name of Islam, Khatami told the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, a human rights group.
"We Muslims should condemn these atrocities even more
strongly," he said.
"Terrorist, which means killing of civilians, is a human being that
lacks morality ... (and) will not go to heaven" and those who do it
in the name of Islam "are lying," he said. (MORE)
ARLINGTON, Va. - Iran's former president decried a wave of
"Islamophobia" that he said is being spread in the United
States by fear and hatred of Islam in response to terror perpetrated by
Muslims.
"In the crime of 9/11, two crimes were committed," Mohammad
Khatami said. "One was killing innocent people. The second crime was
masking this crime in the name of Islam."
Under smothering security, with dozens of uniformed police and
plainclothes American security personnel provided by the State
Department, Khatami spoke Friday night at an event sponsored by the
Council on American-Islamic Relations called "The Dialogue of
Civilizations: Five Years After 9/11." (MORE)
ARLINGTON, Virginia (AFP) - Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has
condemned the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States
and said those who carried them out will never go to heaven.
"During the calamity of September 11, two crimes were committed: one
was the killing of innocent people and the second was making this crime
in the name of Islam," said the former president, who is on a
speaking tour of the United States.
"We, Muslims, should condemn this atrocity even more strongly,"
Khatami told the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
(MORE)
NORFOLK - After his mother-in-law called to tell him to turn on the
television that morning, only one question entered Mohamed Rahoui's mind
when he saw the images: Why?
As he watched the World Trade Center towers descend into plumes of dust
and debris Sept. 11, 2001, a shocked Rahoui searched for answers. Then,
the Old Dominion University doctoral student remembers asking himself
something else: What's next for Muslims who live here?
Five years later, what is clear is that the attacks of Sept. 11 and
subsequent terrorist assaults worldwide by Islamic extremists have caused
some local Muslims to keep a low profile. They fear that if they speak
publicly about Islam or the conflict in the Middle East, they will be
misinterpreted or attached to a stereotype that equates their way of life
with suicide bombers.
For others, though, Sept. 11 represented a turning point. The day
propelled local Muslims to become more outspoken about the tenets of
Islam and determined to show how they are just as much a part of American
society's fabric as anyone else - working, raising families, contributing
to the community.
That response reflects a shift nationwide since Sept. 11: Muslims have
become more active in the public sphere. More now work in politics and
serve in the armed forces. Organizations such as the Washington-based
Council on American-Islamic Relations have stepped up their efforts in
educating the public, the media, the government and law enforcement
agencies about Islam, as well as registering Muslims to vote. Also, more
Muslims are active in civil liberty issues. . .
According to a 2005 report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
there was a 49 percent increase in reported cases of harassment,
discrimination and violence toward American Muslims between 2003 and
2004. Hate crimes grew to 141 in 2004 from 93 in 2003, a 52 percent
increase. Virginia was among the top five states with the most number of
civil rights incident reports in 2004, the study said.
Given such trends, defending their civil rights has become a top priority
for Muslims, making it important for them to be more vocal in their
communities, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy and civil rights
group.
"I think in the post-9/11 era, American Muslims have realized it's
essential to become involved at all levels of society, whether it's
political involvement or social involvement - everything from taking part
in Habitat for Humanity to feeding the homeless to helping political
candidates," Hooper said. "Whenever people know Muslims or know
more about Islam, prejudice goes down." (MORE)
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Hussam Ayloush found himself at square
one. The Corona resident was one of the founders of the Southern
California Council on American Islamic Relations, and had spent years
working to clarify misperceptions about Islam.
Before Sept. 11, some people knew about Islam and respected it, he said,
but those who didn't, didn't feel it affected them.
Before Sept. 11, Ayloush said, "Muslims were misunderstood, but not
feared."
Then, on Sept. 11, 2001, four airplanes were hijacked by extremists; one
crash landed in the fields of Pennsylvania, one destroyed part of the
Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and two flew into the World Trade Center
twin towers, leveling the architectural wonders and killing
thousands.
"I think America passed a test that many countries wouldn't have
passed," Ayloush said. "People took a deep breath, and didn't
say, 'Kill Muslims."
He admitted there were shows of violence -- some mosques were vandalized
and Muslims attacked -- but, in other countries, he said, the reaction
would have been much more savage.
Ayloush said America's shift was a more subtle, psychological
change.
"There's no doubt that there is a minority of Muslim extremists with
a very narrow interpretation and it's also rejected by the overwhelming
majority of Muslims," Ayloush said. "Here are (also)
ideological or political extremists in America who speak in the same
language and who fuel the concept of a clash of civilization."
(MORE)
SAN DIEGO -- The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed many
Americans' opinions of Islam.
A recent study found one in four Americans believed Islam is a religion
of hatred and violence.
Five times a day, those of the Islamic faith turn toward Mecca and pray.
It is a prayer of peace.
"Islam is a religion of peace. Muslims are peaceful people,"
said Taha Hassane of the Imam Islamic Center of San Diego.
Nearly 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world turn toward Mecca for the
prayer of peace every day.
However, 25 percent of Americans think Islam is a violent faith.
"It is extremely important to engage a process of education within
our fellow citizens," said Hassane. . .
Edgar Hopida left his job to join the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. His concern now is of recent talk of profiling Muslims
during airport screenings.
"Now, the problem is how we profile a Muslim. As you see, I'm a
Filipino. There are white American Muslims and African-American
Muslims," said Hopida. (MORE)
In 2002, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported 602 cases of
civil rights abuses against Muslims in the United States. In the most
recent year of reporting, 2004, it reported 1,522.
CAIR Chicago office spokesman Sultan Muhammad doesn't doubt that
reporting frequency has increased somewhat, but he said the overwhelming
proof is that segments of America are finding ethnic and religious
profiling acceptable post-Sept. 11.
There have been educational efforts to distinguish Muslims as a whole
from radical terrorists, but Muhammad fears the message largely is lost
amid daily world news, where voices of violence and radicalism gain more
attention than voices of condemnation, and in domestic political
rhetoric.
He said, "The majority of the impact has been embedded phobia
against Muslims and Islam. Islamaphobia is a reality."
In a 2006 poll CAIR found one in four respondents believe Islam is a
religion of hatred.
That number may be conservative.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll asked, "Do you think mainstream
Islam encourages violence against non-Muslims or is it a peaceful
religion?"
Thirty-three percent said it was violent; 54 percent said peaceful; 13
percent were unsure.
In another poll, 39 percent of respondents admitted feeling some
prejudice against U.S. Muslims. . .
Among Muhammad's biggest concerns is that people in positions of
leadership feed into the situation, by endorsing racial profiling and
making sweeping remarks, some of them highly offensive to Muslims,
turban-wearing Sikhs and others. He cites two examples in the following
reporting from Associated Press:
o Rep. John Cooksey, R-La.: "If I see someone come in and he's got a
diaper on his head and a fan belt around that diaper on his head, that
guy needs to be pulled over and checked."
o Paul Nelson, Wisconsin congressional candidate: "Racial profiling
is one way that we can cut down on security risks," Nelson said in
an interview with WIXK Radio in New Richmond. When asked how to tell what
a Muslim male looks like, Nelson replied, "Well, you know, if he
comes in wearing a turban and his name is Mohammed, that's a good
start." (MORE)
MADEIRA - Five years ago on Sept. 11, 100 people were at
Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church at noon after just a few phone
calls. That night, more than 350 gathered for prayer after seeing a sign
in the church yard.
The church, 8000 Miami Ave., has been opening its doors every year on the
anniversary to standing-room-only crowds of 700.
This year, the church will do that again at 7 p.m. to remember and to
honor local emergency personnel. . .
Other religious groups will host similar programs this weekend. .
.
In addition, the Freedom Center will also host a panel discussion at 2
p.m. today on the topic, "Are You Afraid of Me? Americans Coping
with Fear, Discrimination and Loss of Freedoms Post 9/11."
"It's our mission to present issues and programming to help people
understand other cultures, other races and people with a different point
of view, to bring them together in a place of open dialogue," said
Paul Bernish, chief communications officer for the center.
The eight panelists represent several faiths and ethnicities, including
Karen Dabdoub, of the Council on American Islamic Relations, and
Pat Rosenberg, a member of Congregation Beth Adam.
Dabdoub will address misconceptions and concerns brought on by fear -
such as "Is Islam violent?" "Do Muslims hate
America?" and "Does America hate Muslims?"
"People of other faiths have these thoughts in their minds, but they
don't know the things the Muslim community is going through,"
Dabdoub said. (MORE)
It was in many ways a typical day at a New Jersey soup kitchen.
Members of a suburban religious congregation arrived one morning last
month in cars and SUVs, entered the church hall through the back door as
if they were humble kitchen help and set to work preparing lunch for
dozens of poor, hungry people.
Except that these volunteers weren't the usual Catholics, Protestants or
Jews.
They were Muslims, the first Islamic group to join the rotation of
interfaith volunteers at the Community Soup Kitchen in
Morristown.
And it wasn't typical soup-kitchen fare either. The volunteers from
mosques in three New Jersey counties served the South Asian staples of
tandoori chicken and basmati rice to a crowd of immigrant day laborers,
recovering addicts and destitute seniors.
They said they had come to fulfill Islam's injunction to help the
poor.
But their presence also signaled a new priority for America's close-knit
and frequently insular Muslim community: showing a humane, caring side of
Islam to a public that, since 9/11, is increasingly likely to view
Muslims as potential terrorists. . .
Meanwhile, a pervasive anti-Islam campaign is thriving on the Internet,
in think tanks and in some conservative evangelical Protestant
ministries.
"America has its own 'Islamic fascists' right here at home,"
columnist Paul Sperry wrote last month in the online political journal
Frontpagemag.com, quoting a phrase sometimes used by President Bush.
"Once they amass the numbers, they secretly plan to nullify our Bill
of Rights and religious freedoms and create their own Muslim state ruled
by Islamic law. They've got a 100-year plan, but they're already making
inroads."
Such statements were rarely expressed publicly before 9/11,
Muslim-American leaders say. Now they're commonplace.
"There has been a hardening of feelings toward Islam in a
significant minority of America," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman
for the Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations.
"The polling consistently shows between one in five and one in four
Americans have hostility -- and that's disturbing." (MORE)
The hostility, loathing and mistrust that Muslims in New Jersey and the
United States say they have experienced since members of al-Qaida
hijacked planes five years ago have not been as apparent in Morris
County, local Muslims say.
After a recent Friday prayer, as men piled quickly out of the Islamic
Academy in Boonton to head for their jobs, many longtime Muslim residents
of Morris County said their experiences are unusual compared with people
of who follow their way of life in other parts of the country. .
.
Shoaib Iqbal credited national organizations such as the Council on
American Islamic Relations and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
Committee, as well as local religious organizations for making the ride
much smoother. (MORE)
At first, James Michael Herrick didn't believe the 7-Eleven cashier who
told him a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. He thought she
was joking.
But then after purchasing a cup of coffee and a hot dog on the morning of
Sept. 11, 2001, Herrick returned home and turned on the the
television.
"There it is, the other plane hit. It was for real," he said.
"I started drinking about that time. . . . I, probably like everyone
else at that point, was in shock."
Herrick turned to alcohol, and after two days of drinking and watching
nonstop coverage of the turmoil, Herrick, in a drunken daze, attempted to
burn down the Curry in a Hurry restaurant on State Street.
Herrick's unsuccessful attempt to burn down the restaurant owned by a
family of Pakistani immigrants came at a time of national backlash
against Muslims. It was, perhaps, the most published case of an
anti-Muslim offense in Utah, where cases of discrimination and crimes
have occurred, but are scattered, according to the members of the Muslim
community.
And he has since expressed remorse. During a parole hearing last year,
Herrick asked the Board of Pardons and Parole to "Please accept my
sincerest apology," for an action he called embarrassing and
idiotic.
Two members of the family that owns Curry in a Hurry, Yassir Nisar and
his father, Rana, say they have forgiven Herrick for the attack against
them.
While those involved in the Curry in a Hurry case seem to have reconciled
their differences, some members of the Muslim community say the climate
here is different than it was before 9/11.
Muslims interviewed by the Deseret Morning News acknowledge Utah is safer
for Muslims than some other parts of the country where mosques are still
sometimes the targets of vandalism or worse. However, the Muslim and
non-Muslim communities continue five years after the terror attacks to
struggle to understand one another. (MORE)
Incidents of anti-Muslim discrimination are on the rise in South Florida,
from slurs painted on mosque walls to a woman told she would have to
remove her head covering if she wanted to keep her job, a report by
the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Thursday.
Areeb Naseer, CAIR's legal adviser in Florida, said the group's offices
had received 112 reports of anti-Muslim incidents for the state in 2005,
a 9 percent increase from 2004. The complaints included outright hate
crimes, such as vandalism at a Boca Raton mosque, verbal discrimination
and intolerance of religious practices. (MORE)
The Muslim owner of the Dar-us-Salaam store on Atlantic Avenue in
Brooklyn was polite, but he didn't want to talk.
At the Firdous cosmetics shop next door, a bearded young Moroccan was
equally wary, when asked how things had changed for the city's Muslims
since the September 11 terror attacks.
"We get so many people coming and asking questions about this. My
boss says it's best to say nothing. We just want to move on," he
explains.
Five years after the attacks, the mood on Atlantic Avenue is guarded. New
York survived the aftermath of the attacks without any major outbreaks of
violence against Muslims or Arabs. But on Atlantic Avenue, and in Bay
Ridge and Bensonhurst and Sunnyside, things are not as they were.
(MORE)
CAIR-OHIO HOSTS FOCUS GROUP ON MENTAL
HEALTH -
TOP
(CLEVELAND, OH, 9/9/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
recently hosted a focus group in partnership with the Ohio Department of
Mental Health and the Multiethnic Advocates for Cultural Competence
(MACC) on the mental health needs of the Muslim community in
Ohio.
The statewide project is designed to seek input from diverse communities
to help ensure that all of Ohio's residents have equal and appropriate
access to mental health services. The focus group, organized by Rama
Consultants, examined Muslim perspectives on mental illness, stigma
issues and how best to serve the Muslim community's mental health needs.
A number of area Muslim mental health experts, imams, community members
and leaders joined to share their insights.
Participants in the focus group pointed to the need for more domestic
violence services in the community, professional training for more
members of the Muslim community, as well as help in funding brochures on
mental health services in languages such as Arabic, Somali and Urdu. The
group also requested that mental health care providers receive diversity
training on Muslims and Islamic religious practices.
CONTACT: Julia A. Shearson, Director, CAIR-OHIO, Cleveland Office,
216-830-2247, E-Mail:
cleveland@cair-ohio.com; Dr.
Asma Mobin-Uddin, President, CAIR-OHIO, 614-451-3232, E-mail:
asma@cair-ohio.com
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-CHICAGO MEETS WITH DELEGATION FROM
KYRGYZSTAN -
TOP
A delegation of 7 mosque leaders and youth leaders from Kyrgyzstan
visited with CAIR-Chicago personnel on September 6th at CAIR-Chicago's
downtown office.
The delegation spoke of the issues facing the Muslim community in
Kyrgyzstan and asked questions about the Chicago Muslim community's
dealings with their own issues. Members of the delegation inquired about
the sentiments of the Muslim community towards terms such as
"Islamofascim" and how members of the Muslim community reacted
to the term.
"This is the fourth international delegation CAIR-Chicago has hosted
in the past couple of months" said Dina Rehab, Outreach Coordinator,
"these unique exchange opportunities are crucial first steps in
gaining a unique understanding of the challenges facing the Muslim
community worldwide. Interestingly, the issues are strikingly
similar."
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God and His angels,
the dwellers of the Heavens and of the Earth, even an ant in its hole and
fish (in the depths of the sea), invoke blessings on (a scholar) who
teaches people goodness."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 70
-----
NEW YORKERS TO STUDY ABOUT ISRAEL -
TOP
City council approves curriculum on Israel initiated by Israeli Consulate
in New York; curriculum to be integrated into training program for
educators teaching in 1,400 public high schools
Ynetnews, 9/8/06
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3301443,00.html
The curriculum will be integrated into the training program for educators
teaching in 1,400 public high schools in New York City. The teachers will
be able to register to a 30-hour course dealing with the history of the
State of Israel, its economy, the high-tech industry, Israeli art and
Ethiopian Jews.
The incentive offered to teachers who will take the course: Credit points
for an academic degree. . .
Israeli Consul General in New York Aryeh Mekel said that "through
the teachers a generation of leaders will be educated to maintain the
special relations between the United States and Israel."
(MORE)
[CONTACT: CAIR Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab,
847-971-3963]
(CBS) MERRILLVILLE The owner of the Aladdin Pita restaurant off U.S.
Route 30 in Merrillville, Ind. was found shot to death Saturday morning
inside of his restaurant.
Naseeb Mohammed was found fatally shot at the Aladdin Pita restaurant
located at 3750 W. 80th Lane in Merrillville.
CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports that owner was known for his generosity. Just
yesterday, Naseeb Mohammed had a celebration at his restaurant and
invited many members of the Islamic community. . .
No valuables were taken from the restaurant with the exception of just a
few dollars from the cash register.
Friends of Mohammed say the portable safe wasn't even touched.
"That leads me to the conclusion that possibly this could be a hate
crime. And I hope that our authorities here, who are good friends of our
community, look into all the possible angles," Khan said.
Merrillville police are not confirming the shooting death was a hate
crime. They say evidence points toward a robbery. Investigators with the
Lake County Sheriff's Department are also involved in the investigation,
along with the FBI.
It's there, protecting you, helping law enforcement investigate drug
dealers, murderers and terrorists. It doesn't inconvenience you - unless
you're evil.
Or, it's there, lurking in the background. You don't know when the
government is snooping through your bank accounts and your library
records. You will likely never know.
So go the arguments for and against the USA Patriot Act, the first of
several laws passed under the banner of fighting terrorism after
9/11.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other privacy advocates cried foul
when the act passed with only one dissenting vote in the Senate. They
vowed court challenges and said American civil liberties were no longer
safe. . .
If a report is filed as a result of something you have done, you likely
won't find out about it. As with the national security letters, the law
prohibits the institution from informing you.
"The presumption should be that people can talk about searches once
they have been performed," said Peter Swire, a professor in the
Moritz College of Law at OSU, former Clinton administration official and
a critic of the Patriot Act. "With the gag rule, we lose crucial
accountability against government overuse."
Brooks argues that the Patriot Act doesn't impact most people's lives.
That includes those who are investigated but never charged, he
said.
"In many instances," he said, "we're able to conduct
investigations quickly or quietly without individuals knowing we're
there."
That is exactly the problem, critics say.
Jennifer Nimer, legal director for the Ohio Chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said the act had a profound impact on
Middle Easterners and Muslims. They are skeptical of law enforcement and
afraid to come forward when they know something important for fear of
being implicated, she said.
"With so much secrecy and not knowing what people's rights are,
people are just very afraid," Nimer said.
Four agents from the FBI's St. Louis division answered some heated
questions in front of about 100 members of the Islamic Foundation of
Greater St. Louis on Friday night in a town hall meeting at the
Daar-Ul-Islam mosque in Ballwin.
During a question-and-answer period, many in the crowd conveyed a sense
of wariness and weariness about post-Sept. 11 America. They asked about
telephone wire taps, hate speech on local radio, airport harassment and
computer surveillance. (MORE)
BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: After the attack by Islamic radicals five years
ago, American Muslims feared violent reprisals against them. Those did
not happen, but today many Muslims in this country say they live under
the specter of suspicion. They feel their neighbors don't trust them and
their government threatens them, as Saul Gonzalez reports. . .
HUSSAM AYLOUSH (Executive Director, CAIR Southern California): In
2001, when the American Muslim community was introduced to the FBI was
when we were being suspected as a whole community. Muslims were visited
at 3:00 a.m, They were visited in their home and their schools.
GONZALEZ: Hussam Ayloush is the executive director of the Southern
California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a
civil rights and advocacy group. Although Muslim Americans still have
concerns about how the FBI investigates their community, Ayloush says
much has improved through continued interaction and improved
communication.
Mr. AYLOUSH: Things have changed, and I have to admit to that. The
positive atittude from the leadership of the FBI on the national level,
but also on the local level, the openness, the agreement to work with the
Muslim community as partners rather than suspects has made a big
difference. Even when someone is being questioned, there is a high level
of respect that is being presented and reflected in the attitude of the
FBI towards Muslims.
As terrorist leaders search for new recruits all over the world, we must
add to our network, identify new partners and strengthen existing
relationships, particularly in the Muslim community. Because a clear
expression of opposition to acts of terrorism from Muslim leaders is an
essential part of our efforts to win, and end, this war.
The U.S. government and its citizens must be good, trustworthy neighbors
to Muslim communities. Building strong relationships can take years, and
we are really just beginning. This step will make identifying and
investigating radical elements faster and more efficient for law
enforcement. Ultimately, it will help disrupt terrorist plots.
(MORE)
When a Yakima Herald-Republic reporter approached a group of local
Muslims to ask them how the community has changed since Sept. 11, 2001,
their actions said it all.
Realizing they might be quoted in the newspaper, they recoiled at having
their names published.
One grabbed the reporter's notebook and scribbled out his name and the
names of the other Muslims interviewed.
"You can talk about us generally, but no personal names," he
said.
Another Muslim said he feared that their words could be used against them
under the U.S. Patriot Act.
Experts say such incidents reflect fears that have developed among
American Muslims since the 9/11 attacks.
Ellie Pierce, senior researcher for The Pluralism Project at Harvard
University, said the fear comes from subtle and not-so-subtle forms of
bias - everything from local zoning disputes when establishing places of
worship to acts of vandalism and hate crimes.
Locally, members of the Islamic Center of Yakima had to deal with several
cases of vandalism in 2004.
"I think it may be indicative of the post-9/11 climate, given some
of the very real issues that Muslims now face in America," Pierce
said. . .
Omid Safi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of North
Carolina, said Muslims realize religion is no longer a nonpolitical
issue.
"Our very existence in this county is a political statement,"
he said. "So people in some ways are going on five constant years of
educating others, explaining, formulating identities."
One of those groups is the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
a Washington, D.C., Islamic civic rights and advocacy group.
The organization has chapters all over the nation - including one in
Seattle - and has organized several educational efforts. They have an
informative Web site, offer free Qurans and have partnered with
non-Muslim organizations.
"You're seeing many more Muslim young people go into law,
journalism and the media," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations. "You're seeing more political
activism activity, both at the grass-roots and national level."
(MORE)
POMONA - It was a terrible shock, and a time for faith.
The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington horrified the nation,
and in the days and weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, many turned to religion
for comfort.
More than 35 million people attended a religious service in the days
following Sept. 11, according to a Gallup poll. Almost 75 percent of
Americans said they were praying or intended to pray.
Sales of Bibles, and Korans, soared. . .
That deepening of faith also applied to Muslims who found themselves
isolated after 9/11, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the
Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
He said there are more than 6 million Muslims in America, and the
number is growing in part because of the public anger directed at Islam
after Sept. 11.
The mosque became a place of refuge, he said.
"Because of the (public) pressure, some felt the need to get into
Islam," he said.
The mosque also became a place to begin the slow process of convincing
America that Islam is not a religion of terror.
"Right after 9/11, most of our fellow Americans knew very little
about our religion," Ayloush said. "That took us to basics,
took us to the very important task of educating our American
neighbors.
"Before we lived in separate clusters. American religions had no
bridges. I think there's a need to learn about each other."
The effort has been painful.
"Today more Americans admit to holding prejudice against
Muslims," he said. "The use of inflammatory language, Islamic
Fascists, Islamic terrorists. In times of war people are always looking
for a target to hate.
"There has been history; hating all Japanese, Germans, Russians. And
now it's the Muslim people. What it has taken from the Muslim community
... We have a realization that we are partly responsible for the
misinformation."
He said the effort to change the image of Islam in America is one part
education, one part "old-fashioned personal interaction with
people.
"Not a statement on TV," he said, "Not an ad. Real
change." (MORE)
More than anything about his arrest and detention, former U.S. army
captain James Yee remembers the shackles.
Placed on his wrists and ankles, the manacles were secured to a chain
wrapped around his waist. Back at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp,
where Yee worked as a Muslim military chaplain, the restraint was known
as a "three-piece suit" and commonly used to hobble the most
dangerous of America's enemies.
"At that point, I clearly understood they were treating me like an
enemy combatant," Yee recalls. "That's how prisoners were taken
around in camp, and I was shackled just like them. That was the scariest
part." (MORE)
SPRING HILL - "Hey lady, go back to your country!"
The angry words caught Ghada Eldin off guard. It was weeks after Sept.
11, 2001, and Ghada was pushing her shopping cart through the aisles of a
Publix grocery story.
She was dressed modestly, covered from neck to wrists and down to her
ankles. Her hair was carefully wrapped in a hijab, or headscarf, in
keeping with the guidelines of Islam.
Ghada ignored the comment, in hopes she wouldn't provoke the man who spat
the words in her direction. A store manager came over and told the man he
shouldn't speak to a lady that way.
But people didn't have to speak. Ghada could read it on their
faces.
"You could tell from the people's eyes that something was not
right," she said.
When the Twin Towers crumbled in New York City, Hernando County became a
different place for Ghada, her husband, Adel, and their three young
daughters.
It became a different place for all Muslims in the county.
(MORE)
Shaun Uhmed, almost 29, is the son of Pakistani immigrants. He moved to
Charlotte six years ago to work as an investment banker at Bank of
America. He was asleep in his parents' suburban New York house when the
first plane hit. His mother awoke him in time to watch the second plane
crash on TV. . .
I don't want to sound like a victim, or paranoid. But I have felt the
backlash.
I fly a lot. I probably look Pakistani. Once, a few months after the
attacks, I was sitting on a US Airways flight to New York. It was an
empty flight. I got pulled from the plane with another passenger, an
Indian person. They said, "You and the passenger you were flying
with were acting erratically." I didn't know the other
passenger.
Another time, in 2002, I was flying to visit my parents. A federal
marshal on the plane followed me and wrote down the license plate number
of my parents. Two weeks later, I was back in Charlotte and an FBI agent
called me at home and asked some very disturbing and inappropriate
questions. He said the marshal reported that I was acting erratically. I
don't know how to act erratically on a plane. You sit. You read. You
sleep.
The notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh
abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi
authorities, with claims that inmates are being tortured by their new
captors. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR TO COUNTER AL-QAIDA TAPE AIRED ON 9/11 ANNIVERSARY Islamic advocacy group says 'Al-Qaida does not speak for
Islam'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/11/06) - On Monday, September 11, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will hold a news conference
in Washington, D.C., to challenge the worldview put forward in a
videotape issued by Al-Qaida on the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 terror
attacks.
WHEN: Monday, September 11, 2 p.m. (Eastern) WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue,
S.E., Washington, D.C. CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair-net.org
In the video, Al-Qaida's second in command Ayman al-Zawahri threatened
more terror attacks in the Middle East and urged Muslims to attack
Western targets.
"Al-Qaida does not speak for Islam or for the vast majority of
Muslims worldwide who want to live in peace with their neighbors,
practice their faith in freedom and raise their children in societies
based on justice and mutual respect," said CAIR Executive Director
Nihad Awad. "For the last five years, Al-Qaida has offered nothing
but a future filled with endless violence and division."
CAIR has 32 offices, chapters and affiliates 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.
- END -
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CALIFORNIANS ASKED TO REPUDIATE MAYOR'S
ANTI-MUSLIM REMARKS Mayor: 'Either the Judeo-Christian philosophy will survive or the
Islamic philosophy will survive'
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 9/11/06) - The Sacramento Valley chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) today called on
Californians to repudiate remarks insulting to Muslims made by a mayor in
the northern part of that state.
CAIR-SV said that Redding, Calif.,
Mayor Ken
Murray claimed Shia Muslims "believe it's acceptable to lie,
cheat, steal and kill as long as it ultimately glorifies Allah."
"Folks, they're not like us," said Murray.
When asked about his offensive remarks, Murray drew a distinction between
"mainstream" and Shia Muslims, who he called "wing
nuts." "Either the Judeo-Christian philosophy will survive or
the Islamic philosophy will survive," said Murray.
Murray's comments came during an event on Thursday of last week
co-sponsored by the Shasta County Sheriff's Department, the Shasta County
Jail Chaplaincy and the Marshal's Office. District Attorney Jerry Benito,
Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko and Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa
(R-Richvale) also took part in the event.
"The unthinking bigotry and ignorance of such remarks are unworthy
of an American public official and should be repudiated by all those who
seek tolerance and mutual understanding," said CAIR-SV Executive
Director Basim Elkarra.
Local Islamic leaders tell CAIR-SV there are some 15 Muslim families in
Redding.
CAIR has 32 offices, chapters and affiliates 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra, 916-441-6269, or
E-Mail: sacval@cair.com; CAIR
National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or
202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@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: info@cair.com
URL:
http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Envy is not
permitted except in two cases: (Envy) of a person who God has given
wealth and he spends it in the right way, and (envy of) a person who God
has given wisdom and he gives his decisions accordingly and teaches it to
others."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 490
-----
U.S. MUSLIMS REPUDIATE RHETORIC,
WORLDVIEW OF AL-QAEDA -
TOP
CAIR: 'We will not allow terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda to be the voice
of Muslims'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/11/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) today released a statement repudiating the rhetoric and worldview
expressed in an Al-Qaeda videotape released on the 5th anniversary of the
9/11 terror attacks. In his statement, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad
said:
"As we commemorate the 5th anniversary of the tragic 9/11 terrorist
attacks, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest
Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in the United States,
would like to use this opportunity to challenge the rhetoric and the
worldview of the recent videotape released by Al-Qaeda's
second-in-command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
"To more than a billion Muslims worldwide, Islam is a religion that
teaches tolerance, freedom and compassion. Those who understand Islam and
know Muslims as friends and colleagues realize that Islam is one of the
three Abrahamic faiths and that Muslims are contributing members of
societies around the world.
"Unfortunately, for many who know little of Islam or Muslims,
Al-Qaeda has come to represent both.
"As American Muslims, this is simply unacceptable and we will not
allow terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda to be the voice of Muslims or the
representation of Islam to the rest of the world.
"In light of the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we feel the
need to once again condemn and repudiate Al-Qaeda and its myopic
worldview.
"Notwithstanding the fact that there are legitimate political
grievances in the Muslim world today, Islam has never, and will never,
justify the killing of innocent civilians in order to achieve political
or religious goals.
"Al-Qaeda's worldview is a complete distortion of Islam because
Islamic teachings clearly state that the killing of one innocent life is
the moral equivalent of the killing of all humanity.
"As Muslims, we will continue to condemn Al-Qaeda and ensure that
the rest of the world learns the true message of Islam and its teachings
of peace, justice and compassion for all."
At today's news conference held to release this statement, Awad noted
that American Muslim groups were the first to condemn the 9/11 attacks.
He also listed several anti-terror initiatives by American Muslims, such
as the "Not in the Name of Islam" online petition drive and
last year's Islamic legal ruling (fatwa) by U.S. Muslim scholars against
terrorism and religious extremism.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair-net.org
Keith Ellison is a Democrat running for an open House seat in a heavily
Democratic district. But what once looked like a cakewalk has turned into
a bruising campaign in which many facts are disputed but a central one is
not: If he wins, he will be the first Muslim elected to
Congress.
Before he can make history, Ellison must capture Tuesday's hotly
contested Democratic primary in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District,
which consists of the Minneapolis side of the Twin Cities and an inner
ring of suburbs. Whoever gets the Democratic nomination is expected to
sweep to victory in November to succeed Rep. Martin O. Sabo (D), who is
retiring after 28 years in the House.
Ellison, 43, is a two-term state legislator. He prays toward Mecca five
times a day and says he has not eaten pork or had a drink of alcohol
since he converted to Islam as a 19-year-old student at Wayne State
University in Detroit. When speaking at mosques or to members of
Minneapolis's large Somali immigrant population, he opens with
"Salaam aleikum," Arabic for "Peace be with
you."
Other than that, he seldom refers to his religion on the campaign trail,
unless asked.
"I'm a Muslim. I'm proud to be a Muslim. But I'm not running as a
Muslim candidate," Ellison said during a break between a
commemoration of Hurricane Katrina and an appearance at a public housing
project. "I'm running as a candidate who believes in peace and
bringing the troops out of Iraq now. I'm running as a candidate who
believes in universal, single-payer health care coverage and an increase
in the minimum wage."
Despite Ellison's desire to focus on the war and the economy, questions
about his faith and character have kept him on the defensive. . .
Among Muslims, Ellison's campaign has generated excitement.
"There are millions of Muslims in this country. It shouldn't have
taken this long to elect one to Congress," said Nimco Ahmed, 24, a
Somali immigrant and political organizer.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations, flew to Minneapolis for an Aug. 25 fundraiser
for Ellison, who has collected about $400,000, mostly from individual
contributors in his district. Awad said that the attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, have both heightened prejudice against Muslims and spurred Muslims
to be more politically active in hopes of countering that
prejudice.
According to CAIR and other Muslim groups, Ellison would be the first
Muslim elected to national office. Awad said the highest Muslim elected
official now is a state senator in North Carolina, Larry Shaw, and the
last Muslim to make a serious bid for Congress was Ferial Masry, a
Saudi-born woman who lost in California in 2004. (MORE)
Northwest Indiana restaurant owner Naseeb Mohammed attended prayer
services at his mosque on Friday, where local and federal law enforcement
officers assured Muslims that they would be on guard against hate crimes
as the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approached.
Mohammed, 60, of Munster, Ind., was killed the next morning as he
prepared lentil soup in his Middle Eastern restaurant, Aladdin Pita, in
Merrillville. Employees arriving at about 10 a.m. found him dead of a
gunshot wound, police said.
Police said they do not know whether the slaying is a hate crime. They
said no evidence, such as vandalism, was found to suggest a hate
crime.
But Mohammed's sons insisted hate must have been a motive because only
$150 was taken from the restaurant even though more was available. They
also said it does not make sense to rob a restaurant in the morning
before it opens, when more money would be available after
closing.
"This is someone who wanted to bring grief to the Muslim community,
and that's what they did," said his son Bassam Mohammed,
25.
"This is just another act of terror," said his oldest son,
Ghassan Mohammed, 28. (MORE)
Sept. 11, 2001, was undoubtedly a great tragedy. Instead of focusing on
the somber lessons learned from the ill-fated day, President Bush opened
the new political season by resorting to the politics of fear. His use of
ill-defined rhetoric such as "violent Islamic radicalism"
sounded much like his earlier faux pas "crusades" and
"Islamic fascism." Bush went on to say, "It is foolish to
think you can negotiate with them." No one ever suggested
negotiating with al-Qaeda.
Inquiring minds simply want to ask if there are alternative ways to
tackle the problem of terrorism. The trajectory of our current policies
appears doomed for failure. Is Iraq the front lines of the war on terror
and thus the need to "stay the course," or is it because we are
"staying the course" that Iraq is spiraling into a cauldron of
civil war?
Evoking emotionally charged rhetoric like "Islamic fascism" or
"Islamic radicalism" may be good politics, but it obfuscates
the complexity behind terrorism. By focusing almost exclusively on the
views of groups such as al-Qaeda, Bush has granted undeserved legitimacy
to extremists. By failing to address the legitimate concerns of the vast
majority of Muslims worldwide, the president has marginalized the voices
of moderation in the Muslim world who, in overwhelming numbers,
disapprove of terrorism as a means for redressing grievances.
Despite common knowledge that all terrorists are not Muslim and that not
all Muslims are terrorists, so much of our discourse continues to
juxtapose "Islam" and "terrorism."
A few scholarly works have begun to debunk this mythical link between
Islam and terrorism. Robert Pape's book Dying to Win argues that the real
common denominator of suicide-terrorism campaigns is that they are all,
in one form or another, responses to occupation or foreign control of a
national homeland. Pape is deeply skeptical about the notion that suicide
bombers are warriors in a "clash of civilizations" between
Islam and the West. His survey reveals that there is nothing
intrinsically "Islamic" about suicide bombers. By such
scholarly measures, our presence in Iraq is the cause of terrorism -- not
the other way around.
Thus, security measures alone are not going to make us safe. We will be
safe only when others perceive to be safe from our policies.
(MORE)
[Parvez Ahmed is chairman for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America's leading Muslim
civil-liberties and advocacy group.]
It was a Tuesday morning like any other. While I waited for my cousin to
take me to Crafton Hills College, I flipped through the TV
channels.
Every station was airing the news and horrific images of two high towers
falling down, fires raging, people running, screaming and
crying.
Five years ago, my English wasn't as good, and I didn't understand what
had happened.
Later, at the college library, it was explained to me.
A boy approached me and asked me where I was from.
"I'm Egyptian," I said.
He asked if I was Muslim. I am.
They were saying Muslims attacked the World Trade Center, he
said.
All I remember is thinking, "No, it just can't be."
Everyone on campus was in front of a television, watching the attacks
unfold. I kept hoping that whatever this trouble was, that Muslims were
not responsible.
By the end of the day, it was clear that the terrorists were claiming to
be Muslim, and I had to explain it to my mother.
We stood across from each other, looking at the television. I could see
the tears in her eyes, and I couldn't help but cry myself. I cried for
the twin towers, for everyone who died. But I also cried for the image of
my religion, which was also destroyed.
I am Muslim, and was born and raised in a Muslim family. I was taught
about Islam. I was taught to be kind, respectful, compassionate, helpful
and peaceful.
My uncle sat next to me when I was little, and read the Quran to me, and
taught me how to pray. I remember him telling me about the prophet, and
the first time I walked into a mosque. On that day five years ago, it
suddenly seemed to mean nothing.
Why should I be careful about saying what religion I believe in? Which
crisis should I weep for? To me, being Muslim meant being good and
peaceful and kind. Had I lived in a bubble, believing in something that
wasn't really true?
In my English class the next day, one of the students asked, "Why
can't they just drop a bomb and kill them all?"
That was harsh to hear.
I wanted to say something to my classmate, to defend my faith, to defend
the people who believe as I do. But I felt like I couldn't. I was
afraid.
I do not consider myself religious, but I started to study. I had to
learn for myself what Islam was about, so that when I was asked if I was
Muslim, I could confidently say that I am, or distance myself from the
religion of my upbringing.
And I learned this: The men who committed the horrible acts are not my
people.
They do not represent what I represent. They do not speak for me, and
they do not know the God I know.
Please do not call them Muslims. Islam does not support terrorism.
(MORE)
Mainstream American Islamic leaders have broadcast the same message since
hours after the terrorist attacks five years ago.
"American Muslims utterly condemn the vicious and cowardly acts of
terrorism against innocent civilians," said a statement the Council
on American-Islamic Relations issued Sept. 11, 2001.
Condemnation of subsequent attacks and plots by Muslim extremists
followed. Islamic leaders nationally and in Colorado Springs said their
religion stands for peace.
The message may have convinced some people, but several Colorado Springs
Muslims and other observers say the perception persists that Islam
endorses violence.
"There has been a countereducation campaign against Islam
also," said Arshad Yousufi, spokesman for the Islamic Society of
Colorado Springs, the city's only mosque. "That campaign has been
far more vocal." (MORE)
The Sept. 11 attacks started an intense debate among American Muslims.
Five years later, it isn't over.
In Chicago, that most American of cities, tens of thousands of
Muslim-Americans gathered for a conference in early September. They
simultaneously debated questions about Western-style dating, the
application of Islamic law, Muslim-Americans' role in the war on terror,
and even perspectives on torture.
The debate took place in a city where Muslim immigrants have thrived for
decades. An estimated 400,000 Muslims live in the Chicago area, home to
about 90 mosques, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The city's greatest icon -- the Sears Tower -- was designed by a
Muslim-American structural engineer.
This vast meeting of Muslims came just days before the nation marked the
fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Some Muslims speak of the difficulties facing those who practice their
faith in America.
"I think one of our biggest challenges is Muslim fatigue, or Islam
fatigue on the part of the general American public," says Ingrid
Mattson. Mattson is a Westerner who converted to Islam, and feels she has
insight into both worlds. She says some Americans have trouble staying
tolerant of Muslims as terrorist incidents pile up around the world.
(MORE)
In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mustafa Kuko advised Inland
Muslims to reach out to their neighbors and let them know they are
Americans, too.
Muslims in the Inland area and in Southern California have held open
houses at their mosques, invited visitors to community dinners during the
holy month of Ramadan, cooperated in interfaith projects and answered
pointed questions about Islam in classrooms, churches and
synagogues.
Five years later, Kuko, director of the Islamic Center of Riverside, and
other leading Muslims in Southern California say those efforts have
allayed some fears about their religion and generally improved relations
with non-Muslims in California.
But despite their best efforts, the perception persists worldwide that
Islam is a religion of violence, a view that Kuko and other leaders said
puts American Muslims in a tough position: How can they win the trust of
neighbors who are continually frightened by news of terrorism by
Muslims?
Hussam Ayloush, a Corona resident and executive director of the Southern
California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he
doesn't like it when people are anti-American, just as he doesn't like it
when Americans ask him what is wrong with Islam.
"I am all for isolating and challenging fanatic, violent Muslims,
but most Muslims here are interested in being able to live the American
dream: to raise a family, to have a good job and to have good relations
with their neighbors. (MORE)
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations-Michigan (from a talk at the conference of the National
Association of Black Journalists): Sept. 11 only heightened the
misconceptions about Islam. Islam-phobia has risen in the post-Sept. 11
era among certain populations in the United States.
If there was a different administration [with] a different language about
the Muslim community and had a different foreign policy and a domestic
agenda, and a different agenda on the so-called war on terror, I think
Islam-phobia would decrease. (MORE)
It's when she flies that Erum Sayed-Khan feels different. Specifically,
when they check her bags.
"They claim it's random, but it happens every single time," she
said. "I don't get mad; I understand this is what the world has come
to.
"I also want to fly on a safe airplane. I also want my children to
be safe. They can check my bags. Check other people, too."
When Osama bin Laden and others used Islamic scripture to justify attacks
such as those on Sept. 11, 2001, they put Sayed-Khan's religion in the
spotlight - and many Muslims say they fear some people came away with a
distorted image of a religion that preaches peace.
The Quran, Islam's holy book, contains this passage: "To kill one
innocent man or woman is to kill all of humanity."
"Every time (non-Muslims) see something on the news about terrorism,
it portrays the faith in the wrong picture," said Mohammad Hussain
of the Islamic Society of Evansville.
"It's distorted. Have you ever come across someone who is an
extremist? Nobody in this area has ever come across people like that, and
I hope they never do."
Hussain and others are quick to point out that they've seen or heard
about very little discrimination to the 200 or so Muslims in the
Tri-State. And many of those cases were ambiguous, such as in 2002 when
Hussain had to get extra clearance to board an airplane.
(It may not have been because he is Muslim, but rather because of his
last name, which is similar to that of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein). "In conversations, they feel like maybe they've been
singled out," Hussain said. "A lot of that happened very close
to Sept. 11. I think things have eased in the last few
years."
Still, a 2006 Gallup poll found that more than one-third of all Americans
believe U.S. Muslims support al-Qaida, and less than half thought Muslims
were loyal to the U.S. So Muslims here and across the country have felt
it necessary to publicly distinguish themselves from Islamic
extremists.
Just last month, many Islamic groups, including the National Council on
American-Islamic Relations, felt the need to issue statements denouncing
the 21 individuals arrested for plotting to use liquid explosives on
flights from the United Kingdom to the United States.
"The American Muslim community has always been dedicated to the
protection of our national security," the council statement read in
part. "... Muslims are law-abiding citizens who should not be
targeted or singled out because of their faith or national origin."
(MORE)
Zohra Saiyed initially could not believe people of her faith brought down
the World Trade Center towers five years ago.
The 20-year-old, who was born and raised in the Sunset district and was
in high school at the time, said she was sad and scared after the attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001.
"I thought I would probably get teased about Islam," she said.
"I was really scared for my parents because I thought they would
lose their jobs."
Five years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Muslim community in
the Bay Area has undergone many changes, while living in a protective
bubble of the region's tolerant politics, according to some
Muslims.
Some, such as Saiyed, who started wearing the headscarf a year after the
attacks, had a religious awakening, while others have made a conscious
effort to educate people about their faith. Others have tried to keep a
low profile.
Saiyed said she recalls the incident that spurred her to begin wearing
the hijab: As she was getting onto a Muni bus with her older sister, who
was wearing a headscarf, someone yelled at them to go back to their own
country.
"That was weird because my sister didn't stand up for herself, but I
did," she said. "Instead of being rude, I just explained it to
him."
Her decision to wear a hijab after the incident was an easy one, she
said, partly due to living in the Bay Area. She said she has never once
feared physical harm. Instead, people ask her about her faith.
Basim Elkarra, the director of the Sacramento chapter of the Council on
American Islamic Relations, said many indigenous American Muslims have
made an effort to reach out to their neighbors, but some immigrant
Muslims are scared to get involved because of bad experiences in their
home countries.
"You find a lot of immigrants are still reserved, [especially those
from regions] where the regimes are still very brutal and
oppressive," he said.
Elkarra said 9/11 has caused the Muslim community to hold its breath when
Muslims - such as Omed Aziz Popal, who allegedly ran over 18 people in
the streets of San Francisco two weeks ago - make headlines for the wrong
reasons. (MORE)
WORKSHOP ON POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF
AMERICAN MUSLIMS -
TOP
(SAN ANTONIO, 9/11/06) On Friday, September 8, the San Antonio chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations held a workshop on the
Political Empowerment of the American Muslims at the Muslim Children
Education and Civic Center in San Antonio.
Dr. Inayat Lalani, a General surgeon from Fortworth Texas, was the
presenter.
Dr. Lalani, who is a Muslim political activist in Texas, shared his
knowledge about the opportunities out there, in both parties, for Muslim
Americans to meaningfully impact on the direction of our governments
policies.
The workshop was attended by 130 people.
"I am proud to be an American Muslim where all people from diverse
faiths and beliefs have the equal opportunity to get involved in the
shaping of the policies of our beloved country," said Sarwat Husain,
chairwoman of CAIR-SA. "It is our religious as well as a civic duty
to serve the country by being a part of the system," she
added.
After the workshop many people signed up as volunteers to help for the
upcoming November Elections.
Six months after September 11, Sarwat Husain realized she could not be
the sole spokesperson for her Muslim community in San Antonio, Texas. So
she began a newspaper. Almost five years later, she freely distributes
the paper throughout Texas-with paid subscribers in 25 cities across the
country. The newspaper, called AL-ITTIHAAD, which means unity, is a
compilation of articles relating to Islam and the local Muslim
community.
Something else has increased in the last five years: the hate mail.
Husain says it mostly comes through e-mail, and she's not bothered by it.
"They're just trying to harass me so I'll stop doing my work,"
she says, adding that her husband and children are actually more afraid
for her than she is.
Husain, who was profiled in the book The Face Behind the Veil (Citadel
Press, 2006), has learned software so that she can design the newspaper
herself. She says she doesn't print anything explicitly against the
United States or the Bush administration but that her newspaper is
becoming an alternative source of news. She has a reporter covering local
Muslim issues in Texas, which is home to a large number of
Muslims.
A recent online issue of the newspaper covered Malaysia's take on Islamic
finances, as well as the news that a tomb in India had been discovered
belonging to a descendant of Prophet Muhammad. The online version of the
newspaper includes a prayer schedule and cultural articles like one on
the Arabic art of calligraphy. (MORE)
(PHOENIX, AZ, 9/11/06) - More than $100,000 was raised at the annual
banquet of CAIR's Arizona office (CAIR-AZ) held on Saturday, September 9.
More than 350 people attended the dinner. CAIR National Executive
Director Nihad Awad offered the keynote address at the event. Other guest
speakers included Congressional Candidate Jim Pederson and FBI Special
Agent in Charge John Lewis.
The entertainment was provided by internationally-renowned singer Dawud
Wharnsby Ali, who captivated the audience with his performance. Following
dinner, CAIR-AZ presented awards to selected adults and youth who showed
exception in the areas of volunteerism and community activism.
Banquet attendees also included a number of local and state law
enforcement officials, government representatives and community
leaders.
CONTACT: Nure Elatari, (602) 312-2223 or (602) 262-2247,
info@cairaz.org
Omar Alomari has experienced oppression firsthand.
Born in Jerusalem, he grew up in Jordan when that country's monarchy was
decidedly more dictatorial.
"It was absolutely brutal," Alomari said. "There is no
freedom whatsoever."
His father worked in the oil business, then the army. His mother was a
homemaker. He had three sisters and two brothers. It was from this
typical Middle Eastern family, conservative and religious, that he came
to the United States as an immigrant in 1979 to attend graduate school at
Ohio State University.
Alomari taught the Arabic language and Middle Eastern culture at Ohio
State. He continues to teach courses on world religions and global
cultures at Ohio State and Franklin University.
All this helps qualify Alomari, 56, for his year-old job as multicultural
relations officer for Ohio Homeland Security.
He's responsible for building relationships between the state's
anti-terrorism efforts and its Arab and Muslim communities.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack, Arabs and Muslims in this
country became the "usual suspects," Alomari said.
They became isolated out of fear of a backlash from the attacks. The
alienation led to misperceptions about their culture and religion, and
questions about their loyalty to America. . .
Later this month, the state plans to conduct a survey of the Arab and
Muslim communities asking about their lives, perceptions, issues and
concerns.
These are efforts supported by Adnan Mirza, director of the Columbus
office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"By opening dialogue and creating mutual understanding, we can
educate law enforcement about our community and in turn law enforcement
can educate us about how we can help them with the war on terror,"
Mirza said.
"If people had a better understanding of what we believe and how we
practice our faith, I think a lot of those concerns could be
minimized," he said. (MORE)
A group building an Islamic center in Roxbury has subpoenaed a freelance
writer and a Christian broadcasting company who have reported on the
project, documents show.
The Islamic Society of Boston issued subpoenas to Tamar Morad, a
Waltham-based writer for The New Republic, and the Cambridge-based
Christian Broadcasting Corp. as a part of its defamation case against the
Boston Herald, WFXT-TV (Fox 25) and other, non-media groups.
The subpoena asks Morad, who declined to comment, to turn over any
communications between her and the lawsuit's defendants concerning the
ISB and Osama Kandil and Yousef Abou-Allaban. The Christian Broadcasting
Corp. is being asked to submit any of its broadcasts on the ISB, Kandil
and Abou-Allaban, documents show.
ISB attorney Howard Cooper could not be reached yesterday.
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: FL Church Sign Angers Muslims / Plans to Honor
Muslim Leader Bring Out Animosity / Feingold Faults Term 'Islamic
Fascist' / 'We Covered Entire Towns in Cluster Bombs'
CAIR's 12th annual banquet will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2006,
in Arlington, Va. This year's theme will be "American Muslims:
Connecting and Sharing."
"Muslims can convert to Christianity here!" read the sign
Monday in front of the Congregational Church on Laurel Road.
It was an invitation that the church's pastor, K.C. McCay, admitted he
didn't expect anyone to accept.
But coming on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it was bound to
stir a response.
And it did.
"If church leaders are really interested in saving people, they
would find much less offensive ways to do it," said Ahmed Bedier,
director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. "Religious leaders are adding fuel to the fire. It's a
shame."
The group plans on taking photos of the sign to document the incident, as
it did in 2003 when a Jacksonville minister posted a sign stating that
the Prophet Muhammad advocated violence.
McCay, who has been a pastor at the church for five years, said 9/11
never entered his mind when he placed the message on the road-side
marquee.
Instead, he was responding to a Texas man, whose name he said he did not
remember, who recently called on Christians to convert to Islam.
McCay said he doesn't expect any Muslims to take him up on his
offer.
The church, which was founded by his father in 1977, has between 50 and
100 members, depending on the time of year. It is a conservative church
that views Christianity as the only path to God.
"We will not vary from that," McCay said. "If Muslims want
us to water it down, that might be all right for you, but we're not
biting."
But Janet Onnie, chairwoman of the Venice Interfaith Community
Association, said McCay's sign did more harm than good in the effort to
bring people together.
Celebrating the commonalities between Islam and Christianity is a better
way to bring people together, she said. (MORE)
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Sacramento-area Muslims are asking for an apology from
the mayor of Redding, who said some Muslims find it acceptable to lie,
cheat and murder.
During an event last week commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, Mayor
Ken Murray said Shiite Muslims believe they "are duty-bound by
religious law to lie, cheat, steal, kill all who do not worship their
version of Allah."
"Folks, they're not like us," he told those who attended an
annual remembrance vigil on the steps of the Shasta County Courthouse, in
the city about 160 miles north of Sacramento. His comments were reported
by the Redding Record Searchlight.
In a statement given Monday to The Associated Press, Murray acknowledged
making those statements but said he was "wrong" when he
attributed criminal behavior to Shiites.
He said he was referring instead to the Wahhabi sect -- a brand of Islam
most prevalent in Saudi Arabia and practiced by Osama bin Laden and the
Taliban.
"At no time did I say all Muslims are bad folks," Murray said
in his statement.
He said his intention was to address "the secular and religious wars
our Judeo-Christian nation is fighting."
On Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the
Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations asked for Murray to apologize.
The mayor needs to demonstrate "a willingness to show people that he
will bring about unity and tolerance," said Basim Elkarra, the
nonprofit group's executive director.
"We're asking government officials who were present to distance
themselves from these xenophobic comments," he added.
Murray said he did not plan to directly respond to the group.
(MORE)
Redding Mayor Ken
Murray has apologized for remarks made last week at a Sept. 11
commemoration at which he called Shiite Muslims "wing nuts" who
lie, cheat and steal for their God.
"I attributed these perverted beliefs to a sect of Shiite Muslims.
Was I wrong?" Murray said Monday on his radio show "Murray in
the Morning" on Redding talk radio station KQMS. "As a matter
of fact, I was wrong."
He added later that he owed Shiites an apology and said he actually was
referring to a sect of Islam called the Wahhabi, whose followers include
Osama bin Laden.
Although they're in the minority, the Wahhabi dominate the Arabian
peninsula, and they "have no problem lying, cheating, killing
Christians, killing Muslims or anyone who doesn't meet their litmus
test," Murray said.
The mayor's retraction came after a weekend of criticism of Thursday's
"One Nation Under God" at the Shasta County courthouse. During
the ceremony, Murray spoke alongside other Christian public officials and
religious leaders to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks.
Members of Redding's Islamic community and the Sacramento Valley chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Murray for his
statements, saying they amounted to religious bigotry.
"The unthinking bigotry and ignorance of such remarks are unworthy
of an American public official and should be repudiated by all those who
seek tolerance and mutual understanding," Basim Elkarra,
executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. (MORE)
The mayor of Redding got into hot water with some comments he made about
Islam last week.
The occasion was a prayer event held Thursday on the steps of the Shasta
County Courthouse and emceed by state Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa,
R-Richvale.
Redding Mayor Ken
Murray said Christians and Muslim extremists are engaged in "a
war to the spiritual death of one of us," according to a Redding
Record-Searchlight article.
According to the newspaper, Murray attacked the smaller of the two
branches of Islam, the Shiites, saying adherents believe lying, cheating,
stealing and killing are acceptable if they are done to glorify
Allah.
These remarks and others he reportedly made brought Murray criticism in
the form of an editorial by the Record-Searchlight.
In addition, a national Muslim advocacy group, the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent out an e-mail bulletin calling
on "Californians to repudiate" the mayor's remarks.
In a phone interview Monday afternoon, Murray said he apologized on a
Redding radio station that morning, but he wasn't sure his apology would
satisfy all his critics.
According to the Record-Searchlight, after the prayer event, Murray said
he distinguished between "mainstream" Muslims and Shiites, whom
he called "wing nuts."
The newspaper reported Murray said, "Either the Judeo-Christian
philosophy will survive or the Islamic philosophy will
survive."
Asked by the Enterprise-Record if he'd been quoted accurately, Murray
said, "not exactly."
The E-R asked Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, about the Shiites and
the mayor's remarks.
Hooper said the comments didn't make sense. Like the larger Sunni group,
the Shiites include millions of ordinary Muslims who are not violent or
lawless, he said.
The differences between the two groups aren't as great as those between
Catholics and Protestants in the Christian world, he said.
Ali Sarsour, a Sunni Muslim from Chico, said he's known many Shiite
Muslims from Chico and Yuba City and found them to be "fantastic
people," who love peace and obey the laws.
On the radio talk show he hosts in Redding, Murray explained Monday
morning that he'd used the wrong term. He said "Shiites" while
meaning the Wahhabi.
According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, Wahhabism, named after a
leader who lived in the 1800s, is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi
Arabia and Qatar. Its followers seek a very pure form of the religion,
the article stated.
But Hooper, of CAIR, said no Muslims today would call themselves
Wahhabis. It's become a pejorative term that means an extremist or
violent person, he said. The only people he hears using it, he said, are
those who "aren't very fond of Islam."
Hooper said he thought Murray and maybe others in the north valley could
benefit from meeting with some Muslims and learning about their religion.
He offered to facilitate such a meeting. (MORE)
WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold called on President Bush to
refrain from using the phrase "Islamic fascists," saying it was
offensive to Muslims and has nothing to do with terrorists fighting the
United States.
"We must avoid using misleading and offensive terms that link Islam
with those who subvert this great religion or who distort its teachings
to justify terrorist activities," Feingold said Tuesday in a speech
to the Arab American Institute on Capitol Hill.
The Wisconsin senator, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, said the
label "Islamic fascists" makes no sense and doesn't help the
U.S. effort to combat terrorism.
"Fascist ideology doesn't have anything to do with the way global
terrorist networks think or operate, and it doesn't have anything to do
with the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world who practice
the peaceful teachings of Islam," Feingold said.
In seeking to explain the term, the White House referred to comments made
last week by homeland security adviser Fran Townsend.
"What the president was trying to capture was this idea of using
violence to achieve ideological ends _ and that's wrong," Townsend
said at a news conference. "Regardless of what label you pin on it,
it is this form of radical extremism that really wants to deny people
freedom and impose a totalitarian vision of society on everyone, that we
object to."
Bush isn't the only politician to use the phrase. Sen. Rick Santorum,
R-Pa., has drawn parallels between World War II and the current war
against "Islamic fascism," saying they both require fighting a
common foe in multiple countries.
Feingold's comments drew applause from the Arab American Institute
audience and praise from the group's president, James Zogby, who argued
that the term "Islamic fascism" scares Americans and inflames
passions.
"It indicates no understanding of Islam, and it actually degrades
the meaning of the word fascism," Zogby said in an interview.
"That's not what fascism means. Fascism means national socialism. It
doesn't refer to a gang of criminal terrorists who are using a cult-like
ideology to murder people."
Bush has used the term to refer to enemies facing the U.S. in the war on
terror. For example, in an Aug. 10 speech in Feingold's home state of
Wisconsin, the president called the alleged terror plot to bomb British
passenger jets "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with
Islamic fascists."
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, a civil rights group, said he hasn't heard Bush use the
term in a while, including the president's speech Monday night.
"I think it's pretty clear now that the use of the term was
counterproductive in winning the hearts and minds in the war on
terror," he said. "I think even President Bush and his advisers
now recognize that." (MORE)
Seasoned area detectives are lending their expertise in the effort to
solve the weekend slaying of a well-known Merrillville restaurant
owner.
This marks the first case for the newly formed Northwest Indiana Major
Crimes Task, said Hobart police Detective Jeff White, one of dozens of
members representing 17 participating departments.
Naseeb Abdul Jabar Mohammed, owner of Aladdin Pita Restaurant and Store,
was found unconscious and bleeding from a gunshot wound by employees
about 10 a.m. Saturday.
Mohammed, 60, of Munster, was pronounced dead at the scene. An
undetermined amount of cash was reported taken from the restaurant at
3750 W. 80th Ave., police said.
The business was closed Monday as police continued their investigation
and his family and friends paid tribute to his life at funeral services
at the Northwest Indiana Islamic Center. Mohammed was a member of the
center.
"There's nothing to indicate the murder was racially motivated, but
we don't rule anything out," White said. "... We're still
hitting the leads." (MORE)
Those with information about the crime can call Merrillville police at
(219) 756-6173.
-----
CAIR-FL: WHICH RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
WILL BE RECOGNIZED? -
TOP
A fight is already brewing in Hillsborough County about the district's
religious holiday calendar for 2007-2008.
Bay News 9, 9/12/06
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2006/9/12/182004.html
The district said it's making a good faith effort to gather opinions from
a diverse group of parents, while the Muslim community said it is already
being left out.
A new school district survey, along with an explanatory cover letter,
will be arriving in 4,000 mailboxes today. It's asking parents a number
of questions like which religious holidays should close schools.
The list includes Jewish holidays Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and Muslim
holidays Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
Steve Hegarty with Hillsborough County schools calls the survey
representative and scientific.
"We are making quite an effort to get as much feedback as we can
beforehand," Hegarty said. "I think that one of the things that
people reacted to last year was that they had the perception that this
was a done deal way before it was."
Hegarty is talking about national media pressure last fall when the
Muslim community demanded at least one of its major religious holidays be
recognized with a district wide day off. But, that never
happened.
Although no decisions have been made yet for the 2007-2008 school
calendar, the Muslim community already feels left out of the
process.
Ahmed Bedier with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
calls the survey flawed.
"The district doesn't track the religion of students, so how are
they going to find a diverse religious sample that represents an entire
county?" Bedier said. (MORE)
Five years ago Monday, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington
changed the country forever.
Those attacks also changed attitudes and actions toward Muslim-Americans,
says Parvez Ahmed, national chairman of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
Ahmed, an assistant professor of finance at the University of North
Florida, speaks across the country and will address students at Orange
Park High School on Monday. He sat down with the Times-Union last week to
discuss how things have changed in five years, misconceptions about Islam
and President Bush referring to the war against "Islamic
fascists" after British authorities thwarted a terror plot last
month.
In the five years since Sept. 11, do you think Muslim Americans are
treated differently than they were right after the terrorist
attacks?
Yes. It has become progressively worse.
How so?
Number one, there is an increased attack on Islam through airwaves and
through rhetoric. Talk-show hosts, commentators, even the president, have
used very negative ways of describing Islam - and Muslims. For example,
using "Islamic fascism" and things like that. It has linked our
faith to something that is very negative, almost universally rejected,
like fascism. ... [According to a CAIR report on the state of Muslim
civil rights to be released this week] the numbers show that, again,
since 9/11, the reports of discrimination, the reports of profiling, the
reports of law enforcement overreach continue to increase at an alarming
rate. (MORE)
Fate and at least a little luck kept a Jacksonville man a click away from
the Kentucky air disaster that killed 49 people last week.
If Parvez Ahmed had followed his routine of booking the earliest flight
home from speaking engagements, the national Islamic leader said he would
have been on Comair Flight 5191, which crashed Aug. 27. But worried that
a banquet where he was the keynote speaker would run long, Ahmed chose a
later flight that would buy him a little more sleep.
It also bought him a second chance at life.
The national chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ahmed
was asked to speak at a banquet thrown Aug. 26 by his group's Kentucky
chapter. He said the original speaker, North Carolina state Sen. Larry
Shaw, canceled to work on his campaign and also was worried about
flying.
When booking the return reservation on his laptop a few weeks earlier,
Ahmed faced two possible times: 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.
"Normally after these types of events, I like to take the first
flight back home so I can be with my family," said Ahmed, 42, who is
married with two children. "I thought if the banquet runs too late,
I would not be able to wake up for the 6 a.m. flight."
So he scrolled down and clicked on the second flight.
Sure enough, the banquet ran late and Ahmed didn't get to sleep until 1
a.m. Several emergency vehicles rushed by him on his way to the airport
about five hours later.
Shortly after checking in, Ahmed and others were told the airport was
closed and they had to make other travel arrangements.
Ahmed heard something about an accident, but didn't know about the
fatalities until he got a startling call from Shaw checking on his
well-being.
Ahmed was driving to Louisville to catch a flight that would eventually
lead him home when Shaw broke the news about Flight 5191. The plane
crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway.
"First you think it was horrible that people died," Ahmed said.
"The second thought that came to my mind was I could have been on
that flight. You feel how fortunate you are that a split-second decision
... saved my life." (MORE)
While the events of Sept. 11, 2001, have changed the lives of many
Americans, whether they lost a loved one or now have to deal with
increased security measures, at least one group has dealt with the
tragedy more than others.
Muslims in the United States have been the victims of crimes as the
result of anger or suspicion, said Abdul Awadalla, former president of
the Muslim Students Association at San Jose State University.
"We're just being watched," Awadalla said. "Everything we
do, how we respond, what we do in the world."
Awadalla added that the women have it harder than the males since they
are "usually much easier to spot."
Sameena Usman, the public relations coordinator for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations for the Bay Area, said her organization
deals with cases of discrimination on a daily basis.
According to Usman, members of the Muslim community call the council to
report acts of "harassment, violence and discriminatory
treatment."
Usman said after each call is received, members of the council
investigate the claims further to find out what happened.
According to the council's Web site, "CAIR's mission is to enhance
understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties,
empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and
mutual understanding."
"Because of 9/11, that is why I work for CAIR," Usman said.
(MORE)
Time came to a standstill at 7:46 a.m. Monday on a busy block in downtown
Chicago.
Outside Holy Name Cathedral, politicians stood silent, clergymen bowed
their heads and passersby paused as a bell tolled from the cathedral's
steeple. Cars quietly hummed by without honking horns. Chirping birds and
other typical sounds of the city seemed muted.
Exactly five years ago to the minute that a plane tore into the World
Trade Center, Chicago remembered.
Across the region Monday, similar moments were seemingly frozen in time
as steps both big and small were taken to commemorate Sept. 11,
2001.
At Holy Name Catholic Cathedral, 735 N. State St., Gov. Rod Blagojevich
declared it a day of remembrance in Illinois.
Blagojevich, joined by Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, Comptroller Dan Hynes and
15 men in uniform--ranging from suburban police and fire personnel to
state police and a man in military fatigues--called Sept. 11, 2001, as
infamous as Dec. 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
"We're here today to always remember," Blagojevich
said.
Rev. Dan Mayall of Holy Name marked the anniversary by reading lyrics
from "The Day America Cried," a song written by Jim Peterik and
Johnny Van Zant.
"And now we stand as one," Mayall said. "As flags are
raised to hail our heroes. ... We join our hearts to remember all who
have died. The day America cried."
After the ceremony, Mayall led a solemn 8 a.m. mass for the politicians,
public servants and about 75 other worshipers.
On Monday evening, as the sun set on a wet and dreary Chicago, scores of
people from several faiths gathered in St. James Episcopal Cathedral
downtown to remember the tragedy and pray for peace.
Inside the cavernous, dimly lighted church, a murmur of atmospheric music
began the ceremony, reducing the attendees' hushed whispers to silence.
Then even the music stopped.
A procession of religious leaders, led by the choir and a 4-foot-tall
lighted candle carried by a Christian clergyman, stepped down the
church's center aisle toward the sanctuary. They gathered on both sides
of the massed choir, dressed in suits, clerical vestments and
headscarves.
After an opening invocation and song, the religious leaders began their
readings. First, Psalm 23 from the Hebrew Scriptures, in Hebrew and in
English. Then, from the Christian Gospels, Matthew 5:43-47. Ahmed
Rehab of the Council on American-Islamic Relations delivered the
final readings, from the Koran.
"The merciful ones will be shown mercy by the all-merciful
God," he read, in Arabic and English. "Be merciful to those on
Earth; God will be merciful to you in the heavens." (MORE)
After 30 hours in labor, Patricia Rodriguez had no idea what day it was.
Then in the wee hours Monday, she realized she was giving birth to her
first child on the most infamous date in recent American memory.
"It hit me and I said to my husband, 'I can't believe it.' At first
it's an instinctive feeling of what a horrible day it was," said
Rodriguez, 24, a San Jose medical assistant who welcomed healthy,
six-pound, six-ounce Melisenda into the world, two weeks early, on Sept.
11, 2006 -- at 8:45 a.m.
But between labor pains, as Rodriguez watched the commemorations of the
fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania, her feelings changed. She thought about the firefighters
and cops and airline passengers who fought back that day. Finally, she
realized that Monday's anniversary was not only about loss, but about
life going forward.
"It's bringing new life into this world,'' she said from her
hospital bed at Mountain View's El Camino Hospital. "It can be a
blessing being born on Sept. 11.''
Like Rodriguez, residents across the Bay Area met the anniversary of the
worst attack on American soil with a mixture of sadness and
resilience.
Alice Hoagland of San Jose, whose son Mark Bingham died on United Flight
93, talked of the warmth she felt while visiting the memorial site in
rural Pennsylvania on Monday.
"In many ways it's joyful, because you see other families and the
local people who have been so helpful and respectful," Hoagland
said. "People stop you on the street and tell you that you are in
their hearts and prayers."
For some, the world has grown so accustomed to the impact of the attacks
that the day seemed almost normal. . .
But for Muslim Americans, the impact of the day has only grown in five
years, with a spike in hate crimes and national leaders invoking a new
term, ``Islamic fascists,'' to cast the war on terror.
"This is a tragedy that occurred on many levels in the Muslim
community, especially American Muslims. Our country was attacked.
Innocents died," said Sameena Usman, public relations coordinator
for the Council on American-Islamic Relations of the San Francisco Bay
Area. "On another level, there is the backlash the Muslim
community has faced after the event."
The organization planned an interfaith dialogue Monday night in a
Campbell Christian church as part of numerous remembrances around the Bay
Area. (MORE)
Local Muslims remember how after the horror of the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks sunk in, a second wave of dread about Muslims being
blamed for what happened washed over them.
Five years on, they are still looking over their shoulders - fearful of
the government, wary about opposing policies they disagree with - but
trying to be strong.
Ahmeen Khasimuddin
On the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, after pulling a double shift as a
resident at a hospital in Newark, N.J., waiting for the wounded from New
York who never came, he walked into the cafeteria.
"A man I knew said, 'We've got to go bomb these people,' " said
Khasimuddin, now a 31-year-old doctor of internal medicine in Davis,
where he graduated from high school and studied as an undergraduate.
"Now, you can say whatever you want. But you can't yell 'fire' in a
crowded theater.
"But I couldn't hold it in. I said, 'So who are you going to go
bomb?' He said, 'Those people.' I said, 'What people?' "
Just as he lived with seeing the dust and smoke, day after day, from the
ground zero, Khasimuddin was ever aware of the polarization the attack
caused.
At the time of the first World Trade Center bombing, in 1993, Khasimuddin
was a student at UC Davis deepening his understanding of Islam and
becoming increasingly politically aware. For anyone who'd watched
closely, then, he said, what happened after 9-11 came as little
surprise.
The Omnibus Counter Terrorism Act begat the Patriot Act.
Terrorists were called "radicals," "fundamentalists,"
"Islamists" or "Islamofacists" in the media. The
implication always seemed to be that terrorism was rooted in faith when,
to Khasimuddin, "'Muslim terrorist' is a stupid idea" - an
oxymoron. . .
Dina El-Nakhal
A civil engineer and the director of communication for the Sacramento
Valley Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
El-Nakhal, 30, said that in the days following 9-11, friends who wore
head scarfs were spit on, the Islamic Center of Davis' sign repeatedly
was vandalized and a fuming co-worker in Sacramento told her he'd heard a
school bus driver made hateful remarks to a Muslim girl.
But at the Friday prayer service at the Islamic Center following the
attacks, non-Muslim neighbors brought flowers. Others showed up with
baseball bats - determined to protect them.
El-Nakhal and her father Hamza, as president of the Islamic Center and
now of the regional CAIR chapter, have been visible time and again when
incidents big or small have called for someone to defend or explain Islam
and speak out against prejudice. (MORE)
Nohayia Javed, a senior from Tulsa, Okla., visited one of the Afghani
refugee camps on the Pakistan side of the Pakistani/Afghani border in
2002.
While she was there she noticed a young boy sitting on the floor drawing
circles in the dirt with a stick.
She asked him if he needed any food or water. He smiled and said,
"No."
She then asked if there was anything he needed, and he told her,
"Mama." When she asked where his mother was he pointed toward
the sky.
This account was one of many things discussed Monday night at the Sept.
11 "Visions for the Future" panel sponsored by the Center for
American and Jewish Studies.
The panel focused on the effects of Sept. 11 in both the American and
international Islamic community.
Students and professors met in Alexander Residence Hall's reading room
and listened to three speakers share their views and experiences in a
post-Sept. 11 world.
The room was so full that many had to stand in the back or sit on the
floor.
"We're trying to present different points of view that you wouldn't
normally hear," said Dr. Marc Ellis, director of the Center for
Jewish Studies and university professor.
"It's important for us to talk about what has happened between then
(Sept. 11) and now."
Imam Sheikh Zobir, of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston focused on
the differences between the claims of terrorists and the peaceful
teachings Islam.
Adeel Zeb, a graduate of the Baylor School of Business and
Communications Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) in Houston, spoke about the effects of Sept. 11 on Muslim
Americans.
"The thing we need to remember is that we cannot base our beliefs on
the acts of certain individuals," Zeb said.
"Muslims that commit acts of terrorism in the name of Islam are in
fact hijacking and defaming their own religion." (MORE)
In the years since 9/11, the government has continued to shut down local
Muslim aid organizations that have never been convicted of a crime. Is
this Bush's idea of a 'faith-based initiative'? Tools
Last year, workers at a small Muslim social service agency in Virginia
received a disturbing letter from their bank. After six years, Wachovia
Corp. was closing the account of the five-person agency that specializes
in domestic violence services and other types of immediate assistance to
families of all religious backgrounds.
"We were totally shocked," said Margaret Farchtchi, board
treasurer of the Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help,
also known as FAITH. "We always kept our accounts in good
shape."
But the agency also had other reasons to think that they would not be
targeted. "We felt very secure because we are a local charity,"
explained Farchtchi. "We don't have donors from overseas. We thought
we were out of what you might call the danger zone."
Many people thought the same. As such, the story of FAITH illustrates the
challenge now facing the Muslim community. Since 9/11, the government has
frozen the assets of six large Muslim organizations and shut them down --
although no one has been convicted of any crime. People, in turn, have
begun donating in larger numbers to local charities, assuming these
organizations to be free of international ties and safe from government
interference. But the experience of FAITH suggests that there are no
guarantees.
"It's still very much happening five years later as it did a year
later," said Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Council
on American Islamic Relations in Chicago. Rehab himself used to
donate to humanitarian causes in Egypt and India but now gives to his
local mosque. (MORE)
In a public hearing spiced with accusations of Jew-hating and
Muslim-bashing, nearly four dozen religious, ethnic and civil rights
activists spoke out Monday on whether a prominent Los Angeles Muslim
should be disqualified from receiving a prestigious humanitarian award
because he has expressed some views critical of Israel.
Maher Hathout, chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California, is
the first Muslim chosen for the award from the Los Angeles County Human
Relations Commission. But some Jewish groups have vehemently objected to
the selection, calling Hathout an extremist masquerading as a moderate,
and are urging the commission to rescind the award before it is presented
next month.
At Monday's commission hearing, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los
Angeles, an umbrella organization of 22 groups representing 40,000
donors, stepped forward as the latest and most influential opponent to
Hathout.
Federation President John R. Fischel told commissioners that Hathout's
"false and controversial" statements about Israel - that it is
an apartheid state, for instance - had offended and angered many
Jews.
"Dr. Hathout takes partisan positions which do not foster harmonious
and equitable intergroup relations…. His words regrettably create the
very fissures and divides that the [commission] is seeking to
repair," Fischel told commissioners.
But Hathout's supporters Monday were more diverse and outnumbered
opponents 2 to 1. Christians, Muslims and Jews, blacks, Latinos and Asian
Americans, and such civil rights leaders as Connie Rice, who received the
2002 award, spoke forcefully in support of Hathout, describing him as a
tireless proponent of interfaith and interethnic harmony.
Rice said it was difficult for her to break with her longtime Jewish
friends on the issue, but that Hathout had taken "extraordinarily
difficult" actions in promoting tolerance and moderation.
The furor over the award, she said, had turned the issue into a
"seminal struggle" over whether Los Angeles would be seen as
embracing or rejecting a man who preached tolerant Islamism.
"If we send a message to Muslims in Southern California that someone
who has tried so hard to bridge … all of our communities cannot be
acknowledged, we would have done extreme damage," Rice said.
(MORE)
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos pulled out of a scheduled
meeting this week with an Arab-American political group after pressure
from some members of the Jewish community, who criticized comments made
by the group's leaders about the Middle East.
Spokesman John Truscott said Monday that DeVos had a scheduling conflict,
adding that DeVos was concerned about pro-Hizballah comments made by the
group's leaders. (MORE)
On August 30th the 'documentary' Obsession: Radical Islam's War With the
West was shown in Saint Louis. Prior to the showing of the film we had
approached our local Interfaith Partnership group and asked if they would
stand with us to express their objection to this film, and were told that
1) this was not an interfaith issue, and 2) is was a matter of free
speech.
I understand that all of us have a right to free speech, and that even
hateful speech is protected. I do not understand how any part of the
religious community can not only condone but promote propaganda and
racism directed towards another religious community. The showing of this
film was legal, but we question that it was moral.
This 'event' was sponsored by Aish Hatorah of Saint Louis, advertised in
the Jewish Light as a community wide event, and in Jewish in Saint Louis
and at the event Robert Cohn, Editor of Jewish Light praised the film and
the speaker. The organizations who were listed as event sponsors in the
program were: Aish Hatorah of Saint Louis, Branches of Issachar, Citizens
for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Middle East, EMMIS Communications,
and Saint Louis Hillel. Branches of Issachar is a Christian group, but we
have been unable to find any information about them. A billboard complete
with stereotypical Arab was posted on a local highway to advertise the
event. Aish Hatorah's spin off organization Honest Reporting also
produced this film.
Over 1,000 people (including children) attended the screening, among them
was our little group of 6 Muslims. Fortunately, we sat together because
as the evening progressed we drew comfort from each others presence. The
audience seemed to be primarily Jewish, but with a large Christian
contingent also.
The film was a classic propaganda piece - in its 1 hour and 17 minutes,
except for a disclaimer that this was not meant to be about all Muslims,
the balance of the film was relentless in its depiction of issues,
political movements, individuals, and positions as connected to the
religion of Islam.
It is a fact that the Mufti of Jerusalem sided with Hitler and that there
are photographs of him with Hitler (as shown in this film). It is also a
fact that there are photographs of Catholic priests, Lutheran ministers,
and Catholic bishops and cardinals with Hitler and even giving the Hitler
salute. It is also a fact that there were Muslims and Christians who
protected Jews from the Nazis, who fought against the Nazi's, and who
were killed in concentration camps. There are Muslims who have been
declared "righteous gentiles" by Yad Vashem and other Holocaust
memorial groups. The majority of Allied troops that landed on the beaches
of Provence in August, 1944 were "free French" Muslims from
North and West Africa. Muslims fought with the Allies in France, Italy,
Stalingrad, and Leningrad. Are they now forgotten?
Bigotry and hatred can be found in all communities - for every photograph
or speech in this film another could be shown just as virulent from
another community, e.g. American protestors burning the American flag,
Jewish Israeli children signing missiles with love, photos of Christian
clergy with Hitler, Hitler's statements about Christianity, Nazi insignia
with Christian symbols, statements by Meir Kahane or other Jewish Defense
League members, or by Christian white supremacist clergy, Jewish
Israeli's having a party to celebrate the Hebron massacre. Statements by
extremist rabbis that during time of war the enemy has no innocents, or
that call for the extermination of the enemy. Signs in a U.S. shop window
calling Palestinians pigs and cockroaches. The list is long, and the
effort to demonize each other pointless. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #500
U.S. MOSQUES URGED TO HOST 'SHARING RAMADAN'
IFTARS National initiative designed to challenge growing
anti-Muslim views
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/13/2006) - CAIR today launched its annual
"Sharing Ramadan" outreach effort designed to enhance
understanding of Islam and to help Americans of all faiths meet their
Muslim neighbors by taking part in a Ramadan "iftar," or
fast-breaking meal.
The CAIR initiative is designed to address the rising level of
Islamophobic prejudice in American society. Research shows that
anti-Muslim bias decreases when people have access to accurate
information about Islam and are able to connect on a personal level with
ordinary Muslims.
"We urge local Muslim communities to share Ramadan's spirit of
compassion, forgiveness and mercy with friends, neighbors and colleagues
of other faiths," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim
Hooper.
For example, seven San Francisco Bay Area mosques will
open their doors on the
weekend of October 7-8 for iftars with friends, neighbors, interfaith
leaders, and public officials.
Hooper quoted the Quran, which states: "O mankind! We created you
from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and
tribes so that you might come to know one another. Surely the noblest of
you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous." (49:13) He
also said Ramadan "is the month of sharing with others."
(Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 614)
CAIR is helping local Muslim communities organize "Sharing
Ramadan" iftars by providing step-by-step instructions for hosting
the events. The
"Sharing
Ramadan Resource Guide" also contains a "Welcome to Our
Ramadan Fast-Breaking" brochure designed to be copied and
distributed to iftar participants.
'SHARING RAMADAN" KIT TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Welcome Letter from CAIR Director
* Step-by-Step Guide to Organizing an Iftar
* Sample Media Advisory
* Welcome to Our Ramadan Fast-Breaking Brochure
* Ramadan FAQs
* Islam/American Muslims FAQs
* Sample Event Program
* Sample Newspaper Ad
ACTION REQUESTED:
1) FORM A 'SHARING RAMADAN' COMMITTEE in your community to help in
this effort. E-Mail: info@cair.com so
we can keep track of all the communities participating in this nationwide
initiative.
4) SEND CAIR photos and video of your event. (Also count the
number of attendees.)
5) BECOME A
CAIR MEMBER or
DONATE to help us
carry out this important work.
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American
Muslim community. Subscribers to the list 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:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: MI Muslims Ask GOP Group to Cancel 'Racist' Event /
IL Muslims Condemn Candidate's Remarks on Profiling / MN Muslim Wins
Primary / MD Teacher Charged in Islamic Greeting Incident
VERSE OF THE DAY: RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REWARDED BY GOD -
TOP
"Whoever works any act of righteousness and has faith, his endeavor
will not be rejected: We shall record it in his favor."
The Holy Quran, 21:94
-----
CAIR-MI: MUSLIMS ASK GOP GROUP TO CANCEL 'RACIST' U
OF MICH. EVENT -
TOP
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 9/13/2006) - The Michigan chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today called on the College
Republicans National Committee to cancel plans for a "Catch an
Illegal Immigrant Day" event at the University of Michigan - Ann
Arbor.
In an article published on September 12 in the Michigan Daily, an intern
for the Republican group discussed the organization's plan to hold a
contest where participants will hunt down a mock "illegal
immigrant" at the University of Michigan.
"It is disturbing that any group would promote such a divisive and
racist event," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
"We call on the College Republicans National Committee to cancel
this event and instead work with students of all races, faiths and
national origins to promote tolerance and mutual
understanding."
CAIR has 32 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.
CAIR-CHICAGO: IL MUSLIMS
CONDEMN CANDIDATE'S REMARKS ON PROFILING -
TOP
(CHICAGO, IL 9/13/2006) - The Chicago office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today condemned comments made
by Andrea Zinga, a congressional candidate for the 17th district of
Illinois.
"Profiling doesn't bother me," Zinga told the Associated Press,
"if we are profiling. . .the people. . .who have caused the outrages
against our Nation and caused the deaths of American citizens. We're
talking about Middle Eastern men."
"We do know that the Islamic culture is bent on conquering and
subjugating a great deal of the world, including us," she
said.
Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR-Chicago called Zinga's remarks
"misguided and misguiding."
"There is no excuse for a candidate seeking public office to not
know the difference between the terrorist threat and the faith of
Islam," Rehab said. "There is no justification for insinuating
that the terms 'terrorists' and 'Middle Eastern men' are synonymous and
interchangeable."
Rehab said Islamophobia is the last "acceptable form of bigotry in
our society." He said recent polls show one in four Americans
admitting harboring prejudices against Muslims. "Inflammatory
remarks such as those made by Zinga contribute to this unfortunate
climate of hate," said Rehab.
CONTACT: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab,
847-971-3963, E-Mail:
director@cairchicago.org
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A Minnesota state legislator who advocates a U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq was favored to become the first Muslim in Congress,
a day after he won his Democratic primary race.
State Rep. Keith Ellison, a lawyer who made little mention of his Muslim
faith during the campaign and who is considered an eloquent orator, would
also become the state's first black congressman if he wins the general
election in November to represent a solidly Democratic district.
"In this election, we had people who say 'shalom.' We had people who
say 'as-salaamu aleykum.' We had people who say all the words of greeting
to each other in peace, because peace must be the guiding principle of
our nation," the 43-year-old Ellison told his raucous victory party
in Minneapolis on Tuesday night.
A representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
welcomed the nomination as a step forward.
"We think it's a very encouraging sign, a sure sign of the growing
empowerment of American Muslims and their growing participation in the
body politic," spokesman Corey Saylor said. (MORE)
In an effort to clear the air with the local Arab community, Republican
gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos initiated a last-minute meeting Monday
night with Arab American Public Affairs Council President Osama Siblani,
according to DeVos' campaign officials.
DeVos was in Dearborn to have dinner with Arab-American leaders and
invited Siblani to talk about the recent "misunderstandings,"
DeVos spokesman John Truscott said Tuesday.
DeVos was on the political hot seat last week after bowing out of a
scheduled dinner tonight sponsored by AAPAC. Truscott said DeVos canceled
because he had a family conflict, but also had concerns about
pro-Hezbollah comments made by Siblani.
"They aired their concerns both ways, and they're very comfortable
with where they're at right now," Truscott said.
Siblani, who publishes the Arab American News, said the meeting went well
and that it's time to move on.
"He explained that the campaign made mistakes," Siblani
said.
No other political candidates have backed out of any AAPAC functions, he
said. (MORE)
-----
URGE CONGRESS TO OPPOSE WARRANTLESS
DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, DC, 9/13/2006) - CAIR today called on American Muslims and
other people of conscience to urge their elected officials to resist the
fast-track legalization of warrantless domestic surveillance
programs.
Last week President Bush put wiretapping bills on a fast track when he
asked Congress to give him "additional authority" to continue
his secret eavesdropping program. If made law, these bills could grant
dangerous new powers to the current and future presidents to create spy
programs free from judicial oversight, a traditional check on
Presidential power.
Also last week, a bi-partisan group of Senators sent a letter to Senate
Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) asking him to hold more oversight
hearings:
Two relatives of a Lodi man who was convicted of supporting terrorists
have been cleared to return home from a long trip to Pakistan, ending a
five-month standoff in which the U.S. citizens were told they had to
cooperate with the FBI to get off the government's no-fly list, a federal
law enforcement official said Tuesday.
"There's been a change," said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity and would not detail the reason for the move,
which was made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Lodi residents Muhammad Ismail, a 45-year-old naturalized citizen born in
Pakistan, and his 18-year-old son, Jaber Ismail, who was born in the
United States, were never charged with a crime. But they are the uncle
and cousin of Hamid Hayat, 23, who was convicted in April of supporting
terrorists by attending a Pakistani training camp and is awaiting
sentencing.
McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for California's Eastern District,
confirmed last month that the men were on the government-maintained list
that bars some people from flying on airlines to or from the United
States.
"They've been given the opportunity to meet with the FBI over there
and answer a few questions," Scott said, "and they've declined
to do that."
Julia Harumi Mass, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who filed a
complaint with the Homeland Security Department on behalf of the Ismails,
said when told of the government's reported change of heart that the men
would probably book a flight home soon.
She said the two received a letter from Homeland Security last week
stating that their records had been "modified to address any delay
or denial of boarding." The letter, though, did not make clear
whether they could fly.
"If that's true, it's very good news," Mass said. "The
fact that the government has retreated from its position after we filed
our administrative claims, and the public became aware of it, highlights
how plainly wrong it was to require the Ismails to give up their
constitutional rights in order to come home." (MORE)
An Arabic language professor from the United States has been left
stranded in Canada for more than two months, unable to return to his San
Francisco job after his visa was abruptly cancelled.
On June 20, Mohammad Ramadan Salama, 38, arrived in Canada hoping to
upgrade his student visa to one given to non-immigrants who have
demonstrated achievement in business, arts or sciences - called an O-1. A
journey he expected to complete in a week has turned into a distressing
wait of more than 70 days.
Salama, an Egyptian citizen, has been living in the U.S. for seven years
and counts among his past students U.S. troops being deployed to the
Middle East. He is married to an American and has two young children.
Because his name is common in the Muslim world, he suspects officials
have him confused with someone else, perhaps even a man involved in the
1993 World Trade Center bombing.
"I have been a studious student all my life. I like literature and
culture studies and film," he said.
"I am not the person. The U.S. government is wasting its time. Once
you have a name like Mohammad and Salama, you're from Egypt and you're
under the age of 45, you're considered dangerous," he said in a
phone interview from London, Ont., where he is staying with a former
professor.
Salama holds a PhD in comparative literature from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and has taught at San Francisco State University for
the past year. He was expected to start teaching three Arabic courses
this fall, including a seminar on the modern Arabic novel.
His wife, Carrie, who is finishing a nursing program in Wisconsin before
joining him in San Francisco, said the delay "has taken a toll on
everybody."
She contemplated dropping out to support the family financially, but
instead has moved with her children into her father's home.
"My husband is stuck in a foreign country and paying bills
there," she said. "I understand the system is trying to be
protective of the country, but it's tearing apart our family."
(MORE)
A substitute teacher was charged with disorderly conduct Monday after she
allegedly lashed out at a group of Gaithersburg high school students for
using words in Arabic while practicing a commemorative speech to mark the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Montgomery County police say Carol J. McVey, 49, began screaming at the
group of Gaithersburg High School students and one of their teachers for
saying "assalamu alaikum" -- a greeting that means peace be
with you -- while they rehearsed the speech in a classroom.
Police said McVey, of Olney, began yelling at the students and their
teacher.
"Islam doesn't mean peace, it means killing everyone for
peace," she told them, according to a charging document.
The students were working on a speech that they intended to deliver at a
memorial service at Kingsview Middle School that day.
The students and one of their teachers left the classroom in fear after
the outburst, police said, and McVey followed them down the hall, where
her alleged tirade intensified.
"Because of you our families died in New York!" she allegedly
yelled, threatening to go to the principal's office to ask that Kulsum
Malik, the teacher who was with the students, be told to leave, the
charging document said.
Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said she didn't know whether Malik or any
of the students working on the speech are Muslim. (MORE)
A Hatfield Township man who said his son is serving in Iraq has pleaded
guilty but mentally ill to firing 52 shots at two cars in the parking lot
of a Lansdale mosque last year.
Robert Blackburn, 54, of 199 W. Vine St., was sentenced Monday to nine to
23 months in Montgomery County Prison, where he has been since the night
of his arrest, and five years probation on charges of ethnic intimidation
and possession of an instrument of crime.
"We're glad he took responsibility for his actions," Assistant
District Attorney Carolyn Flannery said of the plea agreement, which was
accepted by Montgomery County Judge William Carpenter.
"He knew what he was doing and what he was doing was wrong. But he
was acting in part [because] of his mental illness and that's why we
didn't push for state time," she said.
During the early hours of Nov. 8, police discovered two cars had been
riddled with bullets outside the North Penn Mosque at 600 Maple Ave. One
car was hit 37 times and the other 15. Police found a .22-caliber rifle
in Blackburn's car and ammunition in his pockets.
Flannery said Blackburn told police the night of the shooting that he had
been in the Army, his father had been in the Army and his son was on a
third tour of duty in Iraq.
''He had it twisted in his mind that this was a symbol of what his son
was fighting in Iraq,'' she said. ''Because of his mental illness, he
thought it was justified to act out his anger toward these innocent
people,'' she said.
Officials at the mosque did not immediately return phone calls for
comment.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations in Washington, D.C., said he is satisfied with Blackburn's
sentence, but more needs to be done to discourage this type of crime from
occurring.
"We're obviously encouraged that he's going to pay a price for his
actions," Hooper said. "This will probably send a message to
the local Muslim community that their safety is of concern to local law
officials. Hopefully we can move on, but unfortunately this is just one
incident in a fairly regular pattern of incidents [in the country]. We
had a shooting at a mosque in Indiana and a guy rolled a pig head into a
mosque in Maine. It's a disturbing trend that needs to be
addressed." (MORE)
-----
CALIFORNIA MUSLIMS SEEK MEETING TO
DISCUSS MAYOR'S ISLAMOPHOBIC REMARKS -
TOP
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 9/11/2006) - The Islamic Educational Center (IEC) of
Orange County in Southern California and the Sacramento Valley chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) today expressed
concern about recent anti-Muslim remarks made by Redding, Calif., Mayor
Ken Murray, who he referred to Shia Muslims as "wing
nuts."
In an article published September 8 in the Redding Record Searchlight
newspaper, Murray also claimed Shia Muslims "believe it's acceptable
to lie, cheat, steal and kill as long as it ultimately glorifies
Allah." "Either the Judeo-Christian philosophy will survive or
the Islamic philosophy will survive," added Murray.
In a joint statement, CAIR-SV and the IEC said:
"All Muslims reject lying, cheating, stealing, or killing. Islam
abhors such actions and calls on Muslims to maintain honesty, truth, and
respect for property and human life.
The Quran states, "and do not kill the soul which Allah has
forbidden except for the requirements of justice. The next verse states,
"and when you speak, then be just though it be (against) a relative
(See: Quran Chapter 6, verses 151 & 152)."
"Instead of seeking to deflect criticism by changing the target of
his attack from Shia Muslims to so called "Wahabi Muslims,"
Mayor Murray should address the underlying ignorance of Islam that led to
these remarks."
"We call upon Mayor Ken Murray to publicly retract his inaccurate
and offensive remarks and to meet with leaders of the California Muslim
community so that he may gain a better understanding of Islam and the
reality of the American Muslim experience."
CONTACT: CAIR-Sacramento Valley, Basim Elkarra, Executive Director,
email: sacval@cair.com, phone:
916-441-6269; The Islamic Educational Center (IEC) of Orange County Imam
Sayed Moustafa al-Qazwini, email:
imam@iecoc.org, phone:
714-432-0060
Mosques Open Doors Weekend!
Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Bay Area Mosques
invite you to celebrate Ramadan.
Seven Bay Area Mosques are opening their doors on the weekend of October
7th and 8th to break fast with friends, neighbors, interfaith leaders and
public officials in the tradition of building community during the holy
month of Ramadan.
"Sharing Ramadan" is an outreach effort designed to enhance
understanding of Islam and to help Americans of all faiths meet their
Muslim neighbors by taking part in a complimentary Ramadan
"iftar," or fast-breaking meal.
AMAL PRESENTS 'RACIAL PROFILING POST
9-11: THE EVOLUTION OF SANCTIONED PREJUDICE' ON SEPT. 21 -
TOP
CAIR-NY invites all its members to an evening of engaging dialogue on a
contemporary and controversial topic.
WHAT: AMAL (Association for Muslim American Lawyers) Presents Racial
Profiling Post 9-11: The Evolution Of Sanctioned Prejudice
WHEN: September 21, 2006 6 p.m.
WHERE: New York University Kimmel Center Room 914, 60 Washington Square
South, New York, NY
"Suicide bombers and terrorists fit a very specific intelligence
profile, and race and ethnicity is very much a part of that profile.
Let's get real. There is a terrorist profile." "... they look a
certain way, they are young, and they come from a certain part of the
world." - Dov Hikind, Democratic Assemblyman from Brooklyn
". . .if a 25-year-old Muslim man who has been traveling frequently
to Yemen or Pakistan tries to board a plane, then not only statistical
analysis but also common sense tells us that he is more of a potential
threat than the grandmother from Queens." - John Faso, Republican
Candidate for Governor of NY
At a time when racial profiling is deemed to be "common sense",
it is imperative that society reassess the direction of our public
policy. AMAL invites you to participate in this very important dialogue.
Our panel will explore the historical foundations of racial profiling,
the impact it has had on the African American, Latino, Arab, Muslim and
South Asian communities and the process by which this illegal practice
has evolved into a perceived, "commonsensical" solution to our
present day security needs.
Confirmed Speakers include:
* Cynthia Deitle, FBI Special Agent, Civil Rights Squad
* King Downing of the ACLU (Coordinator of ACLU's Campaign Against
Racial Profiling, challenged the "driving while black/brown"
practice in New Jersey)
* Udi Ofer of the NYCLU (Director of Bill of Rights Defense
Campaign)
* Shayana Kadidal (Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional
Rights, counsel in CCR v. Bush, Turkmen v. Ashcroft, Harrington v. MTA
and Vulcan Society v. FDNY)
* Anthony Gair of Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman & Mackauf (Co-counsel
for Amadou Diallo in Diallo v. NYPD)
* Faiza Ali of CAIR-NY (Civil Rights Director)
Kathy Harper wanted to create a store that was welcoming to people of all
faiths.
Harper's store, Star Tulip Stuffies, is best known for selling stuffed
animals, but Harper has made it a store that has gifts for Christians,
Jews and Muslims.
Harper began selling Muslim-themed books, games and dolls in the Redlands
Mall store in February. She said it wasn't easy to find the items, but it
was something she felt was important to do to make her store welcoming to
people of all faiths.
"They are for understanding and tolerance," said Harper, who
was raised as a Lutheran. "A lot of animosity is based on
ignorance."
Part of that understanding, Harper said, can come with the Razanne dolls,
which promote positive images of Muslim women. All of the dolls come with
hijabs, or head scarves, and customary Muslim clothing. One version even
comes with a toy laptop computer.
"These kind of dolls are good role models for the kids," said
Munira Syeda, the communications coordinator for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations' Southern California Chapter. "A lot
of the kids absorb what is in the media and are directly affected by the
kind of toys they have, so it is good to have positive toys and dolls
that can boost the kids' self-esteem." (MORE)
An issue which put the Hillsborough County School District in the
national spotlight, is once again back.
This week the district sent out 4,000 surveys, asking parents what
religious holidays they'd like students to have off next school
year.
Traditionally, classes have been off during Christian holidays like
Christmas. But what about holidays for other religious groups? For
example, Muslims would like classes canceled during Eid Al-Fitr, which
usually falls in October.
Last year, the subject of canceling classes for other non-Christian
holidays drew a firestorm of criticism.
The surveys are the first step in determining the calendar for the 07-08
school year.
Ahmed Bedier, Council on American-Islamic Relations:
"We don't think the request to include one day is
unreasonable." (MORE)
Ottawa's Abdullah Almalki often shrinks from the distress of his
children, terrified by the memories their crying unmoors.
Mr. Almalki, 35, a Carleton University graduate and a father of six,
endured 22 months in Syrian jails where, he says, he was repeatedly
tortured and interrogated, based on information that could only have
originated with Canadian security officials.
Among the worst parts of his experience, he says, were the cries of other
men being tortured and the wailing of women and children held in nearby
cells.
"I used to hear constantly the screams of other people being
tortured. I can't forget the kids I saw in that place," he told a
news conference on Parliament Hill yesterday.
Mr. Almalki is one of four Arab-Canadian men who suspect that Canadian
security officials were complicit in their arrest and torture
overseas.
The best known member of that group is former Ottawa computer engineer
Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian deported from the U.S. to Syria in
October 2002.
Mr. Arar's experience is the subject of a federal commission of inquiry,
headed by Justice Dennis O'Connor, which is expected to report next
week.
Mr. Almalki hopes that report will recommend an independent public review
of his case and those of Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nureddin.
The men have also filed a civil suit against the Canadian government that
they intend to pursue if federal officials refuse to examine the larger
pattern of foreign arrests, detentions and torture.
"When I was in Syria, I used to ask the Syrians, 'Why was I being
held? Why was I tortured so badly? Why was I treated so terribly? The
answer," Mr. Almalki said, "used to be, 'Because of
Canada.'
"For over four-and-a-half years, I have wanted answers. I have
wanted to know why and how the Canadian government was involved in my
imprisonment in Syria."
Mr. Almalki was not alone in demanding answers yesterday.
He was joined at yesterday's news conference by Mr. El-Maati, 41, a
Toronto truck driver and former mujahed; Alex Neve, secretary general of
Amnesty International Canada; Faisal Kutty, vice-chair of the Canadian
Council on American-Islamic Relations; Shirley Heafey, former
chairwoman of the RCMP Public Complaints Commission; and former solicitor
general Warren Allmand. (MORE)
While students gathered in the Amphitheater in tribute to Sept. 11, other
students convened in the Teleconference Center in a different tribute on
Monday.
As part of the Cerritos College Global Consortium, Dr. John Haas, history
instructor, facilitated a discussion Monday titled "Remembering
9/11".
Among the discussion topics were terrorism, anti-American sentiment, the
war in Iraq and the Israel-Palestine war.
The discussion allowed Cerritos students to converse with students from
International Pacific College in New Zealand and Arcadia University in
Pennsylvania via satellite.
Guest speakers at the event included Hussam Ayloush, executive
director for the Southern California Council on American-Islamic
relations (C.A.I.R.) and Dr. Aslam Abdullah, president of the Muslim
Council of America. . .
"Eventually the U.S. will win the war on terrorism," said
Abdullah. "The question is how long will it take? How many innocent
people will have to die for the war to be won?"
However, Ayloush disagreed. "We've contributed in radicalizing
people and pushing them on sides where they want go to the other side.
The war on terrorism has been a failure and has added to the weakness in
hiding terrorism," said Ayloush. (MORE)
Dissatisfaction with media coverage following the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks prompted banker Mo Hassan to quit his job to create a television
channel aimed at fostering understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims
in America.
Five years after 9/11, the nation's largest cable operator announced
Tuesday that Hassan's Bridges TV is now part of its basic digital package
in Michigan, giving Bridges hundreds of thousands of potential new
viewers.
Comcast Corp. previously offered the 24-hour English-language channel on
a subscription basis. But Bridges _ which features lifestyle and cultural
programming, as well as news and interfaith dialogue shows _ has recently
shifted away from that model in order to reach more non-Muslims.
"We're trying to create a dialogue between 300 million Americans and
1 billion Muslims worldwide," Hassan said at a news conference at
the Muslim Center in Detroit.
With the Comcast announcement, the potential audience for Buffalo,
N.Y.-based Bridges is approaching 2 million, Hassan said. The channel is
carried by a handful of other cable providers in the U.S. and
Canada.
Comcast has about 1.4 million customers in Michigan, spokesman Jerome
Espy said. Most of those customers are in southeastern Michigan, the home
of one of the largest Arab American communities in the country.
(MORE)
The Zionist Organization of America asked for an investigation Tuesday
into allegations that the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission
violated state open meeting laws when it selected a local Muslim leader
for its annual humanitarian award.
Stephen Saltzman, executive director of the Zionist organization's
Southern California office, said the commission failed to post in advance
proper details of two July meetings at which the issue was discussed, as
required by the state open meeting law known as the Brown Act. As a
result, he argued, the decision to grant the award to Maher Hathout,
chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California, was "null and
void."
The organization asked for the investigation in a letter Tuesday to Board
of Supervisors Chairman Mike Antonovich.
"The Brown Act gave the public the right to know and to participate
in the decision-making process," Saltzman said. "We intend to
pursue this until we're satisfied."
Similar complaints were made by StandWithUs, a pro-Israel organization,
and others to the supervisors at their meeting Tuesday.
County Counsel Ray Fortner's office is reviewing the allegations,
according to a board source.
Commission President Adrian Dove said there was "no substance"
to the allegations. He and another commissioner, the Rev. Zedar E.
Broadous, said proper notifications had been issued before both meetings.
(MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR TO RELEASE REPORT ON U.S. MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS Annual study will show jump in reports of anti-Muslim
bias
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/14/06) - On Monday, September 18, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) will hold a noon news conference
in the nation's capital to release its 11th annual report, titled
"The Struggle for Equality," on the status of Muslim
civil rights in the United States.
The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group's report -
the only annual study of its kind - will show a significant increase in
complaints of anti-Muslim harassment, violence and discriminatory
treatment from the previous year.
Nine states and the District of Columbia accounted for almost 80 percent
of all civil rights complaints in 2005. The states with the highest
number of reported complaints were: California, Illinois, New York,
Texas, Virginia, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and New Jersey.
WHAT: CAIR to Release Annual Report on Status of American
Muslim Civil Rights
WHEN: Monday, September 18, Noon (Eastern) WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue,
S.E., Washington, D.C. CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair-net.org
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, began documenting
anti-Muslim incidents following the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City.
- END -
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
HADITH OF THE DAY: IN SEARCH OF GOD'S REFUGE -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "By God, if you knew
what I know, you would laugh little and weep much. You would not enjoy
(the company of your wives), and (you) would rush into the streets and
jungles in search of God's refuge."
CONNECTING AND SHARING BANQUET: 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lexington
Municipal Conference Center, 111 Maiden Lane. Sponsored by the Council on
American Islamic Relations-SC, keynote speakers will be Imam Siraj Wahhaj
and Dr. Parvez Ahmed. Adults, $20; ages 12-18, $10; ages 12 and younger,
$5. (803) 210-7355.
-----
CAIR-FL: MUSLIM MED STUDENTS FACE
EXPULSION FOR REFUSING TO UNDRESS -
TOP
CAIR-FL seeks solution that accommodates religious beliefs
(MIAMI, FL, 09/14/2006) - On Friday, September 15, the Florida office of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) will hold a news
conference in Davie to support religious accommodation requests by four
female Muslim medical students facing expulsion from Nova Southeastern
University for refusing to undress in front of male colleagues for
examinations.
WHEN: Friday, September 15, Noon
WHERE: Nova Southeastern University, Terry Building, 3301 College Avenue,
Davie, FL
CONTACT: CAIR-FL Communications Director Melissa Matos, 954-272-0490,
E-Mail: m-matos@cairfl.org;
CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altaf@cairfl.org
"We call on Nova Southeastern University to comply with the law by
providing these medical students with reasonable accommodation for their
religious practices and beliefs," said CAIR-FL Legal Advisor Areeb
Naseer.
Naseer said other American medical schools have accommodated religious
beliefs while maintaining high standards of training.
CAIR has 32 offices, chapters and affiliates 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.
With too many Americans viewing their Muslim fellow citizens with
suspicion because of the 9/11 attacks and other terrorist acts, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group,
decided to launch "a new brand identity and logo."
In a letter to the American Muslim community, CAIR board Chairman Parvez
Ahmed said the group after 12 years of service is "reaffirming our
core values and recommitting ourselves to three central aspects of CAIR's
mission -- enhancing understanding of Islam, protecting civil liberties
and empowering American Muslims." Those values include promoting
pluralism for a better America, justice and dialogue.
The new logo, Ahmed wrote, "affirms that we are one human family,
created by God into different nations and tribes so that we may come to
know each other and not despise each other."
Ahmed said in an interview that the timing of the new branding effort was
"not particularly interesting." But he said that "a
handful of extremists are distorting the image of Islam."
"We needed to think of new ways of becoming more effective, a much
better way of communicating how [we are] part of the American
mainstream," Ahmed said. "It is important that they [other
Americans] have a clear understanding of us."
I wish to thank the Press-Enterprise for including the comments of Hussam
Ayloush of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in the Opinion pages
last week ("Bush's 'fascist' talk alienates Muslims," Sept. 6).
I have found CAIR to be a very reputable organization that works to build
bridges between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
The organization continually speaks out against terrorism and
violence.
I believe it provides a much-needed voice of sanity that deserves to be
heard.
Lobbying [the influencing of public officials] is a big part of the
political process in the United States, with thousands of groups
representing a wide spectrum of causes. Over the years, the
Jewish-American lobby has emerged as very influential on issues relating
to Middle East. But over the last few years, the Arab-American lobby's
influence has grown significantly.
America's unwavering support for Israel has often been a source of
contention in the Middle East. Many Arab-Americans say this was evident
during the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel's influence with decision makers is partly the result of the
strong pro-Israeli lobby in the U.S.
Eugene Bird is from the Council for the National Interest, a
pro-Palestinian lobby group in Washington D.C. "We [the U.S.] are
the greatest Jewish power. We have 5.5 million Jews, more Jews here than
other [country] in the world. They are an important part of our
community."
Several pro-Israeli lobbying groups declined VOA's requests for
interviews. However, lobbying experts say the pro-Israeli lobby is among
the most active in influencing U.S. foreign policy.
Massie Ritsch is from the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan
organization that tracks campaign contributions. "Money influences
politics, and campaign contributions and lobbying do have an influence on
American government. The pro-Israeli lobby is probably the most
influential among foreign interests. They account for about one quarter
of the money spent on federal lobbying."
On the other hand, Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations says the pro-Arab-lobby is in its infancy. "The pro-Arab
or Islamic lobby in the United States is a new phenomenon. When we work
in this young organization, which is 12 years, compared to 60- or
90-year-old Jewish organizations [that] have been working on influencing
the administration and the Congress to [support] Israel. We do not look
at it that way. We look at it as, we are a civic organization that cares
about domestic issues." (MORE)
In District 39, political newcomer Saqib Ali, a 30-year-old North Potomac
resident, beat incumbent Del. Joan F. Stern by about 6 percent with 4,205
votes in the Democratic House primary.
Ali was behind incumbent delegates Charles E. Barkley of Germantown and
Nancy J. King of Montgomery Village. The top three vote-getters will
advance to the general election in the House of Delegates race to face
off against Republicans David Nichols, Gary Scott and Bill Witham, all of
Gaithersburg.
Throughout the race Ali said he would invigorate the District 39
delegation, bringing energy and fresh ideas to Montgomery County and the
state.
He repeated the message that what set him apart from his fellow
candidates is at the same time what brings him closer to ''the face of
Montgomery County."
''I'm in an interracial and interfaith marriage, I'm a professional, I'm
sort of middle income and I live in a diverse world," he said during
his campaign. ''I have feet in a lot of different worlds. I can be a
bridge between different communities." (MORE)
The Minnesota Democrat who is likely to become the first Muslim elected
to Congress says he wants to "promote the idea that America needs
friends around the world, not more enemies."
Keith Ellison, an African-American state legislator from Minneapolis, won
Tuesday's Democratic primary to replace Rep. Martin Olav Sabo. The son of
Norwegian immigrants is retiring after 28 years in the House of
Representatives. Ellison beat three other Democrats, including Sabo's
former chief of staff and ex-party chairman, Mike Erlandson.
Although Ellison will face Republican business consultant Alan Fine in
November, his election is all but guaranteed, says University of
Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs. In 2004, 71% of the
district's voters backed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Minnesota's most ethnically diverse district is home to veiled Somali
women, Russian Jewish immigrants and Hmong refugees, belying the state's
image as a homogeneous Scandinavian enclave.
Ellison's victory marks a turning point for American Muslims, according
to community leaders such as Ali Khan of the American Muslim
Council.
"It says, 'Look, you are part of America,' " says Khan, who
notes that until recently the diverse community was "not very
organized" or interested in electoral politics.
Estimates of the number of U.S. Muslims vary between 2 million and 6
million. The Council on American-Islamic Relations says about a third are
black and another third are from South Asia. One in four are of Arab
descent and the rest from Africa and elsewhere.
Ellison, 43, was raised Catholic in Detroit and converted to Islam as a
19-year-old student at Wayne State University before moving to Minnesota
for law school.
Islam "makes a lot of sense to me. It works for me," Ellison
said in a phone interview Wednesday.
A criminal defense lawyer, he called for an immediate troop withdrawal
from Iraq, universal health care and the impeachment of President Bush.
Such stands and his passionate oratory recall Paul Wellstone, the
Minnesota senator killed in a plane crash in 2002, says Jacobs, although
he calls Ellison "pragmatic and someone who can work with others. He
won't be what people expect."
Ellison says he never brought up his religion or his race - he would be
Minnesota's first black member of Congress - during the campaign. Voters
did, however, ask about his position, as a Muslim, on Israel, the
separation of church and state, abortion rights and gay rights. He says
he supports them all. (MORE)
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 13 -- State lawmaker Keith Ellison didn't let
questions about his past slow down his campaign to become the first
Muslim in Congress.
On Tuesday, voters responded to his liberal message calling for peace,
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and universal health care. He beat
three contenders in the Democratic primary in a Minneapolis-area district
long dominated by his party.
"You're not on your own," Ellison told supporters at an African
restaurant in a speech that had the call-and-response of a revival
meeting. "We are with you. We do these things together, y'all, and
we don't let nobody break us apart."
Ellison, a 43-year-old criminal defense lawyer who converted to Islam as
a college student, overcame questions about late parking tickets, overdue
taxes and his past ties to the Nation of Islam. He has since denounced
black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan and was endorsed by a Minneapolis
Jewish newspaper. He has also pledged to improve his personal
recordkeeping.
Ellison courted the liberal wing of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party by
comparing himself to the late senator Paul D. Wellstone -- and many
voters responded. Others clearly relished the chance to elect a minority
to Congress from Minnesota for the first time; Ellison is black.
(MORE)
ST. PAUL - One day after a Muslim state representative, Keith Ellison,
captured the Democratic nomination for Congress, his Republican opponent
on Wednesday unleashed a bitter attack on Ellison's past ties with Louis
Farrakhan.
Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, has a history of harshly
criticizing Jews.
Business professor Alan Fine, who's running an uphill race in Minnesota's
bluest district, compared Ellison with former Ku Klux Klan leader David
Duke, emphasizing the black Democrat's Muslim background with a series of
pen names formerly used by Ellison.
"I'm extremely concerned about Keith Ellison. Keith Hakim. Keith X
Ellison. Keith Ellison Muhammad," Fine, who is Jewish, said at a
Capitol news conference. "I'm personally offended that this person
is a candidate for U.S. Congress. He is unfit to represent the voters of
the 5th District."
Fine added, "His selection is an embarrassment to our district, our
state, our country and our world."
Ellison - who spent months explaining a mid-1990s association with
Farrakhan's Nation of Islam during the primary contest - said in a
statement that Fine's remarks weren't worth a response.
"To engage them is to be sullied by them," said Ellison, a
43-year-old criminal defense attorney who converted to Islam as a college
student.
His statement added, "I intend to continue reaching out to the
marginalized, to the disenfranchised, the dispossessed and inviting them
in, to join us as we take our country back from those who would pander to
our worst fears."
Fine's attack could backfire in a Minneapolis-area district where
Democrats typically win by lopsided margins, said Larry Jacobs, a
University of Minnesota political scientist. He noted that even in a
competitive primary, Ellison's DFL opponents handled the issue
gingerly.
"I'm just not sure how that's going to play with many voters in the
5th Congressional District," Jacobs said. "I think this is a
risky proposition." (MORE)
Republicans on campus and in Washington distanced themselves yesterday
from controversial political activities discussed by an intern for the
College Republican National Committee.
The intern, Morgan Wilkins, a sophomore at the University of Louisville,
who is being paid to organize College Republicans throughout the state
told The Michigan Daily on Sunday that she was considering organizing an
event at campuses around the state that would have had participants shoot
paintball or BB gun at cardboard cutouts of prominent Democrats like
senators Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. She also said she might hold
"Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day," where students would try and
find a volunteer hidden on campus wearing a shirt that said "illegal
immigrant" on it.
"We would never do those types of events or support them,"
College Republicans chair Robert Scott said. "First, because they're
offensive to some members of our club. Second, because they undermine one
of the goals of our organization, which is to include as many people as
possible."
A Daily report published Tuesday describing these events sparked a minor
national uproar. An editing error that misidentified Wilkins's employer
as the Republican National Committee, not the CRNC caused much of the
outcry. There is no official link between the RNC and the CRNC.
Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean sent a letter to his
counterpart at the RNC, Ken Mehlman, demanding that he denounce the
activities and put a stop to them. Mehlman called the events
"reprehensible" in his reply to Dean. He also noted that
Wilkins was not employed by the RNC, as was originally reported.
CRNC chair Paul Gourley said that while the group employs Wilkins, it had
nothing to do with the proposed events.
"These particular projects were not anything that was ever discussed
in our training for Morgan," he said. "It's not in any of our
training materials that we send out to thousands of College Republicans
around the country." (MORE)
In the days immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks, Jaafar Hammoumi
says, many Americans questioned Muslim neighbors about their faith and
sought answers about what could have led people to commit such horrible
acts.
"They figured out, finally, that it has nothing to do with Islam.
It's just there are bad people everywhere," says Hammoumi, a
41-year-old Chelmsford resident and native of Morocco.
Five years after the attacks, things are starting to "get back to
normal," he said, during an interview outside the Islamic Society of
Greater Lowell mosque on Stedman Street in Chelmsford.
Imam Hafiz Abdul Hannan, who has overseen the Islamic Society mosque for
nearly four years after moving to the U.S. from Pakistan nine years ago,
said a basic tenet of Islam is to never harm anyone else. Radical
Islamists violate those strictures, Hannan said.
"We're not even a part of them, and we don't even consider them as a
part of us," he said. "They are giving us a bad
name."
Hannan said the biggest change he has seen during the past five years is
in more unnecessarily harsh treatment of Muslims by federal officials
than before. Visa applications are stalled, and legal immigrants run into
problems with residency status, he said.
He said he experienced such treatment last year, when he was abruptly
asked to discontinue his role as Muslim chaplain at the Middlesex House
of Correction in Billerica and the Cambridge jail.
After working at the jails since 1998, Hannan said he was asked to stop
coming after jail officials told him "some agency contacted
them" and put a "restriction" on him.
He said he had no problems in the past with jail officials and has never
been contacted by any agency about his work. Then, about five months ago,
he was allowed to return without explanation. He has been back at the
jails since, but never learned why he was required to take a
leave.
"These are the things that happen," Hannan said. "This is
really something that's painful. People who are really moderate, who are
willing to do something for the community, are under more scrutiny."
(MORE)
A little before 1400 hours on Friday, Faisal Rana and Umar Abdul Wahhab
prepared the Pentagon chapel for worship.
Fridays are always busy at the chapel, on the Pentagon's first level,
E-ring, fourth corridor, about where American Airlines Flight 77 slammed
into the building that awful morning five years ago. The chapel hums all
week, but settle into one of the seats on Friday and you'll get a survey
course in the great religions. There's a Catholic Mass at 11:30, a Jewish
service at 12:30 and an Islamic service at 2.
The pulpit was moved from one side of the chapel to the other so
worshipers could face Mecca, the position of which was determined with
military precision after the chapel opened in 2002. The altar was lifted
and carried over against a wall, and two large green Persian rugs were
unfolded on the floor.
Faisal spread out some handwritten notes on the pulpit. A retired Marine
from Burke who now is a contractor at the Justice Department, he would be
delivering the day's khutba, or sermon. The topic he'd picked: "The
Purpose of Our Existence."
Men began to come in. Most were in civilian clothes, shoeless now, their
hard plastic photo IDs hanging from around their necks. There was a
sailor. And a soldier in desert camouflage -- 13 men in all. The soldier
unlaced his tan boots, slipped them off and padded onto the green
carpet.
Umar, an Air Force veteran who's now a civilian Defense Department
employee in Crystal City, gave the call to prayer in a strong tenor
voice. Then Faisal started talking. Allah, he said, created humans only
to worship. "That is the whole reason for existence in the
world," he said.
The chaplains who serve the Pentagon have always wanted a chapel. It took
Sept. 11, 2001 -- and the approval of the president -- to finally get
one, said the Pentagon chaplain, Col. William Broome , a former Vietnam
helicopter pilot.
"Here is a place on the site of disaster where faith has sprung to
bring hope," he said. "There is hope in this building."
(MORE)
[DANIEL SOKATCH is executive director of the Los Angeles-based
Progressive Jewish Alliance.]
Moments after I heard about the shootings at the Seattle Jewish
Federation building earlier this summer, my phone rang. It was Salam
Al-Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council,
calling to express his profound sorrow and anger over this attack by a
Muslim on the Jewish community. That Salam called me was not a surprise;
during this summer of conflict in the Middle East, we spoke to each other
almost daily, trying to keep lines of communication open and tensions
down between Los Angeles' enormous Muslim and Jewish
communities.
I am thus particularly pained by the recent efforts by some in our
community to pressure the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission
to reconsider honoring MPAC founder Maher Hathout with a prestigious
human relations award, and a similar effort directed at the ACLU of
Southern California for honoring Al-Marayati for his work protecting
freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. Both of these
attempts are part of a misguided campaign to marginalize and discredit
MPAC.
As those of us dedicated to improving community relations in Los Angeles
and to supporting the emergence of a moderate American Muslim voice know,
undermining MPAC is exactly the wrong thing to do.
Opposition to Hathout and Al-Marayati is based largely on their positions
on the Middle East conflict, something unconnected to either award.
Critics accuse both men of being anti-Israel and of supporting and
excusing terrorism. They are routinely described as extremists and
radical Islamic leaders.
Although both men have made comments with which I strongly disagree,
criticizing Israel is not the same as supporting that nation's
destruction, nor should it be equated with supporting terrorism. Hathout
and Al-Marayati have consistently opposed and condemned terrorism, and
both are on the record as supporting Israel's right to exist. MPAC's
board of directors has passed a resolution supporting a two-state
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and MPAC has dedicated
itself to improving relations between L.A. Muslims and Jews.
(MORE)
A Maryland substitute teacher was arrested after an alleged anti-Islamic
tirade in front of high school students.
Carol Joan McVey, 49, was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing,
disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.
Police said McVey became upset when she heard some students at
Gaithersburg High School, who were being assisted by another teacher,
practicing a speech and using some Arabic words.
The Washington Post said she reacted after overhearing the group utter an
Islamic greeting of peace.
Charging documents allege McVey shouted, "Islam doesn't mean peace,
it means killing everyone for peace" and "Because of you, our
families died in New York!"
It's not known if anyone who heard the alleged remarks is
Muslim.
Authorities said McVey went to the school office to express her
displeasure about the speech and the assisting teacher and was told by
the principal that her services were no longer needed at the
school
Police said she refused to leave and was escorted from the school by the
educational facilities officer.
While being escorted from the building, McVey allegedly yelled at a
Hispanic teacher about the inappropriateness of speaking to students in
languages other than English. (MORE)
Muslim fashion is more than burkas and chadors. It's a hot industry that
is heating up in the United States, especially among African-American
Muslims.
Sakina Uqdah shops at the Al-Furqan Bazaar on the outskirts of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at least once a week. "The skirts...I
love the skirts and the pants outfits," she gushes. "He has a
couple of pants outfits and it's the color. He just has so many different
varieties of style and it's like every week. I come in here and I get mad
because I say 'You have something new in' and I have to get it." She
laughs as she admits, "I get upset when he has something new and I
haven't seen it first."
Mervin Khalil Ghani has owned the Al-Furqan Bazaar for 15 years. He says
he and his wife decide what to stock in the shop. "There are a few
factors; primarily what I think would sell. Some things are in more
demand than others like the Islamic dress. What we normally call the
over-garment. And other things are more non-traditional that Muslims as
well as non-Muslims can wear. Like the blouse and skirts and suits and
those types of things."
More and more, American Muslim women are mixing and matching their
outfits, incorporating Islamic with Western styles. Sakina's non-Muslim
friends regularly join her in shopping at Ghani's boutique "because
of the African styles he has," she says. "I have a girlfriend
who is a Christian. She and her husband come here and shop. The
neighborhood comes for the jewelry. So there is something here for the
entire family."
Muslim women around the world are also finding something they like in the
growing Islamic fashion industry. Young designers are infusing
traditional styles with a modern sensibility. Models showed off designer
burqas and colorful over-garments in July, in Kabul's first fashion show
in decades. Tehran also hosted a fashion week this summer, albeit with
more traditional styles. The International Festival of African Fashion
has attracted European designers Yves Saint Laurent and Jean-Paul
Gaultier, hoping to appeal to Muslim women.
Recognizing an untapped market, major clothing retailers are highlighting
how their top name fashions -- like a tailored jacket by Anne Klein or a
long ruffled skirt by Ralph Lauren -- already meet the Islamic
requirement of full coverage. (MORE)
-----
EXPERT: NO PEACE WITH MUSLIMS, EVER -
TOP
Professor Moshe Sharon tells counter-terrorism conference Iran's regime
is seeking Armageddon, says no peace ever possible with Muslim world
Yaakov Lappin, Y-Net News, 9/14/06
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3304024,00.html
The Iranian government is seeking nuclear weapons in order to bring about
an apocalypse, Professor Moshe Sharon, a professor of Islamic studies
from the Hebrew University, told the annual conference at the
Counter-Terrorism Institute in Herzliya Thursday.
Sharon said there was "no possibility of peace between Israel and
the Palestinians whatsoever, for ever," since the Arab and Islamic
world viewed the establishment of Israel as a "reversal of
history," and would never accept Israel.
He described peace agreements with Arab Muslim states as "pieces of
paper, parts of tactics, strategies," adding that they have "no
meaning."
"The root of the problem between us and the Arab world is Islam.
Islam is not only a religion. It is a culture, politics… a state, Islam
is everything. It has been like this, and it will be like this for the
foreseeable future," Sharon said.
"Islam is a messianic religion… from the very beginning, it talked
about the end of the world," Sharon said. In Islam, "Allah is
the king of the end of days," Sharon explained, before addressing
the Shiite Islam guiding Iran.
According to Sharon, the Iranian regime genuinely believes that the
Shiite messiah, the twelfth Imam (also known as the Mahdi), "is
here. And he will come. And first, he will establish the Shiite house of
Ali. This is a time of messianic expectation." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. MUSLIMS CALL FOR DIALOGUE OVER POPE'S
COMMENTS ON ISLAM CAIR seeks meeting with Vatican representative in
Washington, D.C.
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/15/2006) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) today called for
increased dialogue between Muslims and Catholics over the controversy
sparked by remarks perceived as insulting to Islam and the Prophet
Muhammad made by Pope Benedict XVI. CAIR is also seeking a meeting with
the Vatican's representative in Washington, D.C., to discuss the
remarks.
In an address on Tuesday, the Pope quoted a 14th century Byzantine
Christian Emperor as saying: "Show me just what Muhammad brought
that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such
as his command to spread by the sword the faith he
preached."
In a statement issued today, the Washington-based Islamic civil rights
and advocacy group said:
"The proper response to the Pope's inaccurate and divisive remarks
is for Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach
efforts aimed at building better relations between Christianity and
Islam. This unfortunate episode also offers an opportunity for Christians
to learn more about Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic concept
of jihad.
"Jihad is a central and broad Islamic concept that includes struggle
against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality
of life in society, struggle in the battlefield for self-defense (e.g., -
having a standing army for national defense), or fighting against tyranny
or oppression. 'Jihad' should not be translated as 'holy war.'
"The Quran, Islam's revealed text, condemns forced acceptance of any
faith when it states: 'Let there be no compulsion in religion.' (2:256)
Islam calls for peace once oppression ends: 'Fight in the cause of God
with those who fight against you, but do not exceed the limits...If they
desist, let there be no hostility except against the oppressors."
(2:190-193)
"Muslims are also asked to maintain good relations with people of
other faiths, and to engage in constructive dialogue. 'And dispute not
with the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) except with means
better (than mere disputation). . .but say, 'We believe in the Revelation
that has come down to us and in that which came down to you.'"
(29:46)
"The Quran also states: '(Rest assured that) those who believe (in
the Quran), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the
Christians, and the Sabians - whoever believes in God and the last day
and performs good deeds - will be rewarded by their Lord. They will have
nothing to fear or to regret.' (2:62)
"In Islam, there is no contradiction between faith and reason. The
first verses revealed to the Prophet Muhammad included: 'Read! In the
name of your Lord. . .Read! Your Lord is the Most Gracious, Who taught by
the (use of the) pen, taught man what he knew not.' Historically,
whenever Islam flourished, so did knowledge and discovery.
"Let us all continue the interfaith efforts promoted by the late
Pope John Paul II, who made great strides in bringing Muslims and
Catholics together for the common good."
Along with a request for a meeting with a Vatican representative in the
United States, CAIR is urging Americans of all faiths to learn more about
Islam and about the life and legacy of the Prophet Muhammad by requesting
a free Quran or a book or DVD about Muhammad at
www.explorethequran.org and
www.cair.com/Muhammad.
CAIR has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
CONNECTING AND SHARING BANQUET: 6 p.m., Sunday, September 17, at the
Holiday Inn on the Bay, 1355 N. Harbor Drive. Sponsored by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations-San Diego. Keynote speaker will be Imam Siraj
Wahhaj. Adults, $25; Under 12 yrs old, $5. CONTACT: (858)
278-4547
The Connecticut office of a Muslim civil rights group has told the FBI it
received two phone calls Wednesday threatening retaliation against
Muslims "if anything happens again in this country."
Hamza Ismail Collins, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said the calls were made to a cellphone used by the
group's New London office by a man whom Collins described as
"irate." He said the man made derogatory statements about Islam
and said he wanted Muslims "out of my country."
Although the organization has received phone calls from people who have
made lewd or derogatory remarks, Collins said it was the first time since
the New England office opened three years ago that it received a call
that seemed to be an actual threat.
Vicki Woods, an FBI spokeswoman in New Haven, said the bureau had
received the complaint from the council about the phone calls and was
investigating. The call could be considered a hate crime if there is any
indication life or personal safety is in danger because of a threat, she
said. (MORE)
CLAYTON TWP. - Local Muslims are hoping a tree-dotted field here will
become a final resting place for their loved ones.
Three years after Flint Township officials rejected Dr. Khaled Shukairy's
proposal to build an Islamic cemetery there, he has plans for a similar
project north of Corunna Road that could potentially hold 2,453
gravesites.
The 56-acre farmland with the rust-red barn and patches of violet florets
on Morrish Road could be replaced by rows of grave sites of the first
Islamic cemetery in the county and second in the state.
Some say the rare project - whose conceptual plan includes an area for a
prayer building, cemetery and about 30 acres for 1-acre-lot, single
family homes in a future phase- is a sign of a growing Muslim community
carving a place in this end of the state.
"We respect the dead and want to have a place for them," said
Dr. Abdelmajid Jondy, president of the Islamic Center in Clayton
Township. "It's pretty simple. We have our own burial (rites) as do
the Christians, as do the Jews. I think it's time for us to have a
cemetery here." . . .
"Muslim cemeteries are extremely rare throughout America at this
time," said Dawud Walid, executive director for the Michigan
branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "But with
the growing population, the community's needs grow as well."
(MORE)
It started as a simple campaign tour to commemorate Sept. 11 and
distribute more than 1,000 American flag yard signs in a western Illinois
congressional district where the incumbent has been sidelined by
Parkinson's disease.
But Republican candidate Andrea Zinga's comments earlier this week about
airport profiling and Middle Eastern men has set off a controversy that
has angered Muslims in the state.
"Profiling doesn't bother me if we are profiling the people who,
with one exception--and that would be Timothy McVeigh--have caused the
outrages against our nation and caused the deaths of American
citizens," she said, according to an Associated Press story.
"We're talking about Middle Eastern men."
But Zinga, who also drew criticism during an unsuccessful 2004 campaign
bid when she questioned the failing health of Rep. Lane Evans, said in an
interview Thursday that the quote fails to provide the full context of
what she was saying.
She said the point she was trying to make is that airlines need to have
the freedom to more thoroughly screen any passenger who sets off red
flags without worrying about whether they have exceeded any arbitrary
ratio for that racial or ethnic group.
"Unfortunately, the preponderance of the terrorist crimes have been
done by people from the Middle East," said Zinga, who narrowly won
the 17th District primary in March. "But if suddenly your triggers
started to show that everyone was, say, an Irish grandmother, then I
don't have any problem with you screening as many Irish grandmothers as
you need to screen to keep that plane from turning into a weapon of mass
destruction."
The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
meanwhile, has condemned Zinga's comments.
"She is misinformed and she is more concerned about votes than
issues," said Ahmed Rehab, the group's executive director.
"This is language that we tend to hear during elections when
candidates feel they can tap into the fears of voters."
A comment Zinga made Tuesday to a Moline television station-- that
"the Islamic culture is bent on conquering and subjugating a great
deal of the world"--further angered Rehab.
"There's just no excuse for a candidate running for public office in
America to not know the difference between the threat of terrorism and
the faith of Islam," he said. (MORE)
Alan Fine is not a lawyer, but he has mastered a strategy that all trial
lawyers learn at the bar (the one across from the courthouse):
If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the facts are against you,
argue the law. And if you don't have a snowball's chance in Hades of
winning, call the other guy names.
Especially if he's a Muslim.
Fine started slur-slinging the day after Keith Ellison -- a Democrat, an
African-American legislator and a Catholic-Muslim (he grew up Catholic
and converted) who makes some people go off their medications and howl at
the moon -- handily won the Fifth District DFL primary for Congress on
Tuesday.
Unfit, Fine called Ellison. An embarrassment. Offensive.
What Fine really was saying: "I have no chance, but I want people to
know I was here. Where did I put my mud bucket?" (MORE)
NEWARK, N.J. -- An Egyptian-born aviation security expert is suing the
U.S. government, claiming he was wrongly suspended from his
Transportation Security Administration job based on a classified FBI file
the government won't let him see.
Wagih H. Makky filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Newark,
alleging he was harassed and discriminated against at work after the
Sept. 11 terror attacks based on his nationality and his Muslim
religion.
The lawsuit claims Makky is one of the world's leading experts in
designing and evaluating technology to prevent explosives from being
smuggled onto airplanes and rail cars. Makky, 55, a U.S. citizen, most
recently worked at the TSA aviation center outside Atlantic
City.
Following the Pan Am jet bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, Makky
was chosen to create a Federal Aviation Administration unit to focus
government efforts to prevent terrorist attacks on American
airliners.
According to the lawsuit, a new supervisor in 2002 asked Makky during
their first meeting about his ethnic background. When the U.S. invasion
of Iraq began in March 2003, the supervisor placed him on administrative
leave, based on the classified file, according to the lawsuit.
(MORE)
The city's top cop met with leaders of the Muslim community to
explain how the department is trying to become more understanding of
their needs. But as NY1 Criminal Justice reporter Solana Pyne explains,
it was also an opportunity to gauge the state of relations between that
community and the police.
Every year the NYPD meets with city Muslim leaders, in advance of
Ramadan, the holiest month on the Islamic calendar, and while most of
those invited to Wednesday's meeting praised the opportunity to sit down
with the police, some complained their community is being targeted in the
fight against terrorism.
"How can we build trust and help you to do your job of protecting
us, if we don't necessarily always know who we can trust and if there are
lots of confidential informants in our community," said one Muslim
community member.
The meeting began with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly detailing the extra
security that will be provided at mosques during Ramadan. Kelly also
brought along a rough cut of a new video designed to help teach police
officers about the Muslim faith. (MORE)
A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran's nuclear
capability is "outrageous and dishonest" in trying to make a
case that Tehran's program is geared toward making weapons, a senior
official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.
The letter, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday outside a
35-nation board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says
the report is false in saying Iran is making weapons-grade uranium at an
experimental enrichment site, when it has in fact produced material only
in small quantities that is far below the level that can be used in
nuclear arms.
The letter, which was first reported on by The Washington Post, also says
the report erroneously says that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei removed a
senior nuclear inspector from the team investigating Iran's nuclear
program "for concluding that the purpose of Iran's nuclear program
is to construct weapons."
In fact, the inspector was sidelined on Tehran's request, and the Islamic
republic had a right to ask for a replacement under agreements that
govern all states relationships with the agency, said the letter, calling
the report's version "incorrect and misleading."
"In addition," says the letter, "the report contains an
outrageous and dishonest suggestion that such removal might have been for
'not having adhered to an unstated IAEA policy barring IAEA officials
from telling the whole truth about the Iranian nuclear
program.'"
Dated Aug. 12, the letter was addressed to Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman
of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It was signed by
Vilmos Cserveny, a senior director of the Vienna-based agency.
An IAEA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to comment on the letter, said it was written "to set the
record straight." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
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info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CANADIAN MOSQUE VANDALIZED WITH SLURS, NAZI
SWASTIKAS CAIR-CAN condemns vandalism, asks for probe as hate
crime
(OTTAWA, CANADA - 9/17/06) - The Canadian Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN)
today condemned the vandalism of the Manitoba Islamic Association mosque
in Winnipeg that was spray-painted with profanities, ethnic slurs such as
"packy" and Nazi swastikas. ("Paki" is a derogatory
term referring to people of Pakistani heritage.) The vandalism was
discovered early Saturday morning.
CAIR-CAN called on the Winnipeg Police to ensure that the incident is
investigated swiftly as a hate crime and that the perpetrators are
brought to justice.
This most recent episode is part of a disturbing trend of similar
incidents that have occurred recently across Canada.
In a statement, CAIR-CAN said:
"The defacement of any place of worship is deeply offensive and
hurtful and the accompanying slurs on the Winnipeg mosque clearly
constitute a hate crime.
"CAIR-CAN calls on local politicians and security officials in
Winnipeg to demonstrate leadership by standing firm against all forms of
hate. They must investigate this hate crime incident as a matter of
urgency and bring the criminals responsible to justice.
"CAIR-CAN encourages the people of Winnipeg and citizens of
conscience across Canada to engage in outreach efforts. By strengthening
relations and building bridges, Canadians stand united in defense of our
democratic values. We must show hate groups that their malicious agendas
will not be tolerated in civil society."
- END -
For more information, please contact CAIR-CAN Executive Director Karl
Nickner at 613-853-4111
-----
CAIR-CAN
Council on American-Islamic Relations CANADA
P.O. Box 13219, Ottawa, ONT, K2K 1X4
Tel: 1-866-524-0004
Fax: 613-254-9810
URL: www.caircan.ca
-----
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info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The five prayers
(required by Islam are) like an overflowing river passing by (your) gate
in which (you) wash five times daily."
(TAMPA, FL, 9/17/06) - More than 600 people turned out for the 4th Annual
banquet of CAIR's Tampa chapter this weekend. Some $330,000 was raised to
support CAIR's mission to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage
dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build
coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
-----
WINNIPEG MOSQUE ATTACKED BY VANDALS - AGAIN
-
TOP
CTV.ca, 9/17/06
Vandals have desecrated an Islamic centre and family home in
Winnipeg.
Furqan Rajput swoke Sunday to find not only his car and home
spray-painted, but also his mosque -- the Manitoba Islamic Centre in St.
Vital -- across the street.
The vandals had painted a swastika on the building and phrases like
"I'm a Packy (sic) fag."
"Probably a hate crime. But maybe just ignorance they were trying to
have some fun at someone's own risk," he told CTV Winnipeg.
This isn't the first time the mosque has been targeted. In 2001, vandals
smeared animal feces and eggs on the walls, and in 2004, the windows were
smashed.
"Usually there are acts like this especially post-September
11," Rajput said. (MORE)
Is it Maher Hathout, the Los Angeles Muslim leader who has promoted
interfaith relations and women's equality but denounced Israel as a
brutal apartheid regime?
Is it Tashbih Sayyed, a journalist based in Alta Loma, Calif., who
praises Israel's behavior toward Palestinians as tolerant and criticizes
Muslims for corrupting Islam?
The question has come under intense debate since 9/11 as the public
struggles to distinguish peaceful Muslims from Al Qaeda terrorists, and
is at the heart of two Southern California skirmishes over who represents
moderate Islam.
In a dinner scheduled for tonight, the American Jewish Congress plans to
honor Sayyed and four others for what it sees as their friendly attitudes
toward Israel and courageous efforts to reform Islam. . .
The organization's choice of honorees, however, has offended some
Muslims, in part because three of them no longer practice the faith. .
.
Despite the dissent, Muslims, Christians and Jews named similar
attributes when asked to define religious moderation. They included
problem-solving without violence, affirmation of human rights, religious
freedom and other Western values, and respectful attitudes toward
women.
But on one key issue, there was sharp disagreement: attitudes toward
Israel.
Ratner said his group believes support for Israel's right to exist as a
Jewish state is central to the definition of a moderate because it speaks
to the larger qualities of tolerance and acceptance.
Others, however, reject that as a litmus test.
"It's un-American," said John Esposito, Georgetown University
professor of religion and international affairs. "Your principal and
only obligation in terms of loyalty as an American is to America. You can
have a variety of positions regarding foreign policy."
Still others say labels and litmus tests aren't terribly useful for
either side.
"The question is … can we find points of agreement, a place from
which to build trust and move forward?" asked Rob Eshman, editor of
the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. "I deal with Jews every
day whom I don't consider moderate, but I don't write them off. And we
can't afford to write off Muslims."
Since 9/11, Esposito and others said, the quest for moderate Muslims has
become widespread as policymakers, journalists, terrorism experts and
religious leaders seek to understand Islam and assess who is
"safe" and who is extremist.
Often, those seeking moderate Muslims are looking for people to affirm
their own values, said Reuven Firestone, a professor of medieval Jewish
and Islamic studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
in Los Angeles.
"When we say we want moderate Muslims, what we are really saying is
that we want Westernized Muslims who have the same kinds of sensibilities
we have," Firestone said. "But that's not realistic. It's a
false but human assumption that moderates must agree with us on most
issues."
To Firestone, moderates are those committed to settling disputes without
violence and willing to hear and consider other points of view,
especially those contrary to their own.
Others said that whatever yardstick is chosen must be consistently
applied. If Muslims who condemn Israeli treatment of Palestinians are
extremists, all Christians, Jews and atheists who feel likewise must be
similarly described, said Khaled Abou El Fadl, a UCLA Islamic law
professor and author of "The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the
Extremists."
Many said a key criterion for Muslim moderates is that they in fact be
Muslim.
Among the Jewish Congress honorees are Indian-born British author Salman
Rushdie, a self-described atheist, and two women who say they left the
faith years ago, Wafa Sultan and Nonie Darwish.
Darwish is a Southern California writer and founder of Arabs for Israel.
Sultan is a Corona psychiatrist, writer and activist who has said she is
particularly concerned about women's status in Islam.
"By honoring Muslims who are not practicing Muslims, the given
message, even if unintentional, is that these people are good because
they left the faith," said Firestone, who recently returned from a
six-month sabbatical in Cairo. "But there are hundreds of millions
of moral, deeply believing Muslims."
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said Jewish groups have long tried to promote alternative
Islamic leaders who may be friendly to Israel but in fact have little
following among Muslims. "It's a slap in the face," he said.
(MORE)
-----
KEITH ELLISON MAY BE FIRST MUSLIM IN U.S.
CONGRESS -
TOP
Todd Melby,
Reuters, 9/17/06
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Keith Ellison, who could become the first Muslim
to win a seat in the U.S. Congress, is a former Catholic who says both
religions and family roots in the civil rights movement shaped a fiery
liberal philosophy.
The chance to make history thrust the 43-year-old lawyer into the
spotlight last week when he won the Democratic nomination to run for the
U.S. House of Representatives.
Ellison's faith hardly came up in the campaign in a heavily Democratic
district but his former ties to controversial Nation of Islam leader
Louis Farrakhan were discussed.
Ellison said he had renounced Farrakhan and his group long ago because of
their "bigoted and anti-Semitic ideas." But the issue may not
die down.
His Republican opponent, Alan Fine, said after the primary he was
"personally offended, as a Jew, that we have a candidate like this
running for U.S. Congress." (MORE)
WHEN Principal James May took over I.H. Kempner High School, a
pecan-tree-lined campus named after the Imperial Sugar founder, the
35-year public school veteran found himself facing a new sort of
quandary.
Although the Sugar Land school has a dress code barring goatees and short
skirts alike, a number of bearded Muslim students came to him asking for
a reprieve for their facial hair.
May knew little about Islam at the time but is schooled enough in
constitutional law to quote Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School
District, the precedent-setting 1969 Supreme Court decision:
"It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their
constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the
schoolhouse gate."
So he granted their request.
That was seven years ago.
Today, May and other school leaders say they spend even more time
maintaining the delicate balance between protecting Islamic students'
religious rights and school dress-code policies designed to maintain
order. The conflicts typically come to a head about this time each fall,
with the Islamic holiday of Ramadan about a week away. (MORE)
-----
POPE 'SORRY' ABOUT REACTION TO ISLAM
REMARK -
TOP
Alan Cooperman,
Washington Post, 9/18/06
Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday that he is "deeply sorry"
about the reaction in some countries to a recent speech in which he
quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying that the prophet
Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things to the
world.
The pope said that the quotation from Manuel II Palaeologus did not
reflect his personal views, and that his speech last Tuesday at Germany's
University of Regensburg was intended to invite inter-religious dialogue
"with great mutual respect."
Benedict's brief statement was the third attempt by Vatican officials in
as many days to cool the reaction to his speech, which escalated from
diplomatic protests to violence over the weekend. . .
But John L. Esposito, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding at Georgetown University, said that the pope "has
apologized," and that an apology was appropriate because the
Regensburg speech was "inaccurate and offensive."
Esposito said the nonviolent condemnations of the pope's speech by
"mainstream Muslim leaders and governments" were "wholly
predictable and legitimate," because Benedict began his speech on
the relationship between faith and reason with an inflammatory quote from
a medieval source and did not, at the time, make clear whether he agreed
with it.
"It's like saying, 'I want to talk about the problem of hating other
people,' and then putting out a flagrantly anti-Semitic comment as a
starting point and not deconstructing it," he said.
Esposito also said the speech contained an important factual
error.
Benedict noted in the Regensburg address that one verse, or sura, of the
Koran says, "There is no compulsion in religion," meaning that
conversions should not take place by force. "According to the
experts, this is one of the suras of the early period, when Muhammad was
still powerless and under threat," the pope said.
Esposito said that, in fact, the "no compulsion in religion" is
a later verse, from Muhammad's time in Medina -- when he had effectively
established a state, not from the Mecca period in which he was under
threat. "The pope was suggesting that the ban on forcible
conversions was overtaken by later verses advocated the spread of Islam
by the sword, but that is false," the professor said.
A leading U.S. Muslim group also called Benedict's speech inaccurate but
appealed for calm.
"The proper response to the pope's inaccurate and divisive remarks
is for Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach
efforts aimed at building better relations between Christianity and
Islam," the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations said. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
REPORT: ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS INCIDENTS JUMP 29
PERCENT Total number of Muslim civil rights cases tops 1,900 in
2005
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/18/06) - A
report released today by a prominent national Islamic civil rights
and advocacy group indicates an almost 30 percent increase in the total
number of complaints of anti-Muslim bias from 2004 to 2005.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations'
(CAIR) report - the only annual study
of its kind - outlines 1,972 incidents and experiences of anti-Muslim
violence, discrimination and harassment in 2005, the highest number of
civil rights cases ever recorded in the Washington-based group's annual
report. (Hundreds of anti-Muslim incidents reported immediately following
the 9/11 attacks were detailed in a separate report.) According to the
study, called "The Struggle for Equality," that figure
is a 29.6 percent jump over the preceding year's total of 1,522
cases.
CAIR also received 153 reports of anti-Muslim hate crime complaints, an
8.6 percent increase from the 141 complaints received in 2004. As in past
years, CAIR said factors contributing to the sharp increase in reported
incidents included the lingering impact of post-9/11 fears, increased
awareness of civil rights issues in the Muslim community and a general
increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric in American society.
"We believe the biggest factor contributing to anti-Muslim feeling
and the resulting acts of bias is the growth in Islamophobic rhetoric
that has flooded the Internet and talk radio in the post-9/11 era,"
said CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar, the report's
author.
Iftikhar said the report also outlines CAIR initiatives taken in the past
year designed to decrease anti-Muslim prejudice. The report cites CAIR's
coordination of the
fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, by U.S. Muslim scholars
repudiating terrorism and religious extremism, the
"Not in the Name of
Islam" public service announcements (PSA) and the
"Explore the
Quran" and "Muslims
Care" educational and volunteerism campaigns.
A statement issued today by
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
(D-TX) thanked CAIR for its "steadfast dedication to ameliorating
the civil rights of American Muslims" and stated in part: "By
all accounts, racial profiling, harassment, and discrimination of Muslim
and Arab Americans have increased since 9/11. . .We cannot allow
xenophobia, prejudice, and bigotry to prevail, and eviscerate the
Constitution we are bound to protect."
Overall, nine states and the District of Columbia accounted for almost 79
percent of all civil rights complaints to CAIR in 2005. They are (in
descending order): California (19 percent), Illinois (13 percent), New
York (9 percent), Texas (8 percent), Virginia (7 percent), Florida (6
percent), District of Columbia (5 percent), Maryland (4 percent), Ohio (4
percent) and New Jersey (4 percent).
CAIR began documenting anti-Muslim incidents following the 1995 attack on
the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The council is America's
largest Islamic civil liberties group, with 32 regional 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.
- END -
CONTACT: Arsalan Iftikhar, 202-488-8787 or 202-415-0799, E-Mail:
aiftikhar@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail:
ihooper@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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
"The parable of those who choose protectors other than God is that
of a spider who builds for itself a dwelling; but surely the weakest of
all dwellings is (that) of a spider, if they but knew."
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Council on American-Islamic
Relations has called for a stepped-up dialogue between Muslims and
Catholics.
The CAIR statement was issued Friday following the public controversy
over Pope Benedict XVI's remarks last week that were criticized by
various Muslim groups and activists as insulting to the Prophet Mohammed.
The pope's comments were followed by some attacks against Catholics
around the world. CAIR said it also wanted to arrange a meeting with the
Vatican's representative in Washington to discuss the pope's
comments.
CAIR is a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group. In
its statement Friday, it said, "The proper response to the Pope's
inaccurate and divisive remarks is for Muslims and Catholics worldwide to
increase dialogue and outreach efforts aimed at building better relations
between Christianity and Islam. This unfortunate episode also offers an
opportunity for Christians to learn more about Islam, the Prophet
Mohammad and the Islamic concept of jihad."
"Jihad is a central and broad Islamic concept that includes struggle
against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality
of life in society, struggle in the battlefield for self-defense . . .
(having a standing army for national defense), or fighting against
tyranny or oppression. 'Jihad' should not be translated as 'holy
war,'" the CAIR statement said.
"Muslims are also asked to maintain good relations with people of
other faiths, and to engage in constructive dialogue," the group
said.
SEE ALSO:
WE CANNOT AFFORD TO MAINTAIN
THESE ANCIENT PREJUDICES AGAINST ISLAM -
TOP
The Pope's remarks were dangerous, and will convince many more Muslims
that the west is incurably Islamophobic
Karen Armstrong, Guardian, 9/18/06
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1874653,00.html
In the 12th century, Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, initiated a
dialogue with the Islamic world. "I approach you not with arms, but
with words," he wrote to the Muslims whom he imagined reading his
book, "not with force, but with reason, not with hatred, but with
love." Yet his treatise was entitled Summary of the Whole Heresy of
the Diabolical Sect of the Saracens and segued repeatedly into
spluttering intransigence. Words failed Peter when he contemplated the
"bestial cruelty" of Islam, which, he claimed, had established
itself by the sword. Was Muhammad a true prophet? "I shall be worse
than a donkey if I agree," he expostulated, "worse than cattle
if I assent!"
Peter was writing at the time of the Crusades. Even when Christians were
trying to be fair, their entrenched loathing of Islam made it impossible
for them to approach it objectively. For Peter, Islam was so
self-evidently evil that it did not seem to occur to him that the Muslims
he approached with such "love" might be offended by his
remarks. This medieval cast of mind is still alive and well.
Last week, Pope Benedict XVI quoted, without qualification and with
apparent approval, the words of the 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel
II: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you
will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by
the sword the faith he preached." The Vatican seemed bemused by the
Muslim outrage occasioned by the Pope's words, claiming that the Holy
Father had simply intended "to cultivate an attitude of respect and
dialogue toward the other religions and cultures, and obviously also
towards Islam".
But the Pope's good intentions seem far from obvious. Hatred of Islam is
so ubiquitous and so deeply rooted in western culture that it brings
together people who are usually at daggers drawn. Neither the Danish
cartoonists, who published the offensive caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad last February, nor the Christian fundamentalists who have called
him a paedophile and a terrorist, would ordinarily make common cause with
the Pope; yet on the subject of Islam they are in full
agreement.
Our Islamophobia dates back to the time of the Crusades, and is entwined
with our chronic anti-semitism. Some of the first Crusaders began their
journey to the Holy Land by massacring the Jewish communities along the
Rhine valley; the Crusaders ended their campaign in 1099 by slaughtering
some 30,000 Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem. It is always difficult to
forgive people we know we have wronged. Thenceforth Jews and Muslims
became the shadow-self of Christendom, the mirror image of everything
that we hoped we were not - or feared that we were.
The fearful fantasies created by Europeans at this time endured for
centuries and reveal a buried anxiety about Christian identity and
behaviour. When the popes called for a Crusade to the Holy Land,
Christians often persecuted the local Jewish communities: why march 3,000
miles to Palestine to liberate the tomb of Christ, and leave unscathed
the people who had - or so the Crusaders mistakenly assumed - actually
killed Jesus. Jews were believed to kill little children and mix their
blood with the leavened bread of Passover: this "blood libel"
regularly inspired pogroms in Europe, and the image of the Jew as the
child slayer laid bare an almost Oedipal terror of the parent faith.
(MORE)
Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Catholic Church's ecumenical representative,
discusses the Vatican's relations with Muslims and the furor over the
pope's recent remarks.
SPIEGEL: Cardinal, are you surprised by the intense reaction of Muslims
worldwide to the pope's speech in Regensburg?
Kasper: Because the Christian faith constitutes a voluntary personal act,
the pope has every right to address the justifiable concerns of the
Enlightenment: the concept of universal human rights, religious freedom
and the distinction between religion and politics. After all, the
Catholic Church is a world church and more of a global player today than
ever before.
SPIEGEL: Which means that conflicts with other religions are apparently
inevitable.
Kasper: The conflict with Islam has, after all, existed throughout
European history, which is what the pope was pointing out. The encounter
with Islam now seems to be entering a new phase. Many have called it a
'clash of civilizations.' But this phrase must be handled with great care
to prevent it from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The alternative
to conflict is called dialogue. This is the option the churches choose,
and it's also what the pope favors. We want a peaceful difference of
opinion, which, of course, is based on reciprocity. But one shouldn't
harbor any illusions over the difficulties this involves.
SPIEGEL: Why is dialogue with Islam so difficult for the Catholic
Church?
Kasper: There is no such thing as one Islam. The Koran is ambiguous and
Islam is not a monolithic entity. The distinction between radical Islam
and moderate Muslims is important, as are the differences between Sunnis
and Shiites, and between militant and mystical Islam. Islam in the Arab
world coexists with Indonesian, Pakistani and Turkish Islam. There is
limited solidarity, even within the Arab world. Muslims living among us
(in Germany) haven't managed to build an organization that represents all
Muslims. Such an organization could protect us against irrational
fantasies driven by fear, fantasies that completely demonize Islam. But
it is difficult, under the current circumstances, to find representative
counterparts to talk with. (MORE)
Complaints of anti-Muslim harassment, violence and discriminatory
treatment registered with a national Muslim civil rights group jumped 30
percent in 2005 from the previous year, the group said today in releasing
its annual report.
The 1,972 complaints made to the Council on American-Islamic Relations
are the most the group has received since it began the annual reports
following anti-Muslim incidents after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
The group said it actually received 2,300 reports but deemed some of them
illegitimate.
The number of complaints has continually risen since 1995, but began
spiking significantly in 2003, the report said. CAIR officials said the
jump between 2004 and 2005 seems to be due to "a rise in anti-Muslim
rhetoric fed by the Internet and also on talk radio," group
spokesmanIbrahim Hooper said at a news conference.
"You can't turn on the radio without hearing negative, bigoted
comments about Islam."
The District and nine states, including Maryland and Virginia, accounted
for 79 percent of complaints. These places also account for the highest
population of Muslims, Hooper said.
The highest number of complaints fall into the "due process"
category, said CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar; those include
complaints such as racial profiling and unreasonable arrest or
interrogation. Second are complaints of religious accommodation being
denied and third are complaints of employment discrimination, according
to the report. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR: U.S. MUSLIM ADVOCACY GROUP SAYS NUMBER OF ANTI-MUSLIM CIVIL
RIGHTS CASES UP BY 30 PERCENT -
TOP
Associated Press, 9/18/06
WASHINGTON (AP) - The largest advocacy organization for American Muslims
reported Monday an increase of almost 30 percent in civil rights
complaints in 2005 from the year before.
Almost one in five of the complaints came from California, which with
eight other states and the District of Columbia accounted for close to 80
percent of the 1,972 complaints.
Behind California in the listing were Illinois, New York, Texas,
Virginia, Florida, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Ohio and New
Jersey. Half those -- New York, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland
and New Jersey -- are mid-Atlantic states along the eastern U.S.
seaboard.
The survey result is not scientific. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the figures represent
complaints made directly to CAIR or otherwise gleaned by the
council.
"What it shows is a general trend, and the fact is that each year
the number has been going up," Hooper said.
CAIR began tabulating anti-Muslim incidents after the 1995 destruction of
the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Early media
reports of that bombing, which killed 168 people including a nursery and
19 children, speculated that the bombers might have been Muslims. Former
U.S. Army soldier Timothy McVeigh eventually was convicted and
executed.
In the 2005 report, "Most categories either remained at the same
levels or increased in frequency from last year's report," the
survey said. Complaints involving Muslim-owned businesses and "due
process" issues showed major decreases, it said.
"Due process" included unreasonable arrest and detention,
surveillance, interrogation and the like. Despite a drop of 8 percentage
points to 17.39 percent of the total, "due process" cases
remained the largest single category.
CAIR received more than 2,320 reports. The 1,972 included in the
tabulations were the ones determined by CAIR investigators to warrant
inclusion.
The number of bias incidents against Muslims in New Jersey remained
virtually unchanged last year, even as they increased by nearly a third
nationwide from the year before, according to a survey released Monday by
a national Islamic group.
The survey by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations counted 70 incidents of discrimination or bias against
Muslims in New Jersey in 2005, up from 69 in 2004.
Nationwide, the group counted 1,972 incidents in 2005, up from 1,522 in
2004. That is the highest level reported to the group in its 12-year
history.
"When you have the president of the United States equating Islam
with fascism, how do you expect the numbers to go down?" asked
Hesham Mahmoud, a spokesman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee's New Jersey chapter.
Other Muslim leaders said the lack of a significant increase in
anti-Muslim bias in the Garden State shows that New Jersey residents are
becoming accepting of differences in religion and ethnicity.
"New Jersey is the most diverse of all the states, and that
certainly plays a part in keeping down these kinds of events," said
Yaser El-Menshawy, chairman of the Majlis Ash-Shura of New Jersey, the
state's council of mosques. "New Jersey is just a more tolerant
place."
Sohail Mohammed, a Clifton lawyer who has represented many Muslims
alleging bias by private and public entities, said New Jersey authorities
have taken a firm, public stand against such crimes.
"The message is going out to lunatics _ if you are thinking about
causing harm to people because of their religion, New Jersey is going to
take it seriously," he said.
He said the Muslim community, particularly in northern New Jersey, has
built strong ties to key law enforcement officials including the FBI and
state attorney general. (MORE)
A prominent U.S. Islamic civil rights group has released a study showing
a significant increase in the total number of complaints of anti-Muslim
bias in the United States between 2004 and 2005.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released its
annual study outlining nearly 2,000 incidents of anti-Muslim violence,
discrimination and harassment in 2005, the highest number of such cases
in the United States ever recorded by the organization.
The executive director of the group, Nihad Awad, says, since the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the number of
such complaints has continued to grow. "We have witnessed, one more
time, an increase in the anti-Muslim discrimination, hate crimes and
bias," said Awad. "This is due, in our research and
understanding, to the negative and politically charged climate against
American Muslims, and Islam in general."
Today marks the 5 year anniversary of the ill-fated terrorist attacks
against our country and against humanity. What happened on 9-11 five
years ago is utterly condemnable and a crime against humanity.
Most American's believe that 9-11 changed the world. Not only have we to
put up with such inconveniences as long lines at the airport but also
live in fear, perceived or real, of the next attack.
For American-Muslims, life too has changed. In addition to the things
that worry all Americans, Muslims have to put up with increased scrutiny
of their activities and constant second guessing of their motives, not to
mention discrimination at jobs or profiling by law enforcement.
A 2004 Pew Foundation poll finds thirty-two per cent of Americans with an
unfavorable view of Muslims. Forty-four per cent believe that Islam is
more likely to encourage violence than other religions. A 2006 poll by
Gallup found that 4 in 10 Americans admit to feeling prejudiced against
Muslims. 1 in 4 do not want to live next to Muslims or fly with them on
an airplane.
Such negative views are not mere opinion but have real consequences on
people's lives and livelihoods. A Cornell University poll finds nearly
half of all Americans want the rights, liberties and freedom that you
take for granted to be restricted for American-Muslims. Twenty-seven per
cent want all American-Muslims to register their home addresses with the
federal government and twenty-nine per cent believe undercover agents
should infiltrate Muslim organizations.
It is precisely during such difficult times we need to examine our core
beliefs. We need to question, we need to dialogue and we need to develop
the courage to understand others.
Pluralism and tolerance based upon mutual respect and understandings are
the cornerstone of great civilizations. Such noble ideas are not
exclusive to any one religion. All great religions of the world teach
mutual respect towards each other.
God says in the Quran - the book Muslims turn to for inspiration and
guidance - "O mankind! Surely We have created you of a male and a
female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other;
surely the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah (God) is the most
righteous of you; surely God is Knowing, Aware of all things."
[49:13].
Despite such universal values being part of Islam, Muslims constantly
face two questions - Is Islam tolerant of other faiths? Can Muslims
coexist with people of other faiths?
We have to realize that normative Islam or Islam as proscribed in books
is not identical with the actions of its "followers." Like
other religions, followers are imperfect fallible human beings. At times
the actions of Muslims will conform to the teachings of Islam while some
times their actions will be either independent of or in violation of
Islam's normative teachings. (MORE)
Halfway around the world, tensions are high between Jews and Muslims, but
Sunday afternoon, members of the two religions sat side by side, prayed
and broke bread here.
More than 100 Tampa Bay area Jews and Muslims, as well as Christians,
gathered at a downtown waterfront park to mark the confluence of the
Jewish and Muslim holy months, a coincidence that happens once every 30
or so years.
An interfaith group called Serving The One organized the event at North
Straub Park to announce the arrival of Ramadan and Tishri, which both
begin Sept. 23-24.
Muslims observe Ramadan by fasting from sunrise to sunset every
day.
During Tishri, Jews observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom
Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
"Especially in these times where there's tensions recently because
of certain things happening in the Middle East, it was a very nice
experience," Ahmed Bedier, a founding member of Serving The
One, said of Sunday's event.
"In the Lebanon-Israeli conflict, there's been tensions between
Muslims and Jews," said Bedier, director of the Tampa chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic relations. "And events like
these help heal those tensions." (MORE)
At a time when religious conflict has turned lethal for so many people
and shattered their peace and security, a rare confluence of the sacred
seasons of the three Abrahamic faiths - Christianity, Islam and Judaism -
begins this week.
Scores of Orange County residents - people of all faiths who say they've
had enough of division, discord and senseless death in the name of
religion - are planning to seize this convergence as a chance to show
solidarity, celebrate and defy those who promote hate.
"I don't know about the feast of St. Francis or Ramadan," said
Sande Hart, 45, the mother of two teens and an organizer of one of the
largest local events, "Sharing Sacred Seasons," set for Oct. 7
in Aliso Viejo.
"For me, it's a real learning experience. But I do know that
ignorance breeds hatred. And we want to be a light in the
darkness."
Here's what's happening:
o Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, begins at sunset Friday leading off
Tishri, the month of the High Holy Days.
o Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and contemplation, begins with the
sighting of the new moon on Saturday.
o A few days later on Oct. 4 comes the feast day of perhaps the most
popular of Christian saints, St. Francis of Assisi, who was one of the
few Christian leaders of his day to oppose the Crusades against Muslims
and Jews.
o The birthday of the great Hindu statesman and peacemaker, Mahatma
Gandhi, fortuitously also falls during this time, on Oct. 2.
It will be three decades before a similar convergence occurs.
Nationwide, the National Council of Churches, the Islamic Society of
North America, the Shalom Center and others are calling on people to
seize the moment to build bridges among believers as well as those who
don't belong to any faith group. (MORE)
WASHINGTON: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a
nonprofit civil rights and advocacy organization, has launched a
rebranding effort, including a new logo, to better convey its work with
other community groups and the government.
CAIR board chairman Parvez Ahmed said the 12-year-old group
decided to create a more 'open' logo, make its annual report available
online, and establish more uniform communications practices among its 33
US chapters to combat the sometimes hazy perceptions of CAIR's
mission.
CAIR debuted its new logo at the Islamic Society of North America
convention in Chicago over Labor Day weekend. Media relations will be a
part of its public outreach.
'We needed a way to communicate more clearly that, yes, we are an Islamic
organization (and) our policies and viewpoints are certainly informed by
Islam, but we are also an American organization, which means that we work
in the best interest of America,' Ahmed said.
CAIR wants to stress that it works with a variety of advocacy and
inter-faith groups on shared goals, meets regularly with members of
Congress, and works with law enforcement authorities, he added.
The rebranding was conceived and managed entirely in-house, though a
design firm created the new logo, which features four people of different
colors holding hands around the five pillars of Islam. CAIR will also
relaunch its Web site in the coming months.
"In the Koran, God said that He created nature in a balance or
mizam, and that it is mankind's responsibility to maintain this fragile
equilibrium," says Richmond-based Islamic leader Dr. Imad Damaj.
"We cannot maintain it by blaming each other, but must do so by
working together."
Last week, the faith-based movement to fight global warming came to
Virginia when a coalition of environmental and religious groups issued a
report showing that average temperatures in the state's major cities have
risen alarmingly over the last five years.
I asked Rev. Pat Watkins, one of the religious leaders involved in the
announcement, why global warming is an issue for the devout.
"Global warming is an indication that God's creation is suffering a
bit," says Watkins, a Methodist clergyperson and member of the
Virginia Interfaith Center. "There are all kinds of different
theologies in terms of creation. But if all people of faith understand
that God had some kind of hand in creation, then how can we participate
in harming creation, and how can we not do something to restore
creation?"
For the last few years, religious devotees have started beating the drum
louder and louder that global warming is a big threat to God's creation.
Most notably, in February a group of 86 Evangelical Christian leaders
released a public letter calling for more aggressive action to limit
global-warming pollution, saying this was a "pro-life" position
dictated by the Gospels. Signers included Rick Warren, author of The
Purpose Driven Life, Rich Stearns, president of World Vision, and Todd
Bassett, national commander of The Salvation Army.
This movement is significant because it takes climate-change activism out
of liberal big cities and green-friendly states like California and into
conservative, red-state America.
Last week's announcement about heating in Virginia came from U.S. Public
Interest Research Group, Wetlands Watch and the Virginia Interfaith
Center for Public Policy and echoed the concern that religious leaders
have already expressed about global warming, but with a focus on
Virginia.
"Another difference is that now there's such a growing network of
consensus in and out of the faith community," says Jim Burke,
co-chair of the Committee on Stewardship of Creation for the Episcopal
Diocese of Virginia. "In the last 18 months, there's been a momentum
that we're in this together."
As a Muslim leader, Imad Damaj, also affiliated with the Interfaith
Center, often finds himself having to answer questions about terrorist
attacks. But now, with the chance to talk about global warming, he says
that it's a big issue for Muslims as it is for other Americans. And Damaj
worries that climate change threatens America's national
security.
"Terrorism is a big issue, but global warming could also be an issue
of national security," says Damaj. "If there's an increase in
the intensity of hurricanes, that means we'd have to be prepared for
worse storms and provide all sorts of measures to protect people's homes
and property and then to rebuild afterwards. This would cost billions of
dollars. We have all sorts of factories and ports, and if affected that
could become a serious national-security issue."
Damaj is president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs in
Richmond
(www.vmcpa.org). His
group was founded six years ago to "communicate the truth about the
mercy, peace and justice of Islam" to Muslims and non-Muslims
alike.(MORE)
-----
PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS ALLEGE TORTURE
-
TOP
Three ministers claim Israel used a banned method of interrogation on
them known as the shabah.
Ilene R. Prusher, Christian Science Monitor, 9/18/06
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0918/p07s02-wome.html
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - A government minister in the Palestinian Authority,
who was arrested and held by Israeli authorities for more than six weeks
this summer, says that during his interrogation he was tied for hours in
a painful position known as the shabah. The technique, which Israeli
security officials had argued was an effective way to put pressure on a
suspect, was banned by Israel's Supreme Court in 1999.
An East Jerusalem lawyer says that two other top-level officials in the
Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, who were arrested in the aftermath of
the June 25 kidnapping by Hamas militants of an Israeli army corporal,
have been subjected to the same treatment. (MORE)
Since the tragic events of 9/11, many Muslims and Arabs have been living
in a climate of fear and uncertainty. The draconian and hastily enacted
Anti-Terrorism Act and questionable national security practices have had
a profound effect on their psyche.
Arguably, times have changed. One of the most pressing contemporary
debates in liberal democracies today is whether to trade off rights for
greater security. Seems neutral in theory, but all members of society do
not equally bear this burden. Canadian Muslims/Arabs are increasingly
realizing that trading off rights mean, more specifically, forfeiting
their rights.
"I received a lot of complaints from members of the Muslim
community," says Shirley Heafey, a former chair of the RCMP
complaints commission and former member of the CSIS review committee.
"They had all kinds of stories but most were too afraid to lodge
formal complaints."
Indeed, she said, fully half of those at a community event she addressed
in London during her tenure, had been approached, questioned or harassed
by the RCMP or CSIS.
Showing up at homes and workplaces unannounced at odd hours; speaking
with employers; offering money and favours for "information";
intimidating and threatening newcomers; questioning about specific
institutions and individuals; inquiring about one's religiosity and
discouraging them from consulting lawyers are some of the recurring
themes that we have come across.
The fear is becoming all the more widespread given allegations by at
least nine Canadians - Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Almaati,
Muayyed Nureddin, Dr. Aly Hindy, Helmy Elsherief, Arward Al-Boushi,
Kassim Mohamed and Dr. Mahboob Khawaja - that they were detained,
questioned and, in some cases, even tortured abroad at the request of, or
with, Canadian complicity.
After much public pressure, the Liberals finally appointed Justice Dennis
O'Connor to look into the allegations by Arar, who was deported to Syria
in 2002 during a transit stop in New York.
The commission, which featured heated verbal sparring between commission
counsel and government lawyers intent on disclosing as little as
possible, is set to release its findings today. (MORE)
[Faisal Kutty, a lawyer with Kutty, Syed & Mohamed, is counsel
to the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations, an
intervener in the Maher Arar Inquiry, and in the more recently
constituted Air India Inquiry.]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - In the few short years since the first shackled
Afghan shuffled off to Guantanamo, the U.S. military has created a global
network of overseas prisons, its islands of high security keeping 14,000
detainees beyond the reach of established law.
Disclosures of torture and long-term arbitrary detentions have won rebuke
from leading voices including the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S.
Supreme Court. But the bitterest words come from inside the system, the
size of several major U.S. penitentiaries.
"It was hard to believe I'd get out," Baghdad shopkeeper Amjad
Qassim al-Aliyawi told The Associated Press after his release - without
charge - last month. "I lived with the Americans for one year and
eight months as if I was living in hell."
Captured on battlefields, pulled from beds at midnight, grabbed off
streets as suspected insurgents, tens of thousands now have passed
through U.S. detention, the vast majority in Iraq.
Many say they were caught up in U.S. military sweeps, often interrogated
around the clock, then released months or years later without apology,
compensation or any word on why they were taken. Seventy to 90 percent of
the Iraq detentions in 2003 were ``mistakes,'' U.S. officers once told
the international Red Cross. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once asked permission to enter a
house by saying, "peace and God's mercy be upon you," to the
inhabitants. The person in the house replied, "and upon you be peace
and God's mercy," but spoke so softly that the Prophet could not
hear him. The Prophet gave the salutation three times and man responded
three times, but in the same low voice. Because he could not hear a
reply, the Prophet went away without entering the house.
The person in the house later explained his actions to the Prophet. He
said: "You did not give a salutation without my hearing it and
responding to you, but I did not speak loud enough for you to hear
because I wanted to receive many of your salutations and so receive great
blessing." After hearing the explanation, the Prophet entered the
man's house, ate some food, and said: "May the righteous eat your
food, may the angels invoke blessings on you, and may those who have been
fasting break their fast with you."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1132
The Prophet also said: "Eat together and not separately, for the
blessing is associated with the company."
Leaders of Southern California's Muslim community will meet this week
with Cardinal Roger Mahony in Los Angeles to voice concern about
controversial remarks Pope Benedict XVI made in Germany last week and to
reinforce an interfaith relationship some leaders characterized as
positive.
Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern
California, said leaders attending the meeting also will ask the cardinal
to convene Catholic bishops in the region to further encourage interfaith
discussions. The Shura Council is an association of more than 70 mosques
in Southern California.
A spokesman for Mahony confirmed that the cardinal will hold a private
meeting with Muslim leaders this week. . .
Hussam Ayloush, a Corona resident and executive director of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations' Southern California chapter,
said American Muslims and Catholics have had a good relationship based on
mutual understanding and cooperation.
The meeting with Cardinal Mahony is not intended to debate the theology
of the pope's remarks, he said.
"The point is to reinforce our friendship, that we oppose any
language or action that tends to shake that friendship and
alliance," Ayloush said.
Ayloush and others condemned violent reactions to the pope's
address.
"Someone has to take a step back and diffuse the tension," he
said. "We cannot afford to be pulled away from dialogue and mutual
understanding. The other option is mistrust, hatred and immoral acts of
violence." (MORE)
In a Sept. 12 homily in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI quoted a 14th-century
Byzantine emperor who criticized the Prophet Mohammed. He has apologized
for reading the statements, "which do not in any way express my
personal thought." The following are reactions from Michigan's
religious community:
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American Islamic
Relations, Michigan chapter: Pope Benedict XVI's comments are
extremely disappointing. It appeared that he was affirming the negative
and historically incorrect statements of the 14th century emperor
concerning Prophet Muhammad.
The pope wields influence that is unequaled among world religious
leaders; hence, he should be extremely sensitive that his comments not
trigger his followers to distance themselves from Muslims in a unhealthy
manner.
Sadly, those who wish to divide the Christian and Muslim worlds will use
his comments in conjunction with the heinous, un-Islamic vandalism of
churches in the West Bank and proclamations of terrorists in Iraq against
the pope as fuel for their concept of the "clash of
civilizations."
It is my hope Metro Detroit's Muslim community will be able to maintain
its close relationship with the Archdiocese of Detroit and use this
opportunity to increase dialogue and education. (MORE)
Despite a rare expression of regret and deep sorrow from Pope Benedict
XVI over his use of an inflammatory 14th Century quote on Islam and
violence, Roman Catholics and Muslims alike said they fear the incident
may damage the increasingly important dialogue between the two world
faiths.
Outrage in the Islamic world over the remarks represents the first crisis
of Benedict's 17-month-old papacy, and the Vatican expanded efforts to
defuse the situation Monday by ordering representatives to discuss the
matter with leaders of Muslim countries. Catholic bishops meeting in
Istanbul said the pope would visit Turkey in November as scheduled,
though several Turkish leaders continued to object.
Even as Al Qaeda in Iraq vowed war on Christianity and violent protests
continued in Syria and Indonesia, some Muslim leaders said the remarks
demonstrated the crucial need for more dialogue between Catholics and
Muslims, and many vowed they would continue such interfaith
efforts.
On Sunday, Benedict issued a carefully worded apology for his remarks,
saying he was "deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a
few passages of my address ... which were considered offensive to the
sensibility of Muslims."
Many Muslim leaders worldwide, as well as some in Chicago, said the
apology was inadequate because it was directed toward the
"reactions" of Muslims and not an actual admission that he had
done wrong. Other Muslim leaders called for further clarification about
the point the pope had intended to make in his speech.
"Pope Benedict's apology is incomplete because it expresses remorse
for Muslim anger to his questionable selection of quotations, rather than
his own poor judgment in choosing them. Yet, we welcome it as a step in
the right direction," said Ahmed M. Rehab, executive director of
the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
"Muslims are still waiting for this pope to reclaim the
reconciliatory path of Muslim-Catholic dialogue Pope John Paul mastered;
when he does, he'll find many willing Muslim partners just as Pope John
Paul did." (MORE)
A midstate Muslim leader, responding to what he called "extremely
distressful" remarks by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam, called
yesterday for more dialogue between Muslims and Roman Catholics.
"That is our approach," said Abul Hasan, a Penn State York
professor who is spokesman for the local chapter of the Council of
American Islamic Relations.
Hasan said the violent reaction of some Muslims elsewhere to
Benedict's speech was "the emotional outbursts of people who cannot
control their emotions. ... You cannot defend it in any way."
(MORE)
Roman Catholics have an open invitation to spend an evening at any of the
Valley's 14 mosques when Muslims' holy month of Ramadan begins Saturday,
and it could serve to mend fences in the aftermath of comments by Pope
Benedict XVI.
Many Muslims say the pope insulted their religion last week by
referencing old texts to describe Islam as "evil and inhuman"
and gaining converts at the end of swords.
"We were quite upset about the remarks . . . but we are pushing
Muslims and Catholics worldwide to take this opportunity to engage in
dialogue with each other," said Bushra Khan, spokeswoman for the
Arizona chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
(MORE)
On a scale of 1 to 10, Pope Benedict XVI's first attempt at an apology
was barely a 3. He said nothing himself, but on Saturday Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, told the world that
"The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may
have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim
believers."
That didn't stop the protests that have been building in the Muslim world
since the Pope gave the speech on Sept. 12 to an academic audience in
Germany, so on Sunday he tried again. Speaking from his summer residence
at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, he said: "I am deeply sorry for
the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the
University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the
sensibility of Muslims."
That won't stop the protests either, because he really isn't sorry for
what he said. He's sorry for "the reactions in some countries"
to his remarks, but he implicitly stands by what he said in Regensburg.
So is the new pope really anti-Muslim?
After the 9/11 attacks five years ago, the former Cardinal Ratzinger told
Vatican Radio that "it is important not to attribute simplistically
what happened to Islam." But then he added that "the history of
Islam also contains a tendency to violence." True enough, but
Christianity has its own history of violence: the Crusades, the
Inquisition, the religious wars that devastated Europe in the 16th and
17th centuries and several other detours from the path of peace and
tolerance.
Just before he became pope last year, Benedict declared that Turkey
should not be allowed into the European Union because its Islamic culture
is incompatible with the "Christian" culture of Europe. But the
real case for the prosecution rests on his invitation to Italian
journalist Oriana Fallaci to visit him at Castel Gandolfo last
September.
It certainly wasn't a religious visit, since Fallaci, who died last week,
was an atheist, and her fame as a war correspondent and interviewer was
decades behind her. But she carved out a second career as the most
extreme anti-Muslim writer in Europe, producing two best-selling books
since 2002 that vilified Muslims as dirty subhumans who multiply
"like rats," and portraying Islam as an irrational religion
that breeds hatred.
The title of her second-to-last book, the one that presumably inspired
the pope's invitation, was The Force of Reason, whose core argument was
that the West is rational and reasonable, whereas Muslims aren't. And
there was Benedict in Germany last week, saying exactly the same thing.
What a coincidence. (MORE)
Few supporters of the War on Terror voiced grief at the death of Slobodan
Milosevic, the Serbian leader who instigated the brutal "ethnic
cleansing" campaigns in Croatia and Bosnia. Some, such as the
editorialists at The Wall Street Journal, used the occasion to declare
that U.S. intervention in Kosovo was unquestionably right and to attempt
an analogy with the war in Iraq. But there were exceptions. In some
"anti-jihadist" circles, the Butcher of the Balkans was mourned
as a misunderstood hero in the war against the Muslims.
On March 12, the group blog Infidel Bloggers Alliance ran an item titled
"Memorable moment in the Milosevic trial." It described,
without further comment, an episode in which Milosevic tried to portray
himself as fighting the same forces of terrorism now threatening the
West. Co-bloggers chimed in with such comments as "Wouldn't it be
strange if Milosevic ends up being remembered by history as a hero and a
kind of prophet?" and "Ever since 9/11, one question after
another about whether we were on the wrong side in the Bosnian conflict
has come up. The only thing you can trust a Muslim to be is a
Muslim." (Including, it seems, the famously secularized and
nonradical Bosnian Muslims, some 100,000 of whom died in Milosevic's
assaults of the 1990s.) Similar attitudes, somewhat less stridently
expressed, could be found on Jihad Watch, FrontPage, and other popular
right-wing sites.
Words like Islamophobia and phrases like anti-Muslim bigotry are bandied
about too liberally, often applied to those who merely criticize
fanatical Islamic radicalism or point out the deep-seated problems in
much of Muslim culture today. But the real thing does exist, and it
frequently takes the cover of anti-jihadism.
Jihad Watch-a fixture on the blogrolls of MichelleMalkin.com and Little
Green Footballs, two of the most popular right-wing blogs-traffics fairly
openly in such stuff. After the sister of Mohammed Taheri-Azar, the
Iranian-born young man who had plowed his car into a crowd of students in
North Carolina this March, expressed shock at her brother's act,
contributor Hugh Fitzgerald commented, "Why should Infidels take a
chance, if the likelihood of their being able to distinguish the
'moderate' from the 'immoderate' Muslim is even slimmer than that of the
closest relatives of those Muslims found to have engaged in…acts of
terrorism?"
Fitzgerald's phrasing may be fuzzy, but his sentiment is clear: All
Muslims are a threat. Indeed, in another post Fitzgerald asserted that
any Muslim who claims Islam's teachings have been distorted by terrorists
is "objectively furthering the Jihad"-and that a moderate
Muslim who has not renounced Islam is still dangerous because his
children may revert to the extremist form of the religion.
Is Islam inherently more intolerant and violent than other faiths? That's
a complex question that many scholars, and many Muslim reformers, have
grappled with for years. Because of the historical circumstances in which
Islam emerged, its scriptures include many passages mandating armed
struggle against "unbelievers," ostensibly in response to
oppression or persecution of Muslims. Other parts of the Koran, however,
explicitly discourage aggression and counsel moderation in the struggle.
(MORE)
A record number of American Muslims said they were victims of
discrimination in 2005, a national Islamic group said Monday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it received nearly
2,000 civil rights complaints, ranging from reports of physical violence
to mosque desecration to verbal abuse.
The numbers, released in a 46-page report by the council, are the highest
in the agency's 12-year history and reflect a 30 percent jump from
2004.
The report comes five years after 9/11 at a time when public opinion
polls show a growing public unease with Muslims and Islam.
"It is apparent that post-9/11 backlash against Muslims, Arabs and
South Asians continues to be a societal problem," the report said.
"With the recent renewal ... of the infamous USA Patriot Act, it is
imperative for our society to ensure that all Americans are treated
equally under the law."
In New Jersey, home to an estimated 300,000 Muslims, the number of
complaints -- 70 -- represented an increase of one from 2004, but was
enough to make the state the 10th highest in the nation.
And, some of the complaints attracted national attention -- including an
incident in which several Muslim men were detained at a Giants football
game in the Meadowlands after they were seen praying in a
corridor.
The report said the most common complaint, about 17 percent, was what it
called due process violations and included improper arrest, detentions
and interrogations.
Some of the more serious cases in the report include the pipe bombing of
a Cincinnati mosque, and the firing of 50 shots at two cars at a
Philadelphia mosque.
Arsalan Iftikhar, the author of the report, described a second New
Jersey case in which a man who worked in Wayne was harassed by his
co-workers after they found religious books on his desk. The books were
thrown in the trash, and a co-worker declared, "These [expletive]
books don't belong here!" (MORE)
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- A coalition of ministers led by the Rev. O'Neal
Dozier plan to distribute comic strip booklets about the Islam religion,
which they believe "teaches evil and hatred," in opposition to
a zoning change that allows the Islamic Center of South Florida to begin
construction on a new mosque in a predominantly black community.
The city council voted 3-2 in June to change the zoning of the proposed
site from residential to commercial, allowing the Islamic Center to erect
a larger mosque on undeveloped land on Northwest 16th Avenue.
Dozier, who is black, said he hopes the booklets he and his religious
peers plan to distribute Saturday morning will "educate the public
concerning the Islamic fascism."
Although the booklets are comic strips, the message they deliver is
serious.
"This guy leaves a briefcase there and then he runs out, and the
briefcase happens to have a bomb in it, so it blows up not only the
building that he placed the bomb (in), but the entire city block,"
Dozier said as he described one of the comic strips.
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Council of American Islamic
Relations, called Dozier a "bigot" and
"prejudice."
"I think his information and knowledge of Islam is very
limited," Ali said. (MORE)
UNITED NATIONS Sep 19, 2006 (AP) - President Bush on Tuesday appealed
directly to Muslims to assure them that the United States is not waging
war with Islam as he laid out a vision for peace in the Middle East
before skeptical world leaders at the United Nations.
On the sidelines, Bush pressed Iran to return at once to international
talks on its nuclear program and threatened consequences if they do
not.
But his speech to the United Nations General Assembly was less
confrontational and aimed at building bridges with people in the Middle
East angry with the United States.
"My country desires peace," Bush told world leaders in the
cavernous main hall at the U.N. "Extremists in your midst spread
propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This
propaganda is false and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of
terror. We respect Islam."
Addressing Iraqis specifically, Bush said, "We will not abandon you
in your struggle to build a free nation."
Bush said Iran "must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak to the body
later Tuesday, but he was not at the country's table in the hall when
Bush spoke.
Speaking to Iranians, Bush said their country's future has been clouded
because "your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your
nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue
nuclear weapons."
On the crisis in Sudan's violence-wracked region of Darfur, Bush
delivered strong warnings to both the United Nations and the Sudanese
government, saying that both must act now to avert further humanitarian
crisis. (MORE)
First, Coulter found herself in the uncharacteristic position of being
upstaged by her introducer, Mike Gallagher.
He told the audience he was fresh back from an hour-and-45-minute session
which President Bush held in the Oval Office Friday afternoon with him
and four other conservative talk show hosts: Atlanta's Neal
Boortz, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Michael Medved. Rush
Limbaugh couldn't make it, he said.
Though he said this session was supposed to be off the record, Gallagher
described it at some length, including Bush's observation to the
right-wing radio jocks that the War on Terror has to be about right
versus wrong, "because if it's about Christianity versus Islam,
we'll lose."
Neal Boortz claimed that "at its core," Islam is a
"violent, violent religion," called "this Muhammad
guy. . .just a phony rag-picker," and asserted that
"[i]t is perfectly legitimate, perhaps even praiseworthy, to
recognize Islam as a religion of vicious, violent, bloodthirsty
cretins." (MORE)
The Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission voted Monday to
reaffirm its selection of Muslim leader Maher Hathout for a human
relations award, ending a bitter, two-week battle that many lamented has
seriously set back the region's Muslim-Jewish relations.
After a hearing marked by vitriolic name-calling and the expulsion of one
unruly audience member, only four of the 14 commission members voted to
support Hathout, chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California
and the first Muslim to receive the county's John Allen Buggs Award. Five
members abstained; four were absent.
Hathout said he was not concerned by so many abstentions and called the
vote a victory for free speech, inclusiveness and a rejection of the
"tactics of intimidation."
"We will not allow untouchable and sacred cows in the midst of our
democracy," said Hathout, referring to Israel. He added that he was
accepting the award for the "Jews, Christians, Buddhists, atheists
and Muslims" who supported him.
The furious fight over what has normally been a quiet award selection
process was sparked when some Jewish groups charged that Hathout, a
70-year-old retired cardiologist, was a closet extremist who denounced
Israel as an apartheid state and was soft on terrorism. Their opposition
prompted the commission to reopen its July decision selecting
Hathout.
Hathout's supporters, who spanned a wide ethnic and religious spectrum,
called him a pioneer in promoting moderation, tolerance and
understanding.
The Muslim leader, in remarks before the commission vote, offered to meet
in a dialogue with critics and expressed regrets for harsh language
toward Israel. (MORE)
Beltsville, MD, September 10, 2006: Amana Publications has just released
its newest selection, "How Islam Created the Modern World,"
written by award-winning author Mark Graham. In the Middle Ages, while
Europe was mired in superstition and feudal chaos, Baghdad was the
intellectual center of the world. "How Islam Created the Modern
World" tells the story of how a religion many have come to see as
barbaric and anti-modern built an empire of wealth and splendor the like
of which the world had never seen. At the dawn of the Renaissance,
Christian
Europe was wearing Persian clothes, singing Arab songs, reading Spanish
Muslim philosophy and eating off Mamluk Turkish brassware.
If you'd like more information on the book or to schedule an interview
with Mark Graham, please contact Amana Publications at (301) 595-5777 or
email
amana@igprinting.com
CHICAGO - So here's the thing about speed dating for Muslims.
Many American Muslims - or at least those bent on maintaining certain
conservative traditions - equate anything labeled "dating" with
hellfire, no matter how short a time is involved. Hence the wildly
popular speed dating sessions at the largest annual Muslim conference in
North America were given an entirely more respectable label. They were
called the "matrimonial banquet."
"If we called it speed dating, it will end up with real
dating," said Shamshad Hussain, one of the organizers,
grimacing.
Both the banquet earlier this month and various related seminars
underscored the difficulty that some American Muslim families face in
grappling with an issue on which many prefer not to assimilate. One
seminar, called "Dating," promised attendees helpful hints for
"Muslim families struggling to save their children from
it."
The couple of hundred people attending the dating seminar burst out
laughing when Imam Muhamed Magid of the Adams Center, a collective of
seven mosques in Virginia, summed up the basic instructions that Muslim
American parents give their adolescent children, particularly males:
"Don't talk to the Muslim girls, ever, but you are going to marry
them. As for the non-Muslim girls, talk to them, but don't ever bring one
home."
"These kids grew up in America, where the social norm is that it is
O.K. to date, that it is O.K. to have sex before marriage," Imam
Magid said in an interview. "So the kids are caught between the
ideal of their parents and the openness of the culture on this
issue."
The questions raised at the seminar reflected just how pained many
American Muslims are by the subject. One middle-aged man wondered if
there was anything he could do now that his 32-year-old son had declared
his intention of marrying a (shudder) Roman Catholic. A young man asked
what might be considered going too far when courting a Muslim
woman.
Panelists warned that even seemingly innocuous e-mail exchanges or online
dating could topple one off the Islamic path if one lacked vigilance.
"All of these are traps of the Devil to pull us in and we have no
idea we are even going that way," said Ameena Jandali, the moderator
of the dating seminar.
Hence the need to come up with acceptable alternatives in North America,
particularly for families from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, where
there is a long tradition of arranged marriages. (MORE)
Washington D.C. - Newly promoted Navy Lt. Cmdr. Abuhena M. Saifulislam
had always wanted to serve Islam, even as a young boy growing up in
Bangladesh.
"Islam is not just a religion to Muslims. It is a way of life,"
Saifulislam said. "That's how I was brought up."
Saifulislam, now 44, realized his dream. Today, he tends to
servicemembers' spiritual needs as the second Muslim chaplain
commissioned in the U.S. Navy. His current duty station is Marine Corps
Base Quantico, Va.
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England promoted Saifulislam during a
Sept. 11 Pentagon ceremony.
Saifulislam also received a Joint Service Commendation Medal, his second,
for his work this June at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There,
he performed death rites for three Muslim detainees who'd committed
suicide.
The Muslim chaplain was also at Guantanamo when the detention facility
first opened in early 2001. He was the only Muslim chaplain there at the
time, he recalled, and he set up the diet and prayer regimes for the
detainees.
Saifulislam took an indirect path to his current calling.
He immigrated to the United States in 1989, after earning a Master's
degree in commerce in Bangladesh. He enlisted in the Navy as a payroll
specialist in 1992 with dreams of becoming an officer - something he
couldn't yet do because he wasn't a U.S. citizen.
Saifulislam became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1995. Three years later,
he signed up for a chaplain's candidate program that offered a commission
as well as a way to serve his fellow Muslims' spiritual needs.
"When I came to America I realized that I had to make an effort to
be faithful to my religion," he said.
People shouldn't associate the worship of Islam with the so-called
religious theology espoused by terrorists like Osama bin Laden,
Saifulislam said. "Terrorism has no religion, and no religion
condones terrorism," he said. "These terrorists just happen to
be Muslims."
Saifulislam's personal loyalty is firmly aligned with his adopted
country, he said, noting his 6-year-old daughter was born in the United
States. (MORE)
Muslim and Jewish communities in the state of Virginia successfully have
lobbied for enactment of a halal/kosher labeling statute. The new
Virginia law requires that any food offered for sale as kosher or halal
be labeled with the name of the person or organization certifying the
item kosher or halal. Violations are punishable by a $500 fine.
Observant Muslims and Jews observe similar, but not identical, dietary
restrictions. These practices -- halal for Muslims and kashrut (kosher)
for Jews -- forbid consumption of certain foods and regulate how animals
may be slaughtered. Trained individuals and organizations ensure
compliance with these standards and permit vendors to affix their symbol
of compliance on the product packaging.
In the United States, the "Crescent M" is a leading halal
certification symbol. There are a number of common kosher symbols, or
hekhshers.
Legal issues arise when state governments' legitimate desire to protect
their citizens from fraud bumps up against the constitutional prohibition
against laws "respecting an establishment of
religion."
In recent years, the courts have invalidated laws that use religious
standards to categorize food products. The New Jersey Supreme Court, for
example, in 1996 declared unconstitutional regulations that defined
kosher as complying with "Orthodox Jewish law." That
definition, the court held, "impose[s] substantive religious
standards … and authorize[s] civil enforcement of those religious
standards with the assistance of clergy, directly and substantially
entangling government in religious matters."
After that decision, several states enacted laws that focus not on
whether food meets religious standards but instead on fraudulent
labeling. These laws typically require those who represent their food as
kosher or halal to make public names and other information about the
certifying authority. These measures allow consumers to decide for
themselves whether a particular item comports with their dietary
code.
The growing Muslim community in Virginia "had little recourse if
food labeled halal turned out not to be genuine," civic leader Imad
Damaj told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The onus fell on the consumer,
Muneer A. Baig, vice president of the nonprofit Muslim Association of
America, told to the Washington File. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR's 12th annual banquet will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2006,
in Arlington, Va. This year's theme will be "American Muslims:
Connecting and Sharing."
-----
CAIR ASKS MUSLIMS TO HELP
REPAIR DAMAGED CHURCHES -
TOP
Palestinian churches damaged following Pope's comments on Islam
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/20/2006) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) today called on Muslims in America and worldwide to donate to help
repair Palestinian churches damaged following recent remarks by Pope
Benedict XVI perceived as critical of Islam and the Prophet
Muhammad.
CAIR is urging Muslims to help repair the churches in the West Bank and
Gaza by sending a donation to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
SEE: http://www.cnewa.org/ (Earmark
donations for: "Palestine Damaged Churches")
On Thursday, September 21, CAIR's Florida office will hold a news
conference at the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg to deliver
seed money to repair the churches.
WHAT: CAIR-FL to Deliver Seed Money for Repair of Palestinian
Churches
WHEN: Thursday, September 21, 2006, 2 p.m.
WHERE: Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, 6363 9th Avenue North,
St. Petersburg, Florida
CONTACT: CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier,
813-731-9506
"Our campaign is designed to send the message that attacks on any
houses of worship are not acceptable and will not be tolerated,"
said CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier.
In a statement released following the Pope's remarks, CAIR called for
increased dialogue and outreach efforts aimed at building better
relations between Christianity and Islam. CAIR's statement read in part:
"Let us all continue the interfaith efforts promoted by the late
Pope John Paul II, who made great strides in bringing Muslims and
Catholics together for the common good."
CAIR has 32 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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair-net.org
When Pope Benedict XVI was elected almost 18 months ago, some people
within and outside the Roman Catholic Church predicted that his
background would shift the papacy away from the interfaith outreach that
was the legacy of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
They say the flap over Pope Benedict's comments regarding Islam and the
Prophet Muhammad support their predictions and illustrate the need for
him to recognize that he has grown from high-ranking Vatican official to
the dominant face of the Catholic Church.
"I think his problem is that he's a German academic who hasn't
realized yet he's a pope," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese of the
Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"There's certain things that an academic can say and have
intellectual, unemotional discussions of. ... He's an extremely bright
man, but he doesn't have any street smarts."
Before becoming pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger focused on protecting
Christianity as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, a position in which he became known as a hard-line enforcer of
church orthodoxy.
"He's not as political or diplomatic as was John Paul II," said
Frank J. Coppa, a professor of history at St. John's University in New
York. "He's more theologically oriented than he is diplomatically
oriented." . . .
The conflict stemmed from the pope's comments to scholars at Germany's
University of Regensberg last week. He included a quote from a
14th-century text that referred to some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed
as "evil and inhuman."
Government and religious leaders from Muslim countries immediately called
for the Vatican to apologize. Protests and some violence have broken out
in Pakistan and elsewhere. The pope has since expressed regret for the
outrage the speech had caused, but there has been neither a specific
apology nor a retraction.
Muslim leaders in the United States say they are concerned about the
direction of the church's relationship with Muslims.
"When you compare his efforts to reach out to the Muslims to
those of the previous pope, there's a lot to be desired," said
Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council of
American-Islamic Relations. "We hope that the incident is not a
signal of things yet to come.
"Unfortunately, these most recent remarks are harming relations
that were built up over years."
In the United States, local Catholic leaders have agreed to meet with
representatives of the Muslim community, Hooper said. Cardinal Roger
Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles, agreed to meet with a council
representing 70 mosques in Southern California. (MORE)
Pope Benedict XVI hoped to stimulate a frank and sincere dialogue on
religion between Islam and Christianity.
But by quoting the view of a 14th century Christian emperor that
characterized some of Islam's teachings as "evil" and
"inhuman," he seems to have stimulated more fury than
discourse.
The Rev. Jeffrey R. Keyes, a priest at St. Edward Catholic Church in
Newark, noted that most of the reaction is based on what was quoted in
the media, rather than the totality of his address on the relationship
between faith, religion and science. (The entire transcript of the pope's
Sept. 12 speech at the University of Regensburg can be viewed on the
Vatican Web site, http://www.vatican.va ).
"This was not doctrine, not a homily, not encyclicals, not
apostolic," Keyes said. "This (speech) has no status in terms
of the Catholic faith. This was an academic discussion about faith and
reason." . . .
Mohammad Rajabally, former president of the Islamic Society of the East
Bay, said he recognizes that the pope was quoting a 14th century emperor.
But he said it is still frustrating to hear those comments when many
moderate Muslims are working to prevent extremists from representing
their faith. . .
"Senseless burnings and killings, that is not the way of
Islam," Rajabally added. "What we're seeing is 'mobbish
Muslims' who are taking the law into their own hands. We don't want that.
We want to have an intellectual dialogue with the pope."
Sameena Usman, public relations director for the Council on American
Islamic Relations in the San Francisco Bay Area, agreed.
"It's so frustrating. It is not Islamic to destroy churches and
burn effigies," Usman said. "At the same time, as the pope,
he's one of the most influential people in today's world. Whatever he
says has great impact, so it's crucial to be accurate and careful that
what he's saying does not hurt the relationship (between Muslims and
Catholics)." (MORE)
While upset and in some cases insulted by Pope Benedict XVI's recent
remarks about the Prophet Muhammad, Central Florida Muslims are also
appalled by the violent and threatening reactions around the
world.
In a speech last week, the pontiff quoted a 14th-century Byzantine
emperor, who declared that Muhammad brought "things only evil and
inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he
preached." After a firestorm of protests, Benedict and Vatican
spokesmen issued several expressions of regret and clarifications, which
many Muslims said have fallen far short of the apology they thought was
due.
"What was the point of saying it at that time?" asked
Abdelrahman Zeini, 26, a law student at Florida A&M University
College of Law in Orlando. "I was shocked at the words. But I wanted
to reserve judgment because that is what I [would want] others to do for
Muslims."
Both the comments and the attacks were "hurtful to Muslims and
non-Muslims," said Longwood business owner Muhammad Kermalli, 32.
"The pope's comments and any violent reactions . . . were likely
based more on emotional motives than religion."
In particular, Central Florida Muslims rejected and condemned the angry
street demonstrations, the killing of an Italian nun in Somalia, the
burning of churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and threats against
the pontiff.
"I was shocked and disgusted," said Zeini, a native of Egypt
who has been in the U.S. for 13 years. . .
Even before the most recent controversy, local Muslims paid tens of
thousands of dollars for an anti-terrorism advertising campaign,
including 30-second radio spots and five billboards.
The signs read, "Islam Condemns Terrorism & Terrorists
PERIOD!" and were paid for by a group called United Muslims of
America, organized by the Islamic Society of Central Florida.
"I hope people are reading them," said Imam Muhammad Musri,
president of the society. "We are always accused of not saying loud
and clear that we condemn terrorists and terrorism. We want Muslims in
other cities to do this." (MORE)
---
DOES ISLAM FLOUT REASON? WHY THE
POPE'S CASE IS A FLIMSY ONE -
TOP
Viewpoint: The issue is important, but Benedict has presented neither the
evidence nor insight to make his argument stick
David Van Biema, Time, 9/19/06
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1536581,00.html
In a viewpoint entitled "The Pontiff Has a Point" in this
week's TIME, the headline on the piece by TIME's Rome correspondent Jeff
Israely announces that Pope Benedict's "take on Islam," as
propounded in his controversial speech last week in Regensburg, Germany,
raises "tough truths." In the part of the speech that has
become famous, the Pope was actually putting forth only one central
"truth"- certainly a provocative one-that Christianity is
beholden to reason while Islam is not. My own viewpoint is that this
supposed "truth" rings false in a number of ways.
But wait! Didn't the Pope apologize Sunday for the speech?
Well, he did and he didn't. He issued a statement saying that he is
"deeply sorry for the reactions" of some Muslims. More
specifically, he distanced himself from a 15th-century Byzantine emperor
he quoted. Emperor Manuel II Paleologos's line that "Show me just
what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only
evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he
preached," the Pope explained, does not "in any way express my
personal thought." And he refers offended Muslims to a previous
apology by the Vatican Secretary of State, who said that Benedict had
meant only "to undertake... certain reflections on the theme of the
relationships between religion and violence in general."
Maybe so. But to my eye, it seems that the part of Benedict's speech that
deals with religious violence extends beyond Manuel's statement and is
precisely a slap at Islam. The truly problematic text, in fact, is a
mixture of quotes from the Byzantine emperor, his German translator
Theodore Khoury, a medieval Muslim scholar named Ibn Hazm, and the Pope's
own musings. In combination, they seem to suggest that Islam's idea of
God is so oblivious to the virtue of reason that it tolerates unthinking
violence in Allah's name.
It goes like this. Benedict quotes Khoury as saying that Islam
understands God as "absolutely transcendent," so much so that
the deity's "will is not bound up with any of our categories, even
rationality." The Pope then quotes Khoury quoting "a noted
French Islamist" paraphrasing Ibn Hazm, who lived in Cordoba during
the 11th century, saying that "God is not bound even by his own
word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us."
Got that? It's a lot of attribution, but I think that my colleague is
correct when he concludes that "the risk [Benedict] sees implicit in
this concept of the divine is that the irrationality of violence might
thereby appear to be justified to somebody who believes it is God's
will." (MORE)
The Muslim Society of Memphis is calling for an increased dialogue
between local Muslims and Christians over the controversy sparked by
remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI.
In an address on Tuesday, September 12, the Pope quoted a 14th century
Christian emperor saying, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that
was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as
his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The Pope
went on to speak about Jihad and Holy War.
Local Muslims are urging Mid-Southerners of all faiths to learn more
about Islam and about the life and legacy of the Prophet Muhammad. A
Muslim Open House will be held Sunday, September 24 at 1: 45 p.m. at the
Muslim Society of Memphis. It is located at 1065 Stratford Road in
Memphis. For more information, call 901-849-0440.
While Pope Benedict XVI exhibited a shocking lapse of judgment by
"quoting bigots from what are appropriately called the Dark
Ages," a local Islamic leader Tuesday said the violent reaction to
the pope's words in parts of the Muslim world "smacks of
insanity."
"The Islamic Society of Western Connecticut wishes to express
outrage at the violence resulting from Pope Benedict's remarks last
week," said Mohammed Akhtar, president of the society. "These
are not the standards Islam set, certainly not the type of behavior
Prophet Muhammad ever condoned."
-----
CAIR-NY TO PARTICIPATE IN A RACIAL
PROFILING EVENT -
TOP
(NEW YORK, NY, 9/20/06) - On Thursday, September 21, the Association of
Muslim American Lawyers ("AMAL") will host "Racial
Profiling Post 9/11: The Evolution of Sanctioned Prejudice". This
presentation has been triggered by the recent comments made by
politicians such as Dov Hikind, Peter King and John Faso in favor of
racial profiling and the recent increase in complaints of racial
profiling at airports.
AMAL will examine how racial profiling has become the norm since 9/11 and
why we should speak out against it. At a time when racial profiling is
deemed to be "common sense", it is imperative that society
reassess the direction of our public policy.
WHAT: Racial Profiling Post 9/11: The Evolution of Sanctioned
Prejudice
WHEN: Thursday, September 21, 2006 6 p.m.
WHERE: New York University Kimmel Center Room 914, 60 Washington Square
South, New York, New York 10012
Young Muslim women don't always have it easy when they decide to go out
shopping for clothes in the United States.
For those who fall between needing to cover all of their bodies with a
burqa and wearing contemporary clothing, with its revealing features,
finding something chic at the mall that also covers their arms and legs
can be a challenge.
Brooke Samad hopes to fill that niche with her new clothing line,
Marabo.
Working out of a room in her Atlantic Highlands home, the 27-year-old
designs clothes that are comparable to fashions at stores such as Banana
Republic or J. Crew but also respect the Islamic need to dress
conservatively.
"My friends and I have always had a frustrating time shopping,"
Samad said. "So I decided to do something about it." . .
.
She is selling the clothes exclusively on
www.maraboonline.com, her Web
site, but dreams of one day seeing her line overseas.
"Everyone who comes into contact with my clothes reacts
positively," Samad said. "The key now is getting more people to
see it."
Sameena Usman, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit Islamic advocacy
group, said Islam generally requires women to dress modestly, keeping
everything but their hands and faces covered when in public.
A woman's cultural background tends to dictate whether she will dress
modestly by wearing more traditional Eastern clothing or by wearing
Western clothing that covers the parts of her body that her religion does
not allow to be seen by other than close family members, she
said.
Given that younger Muslim women in the United States looking to dress in
more Western clothing don't tend to live in one specific neighborhood, as
older generations or immigrants do, clothing stores that cater to them
tend to be found online, Usman said.
"These types of stores have been seen more and more in the last 10
years," Usman said. "I think they are great for younger women
who struggle to shop for something that fits them." (MORE)
TAMPA - For more than seven months, Nabil Mouad has sat in a Hillsborough
County jail cell, initially isolated from the general
population.
Guards thought charges lodged against him could make other inmates think
he was a terrorist.
But in a five-minute hearing Tuesday, a prosecutor dropped the case
against Mouad, 20, accused of threatening to blow up the University of
South Florida soccer coach.
Behind the dismissal was the coach, George Kiefer, who didn't want the
schizophrenic man to go to prison, Mouad defense attorney Lyann Goudie
said.
He had been charged with threatening to discharge a destructive device
and assault on a specified official or employee.
"It isn't that they didn't take the threats seriously; they took the
threats seriously," Goudie said of university officials. "They
just didn't believe him to be a terrorist."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement now plans to deport Mouad to
Morocco, though Goudie didn't know when. His temporary visa has
expired.
Mouad is Muslim. Ahmed Bedier, director of the Tampa branch of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, said 9/11 undertones led to his
prolonged jailing.
Mouad was simply a young man who wanted to play professional soccer,
Bedier noted, but mental illness derailed the dream.
Calling torture a religious issue, Connecticut faith leaders demanded
Tuesday that the state's congressional delegation oppose any changes of
federal law that would allow violation of the Geneva Conventions, which
prohibit torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners of war.
"Torture is immoral, always," the Rev. Allie Perry said during
an afternoon press conference on the lawn of Hartford Seminary. "I
find myself wondering what have we come to as a country that we are
having to debate something that is so very wrong in every
way."
To give the CIA more methods to get information from Guantanamo
detainees, President Bush is proposing legislation that would exclude
terrorism suspects from Geneva Conventions protections. But his plan has
met with mounting opposition in the Senate - even from members of his own
party.
Religious leaders are rejecting Bush's plan, calling the debate a
defining moment for the nation, one that has put America's reputation as
a defender of human rights in jeopardy. "Nothing less is at stake
than the soul of our nation," said Perry, a member of the National
Religious Campaign Against Torture, and of Reclaiming the Prophetic
Voice, a clergy activist group.
Legislation sought by the administration would also require changes to
the 1996 U.S. War Crimes Act, which makes it a war crime under American
law to violate any of the Geneva Conventions.
The Rev. Davida Foy Crabtree, Connecticut Conference Minister of the
United Church of Christ, called Bush's plan "an outrageous proposal
that cannot go unchallenged."
"The issue before us today is torture - it may be called by
different euphemisms, but let's be clear: the issue before us is
torture," Crabtree said. The group called on people of faith to
raise the issue with their elected officials and all candidates for
public office. . .
Others at the briefing included the Rev. Robert Evans of Plowshares
Institute, Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman of Temple Beth Hillel, the Rev.
Kathleen McTigue of the Unitarian Society of New Haven, Heidi Hadsell of
Hartford Seminary and Badr Malik of the Connecticut Council on
American-Islamic Relations. (MORE)
---
CAIR-SAN DIEGO: LOCAL MOSQUE SPONSORS TOWN
HALL MEETING WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES -
TOP
(SAN DIEGO, CA, 9/20/06) - On Tuesday, September 19, the Islamic Center
of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County, sponsored its first
town hall meeting with various law enforcement agencies.
The San Diego office of the FBI, San Diego County Sheriff's Department
and San Diego Police Department were among the law enforcement agencies
invited to listen and address the concerns of the San Diego Muslim
community on issues ranging from hate crimes to profiling.
In addition to the various law enforcement agencies invited, local Muslim
leaders and organizations such as CAIR-San Diego and MAS Freedom
Foundation San Diego also took part in the meeting to express their
concerns.
"This proactive approach by the Muslim community to dialogue and
build bridges with our various law enforcement agencies will hopefully
break down barriers and create a relationship of trust," says Edgar
Hopida, Director of Public Relations for CAIR-San Diego.
CONTACT: Edgar D. Hopida, Tel: 858-278-4547 or 619-9130719, E-mail:
ehopida@cair.com
The discovery of hundreds of US-made cluster bombs among the tens of
thousands of unexploded munitions carpeting the south of Lebanon, has led
to calls on Washington to impose a moratorium on sales of the weapons to
Israel.
Bomb disposal experts are working around the clock to clear the lethal
leftovers after Israel fired 1.2 million bomblets in the last three days
of the war. The pods containing the 650 bomblets, which burst apart at a
pre-determined height, have a failure rate of up to 30 per cent, leaving
clear evidence of their American origin.
The US State Department is investigating Israel's use of American-made
cluster bombs during the war in Lebanon. In particular, whether or not
Israel broke a secret agreement with the United States not to use cluster
bombs against civilians. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 21, 2006) - Muslim believers around
the world will begin observing the month of Ramadan on Saturday, and many
Muslim Soldiers will join them.
Ramadan is named after the ninth month on the Islamic Lunar calendar when
the Qu'ran commands Muslims to abstain from food, drink and other
physical comforts and pleasures, from dawn to sunset, every day until the
end of the month.
"It's one of the five pillars of faith, fasting in the month of
Ramadan," said Chaplain (Capt.) Abdullah Hulwe, battalion chaplain
for Fort Jackson's 1st Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment. "Muslims
pray five times a day, perform pilgrimage during the month of Ramadan,
fast during Ramadan, give charity - or alms - and declare faith."
(MORE)
College athletes often find it hard to eat healthfully while juggling all
the demands on their time. Classes, homework, team meetings, practice and
games can leave little time for cooking and eating. However, athletes
know that proper fueling can improve performance.
So what's an athlete to do when religious beliefs call for fasting from
sunrise to sunset for a full month during the competitive sports season?
Muslim athletes will be facing that challenge as Ramadan, the month of
fasting, begins this weekend. Athletes who adhere to the tenets of Islam
avoid all food and drink at daybreak until sunset.
Weiss Tahmass, a Georgia State University soccer player, met with me last
year to develop a plan to get adequate nutrition for the two meals a day
he consumed during Ramadan. Tahmass is a midfielder who typically runs
five to six miles during practice that occurs in the middle of the
afternoon, when heat and humidity are at their highest. We devised the
following strategy to keep him running strong and performing at his
best.
* We determined his calorie needs or energy expenditure, based on his
height, weight, age, sport and workout schedule. Tahmass needed slightly
more than 3,500 calories a day.
* We devised meal options based on his usual eating habits for the
pre-fast meal (called suhoor) and the post-fast meal (called
iftar).
* He was encouraged to eat about one-third of his calories and drink
one-half of his fluids before sunrise and two-thirds of his calories with
the remainder of the fluids after sunset.
* We determined the official times of sunrise and sunset using data from
the U.S. Naval Observatory found at
www.usno.navy.mil
(click on sunrise/set). Athletes travel, so identifying the precise
times of sunrise and sunset in various cities helps identify when it is
time to eat.
* I encouraged him to alert his athletic trainer if he got dizzy or
lightheaded in practice or in a competition. It is permissible to break
the fast for illness, and heat exhaustion is an illness that must be
monitored to ensure the athlete's safety.
Tahmass had competed during Ramadan in high school, but this was the
first time a specific plan was developed for Ramadan. This year, Ramadan
is later than last year and falls right in the heart of the competitive
season for soccer. (MORE)
When autumn is in the air, Sandy Clark knows the Jewish holidays Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur are not far behind, along with their invitation
for personal growth.
"Every new year, I try to start fresh," Clark, the executive
vice president of Bradenton's Temple Beth El, said of the holidays, which
begin sundown Friday with services marking the night before Rosh Hashana.
"I try to do better than I did last year."
One of the things on Clark's list this year for Rosh Hashana and Yom
Kippur is to learn about the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which,
coincidentally, also begins with Friday services this year.
"I am not familiar with the Muslim religion and I should be,"
Clark said. "I think we can all learn from one another and all live
together. That is what God wants."
Rosh Hashana marks the beginning of the Jewish calendar year, and Yom
Kippur, which follows 10 days later, is a time of atonement, said Rena
Moreno, religious leader for the Jewish congregation of Chavurah Ner
Tamid.
"It is all really one inclusive span," Moreno said. "It's
a 10-day period that begins with the New Year, and it's a time of
contemplation on just what one can do to have a positive effect on the
world in the coming year."
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur mark a time when God is saying, " 'Here
I am, giving you the opportunity. Let's be friends again,' " Rabbi
Mendy Bukiet of Chabad of Bradenton said.
"We have to think about the past year to see what we could have done
better," Bukiet said. "We have to reflect inward to see how we
can change."
Ramadan - the month when the Quran, the Islamic holy book, was revealed
by the angel, Gabriel, to the Prophet Muhammad - has similar themes,
Samir Khatib, president of the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Bradenton,
said Monday.
"Ramadan is a test for humans," Khatib said. "The test is
to abstain from everything bad and partake in everything good, like
prayer to God and being close to family."
Ramadan is the fasting month, a time when Muslims abstain from tobacco
and alcohol and other vices and devote their thoughts and actions to
positive action, Khatib said.
Jews also fast during their High Holy Days.
The Jewish and Muslim holidays fall together after a year when Muslim and
Jews clashed in Lebanon and elsewhere, Clark said. (MORE)
-----
U.S. MUSLIMS MEET WITH
VATICAN AMBASSADOR IN DC -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/21/06) - Representatives of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), along with other American Muslim
leaders, met today with the Vatican's ambassador to the United States in
Washington, D.C., to discuss the controversy surrounding recent comments
on Islam by Pope Benedict XVI.
CAIR Legislative Director Corey Saylor and Legal Director Arsalan
Iftikhar delivered a letter to Papal Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi that
outlined the Washington-based group's call for greater dialogue and
outreach in response to the controversy.
The CAIR officials also discussed the American Muslim community's
specific concerns over the Regensberg speech and subsequent
developments.
CAIR's letter read in part:
"It is our belief that the proper response to this situation is for
Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach efforts
aimed at building better relations between Christianity and Islam. We
oppose any language or action that tends to shake the friendship and
alliance between our faiths."
Archbishop Sambi cited a recently released statement from the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). That statement notes that
dialogue is urgent so that Christians and Muslims can together promote
"peace, liberty, social justice and moral values for the benefit of
all humanity."
The two-hour meeting, arranged by the Interfaith Conference of
Metropolitan Washington, took place at the Vatican Embassy in Washington,
D.C. Attendees included the CAIR officials, representatives of the
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and an official from the Dar
al-Hijra Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va. Also participating was a
representative of the Most Reverend Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of
Washington.
CAIR has 32 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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair-net.org
Hoping to foster goodwill, a group of Tampa Bay Muslims is launching a
nationwide effort to raise money to repair Christian churches in the
Middle East that were damaged by Muslims after a controversial speech by
Pope Benedict XVI.
Local Muslims, led by the Central Florida Chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, plan to announce their campaign
this afternoon at the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St.
Petersburg.
They hope to fight the perception that Islam and its followers,
particularly those in America, approve of violence and destruction.
CAIR's national office also has signed on, pledging to lobby its members
around the country for donations.
Valrico neonatologist Mohamed Ghabour jumped at the chance to join the
campaign, worried that American Muslims might suffer for the acts of
others.
"It hurts me that an action like this is done by a minority, and a
majority could be blamed for that action," Ghabour said. "That
action is not defensible. It is not justifiable."
Ghabour declined to say how much he donated to the restoration effort,
but he plans to encourage other Muslims to join him.
The effort comes as American Muslims express increasing angst about how
the public perceives them in the face of a seemingly constant barrage of
negative news and violent acts associated with the Islamic faith. U.S.
Muslim civil rights groups, including CAIR, have long condemned terrorism
and extremist behavior by Muslims.
But translating the message to the public has proved difficult. The group
hopes its church restoration campaign will show that American Muslims do
not condone such acts.
"We're putting our money where our mouth is," said Ahmed
Bedier, executive director of CAIR's local chapter. So far, the
effort has raised about $5,000. . .
"A lot of this is symbolic in the sense that we want to lead by
example and send a message to Muslims that it's not appropriate to attack
houses of worship out of emotion and anger," Bedier said.
"We're not taking the blame because no one should be condemned for
the sins of another person. But at the same time, we're concerned about
further friction." (MORE)
Some Muslims in the USA say the pope's use of a medieval quote about the
prophet Mohammed in a speech in Germany last week was insulting but
violent reactions to it were also unacceptable.
Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that his address to the University of
Regensburg on Sept. 12 was meant as a "call for a dialogue of the
Christian faith with the modern world, and for a dialogue between all
cultures and religions."
The 45-minute speech began with a quote from a 14th-century figure who
described Mohammed's command to "spread by the sword the faith he
preached" as "evil and inhuman."
"It's not helpful to begin a dialogue with a quote that says your
prophet is evil and inhuman and brought things that were only evil and
inhuman," says Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations. CAIR says it condemns any violence by
Muslims based on the pope's comments. The group has called for more
dialogue between Catholics and Muslims. (MORE)
Don't let an FBI investigation be the reason for your first visit to an
Arab home, a U.S. Muslim leader told 500 FBI agents gathered at Quantico
yesterday, urging them to reach out to Arab communities.
"You say 'FBI' to the average Yousef out there and they picture a
middle-aged white guy talking in their sleeve," said Nawar Shora of
the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "Recent immigrants
don't have the comfort level, because in their countries oftentimes the
equivalent of the FBI is the secret police."
Shora dispensed his advice to FBI agents from the bureau's second-largest
office, the Washington Field Office, as part of an effort by Muslim
community leaders and FBI officials to build a more trusting
relationship.
Shora and other Muslim leaders met last week over tea and cookies with
Joseph Persichini Jr., acting assistant director in charge of the FBI
office. The group included representatives from the Council on
American Islamic Relations, the Sikh American Legal Defense Education
Fund, the Arab America Institute, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and
the ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society) Center.
"We need to reach out and develop better contacts in the Shia
community in light of the Lebanon-Israel war," Persichini told the
group, gathered around his conference table.
The FBI helped create the group, called the Arab, Muslim and Sikh
Advisory Council, after Sept. 11, 2001. They meet about every two months
to discuss a range of issues, including hate crimes and concerns about
the Patriot Act.
Persichini said the relationships developed through this committee allow
him and Muslim leaders to be in constant touch by phone or electronic
message. He said he hopes that inroads into the Muslim community will
help the FBI attract much-needed Arab American agents. "We have to
recruit better," he said.
When Muslim leaders recently learned that an FBI agent wrote an e-mail
insinuating that some area Muslim groups were linked to terrorists, they
immediately talked by phone to Persichini and Shora said the controversy
was resolved.
Two days ago Persichini heard a radio broadcast about a report released
by a national Muslim advocacy organization detailing an increase in hate
crimes in the Washington area. The report was news to him. "I fired
off a BlackBerry message to Arsalan [Iftikhar from the Council on
American Islamic Relations]," Persichini said. "I said,
'Hello? Where did that come from?' "
While the report raised questions about overzealous arrests and
interrogation practices, Iftikhar told Persichini that he had praised the
FBI Washington Field Office at a news conference about the report for its
efforts in trying to combat hate crimes in the area. (MORE)
Public libraries which open their meeting rooms to private groups can
prohibit use of the rooms for religious worship, the Ninth U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.
The court reversed U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern
District of California, who granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting
Contra Costa County from enforcing such a ban in its public
libraries.
Judge Richard A. Paez, writing for the Ninth Circuit, said:
"[T]he County's decision to exclude . . . religious worship services
from the meeting room is reasonable in light of the library policy so
that the . . . [library] is not transformed into an occasional house of
worship."
The county makes its public library meeting rooms available to the public
during library hours for "educational, cultural and community
related meetings, programs and activities." The county prohibits use
of the rooms for "religious services."
Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries is a non-profit religious
corporation led by Pastor Hattie Mae Hopkins. Hopkins testified that she
believes there are many individuals who need to hear about the gospel of
Jesus Christ but who may never enter a traditional church building. To
reach those individuals, Hopkins holds meetings and worship services in
non-church buildings under the auspices of Faith Center.
Faith Center applied for and was granted permission to use a meeting room
at Antioch Library. A flyer advertising the event divided the day's
activities into a morning "Wordshop" and an afternoon
"Praise and Worship" service with a sermon by Hopkins.
Toward the end of the afternoon service, library staff informed Faith
Center representatives that they were not permitted to use the meeting
room for religious activities. The library subsequently rescinded its
permission for Faith Center to use the room at a future date.
(MORE)
Federal immigration authorities held four Muslim scholars for 24 hours at
Miami International Airport, denying them access to a bed or a phone,
then sent them back to Egypt without a clear explanation for their
removal, an American Muslim association charged Wednesday.
Sofian Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of North
America in Miami, said his group had invited the four to lead prayers at
mosques in Broward and Miami-Dade counties during the holy month of
Ramadan, which starts Sunday.
He called the incident an "outrage," and said it thwarted
efforts to expose Muslim youths to religious leaders who reject the
extremist views that have inspired terrorists. During Ramadan, observant
Muslims fast from dawn to dusk to focus energy on their inner
faith.
"I consider this a big disaster for our community this year,"
Abdelaziz said. "We are against extremism, and we are not dealing
with sheiks and imams who have a policy to teach extremism ... We lost
four good educators." (MORE)
Ali Houssaiky and Osama Abulhassan left their homes in this historic
Muslim-American enclave as college students and came home as terrorists.
On August 8 Houssaiky and Abulhassan drove to an Ohio Wal-Mart to buy
hundreds of cheap cellphones, intending to sell them back to a
distributor they knew to earn some extra cash for tuition. The Wal-Mart
employee, fearing two young men of Arab heritage were terrorists, called
police, who promptly apprehended Houssaiky and Abulhassan. Making matters
worse, they were in Houssaiky's mother's car, which contained a manual
outlining airline checkpoints, a necessity for her job at Royal Jordanian
Airlines. To the police and the Washington County, Ohio, prosecutor,
Houssaiky and Abulhassan were the sum of all fears: two young Arabs with
airline manuals and hundreds of devices that could be used as bomb
detonators.
Houssaiky and Abulhassan were quickly convicted in the press. "I
went to our cell," Houssaiky remembers. "The inmates showed us
on TV, there was a line going across the screen [saying], Is This an Act
of Terrorism at Work?" Yet within a week of their arrest, it became
clear to prosecutors that there was no evidence linking either student to
terrorism. Returning home to Dearborn, Houssaiky and Abulhassan called a
press conference to denounce the "paranoia and xenophobia that is
gripping the country." To Houssaiky, the fact that he and his friend
were cleared of all charges is no comfort. "The media made us into
animals," he says. "This is going to stick to us the rest of
our lives." (MORE)
Medved: "[T]he subject of my conversation with the president of the
United States" was that "Islam, as a faith, as a culture, as a
vision of civilization" has "a special violence
problem"
On the September 18 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show,
Michael Medved stated that the "crucial issue" of whether
"the violence and the bloodshed and the horror and the misery and
... the disgusting behavior throughout the Muslim world ... is ... based
upon some problems within Islam itself" was "the subject of my
conversation with the president of the United States on Friday, when I
had the privilege of sitting with him in the Oval Office for 90
minutes." Medved was apparently referring to a reported meeting held
by President Bush at the White House, which also included conservative
radio hosts Neal Boortz, Sean Hannity, Mike Gallagher, and Laura
Ingraham. Boortz wrote about the event in a September 16 posting to his
weblog. Medved asserted that "there are problems with Islam, as a
faith, as a culture, as a vision of civilization, or actually a vision of
barbarism in the world" and that these "problems ... go very,
very deep."
Later in the program, Medved confirmed that he believes there is "a
violence problem in the Muslim world because that is an inherent problem
in Islam" and that "a core foundational difference between
Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, if you will, even Hinduism and
Islam" is that Islam is "a primitive religion."
(MORE)
Rep. Peter King is playing with fire. He lit the torch when he told
selected constituents in a recent letter that "radical" Muslim
leaders who've branded him "a Muslim hater" are supporting
David Mejias, the Democrat running for his seat in Congress. That's an
ugly attempt at guilt by association.
There is scant evidence that the Islamic Center of Long Island, the group
King fingered so darkly in his letter, is the hotbed of radical, 9/11
conspiracy theories that King implies. And Mejias' connection to the
group is tenuous at best.
So, what's the fuss? Mejias accepted campaign contributions from some
Muslim supporters associated with the center. That's it. King previously
took contributions from some of the same center members. There's nothing
wrong with that. After 9/11, leaders of the center in Westbury condemned
the attacks and supported international action against global terrorism.
Earlier this year, five young people from the center joined Jewish and
Catholic youths in a study tour of the Holy Land. Those actions couldn't
be more at odds with the picture King painted of leaders who
"publicly stated that the CIA or the 'Zionists' may have been behind
the 9/11 attacks." (MORE)
Misconceptions about Islam, the reality of Muslim women's lives and the
hope of building bridges among religious faiths were topics of a panel
discussion Wednesday at San Rafael Parish in Rancho Bernardo.
Tehseen Lazzouni, a coordinator of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of San
Diego, led the panel discussion, which included seven Muslim women from
San Diego County from various backgrounds. After the panelists and
Lazzouni spoke, the audience of about 50 people had a chance to ask
questions.
Lazzouni said that discussing the similarities between faiths is
important, because Muslims, Christians and Jews can all trace their
religious roots to one biblical man ---- Abraham.
For the event, she said the panelists were trying to put into perspective
the lives of "the most misunderstood population ---- Muslim
women."
"In Islam, a woman's role as a mother and a wife are her most
essential roles," said Lazzouni, who added that "more and more
women are working outside of the home" as long as the family isn't
negatively affected by it.
She also said Muslim women have the same "religious moral
duties" as men.
"Muslims believe that God has accorded women the same spiritual
qualities as men," she said. "A woman has a right to accept or
reject marriage proposals. She also has a right to initiate a
divorce."
Lazzouni also said that education is considered to be equally important
for women and men under Islamic teaching.
"Parents should ensure that their child is educated," she said.
"(They) cannot prefer their sons over their
daughters."
A woman asked the panel how they felt about the Sept. 11 tragedies, and
other violent acts in which those responsible have claimed to be acting
on behalf of Islam.
Lazzouni said Muslim leaders have spoken out against the violence, and
the Sept. 11 tragedies.
"There were many Muslim leaders that came out and said this was
against Islam," said Lazzouni, who added that the Quran emphasizes
peace and not violence. She said self-defense and oppression are the only
reasons cited in the Quran where violence can be used on a restrictive
basis, and civilians "aren't to be targeted." (MORE)
Consider the images conjured by the phrase "Muslims on
television." That phrase has one meaning in today's media
marketplace: angry crowds, burning American flags, guns being fired,
bombs going off.
For obvious reasons, it's a hard time to be a Muslim living in America.
It's that cultural context of anxiety and suspicion, not to mention
misunderstanding and ignorance, that inspired Naeem Randhawa, a
36-year-old Dallas native and IT project manager, to undertake what
became the documentary American Ramadan.
"I was tired of all the negative stereotypes; I was looking for
films dealing with Ramadan and the best I could come up with was a
25-year-old documentary by the BBC," Mr. Randhawa says.
"I wanted something contemporary, that applied to me and other
Muslims of my generation, and I realized that since there wasn't a film,
I should make one."
So he became a first-time director and started looking for Ramadan
stories he could tell. The result is a film that follows five families
through the month of fasting and prayer followed by practicing Muslims
every year. American Ramadan airs tonight on KERA (Channel 13) at
11.
Watching it as newscasts are brimming with fresh images of angry,
flag-burning protests in reaction to comments by Pope Benedict XVI only
underscores Mr. Randhawa's motivation for making American Ramadan. In
providing diverse portraits - a student, a divorced dad, an interracial
couple - the film reflects the diversity of Muslim culture.
"It's a bridge-building exercise. It's a very intimate movie,"
Mr. Randhawa says. "For Muslims, it's a chance to see people like
themselves struggling with fears and problems they share. For
non-Muslims, it's an eye-opening experience as they see Muslims as people
they can connect with and relate to." (MORE)
-----
DOES THE ISRAEL LOBBY HAVE TOO MUCH
INFLUENCE ON U.S. FOREIGN POLICY? -
TOP
John Mearsheimer debates critics in panel discussion hosted by the London
Review of Books
NEW YORK, NY, September 14, 2006 - A prominent panel of leading
academics, politicians, and intellectuals will debate the extent of the
pro-Israel lobby's influence on United States foreign policy - in an
effort to foster a rational and open discussion on our national strategic
interests.
The event, hosted by the London Review of Books, will be held at Cooper
Union's Great Hall, located at 7 East 7th Street, New York. The debate
will take place at 7PM, Thursday, September 28th, and tickets may be
purchased at
www.ticketcentral.com or
212.279.4200.
WHEN: Thursday, September 28th, 7pm
WHERE: Great Hall, Cooper Union 7 East 7th Street
PANELISTS: Shlomo Ben-Ami, Martin Indyk, Tony Judt, Rashid Khalidi, John
Mearsheimer, Dennis Ross, Moderator: Anne-Marie Slaughter
GENEVA - Torture in Iraq may be worse now than it was under Saddam
Hussein, with militias, terrorist groups and government forces
disregarding rules on the humane treatment of prisoners, the U.N.
anti-torture chief said Thursday.
Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, made the remarks
as he was presenting a report on detainee conditions at the U.S. prison
in Guantanamo Bay as well as to brief the U.N. Human Rights Council, the
global body's top rights watchdog, on torture worldwide.
Reports from Iraq indicate that torture "is totally out of
hand," he said. "The situation is so bad many people say it is
worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein."
Nowak added, "That means something, because the torture methods
applied under Saddam Hussein were the worst you could
imagine."
Some allegations of torture were undoubtedly credible, with government
forces among the perpetrators, he said, citing "very serious
allegations of torture within the official Iraqi detention
centers."
"You have terrorist groups, you have the military, you have police,
you have these militias. There are so many people who are actually
abducted, seriously tortured and finally killed," Nowak told
reporters at the U.N.'s European headquarters.
"It's not just torture by the government. There are much more brutal
methods of torture you'll find by private militias," he
said.
A report by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq's Human Rights office
cited worrying evidence of torture, unlawful detentions, growth of
sectarian militias and death squads, and a rise in "honor
killings" of women.
Iraq's government, set up in 2006, is "currently facing a
generalized breakdown of law and order which presents a serious challenge
to the institutions of Iraq" such as police and security forces and
the legal system, the U.N. report said, noting that torture was a major
concern.
Nowak has yet to make an official visit to Iraq and said such a mission
would be unfeasible as long as the security situation there remains
perilous. He based his comments on interviews with people during a visit
to Amman, Jordan, and other sources.
"You find these bodies with very heavy and very serious torture
marks," he said. "Many of these allegations, I have no doubt
that they are credible."
According to the U.N. report, the number of Iraqi civilians killed in
July and August hit 6,599, a record-high that is far greater than initial
estimates suggested, the U.N. report said Wednesday. (MORE)
Newsnight has obtained the first pictures of Kurdish soldiers being
trained by Israelis in Northern Iraq, as well as an interview with one of
the former commandos who carried out the work.
When the former Israeli special forces soldiers were sent to Iraq in 2004
they were told they would be disowned if they were discovered.
Their role there was to train two groups of Kurdish troops.
One would act as a security force for the new Hawler International
Airport (near Erbil) and the other, of more than 100 peshmerga or Kurdish
fighters, would be trained for "special assignments", according
to one of Newsnight's interviewees. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
BREAKING NEWS:
AMERICAN MUSLIMS LAUNCH EFFORT TO FUND REPAIRS OF DAMAGED CHRISTIAN
CHURCHES IN MIDEAST
Richard Dymond,
Bradenton
Herald, 9/21/06
ST. PETERSBURG - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
presented a check for $5,000 this afternoon to the Catholic Diocese of
St. Petersburg as seed money for a campaign to fund the repair of
churches damaged by violence in reaction to Pope Benedict's comments.
(MORE)
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FL AG ASKED TO RESCIND APPOINTMENT OF
ISLAM-BASHER
(MIAMI, FL, 9/21/2006) - The Florida office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) today called on that state's
attorney general and
gubernatorial candidate Charlie
Crist to rescind his appointment of a man who claims Islam is
"evil" to a campaign policy council.
The deputy press secretary of the Crist campaign told CAIR-FL that Rev.
O'Neal Dozier will not be removed from the "Strengthening Florida's
Families" council despite his rhetorical attacks on Muslims and
Islam. Dozier has openly opposed the building of a mosque in Pompano
Beach and has repeatedly called Islam a "cult" that
"teaches evil and hatred."
"Florida Muslims and other people of conscience call on Charlie
Crist to repudiate Dozier's anti-Muslim hatred and to rescind his
appointment to the policy council," said CAIR-FL Executive
Director Altaf Ali. "Crist's refusal to act on this important
issue sends the message that a public official and candidate for governor
endorses religious bigotry and intolerance."
CAIR has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-MAIL:
altaf@cairfl.org; Melissa Matos,
Communication Director, 954-272-0490, E-MAIL:
melissa@cairfl.org
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and
RESPECTFUL)
CONTACT Charlie Crist and ask him to remove Rev. Dozier from the
Strengthening Florida's Families policy council.
CONTACT:
Charlie Crist for Governor
2032 Thomasville Road, Suite C
Tallahassee, Florida 32308
Phone: 850-656-9445
E-Mail:
campaign@charliecrist.com
COPY ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO:
info@cair-florida.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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR TO HOST RAMADAN 'IFTAR' ON CAPITOL HILL
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/22/06) - On Tuesday, September 26, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) will hold its fourth annual
Capitol Hill Ramadan "iftar," or fast-breaking meal, for
congressional staffers, American Muslim community leaders and diplomats
from Muslim nations.
WHAT: Fourth Annual Ramadan Iftar on Capitol Hill
WHEN: Tuesday, September 26, 6:30-7:30 p.m. (fast-breaking is at 6:59
p.m.) MEDIA RSVP: E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com or call 202-742-6412
(Limited space is available for media outlets that wish to cover the
iftar.)
The iftar will feature the breaking of the fast and the Islamic sunset
prayer (maghrib). It is designed to allow Muslim leaders, congressional
staffers and elected officials to network on issues of mutual concern, to
foster greater understanding of Islam and the American Muslim community
and to show appreciation for staffers who have been working closely with
Muslims.
Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims
abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from break of dawn
to sunset.
CAIR has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor,
202-742-6413 or 571-278-4658, E-Mail:
csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail:
ihooper@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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: FL Candidate Drops Anti-Islam Preacher / CA Muslims
Condemn 'Inflammatory' Claims of Jewish Group / FL Med School Updates
Policy to Accommodate Muslims / CO Rep Addresses Hate Group
HADITH OF THE DAY: ANYONE WHO FASTS HAS TWO JOYS -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) quoted God as saying:
"Fasting is Mine and it I who give reward for it. . .Fasting is like
a shield, and he who fasts has two joys: joy when he breaks his fast and
joy when he meets his Lord."
Hadith Qudsi 10
-----
BREAKING NEWS: FL CANDIDATE DROPS ANTI-ISLAM
PREACHER -
TOP
(MIAMI, FL, 9/22/2006) - Florida Attorney General and gubernatorial
candidate Charlie Crist has dropped a controversial minister who claims
Islam is "evil" from a campaign policy council web
site.
The listing for Rev. O'Neal Dozier has been removed from the Crist
campaign's "Strengthening Florida's Families" council web page.
Dozier has openly opposed the building of a mosque in Pompano Beach and
has repeatedly called Islam a "cult" that "teaches evil
and hatred."
The Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on
Thursday called on Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist to
rescind the appointment of a controversial Pompano Beach minister to one
of his policy councils.
Crist, the Republican nominee for governor, has named the Rev. O'Neal
Dozier to his "Strengthening Florida's Families" policy
council. CAIR criticized the appointment because Dozier, who has led
protests against a mosque relocating to a black neighborhood in Pompano
Beach, calls Islam a "cult'' that teaches "evil and
hatred.''
Altaf Ali, Florida CAIR executive director, said Erin Isaacs, Crist's
deputy press secretary, told him Dozier would remain on the policy
council.
-----
CALIF. MUSLIMS CONDEMN
'INFLAMMATORY' CLAIMS OF JEWISH GROUP -
TOP
AJC claims Muslim leader given award because of fears over
violence
(LOS ANGELES, CA, 9/22/06) - The Southern California office of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today condemned a
controversial Jewish group for "inflammatory" remarks made by
one of its top officials who claimed Muslims in that state may turn to
violence.
In an interview with the Jewish Journal, the associate director of the
American Jewish Congress Western Region said the Los Angeles County Human
Relations Commission was intimidated into giving an award to a Muslim
leader.
Allyson Rowen Taylor said commissioners were afraid to vote against the
award because: "They're afraid of the Muslim community burning cars,
burning effigies and burning synagogues."
"It is unconscionable for a group that claims to seek the
'preservation of religious freedom in the United States' to smear an
entire faith community with baseless and inflammatory allegations,"
said CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush.
Ayloush asked the American Jewish Congress to stop "demonizing"
Muslims and instead to promote mutual understanding and respect with all
groups in the state. The AJC faced criticism recently for honoring three
"Muslim reformers" who in fact say publicly that they have left
Islam.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
CAIR-FL: MED SCHOOL UPDATES
POLICY TO ACCOMMODATE MUSLIM STUDENTS -
TOP
CAIR assisted in review of NSU-COM religious accommodation
policy
(DAVIE, FLA. - September 22, 2006) -- Nova Southeastern University's
College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-COM) has, for more than seven years,
maintained a policy to reasonably accommodate and respect students who
closely adhere to their core religious beliefs.
This policy was implemented in recognition of certain religious beliefs
that prohibit female students from revealing parts of the bodies in
public. The policy is reviewed every few years with religious scholars
and leaders, as well as with health professionals and community members
who are representative of certain faiths.
This year's review was made in cooperation with the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Changes to the policies were agreed
upon and are being implemented to better accommodate our
students.
"We thank Nova Southeastern University for accommodating the
religious beliefs and practices of Muslim students," said CAIR-FL
Executive Director Altaf Ali. "We believe this updated policy meets
the needs of Muslim students while maintaining the high standard of
instruction we have come to expect from the university."
Established in 1979, NSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine accepted its
first class in 1981. NSU-COM is currently ranked as the 15th largest
medical school and the 5th largest osteopathic medical school in the
nation. For more information about NSU-COM, please visit
http://medicine.nova.edu.
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is the largest independent
not-for-profit institution of higher education in the Southeastern United
States and the 6th largest nationally. The university confers the most
total minority doctorates in the nation, according to Diverse Issues in
Higher Education (July 13, 2006) and is ranked 3rd by US News and World
Report for Racial Diversity for the 2005-2006 academic year.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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-FL Communications Director Melissa Matos, 954-272-0490,
E-Mail: m_matos@cairfl.org;
CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altaf@cairfl.org
Controversy over the pope's recent statements about Islam spilled into
Colorado politics on Wednesday, as Rep. Tom Tancredo urged the pontiff to
"resist calls to apologize," and a Muslim congressional staff
member accused Tancredo of throwing "fuel on the fire with his
hateful words."
Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, sent a letter urging Pope Benedict XVI
to stand his ground on a recent speech in which he quoted a 14th century
Byzantine emperor who said, "Show me just what Mohammed brought that
was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as
his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
"It is not surprising that your statements prompted such a visceral
reaction in much of the Islamic world, where the free exercise of
religion is largely proscribed," Tancredo wrote. "Conversion
from Islam to any other religion is illegal. Punishment is swift and
severe - in some cases death."
Tancredo was raised Roman Catholic but is a member of the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church. He has spoken about what he sees as a "clash of
civilizations" between Islamic radicals and Western societies. He
drew worldwide ire in 2005 when, in response to a hypothetical question,
he told an interviewer that the U.S. could threaten to bomb the holy site
of Mecca in the event of terrorist attacks.
In Wednesday's letter, Tancredo cited four quotations from the Quran that
he believes prove the point the pope was making, including calls to
"smite" unbelievers and "slay the idolaters wherever you
find them."
The letter drew an angry response from Nayyera Haq, communications
director for Rep. John Salazar. Haq, who is Muslim, stressed in an e-mail
that she was speaking for herself and not for her boss.
"As a man, Tom Tancredo has always been articulate in expressing his
hatred of Islam and immigrants - no surprise there," Haq said.
"In his arrogance, he chooses to disregard the existence of millions
of law-abiding Muslim American citizens. What is surprising is that as an
elected representative, someone who should be working towards our
collective safety, Tancredo chooses to throw more fuel on the fire with
his hateful words."
"Tancredo is being irresponsible with his congressional authority
and is knowingly creating a more dangerous environment for all of us.
Congressman Tancredo should focus more on building bridges with the
progressives in the Muslim world rather than burning the few bridges we
have left."
Many Muslim leaders have called for the pope to make a more direct
apology.
COLUMBIA, S.C. | Sept. 11, 2006 -- For a college football game day, the
South Carolina State Museum in downtown Columbia was a busy place on the
afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 9.
On the ground floor, a United States Army brass band commemorated the
victims of 9/11. One level up, not far from the museum's permanent
Confederate Army exhibit, the state chapter of the League of the South
(LOS), a neo-Confederate hate group, hosted a barbeque in honor of
Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, head of the House Immigration Reform
Caucus and likely contestant in the 2008 GOP presidential primary.
Proceeds from the $15 per-plate fundraiser went to Americans Have Had
Enough!, a South Carolina-based non-profit coalition for which Tancredo
serves as honorary chairman.
While Tancredo's hard-line "deport 'em all" stance on
immigration has made him a favorite politician of white supremacists,
this marked the first time the congressman has appeared at a hate group
event.
Dressed casually in a yellow t-shirt, Tancredo addressed the
standing-room audience of 200-250 from behind a podium draped in a
Confederate battle flag. To the congressman's right, a portrait of Robert
E. Lee peered out at the crowd of Minutemen activists, local politicians,
and red-shirted members of LOS and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The
Confederate trappings of the event found a mismatch in Tancredo's
standard nativist polemic, which stayed clear of references to Southern
heritage or direct plaudits for the LOS, a Southern white nationalist
organization dedicated to "Southern independence, complete, full,
and total."
In his 25 years as a priest, the Rev. Robert Gibbons, vicar general of
the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, said he never had official
contact with a Muslim.
"I didn't even know Tampa had a chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations," Gibbons said.
That's why Gibbons was startled earlier this week when CAIR's Tampa
executive director, Ahmed Bedier, called him and said his
organization had raised money to help repair churches on the West Bank
and Gaza damaged after a speech made by Pope Benedict XVI.
At a press conference Thursday at the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Gibbons
stood next to Bedier and held his end of a large poster-board check from
CAIR for $5,000 made out to The Catholic Near East Welfare Association in
Washington, D.C.
The funds are seed money in a worldwide campaign, which will also include
the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Bradenton, to repair the churches in
Palestine, Bedier said.
"We have always said we deplore any violent act carried out in the
name of Islam," Bedier said. "Now we are putting our money
where our mouth is." . . .
Gibbons - who said he enjoys Bedier's positive outlook on life so much he
has invited him to speak Sunday at his home church, St. Paul Catholic
Church on 12th Street North, St. Petersburg - said Muslims and Christians
need to have more bonding time, like he and Bedier have now had.
"I think part of the problem is that there has been so little
interaction that we can build up prejudices," Gibbons said.
"The instant I met Ahmed, I could tell he was authentic."
(MORE)
HOW TO HELP:
Donations for churches damaged in the West Bank and Gaza after the pope's
speech can be mailed to: CAIR Palestine Damaged Churches, CNEWA, 1011
First Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022-4195 or sent on-line at
www.cnewa.org and click DONATE.
Earmark donations for CAIR Palestine Damaged Churches.
SEE ALSO:
VIDEO: MUSLIMS RAISE FUNDS FOR
CHURCHES DAMAGED BY RIOTS OVER POPE COMMENTS -
TOP
Though Palestinian Muslims have reacted violently to recent remarks
by Pope Benedict XVI, Muslims in the United States are raising money to
help rebuild churches damaged in the protests and met with a Vatican
envoy to call for more interfaith dialogue.
In Tampa, a branch of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations gave $5,000 to help repair the churches in the West Bank
and Gaza. Council officials said it was the first gift in a national
fundraising campaign. CAIR has criticized the pope's Sept. 12 speech at
Regensburg University in Germany, but it has also condemned the violent
protests.
In Washington, representatives of CAIR, the Islamic Society of North
America and the Falls Church-based Dar al-Hijra Islamic Center met for
two hours with Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio, as the Vatican
ambassador is called. The InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan
Washington arranged the meeting.
"We want to build on the legacy of John Paul II and use this
opportunity to encourage dialogue and not divisiveness," said
Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's legal director.
(CBS) LOS ANGELES Cardinal Roger Mahony met Thursday with representatives
from the Southland's Muslim community to discuss Pope Benedict XVI's
recent remarks about Islam.
The meeting took place Thursday morning at Mahony's office, and included
representatives from the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California,
Islamic Educational Center of Orange County, Muslim Public Affairs
Council and Southern California Council on American Islamic Relations.
(MORE)
The outrage and violence that erupted after Pope Benedict XVI used an
offensive quote to describe Islam pushed the need for interfaith dialogue
to the world's attention.
Yet even before that controversial incident occurred, Christian and
Muslim leaders in the Chicago area already were engaging in constructive
dialogue and planning to expand those efforts. This week alone, three
universities in the area are holding lectures or conferences to discuss
interfaith relations between Muslims and Christians.
On Thursday night, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago marked the
opening of its new Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and
Justice. The director of the center is Harold Vogelaar, a retired
professor of world missions and interfaith dialogue who lived in the
Middle East for nearly 25 years.
Vogelaar said the 14th Century quotation used by Benedict, in which a
Christian emperor spoke of Islam being spread by the sword, shows that
altercations between Muslims and Christians have a long, painful
history.
But in the opening of the new center, Vogelaar sees some hope.
"We often tend to lift up the worst and overlook the best. But with
this center, we want a place where we can bring Muslims and Christians
together, where we own up to our past and envision a more creative
future," he said. "Owning up to that past can be painful. But
in smaller groups, we can try to get a deeper understanding." . .
.
On Thursday in Washington, D.C., representatives of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations met with the Vatican's ambassador to the
U.S., Archbishop Pietro Sambi. Muslim leaders delivered a letter calling
for more conversation between the two faiths.
"It is our belief that the proper response to this situation is for
Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach efforts
aimed at building better relations between Christianity and Islam. We
oppose any language or action that tends to shake the friendship and
alliance between our faiths," the letter said. (MORE)
Chris Moore was an aspiring rock musician with earrings and a shaved head
when he walked into a Northern Virginia mosque a dozen years ago and
began asking questions about Islam.
A month later, the Christian-raised son of a U.S. Navy man became a
Muslim. His conversion initiated a spiritual odyssey that took him to
several Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, where he adopted and
then rejected the ultraconservative Wahhabi approach to Islam.
Moore's faith journey ultimately brought the Annandale resident home, and
today he is pursing a master's degree at St. John's College in Annapolis,
a university noted for its demanding curriculum based on reading classic
works of Western civilization.
Like many other young Muslims in the United States, Moore is seeking to
fashion an Islamic identity that flourishes in American society and
influences it for the better. He feels a responsibility, he said, to
contribute to a more harmonious relationship between Islam and the West
-- a task that is on his mind as he observes this year's Islamic holy
month of Ramadan, a period of daytime fasting and spiritual introspection
that starts at sundown today. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-SAN DIEGO 1st ANNUAL
FUNDRAISING BANQUET A SUCCESS -
TOP
(SAN DIEGO, CA, 9/21/06) - More than $70,000 was raised at the historic
1st annual banquet of the CAIR San Diego office (CAIR-San Diego) held on
Sunday, September 17. More than 330 people attended the dinner. Guest
speakers included Congresswoman Susan Davis, State Assembly Member Lori
Saldana, ACLU San Diego and Imperial Counties Executive Director Kevin
Keenan, and various interfaith leaders. Hussam Ayloush, executive
director of CAIR-Southern California and Fouad Khatib, Chairman of
CAIR-California and Board Member of CAIR National, also addressed the
audience.
"The overwhelming attendance and support in our very first banquet
shows that the Muslim community in San Diego recognizes the work of CAIR
and that it is among the vital organizations needed in a community to
build bridges of understanding and tolerance for all," says Edgar
Hopida, Director of Public Relations for CAIR San Diego.
Banquet attendees also included a number of local government
representatives, community leaders and activists.
CONTACT: Edgar Hopida, (858) 278-4547or (619) 913-0719, E-mail:
ehopida@cair.com
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-AZ HOSTS FIRST ANNUAL RAMADAN
MEDIA BREAKFAST -
TOP
(PHOENIX, AZ, 9/21/06) - On Thursday, September 21, The Arizona Chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR- AZ) hosted its first
annual Ramadan Media Breakfast at the Islamic Community Center of
Tempe.
The purpose of the event was to acquaint media professionals with the
basics of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, which will begin
this weekend. Attendees included representatives from local newspapers,
radio stations and television channels. Numerous Muslim community leaders
were also present, including Imam Ahmed Shqeirat who provided a short
presentation on Ramadan.
"We are thrilled to see the initiative that local media have taken
in learning about Ramadan and its essence for us as Muslims. We hope this
will encourage our friends of other faiths to join us in dialogue,"
said Nure Elatari, CAIR-AZ Communications Director.
CONTACT: CAIR-AZ, (602) 262-2247, or (602) 312-2223
Muslims all around the world are preparing for the holiest month of their
year: the ninth month, when they will celebrate Ramadan.
That is the time period when, according to Muslim belief, the Koran was
revealed. In the United States, Ramadan begins Saturday, in accordance
with the lunar cycle.
Combining 30 days of fasting during daylight hours along with night
prayers and reflections, Ramadan focuses on self-control and devotion.
Muslims are asked to reflect on the past months while looking forward to
a better future, according to Hamza Collins of the Council of American
Islamic Relations of New London. "Ramadan is a time to offer
apologies for past wrongs, to better ourselves and to prepare for the
time ahead," Collins said. (MORE)
A day of mourning on the recent five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks reminded many people that the American way of
life has forever changed, particularly for those with Islamic
backgrounds.
On Sept. 8, the St. Louis Chapter of the National Council on
American-Islamic Relations hosted a town hall meeting for the Islamic
Foundation of Greater St. Louis in Manchester, to address concerns about
civil rights with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
officials.
About 100 people attended the 2-hour meeting, held at the mosque located
on Weidman Road, and asked several questions and raised various issues
with FBI officials.
"It was a way to offer a line of communication about any concerns
within the Muslim community," said Gulten Ilhan, vice president of
the council.
People expressed concerns about hate speech and asked whether it violated
any laws.
"Sometimes people on television and radio or private individuals say
almost anything," Ilhan said.
FBI officials said free speech is allowable under the law as long as it
does not involve action, such as starting a riot or causing other
physical damage, which could jeopardize the safety of others.
"Speech is protected as long as there is no overt action that
jeopardizes the safety of others," said Peter Krusing, of the
FBI.
Attendees also asked FBI officials questions about how to determine
whether a charitable organization is legitimate.
"During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are obligated to donate to
charities," Ilhan said. "But how can they distinguish between a
legitimate charity and a terrorist organization?"
FBI officials said there is no clear-cut answer and advised people with
questions about a particular organization to contact them.
(MORE)
-----
OIC, CAIR, ADC TO
HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON ISLAM/WEST RELATIONS -
TOP
The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and
Local Chicago leaders to comment on Muslim-US relations, Muslim-Catholic
relations
(CHICAGO, IL 9/22/2006) - The Chicago office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) and the Chicago chapter of the
American Arab Anti-Discrimination committee (ADC) will join his
Excellency, Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in a press conference this
Saturday on the subject of US-Muslim relations 5 years after
9/11.
The panel will address members of the press on recent news like the
Pope's comments, general issues like Extremism and Terrorism, and other
timely issues affecting today's news.
WHAT: US / Muslim world Relations Five Years After 9/11
WHEN: Saturday, September 23, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Parkside Room, Mezzanine level of the Drake Hotel, 140 E Walton
pl, Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 787-2200
WHO: OIC Secretary General, Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu; CAIR-Chicago
Executive Director, Ahmed Rehab; Dr. S.M. Budron, President, Greater
Chicago Chapter; American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
(ADC)
CONTACT: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab, 312 212 1520,
847-971-3963, E-Mail:
director@cairchicago.org;
Dr. S.M. Budron - President, Greater Chicago Chapter, American Arab Anti
Discrimination Committee (ADC) (847) 489-7999
NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said that
after the September 11 attacks the United States threatened to bomb his
country if it did not cooperate with America's war campaign against the
Taliban in Afghanistan.
Musharraf, in an interview with CBS news magazine show "60
Minutes" that will air Sunday, said the threat came from Assistant
Secretary of State Richard Armitage and was given to Musharraf's
intelligence director.
"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be
prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age,'"
Musharraf said. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: Gunmen Fire at Florida Mosque / South African Imam
Denied Entry to US / VT Official Sends Islamophobic E-Mails / OH
Stations Say 'Jihad' Car Spots Go Too Far
Several shots were fired and now police are searching for gunmen in
possible Melbourne hate crime.
Police in Melbourne say the Islamic Mosque was crowded when last night as
members celebrated the start of Ramadan.
Sources in the Melbourne Police Department say it appears a sniper opened
fire on the Islamic Society of Brevard County on 550 East Florida
Avenue.
Police tell us it appears a two people were hiding in the woods across
from the mosque and when one member came outside from services, the
gunman in the woods opened fire.
"The officers responded to a call of shots fired at the building.
There was a gentleman who had stepped outside the building. He had exited
the service to use his cell phone when the shots were fired, said Public
Information Officer Jill Frederiksen, Melbourne Police
Department.
Nobody was shot in the possible hate crime. (MORE)
CONTACT: CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214,
E-Mail: altaf@cairfl.org;
CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier, 813-731-9506; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair-net.org
CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier held a joint news
conference with the Tampa police department and the FBI to speak out
against a hate crime targeting an Arab-American man.
TAMPA - Two Polk County men were jailed on hate crime charges after they
threw beer bottles at an Ybor City club owner and threatened to kill him,
police say.
Joseph Azzi, manager of Club Fuel on 7th Avenue, was in the rear parking
lot of his club speaking Arabic early Friday when two white men got out
of a light blue sport utility vehicle and began yelling across the
lot.
"Towel head," the men shouted, along with other offensive
phrases for people of Arab descent.
According to Ahmed Bedier, the head of the Council for
American-Islamic Relations in Tampa, Azzi didn't know what was
happening. Bedier spoke to Azzi by telephone on Friday after the
incident.
Though Lebanese-born, Azzi recently became a U.S. citizen.
(MORE)
A South African imam who flew to Dulles International Airport yesterday
to lead Ramadan prayers at a Northern Virginia mosque was denied entry
into the Unites States, prompting questions from local Muslims.
The imam, Ismail Mullah, arrived at 5:55 a.m. yesterday on a flight from
South Africa, said Arsalan Iftikhar, national legal director for the
District-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. He
said Mullah was delayed for several hours by customs officers and then
sent back to South Africa.
The Islamic Community Center of Northern Virginia in Woodbridge had
invited Mullah, who has come to the United States for Ramadan for the
past three years, said Nasir Chhipa, the center's director. Ramadan, the
Muslim holy month, started at sundown yesterday.
Chhipa and CAIR officials called on federal authorities to explain
whether Mullah was targeted because he is Muslim. They said they were
especially concerned about a possible pattern, because four other foreign
imams were denied entry at an airport in Florida this week.
(MORE)
BELLOWS FALLS - Village trustee Stefan Golec forwarded at least two
Internet jokes and messages this month to town officials and community
leaders that contain derogatory terms for Muslims and are critical of
their culture and religion.
One e-mail he forwarded labeled Muslims as "brutal and
uncivilized" and another referred to them as "Towel
Heads." The e-mails were sent to friends, community leaders and this
reporter.
On Thursday Golec said he forwards many e-mails to people and does not
always agree with their content or language. He refused to say if he
agreed with these messages or articulate his feelings toward
Muslims.
"Creating an e-mail and forwarding one are two different
things," he said. "I have friends that send me jokes and
e-mails and sometimes I forward those along."
Golec has been a member of the Bellows Falls Board of Trustees for a
decade.
Rockingham Select Board member Ann DiBernardo received one of the e-mails
this week and called the comments they contained
"inappropriate." But she also said she does not believe Golec
"dislikes or hates Muslims."
"Stefan is very patriotic," DiBernardo said. "He loves
this country. I don't think he is anti-Muslim, I think he is just very
patriotic."
Village President Clark Barber said he had not seen the e-mails and has
no control over what trustees do in their free time.
"I myself deplore any kind of discrimination or prejudice,"
Clark said. "But unless this becomes a town issue, I don't think we
can do anything about it."
One e-mail Golec forwarded Sept. 20 was titled, "Towel Heads,"
and contained a cartoon showing an elderly Caucasian woman in slippers
and holding a coffee mug. The text of the cartoon suggests that
"Islamic terrorists" do not like being called "Towel
Heads" because "the item they wear on their head is not
actually a towel, but in fact, a small folded sheet."
"Therefore, from this point forward, please refer to them as 'Little
Sheet Heads,'" the cartoon reads. . .
The Internet has become a prominent source of anti-Muslim rhetoric, and
e-mail has made it quick and easy for people to redistribute the
offensive material, said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for the
Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Ignorance of Islam also may run high in communities with few or no
Muslims, Hooper added. Vermont's minority population was estimated to be
about 4 percent in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is not
clear how many Vermonters identify themselves as Muslims.
"It's unfortunate that an elected official choose to send out
statements like those," Hooper said. "I recommend that he take
the time to speak with a Muslim about their faith." (MORE)
Some Columbus radio stations have rejected as insensitive an
advertisement for a car dealership that invokes Islamic
references.
The general manager of the dealership, though, says the promotions -
which he called "tongue-in-cheek" - will air on some stations
beginning next week.
In the spot, Keith Dennis of
Dennis Mitsubishi talks about "launching a jihad on the
automotive market."
Sales representatives "will be wearing burqas all weekend
long," the ad says. One of the vehicles on sale "can
comfortably seat up to 12 jihadists in the back."
"Our prices are lower than the evildoers' every day. Just ask the
pope! " the ad says. "Friday is fatwa Friday, with free rubber
swords for the kiddies."
Jeff Wilson, general manager of Radio One stations WCKX (107.5 FM), WJYD
(106.3 FM) and WXMG (98.9 FM), doesn't intend to air the spot.
"We won't play that," Wilson said. "With no disrespect to
their creativity or their desire to build business, everything we're
about is promoting the values of diversity. To air things of that sort
would go against our mission statement."
Representatives of WSNY (94.7 FM), WBNS (97.1 FM), WWCD (101.1 FM),
WJZA/WJZK (103.5/104.3 FM), and WODB (107.9 FM) also said they won't air
the ad.
But Aaron Masterson, general manager of
Dennis Auto Point, which
writes and produces its own commercials, promised that the commercial
will air.
"It starts next Friday morning," Masterson said. "As far
as I can see, the top 10 stations - minimum - in the market. We made it
very clear we wanted market saturation to get the point across." . .
.
The president of the Columbus chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, doesn't think terrorism is to be taken
lightly.
Asma Mobin-Uddin said she is concerned the ad's tone and imagery are
"mocking and disrespectful to many different areas. One is Islamic
faith and Islamic culture."
"Using that as a promotional pitch when so many are dying from the
criminal activity of suicide bombers, that's not funny," Mobin-Uddin
said. "I don't think it's appropriate when it causes real pain. It
exploits or promotes misunderstanding in terms already misunderstood or
misused. That type of ad does nothing but promote discord in a very
difficult time. The timing is just amazing. Maybe that's part of the
shock value." (MORE)
Republican gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist on Friday removed from his
"Strengthening Florida's Families" policy council the Rev.
O'Neal Dozier, a controversial Pompano Beach minister who has called
Islam a "cult."
Erin Isaacs, Crist's deputy campaign press secretary, said Dozier was
taken off the campaign advisory panel.
A statement from the Crist campaign said Crist respects Dozier's right to
express his political and religious beliefs, but he does not agree with
Dozier's statements on Islam.
"Charlie Crist believes that we must not confuse those who practice
any religion with a prayer toward peace with extremists who pervert
religion to further a radical cause," the statement said.
Dozier, the pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach,
has led the charge against a mosque moving to a predominantly black
section of Pompano Beach.
He has called Islam a "cult" that teaches "evil and
hatred."
Dozier, who for months has been one of Crist's key African-American
supporters, said he was told he was being removed from the council
"because of the pamphlets I've been passing out in the area where
the Muslims want to move."
Crist, Florida's attorney general, is the second Republican leader to
distance himself from Dozier and his comments. Gov. Jeb Bush in July
removed Dozier from the Broward Judicial Nominating Committee after the
minister called Islam a "cult" on a radio show.
Crist's move came a day after the Council on American-Islamic
Relations called on him to rescind Dozier's appointment to the policy
council.
"I think [Crist] did the right thing, the honorable thing, the
appropriate thing," said Altaf Ali, executive director of
Florida CAIR, who was told by the campaign it had removed Dozier from the
policy council.
"You can't allow people who want to prevent people in certain
neighborhoods," Ali said. "It's a victory for people of
goodwill and faith." (MORE)
The Rev. O'Neal Dozier suffered another political slap Friday.
Gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist told his staff to take the Pompano
Beach minister off all his campaign committees. The move comes after the
Rev. Dozier characterized Islam as a "cult" and a
"dangerous religion," on a South Florida radio talk show in
July.
Dozier also recently announced plans to distribute booklets to residents
living near the site of a future mosque in a black Pompano Beach
community.
"While Charlie Crist respects Rev. Dozier's right to express his
political and religious beliefs, he does not agree with Rev. Dozier's
recent statements and writings concerning Islam," according to a
statement issued Friday by Crist's deputy press secretary Erin Isaac. .
.
"It sends a very strong message that public officials are not going
to endorse people who espouse racial bigotry, intolerance and hate,"
said Altaf Ali, executive director the Florida chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations. (MORE)
ST. PETERSBURG -- A group of Tampa Bay-area Muslims donated $5,000 to
help repair churches on the West Bank and Gaza Strip damaged after a
speech made by Pope Benedict XVI.
Members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations gave the
check Thursday to the Rev. Robert Gibbons, vicar general of the Catholic
Diocese of St. Petersburg.
"We have always said we deplore any violent act carried out in the
name of Islam," said Ahmed Bedier, a spokesman for the group.
"Now we are putting our money where our mouth is."
The check was made out to The Catholic Near East Welfare Association in
Washington and was intended as seed money in a worldwide campaign to
repair the churches in the Palestinian territories, Bedier said.
(MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR: MUSLIM GROUP MEETS VATICAN
ENVOY TO U.S. -
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MARTIN SIEFF, United Press International, 9/22/06
Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations met
Thursday with the Vatican's ambassador to Washington.
Other American Muslim leaders attended the meeting, which was held to
discuss the international row that has erupted following Pope Benedict
XVI's controversial comments about Islam in Regensburg, Germany, last
week.
CAIR said in a statement that its legislative director Corey Saylor and
its legal director, Arsalan Iftikhar, handed a letter to Papal Nuncio
Archbishop Pietro Sambi urging "greater dialogue and outreach"
between the world's two most populous religions that have 2.3 billion
believers between them.
"It is our belief that the proper response to this situation is for
Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach efforts
aimed at building better relations between Christianity and Islam. We
oppose any language or action that tends to shake the friendship and
alliance between our faiths," the CAIR letter said. (MORE)
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa named a senior official from the U.S.
Department of Justice on Friday to serve as his new deputy mayor in
charge of counter-terrorism, emergency preparedness and criminal justice
matters.
Arif Alikhan, who currently oversees a national computer hacking program
for the Justice Department, will replace Maurice Suh in overseeing
homeland security and public safety issues for Los Angeles. Suh, an
attorney, will return to private practice after 15 months at City Hall. .
.
A Muslim born to Pakistani and Indian parents, Alikhan said his personal
background will inform his role as City Hall's leading counter-terrorism
official. "I hope my experience as a Muslim will help [me] address
one of the most important issues of our" time, he said. "I
think the Muslim community is just as concerned about terrorism as any
other." (MORE)
HAMZA COLLINS HOPES THAT people will ask him questions about Ramadan, a
month during which Muslims fast during daylight hours.
"Islam is often shown in a bad light," said Collins,
director of civil rights for the Connecticut chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations. "I hope during this month that
people will read more about Ramadan, ask questions and learn its true
meaning." (MORE)
Valley Muslims begin their holy month of Ramadan today, after the
sighting of the new moon Friday night.For the next month, Muslims will
fast during the day, abstain from smoking and strive to be better
individuals.
This year's Ramadan comes at a time when Islam has been on the minds of
people across the world as a result of Pope Benedict XVI's comments about
Islam, the war between Israel and Hezbollah and the fifth anniversary of
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In a speech this month, Pope Benedict cited the words of a Byzantine
emperor, who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed
as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread
by the sword the faith."
Mohammed AbuHannoud, civil rights director at the Council on American
Islamic Relations in Phoenix, said, "I think if I was an
American, I would see only the negative side of the story on TV with
these stereotypes." (MORE)
Chicago attorney Janaan Hashim will begin fasting for Ramadan the morning
after the new moon is first sighted over North America, probably tonight.
Her husband will start when it's seen over the Middle East.
And many other Muslims, such as Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the
Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, will
begin fasting at dawn today, based on a newer interpretation of lunar
cycles.
Regardless of when the holy month of Ramadan begins, local believers say
it's a time to do much more than just sacrifice food and water. .
.
Rehab said he, too, is reminded to not take things for granted.
"When I see a homeless person at Ramadan, I have a lot more
understanding," he said.
Like other Muslims, Basim Elkarra will begin the day with a light early
meal and then fast until sunset.
Leslie Kuperstein, who is Jewish, will call family and friends and spend
most of the next two days in synagogue.
For both, this is the holy season. This weekend, Jews around the world
are celebrating Rosh Hashana while Muslims are beginning the monthlong
observance of Ramadan. . .
Although the strict fasting may seem difficult to others, Elkarra says it
builds self- control and spirituality.
Elkarra, executive director of the Council on American Islamic
Relations of Sacramento Valley, says Ramadan is a spiritual and
solemn time of the year that is full of traditions.
"When I was young, I remember breaking the fast at the mosque during
the nightly prayers," Elkarra says. "It was very special to do
that with people you are close to. I try to do that now."
(MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OHIO CAR DEALER DROPS 'JIHAD' RADIO ADS, OFFERS
APOLOGY
(COLUMBUS, OH, 9/25/2006) - The Ohio chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) said today that proposed
"jihad-themed" radio advertisements for a car dealer in that
state will not be aired.
The ads reportedly would have proclaimed a "jihad" on the U.S.
auto market and offered "Fatwa Fridays" with sales
representatives in "burqas" giving free swords to
children.
An official with Dennis
Mitsubishi in Columbus, Ohio, told CAIR-Ohio that the dealership has
issued an apology for any misunderstanding caused by "an attempt at
humor that fell short."
In a statement, Dennis Mitsubishi owner Keith Dennis said his company
ultimately decided not to air the spots:
"The public reaction to this story has been significant. A large
number of people have contacted us. Lots of them have seen the humor we
were trying to convey, but far too many were clearly bothered by it. This
was simply an attempt at humor that fell short. I wish to offer my
sincere apology to anyone who was offended. We do not wish to
alienate anyone in our community - all of whom are potential
customers."
"We appreciate the dealership's constructive reaction to feedback
about the proposed advertisements," said Adnan Mirza, director of
CAIR-Ohio's Columbus office. "We accept the apology from Mr.
Dennis and hope that it and the decision not to air the spots will bring
this incident to a close."
CAIR has 32 offices, chapters and affiliates 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-Ohio, Adnan Mirza, 614-451-3232, 614-905-8492, E-Mail:
director@cair-ohio.com; CAIR
National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or
202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
VERSE OF THE DAY: GOD INTENDS YOUR WELL-BEING -
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"It is the month of Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed, a
guidance for mankind with clear teachings showing the Right Way and a
criterion of truth and falsehood. Therefore, anyone of you who witnesses
that month should fast therein, and whoever is ill or upon a journey
shall fast a similar number of days later on. God intends your well-being
and does not want to put you to hardship. He wants you to complete the
prescribed period so that you should glorify His Greatness and render
thanks to Him for giving you guidance."
They were common themes at Sunday morning Mass at St. Paul's Catholic
Church, where a group of Muslims were visiting in a gesture of
reconciliation between the religious communities. "God created us
different so we could get to know each other better," said Ahmed
Bedier, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Central
Florida.
His visit to the church came on the heels of news that a mosque in South
Florida had come under gunfire Friday while people inside celebrated the
first day of the holy month of Ramadan.
The rift between the faiths also has been widened by Muslim outrage over
remarks by Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict, who quoted words of a Byzantine
emperor that characterized some of the teachings of the prophet Mohammed
as "evil and inhuman."
In St. Petersburg, between hymns and the Eucharist, Bedier spoke to the
congregation about the similarities between Islam and Christianity and
how to bring about better relations.
"We need to look for ways to forge a bridge between Islam and
Christianity," Bedier said. "As Muslims, we have to act more
like Mohammed and as Christians you have to act more like
Jesus."
Bedier's visit was a part of a larger campaign by his organization, and
other American Muslim groups, to change the tide of associating violence
with Islam.
Last week, the council announced that it would work through the Catholic
Diocese of St. Petersburg to donate money for repairing churches in the
Middle East damaged by violence following the Pope's remarks.
The Rev. Robert Gibbons, the diocese's vicar general and the pastor of
St. Paul's, thought a message from Bedier would also be beneficial to his
congregation.
On Sunday, Bedier and a handful of other Muslims from CAIR sat in the
front row for Mass. (MORE)
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 9/25/06) - On Sunday, September 24, the Michigan
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI)
participated in a service marking the second day of the Jewish New Year,
Rosh Hashanah, at the Jewish Community Center of Washtenaw County in Ann
Arbor, Michigan.
The two-hour service focused on the importance of Abraham and sacrifice
in the Jewish and Islamic faiths. CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid
addressed the congregation for approximately 20 minutes and fielded
numerous questions about Islam after the service.
CAIR-MI was invited to participate at the same location for the
fast-breaking service of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, on
October 2, which again falls during the month of Ramadan in which Muslims
also fast.
CAIR-CA: PRESS
CONFERENCE COMMEMORATING RAMADAN AND ROSH HASHANAH -
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(SACRAMENTO, CA, 9/25/2006) - Senator Carole Migden, (D-San Francisco
& North Bay) and Assembly Member Paul Koretz, (D-West Hollywood)
announced today that they will be joined by Sacramento area Muslim and
Jewish leaders next week to issue a joint statement regarding the
coinciding Jewish and Muslim holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Ramadan this
year.
WHAT: Press Conference Commemorating Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah
WHEN: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: Room 122 of the State Capitol
"To those who think that we are in a clash of civilizations, I say
let them come to California. Here, no one bats an eye when Ramadan is
celebrated just a day after Rosh Hashanah. California is proof that
anything � especially peace � is possible if good people are willing to
work hard and achieve it, instead of sowing seeds of discord to further
their own political ends," Said Senator Migden. "On the eve of
solemn and holy observances among the Jewish and Muslim people, we should
all say a prayer for peace and understanding in the world."
The statement will assemble religious organizations and leaders such as
Basim Elkarra from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Rabbi David
Wechsler- Azen, Rabbi Nancy Wechsler-Azen from Congregation Beth Shalom,
and the Sacramento Committee on Conscience.
"As we welcome Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah at a time of increased
prayer we wish both communities a blessed holiday" Said Basim
Elkarra, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
Sacramento Valley Office. "We believe the coincidence of the two
holidays will be a great opportunity for continued dialogue and to
promote understanding to make California a center of interfaith
harmony."
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and beginning of the 10 days of
introspection and reflection which culminates at Yom Kippur. Ramadan is
the period of daytime fasting and contemplation which lasts for a lunar
month of about 28 days. It commemorates the transmission of the Qur'an by
the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad.
CONTACT: CAIR-Sacramento Valley Executive Director Basim Elkarra, Email:
sacval@cair.com, Tel: 916-441-6269.
Office of Senator Carole Migden, Djibril Diop, Email:
Djibril.Diop@SEN.CA.GOV,
Tel: 201-9813
A visit by Reno-area Jews to the Northern Nevada Muslim Community Center
on Sunday involved more than Ramadan and the Jewish High Holy Days
falling at the same time.
It's about building ties between Muslims and Jews.
Local Muslims invited Temple Sinai members to the community center and
mosque to break a Ramadan fast at sundown Sunday.
The gathering in Sparks was planned as Jews observe the High Holy Days
and Ramadan gets under way.
At least a dozen members of Temple Sinai visited the Muslim community
center.
"A lot of Muslims and Jews are cousins, neighbors, and we have a lot
of common problems," said Mike Medvin of Temple Sinai. "If we
can't sit down and have dinner together and talk, we're never going to be
able to solve the problems.
"If people do not stand up together and speak against inhumanity,
there will always be inhumanity," he added.
Waseem Akhtar, a Muslim, called the visit "good for the community.
It will bring us closer together, and that's definitely good for
all," he said.
Imam Abdul Barghouthi of the Muslim community center in Sparks said he
borrowed the idea for the gathering from other states.
"I believe there is a move toward that from the different faith
groups where people, religious people, are feeling that their faith --
regardless of what it is -- can contribute to a better world, should
contribute to a better world," he said.
"The only way we can do that is by reaching out to the other faiths
and working together, instead of against each other," Barghouthi
said. "I hope we can minimize our differences and emphasize our
similarities and see where it goes from there.
"I am hoping to start a interreligious and interfaith dialogue so
our groups, our respective groups, will get to know one another. By doing
that, we will have a relation(ship) that is based on knowledge and
respect, and we will try to get rid of the ignorance of each other's
faith and each other's practices."
Rabbi Myra Soifer of Temple Sinai was asked to speak about Rosh Hashana
-- the Jewish new year-- and Yom Kippur, the year's holiest day for
Jews.
Barghouthi and Soifer wrote about the gathering in a joint column in
Saturday's Reno Gazette-Journal. "World politics often divide Muslim
and Jewish communities," they wrote. "Tragically, often that
divide is a violent one. We see blessing in this confluence of our
communities' most sacred times."
Rosh Hashana and Ramadan started over the weekend. (MORE)
Islamic-American leaders met with the Vatican's ambassador in Washington
to call for a better dialogue between Muslims and Christians after
worldwide Islamic protests over remarks by Pope Benedict XVI.
Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
delivered a letter to Archbishop Pietro Sambi last week and pledged to
oppose "any language or action that tends to shake the friendship
and alliance between our faiths."
"It is our belief that the proper response to this situation is for
Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach efforts
aimed at building better relations between Christianity and Islam,"
said the letter delivered by CAIR legislative director Corey Saylor
and legal director Arsalan T. Iftikhar.
Archbishop Sambi called on Christians and Muslims to work together for
"peace, liberty, social justice and moral values for the benefit of
all humanity."
In one fell swoop, Pope Benedict XVI imploded bridges built by his
predecessors with his recent remarks that sparked fury across the Muslim
world, one of the world's top Muslim leaders said here Saturday.
Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference, an intergovernmental agency of 57 Islamic
countries, also said Benedict's efforts to defuse the situation fell
short of an apology.
'An astonishing statement'
"One does not expect the pope to speak on leaders of other religions
as such. That was an astonishing statement, taking into consideration his
predecessors' efforts toward building bridges over the last 46 years,
that have met with good response from the world's Muslim
population," Ihsanoglu said at a press conference at the Drake
Hotel.
Ihsanoglu was here to meet with the Chicago Chapter of the Council on
American Islamic Relations and the Greater Chicago Chapter of the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee at the onset of
Ramadan.
He was responding to the pope's speech at a German university Sept. 12.
Benedict quoted a Byzantine emperor who called some teachings of the
Prophet Muhammad "evil and inhuman," particularly "his
command to spread by the sword the faith."
A week later, Benedict said he did not mean to malign Islam when he
quoted the medieval emperor, but he failed to issue the direct apology
demanded by some Muslims.
"Academically, the lecture by his holiness on the relationship
between faith and reason is a very good subject, but he built his
comparison from a polemic book written in the 14th century. ... So of
course, there is some information that is scholarly wrong when the pope
speaks of the Quran," Ihsanoglu said.
"This is not the proper way for the pontiff to deal with the prophet
of 1.4 billion people. ... What we have seen officially from the Vatican
does not include an apology. It includes regret for the reaction of the
Muslim world, not for the lecture itself," he asserted.
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CAIR-FL:
FLORIDA MUSLIMS URGED TO INCREASE MOSQUE SECURITY FOLLOWING SNIPER ATTACK
-
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(ORLANDO, FL, 9/25/06) - On September 23, the Orlando office of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Orlando) held a news
conference outside a Florida mosque that was targeted in a sniper attack
during Ramadan prayers Friday night.
Representatives from CAIR-Florida, Islamic Society of Brevard County,
FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Melbourne
Police Department spoke in support of the Muslim community and sent a
message that hate crime perpetrators will be found and brought to
justice. They also urged the public to report any information related to
the mosque shooting to the authorities.
"An attack on one house of worship is an attack on all houses of
worship," said CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier. "We
should not allow events that happen overseas to affect what happens in
our country." He also called upon Governor Jeb Bush to step up
police patrols of mosques and Islamic centers in Florida.
According to news reports, shots were fired at the Islamic Society of
Brevard County, narrowly missing a worshipper.
Commander Ron Bell of the Melbourne Police Department, FDLE Special Agent
Supervisor Bob O'Connor and FBI special agent Kevin Farrington all said
that they are increasing security at the mosque. The shooting is being
investigated as a possible hate crime.
Last week, CAIR released its 2006 Civil Rights report in which it
indicated an almost 30 percent increase in the total number of complaints
of anti-Muslim bias from 2004 to 2005.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 32 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.
CONTACT: CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altaf@cairfl.org; CAIR-Tampa
Executive Director Ahmed Bedier, 813-731-9506; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair-net.org
A mosque was hit by gunfire as members inside celebrated the start of the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities said Saturday.
No injuries were reported, and there were no arrests.
A member of the Islamic Society of Brevard County stepped outside the
mosque Friday night to use his cell phone when he heard several gunshots,
police said.
The man, who was not immediately identified, took cover behind a wall as
several rounds struck the building, police said. He then ran inside and
told mosque members, who called police.
Authorities searched the surrounding area for suspects but found
none.
A pair of binoculars, footprints and tire tracks were found in the woods
across from the mosque, said Melbourne police spokeswoman Jill
Frederiksen. Investigators are still trying to determine if they are
related to the case, Frederiksen said.
No other details were released, but the investigation is ongoing,
Frederiksen said. Detectives were working to determine a reason for the
shooting.
Police will begin extra patrols around the mosque in Melbourne, about 50
miles east-southeast of Orlando.
The shooting happened on the start of Ramadan, a holiday that centers on
inner reflection and reconnecting with God and family, a spokeswoman for
the Council on American-Islamic Relations said.
"It was very scary that this happened under what most regard as a
peaceful time of year," CAIR-Orlando executive director Sabiha
Khan said.
Ibrahim Hooper, a national CAIR spokesman, said that while no
motive had been determined by police, the shooting fit a pattern of
incidents at mosques this year.
A bullet-riddled Koran was left outside a mosque in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
and an Indiana mosque was vandalized. There were other incidents at
mosques in Maine, Arizona and Maryland.
"Worshipers of the mosque would obviously be disturbed if (religion)
was the motive for the attack," Hooper said Saturday.
There was heightened security Saturday at a Brevard County mosque where
Muslims continued their observance of the holy month of Ramadan, one day
after someone opened fire on the facility.
Shots, apparently from a high-power rifle, rang out about 10 p.m. Friday
and appeared to be aimed at a man who walked out of the Islamic Society
of Brevard County on East Florida Avenue in Melbourne to use his cell
phone, said Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Council on
American Islamic Relations.
Some of the bullets went into a room where nightly prayers were taking
place, Bedier said. No one was injured.
The FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement are joining Melbourne
and Brevard County authorities in the investigation. Authorities said
binoculars were found in a wooded area across from the mall.
Bedier said his organization has called on authorities statewide to
protect Muslim houses of worship while calling on Islamic centers to step
up their own security.
-----
CAIR-OH TO HOST 'SHARING
RAMADAN' IFTAR -
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RELIGION EVENTS, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 9/23/06
Ramadan dinner
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 6, 7-9:30 p.m.
WHERE: Cleveland State University, Joseph Cole Center, 3100 Chester
Ave.
Details: Sharing Ramadan Iftar Dinner, an interfaith family event
sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Reservations requested by Friday, Sept. 29. Tel: 216-830-2247.
As they have in years past, Bay Area mosques and the Council on
American-Islamic Relations are planning to hold open houses for
non-Muslims and local leaders to learn about Islam as part of Ramadan,
the monthlong fast during daylight hours to celebrate the revelation of
the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.
The Islamic Society of the East Bay, the largest mosque in the Tri-City
area, plans to hold its open house on Sunday, Oct. 8, with booths opening
at 4 p.m. and the program beginning at 4:30 p.m. at 33330 Peace
Terrace.
This year, though, organizers say they considered holding the open house
in the courtyard due to logistics and the sheer number of visitors in
what is, until the new construction is completed, cramped
quarters.
But holding the open house outdoors also conveniently avoids thorny
issues such as the separation of men and women during prayers and the
iftar dinner - the meal served at the end of the day during Ramadan - as
well as other awkward issues such as cell phones going off in the middle
of the worship.
"When we're in a place of worship, we need to respect that place and
we like that etiquette to be followed," said Khalid Baig, the
president of Islamic Society of the East Bay. "But if we have a
general meeting in the courtyard, we don't have to maintain or be as
serious about those issues."
Jitu Choudhury, outreach committee chairman for the Islamic Society of
the East Bay and organizer of the open house, admitted it's a balancing
act of reaching out to the greater community while also trying not to
offend more conservative Muslims.
He acknowledged that cultural issues sometimes create tricky situations,
or misunderstandings, during open houses, citing an incident last year
when one woman wore a short skirt to the event.
"Am I really going to kick them out?" Choudhury said. "I
want people to be respectful but, more importantly, I want people to come
and learn about our religion. I want them to know what I stand for and
how I raise my children."
Choudhury said he still expects most of the presentations to be held
upstairs in the main prayer hall, although some booths will be outside in
the courtyard.
"When Muslim families go to the mosque, we have different rooms for
prayers; we don't stay together," Choudhury said. "But if a
non-Muslim family wants to sit together, it's not going to be frowned
upon."
Sameena Usman, spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations in the San Francisco Bay Area, said they leave it up to
each mosque to determine how to plan an open house.
"Every mosque that participates (in the open house) has held
interfaith events in the past," Usman said. "I think most
people understand that many women will not wear a head scarf, nor should
they feel compelled to. They're not Muslim and it's not a part of their
culture." (MORE)
DEARBORN, United States (AFP) - During what should be a joyous time of
fellowship, worship and reflection, many Muslims streamed into the
Islamic Center of America on the first night of Ramadan with heavy
hearts.
Sick of the suspicious glances, slurs and false accusations of being
terrorists, they feel like second-class citizens in their own
country.
"I feel comfortable at home but once I leave there, and leave my
community, I feel like I'm in a whole different atmosphere right
now," 18-year-old Zeinab Zahreldin, a freshman at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn, told AFP late Saturday. "It's not at all
comfortable."
The Detroit area has around 200,000 Muslims and the suburb of Dearborn
has one of the highest concentrations of Arab-Americans in the United
States. Businesses here post Arabic signs, most restaurants serve Halal
meat, and Arabs are prominent in local politics.
But five years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, it seems like
a new reason for anxiety and alienation comes every week. Most recently,
it was
Pope Benedict XVI's remarks linking Islam to violence.
Before that was President George W. Bush's use of the term Islamofacists.
And then there were the local college students arrested as terrorists
because they bought pre-paid cell phones.
"I have to pray real hard when I come to Ramadan, everything is so
different now," said Ali Almuna, an Iraqi immigrant who moved to the
United States 11 years ago. "The way the people look at us and treat
us. There's a lot of discrimination. I've had bad language used toward
me, my wife and kids. One day strangers called us terrorists. I didn't
say anything, I just thought that was so sad." (MORE)
When Keith Ellison arrives at the Karmel Square, one of Minneapolis's
Somali malls, a rock star might as well be walking by the bustling stalls
of bright fabrics, jewelry, phone cards, and videos.
People laugh and cheer as they hug Mr. Ellison and pat him on the back.
Some speak quickly in Somali as an interpreter translates, and others
offer congratulations in fluent English.
"Asalamu aleikum, brothers," Ellison says with a smile.
"Thanks for voting." He is not Somali, or even an immigrant,
but for these voters, Ellison is one of their own. After his victory in
this month's Democratic primary in the Fifth District, he's likely to
become the first Muslim elected to Congress. He would also be the first
black congressman to come from Minnesota.
The distinctions are ones Ellison tries to downplay, always directing
conversation back to the issues, but national media and many Minnesotans
want to talk of little else.
"You think of the stereotype of Minnesota - Garrison Keillor and
white Norwegian farmers. The first Muslim congressman coming from
Minnesota? It says a lot about the changing face of the United States and
Minnesota," says Larry Jacobs, director of the University of
Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance. "I
think it's one of the most interesting races in the country." . .
.
Muslims, both in Minneapolis and around the country, are quick to cheer
his success as well.
"It sends two very positive messages," says Corey Saylor,
national legislative director for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, an advocacy group in Washington. "It sends a message
about the American people, that five years after 9/11 they're comfortable
sending an American to Congress, on issues not based on faith. And for
the American Muslim community, it says our community has grown in
political inclusion to the point where we can get someone elected to
higher office." (MORE)
NEW YORK - The U.S. government has rejected a prominent Muslim scholar's
application to enter the country on the grounds that he donated several
hundred dollars to French and Swiss groups that provide humanitarian aid
to Palestinians, a civil rights group announced Monday.
Tariq Ramadan learned that his visa application was rejected last week,
three months after a judge ordered the government to decide whether he
can enter the country to speak before groups that had invited him, the
American Civil Liberties Union said.
The Bush administration contends the French and Swiss groups, which the
ACLU said are legitimate charities, gave funds to Hamas and invoked a law
allowing it to exclude individuals whom it believes have supported
terrorism.
Ramadan, who teaches at Oxford University, said in a statement that he
was disappointed by the government's decision but was glad that the State
Department had abandoned its initial allegation that he endorsed
terrorism.
"I think it's clear from the history of this case that the U.S.
government's real fear is of my ideas," he said. "I am excluded
not because the government truly believes me to be a national security
threat, but because of my criticisms of American foreign policies in the
Middle East; because of my opposition to the invasion of Iraq; and
because of my criticism of some of the Bush administration's policies
with respect to civil liberties."
A message left for comment with the State Department was not immediately
returned.
Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU lawyer, said the civil rights group would decide
whether to pursue the issue through the courts once it speaks with
organizations it represents that filed a lawsuit challenging the
government's exclusion of Ramadan. (MORE)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 - When the United States sent Maher Arar to Syria,
where he was tortured for months, the deportation order stated
unequivocally that Mr. Arar, a Canadian software engineer, was a member
of Al Qaeda. But a few days earlier, Canadian investigators had told the
F.B.I. that they had not been able to link him to the terrorist
group.
That is one of the disclosures in the 1,200-page report released last
week after a two-year Canadian investigation of Mr. Arar's case found him
to be innocent of any terrorist ties. The report urges the Canadian
government to formally protest the American treatment of Mr. Arar, a
recommendation Canadian officials are considering.
Mr. Arar, 37, who now lives in British Columbia, has a lawsuit against
United States officials and agencies that is on appeal, and he has
demanded an explanation for his treatment from the Bush
administration.
A close reading of the Arar Commission report offers a rare window on
American actions in the case, describing seemingly flimsy evidence behind
the American decision in 2002 to send Mr. Arar to a country notorious for
torture; a deliberate attempt by American officials to deceive Canada
about where Mr. Arar was; and lingering confusion among top American
officials about the two countries' roles in the case.
President Bush earlier this month acknowledged for the first time that
high-level people suspected of being terrorists had been held in secret
prisons overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency. But he and other
officials have said nothing publicly about the American practice of
rendition, in which dozens of suspects have been seized and turned over
for interrogation to other countries, including several known to engage
routinely in torture.
Cases like that of Mr. Arar would not be affected by the compromise
legislation on detainee treatment worked out between the White House and
Republican senators last week, since it would have no effect on
interrogation methods used by other countries. In fact, the proposed bill
would strip non-Americans held overseas under United States control of
the right to challenge their detention in federal court.
"It's a huge hole in what Congress is doing," said Michael
Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York,
which represents Mr. Arar in his lawsuit. "The government can still
send people secretly to other countries where they'll be
tortured."
For nearly four years, the United States government has refused to make
public any information on the case of Mr. Arar, which has become an
international symbol of American excesses in the campaign against
terrorism. The Bush administration refused to cooperate with the Canadian
commission, so many questions about American actions and motives remain
unanswered.
But Mr. Arar's case is more public than other cases of rendition, because
he was detained inside the United States and legally deported, creating a
modest paper trail. The three-volume report describes Canadian contacts
with American officials in meticulous detail, offering by far the fullest
account of any rendition case to date.
The commission's report says inexperienced Canadian police officials
originally passed inaccurate information to the United States linking Mr.
Arar to terrorism, based largely on his acquaintance with other men under
suspicion. (MORE)
WASHINGTON - Retired military officers on Monday bluntly accused Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of bungling the war in Iraq, saying U.S.
troops were sent to fight without the best equipment and that critical
facts were hidden from the public.
"I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration
did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for
the war in Iraq," retired Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste said in
remarks prepared for a forum conducted by Senate Democrats.
Shortly after terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001,
President Bush's speechwriters began grappling with a linguistic puzzle:
What to call the enemy? In the five years since, Mr. Bush has road-tested
an array of terms: evildoers, jihadists, Islamic extremists, even
"Al Qaeda suiciders."
But no phrase has crashed and burned as fast as the president's most
recent entry into the foreign policy lexicon: Islamic fascists, or,
Islamo-fascism.
This latest iteration, which has percolated in neoconservative circles
for several years, turned up in one of the president's speeches last
year, and resurfaced in August when British authorities foiled a plot to
blow up airliners headed for the United States. It was, Mr. Bush said
then, "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic
fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love
freedom."
By Labor Day, Islamic fascists and Islamo-fascism were the hot new
conservative buzzwords.
And then, just as suddenly, they were gone - at least from the
president's lips.
"The debate that we wanted to launch was about an ideological
struggle against an enemy that has very specific plans, ambitions and
aspirations, much like movements of the past, like fascism and
Nazism," said Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president. Addressing
the term Islamic fascists, Mr. Bartlett said, "I'm sure he'll use it
again."
But it seems unlikely Mr. Bush will use it again, given the outcry it
provoked.
Muslims, both here and in other countries, were deeply offended. Even
Karen Hughes, the former counselor to Mr. Bush who now runs the public
diplomacy arm of the State Department, pushed back, telling CNN's Wolf
Blitzer that she typically does not "use religious terms" for
fear they will be misinterpreted around the world.
"The problem with the phrase is that it confuses more than it
clarifies," says David Gergen, a former speechwriter for Richard
Nixon. "It's important to find a phrase that's meaningful in the
Arabic world, and Islamic fascism has no meaning."
The precise etymology of "Islamo-fascism" is unclear. Some say
that the writer Christopher Hitchens introduced it into post-9/11
discourse. But Stephen Schwartz, executive director of the Center for
Islamic Pluralism, which promotes moderate Muslim views, also takes
credit, describing the phrase in a recent article as one that
"refers to the use of the faith of Islam as a cover for totalitarian
ideology."
If "Islamic fascists" and "Islamo-fascism" have
disappeared from Mr. Bush's oratory - they were nowhere to be found in
his 9/11 anniversary speeches, for instance - questions about the phrases
have not. The president was forced to grapple with such inquiries twice
last week alone. On Friday, in response to a Pakistani journalist, Mr.
Bush invoked a far more general term: "these
extremists."
All of which leaves the central problem - what to call the enemy -
unresolved. (MORE)
Ottawa police say a fire at a private Islamic school in the city's west
end early Saturday morning was not a hate crime - but the chairman of the
school's board disagrees.
The fire at Abraar School on Grenon Avenue broke out around 3 a.m. ET on
the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
The fire caused $100,000 in damages and destroyed part of the roof. There
were no injuries.
Police said the fire was the work of arsonists but added that they found
no indication it was motivated by hate.
"At this time, we haven't got any evidence pointing towards a hate
crime," Det. Will Hinterberger of the Ottawa Police Hate Crime Unit
told the Ottawa Sun.
But Abdala Kheireddine, the chairman of the school board, told the paper
he disagreed with the police assessment.
"As far as we're concerned, it's still under investigation [as a
hate crime]," he said.
"In my time [at the school], neighbourhood kids would disturb some
of the playground toys and things like that but never anything of this
magnitude."
Abraar School made headlines in 2005 when two teachers were suspended
after allegedly praising a student for an anti-Semitic essay he wrote.
The story was about revenge on Israel for the assassination of Sheik
Ahmed Yassin, the leader of the Hamas militant group.
School officials said they expected classes to run as usual on
Monday.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-CAN CONDEMNS ATTACK AGAINST
ISLAMIC SCHOOL IN OTTAWA -
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(OTTAWA, CANADA - 9/23/06) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) has condemned the recent act of vandalism
committed against a Muslim school in the Ottawa area. The attack took
place early Saturday morning with the resulting fire causing extensive
damage to the property. One media report has cited the amount of damage
to be close to a hundred thousand dollars.
This most recent episode is part of a disturbing trend of similar
incidents that have occurred across Canada this year.
"CAIR-CAN is calling on local politicians and security officials in
Ottawa to demonstrate leadership by standing in support with the Muslim
community against this latest attack. Security officials must investigate
this incident and bring the criminals responsible to justice. CAIR-CAN is
confident that the prompt response of the Hate Crime Unit as well as
other division of the Ottawa Police will provide the answers to the
questions that many in the community are looking to them to
provide.
"CAIR-CAN further encourages all Ottawa residents and citizens of
conscience across Canada to engage in outreach efforts within their
communities. By strengthening relations and building bridges to defend
democratic values, Canadians can stand united and show hate groups that
their malicious agendas will not be tolerated in civil
society."
CONTACT Karl Nickner at 613-853-4111
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE SUPPLICATIONS OF THREE PEOPLE
ARE NOT REJECTED BY GOD -
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The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The supplications of
three people are not rejected (by God): the supplication of a fasting
person at the time of breaking fast, of a just ruler, and of a person who
is wronged. God causes their supplications to rise above the clouds, and
gates of heaven are opened for them, and God says: 'By My Majesty, I will
help you, even (if) it be after a while.'"
CAIR TO HOST RAMADAN 'IFTAR' ON
CAPITOL HILL -
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(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/26/06) - CAIR will this evening hold its fourth
annual Capitol Hill Ramadan "iftar," or fast-breaking meal, for
congressional staffers, American Muslim community leaders and diplomats
from Muslim nations.
WHAT: Fourth Annual Ramadan Iftar on Capitol Hill
WHEN: Tuesday, September 26, 6:30-7:30 p.m. (fast-breaking is at 6:59
p.m.)
MEDIA RSVP: E-Mail: arubin@cair.com
or call 202-742-6412 (Limited space is available for media outlets that
wish to cover the iftar.)
The iftar will feature the breaking of the fast and the Islamic sunset
prayer (maghrib). It is designed to allow Muslim leaders, congressional
staffers and elected officials to network on issues of mutual concern, to
foster greater understanding of Islam and the American Muslim community
and to show appreciation for staffers who have been working closely with
Muslims.
-----
MI MUSLIMS SEEK MEETING OVER REP'S
'POLARIZING LANGUAGE' -
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Rep. McCotter introduces term 'jihadist-fascist' in Congress
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 9/26/06) - The Michigan chapter of Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today called for a meeting with
Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) over his use of "polarizing
language" on the House floor yesterday. SEE:
http://mccotter.house.gov/
On Wednesday, McCotter used the term "jihadist-fascist" in
reference to the violent situation in Iraq saying, "The crushing
weight of putting Iraq back into the terrorist and the jihadist-fascist
camp will have enormous ramifications. . ."
"Representative McCotter should use his time on the House floor to
foster dialogue and mutual understanding, not to introduce hot-button
terms that will further damage our nation's image in the Islamic
world," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
Walid said President Bush has stopped using the term "Islamic
fascist" after Muslims in America and around the world expressed
concerns that it was ill-defined and counterproductive in winning hearts
and minds in the war on terror.
Friday's attack on a Melbourne mosque is more than deplorable. It
represents an apparent and potentially deadly escalation in a series of
attacks on local houses of worship.
Only by chance was Delacie Phillips, a member of the Islamic Society of
Brevard, not killed by shots fired from a wooded area across from the
mosque.
But he was nicked in the hand as a shot shattered a window above his
head, and was forced to take cover as five more bullets struck the
building's south side.
Authorities have not classified it as a hate crime, although it appears
to be one. That's why investigators are pulling out the stops: The FBI,
federal Joint Terrorism Task force and Florida Department of Law
Enforcement are joining Melbourne Police in the probe.
Fortunately, the cowardly shooter or shooters left behind footprints and
a pair of binoculars that indicates possible premeditation and might
offer evidence of identity.
Punishing the guilty is essential to show this community wholly rejects
violence or intimidation against people of any faith, whether they be
Muslims or others whose victimization displays the pointless destruction
of blind ignorance.
Such action is on the rise, with 334 hate crimes reported last year in
Florida, up 22 percent over 2004.
Locally, in the past 12 months, Cocoa's Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church
was defaced with the statement "I eat babies to stay young,"
and a Nazi swastika was painted on the Kol Mashiach Messianic synagogue
in Melbourne.
But Melbourne's mosque now has been targeted three times: A crude
crucifix was scrawled on its wall last October; last week, shots,
possibly from an air rifle, were fired at the mosque, and then there was
Friday's far more dangerous attack.
The shooters might, in some twisted way, be responding to Islamic
militants' attacks on Christian churches in the Mideast that followed a
14th-century quotation by Pope Benedict XVI to show the need for dialogue
between Christians and Muslims.
The pope has since apologized for having offended some Muslims, met with
Islamic leaders, and reiterated his respect for the Muslim
faith.
In that same spirit, the Central Florida chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations has collected money to repair the damaged
Mideast churches, giving credence to Islamic statements against such
destruction. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
PA: SIKH SIGN DEFACED WITH ANTI-ARAB GRAFFITI
-
TOP
Billboard graffiti shows Sikhs 9/11 bias victims
A sign promoting Sikhism is defaced. A Sikh leader says adherents of the
religion have been harassed nationwide because people believe they are
Muslims.
Darrin Youker, Reading Eagle, 9/26/06
http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1574060.asp
Local Sikhs have used billboards to draw the distinction between their
religion and Islam.
That message apparently hasn't gotten through to some people.
A billboard in Bethel Township along Interstate 78 rented by a group
promoting awareness of Sikhism was spray-painted with profanity and
phrases such as "Arab Go to Hell" and "Jesus
Saves."
"We are not Arabs," said Shivinder Singh Athwal, founder of the
World Sikh Syndicate, which rented the billboard. "We wanted people
to know where we come from and what we believe in." (MORE)
An east-end mosque was the scene of a hate-crime investigation earlier
this month when police arrested and charged two men for attempting to
damage the religious property.
On Aug. 9 just after 1:30 a.m. police were called to Madinah Mosque, on
Danforth Ave. after two men were allegedly caught damaging the mosque's
door.
"Several men were inside the mosque and they heard a bang on the
rear door," said Det. Sgt. William Stanley of 55 Division.
The mosque's door was slightly damaged and the men from the mosque found
two men walking to a vehicle in the mosque's parking lot.
They allegedly had weapons on them -an axe and a mallet. Also one man was
wearing a balaclava, said Stanley.
"Once they were confronted, one (suspect) shoved one of the men from
the mosque," he said.
Police arrived on scene, arrested and later charged the two men.
Stanley said while the incident was an isolated event, police class it as
a hate-crime investigation and not just a case of vandalism or
assault.
"There were utterances made that make us believe that it is a
hate-crime," explained Stanley, adding one of the suspects was in
possession of an Israeli flag.
The other suspect was carrying a flag bearing the Union Jack.
(MORE)
Keith Dennis came to that reckoning after a radio ad planned by his Ohio
car dealership was criticized as anti-Muslim and refused by several radio
stations.
The commercial called for a "jihad on the automotive market."
It said salespeople would be wearing burqas, a traditional garment in
some Muslim nations, and kids would get rubber swords on "fatwa
Friday."
"Our prices are lower than the evildoers' every day," the
script said. "Just ask the pope!"
"Jihad," an Islamic term for an utmost struggle, is sometimes
used to mean a religious war. A "fatwa," a legal pronouncement
in Islam, can be a declaration of war. "This was simply an attempt
at humor that fell flat," Dennis, owner of Dennis Mitsubishi in
Columbus, said in a statement apologizing "to anyone who was
offended."
The canceled ad, which was to start airing Friday, was the latest in a
string of ads withdrawn after criticism that they were anti-Arab or
anti-Muslim.
"It's definitely something that's become more prevalent in the last
two to three years," says Tony Kutayli of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee. Such ads "spread hatred and
fear," he says.
Objections in May from the Arab American Institute and other groups
stopped billboards planned by the Missouri Corn Growers Association to
promote ethanol, a corn-based product used in a blend with gasoline. The
billboard showed a farmer standing in a cornfield and King Fahd of Saudi
Arabia. Between them was the question: "Who would you rather buy
your gas from?"
The institute and other Arab-American groups helped kill billboards in
December slated for North Carolina and New Mexico. The ads, designed by
the New York-based Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, showed a man
in a traditional Arab head scarf clutching a grenade and a driver's
license. The caption read, "Don't License Terrorists, North
Carolina." Lamar Advertising, a national firm, refused to handle the
ads.
In the past year, other ads have been pulled:
o Boeing and Bell Helicopter apologized in October for a magazine ad that
showed their product, the CV-22 Osprey, and members of the U.S. armed
forces descending by rope from a plane onto a mosque surrounded by smoke
and fire.
o The Nutritional Health Alliance stopped including flyers in mail orders
for vitamins and supplements early this year that said, "Get a
Turban for Durbin!" It pictured Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of
Illinois, who has sought regulation requiring the industry to report
serious side effects of their products, in a turban and said, "Keep
Congressional Terrorists At Bay!"
The Council on American-Islamic Relations protested the latest
jihad-themed car ad. "We appreciate the dealership's constructive
reaction," said Adnan Mirza, director of CAIR-Ohio's Columbus
office. "We accept the apology from Mr. Dennis."
(MORE)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A car dealership in Ohio has decided not to run a
commercial proclaiming a "jihad" on the U.S. auto market, a
Muslim activist group said on Monday.
The Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a
letter from the dealership offering an apology and saying the radio ad,
which had never been aired, was a misguided attempt at humor.
"We appreciate the dealership's constructive reaction to feedback
about the proposed advertisements," said Adnan Mirza, director of
the group's Ohio's office. "We accept the apology ... and hope that
it and the decision not to air the spots will bring this incident to a
close."
The statement from the dealership, Dennis Mitsubishi in Columbus, said
"A large number of people have contacted us. Lots of them have seen
the humor we were trying to convey, but far too many were clearly
bothered by it. This was simply an attempt at humor that fell
short."
It also offered a "sincere apology to anyone who was
offended."
The group on Sunday had complained publicly about plans for a commercial
it said would have proclaimed a "jihad" on the U.S. auto market
offering "Fatwa Fridays" with sales representatives giving play
swords to children.
Dennis Mitsubishi in Columbus, Ohio, planned to air an ad calling for
"a jihad on the automotive market." The spot also boasted sales
representatives wearing traditional head-to-toe burqas selling vehicles
roomy enough to seat "12 jihadists in the back."
The ad went on to say: "Our prices are lower than the evildoers'
every day. Just ask the pope!"
Even before Dennis Mitsubishi dumped the ad, several stations had
rejected it. The Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced it as
disrespectful and divisive.
Dealership president Keith Dennis said it "was simply an attempt at
humor that fell short" and that he apologizes to anyone who was
offended.
Dennis said "a large number of people" contacted the dealership
and while lots saw the humor, "far too many" were
bothered.
"I wish to offer my sincere apology to anyone who was offended. We
do not wish to alienate anyone in our community -- all of whom are
potential customers."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations accepted the apology and said
it hopes the issue is now over.
Strong reaction to a radio ad that never aired has led the car dealership
behind the spot to apologize and cancel plans to run it.
In the spot, which was presented to radio executives last week, Keith
Dennis, principal owner and CEO of Dennis Mitsubishi, talks about
"launching a jihad on the automotive market."
Some radio stations told Dennis that the spot was insensitive, and they
would not run it if Dennis went through with plans to buy air
time.
The ad featured several references to terrorism and the war in Iraq. It
referred to one car that "can comfortably seat up to 12 jihadists in
the back" and said that on "fatwa Friday," free rubber
swords would be offered to children. Aaron Masterson, general manager of
Dennis Auto Point, said last week that the ad would run. But on Sunday,
the dealership pulled the ad from consideration after The Dispatch's
story on Saturday about the proposed ad attracted widespread
attention.
"The story has sparked a significant reaction," Keith Dennis
said in a news release. "Many Internet-based media outlets have
picked up this story. … A large number of people have contacted us. Lots
of them have seen the humor we were trying to convey, but far too many
were clearly bothered by it. This was simply an attempt at humor that
fell short.
"I wish to offer my sincere apology to anyone who was
offended," he said in the statement. "We do not wish to
alienate anyone in our community - all of whom are potential customers.
And we especially want to re-emphasize our support of the U.S. troops in
harm's way overseas.
"Never have I seen a commercial that never aired generate such a
huge response," Dennis said. "It is my hope that this statement
clarifies our position, and we can return to business as
usual."
Mitsubishi Motors North America said in a statement yesterday that it had
"strongly urged him (Dennis) not to run the campaign," noting
that the campaign "runs contrary to our company
values."
"We are pleased that this campaign will not run," Mitsubishi
said, "and apologize to all those who were offended."
In the court challenge filed Friday in Washington on behalf of a
Pakistani detainee, attorney Gaillard T. Hunt said Muslim chaplains would
help reduce suicide attempts among detainees, a problem that has fueled
calls in the U.S. and abroad to close the camp.
An official with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as well as
two Muslim chaplains who work in the federal prison system, filed
declarations in support of the motion. They, along with a third chaplain,
said they were willing to counsel prisoners at Guantanamo.
"Counseling is what disarms them from the very hostile environment
they are in. It's very useful in calming tensions," Shakeel Syed,
one of the chaplains, said in an interview.
The motion was filed on behalf of Saifullah Paracha, 59, who is accused
of being an Al Qaeda financier and taking part in a plan to smuggle
weapons into the United States. Hunt said Paracha has never been charged
with a crime and is "pro-American and anti-terrorist."
(MORE)
It's tough to be a Muslim in America these days. Witness what happened to
four Islamic scholars who were sent back to Egypt last week after being
detained for 24 hours at Miami International Airport.
They were in South Florida to lead prayers at mosques and to preach
against Islamic extremism, as they have in past years during Ramadan,
supporters say. It's just the sort of preaching all Americans need to
hear. Yet, according to Muslim organizations, the scholars were treated
shabbily and sent home without explanation.
Of course, Muslims must understand that it is the violence practiced by
many of their coreligionists that leads to incidents such as this. Still,
U.S. officials must be careful not to lump all Muslims together. The
law-abiding ones, which make up the vast, vast majority, can greatly
assist the war on terror.
As the Sept. 11 attacks tainted Islam as a religion of extremists,
Tucsonan Leslie Travaglione said, she kept thinking of Muslims who didn't
fit the description.
Could Islam harbor terrorists? What was this religion really all about?
Travaglione kept asking herself.
Her mind kept wandering back to the Muslim nurse in Mesa who had watched
over her after a car accident years earlier, soon after she moved to
Arizona from the Hudson Valley in New York. "She sat by my bedside,
and she read to me," Travaglione recalled. "She was so kind;
she kept my spirits up all the time."
Seeking answers about Islam, Travaglione immersed herself in the study of
the religion, which pulled her in like a magnet. A year ago, she became a
Muslim.
"I discovered that Islam is a tolerant, very kind religion,"
she said.
Until she converted to Islam, Travaglione said, her life had been
punctuated by family conflict, depression and alcoholism. Now Islam fills
her life.
"Islam gives me a reason to live," said Travaglione, as she
prepared to observe Islam's holy month of Ramadan. Like other Muslims,
she will begin a daily fast today that lasts from dawn to dusk.
The monthlong observance, which highlights prayer, reflection and
charity, gives Travaglione a chance for contemplation and renewal, she
said. "It's also a communal experience because we break fast with
other Muslims, and we get to meet other people." (MORE)
Some accuse her of being anti-American, unpatriotic, a
terrorist.
Others call her anti-Muslim for denouncing terrorists who kill in the
name of Islam.
Nearly 20 years ago, Shannon Imran became friends with a Muslim woman
when Imran was a college student in Central Texas. Imran, now a
39-year-old white mother of three who lives in Norcross, liked the way
her friend carried herself and the way Muslim men treated her.
So she converted to the faith.
"All the Muslims were very well-reserved gentlemen and ladies,"
Imran told me. "It was almost like the way Americans used to act in
the 1950s."
Well, it's not 1950 anymore. It's the 21st century, and terrorists killed
thousands on Sept. 11, 2001. The United States has retaliated with a
so-called war on terror. Radical Muslims figure prominently in
it.
And in her own way, so does Imran, a Texas native who grew up in a
military family.
She spent 12 years in the Marines and saw duty in Operation Desert Storm.
Today, she's a disabled veteran because of a non-combat back injury that
was sustained during the war.
"When you carry a backpack that weights 60 to 80 pounds and run in
combat boots, it's going to take its toll," she said. "Lots of
veterans wind up with back problems."
Until recently, Imran wore hijabs, the head scarfs worn by Muslim women.
The scarfs attracted unwanted attention. Passing motorists who yelled
obscenities. Subtle and overt forms of rudeness. (MORE)
An important player in Milwaukee's arts community in recent years has
returned -- but in a significantly different role, and with a name the
public might not recognize. Muhammad Isa Sadlon, formerly Christopher
Goldsmith, began work Monday as executive director and CEO of the Islamic
Society of Milwaukee. The former executive director of the Milwaukee Art
Museum, a convert to Islam who is well-connected with civic leaders, was
hired to move the volunteer-run society into professional administration
and to be a public spokesman.
The hiring of a paid executive director, unusual for Islamic centers in
the United States, is a sign of the continuing growth of Islam here.
(MORE)
GAINESVILLE - Growth in Northeast Georgia's Muslim population is
prompting the Gainesville Islamic Center to expand.
Imam Bilal Ali said that the Center has been at its current Summitt
Street location since 1994, when it moved across street from a house it
occupied since its establishment in the early 1980s. Membership is now at
160, with more growth expected.
"We're doing some cosmetic work in the front part of the mosque, and
in the back of the mosque we are expanding because we are out of room. We
have a piece of property directly behind the Mosque where, in the next
couple of years, we are going to build a new facility from the ground
up," he said, "Hopefully, by the end of 2007 or the beginning
of 2008 we're going to start on our new mosque."
Ali attributes the recent growth of Islam in part to the exposure the
religion has received in the media.
"The more they talk about Islam, the more people are encouraged to
learn about it," he said, "Actually since September 11, the
community has more than doubled since that time. We have a lot more
Muslims here. A lot of people are inquisitive and want to know more
things about Islam."
He said that when the American media talks negatively about Islam, it
prompts the neighbors of Muslims to ask questions and step to their
neighbors' defense. These people often become Muslim themselves, Ali
says, based on their experience with the character of their Muslim
neighbors. (MORE)
Gov. Mitch Daniels reached out to more than 150 Muslims from across the
state Monday night, welcoming them to his official residence for a meal
to end their daily fasting for Ramadan.
Shortly after sunset, the Muslim call to prayer rang out over the home's
back garden in the voice of Henry Hane, an immigrant from
Senegal.
The Muslims followed that by breaking their daily fasts with dishes from
three continents. Then they performed their ritual prayers in two tents
in the backyard of the residence at 4750 N. Meridian St.
Daniels told the crowd, "All God's people are equal in his eyes. I
am glad to welcome you to this home. You should think of this as your
home." (MORE)
The headscarf is widely regarded in German society as a religious or
political symbol that stands for the suppression of women or Muslim
fundamentalism. A new study dismantles some of the clich�s.
The familiar thinking regarding the Islamic headscarf in Germany goes
something like this -- it's a symbol of female suppression, a badge of
sexual inhibition as well as a protest against Western cultural and moral
decadence.
For those who thought they knew everything there is to why certain Muslim
women opt to cover their hair, a study published in Germany last week is
likely to give them some food for thought.
Called "The Headscarf -- Unveiling of a Symbol?" and conducted
by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the study polled 135 religious women
of Turkish origin between the ages of 18 and 40 in various conservative
and liberal Muslim communities across Germany. The interviews were
conducted by bilingual volunteers.
"Our aim was to gain access to how such women think and find answers
to the question of what the headscarf means for the women who wear
it," said Christoph Kannengiesser, the deputy secretary general of
the foundation, which has close links to the conservative Christian
Democratic Union political party.
Far from being suppressed and intimidated
Some 97 percent of the women polled said they wear the headscarf for
religious reasons. For most, the decision to don a headscarf is personal
and one that -- contrary to widespread perception -- is hardly influenced
by the father, brother or husband. Instead, female role models within the
family played a larger role in the decision, according to the
study.
Nine out of 10 women said the headscarf gave them self-confidence -- a
point that the authors of the study say is "needed" because
more than half the women feel discriminated against on account of their
headgear at the work place or during a job search. Half of Germany's 16
federal states have already banned the wearing of a headscarf in public
buildings and while performing state jobs. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HOUSE MEMBERS ATTEND CAIR CAPITOL HILL
'IFTAR' Elected officials express appreciation for CAIR's civil
liberties work
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/27/06) - More than 100 people, including nine
members of the U.S. House of Representatives, turned out last night for
the fourth annual Capitol Hill Ramadan "iftar," or
fast-breaking meal, hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR).
A number of congressional staffers, American Muslim community leaders,
members of the military and law enforcement, representatives of civil
rights groups, and diplomats from Muslim nations joined the House members
in the networking event.
Several of the elected officials who spoke at the iftar expressed
appreciation for CAIR's civil liberties advocacy work.
"CAIR is more important now than maybe ever in our lifetime,"
said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).
Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) said: "I do want to give a great deal of
credit to the Council on American-Islamic Relations because you have
spoken up against discrimination, against religious profiling, against a
great deal of the misunderstandings that have been perpetrated and cause
people so much hurt."
"We thank all the elected officials, diplomats and members of our
armed forces and law enforcement agencies who took the time to gain a
greater understanding of Islam and the American Muslim community,"
said CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor.
Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims
abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from break of dawn
to sunset.
CAIR has 32 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. SEE:
Facts About
CAIR
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor,
202-742-6413 or 571-278-4658, E-Mail:
csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail:
ihooper@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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
VERSE OF THE DAY: THOSE WHO ARE LOVED BY GOD -
TOP
"God loves the righteous who are good to others." The Holy
Quran, 3:148
"God loves those who put their trust in Him." 3:159
"God loves those who are fair and just." 49:9
"God loves those who are kind to others." 5:13
"God loves those who judge with fairness." 5:42
"For God loves those who do good deeds." 5:93
"In fact God loves the equitable." 60:8
"Surely God loves those who turn to Him in repentance."
2:222
Beginning October 2, 2006, all CAIR e-mail addresses will use the
"cair.com" domain name instead of the old
"cair-net.org." This change is part of CAIR's new brand
identity and logo. The new identity focuses on openness, professionalism
and the pursuit of mutual understanding and justice.
The new CAIR general e-mail address will be:
info@cair.com
The info@cair.com address will be used
for the delivery of messages on CAIR-NET, ISLAM-INFONET and other CAIR
e-mail lists.
Personal e-mail addresses of CAIR staffers will use the first initial
followed by the last name. For example, the e-mail address of CAIR
National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper will be:
ihooper@cair.com
ACTION REQUESTED:
1. CHANGE e-mail addresses for CAIR staffers in databases and e-mail
address books.
2. SUBSCRIBE info@cair.com to any
lists that receive CAIR posts through the current cair@cair-net.org
address.
Join four of our area's most influential religious leaders as they
discuss the sensitivities surrounding public prayer in Northeast
Florida.
WHAT: "Public Prayer... Respecting All Traditions. Including All
People.
WHEN: September 28, 2006, 10 a.m. - Noon
WHERE: Congregation Ahavath Chesed, 8727 San Jose Blvd.
Panelists:
* Dr. Parvez Ahmed, Board Chair, Council on American-Islamic
Relations * Paul Hooker, Interfaith Council of Jacksonville
* Willie C. "Pete" Jackson, Westside Church of Christ
* Rabbi Michael Matuson, Congregation Ahavath Chesed, The Temple
* Charlene Taylor Hill, Executive Director, Jacksonville Human Rights
Commission
Moderator: Bill Scheu
-----
CINCINNATI MUSLIMS FEED NEEDY
DURING RAMADAN -
TOP
(CINCINNATI, 9/27/06) - On Sunday, October 1, 2006, the Cincinnati office
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Ohio (CAIR-Ohio), the
Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati and Al As-hab Islamic Center will
mark the Muslim fast of Ramadan by providing hot meals to more than 500
residents of the city's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.
WHAT: 4th Annual Ramadan "Feed the Hungry" Program
WHEN: Sunset, Sunday, October 1, 7:25 p.m.
WHERE: On 13th St. between Vine & Race Street, Cincinnati, OH (near
Al As-hab Islamic Center)
CAIR-PHILLY TO HOST 'SHARING RAMADAN' DINNERS -
TOP
CAIR-Philadelphia invites people of all faiths to join American Muslims
at the annual "Sharing Ramadan" event.
The CAIR initiative is designed to address the rising level of
Islamophobic prejudice in American society. Research shows that
anti-Muslim bias decreases when people have access to accurate
information about Islam and are able to connect on a personal level with
ordinary Muslims.
WHERE: The Foundation for Islamic Education, 1860 Montgomery Ave.,
Villanova, PA
WHEN: Saturday October 7th at 6:30 p.m. (Please RSVP by Wed. 10/4),
Saturday October 14th at 6:15 p.m. (Please RSVP by Wed. 10/11)
Dinner will be served immediately after sunset prayers and then a short
presentation on the significance of Ramadan.
CONTACT: Keagan Furfari, 267-255-2716
-----
CAIR-MI REP ADDRESSES HOMELAND
SECURITY STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY -
TOP
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 9/27/06) - A representative of the Michigan chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today addressed
students and faculty at Madonna University in Livonia, Mich., in a class
called "Homeland Security & Terrorism." CAIR-MI Executive
Director Dawud Walid lectured and answered questions for 90 minutes about
basic beliefs and practices of Muslims, demographics of the Muslim
community in America and Islam's position on political violence and
extremism.
CAIR Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier joined other American
Muslims on "Your Turn," a live 1/2 hour television show, to
offer the Muslim reaction to Pope Benedict XVI comments on Prophet
Muhammad and Islam.
-----
REP. SALAZAR SAYS HE STANDS BY MUSLIM
STAFFER -
TOP
Nayyera Haq ripped Rep. Tancredo's views on Islam, and Salazar's GOP
rival called on him to "rein in" his aide.
Nancy Lofholm, Denver Post, 9/27/06
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4401286
U.S. Rep. John Salazar on Tuesday said he stands behind his Muslim
staffer who has been lambasted by his Republican opponent for using a
personal e-mail to criticize comments about Islam made by Rep. Tom
Tancredo.
Nayyera Haq, Salazar's communications director for the past two years and
currently a staffer on his re-election campaign, wrote in an e-mail in
response to a question from a reporter at The Rocky Mountain News last
week that Tancredo "has always been articulate in expressing his
hatred of Islam and immigrants."
The question, and Haq's answer, were related to Tancredo's recent letter
to Pope Benedict XVI urging him not to apologize for remarks the pope
made about Muslims.
Tancredo wrote to Salazar's office, saying the congressman should clarify
whether he agreed with Haq. Scott Tipton, who is running against Salazar
and has been endorsed by Tancredo, issued a statement calling on Salazar
to "rein in" his spokeswoman.
Salazar, a Catholic, said his staffer was free to express her personal
opinions about her religion.
"Nayyera was speaking on her own behalf. She was stressing the
importance of building bridges, rather than knocking them down,"
Salazar said Tuesday. "These attacks are desperate measures from a
desperate campaign. When a candidate cannot run on the issues, he reverts
to attacks against 24-year-old staffers."
Haq was contacted for comments about Tancredo's letter to the pope as a
member of the Muslim Staffers Association, a Capitol Hill social and
networking group with 25 members.
Haq voluntarily took several days off after the tempest over her remarks
was picked up by right-wing Internet groups and questions were raised
about the Muslim Staffers Association.
The group is sanctioned by Congress, as are other staff associations.
(MORE)
WASHINGTON - Rep. John Salazar defended his Muslim press secretary
Tuesday, saying she is a "true-blue American" who is being used
as a scapegoat by desperate Republican opponents.
Salazar, D-Manassa, broke his silence Tuesday about a case that has added
a new wrinkle to his re-election campaign in southwest Colorado's 3rd
Congressional District.
The first-term congressman has been under pressure from re-election
opponent Scott Tipton, a Republican businessman, to say whether he agrees
with the personal statements of his communications director. Nayyera Haq
lashed out at Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo after Tancredo's latest missive
questioning the tenets of Islam.
"That was her statement. She made it on her own. She didn't do it
with my permission," Salazar said Tuesday at his Capitol Hill
office. "She probably should have been more careful. What's done is
done, and she certainly has paid the price."
Salazar said Haq has not deserved the intense scrutiny she's gotten since
the controversy erupted, including an anonymous video circulating on the
Internet that delves into her personal social-networking page and
questions her membership in the Congressional Muslim- American Staff
Association.
Salazar said that the group, which is officially sanctioned by Congress,
tries to promote cross-cultural understanding, like with a recent forum
titled "Muslim Americans as Partners in the Fight Against
Terrorism."
Conservative activists "are trying to use a staffer who is a
true-blue American and who cares deeply about America to get at me,"
Salazar said. (MORE)
Local and federal authorities today are turning to the public with a
$1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the sniper who
fired on a south Melbourne mosque Friday night.
Melbourne police today also released a description of a man wearing jeans
and a dark-colored T-shirt spotted hiding in the bushes across the street
from the mosque in another incident involving an air gun on Sept.
18.
"If anybody knows anything or somebody matching the description in
the first incident, please come forward," said Jill Frederiksen,
spokeswoman for the Melbourne Police Department.
"We're considering this person as dangerous, as any individual who
would stand across from a mosque and open fire."
In the Sept. 18 incident, several pellets from an air rifle were heard
ricocheting off the Islamic worship hall.
Friday night, the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, someone
fired five bullets at the mosque as a 59-year-old worshipper stepped out
on the south side of the building to talk on a cellular phone.
Police do not know if it was related to the earlier air-gun shooting, or
if the shooter harbored anti-Islamic sentiments that pushed him to target
the mosque. Either way, Friday's shooting was the third incident to take
at the mosque in less than a year, escalating from graffiti of a
stick-figure crucifix left behind on a wall to gunfire. (MORE)
Ottawa police arson investigators are still not calling an arson last
weekend at a west end Islamic school a hate crime as they continue their
search for a suspect.
Abraar School at 1085 Grenon Ave. was the site of a fire early Saturday
morning that caused about $100,000 in damage.
It fell on the first day of the Muslim religious month of Ramadan,
observed by fasting from sunrise to sunset and extra prayers.
Const. Isabelle Lemieux said arson officers are investigating but so far
the hate crimes unit is not involved.
Specific criteria are used to assess whether an incident is a hate crime.
Although the fire targeted a religious site and fell on a significant
date, there was no "messaging" on the school that would
indicate religious motivations.
It isn't entirely being ruled out, however.
"Saying it's a hate crime is a big thing and ... we're not ready to
jump the gun on this one," said the school board's chairman, Abdala
Kheireddine. (MORE)
When is it acceptable to make assumptions, be wrong about them, and
continue to propagate these false ideas without being corrected or
contradicted?
When people talk about Muslims and Islam, the whole issue becomes 'open
season,' journalist and author Geneive Abdo, contends.
"You can say anything you want about Muslims or Islam and it goes
unchallenged," she said.
Abdo, a former Middle East correspondent and current liaison for the
United Nations (UN) Alliance of Civilizations project, was invited by the
Muslim Student Association to talk about her new book: "Mecca and
Main Street: Muslim Life in America after 9/11." (MORE)
The pope ignites Muslim anger by quoting a 14th-century source who called
the Prophet Mohammed's teachings "evil."
American Christians square off - theological liberals vs. conservatives -
over whose voting values are more godly.
When the news abounds with incendiary stereotypes, contradictory
theologies and confusing cultural identities, can any ordinary person
sort it all out?
Yes, if they're bold, persistent and open-minded, say the three women of
the Faith Club: Ranya Idliby, a Muslim; Suzanne Oliver, a Christian; and
Priscilla Warner, a Jew.
This New York City trio is out to share with a fractious world their way
of fostering interreligious understanding soul to soul.
A memoir of their experiences, The Faith Club (Simon & Schuster),
arrives in stores Monday, on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and
during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (MORE)
Five years ago, a young rabbi brought his daughter to a Mandeville health
clinic for immediate medical attention. He impatiently paced the waiting
room until he was ushered into an examination room by a friendly Southern
office worker who announced, "Dr. Yousuf will be right with
you."
Relieved that his little girl was to be attended, the rabbi wondered if
the doctor was Jewish, thinking that Joseph is an old Biblical name. The
doctor entered the room in traditional Western doctor's attire and
introduced himself as Dr. Muhammed Yousuf, a Dominican Republic-trained
medical family practitioner, and a Muslim.
Both men sized each other up. The rabbi - Jeffrey Kurtz-Lendner of
Mandeville's Northshore Jewish Congregation - is not a political man. As
he shook the doctor's hand, he was more concerned about taking care of
his daughter, yet he could ponder the irony of their encounter.
Dr. Yousef also put the care of his patient first and foremost, later
saying that the Hypocratic oath obligates all doctors to administer to
everyone, not "pick and choose among the sick." And yet, the
doctor too was fascinated with his encounter with the rabbi, interested
in getting to know him better and expanding his first-hand experience
with those of the Jewish faith, adding that "true believers in Islam
are committed to tolerance."
What ensued from that encounter at the Redi-Med Clinc on Highway 22 was a
friendship that, over the years, has brought together the two men of
different faiths historically in conflict. It is a friendship based not
on their differences, but their commonalities.
Both men are devoted to their communities and their families. Both have
children; the rabbi has two small children, the doctor four, including a
daughter who is a teacher in Chicago and a son who recently moved to
Oklahoma City. There, the doctor said, he saw one of the most inspiring
sights he's seen in America: the parking lot of a mosque.
It is a metaphor, he said, and hopefully an omen for things to come. The
Oklahoma City mosque shares the parking lot with an Indian shrine. On
Fridays, the Muslim holy day, the lot is filled with Islamic worshippers.
On Saturdays, the lot is packed with Hindus. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
ASK POST OFFICES TO
STOCK EID STAMPS - TOP
Stamps marking two Eids to be re-issued October 6,
2006
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/28/06) - CAIR is asking members of the
American Muslim community to contact local postmasters and request that
they stock the stamp commemorating Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha when it is
re-issued on October 6, 2006, as part of the "Holiday
Series." In past years, there have been reports that the Eid stamp
was unavailable in some post offices.
ACTION REQUESTED:
1. CONTACT your local postmaster TODAY to request
that he or she stock the "Eid stamp."
2. BUY AND USE Eid stamps for all your mailing needs.
Post offices may be located and stamps may be ordered after October
6th through the United States Postal Service
website.
Eid stamps may also be ordered by calling 1-800-STAMP-24.
CAIR GOOD NEWS ALERT
CAIR-MD/VA: VA MUSLIM
STUDENT ALLOWED ISLAMIC ATTIRE IN GYM CLASS -
TOP
(HERNDON, VA, 9/28/06) - The Maryland and Virginia chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MD/VA) announced today that a
Muslim ninth-grader attending Lake Braddock High School in Burke, Va.,
will now be allowed to wear Islamic attire in gym class after initially
being threatened with failing the class if she did not wear shorts. The
teacher allegedly wrongfully asserted that the law required that the
student wear the shorts.
The student's family contacted CAIR-MD/VA for assistance in resolving the
issue. Following discussions with school officials, the student was moved
to a different gym class and will be allowed to dress in attire that
meets her religious needs.
CAIR-MD/VA will conduct diversity training for some of the school's newer
staff.
CAIR-MD/VA has also launched an initiative to visit local middle and high
schools to review their policies for accommodating the religious needs of
Muslim students during Ramadan, Eid and throughout the school
year.
CAIR also offers a booklet, called "An Educator's Guide to Islamic
Religious Practices," that is designed to help school officials
offer reasonable religious accommodation to Muslim students.
CONTACT: CAIR-MD/VA Project Manager Iman Zenhom, E-Mail:
iman_zenhom@cairmd.org, Tel:
703-689-3100 or 571-723-8763
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American
Muslim community. Subscribers to the list 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:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do good deeds
properly, sincerely and moderately. . .Always adopt a middle, moderate,
regular course, whereby you will reach your target (of
paradise)."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 470
-----
FL: MORE US HISPANICS DRAWN TO ISLAM
-
TOP
Marriage, post-9/11 curiosity, and a shared interest in issues such as
immigration are key reasons.
Amy Green, Christian Science Monitor, 9/28/06
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0928/p03s02-ussc.html
With her hijab and dark complexion, Catherine Garcia doesn't look like an
Orlando native or a Disney tourist. When people ask where she's from,
often they are surprised that it's not the Middle East but
Colombia.
That's because Ms. Garcia, a bookstore clerk who immigrated to the US
seven years ago, is Hispanic and Muslim. On this balmy afternoon at the
start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, she is at her mosque dressed in
long sleeves and a long skirt in keeping with the Islamic belief in
modesty. "When I was in my country I never fit in the society. Here
in Islam I feel like I fit with everything they believe," she
says.
Garcia is one of a growing number of Hispanics across the US who have
found common ground in a faith and culture bearing surprising
similarities to their own heritage. From professionals to students to
homemakers, they are drawn to the Muslim faith through marriage,
curiosity and a shared interest in issues such as immigration.
The population of Hispanic Muslims has increased 30 percent to some
200,000 since 1999, estimates Ali Khan, national director of the American
Muslim Council in Chicago. Many attribute the trend to a growing interest
in Islam since the 2001 terrorist attacks and also to a collision between
two burgeoning minority groups. They note that Muslims ruled Spain
centuries ago, leaving an imprint on Spanish food, music, and
language.
"Many Hispanics . . . who are becoming Muslim, would say they are
embracing their heritage, a heritage that was denied to them in a
sense," says Ihsan Bagby, professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at
the University of Kentucky.
The trend has spawned Latino Islamic organizations such as the Latino
American Dawah Organization, established in 1997 by Hispanic converts in
New York City. Today the organization is nationwide.
The growth in the Hispanic Muslim population is especially prevalent in
New York, Florida, California, and Texas, where Hispanic communities are
largest. In Orlando, the area's largest mosque, which serves some 700
worshipers each week, is located in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood. A few
years ago it was rare to hear Spanish spoken at the mosque, says Imam
Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida.
(MORE)
SELMA, ALA. - Yusuf Salaam's dedication to racial reconciliation started
when a white man died for his sister. It was 1965 Alabama, the height of
the civil rights movement, and Mr. Salaam's 16-year-old sister, Ruby
Sales, was in the thick of it, working to end segregation. That August
day she, with a handful of others, was confronted by a shotgun-wielding
avowed racist. As he leveled his gun, shouting obscenities, Ruby was
shoved out of the way by an Episcopal seminarian named Jon Daniels who
died instantly from the blast.
"If you want to understand what I stand for, and why I do what I do
here in this place that isn't known for its tolerance and its
understanding, you really have to go back to Ruby and that Jon Daniels
thing," Salaam says referring to the incident that occurred not far
from this city aside the churning Alabama River.
When Daniels was killed, Salaam was at a summer prep school in Colorado
"along with a bunch of rich kids," as he puts it. "They
offered me a scholarship. But after what happened, I felt like I had to
go back to my Jim Crow school in the South and start being a part of
it.
"I felt such a sense of gratitude then that someone from outside the
black race would make such a sacrifice for us, that it nullified any
inclination I had toward looking at it racially myself."
Today's Selma, he will tell you, is a different place than it was during
the height of violence and suffocating oppression of 1965. And he's
right. Gov. George Wallace's state troopers no longer menace peaceful
marchers, Sheriff Jim Clark and his posse no longer terrorize blacks
registering to vote. The city has a black mayor and a majority black city
council. Enfranchisement at least has been achieved. . .
It would be hard to find anyone so out of the ordinary and unlikely to be
accepted in middle Alabama. Yet, here's a Muslim convert of 30 years who
is Selma and Dallas County's representative to the state house in
Montgomery. The county is 47 percent white and 99 percent Christian - and
many of them, black and white, are deep-water, conservative Baptists.
With demographics like that, it would seem a Muslim vying for public
office wouldn't have a prayer - especially with central Alabama's record
of resistance to change. (MORE)
Please mark your calendars for CAIR's 12th annual banquet, "American
Muslims: Connecting and Sharing," on Saturday, November 18.
It will be held at the Marriott Crystal Gateway, 1700 Jefferson Davis
Hwy, Arlington, Va. Tickets cost $65 / person and will be made available
soon. For more information please email:
events@cair.com
Beginning October 2, 2006, all CAIR e-mail addresses will use the
"cair.com" domain name instead of the old
"cair-net.org." This change is part of CAIR's new brand
identity and logo. The new identity focuses on openness, professionalism
and the pursuit of mutual understanding and justice.
The new CAIR general e-mail address will be:
info@cair.com
The info@cair.com address will be used
for the delivery of messages on CAIR-NET, ISLAM-INFONET and other CAIR
e-mail lists.
Personal e-mail addresses of CAIR staffers will use the first initial
followed by the last name. For example, the e-mail address of CAIR
National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper will be:
ihooper@cair.com
ACTION REQUESTED:
1. CHANGE e-mail addresses for CAIR staffers in databases and e-mail
address books.
2. SUBSCRIBE info@cair.com to any
lists that receive CAIR posts through the current cair@cair-net.org
address.
NOTE: If you are currently subscribed to any CAIR e-mail list, your
subscription will carry over to the new domain name; no action is
required.
CAIR-CA: CALIFORNIA
LEGISLATORS ATTEND CAIR-CA CAPITOL 'IFTAR' -
TOP
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 9/28/06) - On Wednesday, September 27, several
California state legislators attended the third annual iftar, or Ramadan
fast-breaking meal, hosted by the California chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) at the California State
Capitol.
The Muslim community was presented with a resolution recognizing the
commencement of the month of Ramadan. Several legislative staff were
honored by CAIR-CA for their dedication to serving the local
community.
Assembly Member Dave Jones, who sent a greeting to the local Muslim
community at the beginning of Ramadan, gave the keynote address and
expressed his appreciation to the local Muslim community for its
contributions to the diversity and richness of California.
"We thank all the elected officials who co-sponsored the resolution
and demonstrated that American Muslims are a part of the social and
religious fabric of this country," said Hamza El-Nakhal, President
of CAIR's Sacramento Valley chapter.
Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims
abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from break of dawn
to sunset.
CAIR has 32 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.
(SACRAMENTO, CA) On Saturday, October 7th, the Sacramento Valley office
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) will participate
in a Voter Education Forum hosted by the Asian Pacific American Islander
Public Affairs Association (APAPA) at the Radisson Hotel in
Sacramento.
The event will feature a number of candidates, who will be running in the
upcoming election, including a highly anticipated Lt. Governor Debate
between John Geramandi and Tom McClintock.
The local community is encouraged to attend and participate in the event.
The event is open for free to the public.
WHAT: Voter Education Forum
WHEN: Saturday October 7, 2006 1 - 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Radisson Hotel, 500 Leisure Lane, Sacramento, CA
Volunteers are needed to host the event. For more information, contact
Maren Shawesh at
mshawesh@cair.com
-----
CAIR-MI: MICHIGAN MUSLIM
LEADERS MEET WITH CARDINAL REGARDING POPE'S COMMENTS -
TOP
Religious Leaders Foster Dialogue in the Face of Controversy
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 9/28/06) - Muslim leaders met with Cardinal Adam
Maida and top officials from the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit to
solidify the Archdiocese's commitment to continue respectful dialogue
between Metro-Detroit Catholics and Muslims.
CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid participated in the one-hour
meeting, which was hosted by Imam Sayed Hassan Qazwini at the Islamic
Center of America in Dearborn.
"With some religious and political leaders promoting a 'clash of
civilizations' between the Christian and Muslim worlds, it gives us hope
that our local Muslim leaders and the Archdiocese of Detroit have
committed themselves to continue civil dialogue," said CAIR-MI
Executive Director Dawud Walid.
There is no question that throughout history, empires and religious
institutions have abused and perverted religion to further their own
agendas. In light of the comments made by Pope Benedict XVI on Islam, and
with the growing trend of Islamophobia in the West, we should ask
ourselves: Was the quote he cited from a 14th century Byzantine emperor
appropriate to make his point? Did the Prophet Muhammad actually command
his followers to "spread by the sword the faith he preached?"
What are the ramifications of his statement, knowing that Catholics
around the world consider him the infallible supreme authority of the
church?
The Sept. 20 San Diego Union-Tribune editorial ("The pope's
speech/Violent responses only prove pontiff's point") unfortunately
reinforces the growing trend of misunderstanding about the teachings of
Islam. It was not just the radical and fringe Muslim groups that were
offended by the pope's comments but also a vast majority of Muslims. The
pope quoted from a source that made inaccurate assertions completely
contrary to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.
The prophet never taught any of his followers to spread the religion of
Islam by the sword. The Quran, Islam's revealed text, actually condemns
the forced acceptance of any faith when it states, "Let there be no
compulsion in religion" (2:256).
The pope apologized for the extreme reaction that it caused, not the
statement itself. What Muslims are waiting to hear from the pope is a
commitment to interfaith dialogue as well as an apology for the
inaccurate quote. Genuine religious dialogue cannot be achieved when one
party continues to perpetuate the common myths.
Faith and reason have never been a problem for Islamic civilization. The
first verses of the Quran that were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
were, "Read! In the name of your Lord - Read! Your Lord is Most
Gracious taught by the (use of the) pen, taught man what he knew
not." Historically, whenever Islam flourished, so did the
development of knowledge and discovery. This is evident in many fields of
study we see at colleges and universities around the world today, such as
sociology, mathematics, astronomy and medicine, which owe their
development to Muslim scholars. . .
Edgar Hopida is the director of public relations for the San Diego
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He may be reached
by e-mail at
ehopida@cair.com.
WASHINGTON (AP) - An Islamic cleric from South Africa was denied entry
into the United States, disrupting his trip to visit northern Virginia
Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.
Ismail Mullah arrived at Dulles International Airport on Sept. 22, but
was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Customs officers held
him for several hours before he was allowed to board a flight back to
South Africa.
Mullah has visited the Islamic Community Center of Northern Virginia for
Ramadan for the past three years. He had been expected to lead prayers
there following his arrival. Ramadan began in North America last
Saturday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Bill Anthony said Mullah
"withdrew his application for admission after being talked to by our
people."
About 1,000 people are denied entry into the United States daily for
reasons that include inadequate travel documents or because their names
appear on a U.S. government watch list.
"This doesn't preclude him from seeking admission in the
future," Anthony said.
Nasir Chhipa, director of the Islamic Center in Woodbridge, Va., says
federal authorities should explain whether Mullah was targeted because of
his religion.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations says four other foreign imams
were denied entry at a Florida airport immediately before the
holiday.
A Columbus car dealership seems to be backing away from an advertising
campaign that would have declared "a jihad on the automotive
market." Sales people would have been dressed in "burqa"
outfits traditionally worn by Muslim women. Rubber swords would have been
given out to the kids. Vehicles that can "comfortably seat 12
jihadists in the back" were to be featured.
One particularly interesting aspect of controversy concerning the
campaign involves the Columbus chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
Nationally, the CAIR sometimes has been accused of taking greater offense
at misconceptions concerning Muslims than at terrorism perpetrated by
Islamic militants. Many of the complaints about the car dealer's plan
indeed did accuse the company of misrepresenting those of the Islamic
faith.
But the comment from CAIR's Columbus chapter was different. Chapter
President Asma Mobin-Uddin had this to say about the proposed advertising
campaign: "Using that as a promotional pitch when so many are dying
from the criminal activity of suicide bombers, that's not funny. I don't
think it's appropriate because it causes real pain."
How refreshing. The advertising campaign indeed would have been
objectionable to many Muslims. How else could they be expected to take
"Fatwa Friday" promotions, in view of the fact that a fatwa is
a religious edict involving any subject?
Still, the local CAIR chapter's reaction - placing emphasis on the
victims of Islamic extremism - will do much good in bringing
Columbus-area residents of different faiths together. CAIR leaders in
Ohio, unlike the car dealer, have the right idea.
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: WI STATE REP:
"ISLAM IS A RELIGION INTENT ON CONQUERING THE WORLD" -
TOP
"Today the Koran carries Muhammad's message of Islamic domination
forward to new generations of Muslims"
Lasee's Notes, 9/19/06
Lasee's Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd
Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and
statewide.
Will Islamic Theocracies Stop in the Middle East?
Last week, Catholic Pope Benedict XVI quoted from a medieval text that
criticized the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, for spreading his
religion through violence and destruction. ( Click here to read the full
text of his remarks) Many in the Moslem world found the Pope's comments
offensive.
How did they respond? With violence and destruction - including the
murder of a Catholic nun at a children's hospital in Somalia, fire
bombings of churches, and angry protests complete with signs that read
"Islam Will Conquer Rome" and "Jesus Will Rise the Sword
of Islam." Many on the left, including Senator Feingold, want us to
believe Muslims are a peaceful people who want to live a peaceful life in
co-existence with us. I am certain many of them do. There is a
significant number that are violent and are willing to cause death and
destruction to non-believers (of Islam) even at the cost of their own
lives (suicide bombers).
The Pope's comments were right on the mark. Islam is NOT a religion of
peace. It doesn't have a peaceful history of co-existence. And has
created empires whose main goal was to convert or destroy all
non-believers.
Islam IS a religion intent on conquering the world. This global
domination is preached and encouraged by Imams in mosques. And it is a
central theme in the Koran, the Islamic Bible, and is an important part
of their history.
As I discussed last week, if we hope to defeat this emerging global
threat that wants to dominate the world, we must know where they are
coming from. Here's a quick history lesson on Islam.
The creation of Islam centers around one person, the Prophet Muhammad.
During his time, many people in the Arab world believed in and worshiped
many gods. This troubled Muhammad greatly as he believed in the existence
of only one true God, Allah.
In his mid forties he began to have visions where he received revelations
from Allah. These visions later became part of the Koran. He created many
of his writings and beliefs while in seclusion in a cave near Mecca, the
holiest city of Islam.
Muhammad's views of one great and all powerful God were not accepted by
his people. He was tossed out of his home and persecuted for his beliefs.
After retreating to another village, his followers grew. At first he was
sympathetic to both Christians and Jews. In time, both groups rejected
his beliefs. He turned from Jerusalem as the center of worship for Islam
and conquered Mecca by sword. Lest we forget, Islam fought for hundreds
of years to conquer Europe and held Spain and reached as far north as
Budapest in the east.
Today the Koran carries Muhammad's message of Islamic domination forward
to new generations of Muslims - including the Islamic extremists of Al
Qaeda and other fundamentalist groups. The young, idealistic men that
join these groups are taught that they will be given an immediate pass to
heaven along with access to virgins if they die fighting us, the
non-believers. This is actually preached in some Mosques around the
world.
These are a few of the passages from the Koran about the importance of
fighting and waging war against non-believers. . .
What do you think about this issue? Click on this link
[laseesnotes@yahoo.com ] and
send me an email with your thoughts.
Cincinnati has added its voice to a rising global protest against the
genocide taking place in Darfur, Sudan.
Mayor Mark Mallory designated Wednesday through Sunday as "Five Days
for Darfur" in the city. The proclamation was read Wednesday morning
by Councilman David Crowley at a kickoff of the Darfur awareness program
at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Among the speakers were former Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls;
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, Rabbi Abie Ingber, director of
Cincinnati Hillel; Shakila Ahmad of Muslim Mothers Against Violence; and
columnist Nick Clooney. Clooney and his son, actor George Clooney, spent
five days in Darfur in April.
In the last three years, more than 400,000 people have been killed there
by government-backed Arab militias called Janjaweed. The victims are
farmers and their wives and children. They militias are killing people,
raping women and burning villages in areas of Sudan inhabited primarily
by black Africans.
More than 2.5 million people have fled their homes and live in makeshift
refugee camps in Sudan and neighboring Chad, where they lack water and
medicine and are dying of malnutrition. Sudanese authorities make it
difficult for humanitarian organizations to help these people.
At Wednesday's event, Qualls spoke of the devastating effects of the rape
of Darfuri women.
Because victims often are ostracized by their families and communities,
it is used as a means to destroy their culture.
Qualls said that Cincinnatians can help put a stop to it by demanding
that national leaders take a stand.
"Five Days for Darfur" is sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati
Advocates for Darfur Coalition, a group of religious and secular
organizations including the Catholic Social Action Office of the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and
the Isaac M. Wise Temple Political Action Committee. (MORE)
Re Cal Thomas' Sept. 23 Other Views column, Where are the moderate
Muslims? : The simple answer is: They are everywhere.
Many of us are Americans, study in American institutions and go on to
work and pay American dollars to our tax system. Like everyone else, we
eventually find our better half, have chubby babies, go to zoos, get
season tickets to the Miami Dolphins, go on our childrens' field trips
and fix the leaks in our roofs.
With all the growing pains in the life that we lead as normal Americans,
every day we turn our face to Mecca to pray to what our Christian
brothers call God, our Jewish sisters call Yahweh and whom we call
Allah.
I am a small-business owner. I am not the only woman who works in my
Muslim community. Many are engineers, pediatricians, teachers, research
analysts and attorneys. Some are PTO volunteers.
America's Muslims have time and again issued statements denouncing 9/11
and the gruesome killing of innocent Americans. We have denounced the
London bombings, the arrests of Americans in Iraq and the Iranian
holocaust-cartoon contest. The list goes on and on.
Muslims also ran a full-page ad in several newspapers distancing us from
the fringe ideology of the few. In addition, we ran an Internet campaign,
''Not in the name of Islam,'' in which we denounced all acts of terror on
innocent civilians. To date it has been signed by more than 700,000
people -- mostly Muslims.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (
www.cair.com ) has called on Muslims to
help repair Palestinian churches damaged following Pope Benedict XVI's
remarks, which were perceived as critical of Islam and the Prophet
Mohammed.
Our actions rarely make it into print. When they do, the coverage is
relegated to some corner of the paper or a brief spot on a local TV
channel. On the other hand, when someone from some other country issues a
controversial statement, it rates headlines and becomes a topic of
discussion by all TV hosts.
After last year's hurricanes, Muslims formed a task force and pledged $10
million. At the local level, we had truckloads of food, medicine and
clothing sent to New Orleans from South Florida. Are we passionate about
America? Of course.
FRONTLINE presents 'THE ENEMY WITHIN'
Tuesday, October 10, 2006, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS
Soon after 9/11, an FBI informant made an alarming claim: Osama bin
Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had visited the town of Lodi, Calif.,
in the late 1990s and attended a mosque there. Moreover, two Pakistani
imams preaching at the mosque came from a conservative Islamic school, or
madrassa, linked to the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan. According
to McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney who led the federal anti-terror
investigation, this was "an attempt by a group of radical Islamic
religious figures to come to this country and ... establish a madrassa to
serve as a recruiting ground."
However, a deeper look at the evidence creates uncertainty about what
kind of threat actually did exist in Lodi and provides a case study of
America's response to the threat of domestic terrorism. FRONTLINE and New
York Times reporter Lowell Bergman examines the Lodi case and interviews
FBI and Homeland Security officials to assess U.S. anti-terror efforts in
The Enemy Within, airing Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS
(check local listings).
The Lodi case drew the attention of senior U.S. officials. "A
network of Islamic extremists in Lodi," Director of National
Intelligence John Negroponte told Congress in February 2006,
"maintained connections with Pakistani militant groups, recruited
U.S. citizens, . . . [and] allegedly raised funds for international
jihadist groups."
But when Bergman interviews one of the defendants, Umer Hayat, an ice
cream truck driver in Lodi, about the terror investigation, the story
seems less clear. "I just make [up] a story, that's all," says
Hayat, "because they would not believe me when I was telling the
truth." At the trials of Hayat and his son, Hamid, the FBI showed a
videotape in which the Hayats confessed to attending a terrorist training
camp in Pakistan, but questions remain. After arriving at the bureau's
Sacramento office voluntarily, the Hayats were interrogated nonstop for
15 hours without a lawyer present. Separated, they gave different
accounts of the camp they had visited, and the FBI did not conduct a
follow-up investigation in Pakistan. "You can hear the agents
literally dictate to [Hayat] what it is that they thought he was involved
in," says James Wedick, a retired 35-year veteran of the FBI, who
reviewed the videos for the defense. "And then he mimics back to
them what he thinks that they want to hear."
According to Wedick, from the beginning, the case was based on bad
intelligence. He tells FRONTLINE that the idea that Zawahiri had visited
Lodi was "totally ludicrous," and prosecutors now admit that
the informant was mistaken. The trial ended April 25 with the conviction
of Hamid Hayat for attending a training camp and lying to the FBI; the
defense has filed an appeal. After the jury deadlocked over charges
against Umer Hayat, he pled guilty to an unrelated charge of making a
false claim on a customs form and was released. (MORE)
Amid worldwide tensions between Muslims and Christians, leaders of both
faiths pledged last night to work together for better understanding in
New Jersey.
The American Muslim Union invited leaders of Christian denominations to
its annual Ramadan dinner in Paterson, hoping to ease tensions and
strengthen ties.
The dinner came amid renewed tension after a speech by Pope Benedict XVI
that angered Muslims when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who
questioned Islam's contributions to civilization. The speech, for which
the pontiff has expressed regret, touched off violence in several
countries.
Roman Catholic Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson stressed the common
ground that both religions share.
"I want you to know we have a deep, powerful respect for our Muslim
brothers and sisters," he said. "You worship the one God,
merciful and almighty, creator of heaven and Earth."
Imam Mohamed Qatanani, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic
County, where the dinner was held, said his congregation went out of its
way to open its doors to others and reach out to other faiths,
particularly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"I look at this responsibility to build bridges between people of
all religions -- Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims,"
he said. "The good understanding of each other will make the world a
more peaceful" place.
Gov. Jon Corzine also pledged to make Muslims feel fully included and
accepted as an integral part of New Jersey.
"I am here to send a message -- that the people of New Jersey admire
the role and contributions of the Muslim community to our society,"
he said. "We are all children of Abraham. There is absolutely common
heritage that we all have as human beings. We need to live that way and
we need to make policy that way." (MORE)
(CBS) LOS ANGELES A South Los Angeles intersection will be named for a
prominent local Islamic minister under a plan approved Wednesday by the
City Council.
The intersection of 41st Street and Central Avenue will be designated as
Imam Abdul Karim Hasan Square for the Muslim clergyman who has worked at
the Bilal Islamic Center for 35 years.
"Imam Abdul Karim Hasan is a distinguished clergy leader who has
also provided leadership to the community and has been a leader in the
Ninth District for over 35 years at Bilal Islamic Center,"
Councilwoman Jan Perry said in a motion introduced in August calling for
the intersection name change.
"In addition to his community service and leadership efforts, he has
also been working on behalf of humanity for over 50 years as a member of
the Muslim community," she said.
Rome, 27 Sept. (AKI) - An Italian film has sparked a debate in the Muslim
community for its representation of Islam. 'Il mercante di pietre' (The
Stone Merchant) by Italian filmmaker Renzo Martinelli "brings back
to mind Nazi propaganda against the Jews," accuses Dacia Valent, the
spokesperson of the Islamic Anti-Defamation League, an Italian group. Her
view is shared by the association of Young Muslims of Italy whose forum
is full of messages comparing the movie to Nazi anti-Jewish
propaganda.
The film released mid-September tells the story of an Italian convert to
Islam (interpreted by Harvey Keitel) and Al-Qaeda member who seduces a
woman (the actress Jane March) to use her as an unwitting suicide bomber
on a ferry. As the story evolves the protagonist - who officially deals
in precious stones - starts having doubts over his operation as he falls
in love with the woman.
The movie is controversial as all the Muslims it portrays are
terrorists.
At a recent press conference, Martinelli said his film was meant to
"sound the alarm against multiculturalists who justify everything
and are in favour of opening up Europe - all signs the Muslim world
perceives as a weakness, taking advantage of us." The filmmaker -
who told reporters he goes around armed just in case some militant
attacked him - added that he "didn't attack Muslims but tried to
understand them."
According to Ali Shuetz, a member of Milan's Muslim community who was
Martinelli's consultant on Islam for the movie, "'il mercante di
pietre' is against Islamic terrorism and this is positive, the problem is
it leaves no room for moderate Islam, which belongs to the real life and
to people." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
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info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If you love the poor
and bring them near you. . .God will bring you near Him on the Day
of
Resurrection."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1376
-----
SUBSCRIBE NEW CAIR E-MAIL ADDRESS TO YOUR LIST -
TOP
Beginning October 2, 2006, all CAIR e-mail addresses will use the
"cair.com" domain name instead of the old
"cair-net.org." This change is part of CAIR's new brand
identity and logo. The new identity focuses on openness, professionalism
and the pursuit of mutual understanding and justice.
The new CAIR general e-mail address will be:
info@cair.com
The info@cair.com address will be used
for the delivery of messages on CAIR-NET, ISLAM-INFONET and other CAIR
e-mail lists.
ACTION REQUESTED:
1. SUBSCRIBE the info@cair.com e-mail
addresses to any e-mail list or internet group you may moderate.
NOTE: If you are currently subscribed to any CAIR e-mail list, your
subscription will carry over to the new domain name; no action is
required on your part.
ZAHN: Our "Top Story" coverage moves now to the controversy
here in Washington over one key congressman's claims about Muslims in
this country.
Representative Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee, has said that the vast majority of mosques here in the U.S.
are controlled by Muslim extremists. And that's only the beginning of the
charges he's making, charges that are causing a lot of outrage.
Jason Carroll has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the holy month of
Ramadan, and this is the image Muslims here say truly reflects who they
are: law-abiding, peaceful people, not, as their own congressman claimed
in a recent campaign letter, part of an Islamic threat that could cause
another 9/11.
And New York Republican Peter King has also said, according to law
enforcement sources he spoke with, 85 percent of mosques in the United
States, including this one, are run by extremists.
FAROQUE KHAN, MOSQUE MEMBER: Where is this 85 percent? Who did the study?
On what basis? What questions were asked? And how did he come up with
this number?
CARROLL: Several members of the mosque agreed to speak to us about the
claim.
KHAN: It's very painful to have a senior politic to make those
statements, without really having any direct interaction with the
community.
ERIC BYASERIC, MOSQUE MEMBER: You have extremists in basically any
community, any -- any belief system. So what? You deal with them
accordingly.
CARROLL: A federal law enforcement official agrees that there are some
extremists in American mosques, but dismisses the validity of 85 percent,
saying it was much too high.
(on camera): Do you actively try to seek out those who may have extreme
thoughts or extreme points of view?
KHAN: Do we conduct interviews with all the people who come in and out?
No. But, if we hear something -- and I haven't heard anything yet --
believe me, I will be the first to call the FBI.
CARROLL (voice-over): There's another concern King has raised. He says
the mosque fosters 9/11 conspiracy theories that the CIA or Zionists may
have been behind the attacks. But, of those we interviewed, just one had
reservations about who was behind the terrorist attacks.
MUNIRE TERPIS, MOSQUE MEMBER: How do we know they did it? I mean, it was
just -- it happened -- like, instant, as -- as soon as the towers fell,
it was, like, Muslims did it. How -- how do you clarify? How do you prove
that?
CARROLL (on camera): Well, who do you think is responsible for what
happened?
TERPIS: I don't know. I don't know. To this day, I don't know.
CARROLL (voice-over): A recent Zogby poll showed 42 percent of all
Americans believe the government is covering up something surrounding the
attack. So, Muslims here wonder, why focus on them?
The national director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says
this is about King trying to win reelection.
NIHAD AWAD, NATIONAL DIRECTOR, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC
RELATIONS: It's very disturbing to see a member of the United States
Congress exploit the anti-Muslim prejudice and fear within the society
just to get a few more votes and some money.
CARROLL: So, during this holiest of months for Muslims, some here will be
praying for forgiveness and the hope there will be more
understanding.
BURKE, September 28 (UPI) - A Muslim ninth-grader attending a Virginia
high school may wear Islamic attire in gym class, although she had faced
failure in the class for such action.
The Maryland and Virginia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations said Thursday that a teacher at Lake Braddock High School
"allegedly wrongfully asserted that the law required that the
student wear the shorts."
The girl's family contacted CAIR-MD/VA for assistance in resolving the
issue. Following discussions with school officials, the student was moved
to a different gym class and will be allowed to dress in attire that
meets her religious needs.
CAIR-MD/VA also agreed to conduct diversity training for some of the
school's newer staff.
Finally, the group said it has launched an initiative to visit local
middle and high schools to review their policies for accommodating the
religious needs of Muslim students during Ramadan, Eid and throughout the
school year.
Mostafaa Carroll, a board member of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said he welcomes Christians' interest in his faith. He
told an Associated Baptist Press reporter that he has worked in
interfaith efforts with Christians for the last 20 years but had not
heard of the Ramadan project until recently.
"There is nothing wrong with prayer whenever you can get it. I
encourage it," he told ABP. "I see the prayer as something that
is good -- that can help people to understand. Everything counts"
when it comes to understanding Ramadan, he said. (MORE)
Muslim and Catholic leaders in metro Detroit said that Cardinal Adam
Maida's visit to the state's largest mosque Thursday put an end to any
lingering local tension over controversial remarks about Islam made
earlier this month by Pope Benedict XVI.
"There is no need for a clash of cultures between us," Imam
Achmat Saleh of the Unity Center in West Bloomfield said as he left the
meeting with Maida. "The cardinal took time to come here, to meet
with us and to show, once again, that there is a closeness between our
communities."
At the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, a private, hour-long
meeting between Catholic and Muslim leaders was followed by Maida and
Imam Hassan Qazwini giving brief, public talks about the long-standing
bonds between the two faiths.
Maida said the close relationship stretches back at least 41 years, to a
historic Vatican declaration of respect for Islam.
"Many aspects of your traditions resemble elements of our own
Catholic practices, especially the importance of daily prayer, fasting
and pilgrimage," Maida told the Muslim leaders in his public
remarks. He was paraphrasing portions of the 1965 Vatican declaration
about the church's need to improve relations with both Jews and Muslims.
. .
Other Muslim leaders at the meeting said the U.S.-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations is raising money to help repair Christian
churches damaged in the incidents. (MORE)
While our religious beliefs may vary, our love and respect for one
another should not.
Islam is the continuation of the same message that prophets Abraham,
Moses and Jesus taught: that there is one God, there is Heaven and Hell,
and that we are responsible for our beliefs and actions.
Islam, Christianity and Judaism have more in common, but unfortunately,
the similarities are being overlooked. Examples are:
* All three faiths honor Abraham as a patriarch.
* Jesus is seen as a sinless prophet in Islam, and his name is mentioned
99 times in the Koran.
* The three faiths believe in one God, angels, prophets, have holy books
and judgment.
* Mary, the mother of Jesus, is honored in the Quran; where there is a
whole chapter about Mary and the miracle birth of Jesus.
* Jesus is the messiah that not only Christians believe will return, but
so do Muslims. However,
Muslims do not believe Jesus is the son of God.
There are also remarkable similarities between the Ten Commandments and
the Quran. They should not be surprising, because Muslims believe that
Judaism, Christianity and Islam all originate from the same God. God's
laws are universal but their adoption is a matter of choice.
(MORE)
[Mohamed El-Sharkawy is a member of the board of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, Arizona chapter (CAIR-AZ), which is
dedicated to presenting an Islamic perspective on issues of importance to
the American public.]
Leaders hope fresh cooperation can arise from furor
What the pope had in mind when he quoted a 14th-century remark about
Islam may never be clear.
But local Muslim and Catholic leaders do agree on one thing: Pope
Benedict XVI is far too astute not to have had an objective behind his
use of an obscure reference in a talk on faith and reason at the German
university where he used to teach.
Muslim and Catholic leaders gathered recently at The Times to discuss the
pope's remarks, the understanding - or lack thereof - between Christians
and Muslims, and the need for more interfaith conversations.
The pope met with Muslim leaders Monday at his summer residence near Rome
over the furor his remarks have caused. He spoke to them for about five
minutes, news reports say, on the need for more interfaith dialogue and
on the need for Christian and Muslim action to fight intolerance and
violence.
On Monday, news reports say, Benedict expressed his own "esteem and
profound respect" for Muslim believers. After his talk, he shook
hands with each of the men present, exchanging a few words as they were
ushered out of his presence.
"It was a meeting on dialogue, and the pope spoke about dialogue,
but it was a monologue," said Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, an Italian
Muslim whose remarks were reported in a Los Angeles Times story Tuesday.
"It was a very positive meeting, and it could be more positive if we
can consider this a starting point." (MORE)
-----
CAIR-CA, INTERFAITH
GROUPS HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS -
TOP
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 9/29/2006) The Sacramento Valley office of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) recently participated in an
Interfaith Prayer Service & Rally at the California State
Capitol.
The interfaith groups called on Governor Schwarzenegger to support fair
Immigrant legislation in California.
CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra and Auxiliary Bishop of
Sacramento Richard Garcia led the rally with prayers.
"As American Muslims we must do our utmost to help ensure that the
immigration debate is free of bigotry and xenophobia," said Elkarra.
"California laws should respect immigrants with legislation that
fair and comprehensive."
The rally was sponsored by: California Interfaith Council, California
Council of Churches, California Catholic Conference, Interfaith Service
Bureau, Lutheran Office of Public Policy - California, PICO California,
Council on American-Islamic Relations-California, and the Interfaith
Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
Contact: CAIR-Sacramento Valley Executive Director Basim Elkarra, E-mail:
sacval@cair.com, Tel:
916-441-6269
Representatives of the Coast Muslim community met with the Sun Herald
late last week to talk about Pope Benedict's Muhammad comments, news
headlines referring to "war on Christianity" and the perception
of Muslims in general.
Imam Tariq Abdul Mu min of The All Embracing Mosque in Gulfport and John
Ellis Ishmael Briggs Be, a former Baptist minister, led a small group,
the consensus of which was that much written about Muslims today is
inflammatory. Their message is that all Muslims are not terrorists or
members of al-Qaida, and their wish is to promote harmony.
"It is sometimes disheartening," the Imam said. "Muhammad
did not fight Christians and Jews. God called upon him to fight people
who worshipped other things (idols)," adding the Quran states
religion cannot be forced and "a person must come willingly to this
(religious) life." (MORE)
A magistrate tossed out federal charges against Louai Othman, Adham
Othman and Maruan Muhareb a month ago, "restoring their
hearts," in the words of their lawyer.
The Texas trio's wallets, though, are far from restored, as authorities
haven't yet returned tens of thousands of dollars of bond money, cell
phones and high-tech electronic devices the men want back.
"They haven't even returned the ($30,000) bond money yet. They
didn't get their own clothes back or their own cell phones.
Nothing," Abdel Othman, father of Louai and Adham Othman, said on
Monday.
U.S. Magistrate Charles E. Binder dismissed federal conspiracy and
money-laundering charges against the Othmans and their cousin, Muhareb,
all of Mesquite, Texas.
Police in Caro in Tuscola County stopped the Arab-American men inside a
rented minivan at around 2 a.m. Aug. 11 and found about 1,000 cell phones
inside the vehicle. Officers said they also found a laptop computer,
digital camera and a BlackBerry handheld device and a Palm Treo
smartphone, both of which allow wireless Internet access and e-mail
transmissions.
The next day, Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene charged the trio
with terrorism-related charges, alleging the men intended an act of
terrorism against Michigan's Mackinac Bridge.
On Aug. 16, a Tuscola County judge dismissed those charges at Reene's
request. That same day, U.S. attorneys issued federal charges against the
men, but charges that did not include terrorism. (MORE)
After watching nearly 40 teenage bodies collide with the frequency of
lightning strikes, all in a Florida afternoon humidity that makes
blinking a strenuous exercise, King football coach Joe Severino finally
gave his team its biggest reward.
A water break.
King senior defensive end Ali Khan trotted over to the portable water
station with his teammates. The players took turns at the spigots,
drinking with the ferocity of people who had been stranded in the Sahara
for several days.
Khan was more careful.
He sprayed the cool water over his face, never once letting it touch his
tongue. Khan used the water to satisfy his outer body, but his inner body
was quenched with a deeply rooted belief.
Khan is a practicing Muslim who is observing Ramadan, which requires him
to fast from sunup to sundown, avoiding water and food. The religious
observation began Saturday and runs through Oct. 23.
King backup kicker Achmed Chehab is also a Muslim observing
Ramadan.
Both will be fueled by determination when King (2-3) hosts Alonso (3-1)
in a Class 5A-District 6 game tonight at 7:30.
"I've been doing this two years prior, and I have to prepare myself
in the morning when I wake up - drink a lot of fluids and get ready for
practice that day," Khan said. "You've got to work with it.
You've got to live with it. You just have to wait until sunset, 7:20 p.m.
or 7:23 p.m., and prepare yourself mentally. Physically, I'm a little
tired, but when it comes down to it, it's all about the
mentality."
Ramadan is considered the holiest month to Muslims, who believe that
during this span, the revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad
began. According to Wikipedia, "Fasting is supposed to redirect the
heart away from worldly activities, its purpose being to cleanse the
inner soul and free it from harm. Properly observing the fast brings on a
comfortable feeling of peace and calm." (MORE)
National Muslim civic leaders announced a new push yesterday to get the
country's estimated 2.2 million registered Muslim voters to the polls,
unveiling a Web site that spells out key races of "Muslim
interest" and ATM-like voter registration machines that will be put
in mosques and Islamic student centers.
The campaign by the Washington-based Muslim American Society is a
continuation of an effort that has been underway since the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks to increase American Muslims' involvement in the political
process. A 2005 survey by the Muslim American Political Action Committee
said 84 percent of registered Muslims voted in the November 2004
election, compared with 41 percent in 2000.
The efforts are getting more tailored, Muslim leaders said in announcing
the creation of the society's Center for Electoral Empowerment. The
center's main feature is a Web site that offers details on issues that
the political action committee says are the most important to Muslim
voters: concerns about "the erosion of civil liberties,"
"fair" immigration reform and foreign policy, said Mukit
Hossain, president of MAPAC.
The site,
http://www.masvip.org/ , highlights 30 races in 11 states where there
are significant Muslim populations, including Illinois, New Jersey,
California and Texas.
The focus on Muslim voting -- both by Muslim American leaders and
political candidates -- rose again after the 2004 election, when the
Muslim vote moved significantly away from the Republican Party.
According to a September 2004 poll conducted by Zogby International for
Georgetown University's Project MAPS, 76 percent of Muslims backed the
Kerry-Edwards ticket, compared with 7 percent for Bush-Cheney. This was a
significant change from 2000, when President Bush received 42 percent of
the Muslim vote compared with Al Gore's 31 percent. (MORE)
A Spanish university professor with a long beard and dark complexion said
Thursday he was briefly forced off an airliner during a layover on the
Spanish island of Mallorca by passengers who feared he was an Islamic
terrorist.
Pablo Gutierrez Vega told The Associated Press that he was humiliated
when three German passengers on an Air Berlin flight approached him
during a layover in Palma de Mallorca on Aug. 30 en route from Seville,
Spain, to Dortmund, Germany, and asked to search his carry-on
luggage.
The men told him that other passengers were frightened by his appearance,
said Gutierrez Vega, a 35-year-old law professor at the University of
Seville.
"They treated me like an Islamic terrorist because of my
appearance," Gutierrez Vega said, according to an account posted
Thursday on the Web site of the newspaper El Pais.
The airline confirmed the incident to the AP and called it regretful.
(MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to recite this supplication
in his prayers: "O God, I beg of Thee steadfastness in (righteous)
affairs and firm determination (to adhere to the path) of righteousness.
I beg Thee to make me grateful for Thy favor and the excellence of the
worship of Thee. I beg of Thee a sound heart and a truthful tongue. .
."
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission says it knows of "at
least seven" threatening letters and e-mails sent to Muslims in the
York and Harrisburg areas in the past two months.
The most recent came to Abul Hasan of Springettsbury Twp., a Penn
State York physics professor active in the Council of American Islamic
Relations.
The anonymous, handwritten letter he received last week called Islam
an "evil, violent cult" that "must be wiped from the face
of the earth." The letter closed by saying, "It would be a good
idea to reactivate those ovens at Auschwitz." (MORE)
The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati and the Council on American
Islamic Relations Cincinnati Office are co-sponsoring the annual
"Feed the Hungry" program Sunday at 7:25 p.m. on 13th Street
between Vine and Race streets in Over-the-Rhine, near the Al As-hab
Islamic Center.
"As we observe Ramadan, it is imperative for us to realize the
sacrifices that others make every day," said Shakila Ahmad, a
trustee at the Islamic Center. "Sharing food is an integral part of
the lessons of Ramadan."
Observing Ramadan through abstinence and fasting from food and water
during daylight is one of the five pillars of Islam. The month continues
through Oct. 24.
During the exact time that the so-called "compromise" on
torture was being discussed in Congress, religious leaders gathered in
Palo Alto to make their concerns about torture heard loud and clear.
Muslims, Jews, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Roman Catholics,
Quakers, Buddhists and others shared prayers of repentance and
intercession for our country at this critical time.
As their "Religious Leaders Statement Against Torture" was
read, those present who had signed the statement stood in front of the
sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church. Over 150 religious leaders,
local and national, and 17 religious organizations endorsed the
statement, "Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment
are shocking and morally intolerable. Nothing less than the soul of our
nation is at stake on this issue.". . .
From the Council of American-Islamic Relations, Sameena Usman
offered a prayer in Arabic and English, "I pray that God will
guide us all on the straight path, may God restore the sanctity of human
life, may he protect people all around the world from the evil of torture
regardless of faith, race or nationality, may he bring us all together in
his fold of peace and justice." (MORE)
Since June, area Muslims have become increasingly uncomfortable and even
fearful not because of overt attacks or threats against them, but because
a sequence of incidents have built upon each other to form an intense,
low-grade foreboding.
Beginning with the monthlong Israel-Hezbollah conflict through Pope
Benedict XVI's inflammatory lecture last month, American Muslims say they
feel more uneasy in their own country. Local incidents, including the
August screening of a controversial anti-terrorism movie and an FBI raid
on the home of a Muslim in Columbia, Mo., have heightened the anxiety,
according to dozens of St. Louis Muslims interviewed over the last few
weeks. . .
"It's possible that those who want a tougher stance on terrorism and
against Muslims have felt election campaigns might benefit from bringing
this issue to the forefront," said Khaled Hamid, a member of the
St. Louis chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
(MORE)
Your article on Americans' view of Islam as promoting violence, "A
religion under siege" (Outlook, Sept. 24), gives a clue as to what
may be the most effective way of addressing this issue.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations hit the nail on the head
with its new ad campaign: "Not in the name of Islam." Americans
need to hear Muslim leaders decry terrorism in the name of Islam and have
both the Muslim community and the media quit suggesting that Americans'
views are due to prejudice, ignorance or religious antipathy.
(MORE)
The boy, round-faced and thin, stood in front of the hundred or so men,
his arms crossed, his eyes closed. When he knelt, they knelt. When he
stood, they stood. When he stumbled for a word, squinting to access the
search engine of his mind, they waited.
In a few hours, 13-year-old Aman Chhipa would be back at home sitting in
front of his computer playing a video game, pretending he was a knight
slaying giant spiders with a gem-laden sword. But at that moment, and for
an hour each night this month, he is a boy leading a room full of
men.
Aman and another teenager, Uzair Jawed, 16, were thrust into the revered
role of imam, or prayer leader, at the Islamic Community Center of
Northern Virginia, mostly out of desperation. A cleric from South Africa
was supposed to lead the center's nightly prayer for Ramadan, the holiest
month for Muslims, as he had done for the past three years. But after
Ismail Mullah arrived at Dulles International Airport on Sept. 22, he was
detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials and sent back to
South Africa.
The center, in Woodbridge, had prepared for months for Mullah's arrival
and had paid thousands of dollars for his airfare. Without him, its
leaders had less than a day to find a hafiz -- someone who had memorized
the more than 6,200 Arabic verses of the Koran and could recite them
without looking at the text.
They searched among the adults. No one. They called other mosques. No
one.
They then turned to the two boys, the only ones among them who had
mastered the text enough to guide the congregation through the 30
sections in 30 days. The Koran is divided into 114 chapters containing
more than 6,200 verses comprising about 80,000 words. It is like learning
part of the Bible in Latin when you don't speak Latin.
"I thought, how am I going to do this?" Aman said. "I was
nervous. It's a huge responsibility."
Aman is an eighth-grader at Fred M. Lynn Middle School in Woodbridge
whose family is from India. He memorized the Koran by age 10. Uzair, 16,
is a ninth-grader at Woodbridge Senior High School whose family is from
Pakistan. He memorized it by the time he was 13.
Together, they lead the nightly prayer, correcting each other when
needed, as is custom. Days that were once spent perched in front of a
PlayStation 2 for hours, they said, are now heavy with studying that
starts about 5 a.m. and stretches to about 11:30 p.m., with school and
life in between.
"Before we were hafiz, we were just kids," Uzair said.
He and Aman might be the nation's youngest imams, said Nihad Awad, the
national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, the largest Islamic civil liberties group in the United
States. The two are also a testament to the post-9/11 need for U.S.
Muslims to groom their own leaders and stop depending on those from other
countries, he said.
"Imams who come from overseas, sometimes they bring a different
mentality. They come from Muslim-majority places. They have different
cultures, norms and traditions," Awad said. "I think it's
important that we develop our own." (MORE)
A judge ruled yesterday that a lawsuit brought by the Islamic Society of
Boston asserting that news media outlets and other individuals had
conspired to publish false and defamatory information about mosque
leaders could go forward.
The Islamic Society sued a group of individuals and entities including
the Boston Herald, WFXT-TV (Channel 25), a pro-Israel group The David
Project, and terrorism specialist Steven Emerson asserting that they
coordinated a campaign falsely linking mosque officials to Islamic
extremism and terrorist groups in television and newspaper
stories.
The plaintiffs say that the connections were fabricated and that the
stories have interfered with their right to the free exercise of their
religion. They also said the stories stalled development of their planned
Roxbury mosque, drying up donations to the project. (MORE)
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 30 - Hundreds of Muslim cabdrivers at Minneapolis-St.
Paul International Airport may soon be required to put different colored
lights atop their vehicles after refusing to take customers they know are
carrying alcohol.
The proposal, which would allow airport workers to direct travelers to
cabs more efficiently, needs approval from the airport's taxicab advisory
committee, and airport officials hope to have the lights ready by year's
end.
If the proposal is adopted, cabdrivers without the light who refuse a
fare will be sent to the back of the line, which often means a three-hour
wait.
Some said they would rather wait for another fare than carry a passenger
with alcohol. "It is forbidden in Islam to carry alcohol," said
Muhamed Mursal, a cabdriver.
Pat Hogan, an airport spokesman, said a handful of drivers began refusing
to carry alcohol 10 years ago. Now he estimates that three-quarters of
the 900 airport cabdrivers are Somali, most of them Muslim.
(MORE)
HOUMA -- The FBI temporarily shut down and raided a handful of local
convenience stores Thursday, leading Arab store owners to decry the
search-and-seizure operations as racial profiling. (MORE)
SYDNEY, Australia Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Sunday
condemned a shooting at a west coast mosque, saying all Australians have
a right to worship in peace.
Police have yet to identify the gunman who fired into a crowded mosque in
the city of Perth on Friday evening as 400 men, women and children
observed the holy month of Ramadan. The offender fled in a car after a
single shot, police said.
No one was injured, but a witness said the shot narrowly missed
worshippers and left children screaming.
Howard described the shooting as a criminal act that should be
punished.
"Attacks on religious buildings, be they churches, synagogues,
mosques or any other religious buildings, are completely unacceptable and
whenever they occur those responsible should be hunted down and brought
to justice," Howard told reporters in his hometown of Sydney.
(MORE)
A pig's head was found dumped outside a mosque in south Wales hours
before the holy festival of Ramadan began, police have said.
It was discovered outside the Jamia Mosque in Newport at 2230 BST on
Saturday, 23 September.
Gwent Police were called to the scene and have begun a hate crime inquiry
to identify the culprit in what is being seen as "premeditated"
attack. (MORE)
As the discussion over Islamophobia continues in the Western world, a new
attack targeting Muslims took place in Moscow.
A group of people threw Molotov cocktails at a mosque in the Yaroslavi
district of Moscow, where discrimination has increases dramatically. The
small fire caused by the Molotov cocktail was put off by officers. The
incident is reported to be the second attack the same place in the last
five days.
The attackers drew swastikas on the walls of the mosque and chanted
racist slogans. (MORE)
Seth Stein is used to jetting around the world to create stylish holiday
homes for wealthy clients. This means the hip architect is familiar with
the irritations of heightened airline security post-9/11. But not even he
could have imagined being mistaken for an Islamist terrorist and
physically pinned to his seat while aboard an American Airlines flight -
especially as he has Jewish origins.
Yet this is what happened when he travelled back from a business trip to
the Turks and Caicos islands via New York on 22 May. Still traumatised by
his ordeal, the 47-year-old is furious that the airline failed to protect
him from the gung-ho actions of an over-zealous passenger who claimed to
be a police officer. He has now instructed a team of top US lawyers to
act for him.
The London-based interiors guru, whose clients have included Peter
Mandelson and the husband-and-wife design team Suzanne Clements and
Ignacio Ribeiro, said he felt compelled to speak out to protect other
innocent travellers from a similar experience.
"This man could have garrotted me and what was awful was that one or
two of the passengers went up afterwards to thank him," said Mr
Stein. He has since been told by airline staff he was targeted because he
was using an iPod, had used the toilet when he got on the plane and that
his tan made him appear "Arab".
On May 22, 2006, President Bush spoke in Chicago and gave a
characteristically upbeat forecast: "Years from now, people will
look back on the formation of a unity government in Iraq as a decisive
moment in the story of liberty, a moment when freedom gained a firm
foothold in the Middle East and the forces of terror began their long
retreat."
Two days later, the intelligence division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
circulated a secret intelligence assessment to the White House that
contradicted the president's forecast. (MORE)
For more than two years now, the U.S. government has barred me from
entering the United States to pursue an academic career. The reasons have
changed over time, and have evolved from defamatory to absurd, but the
effect has remained the same: I've been kept out. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MN RADIO STATION THANKED FOR 'MUSLIM JEOPARDY'
SKIT APOLOGY Contest categories reportedly included 'smells like a
Shia'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/2/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights and advocacy group today thanked a Minnesota radio station for
reacting positively to concerns about an on-air skit that offended Muslim
listeners.
A complaint received by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) stated that
KDWB-FM recently aired a segment called
"Muslim Jeopardy" in which a person reportedly used a fake
South Asian accent in announcing contest categories such as
"infamous infidels," "potent portables" and
"smells like a Shia." The complaint also stated that a female
host was threatened with beheading when she got an answer wrong.
In a letter sent last week to KDWB, CAIR wrote:
"Given the existing prejudice against and stereotyping of Islam
and Muslims, we believe Islamophobic rhetoric can and does have a
negative impact on the lives of ordinary American Muslims.
"CAIR issues an annual report on the status of American Muslim civil
rights outlining hundreds of incidents involving anti-Muslim
discrimination, harassment and even physical violence. Just this past
week, there was a sniper attack on a mosque in Florida. In August, a
Minneapolis mosque was targeted by arsonists.
"It is our belief, based on years of experience, that many of these
incidents result from the images of Islam and Muslims put forward in the
news and entertainment industries.
"We have no desire to inhibit free speech or freedom of expression.
However, it is our duty to defend both America's traditions of ethnic and
religious tolerance and the safety of the American Muslim
community."
The letter asked KDWB to investigate the matter and to take
"appropriate action" based on the results of the
investigation.
As a result of complaints about the skit, KDWB morning host Dave Ryan
issued an apology and the station placed the following "Public
Statement" on its web site:
"KDWB does not condone making light of Islam and Muslims. We regret
that listeners found the 'Muslim Jeopardy' comedy skit of one of our
on-air hosts to be insensitive."
The station has also agreed to work with CAIR and the Minnesota Muslim
community to offer public service announcements that would promote
interfaith understanding.
"We thank KDWB for responding positively to the Muslim community's
concerns," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim
Hooper. "Freedom of expression and respect for the religious
sensitivities of others need not be mutually exclusive
concepts."
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR national Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; Rabiah Ahmed,
202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail:
rahmed@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "No companion of mine
should tell me anything bad about another person. For when I meet you, I
would like my heart to be clean (unbiased.)"
Fresno Catholic Bishop John Steinbock will make a public gesture of good
will toward Muslims following the pope's controversial comments about
Islam, a Valley Muslim leader says.
Steinbock will appear Oct. 13 at the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno,
said Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, director of the center.
"Our commitment is to pursue stronger relationships with people of
faith," Abu-Shamsieh said. "We want the Catholic Church to
share with the Muslim community their respect of Islam, and we thought a
visit by the bishop would be sending a message of respect."
(MORE)
-----
CAIR: ISLAMIC OFFICIALS
CRITICAL OF PROBE DELAY -
TOP
Brian Lazenby,
Chattanooga Times, 10/2/06
More than two months after officials at the Council on
American-Islamic Relations called for an investigation into a video
of a man shooting a copy of the Quran and throwing it on the doorstep of
a local mosque, authorities said they are unsure if they will
prosecute.
"It is contingent upon how long it takes us to gather and
investigate the material," said Cynthia Magnuson, spokeswoman with
the U.S. Department of Justice.
She said there is no timeline regarding when a decision will be
made.
That doesn't sit well with officials with the Annour Islamic Center here
in Chattanooga who view the act as a hate crime.
"We strongly feel that this is taking too long," said Khalid
Hashmi, spokesman for the Islamic Center at 1410 Cemetery Ave. "We
feel that a decision should be quickly made because all the information
is readily available."
Arsalan Iftikhar, national legal director with the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said he, too, is concerned with the
delay.
"It is very disconcerting to see that two men who shoot up a Quran
with a semi-automatic rifle and throw it on the front steps of a
Tennessee mosque would not be promptly prosecuted for religious
intimidation," he said. "This racist act is the millennial
moral equivalent of burning a cross in front of an African-American
church."
Federal authorities in Chattanooga said they passed information on to the
U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division in July, when
officials at the Council on American-Islamic Relations discovered the
video clip titled "kill the koran" posted on MySpace. com, an
online networking service. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-SAN ANTONIO TRAINS TEXAS POLICE ABOUT
ISLAM -
TOP
(SAN ANTONIO, TX, 10/2/06) - The San Antonio office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Antonio) recently held a diversity
training workshop on Islam and American Muslims at the Texas Municipal
Police Association in Austin, Texas.
The workshop outlined basic Islamic beliefs, common stereotypes of Islam
and Muslims, Muslim demographics, and ways to improve
interactions/communication with the community. A question and answer
session followed the workshop.
"We need this kind of workshop to help keep channels of
communication open and to work hand-in-hand with law enforcement agencies
to protect both civil liberties and our nation's security," said
Sarwat Husain, chairwoman for CAIR-SA.
CAIR-San Antonio offers these workshops to different organizations
throughout the year to promote understanding of Islam and American
Muslims in South Texas.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 32 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.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Top 40 radio station KDWB-FM has apologized for an
on-air comedy skit called "Muslim Jeopardy."
The skit included an announcer using a fake South Asia accent introducing
contest categories such as "infamous infidels" and "potent
portables," according to the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations, which said it had received complaints
about the skit.
The skit also included a threat to behead a female host when she got an
answer wrong, CAIR said.
On Monday, the station's Web site contained a short apology: "KDWB
does not condone making light of Islam and Muslims. We regret that
listeners found the Muslim Jeopardy comedy skit of one of our on-air
hosts to be insensitive."
CAIR issued a statement on Monday applauding the station's response. .
.
Gregg Swedberg, operations manager for Clear Channel's Minneapolis
office, said it was against company policy to discuss whether any
disciplinary action had been taken against morning host Dave Ryan. Ryan
remains on the air, Swedberg said.
Two American citizens of Pakistani descent returned to the United States
on Sunday, five months after they were denied permission to fly home to
California unless they submitted to an interrogation by F.B.I. terrorism
investigators.
The men, Muhammad Ismail, 45, and his son, Jaber, 19, of the Northern
California farming town of Lodi, returned from Pakistan on a flight that
landed at Kennedy Airport in New York around 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. They
were scheduled to arrive in California on Sunday night or early Monday on
a connecting flight, their lawyer said Sunday.
The Ismails are an uncle and cousin of Hamid Hayat, a Lodi man who was
convicted in April in federal court of providing material support to
terrorists. Mr. Hayat told investigators he had attended a terrorism
training camp during a long stay in Pakistan and intended to carry out
unspecified attacks in the United States. Mr. Hayat's father, Umer, was
convicted on a lesser charge of lying to investigators about the amount
of cash he carried to Pakistan on a 2003 trip, but a jury deadlocked on
terrorism charges.
The Ismails were not charged in the case. They attributed their
predicament to being related to the Hayats, the only people to have been
charged in what federal prosecutors have described as an investigation
into possible terrorism links in Lodi.
Julia Harumi Mass of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern
California, who is representing the Ismails, said the pair had no
terrorism connections. In a complaint in August to the Department of
Homeland Security, she urged the authorities to explain any accusations
against them and why they had been denied permission to fly
home.
Legal experts said the matter raised questions about balancing terrorism
investigations against American citizens' right to travel freely without
having been charged with a crime or detained as a suspect.
On Sept. 6, nearly a month after Ms. Mass's complaint, the Homeland
Security Department notified her in a letter and telephone call that
unspecified records had been modified "to address any delay or
denial boarding" the pair had encountered. Ms. Mass said she took
that to mean they were cleared to fly, and the Ismails arranged financing
and bought tickets home.
"I never imagined that the country I was born in would stop me from
coming home for five months and separate me from my family, especially
when I was not charged with a crime," Jaber Ismail said in a
statement released through the A.C.L.U. (MORE)
Baalbek, Lebanon -- On most weekends, the ancient Roman temples of
Baalbek attracted hundreds of visitors.
But on Sunday, despite clear skies and a cool breeze, there was only a
trickle of tourists to the picturesque town nestled between two mountain
ranges.
Located east of Beirut in the fertile Bekaa Valley, the town has seen its
economy suffer after this summer's conflict between Hizballah and Israel.
Tourism throughout Lebanon has taken a big hit, U.S. officials and
Lebanese residents say.
At the Roman temples, tour guide Hussein Al-Outa, 66, said visitation is
down 90% since the conflict started in July.
And down the street, Ali Awad, 45, said his restaurant is
struggling.
"This street is for tourist people," Awad said, standing on a
narrow path once popular with tourists. "And now, I haven't
worked."
As he spoke, he pointed to a pile of rubble behind him that was once a
five-story commercial building. He said the building was bombed during
the fighting between Hizballah and Israel.
Israel says it was just defending itself against Hizballah. The militant
group had captured Israeli soldiers, setting off the conflict.
The conflict, which ended Aug. 14, was the main topic of discussion
earlier in the day between U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman and
a group of metro Detroiters touring the region with the Dearborn-based
American Arab Chamber of Commerce. The Free Press is accompanying the
group.
Before the war started, "Lebanon was moving forward," Feltman
told the group at a meeting in Beirut.
In the first six months of this year, Lebanon had more exports than in
all of 2005, Feltman said. And in June, Lebanon had the highest number of
tourists in decades, Feltman said.
Now, he said, "all of that is lost."
The metro Detroiters saw the damage firsthand Sunday en route to Baalbek.
They gazed at the Mdairej bridge -- once the tallest bridge in Lebanon.
The structure was a symbol of the country's determination to recover
after years of civil war, said Ahmad Chebbani, the owner of a Dearborn
tax and accounting firm.
But during the conflict, Israel struck the bridge, sending a section of
its road crashing down hundreds of feet below.
Many metro Detroit families have roots in the Bekaa Valley and have heard
stories from relatives of the destruction in the region. (MORE)
With Lexington Jews marking the Days of Awe and Muslims celebrating
Ramadan, members of both communities paused yesterday to honor God and to
remember their religious inheritance.
Holocaust survivor Sylvia Green, 82, stood in the Lexington Cemetery,
surrounded by Jewish graves, and prayed for the departed members of her
community.
It's a yearly ritual that she and many other Jews faithfully observe
during the High Holy Days.
With the beginning of Yom Kippur -- the holiest day of the Jewish
calendar -- only hours away, Green and about 65 others recited Psalms in
Hebrew and in English. Then many of them placed small mementoes on the
tombstones -- rocks, pennies, acorns and apples. . .
While Jews gathered at houses of worship to mark the Day of Atonement,
Muslims assembled at Veterans Park Elementary School yesterday evening to
pray and feast after a day of fasting for Ramadan. During this month of
spiritual renewal, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex
from dawn to dusk.
As the sun set, worshipers ate dates and listened to the call to prayer:
"God is great. God is great. ... There is no God, but
God."
Leaving tables heaped high with delicacies, about 200 Muslims filed into
the school's gymnasium, took off their shoes and turned toward Mecca. Men
in the front, women in the back, they bowed in reverence to the Almighty.
Afterward, men in one line, women in another, they waited to pass through
the potluck line.
The menu ranged from traditional Middle Eastern cuisine to pizza and
there was plenty to go around.
The fellowship was more important than the food, Dr. Ahmad Ramadan said.
"It's basically hearts and souls united together. You meet your
fellow Muslims from all over the world." (MORE)
The Roman Catholic peace group Pax Christi USA has decided to fast, but
it's not waiting for Lent. After Pope Benedict XVI quoted a Byzantine
emperor's statement that Islam is "evil and inhuman," the group
said that, to soothe tensions, thousands of its members are fasting for
Ramadan. (For the 30 days of the Islamic holy month, observant Muslims
abstain from food, drink and other earthly pleasures from sunup to
sundown; the practice is one of the five required Pillars of Islam.) The
people of Pax Christi are not alone. Especially since 9/11, non-Muslims
have fasted to express political solidarity with Muslims, to increase
awareness of global hunger, as a spiritual discipline, or to strengthen
interfaith friendship.
More than 250 colleges are expected to participate this year in a
Fast-a-thon, a one-day event for non-Muslim and Muslim students to draw
attention to world hunger and raise money for local food banks. The event
began after 9/11 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and has
spread around the nation. Last year almost 1,800 students participated at
Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Some Ramadan fasts have a
political message. Members of a local antiwar group in Ann Arbor, Mich.,
have organized a "solidarity fast"-three-day shifts or for the
entire 30 days-to demonstrate opposition to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, plus the recent fighting in Lebanon. But dozens of American
service members in Al Anbar province in Iraq are fasting, too, according
to Sgt. Jeremy Pitcher, a spokesman for Coalition forces in Iraq. He says
the fast is "a gesture of good will, a gesture of respect for the
nation of Iraq, for the culture of Iraq." (MORE)
KABUL, Afghanistan - Capt. Amanullah, a former mujahedeen commander,
smooths his black beard with his palm and gives a deep and ironic laugh
as he recounts his 14 miserable months in Bagram, the U.S. prison for
terror suspects in Afghanistan.
"There were lots of stupid questions and accusations with no
proof," said the 56-year-old veteran of combat against the Soviet
occupation. He insists he was there only because Afghan rivals lied about
him to the U.S. Army.
He's far from alone in his assertion of innocence - or his inability to
make that heard for so long. Like many who have passed through the
secretive jail set up after the fall of the Taliban regime, Amanullah
found himself entangled in a system where he had no protection and no
rights, and not even the pressure of public scrutiny that helped inmates
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
"There's been a silence about Bagram, and much less political
discussion about it," said Richard Bennett, the chief U.N. human
rights officer in Afghanistan.
Originally intended as a short-term holding pen for al-Qaida and Taliban
suspects later shipped to Guantanamo, Bagram has expanded and acquired
its own notoriety over abuse allegations though attracting much less
international attention than the U.S. detention facility in
Cuba.
The U.S. plans to turn over the Afghan nationals in its custody to the
Afghan government by next summer. They will be sent to a new
high-security wing at the Afghan government's main Policharki prison in
Kabul - scene of repeated deadly riots and escapes in recent years. But
non-Afghans currently held at Bagram will stay in U.S. custody, officials
say.
Bagram's estimated 500 inmates are mostly Afghans, but also are believed
to include Arabs, Pakistanis and some Central Asians. They wear the same
orange jump suits and shaven heads as the "enemy combatants" at
Guantanamo, but lack even the scant legal rights granted to the inmates
at that facility, such as the right to appear at military hearings that
assess whether they pose a security threat. In some cases, they have been
held without charge for three to four years, rights workers say.
New legislation would extend anti-torture protections to all prisoners in
U.S. custody. But only those hand-picked by the president or the military
would get rights to legal representation and a hearing. So far, that has
been accorded to only a handful of men at Guantanamo, and none held at
Bagram or in Iraq, where more than 13,000 are in U.S. custody without
charge. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
HADITH OF THE DAY: HELPING OTHERS IS A FORM OF
WORSHIP -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The person who looks
after a widow or the poor is like. . .someone who prayers all night and
fasts all day."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Hadith 265
-----
CAIR-NY TO TAKE PART IN MTG ON
QURAN DESECRATION -
TOP
(NEW YORK, NY, 10/3/06) - On Tuesday, October 3, the New York chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) will participate in a
town hall meeting at Pace University to discuss a recent incident in
which a Quran, Islam's revealed text, was found in the toilet in a campus
men's room. CAIR-NY is calling on the university to treat the incident as
a possible hate crime.
WHAT: Town Hall Meeting at Pace University
WHEN: Tuesday, October 3, 2006, 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Schimmel Center, Pace University (NYC campus)
CAIR-NY sees this incident as evidence of the growing phenomenon of
Islamophobia in the United States and will encourage Pace University to
hold more town hall meetings for the student population in order to
create a better understanding of Islam.
NEW YORK (AP) - A lower Manhattan college is investigating how a
paperback copy of the Quran from the campus library ended up in a public
toilet, school officials said Tuesday.
The discovery at Pace University was among three separate incidents in
the past two weeks involving vandalism with racial or religious
overtones. In the other two, racial slurs were scrawled on a student's
car parked at a satellite campus in Westchester County and on a bathroom
wall at the downtown campus.
University President David A. Caputo said the incidents did not appear to
be related. But he called them "deeply disturbing" and invited
faculty and students to discuss them Tuesday afternoon at a meeting.
(MORE)
CAIR-Florida Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier appears on the
Political Connections "Soapbox" segment to share his views on
the violent reaction by a few Muslims to the Pope's recent remarks on
Islam. In his statement, Bedier urges Muslims to respond within the
guidelines of Islam, using peaceful non-violent means.
(MIAMI, FL, 10/03/2006) - Representatives of the Florida office of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL), along with other
American Muslim leaders, met yesterday with the Archbishop of Miami, to
discuss the controversy surrounding recent comments on Islam by Pope
Benedict XVI.
The Islamic delegation discussed the Florida Muslim community's specific
concerns over the Pope's remarks and stated that the proper response to
the incident is for Muslims and Catholics in the state to increase
dialogue and outreach efforts aimed at building better relations between
Christianity and Islam.
Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora welcomed the Muslim delegation and
reiterated a statement made earlier during Mass: "The dialogue will
not be complete until there is dialogue that includes
Islam."
"The Archbishop's approach is most welcome and we look forward to
creating a united front on matters of religious tolerance and interfaith
efforts," said CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali
CAIR has 32 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-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-MAIL:
altaf@cairfl.org; Melissa Matos,
Communication Director, 954-272-0490, E-MAIL:
melissa@cairfl.org
---
CAIR-MI: MUSLIMS
PARTICIPATE IN YOM KIPPUR/RAMADAN FAST-BREAKING PROGRAM -
TOP
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 10/3/06) - Representatives from the Michigan
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), the
Islamic Center of America in Dearborn and the Shadhuli Sufi Center of
Peace and Mercy in Ann Arbor joined the Michigan Jewish community at the
First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor for a joint
fast-breaking program yesterday in observance of Yom Kippur and
Ramadan.
This is the first event of its kind in the Ann Arbor area, which is home
to large Jewish and Muslim populations.
"As fellow children of Abraham, it is important for us to share our
spiritual traditions to help enhance respect and interfaith understanding
in Michigan," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
CAIR-MI: MUSLIMS WELCOME
TRAINING ABOUT ISLAM FOR MSU FACULTY, STUDENTS -
TOP
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 10/3/06) - The Michigan chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today welcomed a decision by
administrators at Michigan State University to hold diversity training
sessions for its faculty and student body.
The training will include an Islamic awareness workshop funded by the
university and given in conjunction with the Muslim Students Association
(MSA).
Representatives of CAIR-MI and the MSA at Michigan State University met
with university officials to discuss instituting diversity programming
for faculty as a result of an incident earlier this year in which a
tenured professor sent an offensive e-mail to the MSA.
In the
e-mail sent on February 28, 2006, Dr. Indrek Wichman referred to
Muslims as "dissatisfied, agressive (sic), brutal, and uncivilized
slave-trading Moslems."
"We are glad that Michigan State University affirmed its commitment
to inclusion and to creating a healthy academic environment for its
students by instituting these measures," said CAIR-MI Executive
Director Dawud Walid.
The restaurant manager from Morocco, the Armenian caterer from Syria and
the Yemeni sailor aren't all Muslims and hail from different homelands.
But all three say they suffered discrimination at work after Sept. 11,
2001, because of their national origin or perceptions that they were
Muslim.
Now, they are among those who have filed lawsuits through the California
offices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - reflecting
increasing discrimination against people of Middle Eastern and South
Asian descent, according to advocacy groups.
"I did not think this would happen when I came here," said
Abdellatif Hadji, who moved from Morocco to the United States in 1989 and
recently filed an EEOC suit against a Mendocino County restaurant where
he was a manager. "America is the land of
opportunity."
Reports of workplace discrimination against people perceived to be Muslim
or Arab soared after the Sept. 11 attacks and then declined, government
statistics indicate. But some advocates say they've seen a resurgence in
the last year that corresponds to global political events.
"Anytime there's anything in the news . . . that is related to the
Middle East, you see a spike in hate-motivated and employment-related
incidents," said Kareem Shora, director of the legal department of
the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
After 9/11, the EEOC introduced a category of employment discrimination
against people who are or are perceived to be Arab, Muslim, Middle
Eastern, South Asian or Sikh. Nationwide statistics from the EEOC
indicate that such complaints - so far exceeding 1,000 - have decreased
each year since 2002.
However, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations
says it processed more civil-rights and workplace discrimination
complaints in 2005 than ever before. The annual total jumped to 1,972 in
2005 from 1,522 in 2004. The discrepancy may indicate that victims fear
reporting discrimination to the government.
"We only see the tip of the iceberg," said Joan Ehrlich,
district director of the EEOC office in San Francisco. "It's
probably not even reflective of the amount of discrimination going on
because people are afraid to come to the government for help."
(MORE)
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a lawsuit by parents
objecting to a three-week class for seventh-graders on Islam.
Jonas and Tiffany Eklund say pupils at a public school in California were
given pages from the opening chapter of the Koran to read and studied
Islam's Five Pillars of Faith in a world history unit on Muslim
culture.
The Eklunds wanted the Supreme Court to find that the world history unit
entitled "The Roots of Islam and the Empire" violates
constitutional guarantees separating church and state.
"Parents entrust public schools with educating their children, not
indoctrinating them in religion," the Eklunds' lawyers stated in a
brief asking the Supreme Court to take the case. "The public school
here had children become Muslims for three weeks."
The Byron Union School District "moved far beyond a mere explanation
of the historical or literary significance of Islam," the parents'
lawyers argued. The district is east of San Francisco.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Islam program activities
were not overt religious exercises and therefore did not raise U.S.
constitutional concerns. (MORE)
One Nyssa parent said she is upset about the amount of time and detail
the school district has allocated for an educational unit on Islam in her
son's seventh-grade social studies class.
Kendlee Garner said her son studied world geography for one week and then
the class launched the Islam unit that has already spanned four
weeks.
She said that isn't right.
"I bet if you took a world map into the middle school, not one kid
could plot Iraq, but now they can all put on a Muslim headdress,"
Garner said.
The class has spent far too much time studying Islam, she said.
"When they only spent a week on geography, I figured if they were
only going to spend a week on Islam it wouldn't be so bad," Garner
said. "But it has just dragged on and on."
The unit has involved guest speakers, skits and reports, but an activity
on Thursday where students in all three social studies classes dressed in
traditional Islamic outfits upset Garner because of the religious nature
and the lack of parental notification.
She said she did not want her children putting on garb from other
religions, and when she complained, her son was given an alternative
assignment and sent to the library.
"The only reason I knew about it was because my son told me about
it," she said. "They sent him to the library instead of
stopping what they were doing. I'm sure people would be outraged if they
dressed up as the Pope."
Nyssa School District Superintendent Don Grotting said as part of
Benchmark 3 of the state standards, the school has taught similar units
in the past.
"I've been here six years," Grotting said. "This is the
only person who has ever voiced, to me, a complaint about it."
(MORE)
In a society where religious differences can be sensitive, sometimes all
it takes are young, eager minds to break the ice.
To learn more about one another's faiths, students from Morasha Jewish
Day School, St. John's Episcopal School and New Horizon Islamic
Elementary School will interact, engage in hands-on activities, and
create art and poetry pieces over the next few weeks.
The fourth- through eighth-grade students are taking part in a
semesterlong study of Christianity, Islam and Judaism orchestrated by the
Anti-Defamation League Orange County/Long Beach Region's Jerusalem Sky
Project.
The children recently held the first of four meetings, focusing on the
Muslim faith at New Horizon in Irvine. . .
After learning about Islam, students played a game to share their common
interests, despite their different religious backgrounds. . .
Students will meet next at Morasha Jewish Day School on Oct. 12 and will
meet on Nov. 8 at St. John's Episcopal School, both in Rancho Santa
Margarita. At the end of the program, students will exhibit poetry and
art from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 27 at Rancho's Bell Tower.
"We're not very different," said Benjamin Siegel, a
sixth-grader from Morasha. . .
Over 100 members of Harvard's Jewish and Muslim communities packed
Ticknor Lounge last night to break their religious fasts
together.
In an event organized by the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS) and Harvard
Hillel, Muslim and Jewish students feasted on falafel and hummus after
sundown to break the fasting observed during Yom Kippur and
Ramadan.
The Jewish Holy Day occurred during the holiest month of the Islamic
calendar this year and both groups abstained from food until
sundown.
The fast to observe Yom Kippur began at sundown on Sunday and ended last
night. Those observing Ramadan will continue fasting from sunrise until
sunset everyday until the end of the Holy Month on Oct. 22.
United by their hunger, participants from both communities said they were
pleased with the large turnout and cooperation between the religious
groups.
HIS President Ali A. Zaidi '08 said that interfaith events like this one
help to "open dialogue, clear misconceptions, and help create common
community between seemingly disparate groups."
The collaboration between members of the two religions was well received
by students, who mingled and discussed everything from the politics in
the Middle East to their class work.
"When problems come up, it's good to have the foundation of a
friendship to discuss matters, whether religious or political," said
Harvard Hillel's Vice President for Community Relations Erica L. Farber
'07.
"This [event] represents what's awesome and unique about this
community," Matthew R. Greenfield '08 said.
This was not the first time that HIS and Hillel have brought their
members together. Last year, leaders of Hillel and HIS realized that Yom
Kippur and Ramadan would fall during the same period for the next couple
of years, according to Farber. A joint breaking of the fast was organized
last year as well, resulting in the creation of "Jews and
Muslims," a group of freshmen who met every week for meals in
Annenberg Hall, Farber said. (MORE)
During Ramadan, the ninth month on the Islamic calendar, practicing
Muslims worldwide fast, pray, and take part in acts of charity to better
themselves.
However, they're not the only ones who benefit from the observance.
Locally, a number of needy people, many of them not Muslims, will reap
rewards from the sacrifices made by followers of the prophet
Muhammad.
For example, about $35,000 was raised on Sept. 23, the start of Ramadan,
at an event at the Worcester Islamic Center. The money will be given to
the Muslim Community Support Service.
That money will be used to help people from all around New England who
desperately need financial assistance.
"The Quran tells us that we must reach out to the poor," said
Tahir Ali, a spokesman for the Worcester Islamic Society. "Charity
is an important part of Ramadan."
Rasha Boura, a member of the center's Social Service Committee and
secretary at the MCSS, said the money raised will be used to help people
pay debts such as utility bills or funeral arrangements for a family
member. The service also provides doctors who offer free medical
consultations to the poor.
"We (the MCSS) are a group of Muslim individuals who volunteer our
time and efforts to help improve the lives of the less fortunate,"
said Ms. Boura, a real estate agent who lives in Northboro.
The Sept. 23 event drew about 500 people, and many Worcester-area Muslims
are expected to take part in the Humanitarian Day for the Homeless, which
will be held Oct. 14 at the Tobin Community Center on Tremont Street in
Boston.
The event, sponsored by Islamic Relief, will benefit about 2,000 homeless
people living in shelters in Greater Boston. (MORE)
The Muslim celebration of Ramadan, a season of penance and purification,
started on the weekend of Sept. 23-24. Muslims fast from dawn to sunset
for the month of Ramadan. At the conclusion of their fasting season comes
Idul Fitr, one of the two biggest feasts in Muslim society.
When fasting, Muslims start their day by having early breakfast (sahur)
about 4 a.m. They go about their regular activities, except they are
required to abstain from eating, drinking, having sex and smoking. At
sunset, they traditionally break their fast with something sweet,
traditionally dates.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is
required of those who have reached puberty and are physically and
mentally healthy. Children, pregnant, menstruating and/or breast-feeding
women, sick people, and those who are traveling are exempt from this
exercise. If a person finds it impossible to fast, he or she instead may
give away some food/money equivalent to what he or she would eat
daily.
However, if fasting merely were physical deprivation, it would only leave
Muslims with hunger, insincerity and greediness. The deepest meaning of
fasting relates closely to the human embodiment of suffering and poverty.
It cultivates love for the needy, here and elsewhere in the world, and it
motivates Muslims to give back to the community. In this sense, fasting
instills virtues common to Americans, especially religious freedom,
self-control, volunteerism, tolerance and hope for the future.
* Religious freedom: Muslims exercise the freedom to become spiritually
better off so that they can become well-rounded individuals and better
members of society and citizens of the world.
* Self-control: Fasting demands Muslims to be good at all times, not
causing or inciting harm to others. Any harm done by Muslims during
Ramadan or at any other time does not reflect the spirit of Islam that
fosters peace.
* Volunteerism: The act of fasting helps us to understand the plight of
the poor and to build solidarity within our own communities. Many Muslims
come to mosques during Ramadan to break fast together, followed by
evening prayer. They also gather for taraweeh (a set of recommended
prayers only performed during Ramadan).
Muslims act on this sense of community by getting involved in food
drives, food distribution to the needy and giving to local charities.
This generosity reflects Muslims' compassion and care for humanity.
(MORE)
(Etin Anwar is an assistant professor of religious studies, Hobart and
William Smith Colleges in Geneva. E-mail her at
anwar@hws.edu.)
College athletes often find it hard to eat healthfully while juggling all
the demands on their time. Classes, homework, team meetings, practice and
games can leave little time for cooking and eating. However, athletes
know that proper fueling can improve performance.
So what's an athlete to do when religious beliefs call for fasting from
sunrise to sunset for a full month during the competitive sports season?
Muslim athletes are facing that challenge now, during Ramadan, the month
of fasting. Athletes who adhere to the tenets of Islam avoid all food and
drink at daybreak until sunset.
Weiss Tahmass, a Georgia State University soccer player, met with me last
year to develop a plan to get adequate nutrition for the two meals a day
he consumed during Ramadan.
Tahmass is a midfielder who typically runs five to six miles during
practice that occurs in the middle of the afternoon, when heat and
humidity are at their highest. (MORE)
In a move already sparking debate, the student government at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn passed a resolution last week demanding
the school stop doing business with Israel.
The student Senate unanimously approved a resolution last Tuesday calling
on the Board of Regents, which also sets policy for Michigan's campuses
in Ann Arbor and Flint, to divest from companies that profit from the
actions of the Israeli military in what the resolution claims are
"illegally occupied territories."
"We want the university to withdraw their investments so these
companies think twice about selling their products or their services to
the military," said Bilal Dabaja, 21, a senior political science
major.
The vote passed unanimously, and Dabaja said it had nothing to do with
the campus's location in Dearborn, the heart of the region's
Arab-American community. Dabaja said student leaders at UM-Dearborn hope
students at the university's Ann Arbor and Flint campuses will pass
similar resolutions.
Julie Peterson, spokeswoman for the university, said investment and
divestment decisions are made according to a policy established by the
Board of Regents with input from the faculty.
"Students are students, and they have all kinds of ways of
expressing themselves -- that's part of what being a student is
about," Peterson said.
Dabaja said the 33-member student Senate is a diverse body,
representative of the entire campus community. UM-Dearborn spokesman
Terry Gallager said the university doesn't track students by ethnicity,
but about 11 percent of students who fill out information forms at
registration say they are Muslim. (MORE)
Muslims praying heard stones hitting their cars outside the Jamia Masjid
mosque in Preston, Lancashire, at 9pm yesterday.
About 200 worshippers emerged to confront the stone-throwers and about
100 police were deployed to defuse the situation. A 16-year-old boy was
stabbed during the confrontation but suffered only a minor
injury.
Police said this was one of a series of incidents in which the Asian
community had been targeted in the city.
Chief Supt Mike Barton said: "These problems are being caused by a
small group of criminals in the area who are intent on intimidating the
local community.
"Last night a number of cars were damaged outside the mosque and
people who were worshipping inside came out to see what was going on. Not
surprisingly, they have been very angry.
No one from the mosque was available for comment.
The disturbance follows the death of an Asian man in Preston in July in
what police said was a racially motivated attack.
Shezsan Umarji, 20, died during a mass street fight between Asian and
white youths. Three teenagers have been charged over the attack.
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
VERSE OF THE DAY: NONE WILL BE DEALT WITH UNJUSTLY -
TOP
"Be conscious of the Day when you will all return to God; when every
human being will be paid in full what they have earned, and none will be
dealt with unjustly."
The Holy Quran, 2:281
-----
GOOD NEWS: MN MUSLIM WORKERS GRANTED RAMADAN
BREAK -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/4/06) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) today said that Muslim employees at Lake Region
Manufacturing in Chaska, Minn., have been given the right to take their
break at sunset during the month of Ramadan.
The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group received a
report that employees were being forced to wait to break their Ramadan
fast until almost two hours after sunset.
(Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims
abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from break of dawn
to sunset.)
After CAIR sent a letter to the company, the workers were allowed to take
their break at sunset.
CONTACT: CAIR Civil Rights Manager Khadija Athman,
202-646-6033
-----
CAIR: MUSLIM BIAS HITS ALL-TIME HIGH -
TOP
Samantha Henry,
Herald News, 10/4/06
Despite educational outreach programs, sensitivity training and
cross-cultural soul searching in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, a
recent report has found anti-Muslim bias attacks are at an all-time
high.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nationwide nonprofit
Islamic civil liberties organization, showed a nearly 30 percent increase
in anti-Muslim bias incidents between 2004 and 2005, the highest number
of complaints since the group started compiling statistics more than a
decade ago.
The report, released in late September, found 80 percent of the
complaints concentrated in just eight states and the District of Columbia
-- with 4 percent of cases in New Jersey.
Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's national legal director, said the fact
that CAIR now has offices in 32 states and that a lot more people are
coming forward to report bias incidents have contributed to the increased
numbers, but not enough to skew the bottom line.
"The primary reason is there is still rising anti-Muslim sentiment,
and Islamaphobia is becoming more institutionalized," Iftikhar said.
"You hear a lot more anti-Muslim rhetoric in media outlets, and
Muslim-bashing has sort of become the acceptable racism in this country
now."
New Jersey has the fifth-largest Arab-American population in the United
States, with an estimated 240,000 Arab-Americans, according to a census
analysis by the Washington D.C.-based Arab American Institute. New
Jersey's Arab-American Diaspora includes people of many different
religions, and the state is also home to several non-Arab populations of
Muslim faith.
Amal Elrafei, who works at the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
Committee in Clifton, said the recent CAIR findings reflected her own
experience with racial profiling this summer.
Elrafei, an American citizen, was returning from her native Egypt with
her three children in August when she said she was detained with more
than 200 other passengers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New
York. (MORE)
A federal judge in Detroit has ruled that a lawsuit by the Michigan ACLU
aimed at striking down the U.S. Patriot Act may proceed.
The 2003 lawsuit brought on behalf of Muslim and Arab groups alleges the
anti-terrorist law passed following the September 11 terror attacks is
unconstitutional because it allows searches without due process and
removes First Amendment rights, among other reasons.
The government argues amendments enacted over the last three years have
cured any deficiencies in the Patriot Act, but the ACLU
disagrees.
U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood said in an order Friday that the
plaintiffs in the case, which include the American Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, have shown sufficient evidence of harm to allow the
lawsuit to proceed.
"Plaintiffs have alleged that their members are afraid to attend
mosque, practice their religion, and express their opinions on religion
and political views," Hood said in her order.
She gave the ACLU 30 days to amend its complaint in light of amendments
to the act. (MORE)
-----
CA: FAITH COMPELS MUSLIM
DOCTORS TO HELP OTHERS -
TOP
Faith, hope and charity: two SLO Muslim doctors have put their faith into
action in charitable works that they hope display the true nature of
their religion
Sarah Arnquist, San Luis Obispo Tribune, 10/4/06
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispotribune/15674444.htm
Two San Luis Obispo doctors hope the 10th anniversary celebration of a
free clinic they helped found while in medical school will shed light on
the positive things Muslim-Americans do for their country.
Since their medical school days, Rushdi and Nishi Abdul Cader have put
their faith into action, serving in war zones, helping at-risk youth and
teaching their community about Islam.
They say they hope their work helps more Americans realize that the vast
majority of Muslims subscribe to a faith that compels them to help others
- not instigate violence. (MORE)
A billboard designed to educate drivers on Interstate 78 about Sikhism,
an Indian religion that Americans often confuse with Islam, has been
removed after it was marred by profanity aimed at Muslims.
"Arabs go to hell," someone wrote across the billboard in
black, along with "Jesus Saves," "Hell Yeah USA" and
a four-letter expletive directed at "Alah." Muslims pray to
Allah, which is Arabic for God.
The vandalism in Berks County came as midstate police were investigating
threatening letters and e-mails sent to Muslims in the Harrisburg and
York areas. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission said Friday there
have been "at least seven" such messages in the past two
months. (MORE)
A paperback copy of the Koran was tossed into a toilet on the lower
Manhattan campus of Pace University - the latest in a spate of bias
incidents upsetting students and administrators at the college, officials
said yesterday.
The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the vandalism of the
Koran, and the university's private security also is probing the
incident, sources said.
"A Koran thrown into the toilet? I am hurt, not just as a Muslim but
as a human being," said Zeina Berjaoui, 20, president of Pace's
Muslim Student Association.
In the past two weeks, vandals also scrawled a swastika and .anti-black
slurs on the same bathroom wall at Pace's campus near City Hall. Someone
also sprayed the N-word onto a car parked at the school's Westchester
County campus, cops and university sources said.
"One of our university's greatest strengths is its diversity,"
Pace President David Caputo wrote in a letter describing the incidents.
"When speech is hurtful towards a class of people or incites
violence, we must condemn it and take measures to stop it."
The copy of the Koran had been taken from the university .library before
being defaced Sept. 21. It turned up in the toilet approximately two
weeks ago. Today, cops will quiz the student who last withdrew the book,
police sources said. (MORE)
Officials at Pace University are investigating three separate incidents
of vandalism. In each case the vandalism was laced with religious or
racial overtones.
Pace University may be a diverse college but there are some who are
lashing out at its ethnic makeup:
Two weeks ago, someone threw a Koran from the library into the
toilet.
Several days later, there were anti-black slurs smeared against a
student's car.
And on Friday, more racial remarks in the men's room as well as a
swastika scrawled on the wall.
Douglas Whiting, Pace University Public Relations: "I think the
assumption going into the investigation that it's a member of the
community, which makes it even more disturbing."
The university invited the student body to a town meeting on Tuesday
night where they announced there are three separate investigations now
underway. . .
Right now, campus police are investigating the cases, not the police. The
cases are not being considered hate crimes. (MORE)
Three acts of vandalism of racial or religious nature over the last two
weeks are prompting an investigation at Pace University.
Over the past two weeks, racial slurs have been found on a bathroom wall
inside the school's Downtown campus and on a student's car at the
Westchester County campus. Most recently a copy of the Quran ended up in
one of the school's toilets at the Downtown campus.
Some students are complaining that the school has under-reacted.
"We're upset because we know when a hate crime occurs proper
protocols need to be taken. Reports need to be filed; investigation needs
to occur; the police need to be notified. All of which have not
happened," said Zeina Berjaoul of the Muslim Students
Association.
"The fact that we communicated so early and as aggressively as we
did should indicate to them that we are taking this seriously and want to
move this forward," said Pace University Vice President Douglas
Whiting.
As of now, university officials say they are classifying the cases as
vandalism, because they don't meet the legal definition of a hate
crime.
The president of the Baltimore chapter of the American Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee has asked he be named a member of a minority
advising committee formed by the Baltimore County School Board.
Bash Pharoan, in a Sept. 10 letter to the school board, said his interest
in the committee is an extension of his commitment to all children and
his belief in public education.
"My first son was a special education student," Pharoan, who is
also a board member of the Baltimore County Muslim Council, wrote.
"Private schools did not know what to do with him. The public school
knew what to do. Now he is almost ready to graduate as a computer
engineer from Villa Julie College."
Barbara Dezmon, liaison for the Minority Achievement and Advisory Group,
said Pharoan's request had been received and was being reviewed. .
.
Pharoan said an increased understanding of the Muslim culture would be
beneficial to a minority advisory group.
"I (would) like to work with you on issues in a positive way,"
he wrote. "My community and I feel marginalized and discriminated
against for no reason but our religion or national origin."
Pharoan and an associate, Muhammad Jameel, have repeatedly asked the
board to include Muslim holy days as days off on the school calendar, and
so it was at the board meeting Sept. 19. (MORE)
BALANCE fitness studio has a reputation for innovation in the fitness
field. From its owner who is a Muslim woman to its innovative fitness
programs like Wednesday night belly dancing. Now the studio may get a
reputation as a common ground for women of all faiths as it welcomes a
new personal fitness trainer, Jamie Kaplan, into its family. Kaplan, who
is Jewish, is new in town and has joined a business that will introduce
her to the eclectic and diverse city New Haven, CT is.
"I am excited about working at the studio" says Kaplan who just
finished assisting in a research study on adolescent obesity at Brown
University's Miriam Hospital in Providence, RI. "Jamie's credentials
speak for themselves. I welcomed her because of her experience, warm
personality and great smile" says owner and head trainer Mubarakah
Ibrahim. "The fact that she's Jewish is just a perk that puts an
interesting twist to things".
Ibrahim who herself is an orthodox Sunni Muslim is use to breaking
stereotypes. As a certified personal trainer that covers in the
traditional Muslim women dress she knows a thing or two about twisting
more than a yoga pose. "I want the studio to be a place where all
women of every faith, nationality and culture can be comfortable. Health
and fitness is a common ground that can make bridges where most people
think there are none, says Ibrahim who was born Muslim. "As women we
all face the same physical issues. How to avoid mid-life weight gain and
how to get your abs back after having a baby is universal concern no
matter what building you pray in".
As the only all women personal training and fitness studio in New Haven,
Ibrahim says it is a perfect resource for women of devout faith. Devout
Muslim and Jewish women both adhere to a very similar modest dress code
that requires covering in public around non-related males. The studio can
provide complete privacy for fitness training in an all female
environment. It is a haven in the middle of the city and is known as
"the spot" for women fitness.
BALANCE fitness studio for women is New Haven, CT's only all woman
personal training and group fitness studio. In addition to one on one
personal training they offer a variety of innovative fitness services,
including outdoor fitness boot camp for women and group fitness
classes.
South Charleston's Islamic Center is hosting community dinners as a way
to attract people of all faiths to learn about the Muslim faith.
The dinners have been scheduled this month, which is when Muslims
celebrate Ramadan.
"This is for our neighbors and other congregations to share with
us," said the center's imam, Jamal Daoudi, who recalls sitting at a
table during past dinners with a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi.
"I am so happy with this tradition. We have had groups from
different churches and even colleges. We talk and exchange
ideas."
Daoudi started the tradition of inviting guests for the dinners when he
came to the area four years ago to serve as spiritual leader of the
Islamic Association of West Virginia. Last December, he graduated from a
United Methodist seminary, where he did a dissertation on building
bridges between Christianity and Islam.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar and the holiest
one because it was during this time that the word of Allah (the name of
God in Arabic) was revealed, he said.
"Our Prophet Muhammad tells us that the scripture of Abraham was
revealed the first night of Ramadan, the Torah of Moses was revealed at
the sixth of it, the Gospel of Jesus was revealed at the 13th, and the
Quran (Koran) of Muhammad was revealed on the 24th," he
said.
Muslims observe fasting during Ramadan as a way of strengthening
self-control and the desire to follow God. (MORE)
The month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Muslim calendar and the
holiest month of Islam, has begun. Muslims the world over have embarked
on a month of abstinence from eating and drinking, reflection,
purification and soul searching.
More than 1.2 billion Muslims, one sixth of humanity, have started this
year's Ramadan under highly unusual circumstances. It is now five years
since the United States was attacked by terrorists in the name of Islam
and more than three years since the war in Iraq, a predominantly Muslim
country.
The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the bloody battles fought daily in
Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, have brought into focus one of the most
complex issues of our time.
The battle was joined recently by Pope Benedict XVI, when he quoted
unflattering language about the Prophet of Islam. The Pontiff quoted a
14th Century Byzantine emperor as saying, "show me just what
Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil
and inhuman."
The Pope's speech created an uproar in the Islamic world and made a bad
situation only worse. But the criticism of his remarks was generally
muted and non-confrontational. Realizing the delicate situation the world
was facing, Islamic leaders, by and large, tried to minimize the impact
of the Pontiff's comments, emphasizing more on the commonalities of the
world's three major monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and
Islam.
Imam Elahi of the "House of Wisdom" in Dearborn Heights,
Michigan, says terror and terrorism are condemned in Islam and such
condemnation is absolute and without reservation - as sanctioned by the
holy Koran and the "sunnah," the deeds of the prophet of Islam
as recorded and passed to the successive Muslim generations. Imam Elahi
speaks for many Muslims when he talks about their trials and trepidation,
given the "Christian" nature of the Western culture in which
they live and the suspicion surrounding them. Still Elahi, alongside with
many other Islamic thinkers, takes a positive view of the situation and
says there is a common spiritual dimension to Ramadan, among the
monotheistic religions - one that could become a more powerful leverage
of strength and solidarity.
"A big part of this prejudice and discrimination against Islam and
Muslim community comes out of ignorance," Elahi said.
"Extremism is a disease that affects many people with different
religious backgrounds. This is not only a Muslim community problem. In
general, many Muslims are suffering from the same problem. We only suffer
more because we are also accused. Islam is a religion of balance, a
religion of reason and a religion of peace and justice. The violence and
extremism that exist in the Middle East, you need to go to the root
causes of the problem. We condemn any kind of terrorism, individual or
otherwise." (MORE)
This is in response to the comments about Islam made by Pope Benedict,
and the subsequent firestorm and tragedy that have been their result. The
words of a truly great and prophetic Christian from the Middle Ages,
Saint Francis of Assisi, would have been wiser to have
referenced.
During the time of the Crusades, Pope Urban II, who himself organized
crusades, viewed the Saracens (the name given by the Christian crusaders
to the Muslims against whom they fought), as "vile, degenerate and
servants of the devil" (sound familiar).
Saint Francis, however, after meeting with them and conversing with the
Sultan, said, "They are our brothers and friends and we must love
them very much."
CAIR-NET: Canadian Muslims Question Entry of Franklin Graham /
Rabbi Defends NY Muslims Against Rep's Smears / ADL Accused of
Blocking Speech by Israel Critic
VERSE OF THE DAY: A RESTING PLACE IN THE HEREAFTER -
TOP
"He is the One Who has created you from a single soul and granted
you a dwelling on earth and a resting place in the
hereafter."
The Holy Quran, 6:98
"There is no living creature on earth whose sustenance is not
provided by God. He knows its time limit (on earth) and its resting place
(after death)."
The Holy Quran, 11:6
-----
CANADIAN MUSLIMS CLAIM DOUBLE STANDARD ON
HATE SPEECH -
TOP
Muslim speaker barred from country, while Christian leader who calls
Islam 'evil' is granted entry
(OTTAWA, CANADA - 10/05/06) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) today called on Minister of Immigration Monte
Solberg to clarify an apparent double standard on barring controversial
foreign religious leaders from Canada.
On June 12th of this year, following the decision to deny the entry of a
British Muslim speaker, CAIR-CAN sent a letter to Solberg asking the
federal government to clarify regulations on freedom of speech and the
entry of clerics and international speakers.
"Minister Solberg has not given Canadians the courtesy of a response
as of yet," said Karl Nickner Executive Director of
CAIR-CAN.
A spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration said "we do not
welcome hate-mongers in Canada" when referring to the government's
decision to bar the British Muslim leader.
However, American Christian evangelist Reverend Franklin Graham is still
scheduled to speak at the Central Canada Franklin Graham Festival
(
http://www.grahamfestival.org/winnipeg/) in Winnipeg on October 20th,
even after making public pronouncements that Islam is "a very evil
and a very wicked religion" and that Hindus are "bound by
Satan's power."
None of the interest groups who called for the British Muslim to be
barred from entry have spoken out about Graham's views or his visit to
Canada.
"Based on the different reactions to the comments of both religious
leaders, many Canadian Muslims are wondering whether a double standard is
being applied," said Karl Nickner, CAIR-CAN Executive Director.
"As Canadians, we must stand firmly against hate
speech."
CAIR-CAN is a federally incorporated, non-profit organization working to
empower Canadian Muslims in the fields of the media, human rights, and
political activism.
CONTACT: CAIR-CAN Media Coordinator Sameer Zuberi at 613-795-2012, or
CAIR-CAN Executive Director Karl Nickner at 613-254-9704 or
613-853-4111
-----
CAIR-CA: MUSLIMS GEAR UP FOR
3RD ANNUAL 'HUMANITARIAN DAY' -
TOP
Feeding the Homeless in the Spirit of Ramadan
(SAN JOSE, CA, 10/4/06) - On Saturday, October 7, the Rahima Foundation,
the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American Islamic-Relations
(CAIR-SFBA) and other Muslim organizations from around the Greater San
Francisco Bay Area will host the third annual Humanitarian Day for the
Homeless in San Jose, CA.
During the event, Muslims will provide hot meals, water, t-shirts, and
hygiene packages to San Jose's homeless community.
The coalition selected the holy month of Ramadan as a global observance
that transcends race, religion and gender in a spirit of love, equality,
and respect for each other and all of humanity.
"Ramadan is a time of increased compassion and caring for others.
Our goal is to give the homeless community hope and relief to ease their
struggle," said Habibe Husain, founder of the Rahima Foundation, the
event's primary organizer.
WHEN: Saturday, October 7, 2006 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHERE: South Bay Islamic Association, 325 N. 3rd Street, San Jose, CA
(Across the street from the Salvation Army Parking Lot)
Event Co-Sponsors: American Muslim Voice (AMV), Blossom Valley Muslim
Community Center (BVMCC), Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-SFBA), Granada Islamic School (GIS), Hidaya Foundation, Islamic
Center of Fremont (ICF), Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC),
Islamic Networks Group (ING), Islamic School of Stanford, Islamic Society
of East Bay (ISEB), Muslim Community Association (MCA), New Islamic
Directions (NID), Northern American Islamic Shelter for the Abused
(NISA), South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA), SEMAH, United Muslims of
America (UMA), Zaytuna Institute.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 32 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.
MSU officials plan on providing diversity training on Islam-related
subjects to interested members of the university in response to an e-mail
an MSU professor sent to the Muslim Students' Association, or MSA, in
February.
The initial request for the training came from the Michigan chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, after Indrek
Wichman, a mechanical engineering professor, wrote an e-mail to the group
in response to controversial cartoons that portrayed Muhammad, the
prophet and founder of the Islamic religion, as a terrorist.
In the e-mail, Wichman insisted that Muslims should return to their
ancestral homeland if they don't "like the values of the West."
He also generalized them as "dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal, and
uncivilized slave-trading Moslems."
"As a tenured professor who literally can influence the academic
future of Muslims, we felt that the statements were inappropriate and can
intimidate Muslim students of the engineering school," said CAIR
Executive Director Dawud Walid. . .
The MSA and MSU administrators worked together to organize diversity
training for MSU faculty, staff and students. The meetings won't be
mandatory for anyone, but both organizing parties are hoping the topics
discussed will attract a wide range of people, said Paulette Granberry
Russell, senior adviser to the president for diversity and director of
the Office for Affirmative Action Compliance and Monitoring for MSU . .
.
"The MSA calls it diversity training, but that's not a good name for
it," Granberry Russell said. "They are educational
opportunities. Some of their concerns extend beyond a one- or two-day
training seminar."
Both MSU and the MSA hope these programs will create a better
understanding of Muslims by providing those who attend the classes with a
better education of Islam, Walid said.
"We have a saying in our religion that people are the enemy of that
which they don't know," Walid said. "So we're hoping that some
professors who may have uneasy feelings about Muslims and carry those
feelings into the classroom can have some of those feelings abated."
(MORE)
---
CAIR-PA: SPRINGETTSBURY
TOWNSHIP MAN GETS HATE MAIL -
TOP
Abul Hasan, a Muslim, received a letter after being published in the
Sunday News
York Daily Record/Sunday News, 10/5/06
http://www.ydr.com/religion/ci_4443892
A Springettsbury Township man received anti-Muslim hate mail last week
after the York Daily Record/Sunday News published a guest column he wrote
responding to the pope's remarks about Islam last month.
Abul Hasan, a physics professor at Penn State York, received the
anonymous letter Sept. 28 and reported it to township police, who are
investigating.
The handwritten letter called Islam an "evil violent cult" that
teaches hatred and intolerance and should be "wiped from the face of
the Earth."
It closed, suggesting, "It would be a good idea to reactivate those
ovens at Auschwitz. In the meantime . . ."
Hasan received an anti-Muslim letter in 2002 with similar handwriting -
also shortly after the Daily Record published his comments, he
said.
The anonymous letter read in part, "It should be legal to shoot
Muslims on sight; unfortunately, it's not. Summary
execution."
Hasan reported last week's letter to the FBI and the Pennsylvania Human
Relations Commission, which has received seven other reports of
anti-Muslim incidents this year statewide. . .
Hasan, 56, said the letters won't stop him from speaking out to explain
the views of Muslims to the broader community.
"I'm not going to stop writing," said Hasan, an active
member of the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. . .
Last year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations received 153 reports
of anti-Muslim hate crime complaints from all over the country.
This was an 8.6-percent increase from the 141 complaints received in
2004.
CAIR processed an additional 1,972 civil-rights complaints - a 30-percent
increase in the number of complaints of anti-Muslim harassment, violence
and discriminatory treatment received in 2004. (MORE)
Every once in awhile on university campuses, the unthinkable, even the
unutterable, happens. A scrawled message shows up on a bathroom stall, a
religious symbol is defaced - and administrators and faculty members are
left to try to contain the fallout and forestall another
explosion.
Pace University, in New York, has been plagued by a series of three
racially charged incidents, beginning with the discovery of a
library-owned copy of a Koran in a toilet on its main campus in Manhattan
September 20. Just four days later, a car parked at Pace's location in
the suburb of Briarcliff, N.Y. was found strewn with litter, the word
"nigger" written in the condensation on the windshield, and, on
September 29, the same racial epithet and a swastika were found scribbled
on a bathroom stall door at the Manhattan campus. No suspects have been
identified, although campus officials are operating under the assumption
that the perpetrators are insiders, students or employees with access to
the buildings.
"This is a major concern for us. Our concern is that we are a very
diverse community; we have been a very inclusive community, in terms of
welcoming individuals from all faiths, all backgrounds, all religions and
so forth," said Pace's president, David A. Caputo. "This seems
to all of us to be an attack on that." . . .
In September, the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations, an Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, reported 1,972
incidents of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment in 2005
- up 29 percent from 2004. The proportion of the total reported incidents
occurring at elementary and secondary schools and universities - the
group does not categorize incidents under "higher education" -
increased from 6 percent in 2004 to 8 percent in 2005, Afsheen Shamsi,
community liaison coordinator for CAIR, said. (MORE)
I was dismayed by Rep. Peter King's (R-Seaford) letter to Newsday
concerning the Islamic Center of Long Island, whose leadership he has
accused of Muslim extremism ["King: Newsday wrong about Islamic
Center," Letters, Sept. 27]. Temple Beth-El of Great Neck's
15-year-long relationship with the mosque reflects anything but that.
Rather, our dialogue programs, meetings and joint worship services
represent the best of America: Tolerance, respect and the freedom that
allows different peoples to sit together in peace.
A few weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, when the leader of the Islamic Center
and my dialogue partner, Dr. Faroque Khan, returned from his family's
home in Kashmir, from which he had been able to travel during the crisis,
our two religious institutions held a joint Sabbath eve service in our
synagogue. The people of the mosque had been subjected to harassment,
ridicule and worse and felt comforted by our welcome. Many of our members
and theirs know one another as friends. To imply that this group, or
Faroque Khan, for a moment believed Jews or Israel were responsible for
9/11 is utterly irresponsible.
So, too, is Rep. King's charge that "people like Khan are
insinuating themselves into our political system." Is that the way
we refer to American citizens who take part in the political
process?
Why is Rep. King beating his demagogic drum? Perhaps an election is
coming.
Rabbi Jerome K. Davidson
Temple Beth-El of Great Neck
Recent comments by Congressman Peter King regarding the Islamic Center of
Long Island and its programs have no factual basis. We invite the readers
to view the official statements regarding the terror attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, at our Web site: icliny.org, under "opinions" and
"community speaks."
The ICLI board categorically condemns the terror attacks of 9/11 and
issued a press release saying as much on Oct. 11, 2001.
Congressman King was invited to a special commemorative event at the ICLI
in November 2001. Had King or his staff attended, they would have heard
firsthand the condemnations and other relevant statements.
Subsequently we sent an outline of the presentation made at the Sabbath
service at Temple Beth-El to King, in which the ICLI position was clearly
outlined. Sadly, King ignores all these facts and uses the classic
"cut and paste" technique from statements of individuals made
in 2001 to create fear and panic.
We find it ironic that King's diatribes against Muslims get magnified
when he is peddling his book or at the time of a close election against a
dynamic young candidate, David Mejias, and we wonder why King did not
speak out during the election of 2004 or 2002.
In these difficult times, we would expect our elected officials to
promote peaceful coexistence among the various communities in this great
country. Congressman King does not seem to realize the extent of the
damage he's causing to this country.
Habeeb Ahmed
Editor's note: The writer is president of the Islamic Center of Long
Island.
-----
ADL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING SPEECH BY ISRAEL CRITIC
-
TOP
Poland Abruptly Cancels a Speech by Local Critic of the Jewish State
Ira Stoll, New York Sun, 10/4/06
http://www.nysun.com/article/40911
The government of Poland, moving to avoid getting embroiled in
anti-Israel politics, last night abruptly canceled a scheduled speech by
a professor at New York University who has become hostile to the Jewish
state, just hours before the event was to have taken place at Poland's
consulate here in New York. . .
The canceled speaker himself, Mr. Judt, who is director of the Remarque
Institute at NYU and a professor of European studies and of history,
blamed the Anti-Defamation League and Mr. Foxman for the cancellation.
"The pressure was brought by the ADL," Mr. Judt said.
"They had no choice. Foxman had been leaning on the consulate all
afternoon."
Mr. Judt said he was happy to have an unexpected free evening, but
"sad at what this means for the country." He said he had
planned to speak for about 30 minutes, and then to answer questions,
about the paper on the influence of the "Israel Lobby" that was
authored by professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and
Stephen Walt of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. That paper
described what it alleged to be a vast Israel lobby that included the
editors of the New York Times, "neoconservative gentiles," the
Brookings Institution, and students at Columbia. The
""Lobby," the paper said, had the "ability to
manipulate the American political system," "a stranglehold on
the U.S. Congress," and was actively "manipulating the
media." (MORE)
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, the authors of a controversial paper
criticizing the role of the "Israel Lobby" in American foreign
policy, are at work on a book-length version of their findings to be
published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH & VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it's the
holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, a religion which is attracting a
growing number of converts in this country.
You'll meet some of them when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Since the 9/11 attacks, we've told you numerous stories of
Muslims being unfairly singled out for retribution and discrimination by
angry Americans. As a result, you might conclude the number of Muslims in
this country would be on the decline.
But as it turns out, it appears just the opposite is happening.
AMERICAN MORNING'S faith and values correspondent, Delia Gallagher,
joining us with this story -- good morning, Delia.
GALLAGHER: Good morning to you, Miles.
According to one report, there is, on average, one conversion per mosque
every month in this country. With about 1,500 mosques in the United
States, that's an average of 18,000 new Muslim converts a year.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(AUDIO CLIP OF CONVERSION CEREMONY IN ARABIC)
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Allison Poole (ph) says this phrase three times
in Arabic and then in English.
ALLISON EL-GAMAL, MUSLIM CONVERT: There is no god...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But god.
EL-GAMAL: But god.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I bear witness...
EL-GAMAL: And I bear witness...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That Muhammad...
EL-GAMAL: That Muhammad...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... is the messenger of god.
EL-GAMAL: ... is the messenger of god.
GALLAGHER: And her conversion ceremony is complete. She's now a
Muslim.
Moments later, she'll marry Sammy (ph) and become Allison El- Gamal. But
Allison, who was raised a Southern Baptist in North Carolina, says faith,
not marriage, made her want to become a Muslim.
EL-GAMAL: I think for a long time I've been looking for something.
There's been like a piece missing, always one little thing that maybe
wasn't right.
GALLAGHER: At a ceremony marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, she
explained why Islam appeals to her.
EL-GAMAL: I think because it's much more about peace. I'm praying five
times a day. It's kind of hard to go out and say bad things or do bad
things when you're praying five times a day.
GALLAGHER: The imam who married Allison says he's seen more American
converts recently, in part because of the prominence of Islam in the
news.
FEISAL ABDUL RAUF, IMAM: Well, it may sound paradoxical, but what happens
is that when something becomes more in the news, people tend to want to
know about it.
GALLAGHER: Allison says she was already on a spiritual quest when she
began to hear a lot about Islam post-9/11.
Barbara Cartabuke, another recent Muslim convert, says 9/11 also played a
part in her conversion.
BARBARA CARTABUKE, MUSLIM CONVERT: After 9/11, I thought this is the time
when people really have to start looking for real answers, to get away
from everybody fighting back and war. You have to start looking toward
god.
GALLAGHER: Barbara says through Islam, she found a one-on-one
relationship with god she was unable to find as a Roman
Catholic.
CARTABUKE: And I always felt when you go to church you're praying to
Jesus or you're doing Hail Mary's. You're not -- I used to think, well,
where's god?
GALLAGHER: She says her family has been mostly supportive of her
conversion.
Allison says her family is completely behind her decision, but
occasionally she's reminded that not everyone is.
EL-GAMAL: I was walking around down near the World Trade Center. And this
woman walked by and she said, "I want to just go bomb those Muslim
bastards."
And I heard her say it and it just -- it really struck me, because I was
like you know what? You know, that's me.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GALLAGHER: Now, some studies suggest that the number of Muslims in the
United States now slightly outnumbers adherents to Judaism, both
religions making up about 1 percent of the total U.S. population, as
compared to about 80 percent Christians in the United States.
M. O'BRIEN: It's interesting seeing so many women, because a lot of us
would look at the Muslim faith and see inequalities in the faith, as it
relates to women.
Not so?
GALLAGHER: Well, they wouldn't necessarily see them as inequalities. They
are separate. In the mosques, for example, the women are in the back.
They pray behind the men. But they don't consider that an inequality,
necessarily.
But it is true that the growing number of converts are majority
women.
M. O'BRIEN: And they call it a reversion, right?
GALLAGHER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Tell us about that.
GALLAGHER: They're called reverts, not converts, because in the Muslim
religion, they actually consider that in a certain -- to a certain
extent, everybody is already Muslim, in the sense that if you believe
already in the one god, as Jews and Christians do, then for Islam, you
are -- in a certain sense you already have that seed of Islam within you.
And so all you need to do is say this prayer to become a full-fledged
Muslim.
When American Muslims celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr they observe the same
religious traditions familiar to Muslims around the world, but celebrate
in a distinctly American way, as people from diverse national and
cultural backgrounds come together to share the feast.
Imam Mohamed Magid from the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) center
in Sterling, Virginia, says that Muslims in America look forward to
Eid-ul-Fitr for several reasons. Besides the religious observances,
breaking the monthlong Ramadan fast and socializing, Muslims receive
special greetings from the president of the United States. "It makes
Muslims feel their holiday is part of mainstream American holidays,"
the imam told the Washington File.
It has been a tradition to mark the occasion of eid in the White House
since George H. W. Bush was president. The Clinton White House continued
the observance, as has George W. Bush. In 2001, a U.S. postage stamp was
issued commemorating eid. (MORE)
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
Memories of Sept. 11, 2001 recently resurfaced on its fifth anniversary.
The tragedy initially caused some suspicion about Islam, but Muslims in
Conejo Valley said they have found that for them, not much has
changed.
When it became known that those responsible for the World Trade Center
and Pentagon at- tacks were followers of Islam, Muslims in America were
out- raged that so many innocent civilians had been killed because of
hatred by a radical group. Some were initially afraid to attend prayers,
recognizing that the acts of violence would be associated with religion,
de- spite their conviction that the terrorists responsible were not
representative of the Islamic faith.
"At the moment I felt mostly sadness and a realization of a struggle
between people that are not agreeing," said resident Abdullah
Fathma. "For us, it's not a religious thing."
Since that Sept. 11, it seems the words "Islam" and
"terror- ism" cannot stand alone-one must always follow
another. It's been said that Americans of Middle Eastern descent are
given extra attention during security checks at airports, and the wearing
of a taqiyah (an Islamic cap worn by men) is a cause for mistrust. This
may very well be the case in many places across the U.S. but is not so in
the Conejo Valley.
"At work nothing has changed, and with my neighbors nothing has
changed. The only place that it has changed is in the media," Fathma
said. (MORE)
With the sun setting on their backs, more than 100 Muslim students
gathered at the loading dock behind Kerckhoff on Monday to break their
fast, but before they could take their first sip of water since sunrise,
they prayed.
As a fellow student led them in prayer, Shehab Ahmed, a third-year
biology student, knelt with his forehead against the stone floor. He said
he is thankful for this chance to be humble before God and reflect on
Ramadan, the month of fasting from sunrise to sunset for Muslims to
better themselves and bring themselves closer to God.
It is not an easy endeavor. He tries to get up each day before sunrise to
eat and pray. He admits there are days he doesn't quite wake up for that
morning prayer, and while he can make up for his missed prayer later, the
opportunity to start his day with a meal is lost. He said he still goes
to class and goes about business as usual.
For Ahmed, truly participating in Ramadan means living life day to day
and changing small things about himself. He sees it as a way to keep
something meaningful from this month with him all year. (MORE)
With a little help from the Yale Muslim Students Association, the Masjid
Al-Islam mosque managed to put a new roof on its house of prayer just in
time for Ramadan.
The mosque, located in the Dwight neighborhood, cost approximately
$19,000 to repair, almost half of which was borrowed from the mosque's
general fund. Masjid Al-Islam's board president, Jimmy Jones DIV '81,
said he was able to raise 40 percent of the remaining funds from the
approximately 300 families that regularly use the mosque within the first
two weeks. But Jones said donations have since tapered off.
"We try to be self-reliant, but we are a working-class community, so
it is a tough goal," Jones said.
Jones said time has taken its toll on the mosque, which urgently needed
the repairs in order to continue to serve as a place of worship for the
New Haven Muslim Community.
"There was grass growing on the old roof and water was leaking in,
causing damages," he said.
Due to considerable community growth, the mosque, founded in 1987, moved
to its current home at 624 George St. in 1995. The house the mosque
occupies was purchased in February 1995 for $40,000, according to a press
release issued by Masjid Al-Islam's treasurer. Darul Quran, the mosque's
educational center, shares the same location and will also benefit from
the recent repairs. (MORE)
"Most people don't know what Ramadan is, and don't know why we
fast," said Thamreen Siddiqui.
Siddiqui, social services coordinator at the Council of Islamic
Organizations of Greater Chicago, made her remarks as she was explaining
the importance of her organization's upcoming Iftar.
An Iftar -- indeed, not a name that most Westerners would be familiar
with -- is a meal, an important part of the process of celebrating
Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims. Throughout Ramadan, which
commemorates the revelation of the words of the Quran to the Prophet
Muhammad, Muslims fast from sunup until sundown. Muslims share an Iftar
to break their fast each of the 28 days of Ramadan.
But this year, as in recent past years, they won't be just sharing with
each other. The Council will hold its 10th Annual Interfaith Iftar on
Oct. 9 in south suburban Orland Park.
Iftars are traditionally inclusive, and therefore provide a natural
interfaith setting, according to Jason Renken, assistant to the directors
at the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs.
The Archdiocese invites Catholics to the Iftar each year.
The interfaith Iftar provides an "opportunity for those who are not
Muslim to attend the breaking of the fast, prayer, dinner and
program," Renken said.
The event's importance to Muslims makes the inclusion of other faiths
just that more significant, he explained. . .
The interfaith Iftar is held at a different mosque each year. This year
the Prayer Center of Orland Park, 16530 S. 104th Ave., will host.
(MORE)
At the young age of 10, Waseem Albaba of Elkhart is not required to fast
during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
But he chooses to do it anyway because he is not too young to feel the
spiritual elevation that comes when he focuses on Allah instead of the
needs of his body.
"It makes me feel good inside," he says of the daylong denial
of food and water his parents allow him on weekends. "It's better
than eating."
Waseem and his sister Sara, 14, sit with their mother Saturday in the
downstairs social hall at the Al Noor Mosque in South Bend. It's almost
10 p.m. and Imam Mohammad Sirajuddin, of the Islamic Society of Michiana,
is leading congregants in a recitation of a section of the Quran and
Ramadan prayers. The praying, which will continue for another 20 minutes
or so, is heard through speakers downstairs.
Waseem's mother, Safa, says all her children are devout. Her youngest
son, 8-year-old Tarek, has started fasting this year in short stretches.
Her oldest children, Sara and 16-year-old Kareem, began fasting at a
young age of their own accord.
Sara insists it's not difficult, especially if people keep busy during
the day. Plus, "It's a holy month and God makes it easy on us,"
she says. (MORE)
---
MD EVENT: 'ANSWERING THE INTERFAITH CALL TO PEACE' -
TOP
Pax Christi Baltimore, Islamic Society of Baltimore and local interfaith
coalitions present a special event:
WHAT: Under the tent of Abraham: "Answering the Interfaith Call to
Peace"
WHEN: Sunday, October 8, 2006, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: American Friends Service Committee building, 4806 York Road,
Baltimore, MD
PROGRAM:
Panel discussion: "Declaring our Peacemaking Tradition" (3:30
to 5 p.m.)
Christian: Rev. Robert E. Albright, Campus Ministry, Towson
University
Jewish: Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton, Congregation Beit Tikvah
Muslim: Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim Chaplain, Georgetown University
Contemplation and Reflection (5 to 5:30 p.m.) (Muslims will offer Asr
prayers)
"Tent of Abraham" Interfaith Prayer Service for Peace, 5:30 to
6:30 p.m., under outdoor tent, weather permitting.
CO-SPONSORS: American Friends Service Committee, Islamic Society of
Baltimore, St. Vincent DePaul Parish/Peace&Justice, Tikkun/Baltimore,
United Religions Initiative.
A Muslim-owned dairy has been targeted by youths over three nights in a
campaign of harassment culminating in a petrol bombing, a worker
said.
The Medina in Windsor, Berkshire, has suffered at the hands of local
youths who have been targeting staff for the past three nights, the
unnamed worker claimed.
He said the youths would gather in gangs of up to 30 and throw stones and
hurl abuse at staff working at the dairy late at night.
Police have been patrolling the area since Monday when the attacks
started, he said.
But on Wednesday night an attacker riding a motorbike threw a home-made
petrol bomb at the dairy's perimeter wall. (MORE)
TEL AVIV, Oct 5 (Reuters) - An Israeli Jew has been arrested for
threatening to carry out an attack at a major Muslim shrine in Jerusalem
and could face criminal charges, police said on Thursday.
The suspect, described in media reports as a rabbi in his early 50s, was
taken into custody on Wednesday after making the threat about al-Aqsa
mosque at a Tel Aviv hotel, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
"He was overheard at the hotel and, under interrogation, repeated
his threat to carry out an attack at the Temple Mount," Rosenfeld
said, using the Jewish term for the al-Aqsa plaza, which is known to
Muslims as Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary.
Rosenfeld said the suspect would appear at Tel Aviv magistrates' court on
Thursday and police were seeking a criminal indictment against
him.
Al-Aqsa mosque, located in Arab East Jerusalem, has been a frequent
flashpoint during decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel
captured East Jerusalem during a 1967 war and annexed it as its capital
in a move not recognised abroad.
The mosque is Islam's third holiest shrine. Jews revere the site as the
last vestige of two ancient temples.
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) departed from a group of
people, he would often say: "O God! Grant us enough fear (of
displeasing Thee) that it may serve as a barrier between us and our sins.
. .and grant us enough faith that it may help us to face the misfortunes
of this world easily."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 265
-----
CAIR-LA APPLAUDS DECISION TO GRANT MUSLIMS
CITIZENSHIP -
TOP
Class action lawsuit challenging naturalization delays to
continue
(ANAHEIM, CA, 10/6/06) - The Southern California office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today applauded a government
decision to naturalize seven Muslims who have fulfilled all the
requirements for citizenship, including passing a naturalization exam and
interview, but have been waiting up to seven times the legal
limit.
The Muslims were plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit (Aziz v. Gonzales)
filed by CAIR-LA, the ACLU of Southern California and the ACLU
Immigrants' Rights Project.
In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said:
"The plaintiffs are hard working, patriotic Americans. There is
absolutely no reason they should have to wait unusually long periods of
time, in some cases seven times the legal limit, to obtain their
citizenship. We hope to find a speedy resolution to this legal problem
not only for our plaintiffs but for many others who want to become legal,
contributing members of our society."
U.S. immigration law gives officials 120 days to grant or deny
citizenship to residents who have passed their naturalization exams and
interviews. Dozens of Southern Californians and hundreds more seeking
citizenship nationwide report that they are not given a decision within
that time limit.
CAIR-LA and ACLU/SC will still seek a fix for a policy that leaves
final-stage citizenship applicants in legal limbo.
CAIR has 32 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-LA Communications Coordinator Munira Syeda at (714)
776-1847, (714) 851-4851 or E-Mail at
socal@cair.com
Seven Muslims who have been waiting years to become U.S. citizens were
notified Thursday that their applications had been approved, two months
after they joined a lawsuit accusing immigration officials of illegally
delaying background checks and allowing applications to linger
indefinitely.
The settlement was announced by ACLU attorneys in Los Angeles who filed
the suit on behalf of 10 Southern California Muslims. Attorney Ranjana
Natarajan said the government did not explain the delays or why the
applications were approved so quickly after the filing of the
suit.
Marie Sebrechts, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services, said only that the agency was also frustrated by
the lengthy delays.
Three plaintiffs are still waiting for approval, Natarajan said. Under an
agreement with the government, the seven who were approved should be able
to be sworn in as citizens by Nov. 30. In turn, they agreed to drop their
cases against the government.
Mustafa Aziz, 25, an Irvine resident who was born in Afghanistan, said he
hoped to be sworn in earlier so he could vote in the Nov. 7 election.
Voters must register at least 15 days before an election.
Aziz, who served four years in the Air Force, said gaining U.S.
citizenship would also allow him to pursue his dream of becoming a
commercial pilot. He has a degree in aeronautics and holds a private
pilot's license, but he said being a citizen would make it easier to find
an airline job. (MORE)
Robina Niaz, founder of the Turning Point for Women and Families, a
Jamaica, Queens group dedicated to empowering Muslim women and children,
says a single statistic shows one thing women of all faiths have in
common.
Every nine seconds, a woman is the victim of domestic violence in this
country.
"When people ask me if domestic violence is a problem in the Muslim
community, I tell them domestic violence is a problem in every
community," Niaz said. "A woman is victimized every nine
seconds. Some of them are Muslim; some of them aren't."
No matter who the victim is, Niaz said, "a society can never be free
of violence if our homes are violent.
"We must call it what it is," she said. "Domestic violence
is wrong under Islam and any other standard you want to
apply."
Niaz, a native of Pakistan, founded Turning Point 12 years ago. A social
worker in her native country with a master's degree in psychology, Niaz
earned a second master's in social work from Hunter College two decades
after earning her first.
Turning Point offers social services that are sensitive to the cultural
differences of Muslim women, who were often victimized a second time by
language and religious barriers when seeking help with domestic violence
issues. (MORE)
The investigation into the shooting at a Melbourne mosque on Sept. 22
continues, Melbourne Police said today.
Shots were fired at the Islamic Society of Brevard mosque in Melbourne on
Sept. 22 around 10 p.m. as services went on inside.
Detectives have been going to nearby neighborhoods and talking to members
of the community. No suspects have been located so far, police
said.
The FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement have also conducted interviews in the area.
Anyone with more information can contact Detective Paul Fravel at
321-409-2200 or call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR: A TROUBLING TREND TOWARD
DISCRIMINATION -
TOP
Anti-Muslim incidents are on the rise
Herald News, 10/6/06
In so many ways, Arab-Americans in North Jersey are just like any other
Americans in North Jersey. They want to provide for their families,
worship as they see fit and make sure their children receive a proper and
safe education.
Many of them have been here for generations. However, despite widespread
assimilation, many Arab-Americans remain under false suspicion. Indeed,
recent data from a report released by the Council on Arab-Islamic
Relations point to troubling signs. The report, issued last month, shows
a significant rise in anti-Muslim bias across the United States over the
past two years. It also shows that Arab-Americans, regardless of nation
or origin or religious beliefs, have become increasingly targets of
ethnic profiling, if not outright racial bias.
CAIR, a nationwide nonprofit Islamic civil liberties group, reported
1,972 incidents of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment in
2005, an increase of 29 percent over 2004. The number is the highest
since the group began compiling the statistics a decade ago.
"The primary reason is there is still rising anti-Muslim sentiment,
and Islamaphobia is becoming more institutionalized," said
Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's national legal director. "You hear a
lot more anti-Muslim rhetoric in media outlets, and Muslim-bashing has
sort of become the acceptable racism in this country now."
That dangerous rhetoric has even reached the top levels of U.S.
government. It was only in the past several months that the Bush
administration began throwing out the reckless term
"Islamo-fascists," to refer to the enemy in the so-called
"war on terror."
It is unfortunate, indeed, for the elected leader of a nation that claims
to put a premium on civil rights to engage in such terminology in what is
already a difficult and anxious time. To say the least, it shows little
regard for the more than 3.5 million Arab-Americans who reside in this
country - many of them Muslims - including the estimated 240,000 who live
in New Jersey. (MORE)
Right now, it's just 20 acres of exceptionally green, overgrown
vegetation and a few mounds of red dirt.
But in the middle of the wide, lush field, near the junction of two
highways in Millersville, is a large sign that's difficult to miss. It
reads: Future Home of Makkah Learning Center.
It might take several years, and several million dollars, say members of
the Annapolis Islamic Society, but here will stand the Baltimore region's
first Islamic high school. Next to it will be a media center with radio
and TV stations, sports fields and a library. And, maybe one day, a small
college.
The Makkah Learning Center - named for Islam's holiest city - has been a
dream of the society's members for more than a decade. But the vision
gained urgency after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
"This is our way in the Muslim community to fight back against
terrorism - by education," said Mohammad Arafa, president of the
society.
Hoping to open the prayer center later this month, during the holy month
of Ramadan, organizers say they want to create a place of solace and
learning for local Muslims while building a bridge to the community at
large. The planned high school will accept non-Muslims and the library
and sports fields will be open for public use. Interfaith activities are
planned for the center as well.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the national Council on American-Islamic
Relations in Washington, said that nationally, there is a growing
demand for Islamic schools, and high schools in particular.
"A stand-alone high school has not been accomplished very often in
the United States. A facility of that size and nature would be almost
unique," Hooper said. "It would be a great step forward for the
Muslim community." (MORE)
-----
CAIR-CA: HELPING OTHERS UNDERSTAND
ISLAM -
TOP
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Muslims have made efforts to reach
outside their faith in a campaign to dispel misconceptions about the
nature of their religion
Kim Vo, Mercury News, 10/6/06
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/religion/15693595.htm
In a Milpitas mosque where wall decorations tout love and peace, Saadia
Ahmed ushered her guests from prayer room to kitchen. She explained the
special prayers for Ramadan, the flat bread called naan, and why Islam
doesn't condone violence.
It's a scene that will be replayed throughout mosques nationwide as
Muslims welcome visitors during the holy month of Ramadan. Since
terrorists steered planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in
2001, American Muslims have undertaken a public-relations campaign to
distance themselves from terrorists who, they say, hijacked Islam as well
as the planes.
In the past five years, Muslims have given away free copies of the Koran.
They've initiated letter-writing campaigns to local newspapers and
public-service announcements for television shows like "24,"
which includes terrorist plots. And every Ramadan, they hold open houses
-- as many Bay Area mosques will do this weekend -- so non-Muslims can
visit mosques and learn about the religion they too often see in
headlines and news channels.
"There's so much misconception about Islam right now," said
Ahmed, a member of Bait-ul-Baseer mosque. "We need to tell people:
What you see on the media, what you hear, it's not the truth about
Islam."
Despite their efforts, some reports suggest attitudes are hardening
against Muslims. A Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this year found
that 46 percent of Americans have a negative view of Islam; the poll
suggests that prejudice is higher now than immediately after the Sept. 11
attacks. The advocacy group the Council on American-Islamic
Relations also found that a quarter of Americans believe
"Muslims value life less than other people."
CAIR said it received the highest number of complaints in its 12-year
history in 2005, ranging from employment discrimination to verbal
harassment to profiling.
In the Bay Area, such complaints spiked from 35 in 2004 to 113 last year,
according to Sameena Usman with CAIR's Santa Clara branch. Cases
include people being insulted on the job, or women having their head
coverings torn off by strangers. So far this year, the office has
processed 165 complaints.
Usman said growing Islamophobic rhetoric is partly responsible for the
rising numbers, as is Muslims' greater willingness to report problems to
Islamic advocacy groups. (MORE)
Bay Area mosques are hosting open houses during Ramadan, Islam's holy
month when Muslims fast during daylight hours. American Muslims have
launched several outreach projects since Sept. 11, 2001. For the Ramadan
events, organizers ask that guests RSVP at
http://www.myvillage.us/my/ramadan
Saturday, Oct. 7
Muslim Community Association, 3003 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara,
Registration: 4:30 p.m., Program begins: 5 p.m.,
http://www.mcabayarea.org
South Valley Islamic Center, 14770 Columbet Ave., San Martin,
Registration: 4:30 p.m., Program begins: 5 p.m.,
http://www.svic.org
Sunday, Oct. 8
Islamic Society of East Bay, 33330 Peace Terrace, Fremont, Booths open: 4
p.m., Program begins: 4:30 p.m.,
http://www.iseb.org
Zaytuna Institute, 631 Jackson St., Hayward, Registration begins: 5 p.m.,
Program begins: 5:30 p.m.,
http://www.zaytuna.org
For nine years, Abdus Samad N. Haqq wore a kufi, a traditional Islamic
religious head covering, along with his uniform as a state correction
officer in Harlem.
On May 8, 2005, his supervisor ordered him to remove it.
Haqq, 53, who was born in Brooklyn and converted to Islam in the 1980s,
complied with the request, but that decision has been difficult
emotionally and spiritually, the New York Civil Liberties Union stated in
a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan.
The challenge to the policy that forbids state prison guards from wearing
religious head coverings comes just months after another NYCLU suit
persuaded the U.S. Coast Guard to change its rule that barred members of
the Merchant Marine from wearing religious head coverings in their
license photographs.
The latest case raises questions about freedom of religion and the
state's fairness to its workers.
"The state of New York cannot force public employees to surrender
their religious beliefs as a condition of keeping their jobs," said
Donna Lieberman, the NCYLU's Manhattan-based executive director.
Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Correctional
Services, said she could not comment on pending litigation.
(MORE)
Muslim-Jewish relations in Los Angeles have undoubtedly undergone a test
the past several weeks, the outcome of which is still unclear. But out of
an acrimonious political battle, many Muslims would like to move on and
attempt to re-establish discussion and dialogue with our fellow Jewish
Angelenos.
What is being referred to is last week's decision by the L.A. County
Commission on Human Relations to give its John Allen Buggs Humanitarian
Award to Muslim leader Dr. Maher Hathout and the vitriolic rhetoric from
a segment of the Jewish community in the weeks preceding. It has, amongst
other things, been a trial for Muslim-Jewish relations. But interestingly
enough, the period has also seen certain bonds between the two groups
solidify.
Based on his past criticisms of Israel, a segment of the Jewish community
engaged in what can be fairly called a smear campaign against Hathout. In
doing so, it took a long-standing moderate and intellectual Muslim leader
and painted him as an extremist in an attempt to make him, and the
organizations he represents, politically radioactive.
In a Sept. 1 press release, the American Jewish Committee (AJCommittee)
called Hathout "a radical Islamic leader masquerading as a moderate
and deceiving the American public." The Zionist Organization of
America (ZOA) on Sept. 6 accused Hathout of "promoting violence,
hatred and divisiveness"; this again because Hathout likened
Israel's treatment of Palestinians to "apartheid," a term even
Israeli news organizations use to characterize Israel's ongoing
occupation of Palestinian territories.
Led by these two groups, and eventually joined by others such as The
Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the FBI-designated terrorist
group, the Jewish Defense League, an unsuccessful campaign to rescind the
award was orchestrated.
This unfortunate effort, filled with more anger by some of these groups
than I care to describe, did nothing but build resentment in Muslims. In
their view, this campaign continued a pattern of opposing Muslim
political integration purely because of its differing viewpoint on a
foreign country. (MORE)
[Omar Ricci is chairman of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.]
The David Project, a non profit Jewish advocacy organization, yesterday
charged in Suffolk Superior Court that the Boston Redevelopment Authority
is withholding public records related to the authority's sale of land to
the Islamic Society of Boston for construction of a mosque.
The organization asked the court to order the BRA to surrender the
documents, in particular copies of e-mails written and received by BRA
deputy director Mohammad Ali-Salaam regarding the Roxbury land deal, and
documents relating to travel by Ali-Salaam to the Middle East on behalf
of the mosque project.
Susan Elsbree, spokeswoman for the redevelopment authority, said the
authority is ``confident the court will find that the BRA has complied
with all public records requests."
The David Project is among numerous organizations and individuals sued by
the Islamic Society for allegedly conspiring to circulate false and
defamatory information about its leaders in order to prevent the building
of the mosque. (MORE)
Guards at Guantanamo Bay bragged about beating detainees and described it
as common practice, a Marine sergeant said in a sworn statement obtained
by The Associated Press.
The two-page statement was sent Wednesday to the Inspector General at the
Department of Defense by a high-ranking Marine Corps defense
lawyer.
The lawyer sent the statement on behalf of a paralegal who said men she
met on Sept. 23 at a bar on the base identified themselves to her as
guards. The woman, whose name was blacked out, said she spent about an
hour talking with them. No one was in uniform, she said.
A 19-year-old sailor referred to only as Bo "told the other guards
and me about him beating different detainees being held in the
prison," the statement said.
"One such story Bo told involved him taking a detainee by the head
and hitting the detainee's head into the cell door. Bo said that his
actions were known by others," but that he was never punished, the
statement said. The paralegal was identified in the affidavit as a
sergeant working on an unidentified Guantanamo-related case.
(MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
Say: "O My servants who have transgressed against your own souls, do
not despair of God's mercy, for God forgives all sins. It is He who is
the Forgiving, the Merciful."
The Holy Quran, 39:53
HADITH OF THE DAY:
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "I would not trade
this verse for the whole world."
CHINO - When the sun finally sets and the fast of Ramadan ends for the
day, Luqman Malik joins the faithful at the Baitul Hameed Mosque for a
feast of chicken, rice, potatoes.
And Mexican food.
Islam is a tapestry, Imam Shamshad A. Nasir says, a religion that
attracts men and women of many cultures.
More Latinos are embracing the faith, said Hussam Ayloush, a Corona
man who is spokesman for the Southern California chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations. While he has no exact numbers, he said
the shift is clear.
"Go to the mosque in downtown L.A. and you'll see a large number of
Latinos," he said. "People are seeking a place where they feel
the spirit of peace."
He said they are willing to make sacrifices to find that peace.
That includes Latinos like Malik, a Catholic by birth, who found solace
in Islam in the days after Sept. 11, 2001.
He was in college, and didn't like the way his Muslim friends were being
treated.
"People were saying they were not good people," he said.
"That's not true."
It made him want to learn more about Islam, and he found himself drawn to
its teachings and traditions. After much study and thought, the
26-year-old Chino man decided to convert. (MORE)
Minnesota is home to thousands of Muslims from around the world. Like
other immigrants, they have worked hard to establish themselves and
support their families. But, since 9/11, the state's Muslims have become
more concerned about presenting the real image of their faith and getting
involved in their local communities. (MORE)
MINNEAPOLIS - Keith Ellison, the Democratic candidate for Congress here,
strode among the stalls of exotically printed fabric, telephone cards and
sweet tea at a Somali mall, shaking hands with his fellow
Muslims.
"The community showed up big!" Mr. Ellison, 43, said,
dispensing hugs as he thanked the many immigrant Somalis whose votes had
helped him beat six other candidates in a primary race in
September.
Mr. Ellison, a stocky criminal defense lawyer who converted to Islam in
college, is expected by experts to make history on Election Day by
becoming the first Muslim elected to Congress, as well as the first black
representative from Minnesota.
"If he wins, he will take the oath of office on a Koran," Ali
Ahmed, a social services worker, said as he wandered through the Karmel
Square mall, a popular shopping and social destination for Somali
immigrants.
"Our main concern is that Muslims are treated differently from
Christians," Mr. Ahmed said. "So he can show that we are all
the same people."
The Fifth Congressional District is a Democratic citadel. The last
Republican to represent it lost re-election in 1962.
Mr. Ellison's Republican opponent, Alan Fine, has made a concerted effort
to discredit him for previous ties to the Nation of Islam, the radical
group founded by Louis Farrakhan, but experts do not expect Mr. Fine to
pose a serious challenge.
Though Mr. Ellison usually mentions his faith on the campaign trail only
when asked, his candidacy has amounted to something of a political
awakening among Muslims tired of being vilified since the attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001.
"They were resistant to voting because a lot of them thought it
wouldn't make a difference," said Abdisalam Adam, the director of a
Somali cultural center who helped send scores of volunteers door to door
to bring out voters in the primary. "This is the first time we saw
people get excited and identify with the issues." (MORE)
Ashraf Sarsour was at an obligatory business lunch for a longtime client
when he got what he describes as "the look."
Table by table, his co-workers made their way to the buffet. But he
remained seated, his stomach rumbling. A waft of fried chicken filled the
air. Forks and knives clinked. Waiters filled and refilled water glasses
to the brim. And he sat, acutely aware that he'd become an oddity.
Patience, he kept telling himself, patience.
Oooh, then he spotted the sweet potato pie, his favorite.
Patience.
"Ash, what are you doing? Go eat, man," one colleague urged
him.
"Thanks, but I'm fasting."
"Uh, well, here, have a drink."
"It doesn't really work that way."
The exchange last year was like many others Sarsour has had during
Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset every day.
His Christian friends know about Lent and his Jewish friends fast on Yom
Kippur. But the duration and rigor of Ramadan -- underway this month --
baffle many non-Muslims and make the ritual a curiosity in the
working-lunch /coffee break /water cooler office culture. (MORE)
We are now mid-Ramadan, the joyful Muslim holi day that lasts a month and
celebrates the gift of the Koran to Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago.
Sharing some of these good books about Islam can teach your children
well. (MORE)
BOSTON (Reuters) - In Saudi Arabia, a gawky teenager is transformed into
a hulking creature. In Paris, a historian chases legends about mystical
gemstones. In South Africa, a boy discovers a sparkling rock with healing
powers.
The characters are from a new genre of superheroes endowed with Muslim
virtues and aimed at young Muslims in a comic book series called
"The 99." Launched in July, it is being billed as the world's
first superhero project drawn from Islamic culture. (MORE)
---
NJ: SCHOOL KIDS LEARN
ABOUT RAMADAN -
TOP
Danielle Shapiro,
Herald News, 10/7/06
PATERSON - Some people say Passaic County is the most diverse region in
New Jersey because of the area's rich ethnic mosaic.
But intolerance and intemperance are not new human phenomena in the
United States. And a report last month by the Council on American Islamic
Relations showed that anti-Muslim bias incidents were at an all-time high
in the U.S. - 80 percent of the complaints were reported in eight states
and the District of Columbia and 4 percent originated from New
Jersey.
The September release of the report coincided with the Muslim holy month
of Ramadan.
Local schoolteachers find themselves in a unique position to counter
misunderstandings by providing timeless information about cultural
diversity. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-FL: GIVING BACK IS REVEREND'S
BIRTHDAY WISH -
TOP
Heather S. Walker, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 10/6/06 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Peace, harmony and love were words used by the Rev. Ernest Chu to
describe what he and guests experienced at the Ecumenical Candlelight
Peace Service and dual celebration of his 60th birthday.
Chu, assistant minister at Religious Science Ft. Lauderdale, organized
the event in an effort to give back to the community. . .
Altaf Ali, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations
in Pembroke Pines, spoke to the gathering about achieving
peace.
"The way I achieve peace is reflecting on the majesty of God's
creation," said Ali, adding that he is deliberately not affiliated
with one place of worship because his organization represents all
Muslims. "I think it's commendable that a group came together to
appeal for peace. It sets a good example for others to follow."
(MORE)
DEARBORN - Ford Motor Company hosted its 6th annual Ramadan fast breaking
Wednesday, an event attended by around 150 Muslim and non-Muslim
guests.
The evening program took place in the Ford Credit building's cafeteria
and was themed, "Ramadan: The Month of Forgiveness and
Reconciliation."
Speakers included Mike Bannister, CEO of Ford Credit; Paul Nussbaum,
Executive Vice President of Ford Credit; Dawud Walid, Executive
Director for the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic
Relations (CAIR-Michigan); and Ramzi Mohammad, a scientist and
professor of cancer biology at Wayne State University (WSU). . .
After the Ford officials, Walid - the first keynote speaker - came up.
"These types of gatherings are a good way for all of us to become
more acquainted with one another and open up the way to
communication," he said.
"When a Muslim involves himself with reading the Qur'an more in this
month, as regardful Muslims do, this reading should awaken them to the
mistakes that they have made for themselves and to others.
"The act of fasting should sharpen one's mind as blood flow which is
ordinarily used for digesting the food is diverted to the brain. It is a
great time for reflection and deep thought as well as change.
"Asking for forgiveness in Islam should mean recognizing one's
mistakes and having a desire to not commit those mistakes again. This is
the true repentance. And whoever does not show mercy to others shall not
receive mercy. This is a central theme present in the holy month of
Ramadan." (MORE)
[Sarwat Husain is president of the Council on American Islamic
Relations in San Antonio.]
Since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Muslim charities have
been under increased scrutiny by Washington. American Muslims are facing
a very difficult question regarding which charity their Zakat can be
given without inadvertently being linked to terrorism.
Sadly, many of these charity organizations have been raided or closed
down by our government linking their work to funding terrorism, creating
a huge gap in the charity delivery service among the needy Muslim
communities throughout the world. Most disturbing for American Muslims is
to see that none of the alleged charities has been convicted of any
crime. Five years later, it is still happening, resulting in the freezing
of millions of dollars in bank assets.
The government's ban on charities that provide aid in certain countries
only magnifies the miseries of the poor resulting in the unnecessary
spread of diseases and deaths. Innocent men, women, elderly and children
are the main victims.
Last year in Illinois, a coalition of Muslim and other religious
organizations pushed the Illinois State Assembly to pass a resolution
called "Charity Without Fear." The resolution called on the
federal government to create a list of organizations that are safe for
people to contribute to without fear of being questioned by the
government. The Bush administration has made no move to respond.
With a need for a safe charitable organization to donate Zakat, Muslims
continue to wait anxiously for the president's response. Until then,
American Muslims put their faith and their Zakat donations in God's
hands, hoping that it reaches those who are the most in need.
Henna artist Tasnia Hasan, 14, of East Lyme, draws designs on the arm of
Katie Novick of Newton, Mass., while friends Meghan Hewitt and Holly
Simpson watch. Hasan was working the Council for American-Islamic
Relations booth at the Taste of Culture at New London Waterfront Park
on Saturday.
Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the American Muslim community has
offered a series of ``Know Your Rights'' workshops at area community
centers and mosques. The State Bar of California on Friday awarded a
Presidential Pro Bono Award to the Bay Area Association of Muslim Lawyers
(BAAML) for its work. In an edited interview with religion writer Kim Vo,
BAAML president and San Jose attorney Marwa Elzankaly discussed civil
rights, the war on terror and the concerns of Muslim women.
(MORE)
If it had eluded my consciousness before, it was clear at that moment:
This was my new American reality.
Me, Arab.
You, wholesome American fearing for your life.
But if it has come down to whether this country stays safe or whether I
become the scapegoat for all the racist and xenophobic feelings that grow
day by day in this country -- I choose the latter. Freedom, after all, is
not free. Right, Mr. President? (MORE)
EL CAJON, Calif. - Sgt. Cameron Murad wanders the strip malls and parking
lots of this Iraqi immigrant enclave in the arid foothills beyond San
Diego. Wherever he goes, a hush seems to follow.
He stands by the entrance of a Middle Eastern grocery in khakis and a
baseball cap, trying to blend in. He smiles gently. He offers the
occasional Arabic greeting.
Quietly, he searches the aisles for a version of himself: an Iraqi
expatriate with greater ambition than prospects, a Muslim immigrant
willing to fight an American war.
There are countless hard jobs for American soldiers supporting the
occupation of Iraq. Few seem more impossible than the one assigned to
Sergeant Murad. As the conflict grows increasingly violent and unpopular,
the sergeant must persuade native Arabic speakers to enlist and serve
with front-line troops.
"I feel like a nomad in the middle of the desert, looking for green
pastures," said Sergeant Murad, 34, who is from the Kurdish region
of Iraq.
Linguists have emerged as critical figures in the occupation. They
interpret for commanders in meetings with mayors and sheiks. They
translate during the interrogation of Iraqi prisoners. They shadow troops
on risky missions.
In the pressing search for Arabic speakers, the military has turned to
Middle Eastern immigrants in the United States. Sergeant Murad is a
rising star in this effort. He has recruited 10 men to the program in
little more than a year, a record unrivaled in the Army National
Guard.
Still, he is an unlikely foot soldier in the campaign. His own evolution
- from a teenage immigrant who landed in North Dakota after the first
gulf war to a spit-and-polish sergeant - has been marked with private
suffering.
In boot camp, he was called a "raghead." Comrades have
questioned his patriotism. Last year a staff sergeant greeted him by
calling out, "Here comes the Taliban!"
He remembers a day in 2002 when the comedian Drew Carey visited a base in
Saudi Arabia where he was working. During a skit, Sergeant Murad
recalled, Mr. Carey dropped to the ground to mimic the Muslim prayer. As
the troops roared with laughter, Sergeant Murad walked out.
"I thought about my mom when she prays, how humble she is," he
said. (MORE)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Sunday
condemned the youth wing of an anti-immigrant party for mocking the
Prophet Muhammad during a summer camp meeting earlier this year.
"I strongly condemn the behavior of members of the youth wing of the
Danish People's Party," Fogh Rasmussen said. "Their tasteless
behavior does in no way represent the way the Danish people or young
Danish people view Muslims or Islam."
The videos were posted online earlier this week, drawing criticism and
condemnation from Muslim leaders in Egypt and Indonesia.
Members of the youth group could be seen in the video having a drawing
contest in August. One woman presented a cartoon showing a camel with the
head of Muhammad and beer cans for humps. A second drawing showed a
bearded man wearing a turban next to a plus sign and a bomb that equals a
nuclear mushroom cloud. (MORE)
Ruth Kelly yesterday defended the wearing of the veil as a 'personal
choice' by Muslims that must be respected. She made her comments as the
Cabinet began distancing itself from Jack Straw's disclosure that he
asked women attending his constituency surgery to uncover their faces.
(MORE)
-----
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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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #502
REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S NOV. 18 BANQUET IN
VA
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia. To learn more about the dinner, or to register, GO TO:
https://www.cair.com/2006banquet/
WHEN: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Registration begins at 5 p.m., Program begins at 6:30 p.m. WHERE: Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Arlington, VA
SPEAKERS:
* Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
* Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
* Amy Goodman (Democracy Now)
Program will also feature the "2006 Rosa Parks Civil Liberties
Award Recipient" and the "2006 Muslim Community Service
Awards"
2. LET OTHERS KNOW about the dinner. Contact
events@cair.com to give a list of
people who should be contacted about the dinner. Also send this notice to
your personal e-mail list.
3. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE DINNER, but would like to
support CAIR's important work, make a donation at:
https://www.cair.com/asp/donate.asp
4. TO REGISTER BY FAX, fill out the form below.
--- CLIP AND FAX/MAIL/E-MAIL ---
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- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
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453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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HADITH OF THE DAY: MERCY, FORGIVENESS AND FREEDOM -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said of Ramadan: "It is the
month of endurance and the reward of endurance is Paradise. It is the
month of sharing with others. . .It is a month whose beginning is mercy,
whose middle is forgiveness and whose end is freedom from
Hell."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 614
-----
DC/VA/MD: REGISTER ONLINE FOR
CAIR 11/18 BANQUET IN VIRGINIA -
TOP
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia. To learn more about the dinner, or to register, GO TO:
https://www.cair.com/2006banquet/
Local religious leaders spoke out in support of the Islamic Center of
Long Island at an interfaith celebration at the Westbury mosque, which
Rep. Peter King has alleged is run by extremists.
"We will not be fooled by fearmongering and appeals to
bigotry," the Rev. Mark Lukens, pastor of Bethany Congregational
Church in East Rockaway, said at a news conference yesterday. "We
stand with you proudly, shoulder to shoulder." (MORE)
An Alabama Muslim's ties to an Islamic charity, shut down by the U.S.
government for funding activities by the Palestinian militant group
Hamas, has caused a rift between Birmingham's Jewish and Muslim
communities.
Raed Awad, a Palestinian who moved to Birmingham two years ago, has taken
part in numerous interfaith programs, including chanting prayers in
Arabic from the pulpit at South Highland Presbyterian Church during a
Thanksgiving week interfaith service last year.
But his critics note that when he lived in Florida, Awad raised funds for
The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which the U.S.
government shut down in December 2001 for its connections to Hamas. .
.
Unfairly characterized:
The Rev. Steve Jones, pastor of Southside Baptist Church and a friend of
both Awad and Miller, said he fears that Awad has been unfairly
characterized as a terrorist sympathizer, a label that will be hard to
shed. He said other participants in interfaith dialogue, such as
Christians, Buddhists and Baha'is, are also negatively affected by the
dispute.
"The Muslim and Jewish community are really at odds here,"
Jones said. "There's all this feeling and energy about Raed. It's
not justified. He disavows violence of any kind. He abhors
terrorism."
Awad said he's willing to meet with concerned Jewish leaders.
"We were making good strides in reconciling the Muslim and Jewish
community," Awad said. "Until I die, I'll have my hand extended
to Rabbi Miller and the Jewish community."
Two major American Jewish organizations helped block a prominent New York
University historian from speaking at the Polish consulate here last
week, saying the academic was too critical of Israel and American
Jewry.
The historian, Tony Judt, is Jewish and directs New York University's
Remarque Institute, which promotes the study of Europe. Judt was
scheduled to talk Oct. 4 to a nonprofit organization that rents space
from the consulate. Judt's subject was the Israel lobby in the United
States, and he planned to argue that this lobby has often stifled honest
debate.
An hour before Judt was to arrive, the Polish Consul General Krzysztof
Kasprzyk canceled the talk. He said the Anti-Defamation League and the
American Jewish Committee had called and he quickly concluded Judt was
too controversial.
"The phone calls were very elegant but may be interpreted as
exercising a delicate pressure," Kasprzyk said. "That's obvious
-- we are adults and our IQs are high enough to understand
that."
Judt, who was born and raised in England and lost much of his family in
the Holocaust, took strong exception to the cancellation of his speech.
He noted that he was forced to cancel another speech later this month at
Manhattan College in the Bronx after a different Jewish group had
complained. Other prominent academics have described encountering such
problems, in some cases more severe, stretching over the past three
decades.
The pattern, Judt says, is unmistakable and chilling. (MORE)
Two mid-Michigan religious groups are using their differences to
understand each other. Muslims and Christians from neighboring
congregations gathered to help break down some religious
barriers.
It's a narrow strip of land that separates two faith communities- the
Islamic Center of Lansing on one side and University Lutheran Church on
the other, but instead of dividing the two congregations, the piece of
property is uniting them.
With the sun shining high over both houses of worship, dozens of
volunteers rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Muslims and
Christians, side by side, digging in to the space between them.
Sandy Davis, University Lutheran Church: "We're putting in 70 trees
and shrubs, lots of decorative grasses."
But these two neighbors just happen to be a church and a mosque, and in
this era of religious strife and tension, this project is as much about
landscaping as it is planting new seeds of understanding.
Steve Springer, University Lutheran Church: "When you just start
talking person to person, neighbor to neighbor, a lot of the barriers
just melt away." (MORE)
Regarding "Domestic radicals a concern for U.S." published on
Oct 2:
We are living as American Muslims in Louisville and have for the past 30
years. We are happy and proud to be Americans for the great opportunities
and freedoms we enjoy.
After 9/11, being an American Muslim means facing mountains of bad media
hype. The American Muslim population continues to grow, but polls show
that Muslims in the United States face a rising tide of negative public
opinion.
A recent survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that
about a quarter of all Americans think "the Muslim religion teaches
violence and hatred." A CBS poll taken in April reports that fewer
than one in five Americans have a favorable impression of Islam.
Most dare not complain openly, religious and civic leaders say, for fear
of being labeled unpatriotic or sympathetic to extremists.
Opinion polls back up what American Muslims say they feel every day:
Masses of the U.S. populace view them negatively.
In a USA Today/Gallup poll released in August, 39 percent of Americans
said they feel prejudiced toward Muslims.
Nearly a quarter said they would not want a Muslim as a
neighbor.
Another 39 percent want Muslims to carry special identification at all
times and undergo enhanced security checks when boarding airplanes.
(MORE)
Ibrahim B. Syed, President, Islamic Research Foundation International,
Inc.
A. R. Tak, M.D., President, Islamic Center of Louisville
Louisville 40242
Reaction to the pope's remarks about Islam included attacks on five
churches in Palestine. It is easy to consider this as a reflection of
Islamic principles, as a statement that Islam does not tolerate other
religions.
But if Muslims are intolerant, why are about 2 percent of the 3.7 million
people in Palestine Christians? If Muslims are intolerant, why didn't
they kill all the Christians and burn their churches long ago?
The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli newspaper, quoted the priest at the burned
Greek Orthodox Church as saying it was the first time an attack like this
had happened. If Islam was "spread by the sword" 1,400 years
ago, why didn't Muslims kill all the Christians and Jews who lived in
Islamic countries and demolish their places of worship back
then?
Muslims lived in peace with Jews and Christians in the Middle East for
1,400 years because true Islam preaches tolerance and leading others to
our faith by setting an example.
The Quran says, "Let there be no compulsion in religion." And
it says, "If anyone slew a person -- unless for murder or for
spreading mischief in the land -- it is as if he slew all
people."
Practicing Muslims know these verses; that's why Christians and Jews were
not wiped out. In fact, Jews live in Morocco today because they found a
safe haven there during the Spanish inquisition. (MORE)
Ashraf Fahmy is vice chairman of The Islamic Center of Lexington, 649
South Limestone.
Ali Mohamed never wanted to end up behind the counter of his dad's store.
Now, the 27-year-old Yemeni-American works the cash register, flanked by
Plexiglas with a wall of liquor at his back.
"How you doin', baby?" he asks a chubby woman with a 16-ounce
can of Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager.
"I'm being bad," she cackles. "I just robbed my piggy
bank."
She asks for a Swisher cigar and hands him a bag of well-counted change.
He recounts it and dumps it in the register, then slips her purchase into
a can-sized paper bag.
As a Muslim who has never touched a drop of liquor and does his best to
pray five times a day, Mohamed feels badly about selling alcohol, but
says it accounts for 40 percent of his business.
"It's like a Catch-22. Once you have kids you have to find some
means, so that's why we end up in the stores," said Mohamed, who is
fully aware of the inconsistency.
Such contradictions between the culture of the homeland and the realities
of U.S. life are common in Oakland's large Yemeni community. Yemeni
teenagers listen to hip-hop and date Americans, but often return to Yemen
to marry. And although they find it harder to support traditionally large
families, most still have them.
Of all these contradictions, however, only selling liquor has elicited
public criticism.
Yemenis hold close to 70 percent of Oakland's 373 off-sale liquor
licenses, which go to stores instead of bars. And although this is a
contradiction they would rather live without, they say it is one likely
to continue until they can move on to other businesses. (MORE)
Soon after 9/11, an FBI informant made an alarming claim: Osama bin
Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had visited the town of Lodi, Calif.,
in the late 1990s and attended a mosque there. Moreover, two Pakistani
imams preaching at the mosque came from a conservative Islamic school, or
madrassa, linked to the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan. According
to McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney who led the federal anti-terror
investigation, this was "an attempt by a group of radical Islamic
religious figures to come to this country and ... establish a madrassa to
serve as a recruiting ground."
However, a deeper look at the evidence creates uncertainty about what
kind of threat actually did exist in Lodi and provides a case study of
America's response to the threat of domestic terrorism. FRONTLINE and New
York Times reporter Lowell Bergman examines the Lodi case and interviews
FBI and Homeland Security officials to assess U.S. anti-terror efforts in
The Enemy Within, airing Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS
(check local listings).
The Lodi case drew the attention of senior U.S. officials. "A
network of Islamic extremists in Lodi," Director of National
Intelligence John Negroponte told Congress in February 2006,
"maintained connections with Pakistani militant groups, recruited
U.S. citizens, . . . [and] allegedly raised funds for international
jihadist groups."
But when Bergman interviews one of the defendants, Umer Hayat, an ice
cream truck driver in Lodi, about the terror investigation, the story
seems less clear. "I just make [up] a story, that's all," says
Hayat, "because they would not believe me when I was telling the
truth." At the trials of Hayat and his son, Hamid, the FBI showed a
videotape in which the Hayats confessed to attending a terrorist training
camp in Pakistan, but questions remain. After arriving at the bureau's
Sacramento office voluntarily, the Hayats were interrogated nonstop for
15 hours without a lawyer present. Separated, they gave different
accounts of the camp they had visited, and the FBI did not conduct a
follow-up investigation in Pakistan. "You can hear the agents
literally dictate to [Hayat] what it is that they thought he was involved
in," says James Wedick, a retired 35-year veteran of the FBI, who
reviewed the videos for the defense. "And then he mimics back to
them what he thinks that they want to hear." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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HADITH OF THE DAY: ITIKAF - THE LAST TEN DAYS OF
RAMADAN -
TOP
A wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "(The
Prophet) would strive (to do acts of worship) during the last ten days of
Ramadan more than he would at any other time."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 3, Number 133B
NOTE: Many Muslims perform "itikaf," a spiritual retreat in a
mosque, during the last ten days of Ramadan. To find a local mosque that
may be holding such a retreat, go to:
www.islamicfinder.org
-----
DC/VA/MD: REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR 11/18 BANQUET
IN VIRGINIA -
TOP
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia. To learn more about the dinner, or to register, GO TO:
https://www.cair.com/2006banquet/
-----
CAIR-LA CALLS ON CANDIDATES TO
AVOID ANTI-MUSLIM RHETORIC -
TOP
(ANAHEIM, CA, 10/10/06) - The Southern California office of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today called on politicians in
that state to avoid "smear campaigns and fear-mongering" to
target candidates of Muslim or Arab background or those who associate
with the California Muslim community.
"We call on all Californians to repudiate attempts to spread fear of
Islam and Muslims by falsely labeling Arab-American and Muslim candidates
seeking office as extremists," said CAIR-LA Executive Director
Hussam Ayloush. "It is disturbing to see public officials exploit
growing anti-Muslim prejudice and bias within by using smear campaigns
and fear-mongering."
Ayloush cited the case of Bill Dalati, a Republican candidate for Anaheim
City Council who has been the target of vicious attacks by former state
Republican Party Chairman Shawn Steel. Steel supports Dalati's opponent,
incumbent Bob Hernandez.
In a letter, Steel called Dalati a "Manchurian candidate" and
questioned his patriotism for supporting elected officials who have been
critical of President George W. Bush's Iraq policies.
Steel also criticized Dalati's participation at a rally this summer. That
rally was attended by Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of other
faiths, and demanded an immediate cease-fire to the most recent outbreak
of war in the Middle East.
Muslims say Steel has a history of Islamophobia. He once claimed Islam is
a diseased religion.
In a separate race, 47th Congressional District incumbent Loretta Sanchez
has been targeted using similar tactics.
Sanchez's opponent Tan Nguyen has angered local Muslims with his
offensive and inflammatory use of a photograph of a Middle Eastern
terrorist to link the hot-button issues of illegal immigration and
terrorism.
Sanchez has closely worked with all religious groups, including
Muslims.
CAIR has 32 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.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) - A key staffer for a Muslim humanitarian
organization based in suburban Detroit was slain in his native Iraq, the
group said Monday.
Abdul-Sattar Abdullah Al-Mashhadani was killed Saturday at a checkpoint
run by one of the sectarian militias in Baghdad, Southfield-based Life
for Relief and Development said in a statement.
Al-Mashhadani, 43, was the director of programs for the group's Baghdad
office. He oversaw projects including the opening of medical clinics,
renovating schools and completing a major water treatment plant project
in southern Iraq in partnership with UNICEF.
Al-Mashhadani was the first Life staffer to be killed during the
sectarian violence in Iraq, spokesman Mohammed Alomari said.
Survivors include Al-Mashhadani's pregnant wife, four children and three
brothers. He was buried Monday.
"Our staff members in Iraq are really risking their lives everyday
to do the badly needed humanitarian work that the country desperately
needs," said Khalil Jassemm, the charity's chief executive. "In
the end, Abdul-Sattar paid the ultimate price. He will be greatly
missed." (MORE)
Southfield, Michigan (10/9/2006) - The board and staff of Life for
Relief and Development (LIFE), an American humanitarian relief
organization based in Southfield Michigan is mourning the loss of one its
key humanitarian aid workers in Iraq, Abdul-Sattar Abdullah
Al-Mashhadani.
Abdul-Sattar was the Director of Programs for the LIFE Baghdad Office,
and oversaw many of LIFE's humanitarian projects in the war-torn nation,
including opening of medical clinics, renovating schools, and more
recently completing a major water treatment plant project in southern
Iraq, in partnership with UNICEF.
Last Friday (10/6), Abdel-Sattar had informed our Staff that he had
received a sectarian death threat to leave his house, in the Huriya
district of Baghdad. His family had reported that the following morning,
on Saturday, he packed up his belongings, sent his family to safety and
took a taxi to seek safety. Eyewitnesses had reported that his taxi was
stopped at a checkpoint run by one of the sectarian militias. After
apparently showing his ID card, Abdel-Sattar and the driver were pulled
from the car, taken away and killed in cold blood by shots to the head,
execution style, according to these eyewitnesses. He is yet another
victim of the senseless violence in Iraq
This tragic event was not only a shock to his family and co-workers, but
to many who knew him. Many who had worked with Abdel-Sattar describe him
as being a quiet, polite and kind man. He was 43 years, and is survived
by his four children, his pregnant wife who is expecting to deliver in 2
months, and three brothers. His future fifth child will unfortunately
never meet his father. His body was laid to rest today.
Commenting on this tragic loss, Dr. Khalil Jassemm, CEO of LIFE, said,
"Our staff members in Iraq are really risking their lives everyday
to do the badly needed humanitarian work that the country desperately
needs. In the end, Abdel-Sattar paid the ultimate price. He will be
greatly missed." (MORE)
In the meantime, I have been informed that the Council on
American-Islamic Relations in Tampa has made a contribution to be
sent to assist those Christian churches in the Holy Land, which have
suffered damage as a result of the anger aroused by the Holy Father's
talk. This is a very magnanimous gesture on the part of genuine believers
and I wish I had known about it this morning in time to share it with the
Holy Father. I extend my thanks to Ahmed Bedier, the executive
director of the council, for this gracious outreach and assure him
that the entire Catholic community is most grateful. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-NY: PACE U. QURAN DESECRATION
RECOGNIZED AS HATE CRIME -
TOP
(NEW YORK, NY, 10/10/06)- The New York chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) has been informed that the recent
desecration of a Quran at Pace University was recognized as a hate
crime.
On September 20, a copy of the Quran was found in a toilet at the Pace
library bathroom. Initially, Pace University Administration called the
desecration vandalism, but with the collaborative efforts of CAIR-NY, the
Association of Muslim American Lawyers (AMAL), the NYPD Hate Crimes Task
Force, the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau, and the Muslim Students
Association at Pace, university administrators now view the incident as
bias-related.
In a statement, CAIR-NY said: "CAIR-NY extends its appreciation to
Inspector Joseph Cassidy, Community Coordinator Erhan Yildirim of the
NYPD Community Affairs Bureau and Officer Ahmed Nasr for their positive
involvement, which brought to light the gravity of the situation.
Additionally, the investigation of the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force was
integral in the reclassification of this crime."
CONTACT: Maryam Sayar Akbar, Civil Rights Director, CAIR-NY at
212-870-2002
Advocates for immigrants on Monday criticized a decision by a
conservative student group at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to
sponsor an event called "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" this
week.
The Young Americans for Freedom, a group founded by conservative
commentator William F. Buckley in the early 1960s, announced Monday that
it would hold the event on Thursday.
"The game came up a while ago and we just saw it and thought there
was nothing wrong," said Andrew Boyd, 20, a sophomore from Muskegon
who is chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom. "The point of
the game is not to emphasize anything to do with ethnicity or race. For
us, national security has a lot to do with it."
Not everyone sees it that way.
"The state of Michigan has the dubious distinction of being known as
one of America's most segregated states," said Dawud Walid,
executive director of the Council on American Islamic
Relations-Michigan. "Events such as these do nothing except
further tarnish the image of our great state."
While the group said it would dress up someone "like an illegal
immigrant," Boyd said the person will wear a sign that says,
"illegal immigrant."
Critics say the event is clearly an expression of intolerance,
regardless. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-SV
PARTICIPATES IN APAPA's 5th ANNUAL VOTERS EDUCATION AND CANDIDATES FORUM
-
TOP
More than 1000 attend to hear debates and presentations to educate and
encourage political participation.
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 10/10/06) - More than 1000 people from Northern
California attended the 5th Annual Voters Education and Candidates Forum
held at the Radisson Hotel, Sacramento.
The Forum hosted by The Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs
Association (APAPA) was co-chaired by the Council on American-Islamic
Relations-Sacramento Valley Chapter (CAIR-SV). The forum was designed to
educate the community about the importance of voting and to give
candidates the opportunity to address the community's concerns.
"We hope this forum encourages increased voter participation by the
Sacramento Valley community and results in more informed decisions at the
polls in November," said CAIR-SV Executive Committee Member Dr.
Najme Minha
The forum featured numerous debates including the one between the
candidates for the Lt. Governor, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi
(Democrat) and Senator Tom McClintok (Republican); and another between
the candidates for Attorney General Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown (Democrat)
and State Senator Chuck Poochigian (Republican).
CAIR-SV
PARTICIPATES IN OCA's ANNUAL HATE CRIMES AWARENESS AND PREVENTION FORUM -
TOP
Forum held to show how communities can work together in fighting
hate
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 10/10/06) - More than 350 state legislators, law
enforcement officials and community members attended the annual
Organization of Chinese Americans of Sacramento (OCA-Sacramento) Hate
Crimes Awareness and Prevention Forum held at the Alumni center at
California State University, Sacramento.
The discussion panel included Sacramento Police Chief Albert Najera,
CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra and State Assembly Member Dr.
Judy Chu.
"We thank OCA-Sacramento President Linda Ng for her leadership in
putting together this important event," said CAIR-SV Director Basim
Elkarra. "At a time when hate crimes against the Muslim community
are rising, these types of events are helpful in preventing incidents
before they occur."
Nine Somali immigrant employees at poultry processor Gold'n Plump Poultry
Inc. alleged in a federal lawsuit that they were discriminated against
because of their race and religion at the company's Cold Spring, Minn.,
plant. The group alleges the St. Cloud-based company would not permit
them short breaks during the day to pray. The Muslim faith, the lawsuit
says, requires five prayers a day at times defined by position of the
sun. The lawsuit also claims that the company was more likely to force
Somalis than whites to work the night shift and do the least desirable
jobs in the factory.
In a statement Monday, Peggy Brown, director of human resources, said
Gold'n Plump respects the religious beliefs of all employees. Brown said
Gold'n Plump has made accommodations since 2003 to its Muslim employees
in an effort to provide them with opportunities to pray. She said the
company announced further changes last week, before it became aware of
the lawsuit, "that we believe provide yet more opportunity for
observance of Muslim prayer." (MORE)
In the early summer of 2005 a conga line of television trucks with
mushroom-shaped satellite dishes on their roofs descended like an
occupying army on the unlikely town of Lodi, a small farm community
nestled in the San Joaquin Valley in Central California.
"There's word of several terror-related arrests in Northern
California," Daryn Kagan, a CNN anchor, announced on June 8, 2005.
"The F.B.I. says one of the suspects trained in an Al Qaeda camp to
kill Americans."
On television fear sells, especially when accompanied by what the
comedian Jon Stewart called "the fear music," "the fear
voice" and "the fear font." Fearmongering also generates
political support, a fact that the Bush administration has used -- or, to
judge from "The Enemy Within," on the PBS program
"Frontline" tonight -- abused in a variety of ways to press the
hunt for terrorists on American soil.
The administration and television found common ground in Lodi, with
results that are chillingly reminiscent of the Red scare of the
1950's.
In the summer of 2005 the Bush administration was in the midst of
transforming the F.B.I. from its traditional role as the nation's premier
federal law enforcement agency into an agency whose priority was hunting
for domestic terrorists and Qaeda "sleeper cells."
(MORE)
THE ENEMY WITHIN
On most PBS stations tonight (check local listings).
A Muslim and a Christian are sitting together in a college classroom. The
Muslim looks over and notices the Christian is desperately searching for
something.
"What are you looking for?" the Muslim asks.
"I can't find my textbook," the Christian replies.
Guess what the Muslim says to the Christian?
Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, right?
It isn't.
Actually, we were sitting together in a University of Georgia journalism
class. And she said to me, "Here, we can share my
book."
As one of 35,000 UGA students who come from all walks of life and a
frequent international traveler, I am privileged to have more direct
contact with Muslims than perhaps most Americans have. And the Muslims I
know have inspired me to rethink many of the prejudices I once held
against Islam - prejudices all too common in our society. (MORE)
About a dozen women students, including a handful of Muslims and Jews,
are living together at Rutgers University as they work toward ideals that
have seemed out of reach for years in the Middle East: peace and
understanding.
Rutgers was to hold a dedication ceremony Monday evening for its new
Middle East Coexistence House, a section of a residence hall where
students of different backgrounds have been living since early last
month.
The 11 women - five Jews, three Muslims, one Hindu, one Christian and an
agnostic - are pursuing studies such as political science, Middle Eastern
studies and English literature. Besides living together, they gather once
a week in the residence hall for a conflict resolution class that covers
the history, culture and current events of the Middle East.
The house was the idea of Danielle Josephs, a senior political science
and Middle Eastern studies major, who now lives in the dorm. Josephs is a
former president of a campus Jewish organization, Rutgers Hillel, who has
an Israeli father and a Jewish-American mother. She proposed a
conflict-resolution living area to a school dean two years ago.
Josephs said in a Rutgers article about the residence area that she
wanted to help curb "the virulent hostility that I witnessed on
campus between Jews and Muslims."
Students living in the dorm say they are not holding back on
controversial topics such as religion, the war in Iraq and the recent
Israel-Lebanon conflict, and communication is reportedly respectful.
(MORE)
Cardinal Francis George feasted on Middle Eastern delicacies Monday
night, conspicuously participating in an annual Muslim celebration when
he has canceled many recent public appearances.
After cancer surgery in July, George scrapped much of his schedule, but
he attended the 10th annual community iftar designed to bring together
Muslims and Catholics for an evening feast during the holy month of
Ramadan.
Muslims fast each day of Ramadan, the time during which God revealed the
Koran to Muhammad, and hold an iftar after sundown each evening. This
year's ecumenical event was held at the new mosque in Orland
Park.
"I get tired very easily and have had to break many of my
commitments," George said. "I wanted to come because of the
sensitivity around the papal speech."
George's reference was to Pope Benedict XVI incensing the Muslim world by
quoting a medieval text that characterized some of Muhammad's teachings
as "evil and inhuman." The pope later apologized for offending
Muslims.
On Monday, George explained that the pope had meant to say that the
"secular west" has a difficult time making peace with a world
view that's rooted in religion, such as Islam or Catholicism.
"Faith and reason must be in constant dialogue," George told
those attending the Interfaith Iftar, which drew 150 Muslim and Catholic
religious leaders from across the Chicago area. It was organized by the
Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. (MORE)
---
OR: 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE MONTHLY INTERFAITH PRAYER & REFLECTION SERVICE -
TOP
You and your loved ones are cordially invited to join us as we observe
the 5th anniversary of the monthly Interfaith Prayer & Reflection
Service (IP&RS) with an uplifting, prayerful service dedicated to
assisting us all in finding common ground between all the uniquely
beautiful inhabitants of this God created planet.
WHAT: 5th Anniversary of the Monthly Interfaith Prayer & Reflection
Service
WHEN: Wednesday, October 11, 2006; Prelude Music 6:45 p.m., Service 7
p.m.
WHERE: First Christian Church, 166 Oak Street, Eugene, Oregon
THEME: Sacred Sounds Praising the Divine
During this service the Reverend Dan Bryant and First Christian Church
and Vida Ellins of the Eugene Bah�'� community will be honored for their
selfless effort in creating this interfaith tradition in Eugene.
The first monthly Interfaith Prayer & Reflection Service was held on
October 11, 2001. There has been a service on the 11th of every month
since that first service. Today, a team of 12 volunteer coordinators of
diverse cultural backgrounds representing the Bah�'�, Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Native American, Sikh and Universal
Unitarian faith traditions plan these monthly services. Every attempt is
made to reach out to and include other faith traditions on the monthly
programs.
Reliable, free child care is provided. The service is wheelchair
accessible. Audio devices for the hearing impaired are also provided. A
tea and fellowship period follows the service.
The service is free. Love offering donations are accepted. Love offering
baskets are located inside the church.
Herman Melville once said "Ignorance is the parent of fear,"
and Bay Area Muslims made it their goal this week to educate curious
community members about their religion during a series of open houses at
local mosques.
"I know of many people that are scared to come to the mosque, but we
want people to come and learn about who we are," explained Moina
Shaiq, a Fremont resident and member of the Islamic Society of the East
Bay, which sponsored Sunday's series of open houses.
"There is a lot of misinformation, and a lot of people don't know
who we are. What a more perfect time than the time of sharing - Ramadan -
to show them."
After seven weeks of planning and extending hundreds of invitations, open
house organizer Jitu Choudhury wanted to encourage the community to learn
about Islam and ask questions.
"My focus is outreach," explained Choudhury in his opening
speech.
"I want to tell you what we stand for and what we believe, and
encourage you to exchange dialogue."
More than 100 people came to the Fremont mosque's open house, which
featured presentations on the Quran, informational booths and brochures,
prayer, and presentations on Islam and Iftar - the traditional
fast-breaking dinner of Ramadan. (MORE)
With chaos stretching from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, we have
never lived in a more dangerous time. Over the next 15 pages and 7,000
words, our man in the Middle East looks back over a lifetime of covering
war and death, and lays out a bleak future for all of us - one that even
those living in the comfort of the Home Counties cannot escape
A few days after Lebanon's latest war came to an end, I went through many
of the reporter's notebooks I have used in my last 30 years in the Middle
East. Some contained the names of dead colleagues, others the individual
stories of the suffering of Arabs and Kurds and Christians and Jews. One,
dated 1991, is even splashed with a dark and viscous substance, the oil
that came raining down on us from the skies over the Kuwaiti desert after
Saddam blew up the wells of the Emirate. It was only after a few minutes
that I realised what I was looking for: some hint, back in the days of
dangerous innocence, of what was going to happen on 11 September
2001.
And sure enough, in one notebook, part of a transcript of an interview I
gave in Toronto in the late 1990s, I see myself trying to discourage the
Middle East optimism of my host. "There is an explosion coming in
the Middle East," I tell him. What was this explosion I was talking
about? I find myself writing almost the same thing a couple of years
later in The Independent - I refer to "the explosion to come"
without locating it in the Middle East at all. What was I talking about?
And then, most disturbingly, I re-run parts of a film series I made with
the late Michael Dutfield for Channel 4 and Discovery in 1993. Called
From Beirut to Bosnia, it was billed as an attempt to record
"Muslims growing anger towards the West."
In one sequence, I walk into a destroyed mosque in a Bosnian village
called Cela. And I hear my voice on the soundtrack, saying: "When I
see things like this, I think of the place I work, the Middle East... I
wonder what the Muslim world has in store for us... Maybe I should end
each of my reports with the words: 'Watch out!' " And when I checked
back to my post-production notes, I find the dates of all our film
sequences listed. I had walked into that Bosnian mosque, watched by Serb
policemen, on 11 September 1993. My warning was exactly eight years too
early. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
UK: MUSLIM WOMAN 'SPAT ON DURING
TRAIN ORDEAL' -
TOP
Press Association, 10/10/06
A white woman Muslim convert was spat on and racially abused in front of
her young children by members of a north London family on a train out of
the capital.
Michelle Idrees, dressed in a traditional burkha, was on her way back to
her Luton home from an event to commemorate the victims of the July 7
terror bombings.
Charles Adams, 23, of Parklea Close, Colindale, admitted religiously
aggravated common assault and affray when he appeared alongside his
brother Mark Edward Adams, 26, and father Mark Raymond Adams, 50, of the
same address, at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court.
Full details of the case were not formally outlined in court - but
afterwards police said that Mrs Idrees was spat on, insulted and told her
children would grow up to be suicide bombers during the 25 minute
incident.
She was returning to her home in Luton, Beds, when Charles Adams chanted
a religious song as he passed her on the way to the toilet.
Believing it to be inappropriate for her four young children to hear, Mrs
Idrees spoke to him but he turned on her and verbally abused her, a
police detective said.
Adams exposed his chest and pointed at a tattoo of three lions to show
that he was 'true British blood', said the detective, who would not be
named. He told her she was being unfaithful to her country and had 'sold
out'' to her culture.
Mark Edward Adams pleaded guilty to causing harassment, alarm or distress
and his father Mark Raymond Adams admitted using religiously aggravated
threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. (MORE)
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “O people! Greet others in
peace, feed (the poor and needy), behave kindly to your relatives, offer
prayer when others are asleep, and (thus) enter Paradise in
peace.”
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 269
-----
CAIR-CA: ANAHEIM
CIVIC, RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO CALL FOR CIVILITY IN POLITICAL DEBATE -
TOP
Local Muslim and Arab candidate target of Islamophobic rhetoric
(ANAHEIM, CA, 10/11/06) – On Thursday, October 12, the Southern
California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA)
will join Anaheim civic and religious leaders at a news conference
intended to bring civility back to the political arena and to take a
stand against the use of anti-Muslim rhetoric by some
politicians.
WHAT: News Conference Calling for Civility in Political Debate
WHEN: 11:30 a.m., Thursday, October 12
WHERE: Anaheim City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, CA
Speakers at the news conference will urge politicians, candidates and
their supporters to keep the political debate within civil boundaries,
adhere to the American tradition of pluralism, and to ask voters to judge
candidates on their merit and reject attacks based on race or
religion.
Recently, Republican candidate for the City Council Bill Dalati has been
targeted by former state Republican Party Chairman Shawn Steel. Steel
supports Dalati's opponent, incumbent Bob Hernandez.
Steel has called Dalati, who is Muslim and Arab American, a
"Manchurian candidate" and questioned his patriotism for
supporting elected officials who have been critical of President George
W. Bush's Iraq policies.
“We repudiate attempts by those who are trying to bring divisive and
racist politics into our city,” said Amin David, president of Los Amigos
of Orange County.
Often seemingly well-intentioned editorials and public discourse are
characterized by broad-brush statements about Islam and Muslims.
One of the oft-repeated canards is that Muslims have not condemned
violence or have done little to condemn it. Such perception unfortunately
translates into prejudice against Muslims. Recent polls show that nearly
four in 10 Americans admit to prejudice against Muslims, with one in four
refusing to live next to Muslims.
Ordinary Americans cannot be entirely blamed for their attitudes as they
are fed a steady diet of negative news pertaining to Islam and Muslims.
But a careful study of the lesser-covered stories beyond the headlines
will show that the negative attitudes toward Islam and Muslims are often
the result of ignorance, which can be overcome by a dose of
reality.
Muslim leaders have and will continue to speak out against violence in
the name of Islam for it is Islam that teaches us to value human life.
Those Muslims who react violently to protest cartoons or speeches do so
despite the teachings of Islam, which advocates peace and justice for all
people.
Muslims have condemned the attacks on our country on 9-11. Pages of these
condemnations are posted on our Web site at
www.cair.com/html/911statements.html
The Council on American-Islamic Relations ran full-page ads and TV/radio
public-service announcements condemning terrorism, has held protests and
candlelight vigils, has initiated "Not in the Name of Islam"
online campaigns. CAIR members have spoken at churches and synagogues,
issued numerous statements and conducted hundreds of interviews in our
struggle to relay the message of peace to our fellow Americans.
Some Muslims erroneously resorted to violence to protest against Pope
Benedict XVI's inaccurate comments about Islam. However, missing from the
headlines were gestures for dialogue from Muslims and the unequivocal
condemnation of violence. At CAIR, we went further and raised money to
repair the churches that were damaged in the misguided attacks.
Prophet Muhammad's teachings continue to inspire most of the 1.5 billion
Muslims to be kind, tolerant and loving to all people. Unfortunately,
most Americans judge Muslims by the sensational headlines of violence and
rarely have a chance to correct their misperceptions by interacting with
the millions of Muslims who are their neighbors, doctors, teachers,
engineers, nurses etc.
We Muslims will continue to stand for justice and condemn violence in the
name of our faith whenever and wherever it occurs. We ask others to judge
us not by the minuscule minority of extremists among us. Stereotyping is
un-American and hurts our national interest at home and abroad.
It is time our fellow Americans made the effort to learn about Islam and
Muslims. More than ever, we must remain united as a nation striving to
bring peace and harmony to our world through education and mutual
understanding. My office stands ready to offer lectures, seminars and
workshops to build a harmonious community. Contact me at (407) 649-1660
or skhan@cair.com.
Sabiha Khan is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) -- Orlando.
-----
FL: PASTOR WHO OPPOSED MOSQUE
ANNOUNCE PLANS TO WORK WITH ISLAMIC ORGANIZATIONS -
TOP
Elgin Jones, Broward Times, 10/10/06
Rev. O’Neal Dozier, Pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center, remains
staunchly opposed to the construction of an Islamic Mosque in northwest
Pompano Beach. So determined is Dozier to keep the facility out of the
predominantly Black, lower income neighborhood, until it led to his
distributing literature and giving speeches in opposition to it.
Those expressed views on Islam have cost him his position on the board
that recommends lawyers for Gov. Jeb Bush to consider appointing as
judges to the bench in Broward, as well as his position as a member of
the Charlie Crist for Governor Campaign.
Today, in what seems to be a re-thinking of those positions, the
conservative Reverend announced he has entered into dialogues with
Islamic organizations to address those and other issues. Dozier said
politics did not play any role in his decision, but it was prayer and
consultation with other religious leaders that influenced his
decision.
“After much soul searching and deliberation concerning my previous
statements about radical Islam being a dangerous and evil cult,” Dozier
wrote in a statement just released, “I want to applaud and thank those
peace-loving Muslims who share our American values of freedom, tolerance,
and human rights,” it reads.
Dozier said he has been in discussions with some groups and is reaching
out to other Muslims from several organizations to denounce terrorist
acts and condemn terrorist organizations. Those discussions, he said,
would be the first in a series that would lead to talks about the Mosque
proposed for the same neighborhood where his church is located.
“It was never my intention to include them (peace loving Muslims) as
being a part of the problem regarding radical Islam,” explained Dozier.
“Without question, the problem of global terrorism is not coming from
peace-loving Muslims, but from radical Islamic extremists who have taken
some of the teachings of the Koran and the Hadith literally, in order to
advance their political agenda through violence and terror,” he
said.
Dozier has scheduled a press conference at his church for 10 a.m.
tomorrow (Wed. Oct. 9, 2006) morning to provide specifics of his outreach
efforts to the Islamic community.
The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, whose characterization of Islam as a ''cult'' and
a ''dangerous religion'' cost him some political friends, said Tuesday he
has changed his position.
Dozier initially made his remarks in July on a South Florida radio show.
He was voicing his objection to the construction of a mosque in a black
Pompano Beach neighborhood because, he said, the community could become a
breeding ground for terrorists.
On Tuesday, Dozier, 58, once a political appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush, said
in a press release that he never meant to include ``peace-loving Muslims
who share American values of freedom, tolerance and human rights . . . as
part of the problem regarding radical Islam.''
Dozier plans to discuss the issue at a press conference today at his
church, The Worldwide Christian Center, 450 N. Powerline Rd., in Pompano
Beach.
Dozier came to his realization ''after much soul searching'' and ''much
prayer,'' and he wants to work with Muslim and non-Muslim groups, he said
in his press release.
Dozier was forced to step down in July from a nine-member Judicial
Nominating Commission responsible for nominating judges in Broward. Bush
appointed him to the post in 2001 and reappointed him in 2003. Dozier
resigned before his term expired.
Last month, Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist had his
staff remove Dozier from all his campaign committees because of Dozier's
views on Islam.
Altaf Ali, executive director the Florida chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, which has tried to meet with Dozier,
applauded his position.
''If Dozier is true to his word, we are eager to build a relationship
with him and his community,'' Ali said.
The conservative Pompano Beach minister who called Islam "a
dangerous and evil cult" says he has had a change of heart and has
begun a dialogue with Muslims who share "our American
values."
The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in
Pompano Beach, has campaigned against a mosque's planned move to a
predominantly black section of the city, deriding Muslims as terrorists.
Dozier said Tuesday that he still opposes the mosque's move but has a
newfound relationship with some Muslims.
"After much soul searching and deliberation concerning my previous
statements about radical Islam being `a dangerous and evil cult,' I want
to applaud and thank those peace-loving Muslims who share our American
values of freedom, tolerance, and human rights," Dozier said in a
news release on Tuesday. Dozier planned a news conference at his church
today to announce his position, which he said he reached after talking to
other Christian leaders.
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said he would attend Dozier's news
conference. Ali said Dozier has the right to oppose anything he wishes
but "to prevent a place of worship is the same type of bigotry"
African-Americans have faced.
Dozier's previous comments about Islam prompted Gov. Jeb Bush in July to
remove him from the Broward Judicial Nominating Committee. Republican
gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist took Dozier off a campaign advisory
committee last month.
-----
700 ATTEND CAIR-OHIO ‘SHARING RAMADAN’
INTERFAITH IFTAR -
TOP
(CLEVELAND, OH, 10/11/2006) – The Cleveland office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations Ohio Chapter (CAIR-OH) hosted its third annual
“Sharing Ramadan” iftar on Saturday, October 7, at the Joseph Cole Center
in downtown Cleveland.
In attendance were hundreds of civic and religious leaders from northeast
Ohio as well as representatives from local, state and national political
campaigns. Proclamations were presented by the offices of the Ohio
Secretary of State and Governor Bob Taft.
I-CAIR awards were presented to Plain Dealer religion reporter, David
Briggs for fairness in media and to Haseeb Abid and Ibrahim Shamsi for
South Asian Earthquake relief work.
Keynote speakers included: Imam Nader Taha of the Islamic Center of Akron
and Kent; Dr. Paul Schroeder of Families of the Fallen for Change; and
leaders of the interfaith movement “We Believe Ohio” who spoke about
religious pluralism in Ohio and their economic and social vision for the
state.
“The month of Ramadan is a time of great thanks for God’s mercy,” said
Isam Zaiem, Chair of the Cleveland office of CAIR-OHIO. “It’s also a
chance to explain more about Islam and Muslims in order to promote
understanding and goodwill.”
CONTACT: CAIR-OHIO, Cleveland office, Julia A. Shearson, Director,
216-440-2247 or 216-830-2247; E-Mail:
cleveland@cair-ohio.com;
Isam Zaiem, Chair, 216-337-7928,
isamz@sbcglobal.net.
SEE ALSO:
400 COMMUNITY MEMBERS ATTEND
CAIR-OHIO'S IFTAR DINNER -
TOP
(COLUMBUS, OH 10/7/06) – More than 400 people from different faiths and
backgrounds attended CAIR-Ohio’s eighth annual “Sharing Ramadan"
iftar, or fast-breaking meal, on Saturday, October 7 in Columbus,
Ohio.
A number of American-Muslim community leaders, leaders from other faiths,
members of law enforcement, representatives of local media, and students
joined elected officials in the networking event.
Elected officials who spoke at the iftar expressed appreciation for the
values and benefits that the observance of Ramadan brings to central
Ohio's Muslim families. They also recognized CAIR's civil liberties and
advocacy work. Proclamations recognizing Ramadan were shared from the
Franklin County Board of Commissioners, Columbus City Council, Governor
Bob Taft’s office, and Mayor Michael Coleman’s office.
“We were delighted to host this event and have the community come
together and experience a tradition that for Muslims is centuries old –
the traditional breaking of the fast during the holy month of Ramadan,”
said CAIR-Ohio (Columbus) Director Adnan Mirza.
Ramadan is the Islamic month during which Muslims abstain from food,
drink and other sensual pleasures from before dawn to after sunset.
During this month, Muslims also focus on spirituality, avoid vices, and
renew community relationships.
CAIR-OHIO JOINS INTERFAITH IFTAR
HOSTED BY CHURCH -
TOP
(COLUMBUS, OH 10/11/06) – On Thursday, October 19, the Columbus office of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio Chapter (CAIR-OH) has
been invited to an interfaith iftar hosted by St. James Episcopal
Church.
This is the 2nd year the two organizations have gathered for this
interfaith event. Last year over 20 members from St. James’ congregation
hosted a group of Muslims in the daily breaking of the fast during the
month of Ramadan as part of their community outreach and spiritual
growth. This is one of a series of interfaith events that are being
planned between CAIR-Ohio and St. James.
“Interfaith events are crucial in building bridges between different
communities and different faiths,” said CAIR-Ohio Director Adnan Mirza.
“We have an excellent relationship with the St. James community and this
event will only strengthen that bond.”
Community members interested in attending the interfaith Iftar are
encouraged to call the CAIR-Ohio Office at 614-451-3232.
CAIR-MI: METRO-DETROIT MUSLIMS
SPONSOR HUMANITARIAN DAY TO ASSIST THE HOMELESS -
TOP
Muslim organizations seek to service 10% of homeless population in
Detroit
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 10/11/06) – On Saturday, October 14, Metro-Detroit
Muslims will sponsor the 2nd Annual Humanitarian Day in Detroit to assist
the homeless. The event is sponsored by Islamic Relief, Life for Relief
and Development, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-MI) and other organizations, which will provide free
medical screenings and distribute hygiene kits, clothing and
foodstuffs.
Detroit’s homeless population is estimated to be 30,000, and organizers
aim to service 3,000 on Humanitarian Day.
WHAT: Humanitarian Day for the Homeless
WHERE: Cass Park (Second Ave. and Temple, near the Masonic Temple
Theater)
WHEN: Saturday, October 14, 2006, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
“Although Muslims see themselves as an integral part of the community and
engage themselves in community service throughout the year, being
charitable during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan takes on special
religious significance,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud
Walid.
CAIR-CHICAGO REGISTERS RECORD NUMBER
OF MUSLIM VOTERS - TOP
Registration effort part of a campaign to mobilize and empower
Muslims
(CHICAGO, IL 10/11/06) – The Chicago office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) announced today that it has
registered over 1,000 new Muslim voters through the New Americans
Democracy Project (NADP) in partnership with the Illinois Coalition for
Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR).
“Registering people to vote is only the first step in community
empowerment. Once they register to vote, we will educate them on their
options so that they are able to make informed decisions at the polls,”
said Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago. “We are working on
a project that extends beyond any other political mobilization project
that the Muslim community has seen so far. It will create voters as well
as active civic participants.”
CAIR-Chicago’s Governmental Relations Department is expected to release
the CAIR-Chicago Voter Education Guide 2006 later this week.
CONTACT: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab, Tel: 312.212.1520,
Email: arehab@cair.com
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/11/06) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) was honored recently to host His Excellency Cesar Cabrera, the
newly appointed U.S. ambassador to Mauritius and to Seychelles, at its
national headquarters on Capitol Hill.
CAIR staff offered Ambassador Cabrera an explanation of basic Islamic
beliefs and religious practices as well as information about east African
culture. The Ambassador will begin his service during the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan and may host events for Muslims in Mauritius, a country
whose Muslim population is approximately 17 percent.
Ambassador Cabrera was nominated by President Bush in June of this year
and sworn in as ambassador last week.
More than four years ago, federal agents swarmed into homes and
businesses in Herndon and elsewhere in Northern Virginia, carting away
500 boxes of documents they believed contained evidence of an
international terrorism financing network.
The raids, which targeted some of the most established Islamic
organizations in the United States, caused an immediate firestorm in the
Muslim community.
So far, the March 2002 searches have led to the convictions of two
people, including prominent Muslim activist Abdurahman Alamoudi, who
admitted in federal court that he plotted with Libya to assassinate the
Saudi ruler.
But no charges have been filed against the principals of the
Herndon-based cluster of companies and charities that are at the center
of the investigation, and Muslims say the raids were no more than a
fishing expedition.
"They are still trying to prove that they weren't wrong in the first
place,'' said Nancy Luque, an attorney for the Herndon charities. “You
storm into people's homes, take their children's toys, terrorize the
women, and 4 1/2 years later, you haven't got a scintilla of evidence
against any of them.'' (MORE)
Amir Sulaiman is a poet with a message. This New York native explores
issues of race and religion through his verse. "Hi, my name is Amir
Sulaiman. I'm gonna do some poetry. I'm not dangerous, I am danger. I'm
not angry, I am anger.
I've been writing for a long time, ever since I was young. When I was
writing poetry I thought it was something that everyone did. So, when I
was a boy, you know like you play football, you go to school, you eat,
you drink, you sleep, you write poetry. So, I thought it was something
that everyone did. And then later, I learned that everyone doesn't write
poetry. And so I realized that it was a talent or a skill. And so, I
wanted to really nurture it as a gift that's been given [to] me from
Allah."
As an African American Muslim, Sulaiman speaks to the hopes and fears
experienced by both African Americans and Muslim Americans. "I am
someone between insane and black…"
It's also a message about the alienation felt by some in both
communities.
"Those two things: my Islam and my ethnicity. These things are
primary - that is my art, that is everything. So, nothing that I write,
that I can think of, escapes this reality. So, these two things, more
than anything else have shaped my consciousness."
Sulaiman now takes his poetry across the United States, performing in
both large and small venues. Whether he's performing in front of
thousands of people, or dozens, his poetry and message seem to resonate
with his audience. (MORE)
At an open house Sunday aimed at explaining Islam and dispelling
misunderstandings about the faith, Jacksonville software consultant Ahmed
Rhazi said there is a constant trait all people seem to share.
"When there is an unknown, people do not really want to dig into
it," he said.
For Jacksonville's largest mosque, reaching out to the community in its
third annual open house meant sharing spiritual beliefs and cultural
traditions.
Hundreds attended the interfaith gathering midway through Ramadan, which
is the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar and believed to be the
month when the Holy Quran was sent from heaven. During the month, Muslims
fast from sunrise to sunset and use the time to concentrate on their
faith in everyday ways.
"You have to be on your best behavior," Rhazi said. "It is
about feeling what others feel."
Sunday, it was also about knowing what others wanted to know.
As children slipped down an inflatable slide outside or bounced on a
trampoline, adults in a red-carpeted mosque dipped into discussions of
Islam.
"People have so much misinformation," said Sheik Mabrook, the
mosque's assistant imam. "They are getting their information from
incorrect sources." (MORE)
It's not often a person is given the opportunity to put themselves in
someone else's shoes and learn a little bit about another culture through
their own eyes.
The IU Muslim Student Union is offering students and community members
just such a chance, with the added incentive of raising money for a good
cause.
The Muslim Student Union is holding its annual Fast-a-thon, in which
non-Muslim students are encouraged to sign up and fast for one day during
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Several Bloomington businesses have
agreed to donate money to the Community Kitchen of Monroe County for each
student participant, a news release said.
Muslim Student Union President and senior Khalil AbuGharbieh said he
hopes participants learn more about Islam and themselves during their
fast. (MORE)
Sixteen-year-old Yasmine Asfoor is planning a party she won’t attend. The
student body president opened her notebook and faced Brianna Raymond, a
fellow senior at Mountain Pointe
“We need to talk about Sadie Hawkins,” Asfoor told her. The two made a
list of decorations they would need.
It’s not the first dance Asfoor has helped plan, and it won’t be the
first one she’s skipped. It’s just part of being a Muslim teenager at an
American high school.
“Some people thought it was weird,” she said. “I just tell them, ‘I’m
Muslim. I don’t go out with guys, I don’t dance with guys. I have parties
with girls.’ ”
For Asfoor and the hundreds of observant Muslim students like her in the
Valley, life is about moving between these two worlds.
“Sometimes I do feel like I’m living two different lives � but I’m the
same person and I do the same things in both of them,” she said.
This month � the holy month of Ramadan � the duality is more
pronounced.
BALTIMORE, Maryland (CNN) -- War has wiped out about 655,000 Iraqis or
more than 500 people a day since the U.S.-led invasion, a new study
reports.
Violence including gunfire and bombs caused the majority of deaths but
thousands of people died from worsening health and environmental
conditions directly related to the conflict that began in 2003, U.S. and
Iraqi public health researchers said.
"Since March 2003, an additional 2.5 percent of Iraq's population
have died above what would have occurred without conflict,"
according to the survey of Iraqi households, titled "The Human Cost
of the War in Iraq." (Watch as the study's startling results are
revealed -- 1:55 )
The survey, being published online by British medical journal The Lancet,
gives a far higher number of deaths in Iraq than other organizations.
(Read the full report -- pdf)
President Bush slammed the report Wednesday during a news conference in
the White House Rose Garden. "I don't consider it a credible report.
Neither does Gen. (George) Casey," he said, referring to the top
ranking U.S. military official in Iraq, "and neither do Iraqi
officials."
"The methodology is pretty well discredited," he added. (Watch
Bush dismiss the report -- 1:33 )
Ali Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said in a statement that the
report "gives exaggerated figures that contradict the simplest rules
of accuracy and investigation."
Last December, Bush said that he estimated about 30,000 people had died
since the war began.
When pressed whether he stood by that figure Wednesday, he said, "I
stand by the figure a lot of innocent people have lost their life. Six
hundred thousand -- whatever they guessed at -- is just not
credible."
Researchers randomly selected 1,849 households across Iraq and asked
questions about births and deaths and migration for the study led by
Gilbert Burnham of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in
Baltimore, Maryland.
They extrapolated the figures to reflect the national picture, saying
Iraq's death rate had more than doubled since the invasion.
(MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Do (good) deeds according
to your capacity…God does not grow tired of giving rewards unless you
tire of doing good…The (good) deeds most loved by God are those that are
done regularly, even if they are small.”
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 24
-----
DC/VA/MD: REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR 11/18
BANQUET IN VIRGINIA -
TOP
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia. To learn more about the dinner, or to register, GO TO:
https://www.cair.com/2006banquet/
-----
PA: NOOR MOSQUE
RECEIVES THREATENING LETTERS -
TOP
The handwritten letters were similar to those received by a local Muslim
recently.
York Daily Record, 10/12/06
http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_4480797
The Noor Mosque in York received two anonymous, anti-Muslim letters
within the last three weeks - one threatening the onset of ethnic
cleansing, mosque leaders said.
Leading with profanity, one letter states that "violent, immoral
Muslims have proved that the Pope was right about your evil
religion."
That letter appears to reference Pope Benedict XVI's quotation of a
14th-century Byzantine emperor in a Sept. 12 speech - one that inflamed
many Muslims last month because of the strong words he used describing
Islam.
The letters, dated Sept. 16 and 18, arrived at the South George Street
mosque by mail several days apart, said Zarar Bajwa, president of
Ahmadiyya Muslim community in York and Harrisburg.
Handwriting on the two letters is similar to that on a letter received
Sept. 28 by Abul Hasan, a local Muslim who teaches physics at Penn
State-York.
All three letters call Islam an evil religion or a violent cult.
Both Hasan's letter and one of the mosque's letters advocate firing up
the ovens at Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp.
"Not a Muslim will be left standing," concludes the Sept. 18
letter sent to Noor Mosque.
Noor Mosque leaders reported the letters to the York city police, the
local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the
York City Human Relations Commission, said Bajwa, a physician who lives
in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County. (MORE)
The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, the conservative Pompano Beach minister who
called Islam a "dangerous and evil cult," is willing to work
with peace-loving Muslims -- but only on his terms.
Dozier, who has waged a vigorous campaign against a mosque's planned move
to a predominantly black neighborhood in this city, said Wednesday he had
softened his views after speaking with a California-based organization
that promotes global freedom.
But Dozier said Paul Nissan of March Against Terror USA urged him to
encourage groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations to
combat terrorism by stating in writing that they oppose jihads, or holy
wars, against non-Muslims.
The organization asked Dozier to encourage moderate Muslims to put a page
in the Koran that would urge readers to interpret its "evil
verses" historically and not take them literally.
[Nissan] "called me up and presented me with an idea," Dozier
said in an interview. "He said March Against Terror could use you if
the community receives you. We could work with moderate Muslims. We
should be about curtailing, stopping, and eradicating radical extremist
Islam."
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida Chapter of CAIR, and the
group's attorney Areeb Naseer, both attended a morning news
conference called by Dozier.
The minister greeted them with handshakes and a smile and said to them,
"We can find common ground. It's got to start
somewhere."
Ali responded: "There's no better place than in the house of
God."
Dozier then astounded the two Muslim leaders, saying he could work with
CAIR, "provided they prove they are a peaceful loving organization
and share our American values ... and put in writing they renounce
terrorism."
Ali and Naseer came away disappointed.
"I was disturbed by many things he said," Ali said. "It
was painful to hear him citing the Koran. He's a Christian professing to
know the Koran."
Ali took issue with Dozier's trying "to reform Islam," and
explained CAIR had already distanced itself from radical extremists. Ali
said he sees no need to do so in writing to appease Dozier.
However, CAIR remains open to dialogue, Ali said. (MORE)
A pastor who led a summertime protest against the building of a mosque in
Pompano Beach tried to reach out to Muslims Wednesday, but his comments
might have caused more controversy instead.
Rev. O'Neal Dozier led members of the Worldwide Christian Center in July
to protest the relocation of a mosque to the northwest side of Pompano
Beach.
"The Koran is evil, cruel. It promotes evil," Dozier
said.
Dozier's comments have been so incendiary in recent weeks that Charlie
Crist took him off his campaign advisory committee.
But now, Dozier has changed his tune, with Muslim civil rights activists
watching, NBC 6's Ari Odzer reported.
"As long as you're practicing your religion in peace in America,
we're fine," Dozier said.
Dozier said his real intent as he fights to keep a mosque out of the
neighborhood is to fight the terrorist threat of radical Islam.
"I do know that there are some peace-loving Muslims, probably
because they have never read the Koran or because they read the Koran and
didn't take the teachings literally," Dozier said in a news
conference Wednesday.
"I'm not insulted because the reverend does not know what he's
talking about," said Areeb Naseer of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
Some Muslims who watched the news conference said Dozier stuck his foot
in his mouth over and over again, such as when he suggested all Korans
sold in the U.S. should come with a disclaimer:
"These jihadist scriptures that you find in this book are for
historical purposes only, not to be taken literally," Dozier
said.
"If Muslims were to say that we're going to change Christianity, it
would be opposed, so I take issue with him trying to reform Islam,"
said Altaf Ali of CAIR. (MORE)
---
FL: INTERFAITH IFTAR EVENT 10/15
AT POMPANO MOSQUE - TOP
Jam & All: An Organization of Jews and Muslims, Christians and All
Peoples
Three members from the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity
and Islam will read parallel portions of scripture from the Torah, the
Bible and the Qu’ran, share some insights they’ve gained from the
interfaith experience and respond to questions from the congregation and
guests. In addition to Imam Sabri, participants will include Rabbi Marc
Labowitz of Temple Adath Or in Ft. Lauderdale and JAM Board member, Ms.
Karen Bertocci, who attends the United Methodist Church of
Pompano.
WHAT: Ramadan Breaking of the Fast (Iftar) – with Interfaith Panel from
JAM & All, an organization of Jews & Muslims, Christians and
Others dedicated to peace
WHEN: Sunday, October 15, 2006, 7:00pm
WHERE: Islamic Center of South Florida, 507 N.E. 6th Street, Pompano
Beach, Florida
DIRECTIONS: I-95 to Atlantic Blvd, east on Atlantic to Dixie Highway,
north on Dixie to 6th Street, then east on 6th Street to NE corner of 5th
Avenue
COST: Free
CAIR-OH: CINCINNATI MUSLIMS TO
HOLD ‘SHARING RAMADAN’ BANQUET -
TOP
(CINCINNATI, OH, 10/11/06) – On Sunday, October 15, the Cincinnati office
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) and the Islamic
Center of Greater Cincinnati will host the third annual Ramadan
Interfaith Iftar Banquet. Guests will include public officials, civic
leaders and members of various faith communities. "Iftar" is
the meal eaten after sunset to break the fast each day during the Islamic
observance of Ramadan.
WHAT: 3rd Annual Interfaith Ramadan Iftar Banquet
WHEN: October 15, 2006, 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati
CONTACT: CAIR-OH, Cincinnati Office, Karen Dabdoub, 513-281-8200
“As more than one billion Muslims worldwide observe the fast of Ramadan,
it is important for the American Muslim community to reach out to its
neighbors as an example of true Islamic ideals,” said CAIR-Ohio’s
Cincinnati Director Karen Dabdoub. “We are pleased to be able to share
our American Muslim culture with our friends and neighbors during this
special month.”
The evening’s program will include presentations on Ramadan and
CAIR-Ohio. Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during
which Muslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from
break of dawn to sunset.
CAIR-MI: COMMUNITY GROUPS
EXPRESS OUTRAGE AND CONCERN OVER “ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT” GAME AT U OF M
CAMPUS - TOP
METRO DETROIT, Mich. – October 12, 2006 – Community and student groups
held a “Pray for Inclusion” event today at 3:30 p.m. at University of
Michigan’s campus, in support of organizing constructive dialogue around
immigration reform rather than holding discriminatory and potentially
dangerous “games” which target and capture human beings.
The groups from Southeastern Michigan joined together to Pray for
Inclusion which encouraged support for tolerance and humanity. "We
are pleased that various community and student organizations plan to pray
for inclusion and respect for our common humanity in contrast to those
such as the YAF who seek to further polarize our state during this
election season," said CAIR-MI executive director Dawud
Walid.
“We reject YAF’s explanation that this event was meant to ‘promote
discussion’”, said ACCESS President Noel Saleh. “Discussion is not
promoted when one side demeans and dehumanizes another human
being.”
The “Catch an Illegal Immigrant” game organized by Young Americans for
Freedom has been condemned by the Republican National Convention and the
College Republican National Committee who has rejected any connection
with the event. Democratic National Party Chair Howard Dean has called
the game “divisive, desperate and inappropriate.”
“I am proud that so many members of diverse communities came today to
support and pray for inclusion of immigrants who have sustained and
continue to sustain this country,” said Edith Castillo, Executive
Director of Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development. “We
should build tolerance and an understanding for our immigrant community
and for immigration reform instead of supporting and encouraging games
and activities that breed intolerance and hatred.”
The group announced plans to follow up on an organizational sign-on
letter sent to University of Michigan’s Board of Regents and President
Sue Coleman asking her to create a plan to ensure that measures are taken
to deal with the negative impact that this activity will have on its
student body and surrounding communities.
CAIR-SAN DIEGO REP OFFERS
INVOCATION AT 2nd ANNUAL FILIPINO HERITAGE FESTIVAL -
TOP
(SAN DIEGO, CA, 11/11/06) – On October 7, the San Diego chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Diego) offered an
interfaith invocation speech during the 2nd Annual Filipino Heritage
Festival in San Diego, California.
CAIR-San Diego Director of Public Relations Edgar Hopida offered a prayer
and short speech. The speech included the dangers of Islamophobia
entering the Filipino community through certain local Filipino opinion
editorial columnists and how the community should distance themselves
from people like them.
4th San Diego District City Council Member Tony Young was among the
co-sponsors for the festival. The Filipino Heritage Festival is an annual
event celebrating the cultural heritage of the over 75,000 Filipinos
living in San Diego.
“We appreciate the invitation from the Filipino-American community to be
a part of their celebration and only increases our bridge-building of
mutual understanding and respect for all people," says CAIR San
Diego Director of Public Relations Edgar Hopida, who is himself of
Filipino heritage.
CONTACT: Edgar Hopida, Tel: 858-278-4547, E-Mail:
ehopida@cair.com
OTTAWA, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The Canadian Council on American-Islamic
Relations has accused a government minister of implementing a double
standard on hate speech.
The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-CAN, in a
statement last week asked Minister of Immigration Monte Solberg "to
clarify an apparent double standard on barring controversial foreign
religious leaders from Canada."
Solberg earlier this year refused to allow a British Muslim from entering
Canada. CAIR-CAN said it then "sent a letter to Solberg asking the
federal government to clarify regulations on freedom of speech and the
entry of clerics and international speakers."
However, "Minister Solberg has not given Canadians the courtesy of a
response as of yet," said Karl Nickner, executive director of
CAIR-CAN.
A spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration said "we do not
welcome hate-mongers in Canada" when referring to the government's
decision to bar the British Muslim leader.
CAIR-CAN said U.S. Christian evangelist Reverend Franklin Graham was
still on the schedule to speak at the Central Canada Franklin Graham
Festival in Winnipeg on Oct. 20. The group said Graham had previously
made public statements alleging that Islam was "a very evil and a
very wicked religion" and that Hindus were "bound by Satan's
power."
"None of the interest groups who called for the British Muslim to be
barred from entry have spoken out about Graham's views or his visit to
Canada," CAIR-CAN said.
"Based on the different reactions to the comments of both religious
leaders, many Canadian Muslims are wondering whether a double standard is
being applied," said Nickner. "As Canadians, we must stand
firmly against hate speech."
When Abdurrahman Anwar prays, the world's stresses and demands are
forgotten, even if only for a moment. He says he experiences the same
when he touches the Quran, the sacred text of Islam.
"There's this inner peace, and your soul gets calm," said the
Belmont resident who knows the Quran by heart � word-for-word and
end-to-end. "I understand what God's saying. Sometimes he's telling
stories of the past; sometimes he's telling you, 'if you do good, you go
to heaven, if you do bad, you go to hell.'"
Dressed in a blue silk thobe and a white topi, traditional Muslim attire,
Anwar is different from any other 22-year-old who just graduated from
college. About three weeks ago, he became the new imam at the recently
renovated Muslim Community Association of the Peninsula. During this time
of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, which ends on Oct.
23, Anwar has busied himself leading local Muslims through
prayers.
Imams, Islamic religious leaders, are revered by many Muslims, who
believe they are appointed by God. There are only about 30 imams in the
Bay Area.
Anwar is very matter-of-fact about his new station in life and how he
grew up. Born and raised in San Jose and England, Anwar follows in his
father's and two older brothers' footsteps. All are imams.
(MORE)
[There will be an interfaith gathering for Anwar to meet the community at
5:45 p.m. today at the Muslim Community Association of the Peninsula, 621
Masonic Way, Belmont.]
SEE ALSO:
IL: AFTER SUNSET, LET THE
IFTAR DINING BEGIN - TOP
Fauzia Arain, Chicago Tribune, 10/12/06
As the sun starts thinking about calling it a day, you might catch your
Muslim colleague or friend stealing frequent glances at the clock, or
hear a raucous tummy-growling coming from their direction. That's likely
because they're waiting for a celestial signal that--after a day without
a crumb to eat or a drop to drink--it's chow time.
Each year, Muslims around the world spend the holy month of Ramadan--the
ninth month on the Islamic calendar, this year scheduled to end around
Oct. 23--fasting from dawn until sunset. "Ramadan is a simultaneous
combination of a very private journey inward, and a very public community
process," said Omer Mozaffar, an adjunct professor at local colleges
and universities currently working on his doctorate in Islamic Studies at
the University of Chicago. The fasting is part of an effort to empathize
with those less fortunate and focus on improving the spirit. It's seen as
cathartic, rejuvenating and cleansing for body, spirit and mind--not as a
punishment.
"Throughout the day, you are mentally, emotionally, spiritually and
socially developing a bond of brotherhood and sisterhood with the
community of believers who are also fasting," said
Mozaffar.
As such, Muslims frequently gather to break their fast with an evening
meal called Iftar. "It is a time for family and friends to get
together and see each other," said Suzan Halabi of Glenview, an
attendee at a recent Iftar party in Chicago hosted by Amer and Samar
Kaukab Ahmad. (MORE)
The chill was still in the air Saturday morning as 7-year-old Hanaa Khan
eagerly jammed a pointed shovel into the strip of ground between
University Lutheran Church and the Islamic Center.
"Is that deep enough?" she asked.
"Let's make it a little bigger," said her mother, Afshan Khan,
eyeing the burgundy-tinged shrub intended for the hole.
The two were among more than 40 people who took part in a joint effort to
beautify the median strip between the centers of worship.
The project reflects their strong relationship, said Zubair Ahmad, one of
the organizers. The congregations share parking lots on Fridays, when the
Islamic Center is packed for the Muslim holy day, and Sundays, when
University Lutheran draws crowds. They've also sponsored joint programs
to promote understanding.
"I see this project as more of a symbol of two faiths living
together," Ahmad said. "It's for the benefit not only of the
two properties, but the whole of East Lansing." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
Having problems
viewing this email? View it on the web here.
GOP congressional candidate Paul
R. Nelson of Wisconsin on how to profile Muslims at
airports:"Well, you know, if he comes in wearing a
turban and his name is Muhammad, that's a good start."
(Associated Press,
8/17/06)
Dear Friend:
As-salaamu alaikum and
Ramadan mubarak!
Have you or someone you know experienced
bias similar to that expressed by the Wisconsin candidate?
CAIR's recently published
report on Muslim civil rights in the
United States documents a 29 percent increase in anti-Muslim
bias, harassment and even violence.
The results of our 2005 American public opinion
poll on Islam and Muslims showed
that approximately one in four Americans believe Islam is a
religion of hatred and violence. Almost 60 percent of respondents
said they are not knowledgeable about Islam and almost 10 percent
believe Muslims worship a "moon god."
But our research also provides encouraging
facts:
The presence of Muslim friends and
colleagues drives more enlightened attitudes.
Knowledge about Islam drives positive
attitudes towards Muslims.
Such findings have inspired CAIR campaigns
aimed at changing the hearts and minds of Americans about Islam and
Muslims.
CAIR's "Explore the Quran" campaign
offers a free copy of the Quran to any American who
requests it. To date, CAIR has shipped over 25,000copies of the Quran .
Each copy was accompanied by an evaluation
form; we find hope in the responses:
92 percent agreed that educational
programs like CAIR's "Explore the Quran" project are beneficial to
prevent misunderstanding and conflict.
77 percent agreed that their knowledge
about Islam increased after reading all or part of the Quran.
69 percent shared their knowledge of
the Quran with their friends and family.
You probably already know the details of the
recent cartoon controversy in Denmark: 12 cartoons
defaming the Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him) drew a worldwide
reaction that, unfortunately, included violence.
On February 14th, at coordinated press
conferences in eight cities in the U.S. and Canada, CAIR launched another
educational campaign. Our "Explore the Life of
Muhammad" campaign offers a
free DVD or book about the life and legacy of the Prophet
to anyone who requests it at our website.
Within 48 hours of the campaign's launch,
we received more than 2,000 requests for the free materials. In this same
time period, the website was visited more than 29,000 times. To
date, the number of requests is near 17,000.
CAIR represents people like you in the media
and defends your civil liberties.
A quick search of the Nexis media
database produces almost 1,000 citations for CAIR in the last few
months alone. These citations represent appearances on CNN,
C-SPAN, Fox News, and many
other national and international broadcast media
outlets. They represent interviews and
editorials in newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles
Times.
Within hours of kidnappers
in Iraq announcing their intention to execute Jill
Carroll, a young reporter for the Christian Science
Monitor, two CAIR representativesleft for
Baghdad to make an appeal for her
release.
Our presence in Baghdad
showed the sincerity of our appeal. While we continue to criticize
the administration for its Iraq invasion and subsequent policies, we
know that Islam forbids harming innocents.
Through efforts like these, CAIR is
working to defend you and the image of Islam.
Read the kind words many
elected officials have offered about CAIR's work.
Efforts like the ones described above
require both staff and resources. CAIR needs to raise $1.5 million
this Ramadan.
You can help by giving us your zakat.
Yes! CAIR is zakat-eligible. Additionally, you can donate
to us as sadaqah, knowing that every penny you give us is spent in the
service of God Almighty by serving His creation.
This Ramadan, we need you to
actNOW! We can easily reach our
goal if
400 of our friends donate $1,000,
1000 of our friends donate $500,
1,500 of our friends give $250, and
2,500 of our friends give $100.
If you can afford to give $1,000
please do not choose a lower amount. You will be blessed by Allah for
your donation to CAIR even before your check reaches us.
Help CAIR to Help
You
In appreciation for your minimum
$50 contribution, we are offering electronic copies of our three
most recent publications that will provide you with important data to
educate your friends and colleagues about Islam:
1. American Mosque Response to Freedom
House Report: Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American
Mosques breaks down the common argument that hate is being taught in your
local masjid.
2. The results from the 2005 American
Public Opinion Poll on Islam and Muslims provide you with solid
research to convince your colleagues of the reality of Islamophobia in
America.
3. The results of our 2006 survey of
American Muslim voter attitudes.
We hope you will take advantage of this
opportunity to defend your rights and your faith.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Your brothers in Islam and humanity,
Parvez Ahmed
Chairman
Nihad Awad Executive Director
P.S. - Please, take a moment and
click on the following link to make your donation.
https://www.cair.com/asp/donate.asp. The information provided in the CAIR
publications you receive will greatly help in your personal
efforts to change hearts and
minds.
�2006 CAIR -
The Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Ave SE :::
Washington, DC 20003-4034 Tel. 202.488.8787 ::: Fax.
202.488.0833
Forwarded Message
Subject:
CAIR-NET: CAIR Calls for Exit Strategy From Iraq / Leaders Condemn Attack on Muslim Candidate
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS – 10/13/06
* Hadith: Put Things Right Between People
* CAIR Calls for Exit Strategy From Iraq
* CAIR Offers Condolences on Death of Dr. Sheikh Rashad Khalil
* CAIR-MD/VA: Profiling Workshop at ADAMS Center
- CAIR-FL: Muslim Cabdriver Says Detective Humiliated Him
- CAIR-MI: U-M Holds 'Immigrant Day' Event
* CAIR-CA: Leaders Condemn Attack on Muslim Candidate (AP)
- CAIR-CA: Candidate Defended After 'Extremist' Label
* CA: Islamic Relief Coordinates Nationwide Effort to Serve Homeless
* Islamic-Safe Finance Grows in the West (AP)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: PUT THINGS RIGHT BETWEEN PEOPLE - TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Shall I not inform you
of something more excellent than fasting, prayer and charity? . . . It
is putting things right between people.”
Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 2310
-----
CAIR CALLS FOR EXIT STRATEGY FROM IRAQ - TOP
Latest report of 650,000 Iraqi deaths raises concern over current Iraq policy
(WASHINGTON D.C., 10/13/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) in a statement today called on the Bush Administration to put
forth a strategy to end the occupation in Iraq, as a response to a
recently released report that placed the Iraqi death toll at over
650,000.
According to a new study published in the scientific journal, The
Lancet, more than 650,000 people have died in Iraq since the U.S. led
invasion of the country began in March of 2003. The study was conducted
by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.
In a statement today, CAIR said:
“It is quite apparent to any objective viewer that our current policy
in Iraq is an utter failure. U.S. presence in Iraq is not bringing
security for people in the region. To the contrary it is fueling
massive and perhaps irreversible anti-American sentiments all across
the Muslim world. President Bush needs to articulate an exit strategy.
Simply saying we will stand down when Iraqis stand up is not reassuring
to the American Muslim community.
“In addition, with over 3,000 of our own soldiers who have died in this
war, it is high time for our government to make tough decisions that
will enable an orderly withdrawal from Iraq. The Iraqi people will
truly experience freedom when they perceive their land to be free from
any foreign occupation.”
Yesterday, British General Richard Dannatt also echoed the call for an
exit strategy, stating that Britain's armed forces are in danger of
exhaustion and should aim to leave Iraq in the next few years. (SEE:
"U.K. General Says He Wants Forces to Leave Iraq Soon," at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=akKoxpbJJzmI&refer=europe)
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group, has
32 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 National Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com
-----
CAIR OFFERS CONDOLENCES ON DEATH OF DR. SHEIKH RASHAD KHALIL - TOP
(WASHINGTON, DC, 10/13/06) - CAIR today offered its condolences on the
death of noted Islamic scholar Dr. Sheikh Rashad Khalil, who passed
away early Thursday morning in his home in Sugarland, TX.
In a statement, CAIR said:
"To Allah we belong, and to Him we return. We offer our deepest
sympathy and condolences for this great loss to the family of Dr.
Khalil and the Muslims community.
Dr. Khalil was a well-known scholar and activist. He served both the
local community and greater ummah by serving as Imam for the Islamic
Society of Greater Houston (ISGH), President of MAS National, and
Founder of the Islamic Dawah Center. The work and knowledge that he
leaves behind will benefit future generations of Muslims."
The late Dr. Khalil was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Cemetery in
Houston. He is survived by his wife, son, and two daughters.
CAIR-MD/VA SPONSORS PROFILING WORKSHOP AT ADAMS CENTER - TOP
(HERNDON, VA, 10/13/06) – The Maryland and Virginia office of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MD/VA) will offer a
workshop on airport profiling at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society
(ADAMS) Center on Sunday, October 15. The workshop, called “Airport
profiling: Your Rights and Obligations,” will include traveling tips
for Muslims.
WHAT: Airport profiling: Your Rights and Obligations
WHEN: Sunday, October 15, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: ADAMS Center Main Hall, 46903 Sugarland Road, Sterling, VA
CONTACT: Iman Zenhom, Tel: 703-689-3100; Email: iman_zenhom@cairmd.org
A Tampa cabdriver says he was yelled at, ridiculed, and pushed by an
Indian Shores police detective because of his Islamic faith while being
questioned about a stolen iPod and cell phone last month.
Yaqoob Ahmed Chaki, 42, said the exchange was so humiliating, it made him cry.
"It's the way I look," said Chaki, an American Muslim who was born in Pakistan and has a deep tan.
At a press conference Thursday, Chaki, who says he has never been discriminated against before, asked for a written apology.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights organization,
also filed a complaint on his behalf asking the Federal Bureau of
Investigations and the Justice Department to investigate the Indian
Shores Police Department.
Indian Shores police Chief Earl D. Williams called the allegations
false and mystifying. Williams said he had never heard of the alleged
discrimination until Thursday's press conference.
Chaki, a Yellow Cab driver, said he was called in for police
questioning Aug. 24 after a passenger reported a stolen iPod and cell
phone.
Chaki had picked up the passenger outside of the Hard Rock Casino in
Tampa at 7 a.m. Aug. 4. The young man appeared drunk and slept most of
the ride back to his hotel, Chaki said.
At the police station, Chaki said, he was escorted into an
interrogation room by detective Jason Routzahn, who asked if he was
Muslim.
According to Chaki, Routzahn told him, "you guys are all thieves" and
later added, "It is because of people like you that these cab companies
are losing business."
Ann Arbor — About 100 protesters gathered at the heart of University of
Michigan's campus Thursday evening, chanting "Go home, YAF" in response
to a "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" event.
The event was hosted by U-M's chapter of the Young Americans for
Freedom, or YAF, and took place in a commons area on the campus known
as The DIAG.
Two U-M students were dressed in costume for the event. The first, a
white male, wore a pirate hat, tattered clothing and a sign around his
neck that read "Christopher Columbus." The second, a white female, was
dressed in an American Indian costume that included a brown dress, a
headband and brown leggings, with feathers in her hair.
When asked who she was dressed as, the girl yelled out and moved her
hand back and forth onto her open mouth, resembling a stereotypical
American Indian war cry.
It is unknown if the two were members of YAF.
Andrew Boyd, the chairman of U-M's YAF chapter, said the purpose of the event was to create dialogue and accept opposition.
"We want people to ask questions and encourage debate," Boyd said. "It's good to see people use the power of free speech."
He didn't specify what the dialogue would regard.
"This isn't facilitating dialogue," said Rachel Feldman, a U-M English
and social science senior. "This is just making people angry."
The U-M Law School's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union
posted a flier in Tish Hall, located near The DIAG, encouraging
protesters to attend the event and speak out.
"Catch an Illegal Immigrant or xenophobia, intolerance and bigotry?"
the flier read. "U-M's Young Americans for Freedom group is sponsoring
a game in which a student dressed as an illegal immigrant is chased and
captured for prize money. Join us in a peaceful protest against this
inhumane activity."
Boyd said there was no prize for "catching" one of the participants.
YAF chose Christopher Columbus as one of the costumes because he is an
example from a time when borders were crossed and different groups
mixed, Boyd said.
"Maybe the natives should have stopped him from coming," Boyd said,
while standing on the steps of The Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library
after the game concluded. "It's not a perfect example, but maybe
something will make it work. All of our parents are immigrants, but
illegal immigration is about safety. If we are going to protect our
borders, we need to curb illegal immigration."
Boyd tried to speak to the media, but protesters quickly surrounded him and drowned him out.
"Racist harassment: We say no, YAF bigots have to go," the groups yelled.
At one point, Fox 2 News out of Detroit asked the protesters to quiet down so Boyd's statements could be heard.
Co-sponsors of the protest included the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, the Jamaican Association of Michigan and the Latino Family
Services Inc. (MORE)
A powerful Republican Party operative who earlier this week accused a
Muslim City Council candidate of supporting Islamic extremists on
Thursday challenged the Syrian-born man to a debate on his views of
Hezbollah and the Middle East.
The challenge from former state GOP chairman Shawn Steel came the same
day that more than a half-dozen elected officials and civic and
religious leaders rallied behind the candidate, Belal "Bill" Dalati, on
the steps of City Hall.
A letter Steel wrote accusing Dalati of helping sponsor an anti-Israel
rally and associating with "zany left wing groups" has circulated on
the Internet since early this month. The letter was posted on OC Blog,
a politically conservative site, by former state Sen. John Lewis, who
is a consultant for Councilman Bob Hernandez, one of Dalati's opponents
in the nonpartisan race. The post was titled "Something Scary in
Anaheim."
On Thursday, Dalati's supporters gathered at City Hall to offer him support and condemn Steel's comments.
"We call on all Californians to reject attempts to spread fear of Islam
and Muslims by falsely labeling Arab-American and Muslim-American
candidates as extremists," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "It is disturbing to see a
public official exploit the growing anti-Muslim feeling in our
society." (MORE)
Standing on the steps of City Hall on Thursday, local religious, civic
and ethnic leaders rallied around an Arab American candidate for
Anaheim City Council who was vilified last week by state Republican
leaders as being anti-American and a supporter of extremist groups.
Bill Dalati, an insurance agent taking his first run at elective
office, was joined by about a dozen supporters, most of them community
leaders who called on politicians, candidates and their supporters to
denounce what they called an attack that played to race and religion.
"We detest, we abhor the kind of elements that have been injected into
this race," said Amin David, head of Los Amigos, an Anaheim-based
Latino advocacy group. "It's disappointing that a person's faith and
heritage are still an issue."
The allegations against Dalati, a moderate Republican, surfaced last
week in a letter to local Republican leaders from former state
Republican Party Chairman Shawn Steel and on various websites. One such
posting was by former state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange), a consultant
for one of Dalati's opponents.
Steel told Anaheim voters that Dalati's ties to the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, his support of a Democratic congresswoman
and his involvement with a rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict
could make him unfit for public office.
Steel said he considered CAIR an extremist group. The largest Muslim
civil rights group in the country, CAIR is widely viewed as mainstream
and helps the FBI in combating terrorism. It enjoys the political
support of figures such as Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona.
(MORE)
-----
MUSLIM AID GROUP COORDINATES NATIONWIDE EFFORT TO SERVE 20,000 HOMELESS IN 14 MAJOR CITIES - TOP
Muslims to Provide Food, Clothing, Health Screenings to Needy in Annual Ramadan 'Humanitarian Day' Event
(BUENA PARK, CA October 12, 2006) - "I really like it because they made
me feel really good. They upped my spirits," said a middle-aged, female
beneficiary of a previous 'Humanitarian Day' event. Now in its fifth
year, the annual 'Humanitarian Day' for the homeless has expanded to 14
cities across the United States and is expected to serve 20,000 people
nationwide.
International relief and development organization Islamic Relief is one
of the lead coordinators of the event. In partnership with Los
Angeles-based ILM Foundation, and community organizations within each
of the 14 cities, this year's event has come a far way since its
inception in Downtown LA's 'skid row' in 2002.
Thousands of volunteers in the 14 cities will be in local neighborhoods
on October 14-15 to provide essential services to the homeless
population. In previous years, attendees received a warm meal and a
gift package including hygiene and emergency kits, bath towels,
clothing, blankets, ponchos and toys for children. In addition,
critical health services will be provided free of charge, including a
health screening, HIV/AIDS screenings, flu vaccinations, educational
materials and referral information. There will also be various booths
staffed by community organizations that offer social and health
services.
The event is taking place in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when
Muslims are encouraged to donate to the poor and needy. Every year in
the month of Ramadan, Muslims across the world fast from dawn until
sunset, abstaining from food, drink, and conjugal relations.
WHAT: 5th Annual 'Humanitarian Day' for the Homeless
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, October 14-15
WHERE: Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit,
Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, New Orleans, New York,
Portland, Washington D.C.
When Caribou Coffee went public last year, sharp-eyed investors noticed
some unusual promises in its prospectus. Caribou, the nation's
second-largest coffeehouse chain, said it would never sell pork or
porn. It wouldn't charge or receive interest, either.
By following financial rules that are part of the Islamic code called
Shariah, Caribou is among a small but growing list of Western
businesses looking to make themselves as attractive as possible to
Muslim investors. Some, like Caribou, are motivated by principle, while
others see Muslim investors as an attractive new source of money.
Middle Eastern investors flush with oil profits are looking for new
places to invest, and American Muslims are looking to invest in a way
that doesn't conflict with their faith.
"There's a bunch of Islamic investors who are prohibited from a lot of
regular investments, so a lot of money is sitting in cash not earning
anything at all," said Khalid Howladar, a vice president for Middle
Eastern and Islamic Structured Finance with Moody's Investors Service
in London.
Companies and governments who need to raise money are saying, "'There's
a bunch of people out there with money they can't spend _ how about I
create something for them?'" he added.
Dow Jones has created an Islamic investing index. A Texas company
issued almost $166 million in Shariah-compliant bonds to finance
natural gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. And the German state of
Saxony-Anhalt issued a floating-rate 100-million euro note _ managed by
Citigroup _ that followed Shariah rules.
Assets invested at two Shariah-compliant funds run by Saturna Capital
in Bellingham, Wash. have swelled nearly 10-fold, since 2002 from $34
million in 2002 to $331 million now _ though that's still tiny by
mutual fund standards. The funds invest only in companies that are
Shariah-compliant. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to: info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “God will continue to hold
out His hand at night so that one who has sinned during the day might
repent, and to hold out His hand during the day so that one who has
sinned at night might repent. And God will continue to do so until the
sun rises from the west (on the Day of Judgment).”
Louie Kroll is in gross error when he claims in his Sept. 30 submission
that Islam is a violent religion ("Islam not religion of
peace").
First, the entire "Muslim world" is not "engaged in
killing" -- far from it.
Violent acts have been committed in the name of Islam and in the name of
many other religions but to take this as a premise and conclude that the
faith itself is violent, is, at best, to commit a genuine logical
fallacy.
At worst, it is to deliberately ignore the immense evidence existing in
favor of the contrary.
American-Muslim citizens, mosques and organizations have spent the past
five years working to protect and clear the name of Islam through
numerous acts of condemnation such as holding rallies, interfaith open
house events, issuing fatwas, producing petitions and engaging in media
interviews to present an accurate image of mainstream Muslims.
In 2005 during a forum hosted by the Muslim Public Affairs Council in
L.A., both Sunni and Shiite organizations in the United States (such as
the Fiqh Council of North America, the Imam Mahdi Association) signed a
resolution stating their unequivocal condemnation of the rising sectarian
disputes in Iraq.
During both the cartoon and papal controversies, a majority of Muslims
worldwide, and leading Muslim organizations including the Council on
American-Islamic Relations denounced the violent protests as un-Islamic,
instead calling for dialogue.
Moreover, CAIR has raised funds to help repair the damaged churches in
Palestine.
Immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, CAIR issued a statement and placed
full-page ads condemning the terrorist attacks, and launched a "Not
in the Name of Islam" petition, which has been signed by almost
700,000 American-Muslims. (Visit
www.cair.com for details). . .
[AbiyaAhmed is media relations coordinator for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations of the San Francisco Bay Area.]
-----
CAIR CONGRATULATES
BANGLADESHI AMERICAN COMMUNITY ON NOBEL PRIZE WINNER -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/16/06) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) congratulates the Bangladeshi American community on the honor of
Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh winning the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, and Grameen Bank were awarded this year’s
Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social
development from below."
(
Nobelprize.org)
Yunus remains dedicated to helping eradicate poverty in Bangladesh and
throughout the world.
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, Tel:
202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, Email:
rahmed@cair.com
-----
CAIR-NY PRESIDENT ON MONTEL WILLIAMS’
ISLAMOPHOBIA SHOW -
TOP
(NEW YORK, NY, 10/12/06) – The President of the New York chapter of the
Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), Omar Mohammedi, will appear as a
guest on the Montel Williams Show on October 17.
The show, about the growing phenomenon of Islamophobia in the United
States since 9/11, will feature two American Muslim families who have
been the victims of profiling and discrimination because of their
religion. Mohammedi is legal advisor to both families.
The show will air on October 17, 2006 on CBS. Check local listings for
time.
CONTACT: CAIR-NY Communications Director Afsheen Shamsi, Tel:
212-870-2002
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-OH: 250 COMMUNITY MEMBERS
ATTEND CAIR-OHIO CINCINNATI IFTAR DINNER -
TOP
(CINCINNATI, OH 10/15/06) – More than 250 people of different faiths
attended the CAIR-Ohio, Cincinnati Chapter third annual “Sharing
Ramadan" iftar, or fast-breaking meal, at the Islamic Center of
Greater Cincinnati on Sunday, October 15.
Members of the American-Muslim community, Muslim community leaders,
leaders from other faiths, members of law enforcement, representatives of
local media, peace and justice groups and elected officials joined in
this special occasion.
Guests who spoke at the iftar dinner were State Senator Eric Kearney, Sr.
Alice Gerdeman of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, Rabbi Gary
Zola of the Hebrew Union College and Steve Sunderland of Peace Village.
Each speaker expressed appreciation for the values and benefits that
Ramadan brings to Ohio's Muslim families as well as the value of the
interfaith gathering to break bread together. Proclamations from Governor
Bob Taft and Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory recognizing Ramadan were
shared.
"It is important for American Muslims to reach out to their
neighbors of all faiths in an atmosphere of sharing and mutual
respect," said CAIR-Ohio (Cincinnati) Director Karen Dabdoub. “This
event was a wonderful opportunity for people from all walks of life to
share a meal together.”
The boom of a cannon and the wail of a muezzin signaled the end of the
day's fast and thousands of worshippers at one of Islam's holiest shrines
tucked into their dinner.
The faithful sat cross-legged, some family gathered in circles, others
strangers in long rows, on the ancient stone pavement around the Al Aqsa
Mosque. They broke their fast with sips of water after a scorching
late-summer day, ate a few dates for a quick energy boost, then moved
onto a main course of chicken and rice.
The holy month of Ramadan is under way, and from Morocco to Indonesia and
the growing Muslim communities of the West, around one-fifth of humanity
is on a daily dawn-to-dusk fast, honoring the revelation of the Quran to
the Prophet Muhammad.
The faithful rise before dawn for a small meal, read the Quran, and fast
for the next 12 hours or more. Nights become days. Heads ache, throats
are parched, nicotine cravings rise. Children as young as 7, who have
gone back to sleep after a dawn breakfast, head off to school bleary-eyed
and tetchy but determined to fast until dusk.
Relief comes with Iftar, the fast-breaking dinner, and in some cities
traffic snarls up late into the night as the faithful catch up on
socializing.
Islamic scholars say more Muslims than ever observe the fast _ a
religious revival brought on in part by globalization's assault on local
cultures and the growing tensions between Islam and the West.
On the downside, Middle East factory output drops 20 to 40 percent,
economists say. Schools and government offices close early. Construction
goes idle during the hottest part of the day, or resumes under
floodlights after the Iftar meal. Many restaurants close for the
month.
For most Muslims, Ramadan is simply a time of joy, feeling closer to God
and family, getting out of a rut. "Ramadan is always a time out,
wherever you are," said Mustafa Abu Sway, a Palestinian philosophy
professor and expert on Islam. "Everything you take for granted
comes to an end, at least for that month."
In the West, Ramadan observance is more difficult, says Dawud Walid,
executive director of the Michigan branch of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations. He says his 12-14 hour day workday goes
on unchanged, "But I still need the same amount of physical energy
to go about my endeavors." (MORE)
-----
CAIR: CATHOLIC, MUSLIM SCHOLARS MEET
IN DC SUMMIT - TOP
At the invitation of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for
Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University and the Center
for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group of prominent scholars,
both Catholic and Muslim, convened in Washington, DC on Wednesday, 11
October 2006 for an intensive conversation. All participants have had
extensive experience in the many forms and forums of interreligious
dialogue.
Concerned about derogatory references to Islam in a recent papal lecture,
these scholars gathered to reaffirm both the importance and the vitality
of Muslim-Catholic relations. They strove to ratify by their presence and
their shared insights the continuing significance of a mutually-supported
dialogue of religions and cultures.
They sought to counter any efforts to diminish the positive record of
interreligious understanding achieved by Catholics and Muslims in the
four decades since the Second Vatican Council. They pledged themselves to
renewed efforts, such as workshops, conferences and future publications,
which could sustain and expand the good work that has been done by so
many Muslims and Catholics to foster deeper interreligious appreciation
and harmony.
Thirty-eight Muslim scholars and chief muftis from numerous countries
have accepted Pope Benedict XVI's apology for his remarks on Islam, the
editor of a Muslim journal said Friday.
The scholars have signed an open letter to this effect that will be
delivered to a Vatican envoy in the hope of engaging the pope in a
dialogue to counter prejudice against Islam, said the Jordanian-based
editor of Islamica Magazine, Sohail Nakhooda.
Nakhooda said the leading clerics behind the letter were Sheik Habib Ali
of the Taba Institute in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, and Prince
Ghazi bin Muhammad, the special adviser to Jordan's King Abdullah
II.
Last month, the pope gave a lecture in his native Germany in which he
quoted a medieval text that said the Muslim faith contained "things
only evil and inhuman."
The citation provoked a storm of protest from Muslims across the world.
The pope quickly distanced himself from the quotation, saying it did not
reflect his personal view of Islam. He also expressed deep regret that
Muslims had been offended by his use of the quote.
However, some Muslims indicated they were not placated by the papal
apology.
Nakhooda said the 38 signatories to the letter, which will be given to
the Vatican's envoy in Amman on Sunday, declare that they accept the
pope's "personal expression of sorrow and assurance that the
controversial quote did not reflect his personal opinion."
(MORE)
SEE ALSO:
OPEN LETTER TO POPE BENEDICT
XVI BY 38 MUSLIM SCHOLARS AND LEADERS -
TOP
Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
In an unprecedented move, an Open Letter signed by 38 leading Muslim
religious scholars and leaders around the world was sent to Pope Benedict
XVI on Oct. 14, 2006. The letter, which is the first of its kind in
several centuries, was a collaborative effort signed by such prominent
figures as the Grand Muftis of Egypt, Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo,
Istanbul, Uzbekistan and Oman, as well as leading figures from the Shia
community such as Ayatollah Muhammad Ali Taskhiri of Iran. The letter was
also signed by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, the Personal
Envoy and Special Advisor to King Abdullah II of Jordan. Western scholars
have signed the document, including California scholar, Shaykh Hamza
Yusuf Hanson, Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington
University in Washington, D.C., and Professor Tim Winter of the
University of Cambridge.
The letter is being sent, in the spirit of goodwill, to address some of
the controversial remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI during his lecture at
the University of Regensburg in Germany on Sept. 12, 2006. The letter
tackles the main issues raised by the Pope in his discussion of a debate
between the medieval Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an 'educated
Persian' such as compulsion in religion, reason and faith, forced
conversion, the understanding of 'Jihad' or 'Holy War,' and the
relationship between Christianity and Islam.
The Muslim signatories accept the Pope's personal expression of sorrow
and assurance that the controversial quote did not reflect his personal
opinion. At the same time, the letter represents an attempt to engage
with the Papacy on theological grounds in order to tackle wide ranging
misconceptions about Islam in the Western world.
Christianity and Islam make up more than half of humankind in a rapidly
interconnected world, the letter states, and it is imperative that both
sides share a responsibility for peace to move the debate away from the
anger of the streets toward a frank and sincere dialogue of hearts and
minds that furthers mutual understanding and respect between the two
religious traditions.
The official and full English version of the text along with the complete
list of signatories will be available on the Islamica Magazine website
(
www.IslamicaMagazine.com) on Oct. 15, 2006. The official Arabic
version will be available from leading Arab presses in the Muslim
world.
A national effort by 16 major cities nationwide assisted thousands of
people who are homeless as part of Humanitarian Day on Saturday.
Baltimore’s Wilson Street was lined with tables with more than 50
volunteers providing 250 homeless people with necessities.
“We don’t want people to come get their food and leave,” said Karim Amin,
who coordinated the event for Masjid Ul-Haqq, a mosque created in 1959,
which hosted the event with Islamic Relief, the organization behind the
nationwide event.
“We want to teach them to fish, so to speak. This is a launching pad for
them.”
Islamic Relief provides emergency relief during disasters, but turned to
domestic relief two years ago, Amin said.
The group also was delivering kits, which include blankets, clothes,
toiletries and food, to the YMCA, the YWCA and local shelters such as Our
Daily Bread, he said.
Volunteers included students from local colleges and the Islamic
Community School.
“It’s our duty. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a day of
Ramadan than doing this,” said Ibrahim Zuberi, 24, a member of the Muslim
Student Association at UMBC. (MORE)
The homeless in downtown Los Angeles lined up today to receive free food,
clothes and other necessities being donated by an Muslim group.
Umar Hakeem is co-chairman of the Coalition to Preserve Human Dignity,
which is comprised of more than 40 mosques and Muslim
organizations.
He says some 3-hundred of the group's volunteers had helped feed about
several hundred people by midday.
The group hoped to distribute food, clothing, books, toys and other goods
to some 3-thousand people by the end of the day. Free H-I-V and diabetes
tests were also being made available.
Other branches of the group were holding similar outreach efforts in 14
U-S cities.
Islamic Relief, an international aid organization, and I-L-M Foundation,
an L.A.-based group, were coordinating the efforts.
The yearly event coincides with the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan.
The 71-foot minaret will jut into the sky, marking the burgeoning
Bridgeview mosque.
Three domes will complement the spire, adding decoration to the first
expansion at the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview since it was founded in
1981.
Traditionally, the faithful are called to prayer from a gallery atop the
minaret. But in a neighborly move, Mosque officials decided against
equipping the tall tower with a loudspeaker.
"The minaret won't serve any function besides appearance,"
Mosque president Mohamed Sahloul said.
At 3 p.m. today, mosque members and elected officials will break ground
for the 21,000-square-foot addition of the building, 7360 W. 93rd
St.
The project is necessary because the number of worshippers continues to
increase and space is at a premium, Sahloul said.
"When we opened, we only had two or three lines of
worshippers," he said. The mosque soon added a second Friday prayer
session, but latecomers still often had to stand outside.
In the Muslim religion, men and women pray separately. The mosque's
female members now pray in the basement.
"It's not really suitable for concentration or the spiritual needs
of our women," Sahloul said.
The main floor of the addition will provide women with their own prayer
hall. (MORE)
A prominent member of Wichita's Muslim community was killed Friday in a
car crash in Oklahoma.
Nabil Seyam, a leader of the Islamic Society of Wichita and principal of
the Annoor Islamic School, was returning to Wichita from a religious
service in Norman when the accident occurred around 4 p.m.
"This is really a huge loss for us," said Hussam Madi, who said
he considered Seyam to be as close as a brother. "He is one of the
pioneers and one of builders of the Islamic Society of Wichita.
"He was a prominent member of the Wichita community at large, not
just the Islamic community."
Madi said he was told that the accident occurred after Seyam had pulled
off the highway to get gas. He said Seyam's car was apparently struck by
a pickup as he was pulling into a gas station.
Mustafa Boutkhil bites into a date and sips warm milk from a Styrofoam
cup - his first sustenance in 18 hours.
It's 6:25 p.m. and 30 worshippers at Al Ummah al Islamiah Mosque on St.
Dominique St. are breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast of Ramadan, the Muslim
holy month that began Sept. 24.
In his native Morocco, Boutkhil, 39, used to break the daily fast at
home, with family.
But here, in this drab brick prayer hall in the city's red-light
district, he shares iftar - the "breakfast" that follows
evening prayers - with fellow Muslims from around the world.
"We are all friends," says Boutkhil, who immigrated to Montreal
five years ago. "Religion keeps us in touch with each other. There
is a link between us."
Ramadan spans the incredible cultural diversity of Montreal's
100,000-strong Muslim community, says Salam Elmenyawi, president of the
Muslim Council of Montreal. "We have more than 150 nationalities in
the Montreal Muslim community. It brings many people together: white and
black, rich and poor, from East and West."
Mohamed Sridi, 26, arrived a month ago from Tunisia to do his MBA at
Universite du Quebec a Montreal. "Even if we are far from our
country, we are close because Ramadan brings us all together," he
says, tucking into a plate piled with rice with peas, chicken in sauce
and a meat turnover at the St. Dominique St. mosque.
He said he appreciates how Ramadan creates a multicultural, multi-ethnic
community of believers. "That is the power of Ramadan."
(MORE)
A tradition that began thousands of years ago among nomadic tribes of the
Middle East reached the Men's Mission yesterday as Muslims prepared and
fed some of the city's less fortunate.
Dozens of men lined up yesterday for beef stew and a traditional pastry
filled with beef, pine nuts and spices -- the offerings prepared and
served by Muslims fulfilling their obligation toward charity during the
month-long celebration of Ramadan.
It was the fifth consecutive year Islamic groups across London had come
together in this way to feed those in need.
"We try to give to Muslims and non-Muslims alike," said Assem
Fadel of the World Islamic Call Society.
The tradition of charity and hospitality dates back thousands of years in
Semitic cultures, where strangers who visited were expected to be treated
like welcomed guests. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once offered prayer while
carrying his granddaughter on his shoulder. "The (Prophet) led (the
people) in prayer while she was on his shoulder. When he bowed he put her
down and picked her up when he got up. He kept on doing so until he
finished his prayer."
Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 353
One commentator wrote: "The purpose behind the action of the Prophet
of carrying (his granddaughter) in the prayer was to set an example
before the Arabs who considered having daughters and carrying them around
as something bad or shameful. The Prophet. . .acted differently from
them, and carried a girl on his neck in the prayer, and making something
clear by example is much more effective than a mere
precept."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 84
-----
DC/VA/MD: REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR 11/18 BANQUET
IN VIRGINIA -
TOP
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia. To learn more about the dinner, or to register, GO TO:
https://www.cair.com/2006banquet/
-----
CAIR-NY: SECOND QURAN DESECRATION AT
PACE UNIV. IN NY -
TOP
CAIR-NY calls for education about impact of Islamophobia
(NEW YORK, NY, 10/17/06) - The New York chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) has learned of a second incident of
Quran desecration at Manhattan's Pace University.
In September, a copy of the Quran from the Pace University library was
found in the toilet of that facility's bathroom. CAIR-NY, in
collaboration with the Association of Muslim American Lawyers (AMAL), the
NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau, and the
Muslim Students Association of Pace worked closely with the university in
having that incident documented as a hate crime.
In the latest incident, a Quran brought from outside the library was left
in a university toilet last Friday.
"We once again call on Pace University to take concrete measures to
help educate the student population about Islamophobic bigotry and its
negative impact on ordinary Muslims and on American society," said
CAIR-NY Civil Right Director Maryam Sayar Akbar.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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-NY Civil Right Director Maryam Sayar Akbar; CAIR-NY Civil
Rights Coordinator Aliya Latif at 212-870-2002, E-Mail:
civilrights@cair-ny.org
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-CA: REDDING MAYOR, SHERIFF
ATTEND IFTAR -
TOP
(REDDING, CA 10/17/2006) - The Redding, Ca., Muslim community recently
hosted a community iftar (breaking of the daily Ramadan fast) and invited
many of their friends and neighbors to attend to learn more about the
month of Ramadan and Islam in general.
Redding Mayor Ken Murray attended the event to assure the local community
of his support. Last month, the Murray stated that Shia Muslims are
"wing nuts" and that "Either the Judeo-Christian
philosophy will survive or the Islamic philosophy will
survive."
"I commend Mayor Murray for attending the iftar," said Basim
Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV). "His willingness to
attend and speak before the local community sends a reassuring message
that Muslims should not be stereotyped."
A Muslim correctional officer at the federal jail in Brooklyn was
harassed by other guards following the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, according to a federal lawsuit filed recently in federal court
in Brooklyn.
The officer, Tarik Farag, claims his colleagues pelted him with insults,
calling him "bin Laden" and accusing him of links to Al Qaeda,
according to the legal complaint. The alleged harassment lasted through
2004.
Mr. Farag began working for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in 1998, serving
both as a technician for the inmate telephone system and as a
correctional officer, according to the lawsuit. He quit in February,
citing a hostile work environment and the discrimination he faced,
according to the complaint.
Mr. Farag, a Muslim man who was born in Egypt, found some of the
correctional officer training to be demeaning because it suggested a link
between Muslim ritual and terrorist violence. Mr. Farag was humiliated by
a training scenario that involved Muslim prisoners taking hostages and
using prayer rugs for body armor, according to the complaint. The
complaint also alleges that one counterterrorism instructor told
correction officers "that the Muslims to watch out for" are the
ones who "rigorously" wash their hands and feet.
The lawsuit was filed against Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and about
a dozen officers at the Metropolitan Detention Center, as the jail in
Brooklyn is called. The Department of Justice also faces several lawsuits
from Muslim men who were rounded up and held in the Brooklyn jail under
allegedly brutal conditions following the terrorist attacks.
Mr. Farag's allegations are unusual in that they come from a guard. He
claims that his supervisors used their posts to degrade him and that he
received undesirable job posts for longer amounts of time than
non-Muslim, non-Arab, and non-Egyptian officers, according to the
complaint. (MORE)
INDIAN SHORES, FL OCT. 12, 2006 - A (Tampa) Muslim cab driver said a
local police department mistreated, taunted and assaulted him. Supported
by a Muslim activist group, Yellow Cab driver Yaqoob Chaki told his story
in front of the Indian Shores Police Department Thursday. Chaki said he
was called to the Indian Shores Police Department to be questioned by a
detective after a fare claimed the driver stole his cell phone and
iPod.
-----
CAIR-MD/VA GIVES PROFILING
WORKSHOP AT ADAMS CENTER -
TOP
(HERNDON, VA, 10/17/06) - The Maryland and Virginia office of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MD/VA) gave a workshop Sunday called
"Airport Profiling: Your Rights and Obligations" at the All
Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center.
Nearly 40 community members attended the workshop, engaging in
interactive discussion and sharing personal stories of unnecessary
questioning and harassment.
Letter writer Michael Canzano is either prejudiced against Muslim
Americans and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) or he
seeks to stifle discussion on legitimate issues.
There is no doubt that hate incidents against Arabs and Muslims in the
years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks have increased sharply. This
alarming trend is not only evidenced through data collected by CAIR, but
it's also indicated by FBI and other law enforcement reports. Why do we
collect these data? So, we can help identify the trend, factors
contributing to that trend and propose solutions to reverse that
trend.
Canzano, unfortunately, distorts CAIR's findings and objectives and hurls
baseless accusations at the organization and Muslims. Fact is, Muslims
are committed to continuing to denounce all forms of terrorism and
extremism and work to foster mutual respect and understanding among all
faiths.
There are at least six million Muslims residing in the United States. We
love America like the rest of our countrymen, and we'll be the first ones
to acknowledge that we are blessed to live in a country where we enjoy
freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to pursue
opportunities.
Let's join efforts to speak out against hate and violence, and promote
dialogue and outreach to help create a more peaceful world. Those
interested in learning more about CAIR and the American Muslim community
may visit www.cair.com
Munira Syeda, Communications Coordinator, Council on American-Islamic
Relations, Anaheim
---
CAIR-SV AND MUSLIM COMMUNITY
SHARE THE SPIRIT OF RAMADAN -
TOP
(SACRAMENTO, CA 10/17/2006) - The Sacramento Valley office of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) recently launched its "Share
the Spirit of Ramadan" community service project. CAIR-SV prepared
packed lunches and distributed after Friday prayer in the Sacramento
Valley in areas with a high concentration of homeless people.
"Part of the wisdom of the fast of Ramadan is to experience hunger
and empathize with those less-fortunate. Those who fast are supposed to
show more compassion. Prophet Muhammad himself always showed more
generosity during the month of Ramadan," said Aysha Mohsin, CAIR-SV
intern and community service campaign manager.
CAIR chapter will also be hosting several feedings at the local Loaves
and Fishes during the month of Ramadan as part of the project.
DAVIS COMMUNITY HOSTS 6TH ANNUAL
COMMUNITY IFTAR -
TOP
(DAVIS, CA 10/17/2006) The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) co-hosted the 6th annual iftar in
the City of Davis. More than 750 attended the event with nearly half of
the attendees standing due to lack of seating.
The event was attended by various public officials including Davis City
Mayor Sue Greenwald, Council member Lamar Heystek and Yolo County
Supervisor Mariko Yamada.
Various interfaith leaders and congregations from various organizations
including 2 Catholic churches attended the event. The local Jewish
community of Bet Haverim congratulated the Muslim community and presented
them with a gift basket of traditional Ramadan goods of dried fruit and
nuts.
A lecture about the significance of Ramadan and fasting followed the
traditional Afghan meal.
"It was a pleasure to host another iftar and get a chance to help
educate and build bridges between communities. The overwhelming support
from the attendees is an encouraging sign that our community really
appreciates the wonderful friendships that are created at the end of the
day," said Dr. Hamza El-Nakhal, President of CAIR-SV.
Protect Our Children: A Time to Console, Celebrate and Commit to Our
Children
A Vigil to Affirm Our Individual and Collective Compassion For and
Commitment to Every Child
CONTACT: Carol Lavery of Victim Advocate, 717-214-2256, or Cathleen Palm,
Protect Our Children Committee, 610-488-8176, or Danielle Sunday of PCAR,
717-728-9740, Judy Yupcavage of PCADV, 717-545-6400
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 18, at noon.
WHERE: Pennsylvania State Capitol, Fountain Steps, Harrisburg,
Pa.
Event: Children, parents, community and faith leaders and policy makers
find themselves searching for healing as well as answers in response to
the continued challenges, especially senseless violence impacting our
children, families and communities. Even as deep pain persists and
solutions at times seem elusive, there are also extraordinary examples of
people committed to children. The vigil will seek to emulate those
examples as participants stand united to affirm compassion for and
commitment to children.
Event Sponsors: The American Academy of Pediatrics, PA-Chapter, Cathleen
Palm, Coalition of Pennsylvania Crime Victim Organizations, Council of
American Islamic Relations, Dauphin County Victim/Witness Assistance,
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Lutheran Advocacy, Ministry in
Pennsylvania, S. Mary Scullion (executive director, Project H.O.M.E.),
Parental Stress Center, Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, Pennsylvania
Council of Churches, Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, Pennsylvania
Partnerships for Children, Pennsylvania's Victim Advocate Carol Lavery,
Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Pennsylvania Coalition
Against Rape, Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, The Protect
Our Children Committee, United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, United
Way of Pennsylvania, United Way of Westmoreland County.
---
CAIR-CHICAGO PUBLISHES A VOTER
EDUCATION GUIDE FOR THE 2006 ELECTION -
TOP
(CHICAGO, IL, 10/11/06) - The Chicago chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) announced today that it has
published a Voter Education Guide to provide Illinois voters with
information on all candidates running state and congressional
campaigns.
CAIR-Chicago has worked with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and
Refugee Rights (ICIRR) since July to register over 1,000 new Muslim
voters. A comprehensive "Get Out the Vote" campaign is in the
works.
Copies of the CAIR-Chicago Voter Education Guide 2006 will be made
available a few weeks before the Election.
NOTE: CAIR-Chicago does not endorse campaigns or candidates.
They handed out bags of apples, bagels, granola bars, and raisins, hats,
socks, sweatshirts, rain ponchos, and, for the children who came with
arms outstretched, toy cars.
This was the first annual Humanitarian Day for the Homeless, an event
organized by Boston-area Muslims to feed and clothe the homeless during
the holy month of Ramadan.
Muslims observe Ramadan by praying, performing acts of charity, and
fasting from sunup to sundown, to draw them nearer to Allah and to remind
them of the hardships the poor endure.
The event yesterday was a way to put into action the principles of
Ramadan, participants said.
In a gymnasium at the Tobin Community Center in Roxbury Crossing, 350
volunteers, from local mosques, colleges, and community groups, presided
over tables stacked high with food, clothing, and toys donated by local
businesses.
Hundreds of homeless men, women, and children streamed past, collecting
the goods in bags. In a room downstairs, volunteers performed free health
screenings, testing people for high blood pressure and diabetes.
Organizers said they expected to serve 2,000 people over the
weekend.
Mona Ahmad of Malden was helping to distribute bottles of water, and
urging people who had come by to return with friends.
"I just wanted to do something good, especially during the holy
month of Ramadan," said a man who gave his name as Ahmad, 33.
(MORE)
Their day begins in darkness shortly after 5 a.m. to make sure the meal
is finished long before sunrise.
For Nashwa Yosry, it is a bowl of Kix, a glass of milk and a small
brownie. Tamir Dayya loads up with oatmeal, cereal, a peanut butter
sandwich, a protein drink and a glass of milk. Mohamed Soliman has
pancakes and cookies. And water, lots of water.
These are the student-athletes of Ramadan -- teenagers who live with the
Muslim ritual of fasting from sunrise to sunset for a month, while
learning an extra lesson or two about discipline and dealing with a bit
of discomfort.
"My partner didn't drink, but the people we were playing, I saw
them, drinking every time we changed sides," said Yosry, a freshman
tennis player at Toms River North, after a recent match against Toms
River South. "I just sprayed some water on my lips. That helps and
it's allowed."
During Ramadan, which runs from Sept. 23 to Oct. 22 this year, the rhythm
of a teenage life, when food is a constant presence, is completely
altered. There are no crackers or M&M's in backpacks, no after-school
visits to McDonald's, no ventures to the pizza place down the street
during a free period.
Instead, Muslim students observing Ramadan -- the month Muslims believe
God began revealing the Quran to the prophet Muhammad 1,400 years ago --
sit in the auditorium or on the grass outside and do homework during
lunch. They ignore the Snapple machine in the hallway. And when the final
bell rings, they head to the locker room and change for practice or a
game as if it is any other day.
"I didn't even bother to tell my coach," said Ahmed Ragab, a
junior at Middletown North High School who plays fullback on the school
soccer team. "I'm not someone who's really into excuses, so I didn't
want to bring it up. Maybe I'll tell him after the season."
Ragab is used to Ramadan by now, anyway. Like many Muslim children, he
started the daytime fasts when he was in third grade. And like others, he
said it has become a part of the flow of the year, something he won't
turn into too big of a deal. (MORE)
About 800 needy people received food, clothing, hygiene kits and blankets
as part of an Islamic charity program over the weekend.
Volunteers from the California-based Islamic Relief group handed out
supplies to homeless and other needy people outside a housing project in
Newark on Saturday and in New York on Sunday. The event took place during
the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims are encouraged to donate
to the needy.
Abigail Suarez was one of about 800 who attended the Newark event to get
supplies and free medical screening.
"I know my health needs to improve and at least now I know how much
more I need to pay attention to stay alive," she said.
Similar programs were held in more than two dozen U.S. cities.
"We have reached out to countless homeless and have seen faces
filled with happiness; that is the best thing about my job," said
Yousef Abdallah, operations manager of Islamic Relief's northeast office.
"We need to do more domestic projects. It's about what we face right
in front of us: Love thy neighbor, and here we are."
Mayor Cory Booker helped volunteers unload truckloads of
supplies.
"This is a way to fix what people say about Muslims," he said.
"This is what I want to see, the community working
together."
Eid al-Fitr is the celebration at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy
month of seeking forgiveness for sins. On Eid, we hope God has accepted
our fasting.
In my family, on the day before Eid we have Chand Raat - the Night of the
Moon - an Indian and Pakistani tradition. Women have parties where there
are dances and food. We usually put henna on our hands and dance until
our feet hurt. We skip school for one day.
I start out Eid by dressing in very nice clothes and eating a little
something sweet. Then we go to our mosque, the Islamic Society of Western
Maryland. We pray our Eid prayers, then we greet everyone with "Eid
Mubarak," which is a greeting like "Merry
Christmas."
We eat a traditional breakfast which is a chick pea dish, doughnuts,
halva (a honey-and-sesame seed dish) and roti (a flat type of bread like
pita). After breakfast we go to parties at our friends homes. Children
receive gifts such as money and toys. (MORE)
Unlike in some other faiths, Muslim religious leaders do not always
choose to be clergy. At least that is the experience of two Dutchess
County imams, neither of whom set out to lead congregations, but, rather,
were elected by others.
"In Islam, there is no priesthood; there is no hierarchy. The
criteria of being imam, or leader, is who is more knowledgeable of the
religion. For the convenience of the people, we appoint someone. They
have appointed me as leader, so I lead the prayer," said Mohammad
Asil Khan, leader of the Masjid Al-Noor in Wappingers Falls.
He was visiting the area in 2001 as an attendee of a conference organized
by the Mid-Hudson Islamic Association, which is also housed in the same
All Angels Hill Road building.
After a speech at that conference, he said, members of the local
community approached him and asked him to fill the imam's position at the
Masjid.
Likewise, "I never expected nor looked to be clergy," said
Anwar Kearney, imam of Masjid-ul Mutakabbir, a mosque in downtown City of
Poughkeepsie.
Kearney has been Muslim since 1974, and has lived in Poughkeepsie and
worshipped at the Main Street mosque since about 1983. In 1995, the
congregation voted him imam, and he has served as its leader ever since.
(MORE)
-----
NY: THE CONGRESSMAN, THE MOSQUE AND THE
TEMPLE -
TOP
In the fierce debate over whether the Islamic Center of Long Island
harbors extremists, some of the Muslims' most ardent defenders are
Jews.
Walter Ruby, Jewish Week, 10/13/06
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13099
Is the Islamic Center of Long Island (ICLI) a hotbed of Muslim extremism
or an oasis of tolerance and moderation?
The answer to that question likely depends on whether one is inclined to
believe Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island) and supporters like terrorism
expert Steven Emerson on one hand, or members of Long Island's interfaith
community - including some high-profile rabbis - on the other.
(MORE)
WASHINGTON - President Bush hailed an FDNY paramedic last night at an
Iftar dinner marking Islam's Ramadan holidays - calling the Brooklyn man
courageous and compassionate and citing his near-death experience at
Ground Zero on 9/11.
Speaking to some of the nation's Islamic leaders in the State Dining Room
at the White House, Bush singled out Farooq Muhammad, the son of
Pakistani immigrants.
"Farooq was at the World Trade Center on 9/11, treating victims when
the towers collapsed - he narrowly escaped death himself. He also
recently volunteered in the mountains of Kashmir, where he helped treat
the victims of last year's devastating South Asian earthquake," Bush
said.
"Paramedic Muhammad is a proud Muslim. He is a patriotic
American."
Muhammad, 31, of downtown Brooklyn, was sitting two tables away from Bush
at the gathering of about 50 people.
"It was amazing. The President mentioned me by name. It was an
awesome experience," Muhammad said. "This is something I'm
going to hold on to for a long, long time."
Ambassadors from Muslim countries were in attendance as well as NYPD
Detective Azam Afridi of the counterterrorism bureau.
There is no public evidence that Sami al-Hajj committed any crime other
than journalism for a television network the Bush administration doesn't
like.
But the U.S. has been holding Mr. Hajj, a cameraman for Al Jazeera, for
nearly five years without trial, mostly at Guantanamo Bay. With the
jailing of Mr. Hajj and of four journalists in Iraq, the U.S. ranked No.
6 in the world in the number of journalists it imprisoned last year, just
behind Uzbekistan and tied with Burma, according to the Committee to
Protect Journalists.
This week, President Bush is expected to sign the Military Commissions
Act concerning prisoners at Guantanamo, and he has hailed the law as ''a
strong signal to the terrorists.'' But the closer you look at Guantanamo
the more you feel that it will be remembered mostly as a national
disgrace. (MORE)
-----
REPORT: BRITISH UNIVERSITIES
TO BE ASKED TO 'SPY' ON MUSLIM STUDENTS -
TOP
Also, all religious schools in Britain will be required to enroll those
of other faiths and non-believers.
Tom Regan, Christian Science Monitor, 10/16/06
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1016/dailyUpdate.html
In a move sure to set off more fireworks between Tony Blair's government
and the Muslim community in Britain, lecturers and university staff will
be asked to spy on "Asian looking" and Muslim students whom
they suspect are "involved with Islamic extremism and supporting
terrorist violence."
The Guardian reports that universities will be told to report these
students to police because the government believes that campuses have
become "fertile ground" for recruiting would-be
extremists.
Wakkas Khan, president of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies,
said: "It sounds to me to be potentially the widest infringement of
the rights of Muslim students that there ever has been in this country.
It is clearly targeting Muslim students and treating them to a higher
level of suspicion and scrutiny. It sounds like you're guilty until
you're proven innocent."
Gemma Tumelty, president of the National Union of Students, said:
"They are going to treat everyone Muslim with suspicion on the basis
of their faith. It's bearing on the side of McCarthyism."
The 18-page document sent to universities that outlines the proposal
apparently acknowledges that universities will not be happy about passing
information to British police's special branch, for fear it amounts to
collaborating with the "secret police." It also singles out
Islamic societies on campus. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #503
DEMAND AN END TO TUNISIAN BAN ON HIJAB Contact the Tunisian Embassy and U.S. Department of
State Today
(WASHINGTON D.C., 10/18/06) - CAIR is urging all people of
conscience to contact the government of Tunisia and the U.S. Department
of State to demand that the religious rights of Tunisian women who choose
to wear hijab be protected.
Media reports indicate that Tunisian police are stopping women on the
streets and asking them to take off their headscarves and to sign a
pledge that they will not wear a scarf again. A 1981 Tunisian law
prohibits Islamic attire in schools or government offices.
In a statement, CAIR said: "Freedom of religion should be a valued
aspect of any society. People of all faiths must be granted the right to
freely practice their religion without government interference or
intimidation.
"The Tunisian law banning Islamic attire in certain areas, and the
apparent expanded interpretation of that law, violates international
human rights standards set forth by the United Nations and ratified by
virtually every nation on earth.
"We call on the government of Tunisia to respect the religious
rights of its citizens by ending all measures that restrict the wearing
of religiously-mandated headscarves. We also call on the U.S. Department
of State to use whatever influence it has to convince Tunisian
authorities to abide by international norms of religious
freedom.
"Tunisia cannot claim to be a free and open society while carrying
out such repressive and authoritarian actions."
CAIR's statement noted that Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR), a transnational treaty having the weight of
international law states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion. . .(and) to manifest his religion or
belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."
In the past, CAIR has defended the right to wear Islamic attire in France
and Turkey. The council has also defended hijab and other religious
rights in American schools and workplaces.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be firm, but
POLITE.)
1. CONTACT the Embassy of Tunisia to express your concerns about
this denial of religious freedom.
CONTACT:
His Excellency Ambassador Mohamed N. Hachana
Embassy of Tunisia
1515 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005,
Sample Letter: Your Excellency - I am writing to register my
objection to the Tunisian government's decision to impose undemocratic
restrictions on religious freedom by prohibiting Muslim women from
wearing religiously-mandated attire. Please pass these concerns to the
proper authorities, along with a request that concrete steps be taken to
uphold international norms of human and religious rights.
2. CONTACT the U.S. Department of State to request that American
officials use whatever influence they have to protect religious freedom
in Tunisia.
CONTACT:
Tunisia Desk
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
3. SEND COPIES of all correspondence to CAIR at:
info@cair.com
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American
Muslim community. Subscribers to the list 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:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Don't consider
anything insignificant out of good things, even if it is that you meet
your brother with a cheerful countenance."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1209
-----
DC/VA/MD: REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR 11/18 BANQUET
IN VIRGINIA -
TOP
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia. To learn more about the dinner, or to register, GO TO:
https://www.cair.com/2006banquet/
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CAIR HOSTS NEW PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR AT IFTAR -
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(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/18/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) was honored to host His Excellency Mahmud Ali Durrani, the new
Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S., at an iftar (Ramadan fast-breaking
meal) last night at its Capitol Hill headquarters. The Ambassador offered
a few words of support for CAIR's work and then joined some 30 guests and
CAIR staff for prayer, dinner and discussion.
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, Tel:
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726; E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com
In an effort to increase diversity, the Schenectady Police Department is
reaching out to community and religious groups.
The department, which has 155 members, is looking to hire 12 new police
officers over the next year. The recruitment effort is taking place ahead
of a civil service exam in December that begins the actual hiring
process.
"The (Schenectady) Police Department has undertaken a pro-active
recruiting approach," Lt. Pete Frisoni said. "We are visiting
colleges, religious organizations and attending community meetings in an
effort to stir interest in people taking the exam and joining the Police
Department."
At least two area mosques have been among the places visited.
"There was a lot of interest when I visited the Islamic Center of
the Capital District," Frisoni said, adding that about a dozen
people picked up information packets.
Why go to a place of worship to recruit? Character is the biggest asset
when the Police Department recruits at religious places, said Mark R.
Chaires, assistant police chief.
"We can have them run and do push-ups and get physically fit. We can
make them study and take tests. But for solid character, the place to
look is a mosque or synagogue or church," said Chaires. "At the
core, religion is about service to the community." (MORE)
ZAHN: Now more on our top story on the war of terror. Are we not making
enough progress here in America simply because our intelligence agencies
don't know enough about Muslim communities in the U.S.? One recent report
points out that more than five years after 9/11, only 33 FBI agents speak
Arabic. Justice correspondent Kelli Arena has a rare, inside look at the
FBI's efforts to build bridges with American Muslims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Nawar Shora is on a jihad and
said so right in front of a room full of new FBI agents.
NAWAR SHORA, AMERICAN-ARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION CMTE: Struggle is the
literal translation of jihad in Islam and it's the daily struggle to be a
better person, to resist temptation.
ARENA: The FBI and Shora agreed to let us tape this lesson to underscore
their efforts at working together. But more than five years after the
September 11th attacks, both sides admit talk alone won't help bridge the
culture gap that still exists between agents and the Arab American
community.
SHORA: True or false, all Arabs are Muslim and all Muslims are
Arab.
CROWD: False.
ARENA: It's all about building trust and there's a long way to go on that
front.
SHORA: You don't want to say, my, your daughter looks lovely or god, your
daughter is hot. Bad idea.
ARENA: Trust is key if the FBI wants help keeping on top of the terror
threat.
(on camera): FBI officials says it is possible the Arab American and
Muslim communities would get the first hint if Islamic extremists were
planning attacks and hopefully alert authorities.
(voice-over): Just as Shora has reached out to help bridge differences,
the FBI is also reaching out to the Arab American community.
JOE PERSICHINI, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: We will never make advances
without dialogue.
ARENA: Joe Persichini heads up the FBI's Washington field office. He and
Shora belong to an FBI advisory council that deals with everything from
outreach to hate crimes against Arab Americans.
IMAM MOHAMED MAJID, ADAMS CENTER: I discovered that a mosque in
Springfield run by an imam from Iraq. We can invite him maybe to come to
the next meeting.
ARENA: The scenario is repeated in FBI field offices around the country
and officials say the outreach effort in general has helped. Take for
example arrests made in Miami of men allegedly planning attacks against
government buildings. It was a tip from the community that got the ball
rolling.
ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: A number of our cases have come from
individuals in the Muslim American community who have alerted us to
potential threats.
ARENA: But a love affair it's not. Many Arabs and Muslims still view the
FBI as an enemy, one that targets, interrogates and arrests with little
to no evidence of wrongdoing.
ASHRAF NUBANI, ATTORNEY: There's a lot of things that have happened in
the past to back that up. The surveillance of mosques, for example, up to
before the start of the Iraq war the FBI went into the Iraqi community to
question or interview Iraqis.
ARENA: Part of the problem is that the FBI hasn't been successful at
recruiting Arab American agents who would be more readily accepted and
even Arabs in the communities who do have a good relationship say they
don't have much to show for it.
KAREEM SHORA, AMERICAN-ARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION CMTE: When we work with
you, we would like to you also speak out publicly and say we work with
these organizations on this effort or that effort, which was constructive
in helping us do our job. We don't feel we hear that enough.
ARENA: Still, Nawar Shora firmly believes the only remedy is to keep both
sides talking.
SHORA: Understanding plus communication equals trust. That's my secret
formula.
ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Now we're going to turn to our top story panel. Joining me now,
Drew Findling, criminal defense attorney, Bill Gavin, former assistant
director of the FBI in New York and Arsalan Iftikhar with the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
Welcome all. So Drew, you watched Drew Griffin's piece. And he raised
some very troubling questions about the very public arrests of the Miami
Seven. And there are people out there who really think the only reason
these arrests were made was that the government wanted to make it look
like the war on terror was going OK. Do you think that's true?
DREW FINDLING, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don't think that this was an
attempt by the government to create this illusion of accomplishment. I am
troubled however that we have taken these young men and sent in paid
informants, that is folks that are nothing more than actors that were
getting paid to seduce them into doing something that these poor guys
would have been otherwise never able to accomplish on their own. I think
being deeply involved in the criminal justice system, we have enough
problems with criminals in our society. We don't need to start creating
criminals and that's exactly what we did here. We gave these folks an
opportunity to commit an act there's no way they would have been able to
avail themselves to. And that's just un-American as far as I'm
concerned.
ZAHN: And Bill, we mentioned you at one time were Assistant Director of
the FBI here in New York, do you have a problem with the way those
informants were used in the case?
BILL GAVIN, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: Yes and no, Paula. You know,
lots of times you have to go back to the propensity of these people to
commit the crime. If in fact, they had the propensity to do it -- if you
look back in 1993 with Omar Abdel-Rahman and that group of people who
were going blow up the Holland Tunnel, the garage to the U.N. building,
the Lincoln Tunnel and 26 Federal Plaza, which I had a real interest in,
we had an informant mixed into the middle of that when we found out what
was going to happen.
ZAHN: But you're not telling me tonight that the Miami Seven was capable
of pulling off a plight that they are accused of trying to pull
off.
GAVIN: One never knows -- until you explore it, you never know.
ZAHN: And Arsalan, let me ask you this. A lot of people thought that
these men were picked on because they were Muslims, that the actions of
the FBI were racist.
ARSALAN IFTIKHAR, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Well, you
know, to a lot of American Muslims since 9/11, you know, they've felt a
definite impact of many of the Justice Department's law enforcement
initiatives, where American Muslims were presumed guilty in the court of
public opinion before ever being proved guilty in a court of
law.
I think, to their credit, the FBI has worked to help build these bridges
between the American Muslim community, but as your piece said, we still
have a long way to go.
ZAHN: Drew, how much more needs to be done to build bridges between the
Muslim community and these law enforcement agencies?
FINDLING: Well, I think that clearly there has been accomplishment, and
let's recognize the fact that nobody does anything but condemn terrorism.
However, Bill hits on two, I think, great points. The one is the
predisposition of citizens to commit a crime, whether they be Muslim or
these poor Haitian guys. There's no showing that they had the
predisposition to be terrorists. Rather, Paula, what they did is they
exercised their first amendment rights and expressed their
dissatisfaction our government. That's no reason to send people in to
cultivate criminality.
And the second thing is sending somebody in. Bill said, send somebody in.
And I agree with that. If you find something like this and you send FBI
agents in, interview them, as soon as do you that, these guys are going
to be spooked. That's going to be the end of their activity.
ZAHN: All right.
Bill, need a final word, we only have ten seconds.
Is the FBI under too much pressure to make terrorism-related
arrests?
GAVIN: I don't think they are under too much pressure, Paula. I really
believe that they have to go where the problem is, and I can't help but
salute what's being done, in terms of the communities, both the law
enforcement community and the Muslim communities getting together to try
to understand each other's and make them nonproblems for the
future.
ZAHN: We got to leave it there.
Drew Findling, Bill Gavin, Arsalan Iftikhar, thank you all.
CAIR-MI GIVES DIVERSITY TRAINING AT
COMERICA OPERATIONS CENTER -
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(Southfield, MI, 10/18/06) - The Michigan chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today offered training to staff at
the Comerica Operations Center in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Staff from
California joined the training via telephone.
The training gave an overview of basic Islamic beliefs and practices, as
well as explaining Islam's prohibition of usury and alternatives to
traditional interest based loans.
"It is encouraging to see prominent institutions make a commitment
to diversity," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
"Comerica is setting an example that we hope other financial
institutions will follow."
CAIR-CHICAGO: MELDING
SPIRITUALITY AND SCHOOL LIFE -
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Ramadan, and other religious observances, present unique challenges for
students in suburban schools
Tara Malone and Matt Vasilogambros, Daily Herald, 10/18/06
http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=239466
The bell chimes at 12:05 p.m.
Harris Hassan joins the hallway rush of teens bound for the one place
students feed their need for food and face time: the cafeteria.
But Hassan detours to the library instead.
As a Muslim student in the midst of Ramadan - a monthlong fast that
begins each day at sunrise and ends at sundown - the Lake Park High
School cafeteria is a beehive of temptation Hassan avoids.
"I try thinking about God more than my social life," said
Hassan, 16, of Bloomingdale. "We're really not supposed to do
anything that will distract us from the real reason we fast." . .
.
In Hoffman Estates, Conant High School sets aside an area where teens
observe the afternoon prayer during Ramadan.
Sadaf Syed rarely uses it.
The 17-year-old senior prefers to stick to her routine - pray at home and
catch up with friends in the cafeteria. That she chats while friends eat
doesn't faze her.
"I try not to draw too much attention," said Syed, who also
cuts down her TV time during Ramadan. "It's my choice to do this. I
don't think anyone should pity me. If you do it long enough, you get used
to it."
The holy month of Ramadan honors the revelation of the Quran to the
Islamic prophet Muhammad. The entire month is dedicated to God. Extra
prayer and dawn-to-dusk fasts broken by the nightly Iftar feast with
family members punctuate the observance.
"It's basically an exercise in resisting temptation and
practicing self-restraint," said Ahmed Rehab, who heads the
Chicago-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. (MORE)
Another copy of the Islamic holy book has been found in a toilet at a
university library, a civil liberties group said.
The discovery of the Quran in a toilet at Pace University's lower
Manhattan campus on Friday was the latest in a series of recent acts of
vandalism tinged with racial or religious overtones at the school, the
New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic
civil liberties group, said Tuesday.
"We once again call on Pace University to take concrete measures to
help educate the student population about Islamophobic bigotry and its
negative impact on ordinary Muslims and on American society," Maryam
Sayar Akbar, the group's civil rights director, said in a
statement.
In September, a copy of the Quran was found in a toilet at Pace, and in
October someone scrawled racial slurs on a student's car at the
Westchester County satellite campus and on a bathroom wall at the campus
in lower Manhattan.
University officials, who have said they are investigating the incidents,
did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment
Tuesday.
University President David A. Caputo has said the incidents did not
appear to be related. But he has called them "deeply
disturbing" and has held a meeting with faculty and
students.
CHICAGO (AFP) - Prosecutors will make opening arguments Thursday in the
case of a Chicago grocer accused of funneling millions of dollars to the
militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Hailed by the government as a victory in the war on terror, the case is
seen by some in the Arab-American community as part of a broader
crackdown on Muslim charities and an erosion of constitutional guarantees
of due process and a fair trial.
Muhammad Salah spent nearly five years in an Israeli prison in the
mid-1990s after admitting he committed a number of crimes on behalf of
Hamas, which swept to power in January elections this year but remains
designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. . .
Local rights groups were outraged that the public was banned from
witnessing the testimony; an edited transcript was later made available.
. .
The mild-mannered devout Muslim is seen by some Arab-Americans as the
victim of a post-9/11 witch hunt and a skewed understanding of the
situation in the Middle East.
"For many, he is a symbol of a larger Palestinian struggle,"
said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Nobody sees Salah in a
vacuum." (MORE)
On Monday, Muslims across the region will gather with family and friends
to break the monthlong fast of Ramadan, the holy period in which it is
believed the Koran was sent down from heaven to guide humankind.
During the holy month, Muslims may eat between nightfall and sunrise. But
the end of Ramadan signals the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, three days of
feasts.
"The first meal is not that special," said Ryan Uysaler,
treasurer of the Horizon Charter School. "It is more for the
children, almost like Halloween for your children."
Families gather with close friends, and sweets are prepared for the
feast, which on that first night is usually held at the wife's parents'
home.
What is eaten at the feasts varies from region to region, he said. In
Ismir, Turkey, where Uysaler and his wife, Ayse, are from, numerous
varieties of baklava and other confections are prepared, but savory
dishes are also made for the meal.
"I make breads and borek, too," said Ayse, who is director of a
day-care center.
Borek is bread dough or phyllo sheets that are stuffed with ground beef
or lamb, onions, red pepper and spices. It also can have a
spinach-and-cheese or potato stuffing. The bread then is baked and served
warm. (MORE)
About midway through the gracious Iftar dinner to which I was recently
invited by the Philadelphia Dialog Forum
(
www.philadialogforum.org), I began to grow uneasy.
The problem was not a lack of hospitality. The food was excellent. The
prayers were uplifting. The conversation was informative. My lament was
for the comparative failings of the tribes with which I am most closely
identified.
My discomfort began with the remarks by the Rev. Thomas Michel, Jesuit
secretariat for interreligious dialogue from Rome. He mentioned casually
how he's been on "the Iftar circuit," attending dinners at the
invitation of Muslim communities around the world. I was struck by the
privilege his remark revealed, and then wondered: What are Christians
doing that is at all comparable?
Iftar is the daily meal that breaks the fast of Ramadan, which continues
until Monday. It is the joyous cap of one of the five pillars of Muslim
faith - sawm, or fasting. The meal traditionally begins with a fresh date
- a sweet morsel that, after a day with no food or drink from sundown to
sunset, no doubt tastes doubly sweet. The meal is ideally shared in
community, as a celebration of God's mercy and abundance. It has, to this
Christian's sensibility, a sacramental character.
And there's the rub, isn't it? Where are the Christians who are inviting
Muslims to our holy meal? Aptly or not, I juxtaposed my experience of
Iftar hospitality with Eucharistic exclusion - and my lament was under
way.
My sadness deepened as Rabbi Yehezkel Landau, faculty associate in
interfaith relations at Hartford Seminary, shared his own
"lament" at the "missed opportunities" by religious
communities, and U.S. policymakers, after 9/11. Instead, "we"
went to war.
And by the time Ibrahim Abu'-Rabi', also of Hartford, spoke about how
Iftar fit within the broader Muslim worldview and practices, I have to
admit I had been driven into a rather profound funk.
How can such a beautiful practice as Iftar, which is truly at the core of
Muslim piety, not be enough, more than enough, to dispel stereotypes
associating Islam with "violence"? Why do so many of my
Christian brothers and sisters continue to fixate on the speck of
"Islamic" terrorism, conveniently ignoring the very large log
of American "Christian" weapons of mass destruction and
military adventurism? (MORE)
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OH: FEAST FOLLOWS FAST -
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After skipping food, water and tobacco each day, Muslims gather at
sundown
Polly Campbell,
Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/18/06
At 7:10 p.m. on Oct. 6 at Danya and Michael Karram's house in Indian
Hill, everyone is waiting for 7:16 p.m., the moment when the sun goes
down and the day's Ramadan fast can be broken. Dates, guava and mango
juice are the first foods the Karrams and their guests will eat when they
gather for the sundown meal, called iftar.
The monthlong Ramadan, which commemorates Muhammad's receiving the holy
Quran, is a time for contemplation, for prayer and turning thoughts to
matters other than daily concerns. The fast from sunup to sundown means
refraining from food, drink, and tobacco. Ramadan concludes Monday with a
celebration called Eid al-Fitr, a day of rejoicing that marks the end of
the daily fasting.
But when the sun goes down, fast turns to feast. On many nights during
the month, families gather and friends are invited to end their day of
fasting together. Large iftars are held in mosques and Islamic
centers.
"It's one event you want to be on time for," says May Bsisu, a
friend of the Karrams' and the author of "The Arab Table."
"You want to be together when you first eat, and it is important not
to wait to break the fast."
The Karrams' guests are Muslims who have made their way from various
parts of the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt. The Cincinnati
Muslim community, centered at the Islamic Center, also includes many
Muslims from South and Central Asia.
Celebrating here - where the Muslim community of 25,000 is scattered
throughout the region - is different than in parts of the world where the
entire population observes Ramadan. Elsewhere, the pace of life slows
down for the month. Egypt especially is known for its Ramadan
celebrations. (MORE)
In an effort to establish whether the government is using prohibited
profiling methods against Arab-Americans and Muslims, a civil rights
group filed a suit yesterday against the Homeland Security Department and
one of its branches, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The suit, by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, asked the
Federal District Court in the District of Columbia to compel the
immigration agency under the Freedom of Information Act to release the
nationalities of 237 people arrested for immigration violations in
October 2004.
The agency announced the arrests at the time in an effort to disrupt
possible terrorist threats in the presidential elections.
Over the past two years, two previous requests by the committee to obtain
the information through standard channels failed. Refusing to release the
nationalities leaves open a possibility that immigration laws are being
disproportionately enforced against Arab-Americans and Muslims, said
Kareem Shora, the new executive director of the committee, which is based
in Washington. The organization is not seeking individuals' names or
their dispositions in the courts.
In one letter denying the previous requests, the immigration agency said
releasing the information would harm its law enforcement efforts by
divulging where it was concentrating its resources.
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Dean Boyd, would not
elaborate on that statement. Mr. Boyd did restate that the agency did not
enforce immigration laws on the basis of race, religion or ethnic
origin.
More than 160,000 individuals were deported last year "from
virtually every country around the globe," he added.
Arab-Americans and American Muslims have widespread suspicions that the
spotlight is focused on them regarding accusations of terrorism,
particularly around any election season, to spread concern among other
voters and to intimidate them from speaking out. Mr. Boyd strongly
objected to the idea that political considerations were involved in any
aspect of enforcing immigration law. (MORE)
Acting on direct orders from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the US
has filed a discrimination complaint with the Israeli Embassy in
Washington.
America claims that Israel's policy since April 2006 represents flagrant
discrimination against American citizens of "Palestinians
descent," citing the difficulties they incur when trying to visit PA
(Palestinian Authority) autonomous areas.
America states that Israeli policy is one of discrimination, apparent in
the treatment of the Arab American citizens at border crossings.
SEE ALSO:
CARTER BOOK SLAPS ISRAEL WITH
'APARTHEID' TAG, PROVIDES AMMO TO GOP -
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Forward, 10/17/06 http://www.forward.com/
Former President Jimmy Carter is set to release his latest book,
"Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
Judging from an advance review manuscript of the new work, published by
Simon & Schuster and set for release November 14, Carter appears to
place the bulk of the blame on Israel for its continuing conflict with
the Palestinians. But his critics will probably be most offended by the
use of the word "apartheid" in the title.
The book comes as the Republican Jewish Coalition is already waging a
nationwide media campaign to convince Jewish voters that the Democratic
Party can no longer be counted on to provide unflinching support for
Israel. One of the recent RJC ads features a large image of Carter and
quotes the former president as saying "I don't think Israel has any
legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire
nation of Lebanon."
The RJC's executive director, Matt Brooks, told the Forward that he has
yet to see the book but seemed confident that it would provide additional
ammunition for his organization's campaign to woo Jewish voters.
"We certainly have not shied away from shining a light on some of
his misguided and outrageous comments about Israel in the past, so we
certainly have to see what this book holds," Brooks said.
"Obviously we will look to key Democratic leaders and hear what they
have to say about it. So far, there's been nothing but silence on the
part of the Democratic establishment in terms of holding Carter
accountable."
The book was originally slated to be released November 1 - six days prior
to this year's congressional elections - but will now be available in
stores November 14, according to Simon & Schuster spokeswoman
Elizabeth Hayes. (MORE)
For the past several months, I've been wrapping up lengthy interviews
with Washington counterterrorism officials with a fundamental question:
"Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a
Shiite?"
A "gotcha" question? Perhaps. But if knowing your enemy is the
most basic rule of war, I don't think it's out of bounds. And as I
quickly explain to my subjects, I'm not looking for theological
explanations, just the basics: Who's on what side today, and what does
each want?
After all, wouldn't British counterterrorism officials responsible for
Northern Ireland know the difference between Catholics and Protestants?
In a remotely similar but far more lethal vein, the 1,400-year
Sunni-Shiite rivalry is playing out in the streets of Baghdad, raising
the specter of a breakup of Iraq into antagonistic states, one backed by
Shiite Iran and the other by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni
states.
A complete collapse in Iraq could provide a haven for Al Qaeda operatives
within striking distance of Israel, even Europe. And the nature of the
threat from Iran, a potential nuclear power with prot�g�s in the Gulf
states, northern Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories,
is entirely different from that of Al Qaeda. It seems silly to have to
argue that officials responsible for counterterrorism should be able to
recognize opportunities for pitting these rivals against each
other.
But so far, most American officials I've interviewed don't have a clue.
That includes not just intelligence and law enforcement officials, but
also members of Congress who have important roles overseeing our spy
agencies. How can they do their jobs without knowing the basics?
My curiosity about our policymakers' grasp of Islam's two major branches
was piqued in 2005, when Jon Stewart and other TV comedians made hash out
of depositions, taken in a whistleblower case, in which top F.B.I.
officials drew blanks when asked basic questions about Islam. One of the
bemused officials was Gary Bald, then the bureau's counterterrorism
chief. Such expertise, Mr. Bald maintained, wasn't as important as being
a good manager.
A few months later, I asked the F.B.I.'s spokesman, John Miller, about
Mr. Bald's comments. "A leader needs to drive the organization
forward," Mr. Miller told me. "If he is the executive in a
counterterrorism operation in the post-9/11 world, he does not need to
memorize the collected statements of Osama bin Laden, or be able to read
Urdu to be effective. ... Playing 'Islamic Trivial Pursuit' was a cheap
shot for the lawyers and a cheaper shot for the journalist. It's just a
gimmick."
Of course, I hadn't asked about reading Urdu or Mr. bin Laden's
writings.
A few weeks ago, I took the F.B.I.'s temperature again. At the end of a
long interview, I asked Willie Hulon, chief of the bureau's new national
security branch, whether he thought that it was important for a man in
his position to know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.
"Yes, sure, it's right to know the difference," he said.
"It's important to know who your targets are."
That was a big advance over 2005. So next I asked him if he could tell me
the difference. He was flummoxed. "The basics goes back to their
beliefs and who they were following," he said. "And the
conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shia and the difference between who
they were following." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR TO RELEASE POLL OF AMERICAN MUSLIM VOTERS Survey looks at demographics, political leanings, levels
of integration
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/19/06) - On Tuesday, October 24, the Council
on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) will hold a
news conference in Washington, D.C., to release the results of a survey
of American Muslim voters.
CAIR recently commissioned a scientific survey of 1000 registered Muslim
voters that asked questions related to demographic profiles, political
leanings and levels of social integration. (Respondents were randomly
drawn from a pool of some 400,000 registered Muslim voters.)
WHAT: CAIR to Release Poll of American Muslim Voters
WHEN: Tuesday, October 24, 2006, 10:30 a.m. (Eastern) WHERE: National Press Club,
Lisagor Room, National Press Club Building,
529 14th Street,
NW, Washington, D.C. CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
The CAIR survey also asked respondents whether Muslims worship the same
God as Christians and Jews, whether terrorist attacks in other countries
harm American Muslims and if the war on terror has become a war on Islam.
In addition, CAIR's poll asked Muslim voters to rank public policy issues
as they relate to the upcoming elections.
CAIR has 32 offices, chapters and affiliates 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.
- END -
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever fasts the
month of Ramadan with faith, and seeks God's pleasure and reward, will
have his previous sins forgiven."
"Speaking as an American: no Sharia law, no veils. If you're
here, be American."
John Gibson, Fox News
Watch John Gibson weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on "The Big Story" and
send your comments to:
myword@foxnews.com
-----
DC/MD/VA: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CAIR
ANNUAL DINNER -
TOP
Volunteers are needed to help prepare for the CAIR banquet on
Saturday, November 18, 2006, in Arlington, Va. The participation of
volunteers have greatly contributed to the success of past CAIR
events.
If you would like to volunteer to help organize this important event,
please call (202) 488-8787 or email
irahman@cair.com.
REMINDER: REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR 11/18 BANQUET IN VIRGINIA
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia.
SAMPLE EID NEWS RELEASE FOR USE BY LOCAL
COMMUNITIES -
TOP
ACTION REQUESTED: Modify the CAIR Eid ul-Fitr news release below for
distribution to local media outlets. Just insert local Eid dates, times,
locations, and contact information. Make sure to send a copy to the main
daily newspaper "city desk," TV station "assignment
desk," radio station "news director," and Associated Press
local bureau "daybook editor."
(
http://www.ap.org/pages/contact/contact.html ) Call each outlet to
obtain contact information.
SEND COPIES of local media advisories to:
info@cair.com
---
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
U.S. MUSLIMS TO MARK END OF
RAMADAN WITH COMMUNAL PRAYERS -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/19/06) - On Monday, October 23 (date may vary,
consult local mosques), the Muslim community in America will celebrate
the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan with communal prayers around
the country. (Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during
which Muslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from
break of dawn to sunset.)
The prayers mark the beginning of the Eid ul-Fitr (EED-al-FITTER), or
"feast of fast breaking" holiday, in which Muslims exchange
social visits and seek to strengthen bonds of brotherhood in the
community.
During this holiday, Muslims greet each other by saying "Eid
mubarak" (EED-moo-BAR-ak), meaning "blessed Eid," and
"taqabbalallah ta'atakum," or "may God accept your
deeds." Many communities also hold multicultural bazaars and other
family activities following the prayers.
Eid ul-Fitr is the first of the two major Muslim holidays. The second
holiday, Eid ul-Adha, comes at the end of the Hajj, or pilgrimage to
Mecca.
WHEN: Monday, October 23, 2006 (date may vary, consult local mosques). Go
to: www.islamicfinder.com)
Prayers are held early in the morning. Ask local prayer coordinators for
exact dates, times and locations.
WHERE: The Eid prayers are held either in local mosques or in public
facilities designed to accommodate large gatherings.
CONTACT: Call local Muslim organizations for details about Eid
celebrations. If there are no known contacts in a particular community,
go to:
http://www.islamicfinder.com/
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Each year, Muslims come to the prayers in colorful
attire representative of different areas of the Islamic world. The
prayers themselves are quite visual, with worshipers arranged in neat
rows and bowing in prayer in unison. Participants exchange embraces at
the conclusion of the prayers.
NOTE: Because this is a religious service, reporters and photographers of
both sexes should dress modestly. Some communities may ask female
reporters and photographers to put a scarf over their hair while in the
actual prayer area. Photographers should arrive early to get into
position for the best shots. Photographers are also advised not to step
directly in front of worshipers and to seek permission for close-up
shots. Shots of shoes removed for prayer, and rear-angle shots of
prostrating worshipers are considered inappropriate.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
Richmond - Muslims in Virginia are poised to play a sizable role in next
month's election, with nearly 60,000 registered Muslim voters in the
state, according to a local political organization.
Mukit Hossain, president of the Virginia Muslim Political Action
Committee, said his group is working to mobilize voters to get out and
vote Democratic. In a Senate race as tight as the one between Democrat
Jim Webb and incumbent Republican George Allen, 60,000 voters can be the
difference between a win and a loss.
Population estimates show Virginia's Muslim population at about 300,000.
Most reside in Northern Virginia.
"I think we can make sizeable impacts," Hossain said. "I
think we made a difference in the gubernatorial race" between Tim
Kaine and Jerry Kilgore. The group supported Kaine, the winner of the
race by just more than 113,000 votes.
Hossain said the group does not have a political affiliation and attempts
to be nonpartisan. He said the PAC is endorsing Webb and the Democratic
House candidates in Northern Virginia based on their views on civil
liberties, human rights, immigration, foreign policy, health care and
education.
This election is essential for American Muslims. Why? Just look at the
front page and editorial pages of the newspapers. What are the lead
stories? What's being discussed on talk radio? Most likely, it is
Muslims. Traditionally, American Muslims have avoided mainstream U.S.
politics for several reasons. First, a majority of Muslim immigrants came
here to advance their economic fortunes and education. Politics was a
lesser concern. Next, most had migrated from cultures that had no
democracy and were ruled by dictators, kings, sultans and shahs. They did
not have an opportunity to participate in the politics at home. Finally,
there were few organized efforts to encourage American Muslims to become
more politically active.
However, 9/11 changed that overnight. Rather than being silent
spectators, Muslims are becoming unwilling participants, and this is the
silver lining to 9/11, the USA Patriot Act and mass detentions. The
policies of the Bush administration also have pushed Muslims to be part
of the political process. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the
United States and American Muslims realize that American politics are
about numbers. Statistics are hard to come by, but numerous studies have
reported that Islam is growing at a rate of 3 to 6 percent a year, due to
both converts and high birth rate. Today, there are few places in the
United States where one does not find Muslims living, working and sending
their children to public schools. The best estimates put the U.S. Muslim
population at 7 million, and 70 percent of them are eligible to
vote.
In the 1980s, American Muslims found themselves debating whether Islam
even permitted them to participate in the politics of a non-Muslim
country. These concerns have disappeared. Meanwhile, many Americans have
negative views of Islam and large numbers of Muslims are experiencing
harassment and discrimination. Due to Bush administration policies, there
is ''Islam phobia'' and some label all Muslims as terrorists. The good
news for Muslims is that they can vote on Nov. 7. (MORE)
---
CAIR-LA: CANDIDATE WHO TARGETED MUSLIMS
SUBJECT OF PROBE -
TOP
A state probe into who sent an intimidating mailer to foreign-born
Hispanics in Orange County is focusing on Republican congressional
candidate Tan D. Nguyen's campaign.
Nguyen, who is challenging Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, in
November's election, did not return a call seeking comment.
An Orange County Register investigation into the mailer found several
connections to Nguyen's campaign. . .
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, amid last week's furor
over criticism of an Arab-American City Council candidate in Anaheim,
brought Nguyen into the mix. In a news release, the American-Islamic
council said, "Tan Nguyen has angered local Muslims with his
offensive and inflammatory use of a photograph of a Middle Eastern
terrorist to link the hot-button issues of illegal immigration and
terrorism." (MORE)
Register staff writers Dena Bunis, Marla Jo Fisher and David Lettis
contributed to this report.
The average person watches the news on television, hearing about how bad
things are in other parts of the world. He sees the murders, abductions
and child killings and thinks, "Boy, am I glad I don't live there
among those uncivilized barbarians."
Most are probably thinking that this is your opinion of what you see. And
your feelings would be justified. However, this is also the image that
others around the world would think of Dallas-Fort Worth if all they knew
about us was what they saw on our evening news.
However, we know that just because we see on a daily basis murders,
thefts, child abductions and rapes that this is not a representation of
the entire population of Dallas-Fort Worth. Nor do we believe that all
parents abuse their children, all men beat their wives or all priests
molest young boys. We are capable of discerning the difference between
the societal and religious values taught here and the actions of
individuals. We should be able to do the same when we evaluate the
societal phenomena in other countries and regions.
People from all over the world have committed crimes against humanity in
the name of religion. History is full of this. Each used their religious
doctrine to explain the need for their destructive behavior, that they
are doing God's will by committing those actions.
Just because a person uses a verse from a religious doctrine incorrectly
for his own purpose does not mean that the doctrine is at fault or that
it actually supports that heinous action.
Islam is constantly accused of teaching hate, intolerance and violence.
Verses from the Quran are misstated or taken completely out of
context.
Some even say that the Prophet Muhammad taught these things. That is
untrue. No sayings of Muhammad speak of committing violence against
innocent people. To the contrary, his words and his role modeling always
encourage patience, understanding, dignity, care and concern for all
humanity. (MORE)
Saffia Meek is the Director of Operations for the Dallas-Fort Worth
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She can be
reached at
info@cairdfw.org
After 13 hours of fasting, Victoria Dominguez learned to appreciate some
of the little things -- such as food and drink -- that are taken for
granted on a daily basis.
"It's a lot of self-discipline," Dominguez, a Texas State
University nutrition sophomore, said. "Going all day without food,
you appreciate it so much more."
Dominguez, along with approximately 30 other students clad in sleepwear,
gathered in San Jacinto Hall at 5:45 a.m. to eat breakfast and commence a
daylong fast as part of the Muslim Student Association's second-annual
Fast-a-thon.
The event is held to spread awareness about the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan. MSA members invited students, faculty and residents to fast for
one day to gain first hand appreciation for what Muslims endure during
Ramadan, which includes abstaining from food, water, drink, smoking and
sexual intercourse from sunup to sundown. . .
Eric Meek, Council on American-Islamic Relationsvice
president, spoke at the dinner to help the crowd understand some of
the basic tenets of Islam.
"I'm speaking on behalf of Muslims defining themselves based on
their religious teachings," Meek said.
Meek defined Islam as being Arabic for peace and lectured on the five
pillars of the religion: Declaration of faith, prayer, charity, fasting
and pilgrimage. He said Islam is a universal religion and
message.
"Islam is the complete way for all people, all ethnicities
throughout the world," he said. "It is a mega-rainbow of
ethnicities." (MORE)
[Sheema Khan is the former board chair of CAIR-CAN.]
Last week, I stopped at a local mosque to offer my sunset prayers before
heading off to a restaurant for an iftar dinner with friends (iftar is
the meal for breaking the daylong fast during the month of Ramadan). I
met a pleasant young woman, who had removed her niqab (face veil) in the
privacy of the women's section. She was gracious to all, offering dates
and milk to break the fast. Her demeanour exuded a generous spirituality.
While we spoke, she gently exhorted her children to stop running,
restraining her exasperation when they disobeyed. What mother hasn't gone
through the same?
At the restaurant, a niqabi woman came up to me whom I did not recognize
at first. Her eyes glistened with familiarity. "Assalaamu alaikum,
Sheema. I see you more often on TV than in person," she joked. I
immediately recognized her voice. We had first met 15 years ago and had
struck an instant friendship. Life had taken us in different directions;
now we were both married with kids. She had memorized the entire Koran
during that time, and was now teaching women and children to do the same.
I felt humbled in the presence of her knowledge.
I respect women who wear the niqab. At Harvard, after much spiritual
reflection, I donned the hijab (headscarf) and also tried the niqab --
for all of one hour. I found it stifling and unnatural. Yet others don't.
And their choice should be respected. In some places, women are forced by
the state to cover up. In other places, some have exercised their own
choice to do so. At a recent scientific conference in Dubai, I met
intelligent, assertive niqabis who discussed current research with both
genders. What is the big deal?
The niqab has been in the news recently, often in the most unflattering
terms. These new WMDs (women in Muslim dress) seem to evoke the same fear
once reserved for real WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). The most vocal
critics are European men in positions of power, with feminists being
equally vocal or mute. Few have taken the time to understand the issue
from veiled women themselves.
The debate is eerily similar to the discourse that took place during the
British occupation of Egypt in the late 1800s. Intent on controlling the
natives, the Empire sought to weaken nationalist sentiment by stripping
away indigenous Egyptian identity. In the colonial hierarchy, Victorian
England was the pinnacle of civilization; the rest had to be
civilized.
Lord Cromer (Evelyn Baring), the first British proconsul of Egypt, viewed
Islam as the "other" -- a faith utterly devoid of any good. In
particular, he focused on the dress (i.e. the veil) and seclusion of
Muslim women as emblematic of their oppression and inferiority. They were
in need of rescue -- by the Empire. He pushed the feminist envelope to
ostensibly liberate Egyptian women. Yet during his rule, he greatly
reduced women's access to education. When he returned to England, he
opposed the women's movement at every turn. Feminism was good for the
colonized, but not for the colonizer. (MORE)
-----
U.S. SECURITY OFFICIALS HAVE
PREVENTED AN INFLUENTIAL ISLAMIC SCHOLAR FROM ATTENDING A CONFERENCE IN
NEW YORK -
TOP
Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, Newsweek, 10/18/06
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15320752/site/newsweek/
A leading member of Britains Muslim community, headed to New York for an
academic conference, was forced to leave his transatlantic flight without
explanation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security earlier
today.
The removal of Kamal Helbawy, the 80-year-old founder of the Muslim
Association of Britain, came just minutes before his American Airlines
flight was due to take off from Londons Heathrow Airport. The incident is
the latest instance in which U.S. security officials have denied
prominent Muslim leaders entry to the United States. (MORE)
-----
MA: MUSLIMS PUT FAITH INTO ACTION FOR
RAMADAN -
TOP
Last weekend, Muslims served some 18,000 needy Americans in 14 US cities
to mark their 'Humanitarian Day for the Homeless.'
Jane Lampman, Christian Science Monitor, 10/19/06
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1019/p13s01-lire.html
Two rows of tables, stretching the length of the gymnasium, are neatly
stacked with brand-new items: warm sweat shirts and caps in several
colors, thick socks, bright yellow ponchos to ward off the weather, and
hygiene kits stocked with towels, toothpaste and a toothbrush, soap, and
a comb. There are bags of food, bottles of water, and, for the children,
backpacks and toys.
Young Muslims in matching T-shirts stand ready to help those coming
through the line to pick the right size or color. Downstairs in the Tobin
Community Center, another cadre of volunteers, including medical
students, give health screenings and answer questions about dental
care.
During their holy month of Ramadan, local Muslim organizations in Boston
have joined together to host their first Humanitarian Day for the
Homeless.
The charitable event is already a five-year tradition in Los Angeles,
where it began under the auspices of the ILM Foundation and Islamic
Relief, an international relief and development agency based in Buena
Park, Calif. This year it spread to 14 US cities, where last weekend an
estimated 18,000 homeless and needy Americans of all faiths were
served.
Charitable giving is one of the "five pillars of Islam," with
Muslims expected to donate 2.5 percent of their income annually. But it's
clear from the enthusiastic turnout of more than 250 volunteers in
Roxbury - from Girl Scout troops to students from MIT and Harvard - that
expressing their faith directly is particularly appealing.
"This is faith in action," says Ibrahim Kanan, from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Muslim Student Association. For
Fahmeen Kahn, a finance major at Suffolk University in Boston, "it's
an opportunity to give back to the community. Also, Islam teaches that
you should want for other people what you want for yourself."
(MORE)
On one of the highest holy days of his religion, surrounded by more than
20 million people who share his faith, Cpl. Mohammad Qayyum of the U.S.
Marines will pray alone.
For security reasons, Cpl. Qayyum cannot enter the mosque on the military
base where he is serving his second deployment in Iraq.
"Every Eid of my life, I have celebrated with my family or other
Muslims in a mosque," Qayyum said Wednesday during a phone interview
from Iraq. "I don't want to spend it by myself or be praying alone
on Eid."
For the festival of Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday, he plans to pray just outside
the mosque, "just so I can see people and get some of the
experience," he said.
For Muslims, Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, a month of devotion to
Allah through prayer, atonement and daytime fasting.
Qayyum has spent most Ramadans gathering with his family in Sacramento
each night so they can break their fasts and enjoy each other's company.
He fondly recalls digging into his mother's samosas and playing with his
nephews and nieces.
But this year he is in Al Asad, Iraq. An aviation mechanic and aspiring
commercial pilot, Qayyum works on the engines of C-130 cargo aircraft.
Though separated from his family, he continues to observe
Ramadan.
When he wakes before dawn, the chow hall is still closed; so he prepares
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the only foods he can preserve in his
room, and drinks a bottle of water. It's the only meal he'll have until
the sun goes down.
After dark, he heads to the chow hall to break his fast by eating
whatever is being dished out that day. He prays alone in his room, or in
a separate room provided by the military brass.
It's a decidedly more solitary experience, and though he misses his
family, he is grateful for the opportunity to observe Ramadan in a Muslim
country.
"It's almost like everything over here revolves around the month of
Ramadan," said the 22-year-old Qayyum. "It's a huge deal over
here compared to the States. Back home, I feel like Ramadan is more in
the shadows." (MORE)
When I walked into Washington's Dulles International Airport with two
suitcases and a ticket to Paris, I was satisfied that I looked like a
Muslim woman. A hijab left only the oval of my face exposed - my blond
hair was covered, pulled back in a tight bun - and I was wearing an
ankle-length skirt. For good measure, a copy of the Koran stuck out of my
handbag.
The idea to slip into the skin of a Muslim on a trans-Atlantic flight had
come to me after interviewing dozens of young Muslims in Chicago about
their post-9/11 experiences. One had given me a Koran. Returning to
Washington from Chicago, when I flipped open my suitcase at check-in to
find my passport, the Koran came into view. The United Airlines agent
became visibly uncomfortable. I was searched, and on arrival in
Washington, my checked bag had a security notice inside informing me that
it, too, had been checked.
Many of the people I interviewed in Chicago had spoken of
airports.
"Muslims on planes are like black people driving late at
night," one young man said. "They are guilty until proven
innocent." After several Islamic scholars assured me that it would
not be offensive for me, a non-Muslim, to dress as one, I decided to wear
the hijab back to Europe.
I arrived at Dulles last Saturday covered in black, not knowing what to
expect. But nobody turned to stare as I made my way through the departure
hall to the Air France check-in desk for flight AF039. People just went
about their business.
The young man examining passports at the check-in line looked Middle
Eastern. "Passport and ticket please," he said. I pulled out my
passport and explained that I had an e-ticket. "Don't you have a
print-out?" he asked. I shook my head. He looked at my handbag.
"Can you swear on the Koran that you're getting on the 5 p.m.
flight?" he quipped. I assured him that was the right flight, and he
waved me through with a broad smile. "This is not so bad," I
thought to myself.
Minutes later I changed my mind. When a friend who accompanied me to the
airport pulled out a camera to take my picture, the middle-aged man
behind me turned to his wife and said, in German, "Now she is taking
her martyr photos."
"Shhh," his wife replied and giggled.
They didn't know I was German. When I turned to look at them and then
asked my friend a question in German, their embarrassment was plain. The
remark had been a joke. But it spoke loudly about how Islam and terrorism
have become intertwined in the collective subconscious. (MORE)
-----
POLL: 40 PERCENT OF U.S. VOTERS SAY ISRAEL
LOBBY A KEY FACTOR IN IRAQ, IRAN -
TOP
Question: Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or
strongly disagree that the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the
Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and
now confronting Iran?
http://www.cnionline.org/learn/polls/czandlobby/index2.htm
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
HADITH OF THE DAY: 'O GOD, CONCEAL MY FAULTS' -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would offer the following
supplication in the evening and in the morning: "O God, I ask Thee
for security in this world and in the Hereafter. O God, I ask Thee for
forgiveness and security in my religion and my worldly affairs, (and) in
my family and my property. O God, conceal my faults and keep me safe from
the things that I fear…"
Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 2396
The Prophet also said: "The servant (whose faults) God conceals in
this world, God will also conceal his faults on the Day of
Resurrection."
(CBS 5 / BCN / AP) FREMONT A woman was gunned down outside a home in a
quiet Fremont neighborhood Thursday afternoon, police said.
The incident occurred at 2:38 pm in the driveway of a home on Glenmoor
Drive at Central Avenue, Sgt. Chris Mazzone said.
Responding to calls from neighbors in the area, police arrived and found
the woman had been shot to death, said Mazzone.
Two men who arrived at the crime scene late Thursday identified
themselves as the woman's brothers and told CBS 5 that the victim was
Alia Ansari, a 37-year-old mother of six children who lived just blocks
away from where she was killed.
The men also said Ansari's 3-year-old daughter was with her at the time
of the shooting.
Police say the suspect was walking along Glenmoor Drive and opened fire
on Ansari before fleeing the scene in a car.
Hamoyon Ansari said her sister was wearing a hijab, a headdress
traditionally worn by Muslim women, and "that's the reason why they
probably shot her." (MORE)
Prominent Tampa News Anchor John Wilson speaks out against radicals
abroad and here in America. Wilson also recognizes the positive work of
CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier in the Bay Area,
including the project to raise money to repair churches damaged in the
mideast.
The months after Sept. 11, 2001, were not easy ones for Muslims in
Minnesota.
The state was thrust into the spotlight as the home of Zacarias
Moussaoui, the only person prosecuted in the U.S. for the attacks.
Federal authorities closed down a Muslim-owned money transfer agency with
alleged ties to Al Qaeda. And Minneapolis police fatally shot a mentally
ill Muslim man from Somalia.
"The community was shell-shocked," said Hussein Samatar, a
businessman who moved to Minnesota from Mogadishu, Somalia, in
1994.
Yet five years later, Minnesota may elect the first Muslim member of
Congress.
State Rep. Keith Ellison, a black attorney from Detroit who converted to
Islam as a college student, is not a member of the burgeoning Somalian
community in Minneapolis. But his journey to the brink of political
history reflects how immigration is transforming politics even on the
nation's northern edge.
Ellison, 43, won the Democratic primary in the state's 5th Congressional
District last month in part by bringing new Muslim voters into a
coalition that drew, in part, on Minneapolis' black, Jewish, and gay and
lesbian communities. He celebrated his primary victory at an East African
restaurant in a Somalian neighborhood.
Favored to win in the heavily Democratic district, Ellison has courted
Muslim support not just in Minnesota but nationwide. Last weekend, he
flew to Florida for a fundraiser hosted by one of that state's Muslim
leaders.
His candidacy is a "huge victory for both Muslim Americans and
America," said Agha Saeed, chairman of the American Muslim
Taskforce, a California-based coalition working to elect Muslims to
public office. It "has eradicated two stereotypes: one against
Muslims, that they cannot work and succeed in a democratic setup, and the
other against the United States, that it is not a tolerant
society."
A generation ago, Minnesota would have been an improbable place for
Ellison's success. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR: REJECT THE POLITICAL
MUSLIM-BASHING SMEARS -
TOP
Attacks on Keith Ellison's congressional campaign fit a disturbing
pattern that has been seen across the nation this year.
Parvez Ahmed and Nihad Awad, Star Tribune, 10/20/06
http://www.startribune.com/562/story/754239.html
There has been much sound and fury in certain circles about the American
Muslim community's support for Keith Ellison and his campaign to
represent Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District.
A handful of right-wing bloggers, agenda-driven commentators and
political operatives have used scurrilous smear tactics in an attempt to
derail his campaign and to marginalize American Muslim voters. These
smears and distortions send an un-American message of intolerance and
bigotry. (MORE)
[Parvez Ahmed is board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties group. Nihad Awad
is CAIR's national executive director.]
The next Congress of the United States could reflect an important
milestone in our nation's history.
The Senate today is 1 percent African American and the House is 9 percent
African American. There are four Asians/Pacific Islanders in the House
and two in the Senate. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, is the only
registered American Indian currently in the House.
As of this writing, it is extremely likely that the first Muslim in the
history of Congress will be elected to the U.S. House in
November.
His name is Keith Ellison, a Democrat. Ellison is the favorite in
Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, which is considered to be a
Democratic citadel. The district hasn't been in Republican hands since
1960. If Ellison wins, he also will become the first African American
sent by Minnesota to Congress.
As have other black Americans, such as boxing champion Muhammad Ali,
formerly known as Cassius Clay before his conversion to Islam, Ellison
embraced the Muslim faith in his youth. Raised in Detroit as a Roman
Catholic, the 43-year-old Ellison converted to Islam when he was in
college. He has a bachelor's degree in economics from Wayne State
University. Ellison is a graduate of the University of Minnesota School
of Law, and is a criminal defense attorney.
His strength lies among Somali immigrants, who came to Minneapolis in the
early 1990s to escape the civil war in Somalia. Their votes were critical
in Ellison's September primary victory over six other
candidates.
Ellison lives with his wife and four children in north Minneapolis, one
of the highest crime sections of the city. His platform includes a
national health care system, raising the minimum wage and withdrawing
U.S. troops from Iraq.
But equally important to Ellison is changing Americans' perceptions of
Muslims. . .
If Ellison prevails, as expected, we hope the first Muslim in Congress
will be a builder of bridges and demonstrate to any doubters that Muslims
are good Americans, too. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-MI PARTICIPATES IN IFTAR
WITH HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS -
TOP
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 10/20/06) - The Michigan chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) yesterday participated in a Ramadan
iftar program with doctors and other health care professionals at the
Michigan Cardiovascular Institute in Saginaw, Michigan. The program,
which included a speech regarding the significance of the month of
Ramadan by CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, concluded with a fast
breaking meal.
Approximately 100 people were in attendance for the 1st annual
program.
"We commend the Michigan Cardiovascular Institute for displaying its
commitment to diversity in holding its first Ramadan Iftar program,"
said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
Muslim activists called on Pace University on Thursday to crack down on
hate crimes after a second copy of the Quran was found in a toilet at its
campus.
"This incident meets the legal definition of a hate crime,"
said Aliya Latif, a member of the Association of Muslim American Lawyers.
"Indeed, this is no different from placing a burning cross in front
of a house or painting a swastika on a locker."
The discovery of the Islamic holy book in a toilet at Pace's lower
Manhattan campus on Oct. 13 was the latest in a series of acts of
vandalism tinged with racial or religious overtones at the
school.
A copy of the Quran was found in a library toilet at Pace on Sept. 21,
and in October someone scrawled racial slurs on a student's car at the
Westchester County satellite campus and on a bathroom wall at the campus
in lower Manhattan.
Omar Mohammedi, president of the New York chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, said Muslims
"are concerned with the fact that it has been repeated, and we call
on Pace University to take necessary actions to make sure that ... the
perpetrator is arrested."
Faiza Ali, a Pace senior and a member of the Muslim Students Association,
said the university did not initially take the incidents seriously
enough, classifying the first desecration of the holy book as an act of
vandalism and not as a hate crime.
University officials later reversed themselves and referred both Quran
incidents to the New York Police Department's hate crimes unit, said Ali,
who joined Mohammedi and Latif at a news conference. . .
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR's national office in Washington,
D.C., said the organization receives frequent reports of Quran
desecrations in the United States, especially postings on Internet sites,
but seldom makes them public.
"It's our policy not to publicize these unless they extend to some
kind of intimidation, because we feel that the people who do this are
seeking publicity, and we have no desire to grant them what they
seek," he said.
He said CAIR decided to speak out about the Pace incidents because Muslim
students "are impacted by the creation of what could be viewed as a
hostile campus environment." (MORE)
Representatives of city Muslim organizations gathered Thursday to condemn
two possible anti-Muslim bias crimes at Pace University. But as Criminal
Justice Reporter Solana Pyne explains in the following report, the groups
are impressed with authorities for the way they're investigating the
incidents.
In the space of a month there have been two separate incidents where a
Koran, the Muslim holy book, was found in a Pace University toilet. The
most recent was found just last Friday.
"This is no different from placing a burning cross in front of a
house or painting a swastika on a locker," said Aliya Latif of the
Muslim-American Lawyers Association.
Representatives of New York Muslim organizations came together Thursday
to make sure the incidents aren't forgotten, even as they praised the way
authorities are handling them.
"We spoke to [the] NYPD yesterday and they said they are doing
everything they could to make sure there will be an arrest. They will
work really hard on this," said Omar T Mohammedi of the
American-Islamic Relations Council.
The Pace Muslim Students association, which criticized the University for
not being aggressive enough in its handling of the first incident where a
library copy of the Koran was found in the library toilet, praised the
administration's actions this time.
"I would say that the university has kind of done a 180 and is
definitely working with us in terms of labeling it as a hate crime and
then, the sensitivity forums that I spoke about earlier, they're actually
helping us facilitate those," said Faiza Ali of the Muslim Students
Association. (MORE)
Were I a Muslim living in the West, I'd be mad as hell. Not to mention
terrified.
Were I a Muslim living in the West, I'd begin to believe that a new
Inquisition had begun. An inquisition aimed at no one but
Muslims.
Were I a Muslim living in the West, my wife, or my sister, or my daughter
might well decide to wear a headscarf or a veil when she went out in
public.
Perhaps it would be because she was tired of men and boys ogling her,
objectifying her. Perhaps it would be because she felt she was entitled
to her dignity. Perhaps she simply might prefer modesty and privacy to
fashion slavery.
Perhaps she just thought it was a free country.
And perhaps, on that last point, she would have been mistaken.
For years, and especially since 9/11, law-abiding Muslims have been
verbally and physically attacked across North America and Europe. They
are scorned for their faith, shunned for their piety, falsely condemned
for dual-loyalty, blamed for the crimes of terrorists they
abhor.
Of late, however, there has been a disturbing new trend, particularly in
Europe, where cabinet ministers and influential lawmakers have
increasingly made it their mission to combat, of all things, the head
scarf and veil worn by growing numbers of Muslim women and girls.
(MORE)
American values and Islamic faith co-exist amicably in the personal lives
of thousands of American Muslims against a backdrop of misunderstanding
and discord between Islam and much of America.
They exist in the Rahman family of Gwinnett.
Ahmadur Rahman, his wife, Rumana Afrin, and son, Raiyan, 9, are Muslim
immigrants to this county.
Rahman, who is originally from Bangladesh, first visited the United
States in the early 1990s as a participant in an international Lions Club
convention, held in New York City. In 1993, he and his wife returned to
New York City as immigrants. Their son was born there.
The Rahmans relocated to Gwinnett two years ago to be near family who
also had migrated to the area. They have contributed a lot of good to
Gwinnett in the short time that they have been here.
Rahman, 40, holds a degree in economics and is a Microsoft certified
systems engineer. He works a part-time and a full-time job in the hotel
food and beverage industry.
In addition to holding down two jobs, he is the founder of Northeast
Atlantans for Democracy. It helps Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants alike
learn about American politics and encourage them to be involved as
voters, lobbyists and candidates.
His wife has two master's degrees, one in geography and the other in
education. She could choose other better-paying jobs but instead has
decided to enrich the lives of young children by teaching
preschool.
When Raiyan grows up, he plans to become a doctor like his paternal
grandfather.
The Rahmans are so firmly rooted in their faith that they're not afraid
to expose their son to other beliefs. He attends Killian Hill Christian
School in Lilburn. The family likes the school's strong academic program,
and the parents want their son to understand and respect the predominant
religion of the society they live in.
Despite the tragedy of Sept. 11, Islam is the fastest growing religion in
the United States. (MORE)
Private, religious schools have long been an alternative to public
schools in the United States. The U.S. Department of Education estimates
more than four million students attend schools run by religious groups,
the vast majority of them Christian. But VOA's Persian Service found a
school for Muslim students in the Washington suburbs.
Like many high school seniors, Mariam Mohammed is looking forward to
graduating and going to college. But she does not attend a typical high
school. She attends a private Muslim school in the eastern state of
Maryland. Mariam says she did not feel comfortable attending a public
school.
"I was constantly needing to explain myself. Some of the words that
I use -- like I would go to the library and say, 'Assalamu Alaikum.' That
is our greeting. It means, 'peace be upon you.' And they would give me
this weird look," said Mohammed. "So, it kind of felt awkward.
Here, I'm more comfortable. People understand what I mean. I don't have
to explain myself. And, certain standards that I have myself -- I also
live in an environment with the same standards."
Mahboubeh Ayatollahzadeh has been the principal at the Muslim Community
School for the past two years. She says the school was started by parents
who wanted their children to be exposed to an Islamic-based
education.
"Families who were interested in having a place where their children
could retain their Islamic and cultural values got together, and started
this school. There were very few at the beginning," said
Ayatollahzadeh. (MORE)
Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, is drawing to its end. Since Sept. 23,
the faithful have been fasting from sunrise to sunset, engaging in
charity, seeking forgiveness and encouraging tolerance. They've been
reading the entire Quran and reciting special prayers, in addition to the
five that Islam prescribes every day. Many Muslims spend the last nights
of Ramadan in a mosque because Islam's Prophet Muhammad did so.
The faithful also believe that sometime during the last 10 days of the
month was the Night of Destiny, when God began to reveal the Quran,
Islam's holy book, to Muhammad. The reward to worshippers that night is
said to be great.
As Ramadan ends, Nahad Al-Khalidi arrives at 4 a.m. daily at the Omar
Ibnelkhttab Mosque on the North Side, to ensure he's present for the
Night of Destiny.
The holy month comes a bit earlier every year because Islam uses a lunar
calendar, which is 11 days shorter than the secular one. In the United
States, summer Ramadans can mean fasting for 16 hot and thirsty
hours.
The sense of accomplishment, however, remains strong year after year for
Muslims who complete the mandatory fast, said Al-Khalidi and others at
the mosque. For Ibn Muhammad of the West Side, 14, "It's still a
challenge not eating all day." (MORE)
The UA Muslim Student Association presented a local food bank with a
check for $2,000 last night as members and nonmembers broke their annual
fast.
The fourth annual Fast-a-Thon saw an increase in the number of
participants and a rise in monetary donations, said Mohammad Abdelwahab,
MSA president.
Abdelwahab said that 180 people pledged to refrain from eating, drinking
and sexual activity from sunrise to sunset for a day. Area businesses
contributed $1 for each participant to the Tucson Community Food
Bank.
"Charity is one of the five pillars of Islam," said Sarah
Dehaybi, a physiology senior and former president of MSA.
The presentation of the check took place shortly after participants began
to enjoy rice, dates, meat and sweets to celebrate the culmination of
their commitment. (MORE)
HAGERSTOWN - With foreheads pressed to the blue tarps before them,
members of the local Islamic Society participated in prayers as a
barefoot audience watched during a Ramadan open house Thursday.
On one of the last nights of Islam's holiest month, the Islamic Society
of Western Maryland opened its doors on Day Road to dozens of people of
other faiths.
Sitting on the floor and lined against the walls, groups of women and men
separated by a divider listened in silence to a short period of prayers,
as the society's members stood, bowed and kneeled. Afterward, the
visitors peppered Safi Khan, an imam, with questions covering an array of
topics, including Ramadan, violence in Iraq and the Taliban.
In words probably foreign to most of the participants, Khan passed on the
blessing, "Peace be unto you," before he began the discussion.
He said he was "tickled to death" to see so many people. For
Muslims, Ramadan is a "spiritual boot camp" that forces
followers to purify themselves.
"It's not just their stomachs that fast, their ears fast, their eyes
fast, their hands fast, their hearts fast," Khan said.
During the month, when Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to the
prophet Muhammad, followers avoid temptations that could lead them away
from God, Khan said.
When some of the visitors asked him about issues concerning terrorism,
Khan replied that the media have misconstrued Islam, a religion that he
said does not condone violence.
For centuries, he said, Muslims have lived peaceably with Christians and
Jews.
"Unfortunately, you have hotheads on this side or that side, and
fanatics, and they spoil it for everyone else," Khan said.
One man, who sat on the floor among the other visitors, quickly chirped
in: "Our side, too."
Islamic Society member Nazia Hussain said she and other congregants have
heard the same questions since Sept. 11. She said the open house gives
people a chance to understand Islam better. (MORE)
For Crown Point teenagers Marwa Nour and Mohammad Mirza, Wednesday
night's Ramadan dinner was a typical and traditional affair.
They wore traditional garb and said their prayers in the traditional
manner.
When they broke their Ramadan fast at 6 p.m., they dined on pita, humus
and falafels in their high school cafeteria along with Dionicia Caudill
and Andrea David.
"It tastes a lot like the Mexican rice my grandmother makes for
family gatherings," Caudill, a freshman at the school, said as she
ate a dish of spiced meat and rice at the same table as Nour.
Ramadan is a monthlong Muslim holiday that requires the faithful to
refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. It is a time of
reflection and reinforcement of family and cultural values, said Nour, a
freshman at the school. It teaches self-control.
"You also have to stop cursing and swearing and doing bad
things," she said, explaining the holiday to friends at Wednesday's
Ramadan supper sponsored by Crown Point High School's Muslim Student
Association.
The association, headed by Crown Point native and high school senior
Maryam Khalid, organized Wednesday's breaking of the Ramadan fast to help
foster an understanding of the holiday and Muslim cultures.
Knowledge is often the best weapon against intolerance of diversity, and
people are less like to resent what they understand, Khalid said.
(MORE)
As the sounds of Muslim prayer filled the room Tuesday evening, more than
150 University of the Pacific students concentrated on something else:
the rich smell of the buffet dinner waiting for them at the end of prayer
time.
The minutes stretched on for the non-Muslims who had spent the day
fasting to raise money for the Pacific Muslim Student Association's third
annual Fast-a-Thon, a Ramadan event the organization puts on to raise
money for St. Mary's Interfaith Community Services.
The group raised more than $1,200 from businesses in the Stockton
community.
"We're just helping them deal with the poverty in our
community," said Nina Tran, store manager of Lollicup in Stockton,
one of the event's sponsors.
During Ramadan, observant Muslims older than 12 abstain from food from
dawn until dusk for a month. It is the most-spiritual time of year for
Muslims, with a lot of emphasis placed on charity and giving thanks.
(MORE)
HARTFORD, CT (2006-10-20) During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan,
Muslims all over the world pray and fast every day from dawn to dusk.
This year, Connecticut Muslims celebrated at the legislative office
building in Hartford. The event provided a rare intersection between the
Muslim faith and state politics. (MORE)
The image of Muslim youths in the U.S. is often perceived as one of
alienation and firebrand sermons. But life for young American Muslims is
actually more multi-faceted, if not mundane. Like many other young
Americans, they also like to have fun, while aspiring to high academic
and athletic achievements. This is the portrait of Muslims that Director
Omar Mahmood wants to capture. VOA Producers Ade Astuti and Susy Tekunan
recently spoke to the filmmaker in Los Angeles, California. Jim Bertel
narrates.
There are scenes in the film "Muslim Boarders" which show young
American Muslims enjoying the sport of snowboarding. The young men and
women play, like any other American teenager. But what sets them apart,
is they break for prayer.
"Muslim Boarders" has been screened in film festivals across
the U.S. and Canada. It is the work of Muslim filmmaker Omar Mahmoud who
wanted to break away from the usual depiction of Muslims as conservative
and rigid. In this movie, he shows that young Muslims also have a
penchant for carefree fun.
Mahmoud was born and raised in the U.S. His father is Pakistani and his
mother is Filipino. From an early age, Mahmood realized it was often
difficult reconciling his identity as both a Muslim and an
American.
He realizes he is not alone in grappling with this dual-identity issue.
"Sometimes I think it's hard for young people to negotiate, and try
to really realize who they are. And what I and some of my friends, what
we're trying to do, is trying to basically come up with what is an
American Muslim culture. Something that is a fusion that is acceptable on
both sides." (MORE)
The public and private spaces Muslims have built in Detroit, their
mosques, homes, schools, and neighborhoods, are products of careful
thought and negotiation. In this project, a team of UM faculty and
graduate students will examine how communal places and institutions have
been made Muslim in Detroit, focusing on processes of building,
inhabiting, and display. We will consider how Muslims in Detroit have
imagined and redefined these processes as American. Our project is
critical to understanding the place Muslims now occupy in American
society. In the aftermath of September 11th, Muslims in the U. S. have
been closely scrutinized. While this project recognizes that American
Muslims now live as "a community under siege," it also
highlights fluctuations in this status over time, its variations in the
present, and the multiple ways in which Muslims have successfully
established their presence in a country that has often excluded them. The
age and diversity of Detroit's Muslim communities, which date back to the
late 19th century, make this city a rich site of convergence and contest
among Muslims and between Muslims and the larger society.
The children of Haroon Rashid, all U.S. citizens, wait to learn if their
father will be deported after more than two years in federal custody.
(Post / Bruce Finley)
A man from the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderlands jailed for more than two
years after the FBI targeted him as a possible Denver-based terrorist -
but never charged him - has begun a last-ditch legal gambit to resume his
life with his U.S.- citizen wife and four kids.
Still in prison in Colorado, Haroon Rashid has filed a motion in federal
court to force the government to prosecute him.
It's an unusual effort to break out of the legal limbo that has derailed
his life and the lives of others jailed since Sept. 11, 2001, in the
government's war on terrorism.
After charging 441 detainees in terrorism and terrorism-related cases,
federal authorities have won 261 convictions, a new Justice Department
study found. Most of the convictions were for petty offenses, not
terrorism.
An undetermined number of suspects, including Rashid, still are detained.
About 150 cases are pending.
U.S. officials say secret evidence supports a hard-line approach.
Prosecutors are trying "to prevent terrorist acts before they can
occur," Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said.
But civil-liberties leaders question basic fairness.
"Yes, we want to be safe, but do we want to sacrifice our liberties
in the process? ... If you want to always be safe, you could lock
everybody up. But that's not what our system is based on," said Judy
Rabinovitz, senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties
Union.
Rashid made his move, through his attorney Jeff Pagliuca, after U.S.
Attorney Troy Eid filed a motion Oct. 2 to drop a lesser immigration
charge the government was pursuing as the FBI's initial terrorism case
evaporated, court records show.
By dropping the immigration charge, Eid had planned to clear the way for
Rashid to be deported back to his native Pakistan for misdemeanor
assault. In 2003, a jury found Rashid guilty of assaulting a street-gang
member he said threatened his kids. He received a 401-day sentence that
was mostly suspended. (MORE)
Poll of 25 countries reveals that the majority of world's population
opposes torturing prisoners suspected of terror involvement. In Israel,
over half of Jewish population supports using torture to get information
from terrorists, while most Muslims oppose it. (MORE)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The State Department has complained to the Israeli
government about its discriminatory treatment of Arab-Americans traveling
to the Palestinian territories, senior State Department officials said
Thursday.
Officials said that despite a longstanding policy of issuing visas to
Americans traveling to the West Bank and Gaza, the Israeli government has
recently denied Palestinian-Americans and certain other Americans
entry.
During her recent trip to Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice raised the issue with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and U.S.
diplomats have also recently complained to the Israeli Embassy in
Washington, officials said.
"They are being treated as Arabs and not Americans," one senior
official said. "They basically treat them as second-class
citizens." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God and His angels,
the dwellers of the Heavens and of the Earth, even an ant in its hole and
fish (in the depths of the sea), invoke blessings on (a scholar) who
teaches people righteousness."
NEW YORK -- Pace University will offer optional sensitivity training for
students in response to a spate of vandalism cases with religious or
racial overtones, including two incidents involving the Muslim holy book
being found in toilets, officials said Friday. (MORE)
For many Muslim students, Pace University had seemed to be a comfortable
haven with a diverse student body that included hundreds of Muslims and
offered an easy give and take among students of all races and
ethnicities.
"It's an awesome school, absolutely amazing," said Naida
Jakirlic, 20, last year's president of Pace's Muslim Students
Association, who is a refugee from Bosnia.
Faiza Ali, 21, a political science major in her senior year who has also
been active with the students association, said that even though she
commutes to her home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, from the campus in Lower
Manhattan, she spends all her time at the university, and it is like her
second home.
That was until late September, when a student discovered a library copy
of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, tossed in a men's room toilet at
the downtown campus. And last week, a second Koran was found in a toilet
there.
In the days since, a slur aimed at African-Americans was found scrawled
in the dew on a car window at Pace's campus in Briarcliff Manor, in
Westchester County, and a swastika and other slurs were found on a
bathroom wall at the Manhattan campus.
The events, now being investigated by the police, have rattled Pace, a
comprehensive university with 14,000 students and six campuses, the
largest one near City Hall. "What is most scary is that no one knows
who the perpetrator is," said Rakshan Khateeb, 19, a freshman from
New Jersey, who is secretary of the Muslim Students Association.
(MORE)
Officials from the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations said today that they want Fremont police to look at the
possibility that the shooting death of a 37-year-old woman Thursday was a
hate crime.
Safaa Ibrahim, the executive director of the Council of
American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area, said, "We
want them not to rule it out and put timely attention to
it."
The 37-year-old woman, whom Fremont police have refused to identify, was
shot about 2:40 p.m. Thursday while walking in the area of 37637 Glenmoor
Drive as she headed to Glenmoor Elementary School to pick up her two
daughters. A 3-year-old child was walking with her.
Fremont police have taken into custody a 27-year-old Fremont man who fits
the description of the suspect identified by witnesses.
Sgt. Jeff Swadener said the man is in custody on a parole violation and
police are looking at him as a potential suspect.
Swadener couldn't be reached for comment on whether he thinks the
incident was a hate crime. (MORE)
As Alia Ansari lay dying on a Fremont sidewalk Thursday, bleeding from a
gunshot wound and gasping for breath, she clutched her 3-year-old
daughter's hand.
"She didn't want her running into the street," cousin Amin
Ansari, 26, said today as friends and family gathered to mourn a happy,
humble woman who, they said, had no enemies. "That's the kind of
mother she was."
Police said they have no idea why a gunman jumped out of a car in broad
daylight to shoot the mother of six as she walked with her daughter to
pick up her older children at Glenmoor Elementary School. Although they
took a man into custody for questioning, they said he is not a suspect at
this point.
The only thing that might have made Ansari stand out was her dress -- the
traditional loose scarf, or hijab, she wore on her head according to
Muslim custom.
But while some in the Afghan community feared her killer could have been
motivated by hate, police are cautioning they have no reason to indicate
her ethnicity was a factor. (MORE)
FREMONT - On the sidewalk where Alia Ansari was slain in broad daylight,
family members and community residents gathered Friday evening for an
impromptu vigil.
"This is dedicated to Alia Ansari, who lost her life yesterday in a
tragic incident," said Hassan Ansari, Alia's youngest brother, as he
choked back tears.
"She has six kids and a loving husband, and all her family here will
miss her very much." (MORE)
Xuyen Dong, who heads the Orange County chapter of the Vietnamese
Professional Society, speaks to media about the immigrant threatening
letter, Friday, Oct. 20, 2006, in Santa Ana, Calif. Standing with Dong,
from left, Hussam Aylouosh, with the Council on American-Islamic
Relations and Lou Correa, Orange County Supervisor, 1st District. The
community leaders condemned the letter and urged the California Secretary
of State to send a letter to homes that received the mailing to clear up
any questions about voter rights.
Controversial evangelical preacher Franklin Graham visited Winnipeg
Friday at the start of a massive weekend festival, but was greeted by
Arab and Mennonite protestors.
Graham is headlining the Central Canada Festival as part of an extensive
tour, intended to promote God's love for all people. But critics argued
he shares little in common with the tour's theme.
"I feel uneasy about Franklin Graham coming to Winnipeg and bringing
what he stands for -- it seems like a gospel of aggression," said
Mennonite Will Braun, a writer on Christian issues.
Graham, son of evangelical minister Billy Graham, has come under fire
several times for comments about Islam since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks. . .
Some Muslims wondered why Graham was allowed into Canada, while
controversial British imam Shaykh Riyadh ul-Haq was barred from speaking
in person to a Toronto audience last summer.
Groups like the Canadian Jewish Congress had accused Ul Haq of preaching
hatred towards Jews, Hindus, moderate Muslims and homosexuals. In the
end, he delivered a sermon via live video.
"It seems like if you're a Muslim basher, the door is wide open.
Otherwise, you can stay on the other side," said Sarah Elgazzar of
the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations.
-----
CAIR-FL: FLORIDA MUSLIMS
DONATE TO HOMELESS SHELTER -
TOP
CAIR-FL commemorates the first Ramadan Fast-a-Thon in
Jacksonville
(JACKSONVILLE, FL, 10/21/2006) - The Florida chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) recently presented a check of $500
to the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless to commemorate the first
Ramadan fast-a-thon in Jacksonville.
Accepting the gift, Sherry Burns, Sulzbacher President and CEO said:
"This kind gesture is much appreciated and will allow us to feed
nearly one thousand homeless for one full day." She thanked the
organizers and the sponsors of this event.
The Muslim Student Association at the University of North Florida hosted
the fast-a-thon. The event was designed to teach other students about the
fasting that takes place during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a
religious holiday that calls for fasting, inner reflection and religious
devotion began last month and will end this Sunday.
CAIR-FL sponsored the event and pledged to donate $5 for each individual
who participated in the event. The money raised was donated to the I.M.
Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless. Nearly one-hundred students
participated in this year's fast-a-thon.
Addressing the gathering, CAIR Chairman and UNF professor, Parvez Ahmed
said: "Ramadan helps us develop moral discipline. Ramadan also
reminds us of the plight of those who are not as fortunate as we are. We
are reminded time and again in all of God's revealed books that
religiosity is meaningless and pointless if it does not lead people to
helping others and facilitating living for all of God's creations.
Prophet Muhammad said that if you want to love God, then begin by loving
your fellow human beings."
The universal greeting every Muslim is taught is said every day. It also
represents a theme within the Islamic holy observance of Ramadan, with
its annual month of fasting: "Al-salamu alaykum!" It translates
to "Peace be with you!"
The universal response is "And peace be with you, too," or
"Wa alaykum al-salam!"
Many local Muslims expressed themselves about peace, Ramadan, their faith
community and outreach for building better understanding among all
peoples. . .
Ahmed Bedier is the executive director of the Tampa Chapter of the
Council on American Islamic Relations. Speaking by phone from Tampa, he
noted that the Muslim American Society (MAS), and CAIR just announced
that each society would contribute generously to local charity and aid
throughout America, such as Habitat for Humanity and disaster
relief.
"This time is the holiest time for Muslims around the world,"
Bedier said. " It is the month of purification and renewal of one's
faith in God, for thanking God for blessings we have. Ramadan observance
helps to rejuvenate one's faith for the entire year."
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In a California mosque where wall decorations tout
love and peace, Saadia Ahmed ushered her guests from the prayer room to
the kitchen. She explained the special prayers for Ramadan, the flat
bread called naan and why Islam doesn't condone violence.
Ever since terrorists steered planes into the World Trade Center and
Pentagon, American Muslims have undertaken a public relations campaign to
distance themselves from terrorists who, they say, hijacked Islam as well
as the planes.
In the past five years, Muslims have given away free copies of the Quran.
They've initiated letter-writing campaigns to local newspapers and public
service announcements for TV shows such as "24," which includes
terrorist plots. And every Ramadan, they hold open houses so non-Muslims
can visit mosques and learn about the religion they too often see in
headlines and on news channels.
"There's so much misconception about Islam right now," said
Ahmed, a member of Bait-ul-Baseer mosque. "We need to tell people:
What you see on the media, what you hear, it's not the truth about
Islam."
Despite their efforts, some reports suggest attitudes are hardening
against Muslims. A Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this year found
46 percent of Americans have a negative view of Islam; the poll suggests
prejudice is higher now than immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. The
Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group, also
found a quarter of Americans think "Muslims value life less than
other people."
CAIR said it received the highest number of complaints in its 12-year
history in 2005, including employment discrimination, verbal harassment
and profiling. (MORE)
Lexington's Bilal Mosque is launching a Scouting group, the first Islamic
house of worship to do so in Kentucky, according to Imam Ihsan
Bagby.
Boy Scout Troop 610 will meet for the first time early next
month.
So far, five kids have signed up.
"Our community is a relatively young community, and youth is a
priority," Bagby said. "The Boy Scouts offer a wonderful
combination of emphasis on moral teachings and patriotism, and that fits
very well with what we're about."
Non-Muslims are welcomed to join the troop, Bagby added. The mosque also
hopes to launch a Girl Scouts group.
The Boy Scouts of America members promise to "do their duty" to
God and country, to be reverent and "morally straight," but
they aren't required to embrace any particular religion.
Nationwide, 160 various faith groups have organized Boy Scout troops,
including Buddhists, Hindus, Bahais and Jews. (MORE)
West Point - First-year Cadet Ahmed Moomin might have settled for a
modest Muslim prayer space at the U.S. Military Academy.
He got a mini-mosque instead.
"It was a real surprise for me when I came," said Moomin, 20,
an international cadet from the Maldives. "I knew the Army had a
policy of religious tolerance, but I didn't know it was to this extent at
West Point."
When the number of Muslim students grew to 32 this year, up from just two
in 2001, West Point made a move: It expanded its Islamic worship
hall.
Not quite a mosque but more than a prayer mat, West Point's newly minted
"Musullah As-Saber" boasts lime-green carpets, shoe racks and a
mimbar, or pulpit, facing Mecca. (MORE)
Local Muslim leaders applauded a New Jersey-based group for launching a
nationwide effort to record complaints about Muslims being wrongfully
detained or questioned at airports to determine chronic areas.
The goal is not to file lawsuits, but to get to the source of problems
and correct it, said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer for the American Muslim
Union.
The group is sending out forms through e-mail networks and to mosques
around the country, asking travelers to record as much information as
they can about where, when and why they are questioned by
authorities.
"It seems like people don't know whether they are interacting with
the INS, the FBI, Homeland Security or whoever -- they just know someone
stopped them," he said.
Hani Awadallah, who leads the Arab American Civic Organization in
Paterson, said the initiative would help document what he termed
increasing "Islamaphobia" in American society.
"These days, it's getting to be almost normal for somebody to attack
Muslims, Arabs and the Prophet Muhammad," Awadallah said.
Aref Assaf, president of the American Arab Forum, said the AMU's effort
would underscore the findings of the Council of American Islamic
Relations. The organization reported earlier this month that
anti-Muslim bias incidents had hit an all-time high between 2004 and
2005. During that period, bias-related incidents against Muslims
increased 30 percent. (MORE)
PARIS - Authorities at Charles de Gaulle airport have stripped several
dozen employees _ almost all of them Muslims _ of their security badges
in a crackdown against terrorism, a government official said
Friday.
Four baggage handlers who lost their clearance filed a joint
discrimination complaint this week, alleging they had been unfairly
associated with terrorism because they are Muslims, their lawyers said.
Some had been in their jobs for up to five years. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SECOND S. AFRICAN MUSLIM SCHOLAR DENIED ENTRY TO
U.S.
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/21/06) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) reported today that a
second South African Muslim scholar has been denied entry to the United
States.
Moulana Fazlur Rahman Azmi was refused entry when he landed in San
Francisco on Friday. Azmi was invited to give lectures and to take part
in the religious activities marking the end of Ramadan at the Islamic
Society of East Bay in Fremont, Calif.
Members of the mosque say they waited more than nine hours to pick up
Azmi, a diabetic who had been fasting even during his trip from London to
San Francisco. They have not been allowed to talk to or provide food for
the 60-year-old scholar and were not told why he had been denied entry.
(Azmi had previously entered the United States without any problem in
April of this year.)
In September, another South African Muslim scholar was similarly denied
entry at a Virginia airport. At that time, CAIR expressed concerns that
there is a pattern of targeting Muslim scholars traveling to the United
States.
At that time, CAIR sent letters to the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) and the Department of State about the issue of visiting scholars,
but has not received a reply from either agency.
"The way visiting Islamic leaders are treated by American
authorities can send either a positive or negative message to Muslims
worldwide," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
"So far, the message in this case has been negative."
Immigration officials at San Francisco International Airport told CAIR
that Azmi spent Friday night in detention and will shortly be put on a
plane leaving the country.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: CAIR Speaks to Muslim Scholar Barred from U.S. /
African-American, Immigrant Muslims Boost Cooperation / Feds Probe a
Top Democrat's Relationship with AIPAC
UPDATE: CAIR SPEAKS TO MUSLIM SCHOLAR BARRED FROM
U.S. -
TOP
CAIR was able to speak to South African Muslim scholar Moulana Fazlur
Rahman Azmi who was refused entry to the United States when he landed in
San Francisco on Friday. Azmi was held in detention and put on a flight
to London on Saturday.
Azmi, a 60-year-old diabetic, told CAIR that he was "put in
jail" and treated "like I did a big crime" despite the
fact that he was never informed why he was refused entry. He said he only
ate bread during his time in detention and that he slept in a chair
Friday night.
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com
An Islamic scholar from South Africa has been denied entry into the
United States, prompting questions from Muslims in the San Francisco Bay
area who had invited him to participate in activities marking the end of
the holy month of Ramadan.
Fazlur Rahman Azmi was detained by officials from US Customs and Border
Protection when he arrived at San Francisco International Airport from
London on Friday afternoon, according to the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil liberties group.
Azmi, who had made previous visits to the country as recently as April
without problems, was questioned for hours before being denied entry and
sent on a plane out of the country on Saturday, the group said.
Michael Fleming, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson, confirmed
on Saturday that Azmi was forced to leave the country after a brief
detainment. "His application for entry into the US was determined to
be inadmissible," said Fleming, refusing to give any details of the
case. . .
"There's nothing suspicious about him," said Nawaz Khan, of the
Fremont, California-based Islamic Society of East Bay whose members
waited at the airport on Friday while officials questioned Azmi. "He
is not involved in any political groups. All he does is teach at the
mosque and pray."
Khan said no one from the group was allowed to speak with Azmi or provide
food for the 60-year-old man, who is diabetic and was fasting during the
day in observance of Ramadan. Officials only gave Azmi chips and water,
he said. . .
"The way visiting Islamic leaders are treated by American
authorities can send either a positive or negative message to Muslims
worldwide," CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper said in a
statement. "So far, the message in this case has been
negative."
Last month, another Islamic scholar from South Africa, Ismail Mullah, was
denied entry into the country when he arrived at Dulles International
Airport for a trip to visit Muslims in northern Virginia.
Also in September, the government denied a visa to one of Europe's most
prominent Muslim scholars, Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss citizen who teaches at
Oxford University, contending he gave material support to a terrorist
group. Ramadan's attorneys alleged the US government was using a
charitable donation as a pretext for censorship.
A Muslim scholar from South Africa who was scheduled to give lectures and
lead prayers for an East Bay Islamic group marking the end of the holy
month of Ramadan has been denied entry to the United States.
Fazlur Rahman Azmi, 60, was detained by immigration officials at San
Francisco International Airport when he arrived from London on Friday
afternoon, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
a civil liberties group based in Washington, D.C.
A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection could not be reached
Saturday night. Immigration officials told the Associated Press that Azmi
had been forced to leave the country but would not say why.
Azmi entered the United States in April this year with no problems,
according to the Islamic relations council.
He had been scheduled to participate in several days' worth of
activities, including a large celebration Saturday night for the
Fremont-based Islamic Society of the East Bay, said Nawaz Kahn, a member
of the society. . .
"This man is well respected in South Africa, he's one of the
greatest scholars and teachers of our religion, and the way they treated
him was very upsetting," Kahn said.
-----
CA: RELIGIOUS HATE SEEN AS MOTIVE IN
KILLING -
TOP
Afghan American mother shot at point-blank range say only motive they can
imagine for anyone wanting her dead was the garment of her faith, her
head scarf
Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle,
10/21/06
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/21/BAGMTLTGM51.DTL
Local Muslim leaders on Friday denounced as a likely hate crime the
brazen daylight shooting death in Fremont of a mother of six, and police
said that they had arrested a parolee described as a "person of
interest" in connection with the slaying.
Killed Thursday by a single bullet to the head as she walked with her
3-year-old daughter on a well-to-do residential street, she was
distinguished by a hijab, the head scarf worn by some devout Muslim
women. The Afghan immigrant had no purse or money on her, family members
said.
Stunned relatives and Muslim leaders said the only motive they could see,
outside of insanity, would be hatred.
"Whoever did this did not see Alia Ansari, a mother of six
children," said Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, one of the nation's most
respected Muslim scholars and leaders, who spoke to the media outside of
the Ansaris' modest two-bedroom apartment. "He saw a symbol of
something that people are taught to hate."
"All that we can assume is that it's a hate crime," said Hassan
Ansari, 23, the youngest of Alia Ansari's seven siblings.
Fremont police said Friday that they don't know why Ansari was killed. At
about 2:40 p.m. Thursday, she was walking near Central Avenue and
Glenmoor Drive with her 3-year-old daughter to pick up two other children
from elementary school when a man opened fire before fleeing in a
car.
"We still have no definite indication as to motive," said
police Sgt. Jeff Swadener, a department spokesman. "Was it racial?
Was it a hate crime? Was it a street robbery or a random act of violence?
I don't know." (MORE)
Black and immigrant Muslims, tested by decades of racial and cultural
tensions, find themselves drawing closer together as Islam takes its
place in American political and social culture.
As Muslims prepare to emerge from Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and
self-examination, there are several signs in Northeast Ohio of increasing
cooperation and respect among the two groups.
Imam Abbas Ahmad, the black spiritual leader of First Cleveland Mosque,
the city's oldest, heads the Northeast Ohio Council of Mosques.
A generation ago, most immigrant Muslims would not set foot in Masjid
Bilal, a predominantly black congregation in Cleveland, for Friday
prayer. Today, it is not unusual for 10 to 15 immigrant Muslims to
worship at the mosque on that day.
Masjid Uqbah, with a predominantly immigrant board of directors, invited
the predominantly black First Cleveland Mosque to its Eid ul-Fitr
celebration of the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan on Monday.
Ahmad will lead prayers in both Arabic and English.
The development of cooperative groups such as the mosque council, the
decades-long movement among many blacks toward mainstream Islam and the
growing familiarity with American culture of second- and third-generation
immigrants all play a part.
What also drives the movement, in this post-Sept. 11 world, is that the
two large groups need one another. It is a time when anti-Islamic
prejudice is rising, and many Muslims say their civil liberties are
threatened. . .
All Muslims can benefit from the lessons of the civil-rights movement,
said Isam Zaiem, president of the Cleveland chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
"In a way, we are riding on their shoulders," he said.
"We are learning from the African-American experience and building
on it.". . .
For local and national organizations such as the mosque council and the
Council on American Islamic Relations, the Muslim Student Association and
the Islamic Society of North America, integration is a goal.
(MORE)
Ginnnah Muhammad of Detroit criticized Hamtramck Judge Paul Paruk:
"I didn't feel like the court recognized me as a person that needed
justice."
Ginnnah Muhammad of Detroit was looking for her day in court.
Instead, she said she felt as if a judge forced her to choose between her
case and her religion in a small-claims dispute in Hamtramck District
Court.
A devout Muslim, she wore a niqab -- a scarf and veil to cover her face
and head except for her eyes -- Oct. 11 as she contested a rental car
company's charging her $2,750 to repair a vehicle after thieves broke
into it.
Judge Paul Paruk said he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness
and gave Muhammad, 42, a choice: take off the veil when testifying or the
case would be dismissed. She kept the veil on.
"I just feel so sad," Muhammad said last week. "I feel
that the court is there for justice for us. I didn't feel like the court
recognized me as a person that needed justice. I just feel I can't trust
the court."
The wearing of a niqab has spurred increasing debate, particularly in
Europe. In 2004, France banned the wearing of it and other religious
symbols in public schools.
This month, former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, still a member
of parliament, ignited a fierce debate over the niqab by suggesting that
Muslim women in his district remove their veils when they visit his
office. He said it would improve communication, calling the veil "a
visible statement of separation and of difference."
It has sparked controversy in the United States as well. A Muslim woman
from Florida unsuccessfully went to court in an effort to overturn the
state's order in 2001 that she reveal her face for her driver's license
photo.
In metro Detroit, which has one of the country's largest Muslim
populations, a small minority of Muslim women -- primarily those of
Yemeni descent -- wear the niqab, said Dawud Walid, executive director
of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
. .
Walid said Paruk still violated Muhammad's civil rights.
"Although a niqab is donned by a minority of Muslim females, it is
still a bona fide religious practice," he said. (MORE)
-----
FEDS PROBE A TOP DEMOCRAT'S
RELATIONSHIP WITH AIPAC -
TOP
The Department of Justice is investigating whether Rep. Jane Harman and
the pro-Israel group worked together to get her reappointed as the top
Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee
TIMOTHY J. BURGER, Time, 10/20/06
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1549069,00.html
Did a Democratic member of Congress improperly enlist the support of a
major pro-Israel lobbying group to try to win a top committee assignment?
That's the question at the heart of an ongoing investigation by the FBI
and Justice Department prosecutors, who are examining whether Rep. Jane
Harman of California and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC) may have violated the law in a scheme to get Harman reappointed
as the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, according to
knowledgeable sources in and out of the U.S. government. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR: ANTI-TERROR TV ADS TO AIR
IN MINNESOTA -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/23/06) - Beginning Wednesday, October 25, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) will air its "Not in the
Name of Islam" anti-terror television advertisement on cable
networks in Minnesota, including during a Monday night Vikings football
game.
CAIR's 30-second spot 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."
The ad campaign grew out of CAIR's "Not in the Name of Islam"
online petition, signed by hundreds of thousands of Muslims worldwide,
designed to disassociate the faith of Islam from the violent acts of a
few Muslims.
The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group says it is
airing the spots in Minnesota to counter anti-Muslim stereotyping in that
state's Fifth Congressional District race. (CAIR is a non-partisan group
that does not endorse political candidates.)
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; Ahmed Bedier,
813-731-9506, E-Mail:
abedier@cairfl.org
MINNEAPOLIS -- While there is no such thing as a sure thing in politics,
congressional candidate Keith Ellison is a good bet to join the freshman
class of 2006 in the US House of Representatives.
If he does, Ellison, who is the Democratic nominee in an overwhelmingly
Democratic district, will take the oath of office with his hand on the
Koran and not the Bible -- the first Muslim in American history to be
elected to Congress.
Though he publicly downplays his faith, it helped boost Ellison past two
local party heavyweights to capture the nomination. In the primary, his
campaign triggered a record turnout among Minneapolis's largely Muslim
Somali community. . .
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said Muslims abroad have called him about Ellison's
historic bid for office.
"People are asking, `Is it true?'" Awad said. "He's
showing not only America but the world" that things are changing and
Muslims can be accepted in America. "He's a breath of fresh air in
this time of tension and suspicion." (MORE)
---
CAIR TO RELEASE POLL OF AMERICAN
MUSLIM VOTERS -
TOP
THE REUTERS DIPLOMATIC DAYBOOK
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
10:30 a.m. -- (ELECTION/MUSLIMS) NEWS CONFERENCE -- The Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) holds a news conference to release a
new poll of American Muslim voters. CAIR recently commissioned the survey
of 1000 registered Muslim voters that asked questions related to
demographic profiles, political leanings and levels of social
integration. The respondents were randomly drawn from a pool of some
400,000 registered Muslim voters. The survey also asked respondents
"whether Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews,
whether terrorist attacks in other countries harm American Muslims and if
the war on terror has become a war on Islam." Respondents were also
asked to rank public policy issues as they relate to the
election.
Location: National Press Club, 14th and F Streets NW, Lisagor Room,
Washington, D.C.
David Huffman told police it was just a prank gone wrong: On April 22, at
a McDonald's in Tinley Park, he tapped a Muslim woman on the head, nearly
pulling off her headscarf.
The woman, a young mother with her children, didn't see it as harmless.
She was scared and embarrassed; her faith had been attacked. She told
police, and they called it battery.
But in a surprising twist, a Cook County circuit judge did not fine or
jail Huffman, who pleaded guilty. He was instead ordered to undergo
sensitivity training at the downtown Chicago office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights
organization.
During the past three months, Huffman, 18, has spent 40 hours listening
to and talking with Muslims across Chicagoland. He has completed required
tasks that seemed ripped from reality television: watching Muslim youths
play basketball, attending a 9/11 event and visiting area mosques, which
Huffman called "synagogues" at the beginning of his training.
(MORE)
A hastily prepared Ramadan "Iftar dinner" became an occasion of
cultural and religious diversity Saturday night with guests learning more
about themselves as well as Islam.
Co-sponsored by Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada, the American Muslim
Voice and the Council on American Islamic Relations, the dinner
was held in the atrium of the county's Irwin Meier building and was
attended by about nearly 100 Muslims, Christians and Jews.
The event, hosted by Woodland's Muslim Mosque Islamic Center, recognized
the breaking of the roughly 30 days of fasting at the end of Ramadan,
Khalid Saeed of the mosque said.
Beside the meal itself, the significance of the religious event was
explained by Nosheen Khan of Sacramento, who spoke about the pillars of
Islam and the meanings behind some of the words commonly used by
Muslims.
While dressed in traditional colorful attire of blue and gold, Khan's
speech was pure American, as she talked about the tenets of Islam and the
meanings of some of the language. (MORE)
Thousands of Valley Muslims will gather for prayer and festivities today
to mark Eid ul-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
A large prayer service will be held at 10 a.m. at the Phoenix Convention
Center and will be followed by a variety of activities aimed to
strengthen the Islamic community, said Mohammed AbuHannoud, civil rights
director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Arizona.
(MORE)
For the last 30 days, nothing has excited Chloe Karoub more than
anticipating the arrival of Eid al-Fitr.
The 14-year-old ninth-grader at Detroit Country Day School fasted
throughout the holy month of Ramadan and even balanced the ritual during
her many tennis matches and daily practices.
But what helped Chloe most was thinking ahead to today's start of Eid,
which concludes Ramadan, and the accompanying festivities: donning a
hijab while praying at the Tawheed Center of Farmington Hills; exchanging
gifts with her parents and three younger sisters; and eating salmon and
kibbeh at her grandmother's home. (MORE)
When Zulayka Martinez left the Roman Catholic Church and converted to
Islam six years ago, she was happy and at peace with her decision. But
she felt like an outsider in her new faith.
Looking back, she realizes her problem was more of a cultural and
language barrier. Most members of Houston mosques were of Arab or
Pakistani backgrounds. She didn't know any Spanish-speaking Muslims. And
as a single woman, she found it especially hard during holidays.
"My first two Ramadans, I felt very alone," she said, referring
to the holy month. At first, she was afraid to tell her parents that she
had converted. "But after I did, my mother would fix me food to
break the fast."
What a difference six years make.
In that time, Martinez has become the center of a close-knit group of
Latina Muslims who support each other throughout Ramadan and the rest of
the year. For today's festive Eid al-Fitr, the day that ends the month of
fasting, she is organizing the women for morning prayers and a
celebratory brunch. (MORE)
NEW YORK - The Islamist radicalism that inspired young Muslims to attack
their own countries - in London, Madrid, and Bali - has not yielded
similar incidents in the United States, at least so far.
"Home-grown" terror cells remain a concern of US law officers,
who cite several disrupted plots since 9/11. But the suspects'
unsophisticated planning and tiny numbers have led some security analysts
to conclude that America, for all its imperfections, is not fertile
ground for producing jihadist terrorists.
To understand why, experts point to people like Omar Jaber, an AmeriCorps
volunteer; Tarek Radwan, a human rights advocate; and Hala Kotb, a
consultant on Middle East affairs. They are the face of young
Muslim-Americans today - educated, motivated, and integrated into society
- and their voices help explain how the nation's history of inclusion has
helped to defuse sparks of Islamist extremism.
"American society is more into the whole assimilation aspect of
it," says New York-born Mr. Jaber. "In America, it's a lot
easier to practice our religion without complications."
(MORE)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An American Muslim group is criticizing Virginia Beach
religious broadcaster Reverend Pat Robertson for suggesting that the
Quran, rather than being a divine revelation, was a fraudulent creation
of Muhammad to justify his own actions.
On his television show "The 700 Club" last Thursday, Robertson
also said "violent jihad" is a core Islamic teaching, and he
said Islam is not a religion of peace.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, says Muslims who hear such statements may conclude that
their faith is under attack from America. (MORE)
THUGS burst into a mosque and savagely attacked the imam and several
others as they prayed.
One man was taken to hospital and at least three others were also hurt at
the Eccles and Salford Islamic Centre.
The attack happened as members of the mosque were taking part in prayers
for Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic year.
The thugs shouted racist abuse as they lashed out at the congregation -
punching and kicking anyone they came across.
A spokesman for the mosque, on Liverpool Road, said it is now considering
employing a security firm to watch the doors during prayers. Police have
launched an investigation and a senior officer has appealed for calm in
the area.
Det Chief Insp Geoff Wessell, of Salford CID, said: "Greater
Manchester Police take crimes of this nature extremely seriously and a
thorough investigation is underway. (MORE)
VANDALS splashed blood on a wall and left a pig's head at a mosque under
construction in the eastern French city of Belfort, a security official
said today.
France has Europe's largest Muslim community, numbering about five
million, and mosques are occasionally vandalised.
Today marks the festival of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of
Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
Eric Krust, deputy chief of public security in the Territoire de Belfort
department said the pig's head was left on a windowsill along with
splashes of blood on an area five metres long and 2.5 metres
high.
Islam forbids its followers from eating pork. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
POLL: U.S. MUSLIM VOTERS DIVERSE, INTEGRATED, POLITICALLY ACTIVE Muslims support interfaith outreach, Palestinian cause -
oppose terror, war in Iraq
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/24/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights and advocacy group today released the results of a survey
indicating that Muslim voters are religiously diverse, well integrated in
American society, politically active, and lean toward the Democratic
Party.
The survey, sponsored by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), asked 1000 registered
Muslim voters about their demographic profiles, political views and
levels of social integration. Respondents were randomly drawn from a pool
of some 400,000 registered Muslim voters. The survey, conducted by
Genesis Research
Associates, has a margin of error of plus or minus three
percent.
Young: About 47 percent are ages 35-54. Another 20 percent are
ages 25-34.
Highly Educated Professionals: Sixty-two percent have obtained
a bachelor's degree or higher. About half are professionals.
Middle Class: Forty-three percent have a household income of
$50,000 or higher.
Family Oriented: Seventy-eight percent are married.
Eighty-three percent have one or more children.
Religiously Diverse: Thirty-one percent attend a mosque on a
weekly basis. Sixteen percent attend a mosque once or twice a month.
Twenty-seven percent said they seldom or never attend a mosque. Most
respondents said they consider themselves "just Muslims,"
avoiding distinctions between Sunni or Shia. Thirty-six percent said they
are Sunni and 12 percent said they are Shia. Less than half of one
percent said they are "Salafi," while two percent said they are
"Sufi."
Well Integrated in American Society: Eighty-nine percent said
they vote regularly. Eighty-six percent said they celebrate the Fourth of
July. Sixty-four percent said they fly the U.S. flag. Forty-two percent
said they volunteer for institutions serving the public, compared to 29
percent of all Americans in 2005.
Democratic or Independent Voters: There is no clear majority
in party membership. Forty-two percent said they consider themselves
members of the Democratic Party. Seventeen percent said they are
Republican and 28 percent said they do not belong to any party.
American Muslim Voter Views on Issues:
Eighty-four percent said Muslims should emphasize more strongly
the values they share with Christians and Jews.
Eighty-two percent said terrorist attacks harm American
Muslims.
Seventy-seven percent said Muslims worship the same God as
Christians and Jews.
Sixty-nine percent believe a just resolution to the Palestinian
cause would improve America's standing in the Muslim world.
Sixty-six percent support working toward normalization of
relations with Iran.
Fifty-five percent are afraid that the war on terror has become a
war on Islam.
Only 12 percent believe the war in Iraq was a worthwhile
effort, and just 10 percent support the use of the military to spread
democracy in other countries.
"It is clear from our survey that American Muslim voters defy
simplistic labeling and maintain an independent streak that should be
taken into account by any candidate for public office," said CAIR
Executive Director Nihad Awad.
Awad said CAIR's survey also indicated that Muslim voters are
concentrated in 12 states: California, 20 percent; Illinois, 8.9
percent; New York, 8.6 percent; Texas, 7 percent; New Jersey, 6.8
percent; Michigan, 6.7 percent; Florida, 6.4 percent; Virginia, 6.3
percent; Maryland, 3.1 percent; Ohio, 3 percent; Pennsylvania, 2.9
percent; and Minnesota, 2.8 percent.
CAIR has 32 offices, chapters and affiliates 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "For every day on
which the sun rises there is a (reward from God) for someone who
establishes justice among people."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 870
-----
FBI ASKED TO PROBE TEXAS MOSQUE
VANDALISM -
TOP
'Redemption' scrawled on wall of building
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/25/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) today called on the FBI to investigate a possible bias motive for
a series of vandalism incidents targeting a Texas mosque.
An official with the Islamic Center of South Plains in Lubbock told CAIR
that the word "redemption" was discovered spray-painted on the
mosque this morning. Vandals had previously broken lights and destroyed
flower beds at the mosque.
In 2004, vandals wrote "sand n**gers" and "America rocks
b*tch" on interior walls of the same mosque.
"Given the growing climate of anti-Muslim feeling in our society,
these types of incidents targeting Islamic houses of worship need to be
treated with the seriousness they deserve," said CAIR Communications
Director Ibrahim Hooper. "We call on the FBI to join in the
investigation of a possible bias motive for these
incidents."
Hooper said that vandalism or other possible bias-related incidents have
been reported recently at mosques around the nation and that CAIR is
urging Muslim institutions nationwide to review security procedures using
advice contained in its "Muslim Community Safety Kit." (See
below.)
A recent CAIR report indicated an almost 30 percent increase in the total
number of complaints of anti-Muslim bias from 2004 to 2005.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
SEE ALSO:
EXCERPTS FROM CAIR MUSLIM
COMMUNITY SAFETY KIT -
TOP
REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Muslims must do their part to ensure the safety and security of our
nation. If anyone notes suspicious persons or activities in their
community, they should report it immediately to the local Field Office of
the FBI. SEE:
http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
DEVELOP A LEGAL CONTACT LIST
Develop a list of attorneys who are willing to be consulted by the Muslim
community in response to backlash incidents. Ask Muslim attorneys to
volunteer their services to community members during this time of
crisis.
DEVELOPING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
Community leaders should immediately coordinate meetings between
representatives of the Muslim community and local, state and national law
enforcement agencies. These meetings should focus on ways in which the
community can help national security and on how authorities can protect
Muslims and Arab-Americans from harassment and discrimination.
MEET WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS COMMUNITY CONCERNS
Delegations of Muslim representatives should schedule meetings with
local, state and national elected representatives or their key staff to
discuss community concerns. To find out who represents your area on the
national level, go to:
http://www.capwiz.com/cair/home/
BUILD COALITIONS WITH INTERFAITH AND MINORITY GROUPS
Similar meetings should be coordinated with representatives of local
interfaith and minority groups. These meetings should focus on building
lines of communication and support, and hearing from these groups how
they deal with discrimination and bigotry.
MEET WITH LOCAL SCHOOL PRINCIPALS TO DISCUSS STUDENT SAFETY
Representatives of the Muslim community should meet with local school
administrators to discuss safety plans for students and to sensitize the
administrators to harassment of Muslim students.
BUILDING AN EMERGENCY CONTACT LIST
Community leaders should develop emergency e-mail and phone contact lists
to be used in case of an incident that threatens the community's safety.
Local imams, Islamic center board members, and Muslim activists should be
on the lists.
A second list should be developed containing contact information for all
local law enforcement agencies.
HOLD A COMMUNITY MEETING TO INFORM OTHERS OF SAFETY GUIDELINES
Call for a meeting of the local Muslim community to discuss the
information outlined in this kit. The meeting should take place at a
local mosque or Islamic center and should be advertised using the
emergency contact list.
ESTABLISH A COMMUNITY SUPPORT NETWORK
Establish a network of community members who can offer emotional and
material support to those who may be the victims of hate crimes or
discrimination. Victims should not be left alone to deal with the
negative impact of such incidents.
REACTING TO INCIDENTS OF ANTI-MUSLIM HATE
If you believe you have been the victim of an anti-Muslim hate crime or
discrimination, you should:
1. Report the incident to your local police station and FBI office
IMMEDIATELY. Ask that the incident be treated as a hate crime. Ask
witnesses to give you their name and contact information.
2. Inform CAIR even if you believe it is a "small"
incident.
Incidents may be reported online at:
http://www.cair.com/ireport/
or
TEL: 202-488-8787, FAX: 202-488-0833, E-MAIL:
info@cair.com
3. Document the incident. Write down exactly what was said and/or done by
the offender. Save evidence. Take photographs.
4. Act quickly. Each incident must be dealt with when it happens, not
when convenient.
5. Decide on the appropriate action to be taken. Consider issuing a
statement from community leaders, holding a news conference, organizing a
protest, meeting with officials, or starting a letter writing
campaign.
6. Mobilize community support. Contact CAIR and a local mosque or
organization.
7. Stay on top of the situation.
8. Announce results. When the incident is resolved, make an announcement
to the same people and organizations originally contacted.
CAIR MOSQUE SECURITY GUIDELINES
Areas of Vulnerability:
* Mosques located in isolated areas.
* Mosques left unattended for extended periods of time.
* Mosques with unsecured doors and/or windows.
* Absence of a burglar alarm system.
* Heavy exterior vegetation (shrubs, etc.) in which criminals may
hide.
* Absence of exterior lighting.
Take the following safety measures:
* Build good relationships with neighbors of the mosque. Invite them to
visit your center.
* Try to have people attend the mosque as much as possible. Activity
deters perpetrators.
* Make an appointment with the community relations officer of your local
police department to tour your center and make suggestions on improving
mosque security.
* Request additional police patrols in the vicinity of your center.
Special attention should be paid to times of darkness and during
prayers.
* Consider creating a security committee at your mosque.
* Post mosque members at entrances and parking areas during prayer
times.
* Report suspicious packages to police. Do not touch them.
* Install perimeter floodlights outside the mosque.
* Install fire and burglar alarm systems.
* Replace hollow core doors with more secure solid doors.
* Install burglarproof bars on screens and large vents. (Note - Research
local ordinances before beginning security renovations. For example,
window bars should not limit evacuation in case of fire.)
* Trim shrubs and vines to reduce areas of concealment.
* Participate in neighborhood watch programs.
* Document descriptions of suspicious people or vehicles.
* Make duplicates of all important papers, computer disks and
records.
* Remove potential fire hazards, such as trash and debris.
* Consider installing security cameras.
RESPONDING TO BOMB THREATS
1. Distribute written instructions on handling bomb threats.
2. Keep the caller on the line as long as possible. Ask that the message
be repeated. Record or write down everything that is said.
3. Ask for the location of the bomb.
4. Inform the caller that the detonation of a bomb could hurt many
innocent people.
5. Pay attention to background noises such as music, which may give a
clue to the caller's location.
6. Listen closely to the caller's voice. Make note of accents, voice
quality (calm, excited) or speech impediments.
7. Report the threat immediately to the local police, ATF and FBI.
Have appropriate phone numbers listed in written instructions.
8. If the threat comes in the form of a letter, save all materials,
including the envelope. Handle the letter as little as possible.
9. Search the interior and exterior of the mosque. Evacuate the building
if a suspicious package or device is found.
SUSPECT LETTERS AND PACKAGES
* What to look for:
* Name and title of addressee are not accurate.
* No return address, or the sender is not known to the addressee.
* Handwriting is distorted.
* Unprofessionally wrapped, uneven, bulky, lopsided.
* Contains bulges or soft spots.
* Poorly wrapped package is marked "Fragile-Handle With
Care,"
"Rush," or has unusual restrictions such as
"Personal" or "Private."
* Excess amount of postage.
* Protruding wires or tin foil.
* Package makes a buzzing or ticking noise, a sloshing sound, or emits an
odor.
What to do:
DON'T open the package or letter.
DON'T put it in water or in a confined space such as a drawer.
DO isolate the article and secure the immediate area.
DO open windows if possible to help vent potential explosive gases.
DO contact your local police department and Postal Inspector.
A storm is brewing after leading South African academic and Muslim,
Professor Adam Habib, was deported from the US at the weekend.
Habib, executive director of the Human Sciences Research Council's
Democracy and Governance Research Programme, was questioned for more than
seven hours at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.
His visa was then revoked and he was escorted back to a plane by armed
guards and deported.
Habib is the third South African Muslim to be deported from the US in the
past month.
Local human rights activists, including Muslim groups, have reacted with
outrage, calling on the US to justify their actions.
Habib last night told the Daily Dispatch that on his arrival in the US,
officials pulled him aside and asked whether he knew any terrorists or if
he belonged to any terror organisations.
"They asked me if I was a terrorist and I said no. Then they asked
if I had ever been in prison and I said yes, I was politically detained
by the apartheid government," he said.
Habib, who has not been given a reason for his deportation, said he felt
his "personal rights" were severely infringed. "You can't
just deny someone access to a country and not give them any reasons why.
It's like you accuse someone, but you don't tell them what for," he
said.
Habib's ordeal started on Saturday when he arrived in New York with an
HSRC delegation scheduled to meet officials of a number of US
institutions, including the National Institute of Health, the Center for
Disease Control, the World Bank, Columbia University and some donor
agencies. It came "out of the blue. I have a 10-year multiple entry
visa issued three years ago. The last time I travelled to the US was in
2004 and I did not have any problems."
In 2002 and 2003 the Financial Mail described Habib as one of the 300
most influential black opinion makers in South Africa.
Habib said he had visited the US more than 20 times previously for work
and personal reasons - without any problems. (MORE)
Clintondale Community Schools is defending its alternative education
program after three African-American students were charged Tuesday with
ethnic intimidation and assault in connection with a melee outside a bus
stop on Gratiot.
The students were charged with hurling slurs at an Arab-American business
owner after starting the fight around noon Monday.
Dyeida Wilson, 18, and Antoneo Hardy, 19, were charged in 41B District
Court with assault with a dangerous weapon and ethnic intimidation.
Rodney Hayes, 17, was charged as an adult with assault and battery and
ethnic intimidation.
All three are from Detroit and attend the Clintondale Continuing
Education Center. The center, east of Gratiot between 15 Mile and 16
Mile, offers alternative high school education and job training
courses.
The confrontation is part of a problem that has been brewing between
students who attend the school and nearby business owners, police and
merchants said.
Clintondale school officials said they are working to address the
community's concerns about students who misbehave outside
school.
Those involved in Monday's melee have been indefinitely suspended.
(MORE)
Three teenagers accused of attacking an Arab-American merchant in this
Macomb County community were charged with ethnic intimidation and
assault.
Rodney Hayes, 17, was charged as an adult with assault and battery and
ethnic intimidation. Dyeida Wilson, 18, and Antoneo Hardy, 19, were
charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and ethnic intimidation. All
are from Detroit.
The melee began Monday when the students, who were standing at a bus
stop, knocked down a nearby sign advertising a 10 Minute Express Lube
owned by Joe Khalil, police said.
"Usually, I just ignore them," Khalil told The Detroit News for
a Wednesday story. "But (Monday) I went outside and told them to
stop knocking down my sign."
The suspects called him an ethnically derogative name "and told me
to go back to where I came from," said Khalil, who is half-Lebanese
and half-German and was born in the United States.
One of the students struck Khalil in the face. They also began fighting
with employees of a neighboring Marathon gas station owned by another
Arab-American and threatened a worker with knives, said Lt. Mark Rybinski
of the Clinton Township Police Department.
"Then they took an American flag from the gas station and cut one of
the employees in the face with the sharp end of the flagpole,"
Rybinski said.
The suspects attend the Clintondale Continuing Education Center, which
offers alternative high school education and job training courses. All
were indefinitely suspended after Monday's altercation.
Hassan Abboud, who owns the Marathon station, said he wants the Suburban
Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation to remove the bus stop
from in front of his business because of past problems with students from
the Clintondale center.
A Fremont church will host a memorial service Saturday for Alia Ansari,
38, the Afghan woman who was shot in the head as she picked up three of
her six children from Glenmoor Elementary School.
Ansari was killed Thursday at the corner of Glenmoor Drive and Central
Avenue. A ``person of interest'' has been questioned and is in custody on
a separate parole violation. But no one has been arrested in connection
with her death.
Tuesday, Fremont police said there was no change in the status of the
27-year-old Fremont man; he was at Santa Rita Jail on a parole
hold.
Pastor Bruce Green, who is a facilitator between Christians and Muslims,
visited the Ansari family Monday evening and asked Ansari's husband,
Ahmad, if he would like to use the Centerville Presbyterian Church's
gymnasium to host a community gathering honoring his wife.
According to Green, Ahmad Ansari said yes. Ahmad Ansari has declined to
speak to the media about his wife's death. Green reached out to the
family on Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim celebration after the monthlong fast of
Ramadan. Despite the family's grief, Green said he was treated as an
honored guest.
"He was so gracious to agree," Green said. "I appreciate
their family's spirit. I felt so warmly received by the way I was
greeted. It was very humbling for me."
Ahmad Ansari will probably not be at the memorial; he hopes to fly to
Afghanistan this weekend to bury his wife there. Cousin Hashmat Ansari,
who owns Pamir Travel in Fremont, said he's helping pay for the plane
tickets.
The service will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. in the gymnasium of
Centerville Presbyterian Church, 4360 Central Ave. The room can hold
about 500 guests.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED: To donate to a fund for the Ansari children, checks
can be made to the "Ansari Family" at Washington Mutual,
account No. 3091558830, and Fremont Bank, account No. 55041477.
Five years ago, a few days after terrorists murdered thousands and
destroyed the World Trade Center, I went to pray at the most peaceful,
anti-violent place I could think of, the downtown Brooklyn meeting house
of the Religious Society of Friends, better known as the
Quakers.
In addition to the still, soul-cleansing religious service, the Quakers
asked for volunteers to escort Muslim women and girls to and from school
in Brooklyn, explaining that many had already gone into hiding after
being threatened with violence on the street.
Now, years later, and as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan concludes,
Muslims from coast to coast continue to be targeted for insult and
attack, a fact that should shame and disgust all freedom-loving
Americans.
Just last week in California, a mother of six named Alia Ansari was shot
to death while walking to an elementary school with her 3-year-old
daughter. Police have made one arrest in the case, but Ansari's family
members are saying her murder was a hate crime because the Afghan-born
victim was wearing a hijab, a traditional Muslim headscarf, at the time
she was shot.
Ansari's killer was swimming in a sea of anti-Muslim bias. This year, an
ABC/Washington Post poll found that 46% of Americans have a negative
perception of Islam - 7% higher than in the months immediately following
the 9/11 attacks. The same poll found that one in four Americans admitted
having personal bias toward Muslims.
Let hatred fester, and this is what you get: a woman gunned down in broad
daylight while holding her child's hand.
The killing comes shortly after a new study by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights organization,
recorded 1,972 complaints of bias or hate attacks against Muslims in
2005, a jump of nearly 30% above the 1,522 reported in 2004. The group
says last year saw the highest number of complaints since a burst of
1,717 logged in the six months after 9/11.
The CAIR report is a disturbing catalogue of religious bigotry and
violence. Last November, a man named Robert Blackburn was arrested for
allegedly firing more than 50 shots at cars parked outside a
Philadelphia-area mosque; Blackburn was in hunting gear with a rifle when
cops nabbed him. In Florida, a mosque being built in Boca Raton had its
sign burned three times and defaced with profanities. Last December, a
pair of pipe bombs destroyed part of a mosque outside of Cincinnati.
(MORE)
You can talk about immigration issues at a free forum Wednesday night at
Miami Unversity's Hamilton campus.
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center together with Miami
University-Hamilton, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
and the NAACP of West Chester/Hamilton/Fairfield/Mason/Lebanon will host
the community forum about immigration.
Studies conducted by the National Conference for Community and Justice
(NCCJ) and the Freedom Center show a growing disconnect between new
immigrants and the tri-state community.
The forum will provide education about immigration and immigration
reform. Guests will have the opportunity to engage in an open discussion
about immigrants in the U.S. and the tri-state area.
Panelists include:
* Karen Dabdoub, Council of American-Islamic Relations;
* CK Wang, immigration lawyer;
* Isidro Carrero, Co-Pastor of Princeton Pike West Church and
* Victor Davis, community activist
The forum runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Wilkes Conference
Center on the campus of Miami University-Hamilton.
Guest speaker Dina El-Nakhal shed some light on the Islam faith at the
weekly Rotary Club meeting Tuesday.
El-Nakhal addressed some common misconceptions about Islam and then
opened the forum for a question-and-answer segment.
The "hot-button topics" she discussed ranged from the meaning
of the word "jihad" to an overview of the five pillars of Islam
to the social status of Muslim women.
Although the session was brief, club members and guests felt that
El-Nakhal touched on a number of important points.
Among the participants of the question-and-answer segment was former
Rotary Club president Robert Tamblyn, who asked El-Nakhal for
clarification on the Sunni and Shiite factions of Islam. Afterwards,
Tamblyn said he thought the discussion was informative and
beneficial.
Rotary Club member Dona Mast also appreciated El-Nakhal's
discussion.
"I thought it was very enlightening," Mast said. "I'd like
to hear more. I'm sure I'll still be thinking about it when I get home
tonight."
El-Nakhal, a senior engineer for the Department of Transportation, was
introduced by her father Hamza El-Nakhal, president of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations in the Sacramento Valley.
"It's really an honor to be with the Rotary Club here today,"
Hamza said. "Before 9/11, we would go to work, take care of our
family, but all of a sudden, there was this negativity toward
Muslims."
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Dina said, people started associating the
word "jihad" with terrorism.
"Generally, people assume 'jihad' means terrorism," Dina said.
"In fact, jihad means 'struggle for the betterment of the self,
society and the world.'"
Another misconception, Dina said, is the idea that Muslims place women on
a social status beneath men. (MORE)
Muslim voters strongly oppose the war in Iraq and tilt toward Democrats
in next month's congressional elections, a poll released Tuesday by a
leading Islamic civil-rights organization has found.
The poll, sponsored by the Council on Islamic-American Relations,
suggested a potential voting bloc that could affect close races in the
midterm elections Nov. 7.
It pointed to deep disaffection with the Bush administration, with 55
percent of the American Muslim respondents saying they feared that
"the war on terror has become a war on Islam." Only 12 percent
said the war in Iraq has been worth the effort.
The survey indicates a strong Democratic affiliation among Muslims.
Forty-two percent identified themselves as Democrats, 17 percent said
they are Republicans and 28 percent said they belong to no
party.
The poll findings signal "a political comeback" for American
Muslims, who have been on the defensive in the five years since 9-11,
said council Executive Director Nihad Awad.
Awad said the community now has high hopes that the first Muslim will be
elected to the House. Keith Ellison, a Muslim convert, is the Democratic
Party nominee in a traditionally Democratic district in Minneapolis. .
.
Nihad Awad, the council's executive director, said the study shows that
most American Muslims are "centrists" who "care for
America." Eighty-nine percent of respondents said they vote
regularly, 86 percent said they celebrate the Fourth of July and 64
percent said they fly the U.S. flag.
Eighty-two percent of respondents said the 9-11 attacks had harmed U.S.
Muslims.
Local Muslims are rallying around Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Deval Patrick and are working to defeat Question 1, the ballot initiative
that would allow for an expansion of wine sales in grocery stores,
leaders in the Islamic community said.
Tahir Ali, a spokesman for the Worcester Islamic Center, said area
Muslims believe Mr. Patrick can do a better job looking out for the
interests of working-class Massachusetts families.
He said there's also strong concern about the attitude of Lt. Gov. Kerry
Healey, the Republican candidate, toward the Muslim community. Mr. Ali
said there's fear, rightly or wrongly, among many that Ms. Healey may
hold beliefs that are similar to those of her boss, Gov. Mitt
Romney.
The governor, for example, drew the ire of the Muslim community when, in
a speech on homeland security last fall before the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative think tank, he suggested that some mosques be bugged to
monitor students from nations accused of sponsoring terrorism.
The comments about local Muslim support for Mr. Patrick come on the heels
of a poll released yesterday by a prominent national Islamic civil rights
and advocacy group that indicates that Muslim voters nationwide are
leaning toward the Democratic Party.
In a poll of 1,000 registered Muslim voters conducted on behalf of the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, 42 percent
said they consider themselves Democrats, while 17 percent said they are
Republican, and 28 percent said they had no party affiliation.
A new survey by a U.S. Islamic civil rights and advocacy group says
Muslim voters in the United States are becoming more integrated into
American society and engaged in politics. The survey also shows many U.S.
Muslims are concerned about the war on terror and the conflict in
Iraq.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
released a poll of 1,000 registered Muslim voters in the United States
two weeks before U.S. Congressional elections. (MORE)
America's Muslim voters are a young, highly educated and prosperous
voting bloc that will overwhelmingly back Democrats in November,
according to a survey released yesterday by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
They are also coming of age in terms of political representation. Next
month, Democratic nominee Keith Ellison of Minneapolis is poised to
become the first Muslim member of the House of Representatives. He says,
if elected, he will take his oath of office with his hand on the Koran
instead of the Bible.
"After September 11, neither political party wanted anything to do
with Muslims," said Mohamed Nimer, research director for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "Now they're
receptive to Muslim candidates."
With their large families and socially conservative leanings, Muslims
mirror the GOP's demographic profile. Seventy-eight percent of those
interviewed were married. Of those respondents, 83 percent had at least
one child and 54 percent reported two or three children. Muslims had an
average of 4.5 members per family, contrasted with a 2005 Census Bureau
figure estimating the number of family members in an average American
household at 3.14.
But ideologically, their differences with Republicans are vast. Sixty-six
percent favor normalization of relations with Iran, 55 percent are afraid
the "war on terror" has morphed into a war on Islam, just 12
percent think the war in Iraq is worthwhile and only 10 percent support
the use of the military to spread democracy. (MORE)
Increasingly disillusioned with more than five years of the "global
war on terror", Arab- and Muslim-American voters are poised to vote
heavily Democratic in the Nov. 7 mid-term elections, according to two
polls released this week.
Strong majorities of Arab-American voters in four key states -- Michigan,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida -- intend to vote for the Democratic
candidates for senator, according to a survey released Wednesday by the
Arab American Institute (AAI).
The same poll, conducted by Zogby International (ZI), found that a
whopping 76 percent of Arab Americans disapprove of the performance of
President George W. Bush, who received a 46 percent plurality of the
Arab-American vote when he was first elected to office six years
ago.
Asked which party they would prefer to control Congress, 57 percent of
Arab Americans chose Democrats, while only 26 percent said they favoured
Republican control. That was a considerably larger gap than the general
voting public which, according to a CNN poll released Tuesday, favours a
Democratic Congress by a 57-40 percent margin.
Another survey of Muslim-American voters released here by the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Tuesday also found widespread
disillusionment with Bush, for whom a majority of Muslim Americans voted
in 2000, particularly regarding the war on terror and foreign
policy.
That poll, conducted by Genesis Research Associates in August, found that
only 17 percent of Muslim-American voters consider themselves Republican
now, while a plurality of 42 percent said they were Democrats and 28
percent said they did not belong to either party. (MORE)
Tensions in the Middle East are manifesting themselves on a Phoenix
commission that is supposed to foster unity among people.
Phoenix City Council members last week removed Marwan Ahmad, a
Palestinian and Muslim, from the Human Relations Commission after more
than five years of service, saying he was promoting messages of
intolerance against Israel, the Jewish community and at least one member
of the Islamic community.
Mayor Phil Gordon didn't give a specific reason why Ahmad was
ousted.
Ahmad's monthly newspaper, Muslim Voice, has come under fire.
In the newspaper, Ahmad depicted a member of the Islamic community as a
dog in an editorial cartoon.
Ahmad also publishes the Multicultural Yellow Pages, which excludes
references to the area's Jewish cultural institutions and replaces Israel
with the name Palestine on a Middle East map.
He omits area codes, airlines and restaurants associated with
Israel.
Bill Straus, Arizona regional director of the Anti-Defamation League,
called the book "one of our community's most glaring examples of
cultural division."
Ahmad said the City Council violated his freedom of speech and is mixing
local and international politics. (MORE)
A new video shot for a London newspaper and the BBC by an embed with the
U.S. Army, suggests, in chilling words and images, the absurd position of
the U.S. in Iraq, as the people we try to train -- you know, our comrades
in arms -- seem more intent on lobbing grenades at us.
Over the years, I have made few requests of readers of this column,
beyond hinting that, maybe, you ought to return here from time to time.
But now I have to urge you to drop everything, finish reading this
come-on, and then link to the video described below. It's the most
revealing little (eight-minute) video I've seen yet on our country's
preposterous position in Iraq.
Aptly, it is titled, "Iraq: The Real Story." It won't turn your
stomach, in fact, you may even chuckle in spots (like you might have done
in reading much of "Catch-22"). But, hopefully, you will end up
screaming at the computer screen.
That's partly because it arrives at such a critical moment, with the
death counts for both Americans and Iraqis soaring, and the debate over
what to do about this catastrophe reaching a fever pitch, even before the
election of a new Congress.
Here's what you will see (notice, I wrote will, presuming you will,
indeed, follow the link below).
Sean Smith, the award-winning photographer for The Guardian in London,
who has put in several tours of duty in Iraq (before, during, and after
the 2003 invasion), recently embedded with the 101st Airborne, for six
weeks. He ended up chronicling attempts by the U.S. Army in the northern
Iraqi region around Hawija and Tikrit to hand over duties, or at least
work with, Iraqi military and police -- you know, helping them stand up
so we can stand down. He's now produced the video, which includes some of
his photos, for the Guardian and the BBC.
It opens on a familiar note, as Smith observes that some in the 101st are
on their third tour of duty. Many are just counting the days until they
"are back in Tennesee." Then they suddenly are shown in a
six-minute firefight with insurgents, but no bodies are found, no
prisoners taken, and they may have to wait days for more action. "We
do our jobs," one young soldier says.
Then we watch the unit seize three Iraqis suspected of doing ...
something. They are "bagged" -- literally have bags placed over
their heads -- and taken away. Another couple locals are caught
"redhanded" planting IEDs. So far so good.
But then it turns ugly.
We tag along on "a home visit for the 101st." They have been
tipped off that an alleged gun dealer was hanging with a local family but
nothing is found. The angry family say it's the sixth time they've been
raided over nothing. (MORE)
School board members and the superintendent here hurled accusations
Tuesday evening over two Muslim students being offered the use of a
public space for their religious holiday.
The clash forced an early end to the meeting.
Jennifer Miller, who joined the Mason Board of Education in January after
running as a conservative Christian, lashed out at Superintendent Kevin
Bright over a dispute that included the district's decision to offer two
Muslim high school students the use of an empty room during lunch
hour.
The religious holiday of Ramadan ended Monday. Followers fast during
daylight to observe their holy month.
After a speaker complained that the district was favoring one religion in
the public high school, Miller agreed.
Bright, however, disputed Miller's description that it was an offer for a
"prayer room," saying the parents asked for a space during
lunch away from other students so their children would not be
uncomfortable while they fasted. The room was never used, he
said.
"It's a fasting room," he said to Miller, "not a prayer
room."
Miller then accused Bright, and board president Kevin Wise, of
"avoiding the issue" and said Bright lied in his previous
description.
"This is ridiculous and absurd," said Bright, who has
frequently had tense exchanges with Miller. "You are questioning my
ethics and my morals." (MORE)
More American women who follow the Muslim faith are wearing a hijab, the
head-covering scarf that publicly identifies them as a follower of Islam.
The hijab can be just a square of cloth, folded in half and pinned under
a woman's chin. Or some hijabs are custom-made, lightweight gear in which
a premade opening is fashioned to snuggly frame the woman's face and
cover her hair, neck and shoulders.
The hijab is a symbol of a Muslim woman's faith and modesty. Thousands of
Muslim women in Michigan wear a hijab (pronounced hee-JAHB) in public.
Hijabs vary in color, cut and fabric, and women can treat them as fashion
accessories to coordinate with their outfits.
This week, Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which will mark the end of
the Ramadan fast. The Eid festivities bring together families and
communities for celebration, and it's not unusual to buy outfits and
matching hijabs for the get-togethers.
While some non-Muslims may consider the hijab a symbol of female
oppression and second-class status, Muslim women say it was a choice they
made to renew their relationship with God, and identify with their faith
rather than stereotypes. Hijabis -- as women who cover their hair call
themselves -- say they aim to strengthen their faith and challenge
stereotypes about Muslims reignited in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks.
A 2003 University of Michigan survey of Detroit-area Muslim Arabs found
that 42% felt their religion was not respected by mainstream society,
with Muslim women more likely than men to share that view. Muslim women
-- who come from various ethnic backgrounds -- aim to command respect for
their faith by wearing the hijab, says professor Rabab Abdulhadi,
director of the Center for Arab American Studies at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn.
"The majority of the women who have chosen to wear the hijab chose
it by themselves. They didn't grow up with it," the professor says.
"It is an assertion of identity ... a sign of distinction and
definition, and sometimes a sign of defiance." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
DC/MD/VA: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CAIR
ANNUAL DINNER -
TOP
CAIR seeks the help of our community members to coordinate the
preparations for our annual CAIR banquet on Saturday, November 18, 2006.
The participation of volunteers has greatly contributed to the success of
past CAIR events.
If you would like to volunteer to help organize this important event,
please call (202) 488-8787 or email
irahman@cair.com
Arab and Muslim Americans, long in the shadows of American politics, are
building on the activism they began in 2004.
Next month's likely election of the first Muslim to Congress, coupled
with increased campaign donations and a voter registration drive,
indicate that the groups are continuing to raise their profiles after
briefly becoming less politically active after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
As of Sept. 30, seven Muslim and Arab political action committees had
contributed a total of $160,000 to federal candidates, up from $130,000
at the same time during the last election cycle.
There are 52 Arab Americans seeking office this year, up from 49 in 2004,
according to the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based lobbying and
advocacy group.
At least 35 Muslims are seeking office, according to the Web site of the
Muslim Alliance, a California-based advocacy group. Keith Ellison, who is
heavily favored, would become the country's highest-ranking Muslim
elected official if he wins an open U.S. House of Representatives seat
from Minneapolis. . .
In 2004, Arab Americans and Muslims supported Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
over President Bush by 72 percent to 28 percent. In 2000, Bush received
46 percent of their support, according to exit polls.
Efforts by conservative activists such as Grover Norquist to include Arab
Americans in the Republican coalition were complicated by Sept. 11 and
the war in Iraq.
Both parties face obstacles in attracting Muslims and Arab Americans to
their permanent support bases.
A survey of 1,000 registered Muslim voters by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, released Tuesday, found that 69 percent
believe a "just" resolution to the Palestinian cause would
improve America's standing in the Muslim world; 66 percent support
working toward normalization of relations with Iran; 55 percent are
afraid that the war on terrorism has become a war on Islam; 12 percent
believe the war in Iraq was a worthwhile effort; and just 10 percent
support the use of the military to spread democracy in other countries.
(MORE)
-----
VIDEO: CAIR REP DISCUSSES MUSLIM
VOTER SURVEY ON MSNBC'S 'TUCKER' -
TOP
CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper gives details
about the recent American Muslim voter survey for the 2006
election.
SEE ALSO:
TRANSCRIPT OF CAIR REP ON MSNBC'S 'TUCKER' -
TOP
Host: Tucker Carlson, 10/26/06
It looks like the Democrats' midterm election momentum may have reached
the Muslim community. A poll of Muslim voters by the Council on American-
Islamic Relations found 42 percent were Democrats, 17 percent
Republicans. Twenty-eight percent, meanwhile, had no party
affiliation.
So what is the appeal of the Democratic Party for
American-Muslims?
Joining me now from Washington to answer that question, Ibrahim
Hooper. He's director of communications for CAIR. That would be the
Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Ibrahim Hooper, thanks for joining us.
IBRAHIM HOOPER, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Thanks for having
me.
CARLSON: I'm a little confused by these numbers, considering, as far as I
understand it, most American-Muslims are strikingly conservative on a lot
of social issues. They are not enthusiastically for abortion. They are
definitely not for gay marriage.
Why would they be backing the Democrats?
HOOPER: Well, it's not necessarily backing the Democrats. I think you saw
in 2000 that Muslim -- the Muslim community generally backed Bush at that
time.
Muslims tend to be issue-driven. If a candidate supports the issues they
are concerned about, if -- they will back them.
We see Iraq being a problem. A vast majority of American-Muslims are
against our policy in Iraq. A vast majority of American-Muslims want
engagement with Iran, some kind of negotiated solution to the Iran
situation.
So when you look at the issues that are currently being focused on,
that's what Muslims are going for. Back in 2000, it was secret evidence
and other things. The candidate, Bush, at that time was against secret
evidence, surprisingly enough.
CARLSON: Would you say -- back to something you said that I wasn't aware
of, you said the vast majority of American-Muslims would like to see a
negotiated solution, I guess, to the (INAUDIBLE) in progress with
Iran.
HOOPER: Iran, yes.
CARLSON: With Iran. Would you say that most American-Muslims are
horrified by the thought that Iran might possess nuclear weapons or
not?
HOOPER: No, I think they are horrified by the results of our invasion of
Iraq, and they don't want to see a repeat performance in Iran.
CARLSON: But how do they feel -- wait, hold on.
HOOPER: That's probably in line with the majority of Americans of all
faiths.
CARLSON: Maybe. But to the very specific question, the question that
could be causing another invasion, in this case of Iran, the idea that
Iran may get nuclear weapons, you know, that's considered by most
Americans to be really kind of unthinkable. Do you think most
American-Muslims think it's unthinkable, shocking, wrong, horrible,
scary?
HOOPER: We didn't ask that question. All we asked was about...
CARLSON: Right.
HOOPER: ... whether we should have engagement with him. Perhaps in
another poll we can ask that question.
CARLSON: Do you think it's true that -- you know, polls have shown
worldwide the overwhelming majority of Muslims asked in other countries
believe the invasion of Iraq was intentionally anti-Muslim, the U.S.
government did this because it has a problem with Muslims and wants to
punish Muslims.
HOOPER: Well, you can maybe extrapolate from the question we did ask was,
"Are you afraid that the war on terror is becoming a war on
Islam?" And a majority of American-Muslims said they are afraid that
is the case.
CARLSON: That the U.S. government is targeting the religion of
Islam?
HOOPER: No, they said, "Are you afraid that that is what's
happening?" And many people said, yes, they are afraid that's what's
happening.
CARLSON: I'm just wondering what that -- I mean, does that mean, this is
becoming a war on Islam? That the U.S. government, which is the
only...
(CROSSTALK)
HOOPER: Well, for instance, look at what has happened in the last couple
of days. In the last couple of days, we have had respected Muslim leaders
who wanted to come to this country to engage in religious activities
barred from entry. Two South African religious leaders from the Muslim
community in South Africa barred from the country, treated
disrespectfully, and put on a plane out of the country.
CARLSON: Is there a recognition -- OK, I think the average person in this
country -- in fact, I`m certain of it -- if asked this question,
"Are Muslims more likely to commit acts of terror than members of
other faiths?" would answer yes. Do you think that the average
American-Muslim would answer yes to that question?
And what do you think?
HOOPER: No. Obviously, Muslims don't believe that Islam is inherently
violent.
CARLSON: No, I'm not saying that. That's -- hold on. Slow down. I'm not
suggesting now, nor do I think or have I ever suggested it.
Islam is not inherently violent. I'm not saying it is. I'm
saying...
HOOPER: Is there a growing anti-Muslim bias in this country? Yes,
unfortunately.
CARLSON: No, that's not the -- I'm asking -- I'm asking a question about
reality. Do you think a person -- a Muslim is more likely to commit an
act of terror than a non-Muslim? That's the question. And you were
answering no, you don't think that?
HOOPER: I don't believe that is the case.
CARLSON: All right.
Ibrahim Hooper, I appreciate your coming on. Thank you.
Mason school board member Jennifer Miller, who ran on a conservative
Christian platform, thinks Christianity should be part of public school
education.
So when she heard that two Muslim students had been offered a separate
room during lunchtime at Mason High as they fasted during Ramadan, it
raised her ire.
During Mason's board meeting Tuesday, a resident accused officials of
being overly accommodating by giving the two high school students a
separate room during the lunch hour for their dawn-to-dusk fast during
the month-long Islamic holiday.
Miller accused school officials of lying about the room's purpose,
igniting an argument that ended the meeting early.
"We are a Christian nation, not a Muslim nation," Miller said
Wednesday.
"Our Christian values have declined and yet we allow other faiths
besides Christianity to have precedence in our schools," Miller
said.
Miller and Superintendent Kevin Bright disagreed about the intent of the
room, with Bright saying it was supposed to be a "fasting room"
and Miller saying it was meant as a "prayer room."
Miller, who wants prayer in public schools and some Bible-based
instruction, has no plans to take further action in this situation. .
.
Karen Dabdoub, director of the Cincinnati Chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said that as long as students initiate
and run an activity, it is protected under the 1964 Civil Rights
Act.
"It's very unfortunate that someone might be upset by this. ... The
right is there for all students of all faiths, not just Muslims,"
said Dabdoub. "Most school administrators know their stuff and they
know what the law says in this regard." (MORE)
Ana Mallen was shocked when a neighbor confided that she was wondering
whether her hired household help was documented.
Having recently moved to Mason from New York City, Mallen said she's
noticed that immigration is often viewed negatively here.
Antagonism about local immigration was among the topics at a community
forum on immigration Wednesday at Miami University's Hamilton campus.
Mallen was one of about 30 people in the audience. The National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center sponsored the forum.
Greg Landsman, Freedom Center director of special projects, asked
participants whether they had seen negative political ads about
immigration in the past day.
Nearly everyone raised their hands.
Immigrants are portrayed as stealing jobs and evading taxes, said forum
panelist Isidro Carrero, co-pastor of Princeton Pike West Church.
"Immigration is actually a humanitarian issue, but politicians have
made it a political issue, trying to gain votes and move their
bases."
The consequences, said panelist Karen Dabdoub of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, are that racism is being perpetuated
while the government remains largely inactive in addressing the problems.
(MORE)
When graffiti was found on a Fremont church by the congregation on Sunday
morning, rather than paint over it, they decided to embellish it with a
wreath and host a memorial service, pastor Bruce Green said
Wednesday.
The graffiti, which appeared outside Green's office at the Centerville
Presbyterian Church, said "R.I.P. Alia Ansari," commemorating
the Muslim woman who was shot to death in Fremont on Oct. 19. Her family
members have said the only motive they can imagine for Ansari's killing
would have been the hijab, or headscarf, that she wore.
"We want to provide a symbol to return a blessing for a curse,"
Green said. "Let's embrace that and try to leverage it in a positive
way."
At least five spots in Fremont were tagged with Afghan gang-related
graffiti over the weekend.
"They all appear to be of the same color paint, black paint. They're
occurring within a recent time frame following the homicide. So our
investigators are looking into those, but right now, it's misdemeanor
vandalism," said Dennis Madsen of the Fremont police.
"We left it partly because it is a very unique graffiti
message," said Green, who describes himself as a
"bridge-building facilitator" between Christian churches and
the Muslim community in Fremont. . .
Safaa Ibrahim, the executive director of the Council of
American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area, said, "We
want (police) not to rule it out and put timely attention to
it."
Madsen said police have a person of interest in Ansari's killing in
custody at the Santa Rita jail on an unrelated parole violation, but
"no official charges have been made and no motive has been
established."
Abiya Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said Wednesday that while she hopes Ansari's murder was
not a hate crime, "it is a natural conclusion."
Ahmed added that her group plans to hold a forum in Fremont in response
to the recent graffiti, so that people may discuss their feelings
surrounding the murder more constructively. (MORE)
Many Fremont women are planning to wear the Muslim headscarf, or hijab to
work next month to show their sense of solidarity with a local Muslim
woman gunned down last week.
Alia Ansari, 37, was shot and killed in broad daylight last Thursday
afternoon. She was walking with her 3-year-old daughter to pick up her
other children from school. Her family has asked police to investigate
the murder as a hate crime. They believe her traditional headscarf, or
hijab, made the Afghanistan native a target.
Women leaders in the community decided to organize an event to show their
support. November 13th has been declared "Wear a Hijab to Work
Day."
"I'm not going to say that this is a hate crime until the police
come back and tell us what it is, but one of the things that we can do as
a community is to make sure that different women and diverse cultures are
comfortable in any clothing that they chose to wear and that is what this
day is for," said Fremont City Councilwoman Anu Natarajan.
KCBS' Matt Bigler reports that police are still determining if the
shooting was a hate crime. The "person of interest" arrested in
the case has not yet been charged. He is being held on a parole
violation. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-MI PARTICIPATES IN HEALTH
DISPARITIES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FORUM AT UNIVERSITY -
TOP
(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 10/26/06) - The Michigan chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) yesterday participated in a forum
entitled "Human Dignity, Human Capacity, and Social Justice:
Examining Genetics and Health Disparities" at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The 90-minute forum, sponsored by the School of Public Health's Life
Sciences and Society Program, discussed from medical, legal and religious
perspectives regarding health disparities in society relating to social
injustice and remedies to improve the spiritual, mental and physical
health within society.
Panelists at the forum were Toby Citrin, Director of the Michigan Center
for Genomics and Public Health, Dr. David Ginsburg, Professor of Internal
Medicine and Human Genetics for the University of Michigan, Dr. Jerry
Walden, Founder of Packard Community Clinic, Rev. Paul Versluis, Pastor
of Shalom Community Church, and Dawud Walid, CAIR-MI Executive
Director.
LUBBOCK, Texas - Vandals have struck a Lubbock mosque three times in the
past month, prompting fear and calls for understanding among some in the
religious center's community.
Most recently someone used black spray paint Tuesday night to write the
misspelled word "Redemtion" on the building. Vandals have also
trampled the mosque's flower beds and smashed exterior lights within the
past month.
"I don't know what is the message they're trying to give," said
Faiz Rahman, a member of the mosque and the adviser to Texas Tech
University's Muslim Students Association. "Given that it happened
three times within the last month, we're a little
concerned."
Lubbock police Sgt. Marian McGuire said no suspects have been
identified.
Religious leader Mohamed El-Moctar said the mosque is considering
updating its security system and installing digital security
cameras.
"We are a very peaceful community, and we expect to be able to come
to worship without any intimidation," El-Moctar said. "It's
really disturbing for the community because we have a service late at
night sometimes."
Members of Lubbock's Muslim community estimate the local population of
Muslims to be between 500 and 700 people. Membership at the mosque is
about 150 people.
The rash of vandalism follows last month's completion of a renovation and
expansion at the mosque. (MORE)
An ignorant message of hate. That's what members of the Islamic Center of
the South Plains found when they arrived for their morning worship
Wednesday.
"People come here about 6:45am for the early morning prayer that we
have every day, and they found this redemption word written here, but
that's not the beginning of the story," Mohammed El-Moctar
said.
This round of vandalism actually started about two weeks ago when the
front flower bed was destroyed.
"The third time he destroyed the light here, and it looks like he
wasn't satisfied and last time we found this graffiti on the wall,"
Mohammed said.
The center's leader, Mohammed El-Moctar, says physically the vandalism is
minor, but even spelled incorrectly, the intent of the message is very
negative.
"It's becoming too frequent. People are now starting to feel unsafe
and uncomfortable to come for their worship," Mohammed
said.
But this isn't the first time vandals have hit the Islamic Center. The
first strike was March 2004 when someone threw a cinder block through a
window of the mosque, then destroyed and burglarized the inside. Four
teens were charged with burglary in that incident.
Mohammed feels the vandalism is an act of ignorance. He invites anyone
with questions about the Islamic Muslims to feel free to go to the center
and ask.
"We are happy to discuss with them anything they want about
religion, about politics, anything but not through these means,"
Mohammed said. "Everybody in this country is worshiping God in the
way they believe in, and that's the beauty of this country."
(MORE)
The Muslim Community in Lubbock is on edge after yet another attack on
the Islamic Center of the South Plains.
Lubbock police are trying to figure out who is behind the recent mosque
vandalism.
Late Tuesday night police found the word "redemption" spray
painted on the side of the newly remodeled building.
This is not the first time the mosque has been hit. Several weeks ago the
flowerbed in front of the Center was destroyed and a light fixture was
torn apart.
Faiz Rahman, the Muslim Students` Association Advisor, says he`s not sure
what it means and that has folks at the center on edge.
"I think the most scary part is that when you don`t know something
you get scared. It could be a prank or something bigger than that but
because we don`t know we are scared about it" he says.
Leaders at the center say they are planning to install surveillance
equipment to keep this from happening again.
NAIROBI, Kenya - Riot police were deployed to protect four missionaries -
two of them American - who reappeared in court Wednesday on charges of
distributing anti-Islamic literature.
U.S. citizens Andrew Saucier, of Philadelphia, and Paul Garcia, of
Illinois, are charged with handing out a pamphlet that questioned the
legitimacy of Islam and using words that would injure the feelings of
Muslims. Kenyans Michael Otanga and Patrick Ngei are also
charged.
Muslim pupil Halima Dida, 14, told the court she was offended after
finding the pamphlet at her school.
Dozens of Muslims said prayers outside the Nairobi courtroom, calling for
a stiff penalty if the four are found guilty. They face fines if
convicted.
On Monday, Muslims protesters threw stones to disrupt the trial and riot
police fired into the air to break up the disturbances.
A day after the pamphlets were distributed outside a primary school on
Oct. 17, Muslims demonstrated outside the Baptist church where the
defendants are based. (MORE)
The department of foreign affairs has confirmed it will ask the United
States government to determine why a top South African academic and
political commentator was denied entry into the United States this
weekend.
"We will be taking up the issue," said Ronnie Mamoepa.
Professor Adam Habib, a Muslim, was detained for more than seven hours at
New York's JFK International Airport on Saturday before being
deported.
The deportation resembles a similar incident that occurred on Friday,
when a senior Gauteng Muslim cleric, Fazlur Rahman Azmi, was denied entry
to the United States at San Francisco International Airport, despite
having been in the country as recently as April.
Habib, the Executive Director of the Democracy and Governance programme
at the Human Sciences Research Council and a part-time research professor
at the Centre for Civil Society and the School of Development Studies at
the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was part of an HSRC delegation to the US
that was scheduled to meet a number of institutions, including the
National Institute of Health, the Centres for Disease Control, the World
Bank, and the Carnegie and Gates foundations. (MORE)
Adama Bah's schoolmates were jubilant when she returned to 10th grade at
Heritage High School in Manhattan in May 2005 after six weeks in a
distant juvenile detention center. Her release put to rest the federal
government's unexplained assertion that Adama, a popular 16-year-old who
wore jeans under her Islamic garb, was a potential suicide
bomber.
But a year and a half later, with many of her friends planning proms and
applying to college, Ms. Bah, now 18, was still wearing an electronic
ankle bracelet and tethered to a 10 p.m. government curfew, restrictions
that were conditions of her release. And she was still facing deportation
to Guinea, where she has not lived since she was 2. (MORE)
An explosive new report claims that the federal investigation into the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying
organization, has been expanded to include suspicion of meddling in
affairs of the House Intelligence Committee.
The report comes immediately on the heels of two new surveys that shine a
critical light on Israel and on the role that the pro-Israel lobby plays
in shaping American foreign policy.
A recent poll by Zogby International found Americans almost evenly split
on whether the pro-Israel lobby was a key factor in influencing the Bush
administration to invade Iraq and take a tough stand against Iran's
nuclear program. In a separate study exploring the views of faculty
members at American universities, a significant percentage of scholars
identified Israel and the United States as threats to global
stability.
Last week, shortly after the surveys were released, Time magazine posted
an article on its Web site alleging that the FBI is investigating claims
of an improper deal between Aipac and Rep. Jane Harman of California, the
ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Under the alleged deal - which both sides vigorously deny was ever made -
the lobby would actively support Harman's bid to become the next chair of
the intelligence committee if the Democrats win control of the House. In
return, Harman would press the government to go easy on two former Aipac
staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, who are being prosecuted under
the Espionage Act for allegedly communicating classified information to
Israeli diplomats and reporters. (MORE)
While reportedly under investigation for her ties to an influential
pro-Israel lobbying organization, California Rep. Jane Harman last month
hosted a private dinner for the group that was attended by two top Bush
administration officials-Director of National Intelligence John
Negroponte and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.
The Sept. 13 dinner took place at the home of Harman, the ranking
Democrat on the House Select Committee on Intelligence, and was attended
by over 120 top financial backers of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC). The highlight of the evening was a panel discussion in
which Harman played the host, questioning Negroponte and Chertoff about
Mideast developments, international terrorism and homeland-security
issues, according to an AIPAC official.
The dinner was hardly an unusual one for AIPAC. The group often arranges
such elite pow-wows at the homes of senior members of Congress and
government officials (one in the mid-1990s was hosted by then Vice
President Al Gore) as a way for AIPAC to both demonstrate its political
clout and to provide a perk for major donors.
But last month's event raises new questions about recent reports that the
FBI was investigating whether Harman, an outspoken supporter of Israel,
last year may have agreed to improperly influence an ongoing Justice
Department probe of AIPAC. The reports of the probe came just a few days
after Harman released a politically sensitive House report that included
important new details about the investigation surrounding the activities
of disgraced former GOP Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham. (MORE)
A health fair, sports and entertainment will be among attractions at the
Muslim Day 2006 event Saturday and Sunday in Grant Park.
But there is more that separates this program from other fun days in the
park.
There also will be Quranic recitations, halal foods and an Islamic
bazaar.
Organizers expect more than 5,000 people to attend the two-day
event.
The first Muslim Day was held three years ago as a way to bring metro
Atlanta's diverse Muslim community together, said Amjad Taufique, one of
the organizers. The area is home to Muslims from various ethnic
backgrounds and nationalities. "We wanted to get to know each other
a little better," he said.
But it's also a time to let others learn about the faith, said Taufique,
a board member at the Masjid Al-Hedaya in Marietta and a leader in
Atlanta's interfaith community.
"We're reaching out to our neighbors and friends who are non-Muslims
to learn about our community," he said.
Soumaya Khalifa, executive director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of
Atlanta, estimates there may be as many as 150,000 Muslims in metro
Atlanta.
According to the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations, 6 million to 7 million Muslims live in the United
States.
Last year, the event attracted Muslims from Alabama and the Washington,
D.C., area.
Taufique said there will be a breast cancer awareness workshop and
walk.
This event is organized by the Atlanta Majlis Ash-Shura.
NATO warplanes killed at least 50 civilians, mostly women and children,
in bombing in southern Afghanistan during a major Islamic holiday, local
leaders said on Thursday.
The incident happened on Tuesday, the middle of the Eid al-Fitr festival
marking the end of the Muslim fasting month, in Panjwai, an area where
the alliance said it had killed hundreds of insurgents in a two-week
offensive last month.
NATO says it killed 48 insurgents during heavy fighting in the area in
Kandahar province on Tuesday and had received credible reports several
civilians were killed in the operation.
The defence ministry has sent a team to investigate.
"It was late at night -- that might be the reason they didn't know
where to bomb," said provincial assembly member Agha Lalai.
"They have bombed residential houses."
Visiting the wounded in hospital, tribal elder Naik Mohammad said 60
civilians had died. Villagers also said 60 died and another member of the
provincial assembly put the toll at 80.
Germany's defense minister said today that six people are under
investigation for photos showing German troops posing with a human skull
in Afghanistan, and Kabul condemned the solders' actions as "against
Islamic values."
Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung also announced a review of training for
foreign deployments.
"Anyone who behaves like this has no place in the army," Jung
told the Bundestag lower house of parliament. "We will enforce all
consequences, both criminal and disciplinary."
Of the six suspects, he said four were no longer in the
military.
NATO, which commands the 2,750 German forces in Afghanistan, said the
scandal could harm an already difficult mission in Afghanistan.
"There is the potential for the alleged conduct of a few soldiers to
be misrepresented and distorted in a way that can have a damaging
effect," said Maj. Luke Knitting, the spokesman for the NATO-led
force in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry statement said the action of the German
soldiers "goes against Islamic values and Afghan
traditions."
Jung said he had instructed the army's inspector general to review
training procedures, but he warned against a "wholesale
judgment" of the German soldiers deployed in the Balkans,
Afghanistan, Sudan, Djibouti, Congo and Lebanon.
The Bild newspaper, which first published the photographs on Wednesday,
ran more on Thursday, again blacking out the faces of the soldiers. It
did not say where it obtained the photos, which it dated to early 2003.
(MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
“Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily, to
them will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure, and We will
bestow on such their reward according to the best of their
actions.”
The Holy Quran, 16:97
-----
CAIR-CA: DONATE TO ALIA ANSARI
MEMORIAL FUND - TOP
CAIR-SFBA Action Alert: Attend Memorial Services Friday &
Saturday
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
(CAIR-SFBA), is urging the community to donate to Alia Ansari's Memorial
Fund, established a day after she was gunned down in Fremont.
The fund has been set up for the husband and six children that Ansari
left behind.
On Friday, October 20, the CAIR-SFBA staff attended the vigil held for
Ansari, and visited the family at their home near Glenmoor Drive. The
family is understandably grieving Ansari's death, with their primary
concern being her children, who are aged 2-13.
To donate to a fund for the Ansari children, checks can be made to the
"Ansari Family'' at Washington Mutual, account No. 3091558830, and
at Fremont Bank, account No. 55041477.
We call on you to donate generously to Ansari's Memorial Fund, and
support the family in their time of need. We also request you remember
Alia Ansari and the family in your prayers.
Funeral Prayer on Friday, 10/27/06
Memorial Service on Saturday, 10/28/06
The Ansari family is holding a public funeral service for Alia Ansari on
Friday.
WHAT: Funeral Prayer for Alia Ansari
WHEN: 2:30 p.m., Friday, October 27, 2006
WHERE: Lake Elizabeth on Paseo Padre Parkway (between 2,000 - 10,000
people expected)
The funeral prayer will be preceded by the Friday prayer. Following the
service, Alia Ansari's body will be flown to Afghanistan, where she will
be buried.
Memorial Service
The Centerville Presbyterian Church is holding a Memorial Service for
Alia Ansari, on Saturday.
WHAT: Memorial Service for Alia Ansari
WHEN: 11 a.m., Saturday, October 28, 2006
WHERE: Gymnasium, Centerville, Presbyterian Church (capacity: 500
guests)
CAIR-SFBA encourages you to express your support and show solidarity for
the Ansari family by attending both services.
"To God we belong, and to Him is our return" - The Holy Quran,
Chapter 2, Verse 156
Maha Choudhury proudly wears one of the most misunderstood aspects of
Islam � the hijab.
Although it has been touted as a simple head covering, to those who wear
the hijab it's much more: It is a way of life.
"It's about how you act when you're with women, when you're with
men. It's about manners, your talk and your walk � and it is meant to
protect you from unwanted attention," said Choudhury, a Fremont
resident.
The hijab has been the subject of much attention locally in the last
week, after Fremont mother of six Alia Ansari was shot to death in a
Glenmoor neighborhood. Ansari was wearing a hijab when she was killed
Oct. 19, and some family members have speculated that she might have been
the victim of a hate crime based on her appearance.
Local community leaders are organizing "Wear a Hijab Day" on
Nov. 13 as a "symbolic gesture of solidarity" in support of
Ansari.
Although Muslims vary in their interpretation of the hijab, the Quran
suggests that the most feminine parts of a woman � the hair and the bosom
� be covered at all times.
Contrary to popular belief, covering of the hair, bosom or body is
required by law in only a handful of Muslim countries, including Iran,
which in 1980 reinstated the mandatory chador covering that the shah had
revoked in 1936.
In fact, some countries, such as Tunisia and Turkey, have partly
prohibited head coverings.
"The Quran, in general, talks about dressing in modesty," said
Hatem Bazian, lecturer of Near Eastern studies and Islamic law at the
University of California, Berkeley.
"One reference (in the Quran) is to cover the bosom, as the Quran
suggests that the hair was already being covered at that time. Covering
is important so that women are protected � to prevent the turning of
heads. But this is also found in other religions. For example, those
visiting the Vatican must cover their heads in modesty as well."
(MORE)
As Election Day nears, local Muslim advocacy groups are working to get
out the vote.
The Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago have been
working to register more of the area's approximately 400,000 Muslims to
vote.
"The American-Muslim population is a growing population," said
Sadiya Ahmed, governmental relations coordinator for CAIR-Chicago.
"It's at a point where (the population is) becoming more politically
aware."
Earlier this week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
released results from a national survey of 1,000 Muslim registered
voters. About 89 percent of those surveyed said they vote
regularly.
"Muslims are active in civic life and civic duty, and I've known it
for a while, but it's good when it's public and reaffirmed," Ahmed
said.
The Muslim population is relatively young -- 67 percent of respondents
are between the ages of 25 and 54 -- according to the survey. Sixty-two
percent of respondents have a bachelor's degree or higher and 43 percent
have a household income of $50,000 or higher.
Forty-two percent of respondents said they consider themselves to be
Democrats, versus 17 percent Republican and 28 percent with no party
affiliation, according to the survey.
But American Muslim voters defy "simplistic labeling and maintain an
independent streak..." CAIR national Executive Director Nihad
Awad said in a news release. (MORE)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - At less than 3 percent of America's 300 million
residents, Muslims are still on the fringe of political influence and
power, experts say. But that may be changing.
A voter registration and get-out-the-vote drive is under way in the
Muslim community before the November 7 mid-term election. And it comes at
a time when their interest in politics may have been sharpened to a new
edge by the expected election of the first Muslim to the U.S.
Congress.
That will likely come in a heavily Democratic Minneapolis district for
43-year-old Keith Ellison, a native-born convert to Islam who would also
be the first black member of Congress from Minnesota.
His candidacy "is being followed very closely in the Muslim
community throughout the country," said one activist in Chicago,
where more than 1,000 new Muslim-American voters have been registered in
recent weeks.
Ellison's likely election would carry "a great symbolic
meaning" but future political gains will be one step at a time,
cautioned Louise Cainkar, research fellow at the Great Cities Institute
at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
"Muslim-Americans are emerging as a voice to be recognized in
American society," she said. "I don't think they have power
yet. You must first acknowledge you have a right to be part of the
discourse. They are working on that now and to some degree they have
attained that." (MORE)
(OTTAWA, CANADA, 10/26/06) – The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR-CAN) survey, "Presumption of
Guilt: A National Survey on Security Visitations of Canadian
Muslims," was cited in the U.S. State Department's 2005 Human Rights
Report.
The human rights report noted the increased number of visitations by
security officials to the homes and workplaces of Canadian Muslims. In
addition, the report cited from CAIR-CAN indicating that security
officials "discouraged legal representation, failed to provide
proper identification, or used threats and threatening behaviour in the
course of their interviews."
This follows the recent mention of CAIR-CAN in Justice O'Connor's
Analysis and Recommendations of the Arar Inquiry. Justice O'Connor
specifically identified the pamphlet, "Islam and Muslims: What
Police Officers Need to Know," prepared by Islamic Social Services
Association (ISSA) and reviewed by CAIR-CAN, as an important resource for
security officials to understand norms, practices and values of the
Muslim community.
"The official citing of CAIR-CAN's report on human rights abuses and
its educational publications demonstrate that our community is not only
engaged socially, but also that its efforts are recognized at the highest
levels of government," said Karl Nickner, CAIR-CAN's Executive
Director.
The ISSA pamphlet, “Islam and Muslims: What Police Officers Need to
Know,” can be ordered by writing to
canada@cair-net.ca.
-----
NEW DOCUMENTARY: ‘REEL BAD ARABS: HOW
HOLLYWOOD VILIFIES A PEOPLE’ -
TOP
“Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People,” featuring Dr. Jack
Shaheen, a new film based on Shaheen’s ground-breaking book. Now on DVD.
For ordering info and details, go to
www.mef.tv/rba or call
1-800-897-0089.
Editor's Note: This is the third part of a three-part series about Muslim
culture and understanding.
I had the veil, the long sleeved shirt, the skirt down to my ankles and
absolutely no idea what to do when I got there.
To my extreme relief, there was a lone woman dressed the same way
standing outside the Islamic Center of Mississippi in Starkville. As I
approached her, she smiled, and I asked her where I needed to
be.
She said, "Come on child. The sisters stay in this side," and
from that point on I knew I was as welcome there as at any Sunday service
I'd ever attended.
Wael Obaid, Mississippi University for Women professor and Imam, or
leader, at the Islamic Center of Mississippi in Starkville said that the
entire community of Starkville is welcome to visit the mosque and attend
services or receive information about Islam.
"We are now aware that some people in the community feel they are
not welcome at the mosque if they are not Arabic or Muslim. That is not
true. We care about this community, and we want more involvement,"
said Obaid.
The Masjid Al-Huda, or mosque of "The Right Way," located at
204 Hubert St., was founded in 1992 and built with grants from the
Islamic Society of North America and private donations. The congregation
of about 300 consists of nationalities ranging from Saudi Arabian,
Lebanese, American, Malaysian, Iraqi and Iranian, among many others. Many
members of the mosque are students and faculty of Mississippi State
University.
Since Muslims are required to pray five times a day, the mosque is open
morning and night.
When entering the mosque, visitors and members of the congregation first
remove their shoes. Then the Muslim members perform a ritual known as
"Wudu." This is a cleansing of the body. The hands and arms,
feet, face, hair, ears and mouth are rinsed before entering the prayer
room. Many members will choose to read the Quran as they wait for the
service to begin. (MORE)
Local Muslims want to introduce themselves and their religion through a
seminar, "Meet Your Muslim Neighbor," at the Broadmoor Library,
1212 Captain Shreve Drive, Shreveport.
The information will be presented by Halim Fadil and his wife, Sarah
Zitterman, who converted to Islam while in college. At 3:30 p.m. today,
Fadil will give an introduction to Islam, which will be followed by a
question-and-answer period. Zitterman said no question is taboo.
Saturday, they will begin with a meet-and-greet session at 9:30 a.m. At
11 a.m. Fadil will repeat the Introduction to Islam presentation.
Zitterman will lead a story and craft for children at 2 p.m. and speak
about Women in Islam at 3 p.m. In between the sessions, they will be
around for an open house sort of period to answer any questions.
"We would like to dispel stereotypes and explain what we really
believe in," Zitterman said.
A barefoot Habib Quraishi knelt shoulder to shoulder with five men
earlier this week and prayed to Allah in an Arabic chant that filled the
prayer room.
Since the mosque opened five weeks ago - on the first day of the holy
month of Ramadan - Quraishi has visited every day to pray at least one of
the five daily prayers required in the Muslim faith. Such daily trips
were never before possible because of the distance to other South Jersey
mosques.
"Now I can come to a place to pray and meditate," said
Quraishi, a retired Voorhees resident who lives just more than two miles
away. "This mosque serves two purposes. It serves our spiritual
needs and it lets us interact with the local community."
The nonprofit Muslim American Community Association in Voorhees converted
an abandoned office building at Haddonfield-Berlin Road and Lafayette
Avenue into the mosque to serve the area's substantial Muslim
community.
When the group requested township approvals in 2003 and 2004, it faced
stiff opposition from neighbors. Along with concerns about traffic and
lighting, people also testified at packed public hearings they feared a
mosque could incite violence in the community. An anonymous flier at the
time implied congregants would include extremists with links to
terrorists.
"There was a fear of the unknown and that's natural," said Ayaz
Ahmad, a Voorhees resident and mosque member.
On Saturday, the Muslim association will host an open house at the mosque
for the community to take tours and ask questions. The hope is once
people walk around and see the mosque, any lingering apprehension will
subside, said Zia Rahman, the association's managing director and a
trustee. (MORE)
IF YOU GO:
The Muslim American Community Association in Voorhees will formally bless
and open the mosque at 10 a.m. Saturday at Haddonfield-Berlin Road and
Lafayette Avenue.
It will host an open house for the public from 2-4 p.m.
Saturday.
As a child, Mary Ann Rice considered Our Lady Help of Christians Church a
second home.
A daughter of Polish immigrants, she attended its elementary school and
worshipped there in Masses said in her native tongue.
After 83 years, the church will celebrate its final Mass on Sunday and
become the first church in the Archdiocese of Detroit sold to a mosque.
It will cater to a new crop of immigrants -- from Bangladesh,
primarily.
"It's going to hurt," said Rice, 68. "There are a lot of
memories there. But you've got to go with the times."
The Islamic Center of North Detroit has a purchase agreement with the
Archdiocese of Detroit for Our Lady Help of Christians' five buildings,
which tentatively are planned to be used for an Islamic community center,
larger worship space and possibly a school.
The conversion of the Detroit buildings, on the Hamtramck border, from
church to Muslim center underscores how much the community's makeup has
changed. Long-entrenched Catholic churches have had to downsize as their
congregations moved to the suburbs and other immigrant groups moved in.
(MORE)
Vice President Cheney said this week that dunking terrorism suspects in
water during questioning was a "no-brainer," prompting
complaints from human rights advocates that he was endorsing the use of a
controversial technique known as waterboarding on prisoners held by the
United States.
In an interview Tuesday with Scott Hennen, a conservative radio show host
from Fargo, N.D., Cheney agreed with Hennen's assertion that "a dunk
in water" may yield valuable intelligence from terrorism suspects.
He also referred to information gleaned from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the
captured architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but stopped short of
explicitly saying what techniques were used.
"Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save
lives?" Hennen asked.
"Well, it's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said, "but for a
while there, I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We
don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."
The comments underscore continuing uncertainty over precisely which
techniques can be used legally during CIA interrogations of terrorism
suspects. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other lawmakers have said recent
legislation that established ground rules for interrogations should
effectively bar waterboarding and other methods that are viewed as
violations of the Geneva Conventions and U.S. criminal law.
Bush administration officials have repeatedly declined to say which
techniques they believe are permitted under the new law and have
steadfastly declined to discuss methods used in the past.
Numerous sources have said that the CIA subjected Mohammed and other
"high-value" terrorism suspects to waterboarding, a technique
that gives the prisoner the sensation of drowning. (MORE)
An Al-Qaeda terror suspect captured by the United States, who gave
evidence of links between Iraq and the terror network, confessed after
being tortured, a journalist told the BBC.
Iban al Shakh al Libby told intelligence agents that he was close to
Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and
"understood an awful lot about the inner workings of Al-Qaeda,"
former FBI agent Jack Clonan told the broadcaster.
Libby was tortured in an Egyptian prison, according to Stephen Grey, the
author of the newly-released book "Ghost Plane" who
investigated the secret US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisons that
housed terror suspects around the world.
US President George W. Bush confirmed the existence of the network of CIA
holding facilities overseas during a September 6 speech defending
controversial US interrogation practices.
Libby was apparently taken to Cairo, Clonan told the broadcaster, after
being captured in
Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the
United States.
"He (Libby) claims he was tortured in jail and that would be routine
in Egyptian prisons," Grey said.
"What he claimed most significantly was a connection between ...
Al-Qaeda and the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. This intelligence report
made it all the way to the top, and was used by (former US secretary of
state) Colin Powell as a key piece of justification ... for invading
Iraq," he told the broadcaster. (MORE)
Nato forces in Afghanistan have killed scores of civilians in a single
operation, bombing them in their own homes as they celebrated the end of
Ramadan.
Nato commanders were facing serious questions yesterday as the Afghan
government said it had confirmed that at least 40 civilians were killed
in Nato bombing raids in Panjwayi district, near Kandahar.
Nato said its own initial investigation found that only 12
"non-combatants" were killed, but it had no explanation for the
discrepancy with the government's figures. Local Afghan officials said
they believed as many as 85 civilians died - which would make the
incident the worst single atrocity committed by Western forces in
Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.
What was clear was that something terrible happened at Panjwayi, a
penniless place amid the barren dust of Kandahar province. Nato says its
forces were fighting Taliban insurgents who had been attacking convoys in
the area. According to Bismillah Afghanmal, a Kandahar provincial council
member, Taliban fighters tried to take shelter in civilian houses - and
Nato forces targeted the houses despite the fact civilians were still
inside. Witnesses say 25 houses were razed in four to five hours of
bombing.
The attack came as Afghans celebrated Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of
Ramadan. In 2002 a US air strike killed 46 civilians at a wedding party
in Oruzgan.
As many as 70 Taliban insurgents were killed in the fighting at Panjwayi,
according to Major Mark Knittig, a spokesman for Isaf, the Nato force in
Afghanistan. "Very sadly, civilians continue to get caught up in
these engagements with tragic results," he said, adding that Nato
always used "precision strikes".
Nato said its initial investigation found that only 12 civilians died,
but it had no explanation for the number of funerals that were taking
place in the area yesterday. In Kandahar city, hundreds attended a mass
funeral.
"Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition. There
was no Taliban," said Abdul Aye, a villager, as he wept. He said 22
of his extended family were killed. "These tragedies just keep
continuing."
Another villager, Taj Mohammed, said 10 members of his family were
killed. "The information was wrong," he said. "There were
no militants. Innocent people have been killed." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: Suspicious Letter Sent to AZ Muslim Newspaper / ADL
Director Calls Muslim Dialogue a 'Pipe Dream' / Fears of Inquiry
Dampen Giving by U.S. Muslims
"If God helps you, then there is none who can overcome you. If He
forsakes you, then who else is there other than Him who can help you?
Therefore, in God let the believers put their trust."
The Holy Quran, 3:160
HADITH OF THE DAY: TRUST IN HIM
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once took the hand of a man who
was suffering from leprosy and placed it, along with his own hand, in a
dish of food and said: "Eat with confidence in God and trust in
Him."
Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 1799
-----
REMINDER: REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR 11/18
BANQUET IN VIRGINIA -
TOP
Registration is now available online for CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet,
"American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing," in Arlington,
Virginia.
Phoenix police confirm they are investigating a suspicious letter sent to
the Muslim Voice newspaper in Phoenix.
Police won't say what was suspicious about the letter, but the publisher
of the paper tells 12 News that the letter contained a white powdery
substance.
The publisher Marwan Ahmad was removed last week from the City of Phoenix
Human Relations board after the city received complaints about the
publisher views expressed in the news paper. (MORE)
I am greatly disturbed about the U.S. Postal Service supporting Islam
with stamps recognizing two Islamic holidays. We just purchased two from
a post office in Spartanburg. One postal worker didn't even know about
them.
Why is the U.S. Postal Service giving this kind of support to this group
when there are Islamic extremists who would like to see this country
wiped off the face of the Earth? We should boycott the stamps. Would you
please write about this disgraceful stamp supplied by the U.S. Postal
Service?
CAIR is asking members of the American Muslim community to contact
local postmasters and request that they stock the stamp commemorating Eid
ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha that were re-issued on October 6, 2006, as part
of the "Holiday Series." In past years, there have been reports
that the Eid stamp was unavailable in some post offices.
ACTION REQUESTED:
1. CONTACT your local postmaster TODAY to request that he or she stock
the "Eid stamp."
2. BUY AND USE Eid stamps for all your mailing needs.
Post offices may be located and stamps may be ordered through the United
States Postal Service
website.
Eid stamps may also be ordered by calling 1-800-STAMP-24.
-----
CAIR: ANTI-DEFAMATION
DIRECTOR CALLS MUSLIM DIALOGUE A 'PIPE DREAM' -
TOP
Rachel Pomerance, Religion News Service, 10/27/06 http://religionnews.com/
The national director of the Anti-Defamation League said Friday (Oct. 27)
that dialogue with moderate Muslims is a "pipe dream" because
"there's nobody to talk to."
The comment by the ADL's Abraham Foxman came after a challenge to
Foxman's keynote address at the ADL's annual meeting in Atlanta. Foxman
spoke about the dangers of Islamic extremism and, in particular, a
nuclear Iran threats that he said the world has appeased as it did with
Nazi Germany.
After the speech, Seymour Reich, president of the Israel Policy Forum, a
think tank that urges U.S. involvement in brokering Arab-Israeli peace,
pressed Foxman to focus more on finding moderate Muslims with whom to
dialogue.
"There's nobody to talk to yet," Foxman replied.
The ADL conditions dialogue with Muslim groups on their rejection of
terrorism in all cases. But Foxman said he has yet to find one group to
accept those terms.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, called the charge "nonsense."
CAIR has condemned terrorism "every which way from Sunday,"
Hooper said in a phone interview, pointing to the group's condemnation of
attacks in Tel Aviv and its special anti-terrorism campaign, "Not in
the Name of Islam."
Hooper said the ADL defines moderation by a pro-Israel litmus test that
requires "turning a blind eye toward the brutality of the Israeli
occupation" that no mainstream Muslim group can pass.
"To us, that's not moderation. That's selling out the cause of human
rights and justice in order to be accepted." (MORE)
DEARBORN, Mich. - By the end of Ramadan last year, Najah Bazzy remembers
having more than $10,000 in cash donations to distribute to the needy,
and a vast auditorium ringed with tables groaning with enough free food
for 400 poor families to celebrate the holiday.
This year, Mrs. Bazzy formalized the good works she had been doing for a
decade among the tens of thousands of Muslims who live in the Dearborn
area by establishing a charity, Zaman International.
But by the end of the holiday, charitable contributions were meager. She
said cash donations amounted to less than $4,000, and for the first time
since she began her charity work she bought food to feed about 85 needy
families instead of counting on gifts.
There are similar stories in Muslim communities across the country.
Fearful that donations to an Islamic charity could bring unwanted
attention from federal agents looking into potential ties to terrorism,
many Muslim Americans have become reluctant to donate to Islamic causes,
including charities.
"We can't stop giving because it's a pillar of Islam - it's a
must," said Mrs. Bazzy, an animated 46-year-old nurse who veils her
hair with a headscarf in keeping with Muslim traditions of modest dress.
"It's a real moral dilemma. Do you forget about the rest of the
world out of fear? My family has been here for 101 years, and as an
American I'm offended."
The holy month of Ramadan is supposed to be a time of giving,
particularly for the Muslim faithful, for whom charity, or zakat, is one
of the five main tenets of their religion. The meaning of
"zakat" is rooted in the Arabic word for purification, and
sacred texts even define the amount - at least 2.5 percent of net annual
earnings.
But recently, fear has often trumped faith.
When Mrs. Bazzy calls people to solicit contributions, they quickly beg
off and hang up, telling her later in the grocery store or the bank not
to ask them for money on the phone because the government is probably
eavesdropping.
Nobody wants to write a check for any amount, and they look at her in
horror when she offers a receipt - some of the largest donations she
still receives have been anonymous wads of $100 bills stuffed into
envelopes. (MORE)
The St. Louis chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-St.
Louis) is seeking candidates for the position of Executive Director. This
is a part-time position. The successful candidate will be a
self-motivated leader, with outstanding interpersonal and communication
skills.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Kamal Yassin, President, St. Louis Chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-STL), P.O. Box 739,
Manchester, MO 63011, Tel: 636-207-8882, E-mail:
Director@cair-stlouis.org
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-SAN DIEGO REP SPEAKS AT METHODIST
CHURCH -
TOP
(SAN DIEGO, CA, 10/30/06) - On Sunday, October 29, 2006, a representative
of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-San Diego) spoke at the Mission Hills United Methodist
Church.
CAIR-San Diego Director of Public Relations Edgar Hopida gave a short
presentation about CAIR's work and a brief introduction to Islam. The
presentation was concluded with a question and answer session in which
members of the church asked about current events and misunderstandings
about Islam and Muslims.
"This type of interfaith dialogue is needed to break down barriers
to mutual understanding," said Hopida.
CONTACT: Edgar Hopida, Tel: 858-278-4547 or 619-913-0719, E-mail:
ehopida@cair.com
American Muslims are religiously diverse, well integrated into American
society and politically active, and they lean toward the Democratic
Party, according to a recent survey.
"The survey confirms anecdotal observations of the Muslim community
that it's really diverse on all levels," said Ibrahim Hooper, a
spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic
advocacy group. The council, based in Washington, D.C., surveyed
1,000 Muslim voters in the United States regarding demographic profiles,
political leanings and levels of social integration.
The survey shows that 31 percent attend a mosque on a weekly basis; 16
percent attend once or twice a month and 27 percent said they seldom or
never attend a mosque.
Nearly 90 percent of American Muslims are regular voters, the survey
found. But no clear majority of party affiliation exists among American
Muslims. Of those surveyed, 17 percent said they were Republican, while
42 percent said they were Democrat and 28 percent said they did not
belong to any party, the report found.
"Muslims are not beholden to any particular party," Mr. Hooper
said. "They are issue-driven voters. If a candidate supports the
issues important to them, they will vote for them regardless of
party."
Chattanooga resident Salih Acarbulut said American Muslims, though they
are well integrated, have to deal with misconceptions about Islamic
values.
"The biggest issue that we see as Muslims is the notion that Muslims
are anti-American," Mr. Acarbulut said. "The administration and
the media have sold that idea, and that's really probably the most
painful part."
In 2000, the majority of Muslims voted for Republican candidates,
according to the report. Over the past several years Muslim political
affiliation has shifted because of issues such as the war in Iraq and the
Israel-Palestinian conflict. Now, Mr. Hooper said, parties are not
reaching out to Muslim voters very much.
"There is some outreach particularly from the Democrats," Mr.
Hooper said. "Unfortunately, there are a number of Republican
candidates who are exploiting the Muslim prejudice." (MORE)
Late this summer, when British police announced they had foiled a
terrorist plot aimed at U.S.-bound airplanes, governments heightened
security, airlines delayed flights, and stock markets faltered.
In Houston the news meant 20 cancellations to Shariq Abdul Ghani's Muslim
summer camp, set to start the next day at a state park near New Caney.
With the renewed talk of terror, parents feared a backlash against
Muslims and opted to keep their teenage boys home.
Ghani, 25, just shrugged it off.
As a Muslim youth leader in the post-9/11 world, he juggles issues
foreign to his Christian and secular counterparts. He has twice met with
the FBI - not because there were problems but to pre-empt any that may
arise. His charges - the children of Houston's Malaysian, Nigerian,
Pakistani and Sudanese immigrants - struggle with unique adolescent
conflicts: how it feels to be called a terrorist or belong to a religion
that discourages taking a date to the prom.
"The pressure is to fit in with American society, and I don't think
they know how to do that properly," Ghani said of the hundreds of
teens he mentors through his organization, Crescent Youth.
A 2004 poll supported by the Pew Charitable Trust found that younger
Muslims hold more liberal views and are quicker to report discrimination
than their parents' generation. And an informal survey of 200 Muslim
youths at a 2005 conference in Chicago found that the vast majority sense
hostility toward their religion from the outside world.
"Such hostility, real or perceived, could contribute to the sense of
isolation that would create a psychological conflict between their
American identity and their Muslim identity," the Muslim Public
Affairs Council wrote in that report. The survey tried to gauge the
opinions of American Muslim teenagers after the London subway bombings,
which were carried out almost entirely by men younger than 30.
In its findings, the organization called for more mentors to help young
American Muslims deal with the "uncertainties they experience."
(MORE)
When Zia Rahman and other Voorhees-area Muslims began looking for a site
to build a mosque five years ago, they anticipated some community
opposition, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
They didn't anticipate the level or depth of resistance - or the
attention it would attract regionally, even nationally.
One of the first signs of trouble was an anonymous flyer - distributed in
the community in 2003 - suggesting that a mosque might attract worshipers
with links to terrorists.
Then came residents' complaints that it would create traffic and parking
problems and wouldn't generate property taxes. A few said anger over the
9/11 attacks might make the mosque a target of vandals.
But Rahman and the 15-family Muslim congregation faithfully pushed on
with the project, befriending people of many religions who helped
overwhelm the opposition.
Yesterday, scores of those friends and other members of the community
turned out for an open house at the mosque, which began services last
month, during the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.
The mosque is one of about eight in South Jersey and among 80 across the
state, officials said. Philadelphia has about 25. (MORE)
During the holy month of Ramadan, which ended a week ago today, that was
the best way to find Pasco's least known place to pray. It's off State
Road 54 in an ordinary strip center containing doctor's offices; and it's
where, as the evening blue crept into the sky, shoes would pile up in
front of the office doors and where, behind the doors, blossomed an
American brand of Islam.
All month long, congregants met just before sunset at the Islamic Center
of New Port Richey for Iftar - the breaking of the 12-hour fast and
evening prayers. Children played football outside, women in bright head
scarves and their husbands unloaded aluminum serving trays and boxes
filled with tastes from the melting pot: Chicken biryani and boxes of
Dunkin' Donuts; jerk chicken and macaroni and cheese. Palestinians and
Syrians made lamb rice and hummus one night. A Pakistani family brought
Pizza Hut and chicken wings another night.
"When we first came here there was nothing, so we started our
prayers in our offices," said Dr. Abdur Rahim, one of the founding
members of the Islamic Center, who moved to New Port Richey in 1983.
"Then we found there were other people besides us, and we started to
invite them."
From three doctors praying in their own offices, they moved into the
house of a pharmacist, which they quickly outgrew. They rented one office
in the strip mall off State Road 54 and then a second office for the
women. Today about 100 families come to the center for prayers.
(MORE)
When Caribou Coffee went public last year, sharp-eyed investors noticed
some unusual promises in its prospectus. Caribou, the nation's
second-largest coffeehouse chain, said it would never sell pork or porn.
It wouldn't charge or receive interest, either.
By following financial rules that are part of the Islamic code called
Shariah, Caribou is among a small but growing list of Western businesses
looking to make themselves as attractive as possible to Muslim
investors.
Some, such as Caribou, are motivated by principle, while others see
Muslim investors as an attractive new source of money.
Mideastern investors flush with oil profits are looking for new places to
invest, and American Muslims are looking to invest in a way that doesn't
conflict with their faith. (MORE)
Turkey met Native Deen, an American hip-hop trio band of Muslim
musicians, at the Yedikule Towers during Ramadan in 2005 for the first
time.
The band members wear traditional Islamic clothes with knitted caps,
loose tunics and pants, but are hip-hop musicians.
Joshua Salaam, Naeem Muhammad and Abdul-Malik Ahmad began the group in
2000. The young band is scheduled to meet with their fans in Feshane
tonight.
Spending most of their time in Istanbul sightseeing and rehearsing, the
group answered our questions during their first break.
Zaman: You gave a concert in Istanbul during Ramadan last year. What do
you think about Turkey?
Native Deen: Spending Ramadan in a Muslim country is a great boon for
people who were raised in a non-Muslim country. The Turkish audience was
quite sincere. We loved Turkey a lot. People greet one another with
'selamun aleykum' (a traditional Islamic greeting) as well as 'hello.'
However, the young generation tends to imitate whatever they see. This is
the biggest problem for Muslims. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
"All (things and beings) in the heavens and on earth prostrate
themselves before God, (either) willingly or unwillingly, as do their
shadows in the mornings and the evenings."
The Holy Quran, 13:15
-----
CAIR SEEKS DUE PROCESS FOR AMERICAN
FACING EXECUTION IN IRAQ -
TOP
U.S. authorities asked to maintain custody pending legal appeal
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/31/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) today called on U.S. authorities in Iraq to maintain custody of an
American citizen facing the death penalty in that nation until his legal
appeal can be heard.
Last Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit ruled that Iraqi-American Mohammed Munaf must be given
until November 6th to appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court before he
can be transferred to Iraqi custody for execution. Munaf was sentenced to
death by an Iraqi court earlier this month for his alleged role in the
2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists.
Munaf's attorney, Jonathan
Hafetz from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, said
in a statement:
"While in U.S. custody, Mr. Munaf has been tortured and threatened
with violence against himself and his family. On October 12, Munaf was
convicted and sentenced to death by an Iraqi court. The trial lacked
fundamental due process, as no witnesses were presented and the court
relied on evidence secured by torture. . .Habeas corpus is a fundamental
right of all U.S. citizens against illegal action by their government.
This right has been fundamentally compromised in Mr. Munaf's case, and
absent judicial intervention, he will be put to death and the
Constitution forever tarnished."
"We call on American authorities in Iraq to maintain custody of
Mohammed Munaf until his appeal may be heard by a U.S. court," said
CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar. "It would a miscarriage
of justice to hand an American citizen over to another nation for
execution without full due process of law and judicial
review."
Iftikhar added that Munaf's case is just another example of the weaking
of habeas corpus - the right of an imprisoned person to challenge his or
her confinement in court. President Bush recently signed into law the
Military Commissions Act of 2006, which reduced that right for resident
aliens and provided a legal basis for "alternate" interrogation
methods.
CAIR has 32 offices, chapters and affiliates 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:
aiftikhar@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com
Nolan Finley's solutions of more baseball and sex to reform a minority of
Muslims away from extremism are preposterous ("Ex-jihadist seeks
Islam's Martin Luther," Oct. 22). People don't live in a vacuum
disconnected from sociopolitical circumstances.
Thus, terrorists such as the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, who pioneered
suicide bombings, are secularists, yet countries such as Gambia that are
almost 100 percent Muslims do not suffer from terrorism. Also, Muslim
organizations such as the Council of American-Islamic Relations have
consistently spoken out against extremism, the right for people to be
forced to accept Islam to the rights of Muslim women.
Dawud Walid
Executive Director
Council on American-Islamic Relations -- Michigan
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-OHIO REPS TRAINED TO TEACH ABOUT
DIVERSITY -
TOP
(COLUMBUS, OH, 10/31/06) - Representatives of the Ohio chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) recently attended a
"train the trainer" workshop for those dealing with cultural
diversity and sensitivity issues related to Islam and Muslims within the
Ohio Child Welfare system.
Fifteen members of Ohio's Muslim Community took part in the workshop.
After being certified, these individuals may be called on to provide
diversity training throughout the state of Ohio.
The program is designed to educate social workers about Islam in general
and the cultural sensitivities that are associated with Muslim families.
Social workers can then apply this information to help meet the needs of
Muslim children and families that are in Ohio's Child Welfare
system.
"Many social workers are not familiar with Islam or Muslim families,
and are therefore at a disadvantage when it comes to fulfilling the needs
of children and families within the child welfare system," said
CAIR-Ohio Director Adnan Mirza.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 32 offices and
chapters nationwide and in Canada. The CAIR-Ohio Chapter has three
offices - Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. 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.
U.S. MUSLIMS MOBILIZE IN 2006
ELECTIONS WITH EYE ON 2008 -
TOP
Omar Sacirbey, Religion News Service, 10/31/06 http://religionnews.com/
Congressional elections haven't meant much to Saadia Chaudhry, who, at
30, has never cast a midterm ballot. But this year Chaudhry is excited
about voting in her suburban Maryland district, even though she admits
with a slightly embarrassed laugh that she's not even sure who's
running.
"I just know I'm voting for Democrats," Chaudhry said.
Muslim American voters like Chaudhry, angered by policies they say abuse
their civil rights at home and kill and injure Muslims abroad, are
expected to turn out in unusually high numbers this year, throwing their
support overwhelmingly behind Democratic candidates, observers
say.
The boiling frustration with the Bush administration coincides with
unprecedented voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns in Muslim
communities. Meanwhile, other Muslim voters have been energized by what
they see as anti-Muslim rhetoric.
While it is unclear if Muslim American voters have the numbers to tip any
tight elections, many believe they have achieved unprecedented levels of
political organization and electoral enthusiasm. Their political
strength, they hope, will be remembered two years from now when the White
House is again in play.
A 2001 poll by Zogby International found that 79 percent of the country's
estimated 2 million to 8 million Muslims are registered to vote. Mukit
Hossain of the Muslim American Society told The Washington Post in
October there are an estimated 2 million registered Muslim American
voters.
Perhaps the biggest sign of growing Muslim political strength is the
candidacy of Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat who converted to Islam
in his 20s and is poised to become the first Muslim ever elected to
Congress. His Republican opponent, Alan Fine, said Ellison should drop
out of the race because he helped organize the 1996 Million Man March,
spearheaded by controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan.
But Ellison's campaign has been buoyed by non-Muslim groups who have
called Fine's attacks mudslinging, as well as more than $20,000 in
campaign contributions from donors with common Muslim names, according to
a review of
www.FECinfo.com, a
campaign contributions Web site. More than $12,300 of the donations are
from out-of-state.
On Long Island, perceived slights against Muslims are playing a role in
New York's 3rd congressional district, where Republican Peter King, a
six-term incumbent who won the 2004 election with 63 percent of the vote,
is running neck-and-neck with his 36-year-old challenger, Democrat Dave
Mejias.
King has repeatedly alleged that 85 percent of American mosques are run
by Islamic extremists, including the Islamic Center of Long Island in
Westbury, in the heart of his district.
That sort of rhetoric has many of the district's Muslims making phone
calls and ringing doorbells for Mejias, said Faroque Khan, chairman of
the board of the Westbury mosque. About 20 donors with common Muslim
names have given some $8,000 to Mejias, who has raised more than
$664,000.
"I can tell you the community is energized," said Khan,
estimating he knew of "at least 20 to 30" local Muslims working
in phone banks and on get-out-the-vote drives for Mejias. "His
(King's) attacks on the community are creating a reaction, as one would
expect."
King's campaign did not return calls for comment.
But donors with Muslim-sounding names have given at least as much to
King, who has raised almost $1.4 million. King has also taken money from
members of the same Westbury mosque he accuses of harboring extremists,
for which he has been called a hypocrite.
"That's Congressman King's campaign: The Muslims are terrorists, I'm
protecting us from Muslim terrorists in our own backyard," said the
Rev. Mark Lukens, pastor of Bethany Congregational Church in East
Rockaway, N.Y., who joined other Christian and Jewish leaders to condemn
King at a recent press conference. "I can only assume that that
resonates with somebody, but I think most people are turned off by
that."
Muslim activists say there have been similar reactions to comments made
by incumbent Rep. Mark Kirk and candidate Andrea Zinga, two Illinois
Republicans running in separate districts. Sadiya Ahmed, government
affairs director for the Council on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR), says Muslims still haven't forgotten Kirk's statement last
year that "I'm OK with discrimination against young Arab males from
terrorist-producing states," nor comments Zinga, a former CNN
correspondent, made that some perceived as supporting racial
profiling.
"They're not accurately representing their constituents, and that's
angering the Muslim community a lot, and they're taking the smart
approach by being politically active, and hitting them where it really
hurts, and that's with votes," said Sadiya Ahmed, governmental
affairs coordinator for the Chicago chapter of CAIR.
Kirk's and Zinga's campaigns did not return calls for comment.
Frustration with administration policies they see as denying Muslims'
civil rights at home and hurting Muslims in Iraq, the Palestinian
territories and elsewhere is motivating Muslim Americans across the
country to vote Nov. 7, even in districts without tight races.
At the same time, many Muslim Americans say watching America's image
suffer abroad is as much a factor in their Democratic leanings.
"The Patriot Act was alarming, and then the war in Iraq clinched it
for us," said Rubina Inamdar, a physician in Jackson, Miss.
"America used to be revered and now there's this harsh cynicism
about the big bully that forces people to do what it wants, but doesn't
really follow its own laws."
According to a survey released in October by CAIR, 42 percent of Muslim
American voters considered themselves Democrats, compared to 17 percent
who considered themselves Republicans. . .
With new political inroads made this year, Muslims already have higher
hopes for the 2008 presidential elections.
"I think every election, it gets better," said Ahmed, the CAIR
official in Chicago, of Muslim political organization. "We started
earlier this year and we have a lot more distribution materials than we
did two years ago. I hope that we can expand two years from now and have
an even bigger operation, and reach an even larger constituency than we
did this year."
More than half a ton of food was delivered to Crossroads Urban Center on
Monday, the result of a monthlong drive by Utah's Muslim community during
the holy month of Ramadan.
Charity is an integral part of Ramadan, during which adherents to Islam
fast from sunrise to sunset, said Imam Shuaib-ud Din of the Khadeeja
mosque in West Valley City. The month, based on a lunar calendar, ended
Sunday.
"Ramadan is a month of sharing, a month of compassion," Din
said. "We have always shared with members of our community, and
decided this time around that it's about time we share with the larger
community." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AMERICAN LEADERS ASKED TO REPUDIATE ANTI-ISLAM
HATE Baptist leader, politicians stereotype Islam and Muslims; MO family's
home targeted with racist graffiti
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/1/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights and advocacy group today reacted to a series of physical and
rhetorical attacks on Islam and Muslims nationwide by calling on
religious and political leaders to repudiate growing Islamophobia in
American society.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) reported that a county
commissioner in Florida said Tuesday that he agrees with a letter his
wife wrote to a local newspaper calling Islam a "hateful,
frightening religion."
In Missouri, a top Baptist leader in that state told 1,200 convention
delegates: "Today, Islam has a strategic plan to defeat and occupy
America." He said Muslims are planning to take over America one city
at a time, starting with Detroit. "They are trying to establish a
Muslim state inside America, and they are going to take the city of
Detroit back to the 15th century and practice Sharia (or Islamic) law
there."
In Pennsylvania, Sen. Rick Santorum compared the Islamic concept of
"Jihad" to Nazism. "Mein Kampf means struggle; jihad means
struggle," said Santorum.
(Jihad is a central and broad Islamic concept that includes struggle
against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality
of life in society, struggle on the battlefield by using a standing army
for national defense, or fighting against tyranny or
oppression.)
CAIR said a number of political candidates nationwide have exploited
anti-Muslim bias in their campaigns.
In New York, Rep. Peter King claimed the vast majority of mosques in his
state and nationwide are being run by "radicals." In
California, a Muslim candidate for the Anaheim City Council was labeled
"anti-American" by his Republican opponents. In Wisconsin, a
congressional candidate questioned about his call for profiling of
Muslims suggested looking for anyone who is "wearing a turban and
his name is Muhammad." And in Minnesota, another candidate for
Congress said that "as a Jew" he is offended by his Muslim
opponent's candidacy.
Last week, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said
that dialogue with American Muslims is a "pipe dream" because
"there's nobody to talk to." Last month on his "700
Club" television program, Pat Robertson called the Quran
"fraudulent."
"Anti-Muslim rhetoric in our society is growing to alarming
levels," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
"This disturbing trend can only get worse unless top American
religious and political leaders speak out strongly against
Islamophobia."
Hooper said a recent
CAIR
report indicated an almost 30 percent increase in the total number of
complaints of anti-Muslim bias from 2004 to 2005. A
CAIR survey released last week showed that Muslims are religiously
diverse, well integrated in American society, politically active, and
lean toward the Democratic Party.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32
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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
VERSE OF THE DAY: GOD ANSWERS CRIES OF THE OPPRESSED
-
TOP
"Just think who answers the oppressed person when he cries out to
Him and relieves his affliction, and makes you, O mankind, inheritors of
the earth? Is there another divine power besides God? How little do you
reflect!"
The Holy Quran, 27:62
-----
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE TO SPEAK AT
CAIR DINNER -
TOP
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) will be a keynote speaker at
CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet, "American Muslims: Connecting &
Sharing," November 18th in Arlington, Virginia.
Since top British politicians called the Muslim veil a mark of separation
new debate has exploded over whether Muslims should assimilate more or
Western cultures should better accommodate their customs.
Guests
* Karen Dabdoub, executive director, Council on American-Islamic
Relations in Cincinnati * Mona Eltahawy, commentator; director, Progressive Muslim Union of
North America
* Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of
Church and State and author of "Piety & Politics" (Harmony
Books)
CAIR-CHICAGO:
UNDERSTANDING ISLAM IN THE MODERN WORLD II -
TOP
WHAT: The University of Chicago Office of the Vice President and Dean of
Students, in partnership with the Chicago office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) will present the second
installment of "Understanding Islam in the Modern World" on
November 1, 2006
Speakers, who will include Georgetown Professor John L. Esposito, Ph.D
and CAIR-Chicago Ahmed Director M. Rehab, will attempt to diffuse common
misperceptions about Islam and Muslims and to shed light on key
contemporary events surrounding Muslims and Islam in today's headlines.
Emphasis is placed on audience interaction via a lively question and
answer segment following speaker presentations.
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov 1st 2006 - 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hutch Commons, Reynolds Club, 1st floor, University of Chicago,
5706 S. University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
Event Sponsors: The Muslim Students' Association, MESSA, Interfaith
Dialogue, the Office of the Vice President and Dean of Students in the
University, and the Office of the Reynolds Club and Student
Activities.
(COLUMBUS, OH, 11/1/06) - The Columbus office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, Ohio (CAIR-Ohio) recently met with students
attending the Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.
The event focused on the recent proposed "jihad-themed" radio
advertisements for a car dealer in that state that were not aired but
numerous other topics were discussed. It was part of the ongoing series
of presentations by CAIR-Ohio to educate the community on issues related
to civil rights, such as religious discrimination in employment, housing
and schools.
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 11/1/06) - The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) will host a Voters' Education
Forum on Sunday, Nov. 5th. The forum will feature various candidates
running on the Nov. 7th ballot as well as two issues on the ballot that
are of interest to Northern California residents.
WHAT: Voters' Education Forum
WHEN: Sunday Nov. 5th, 3-6 PM
WHERE: SALAM Community Center, 4541 College Oak Dr., Sacramento, CA
95814
CONTACT: CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra, 916-441-6269, or
E-Mail: sacval@cair.com
We often see Muslims portrayed in a negative light, that's why the
Council on American Islamic Relations or CAIR is trying to change
the negative perceptions many Americans may have.
CAIR's Ohio Chapter President, Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin spoke to the
Zanesville Rotarians Tuesday to promote understanding of the Islamic
culture.
"The violence, extremism that is happening is some areas tends to
become associated with the whole race and many people who don't know
Muslims, don't know Islam, may associate the two."
She said American Muslims contribute to society and are part of the
fabric of our country and state.
"You may know people in the community and you may not know that
they're Muslim but they might be your doctors or your lawyers or your
teachers and when people think of Muslims, they often think of something
they've seen on TV or associated with something foreign."
CAIR also works to protect the civil rights of all Americans and supports
equal rights for men and women.
---
ACTION ALERT: WRITE MACLEAN'S MAGAZINE ABOUT
FEAR MONGERING ARTICLE -
TOP
(OTTAWA, CANADA - OCT 31, 2006) The Canadian Council on
American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) is asking all people of conscience to write to
Maclean's Magazine.
In the October 23rd issue of Maclean's, a provocative and Islamophobic
article by Mark Steyn was printed entitled, "The future belongs to
Islam."
The article's fear mongering tone focuses on the influx of Muslim
immigrants into Europe and North America through an analysis that
parallels Samuel Huntington's infamous book, "The Clash of
Civilizations."
An excerpt from the article reads:
"Age + Welfare = Disaster for you;
Youth + Will = Disaster for whoever gets in your way.
Islam has Youth and will, Europe has age and welfare."
In criticising the Maclean's article, Derrick O'Keefe writes, "Seen
within the "War on Terror"... Steyn's article must be
understood as a deliberate, hateful and provocative act."
1. Write a 150 word letter to Maclean's Magazine for print.
2. Or submit a two to three paragraph letter to the Maclean's editorial
board.
When writing it is critical to keep Maclean's readership in mind and
maintain a style that is calm and convincing, but firm.
TALKING POINTS
1. The article entitled "The Future belongs to Islam" is
inflammatory and offensive. It does little to build bridges, it simply
divides people.
2. It would be appreciated if such provocative articles are not given
space and if Maclean's maintains a balanced editorial policy.
3. Maclean's in the past was an authoritative and respectable voice for
Canadians; however, today's Maclean's is clearly breaking away from this
tradition.
4. If Maclean's Magazine continues to publish such articles, I will
consider not renewing my subscription.
Maclean's Letters
One Mount Pleasant Road
11th floor
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2Y5
When submitting letters for publication Maclean's requests that an
author's name, address and daytime phone number be supplied for
verification purposes.
I just had a great idea. I think I'm going to open a burqa and prayer rug
store in Atlanta, since obviously many of the women who write to the
opinion page think it's cool to wear burqas. And since the Dems are going
to pull out of the war if they win Nov. 7, leaving the enemy free to come
over here, they will already have their burqas at the ready when the
peace-loving Muslims come to their door to force them to convert or
die.
You see, I do have a problem with people who openly practice any religion
or belief whose main focus is to destroy my way of life and convert me or
kill me. I hope and pray that I am wrong. But I fear that America is
inching closer and closer to its end. And I believe that will start when
the Muslims' favorite party takes control. Heaven help us.
NEAL BRIDGERS, Macon
Well, extend practice to men
Interesting to read recent op-eds from liberal-minded women who have
suddenly discovered virtue in Islam and its requirement to cover its
women. I suspect these recent converts and defenders of Islam have
suspended their own feminist convictions and are motivated by their
hatred of Jesus-loving, patriotic Americans who vote Republican.
An interesting question to illustrate the dilemma for these
feminists/multiculturalists: If veils are good for women, why not men as
well?
RUSSELL GABLE, Roopville
-----
CAIR-OH: SUMMIT BATTLES INTOLERANCE
-
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Representatives of 25 area organizations gathered to share ideas.
Jeffrey B. Roth, Daily Record, 11/1/06
http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_4584538
Nov 1, 2006 - The York area is known for its history, its industry and
its cultural and racial intolerance, a speaker said at a diversity event
Tuesday.
Martin Kerney, education and outreach specialist with the state Human
Relations Commission, said that for decades York city and York County
have been known for a high number of civil rights and discrimination
complaints.
He also told the 25-plus representatives of area social service,
educational and advocacy organizations in attendance that York ranks high
in the number of bias-related incidents against people of different
cultural, ethnic, racial and religious origins.
Kerney spoke at a Diversity Summit hosted by York Jewish Community Center
and the York County Community Against Racism.
"Sadly, York is always among the top five counties, every single
year, in terms of incidents like that," he said. "Believe me,
we wouldn't be here if we didn't know that intolerance and bigotry were
major, major afflictions in York County."
Ryan Sattler of the YCCAR said the summit was called to help find ways to
promote cultural diversity through education and community advocacy.
Recognizing that the problem is too large and complex for a single agency
to tackle, Sattler said, social, business, religious and other
organizations must collaborate to promote social unity and
understanding.
Abul Hasan of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in York
said that, while education about cultural diversity is important,
"empirical knowledge does not lead to acceptance."
Hasan said attempts to educate people about Islam have failed. Media bias
has added to the negative view Americans have about Islam, he
said.
"There is complete ignorance (in York County) about Islam,"
Hasan said. "There has to be exposure. The more you meet people ...
you find how much we have in common."
A dozen community groups yesterday discussed becoming one voice for
diversity in York County.
More than 20 people gathered at the York County Community Against Racism
facility in downtown York for a diversity summit hosted by YCCAR and the
Jewish Community Center.
The purpose of the two-hour summit was to help representatives determine
"how we can possibly bring all our groups together and be a strong
voice in our community" concerning issues of diversity, said Ryan
Sattler, YCCAR's founder.
The meeting included representatives from the Spanish American Center,
Interfaith Alliance of York, 1,000 Black Men Coalition Against Violence,
YorkCounts, the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, the York Chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the YMCA, YWCA, the
Black Ministers Association, the York County Chamber of Commerce and the
York College Multicultural Affairs Council.
May meet in January: Sattler said summit attendees may meet again in
early January to decide what activities they can do together in
2007.
"We can just pick a couple of things to do together to show the
community that we know each other, we're talking to each other and we
care about each other," said Randy Freedman, the JCC's executive
director.
SFGate Technology: It's a high-tech world - - we just plug you into it. .
.
It's hard enough to buy a house in the Bay Area. But some devout Muslims
face an added obstacle -- they interpret the Quran to prohibit paying
interest, which keeps them from taking out a standard mortgage.
That was the situation for Ajaz Khan of Santa Clara, who wanted a home
for himself, his wife and three children but was determined to observe
the Quranic ban against riba, or usury.
Khan, a native of Pakistan who has been in the United States since 1982,
was resigned to being a renter even though his job as a systems engineer
at Lockheed gave him the financial wherewithal to become a homeowner --
but not the means to pay cash.
"My wife was worried because she sometimes felt that we would not be
able to buy a house ever," he said. "I always felt that, I
don't have to own a house, it's not a requirement as long as I have a
shelter. But it would be nice to own a house."
Then he discovered a small cooperative in Santa Clara formed expressly to
help Muslims purchase homes without paying interest.
Ameen Housing Cooperative, founded in 1986, has helped 22 families buy
homes in Silicon Valley and one family buy in Sacramento through a
rent-to-own plan that avoids interest but still allows the cooperative to
make a profit, in keeping with Quranic law.
A key distinction with Ameen's form of finance is that, unlike a
traditional mortgage company, the cooperative shares risk with the
homeowner. If a home's value increases, they both profit. But if the home
loses value, they both take a loss. (MORE)
Did Israel use a secret new uranium-based weapon in southern Lebanon this
summer in the 34-day assault that cost more than 1,300 Lebanese lives,
most of them civilians?
We know that the Israelis used American "bunker-buster" bombs
on Hizbollah's Beirut headquarters. We know that they drenched southern
Lebanon with cluster bombs in the last 72 hours of the war, leaving tens
of thousands of bomblets which are still killing Lebanese civilians every
week. And we now know - after it first categorically denied using such
munitions - that the Israeli army also used phosphorous bombs, weapons
which are supposed to be restricted under the third protocol of the
Geneva Conventions, which neither Israel nor the United States have
signed.
But scientific evidence gathered from at least two bomb craters in Khiam
and At-Tiri, the scene of fierce fighting between Hizbollah guerrillas
and Israeli troops last July and August, suggests that uranium-based
munitions may now also be included in Israel's weapons inventory - and
were used against targets in Lebanon. According to Dr Chris Busby, the
British Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk,
two soil samples thrown up by Israeli heavy or guided bombs showed
"elevated radiation signatures". Both have been forwarded for
further examination to the Harwell laboratory in Oxfordshire for mass
spectrometry - used by the Ministry of Defence - which has confirmed the
concentration of uranium isotopes in the samples.
Dr Busby's initial report states that there are two possible reasons for
the contamination. "The first is that the weapon was some novel
small experimental nuclear fission device or other experimental weapon
(eg, a thermobaric weapon) based on the high temperature of a uranium
oxidation flash ... The second is that the weapon was a bunker-busting
conventional uranium penetrator weapon employing enriched uranium rather
than depleted uranium." A photograph of the explosion of the first
bomb shows large clouds of black smoke that might result from burning
uranium.
Enriched uranium is produced from natural uranium ore and is used as fuel
for nuclear reactors. A waste product of the enrichment process is
depleted uranium, it is an extremely hard metal used in anti-tank
missiles for penetrating armour. Depleted uranium is less radioactive
than natural uranium, which is less radioactive than enriched
uranium.
Israel has a poor reputation for telling the truth about its use of
weapons in Lebanon. In 1982, it denied using phosphorous munitions on
civilian areas - until journalists discovered dying and dead civilians
whose wounds caught fire when exposed to air. (MORE)
Cordet reportedly told Muslims leaders Paris came under intense pressures
from the US and Britain to sack the Muslim workers.
PARIS - The expulsion of seasonal Muslim workers from the Charles de
Gaulle airport outside Paris over "security concerns" came
under pressures from American and British authorities, sources told
IslamOnlne.net.
A source with the Union of Muslim Organizations of Saint Denis said Saint
Denis Mayor Jean Francois Cordet had told union's head Mohammed Hanish at
an iftar banquet during the last days of Ramadan about the
pressures.
"He said the French government came under intense pressures from the
United States and Britain to sack the Muslim workers," added the
source, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
issue.
The seasonal Muslim workers were barred on October 21 from working at the
airport after police withdrew their access badges.
They lost their security clearances -- which allowed them to work in
airport customs zones -- because France's Anti-terrorist Coordination
Unit (UCLAT) said they posed "a risk to the airport's security"
or were simply deemed "dangerous."
Cordet had sent notifications to the workers that they need to establish
their innocence from the charges.
The umbrella French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) has pledged to
closely follow up the issue. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
HADITH OF THE DAY: TREAT MALE AND FEMALE CHILDREN EQUALLY -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone has a
female child and does not bury her alive (a pre-Islamic practice), or
slight her, or prefer his (male) children to her, God will bring him into
Paradise."
ST. PETERSBURG - Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday criticized remarks a Hernando
County commissioner's wife made calling Islam a "hateful,
frightening religion."
In an Oct. 23 letter to the St. Petersburg Times, Mary Ann Hogan objected
to the county's assistance to a mosque celebration of the end of Ramadan,
the Muslim holy month of fasting.
"The stated goal of the Muslim faith is to kill us, the 'infidels.'
By providing county employees for their use Hernando County is
sanctioning this hateful, frightening religion," she wrote.
Commissioner Tom Hogan Sr., a Republican, defended his wife's comments in
a story posted Wednesday on the newspaper's Web site.
"I'm not seeing that as bigotry, because I don't feel bigoted on it.
It's just a matter of fact," he said.
Bush, who appointed Tom Hogan in August, condemned the couple's
remarks.
"He's disappointed. He thought their comments were entirely
inappropriate," said Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for the
governor.
"Florida is built on its diverse background, different cultures and
religions - it's what makes Florida so strong," she said. "The
Arab-Americans living in our state are just as patriotic as the rest of
us."
Two other county commissioners, both Democrats, and the Tampa chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest
Islamic advocacy group, have called for Tom Hogan's resignation.
(MORE)
Hernando County, Florida - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations wants Governor Jeb Bush to remove a Hernando County
Commissioner from office.
Yesterday, Tom Hogan, Sr. said he agreed with a letter his wife wrote,
calling Islam a "hateful, frightening religion".
Today CAIR-TAMPA's executive director wrote to the Governor,
"Our organization finds the Hogans' comments deeply disturbing.
Certainly, the comments are bigoted. We call upon you and other elected
officials to repudiate the ignorant anti-Muslim comments made by Mr. And
Mrs. Hogan."
CAIR is also calling upon the Hernando County commission to vote to
censure Hogan at their next meeting.
Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday strongly condemned a Hernando County
commissioner and his wife for calling Islam a "hateful, frightening
religion."
"There is no room for bigotry and hatred in the state of
Florida," said Alia Faraj, Bush's communications director.
"The governor is extremely disappointed in their inappropriate
comments."
Bush appointed Commissioner Tom Hogan Sr. in August. Hogan is a prominent
Republican activist, co-founder of Hernando County's Republican Party,
and a GOP state committee member for four decades.
Faraj said Bush is "outraged" and found the Hogans' comments
"extremely offensive."
"That's too bad," countered Mary Ann Hogan on Wednesday,
defending her views. "But I've been disappointed in some of the
things he's said as well."
Tom Hogan said, "I'm not seeing that as bigotry, because I don't
feel bigoted on it. It's just a matter of fact." He also said many
people had called him Wednesday to voice their agreement and
support.
Meanwhile, the nation's largest Islamic advocacy group called on
politicians to condemn the couple's remarks.
"Anti-Muslim rhetoric in our society is growing to alarming levels.
This disturbing trend can only get worse unless top religious and
political leaders speak out strongly against Islamophobia," said
Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
"What we're seeing nationwide is a tremendous uptick in anti-Muslim
rhetoric," Hooper said, citing vandalism of mosques in Maine, Texas
and Missouri. The rhetoric leads anti-Islamic extremists to lash out
violently against Muslims, he said.
The Tampa chapter of CAIR asked Gov. Bush to remove Tom Hogan from
office, said executive director Ahmed Bedier. Given that Hogan has
less than a month left in his term, it's unclear whether the governor's
office would pursue removing him now.
The group also said it would call on gubernatorial candidates Charlie
Crist and Jim Davis to condemn the couple's remarks. (MORE)
On October 19, Alia Ansari, mother of six, was walking to school to pick
up some of her children.
Ansari, who was born in Afghanistan, was wearing a hijab.
"Ansari was walking in a residential neighborhood when a gunman
pulled up in a car and fired at her before driving away," AP
reported. "Her three-year-old child witnessed the shooting but was
unharmed." Ansari was killed.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations for the San Francisco Bay Area
has asked the police to "determine whether this was a hate crime or
not, especially in light of the actual circumstance of the crime, and in
light of the current political climate," said Abdul Rahman Hamamsy,
civil rights coordinator for the group.
It's "still under investigation," says Fremont Police Chief
Craig Steckler. "We're looking at all the angles."
Steckler, along with other community leaders and a representative of the
U.S. Justice Department, will be at an open forum on Friday, November 3,
which is being sponsored by the local chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of the East
Bay.
"Such a crime affects the entire community, and people are obviously
concerned about their own safety, as well as about how to respond,"
said Safaa Ibrahim, executive director of the CAIR-San Francisco Bay Area
chapter. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-CA: COMMUNITY OPEN FORUM
IN MEMORY OF ALIA ANSARI -
TOP
(SANTA CLARA, CA, 11/01/06) - On Friday, November 3, The Council on
American-Islamic Relations of the San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA) will
host an open community forum in response to the shooting of Alia
Ansari.
The forum will bring together religious leaders, public officials, law
enforcement officials, and community members. Speakers at the event will
include Craig Steckler, Fremont Chief of Police; Steve Cho, Vice Mayor of
Fremont; and Carol Russo, Conciliation Specialist with the Community
Relations Service, US Justice Department. Prominent community members
will also be present.
Due to growing interest and to accommodate a larger audience, the venue
has been changed to the Los Cerritos Community Center (see address
below). The event has been co-sponsored by the Islamic Society of East
Bay (ISEB) and the Afghan Women's Coalition.
The program will include updates from the police on their investigation,
the measures they are taking to keep the community safe, and the
resources available to the public in case of such a tragedy. Following
the statements there will be an open Q&A session for community
members to ask questions and voice their concerns surrounding the
shooting.
"Such a crime affects the entire community, and people are obviously
concerned about their own safety, as well as about how to respond. We are
holding this forum so it can serve as a platform for people to express
their concerns to the officials, as well as for the officials to update
and reassure the community on their part," said Safaa Ibrahim,
CAIR-SFBA Executive Director.
"It's an effort through which we can together come up with
constructive ways to address such a tragedy, and work together to keep
our society safer," Ibrahim added.
Alia Ansari was shot on October 19 in Fremont, at 2:40 p.m., while on her
way to pick up her children from school. Fremont police have a
"person of interest" in custody under a parole violation, but
they have not charged him with Ansari's shooting.
WHAT: "Community Open Forum" - In Memory of Alia Ansari
WHEN: Friday, November 3, 2006; 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
WHERE: Los Cerritos Community Center, 3377 Alder Avenue, Fremont, CA
94536
CONTACT: Abiya Ahmed, CAIR-SFBA Media Relations Coordinator; Phone:
408-986-9874; Email:
aahmed@cair.com
-----
CAIR-MI EDUCATES DENTAL SCHOOL STUDENTS, STAFF ABOUT ISLAM -
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(LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, 11/2/06) - The Michigan chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) recently gave two
presentations about Islam to faculty and students at the School of
Dentistry of the University of Detroit-Mercy in Detroit,
Michigan.
The lectures discussed basic beliefs of Muslims and addressed
accommodations applicable to Muslim patients. Some 200 hundred faculty
and students were in attendance including the Dean of the School of
Dentistry.
CAIR-OH HOSTS LAW ENFORCEMENT
OFFICIALS FROM OHIO, U.A.E. -
TOP
(COLUMBUS, OH, 11/2/06) - The Columbus office of CAIR-Ohio
recently hosted a group of police officers from the United Arab Emirates
and various law enforcement officials from Ohio for dinner as part of a
continuing effort to establish positive relationships and dialogue
between Ohio's Muslim community and law enforcement authorities.
The U.A.E. police officers were in Columbus to meet with various law
enforcement agencies for training purposes. This training program was
initiated through Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety.
Ohio law enforcement agency's represented at the dinner included: Ohio
Department of Public Safety, Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, and
Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The dinner was followed by a brief presentation given by CAIR-Ohio and an
open discussion. The police officers were very interested to learn about
the American Muslim community and asked many questions about how the
community interacts with American society and how it deals with growing
prejudice and discrimination.
Previously, the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police asked CAIR-Ohio to
attend a Ramadan Dinner that they organized for a group of police
officers from Turkey.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 32 offices and
chapters nationwide and in Canada. The CAIR-Ohio Chapter has three
offices - Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. 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.
Tonight's event "The Future of U.S.-Muslim World Relations"
won't be a boring discussion on religion but rather an event where
students can gain a better understanding of the Islamic world, the Arts
and Science Student Council president said. . .
As part of Arts and Sciences Week, the town hall meeting will begin at 7
p.m. in the Wes Watkins Exhibit Hall and is sponsored by many campus
organizations, including SGA and the Muslim Student Association.
About 300 people are expected to attend the event, which costs about
$3,000 to produce, said Karen Smith, co-adviser for the Arts and Sciences
Student Council.
The town hall meeting is part of a discussion series sponsored by
Americans for Informed Democracy, a group that works to increase college
students' awareness of world issues with events such as the town hall
meetings, according to the group's Web site.
In September 2005, more than 7,500 people in about 60 communities across
the nation participated in the Hope Not Hate town hall meetings,
according to the Web site.
An OSU professor, two professors from other universities and an executive
director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations will answer
a pre-determined list of questions to begin the event. . .
Sarwat Husain, one of the panel members, said she hopes that
through the town hall meeting, students will realize they shouldn't rely
on other people to relay information that determines their
opinion.
"[Students] should learn to study the reality themselves and make up
their own minds," said Husain, president for the San Antonio chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"Whether Christians, Jews, Muslims, whatever - we are Americans
living in this hateful atmosphere that is not good for us," she
said. "It is the responsibility of each one of us to go out and
search for the truth because we are Americans."
Acknowledging it might be political suicide, Anaheim City Council
candidate Bill Dalati said Wednesday he was leaving the Republican Party
after being vilified by prominent GOP leaders as being anti-American and
a supporter of extremist groups.
Dalati, an Arab American who had been a Republican since becoming a U.S.
citizen 19 years ago, re-registered as a Democrat outside the registrar
of voters office.
Even though the council race is nonpartisan, Dalati said he no longer
felt comfortable being a Republican.
"This is going to hurt me politically," said Dalati, an
insurance agent taking his first run at elective office. "There are
a lot more Republicans in Orange County than Democrats. But it wouldn't
have been the honest thing to do, to stay in a party that has abandoned
me."
The allegations against Dalati, who considered himself a moderate
Republican, surfaced last month in a letter to local GOP leaders from
former state party Chairman Shawn Steel.
Steel wrote that Dalati could be unfit for office because of his ties to
the Council on American-Islamic Relations, his support of Rep.
Cynthia A. McKinney - a liberal Democrat from Georgia - and his
involvement with a rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict. Steel
said he considered the Islamic council an extremist group.
Steel said Wednesday that Dalati's political future would not be tied to
his party affiliation. (MORE)
SANTA ANA - An Anaheim City Council candidate, who is Arab-American and
Muslim, switched today to the Democratic Party after facing criticism by
Republican leaders.
Candidate Bill Dalati, a Syrian immigrant, said he believes he is
targeted because of his religion and ethnicity.
Shawn Steel, immediate past president of the state Republican Party,
circulated a letter calling Dalati an "extremist" for his
participation in Council on American-Islamic Relations issues and
a donation to Democratic U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. The local
party also refused to endorse Dalati for the nonpartisan race.
"The Democrats can use people like that. That's why they are going
to continue losing elections," Steel said today, adding that his
statements are unrelated to Dalati's religion and ethnicity.
Dalati said he decided to change parties before the election in a city
where Republicans make up the largest voting bloc.
"People need to know who they are voting for," Dalati said.
"I know this is going to hurt me, but it's the right thing to
do."
-----
ROW OVER BARRED MUSLIM
SCHOLARS -
TOP
U.S. diplomats are at odds with Homeland Security officials over recent
refusals to allow some Muslim scholars into the country.
Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, Newsweek, 11/1/06
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15519116/site/newsweek/
President Bush's top emissary for public diplomacy has privately
complained that recent moves by the Department of Homeland Security to
block prominent Muslim clerics and scholars from entering the United
States has damaged her efforts to bolster America's image in the Islamic
world.
In recent weeks, Karen Hughes, under secretary of State for public
diplomacy and the president's former communications adviser, has
protested directly to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that an
increase in the number of high-profile "exclusions" of Muslim
figures is creating major public-relations problems for the United States
overseas.
"There's no question that some of these incidents have created
serious problems for us," Dan Smith, Hughes's chief of staff told
NEWSWEEK. "She wants to find a way to fix this consistent with
national security."
Hughes's behind-the-scenes complaints reflect growing tensions between
State and Homeland Security officials over an increasingly aggressive
no-entry policy that critics say has caused a wave of criticism in the
Muslim world even if it has been barely noticed inside the United
States.
While Homeland Security officials claim they are vigilantly guarding the
borders against possible terrorists and their sympathizers, one State
Department source (who asked not to be identified because of political
sensitivities) charged there has been a "kind of hysteria" on
the part of Homeland Security officials in the way they have been barring
individuals from entering the United States on the basis of vague and in
many cases unsubstantiated allegations. (MORE)
NEWARK -- Finding the township's motives suspect, a federal judge
Wednesday temporarily blocked Wayne from instituting condemnation
proceedings to acquire an 11-acre tract where a Paterson-based Muslim
group hopes to build a mosque.
At the same time, U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan enjoined the
Albanian Associated Fund from moving ahead with construction of the
mosque if it receives the necessary site plan approvals from the Planning
Board.
The judge set a Feb. 13 trial date on the group's suit accusing the
township of trying to seize the property so it can scuttle the project.
(MORE)
The first scientific snapshot of American Muslim voters depicts a well-
educated, family oriented group that is younger than the general
population and favors active engagement in US society.
A survey released last week shows 62 percent have a bachelor's degree or
higher (compared with 30 percent for the US in general), including 48
percent of Muslim women. Some 78 percent are married, and 43 percent have
a household income of $50,000 or more.
In political orientation, 42 percent call themselves Democrats, 17
percent say they are Republican, and 28 percent do not belong to a party.
Almost 90 percent vote regularly.
On the issues, they rank education as most important (25 percent),
followed by civil liberties (24 percent) - a prime concern since 9/11.
Next come the conflicts in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon (20
percent) and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (18 percent).
When asked about religious affiliation, 40 percent respond "just a
Muslim." Another 36 percent say they are Sunni, 12 percent identify
as Shiite, and 2 percent say Sufi (a mystical tradition).
As for religious practice, 31 percent attend mosque weekly, while 27
percent say they seldom or never attend. A majority (54 percent) say they
are not very involved or not at all involved in mosque activity aside
from attendance at formal prayers.
A large majority (84 percent) believe Muslims should emphasize shared
values with Christians and Jews, and 77 percent say they worship the same
God. Yet 55 percent are afraid the war on terror has become a war on
Islam. (MORE)
The Muslim Women of Maryland hosted their annual "Islamophobia"
event to bring about 100 students and faculty of all faiths together in
the Stamp Student Union's Colony Ballroom last night to dispel the myth
that Islam is a religion that promotes terrorism.
"Islam is a religion of peace," was the main message sent by a
six-person panel of Muslims from all backgrounds, including an Islamic
scholar, converts to Islam, and students who embraced their religion
later in life.
A recitation of the Quran's 59th chapter by sophomore letters and
sciences major, Ridwanur Rahman opened the dialogue for the keynote
speaker, Virginia social worker Altaf Husein.
"I think people have moved beyond 'Islamophobia' and have gone
straight into hatred," said Husein, who partly faults Muslims
themselves for becoming so widely misunderstood. "We never explained
to you [audience] what our religion is about, instead we left it to
television and Saturday Night Live skits to grossly represent who we
are," he said.
Husein explained the basic tenets of Islam and tackled major
misconceptions Americans share. According to Husein, Muslims believe in
the same God as the Jews and Christians; they even share the same respect
for religious texts like the Torah and Old Testament. Muslims are guided
by the principle that "there is no compulsion in religion" and
therefore it does not support the murder of "non-believers," he
said.
Husein added, "I don't know what Fox News tells you, but that is not
my religion." (MORE)
The Israel Airports Authority has confirmed that planes known to have
been used by the CIA to transport suspects to detention and interrogation
facilities stopped at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel
Aviv.
According to the British civil liberties organization Statewatch, at
least four flights through Tel Aviv occurred between 2003 and
2004.
The data compiled by the organization draws on, among other sources,
information from a European parliament committee as well as various
European states.
On May 7, 2003, an American GulfStream jet took off from Beirut in
Lebanon to Larnaka in Cyprus. From there, it flew to "Tel Aviv"
(meaning Ben-Gurion Airport on the outskirts of the city). Two days
later, the plane returned to Larnaka, from where it departed for
Morocco.
A week later, on May 13, records show a Hercules jet with registration
number N8213G and owned by a company called Prescott Support flew from
Athens to Tel Aviv. According to the American media, Prescott Support is
a straw company for the CIA.
On the same day, the same plane departed Tel Aviv for Yerevan, the
Armenian capital (a spokeswoman for the Israel Airports Authority
confirmed the four flights as reported by Statewatch, but stressed that
this flight went to Avignon in France, and not to Yerevan).
A year later, on May 8, 2004, a GulfStream plane took off from Larnaka
and flew to Tel Aviv, before returning to Larnaka a short time afterward.
Two days later, the plane returned to Tel Aviv from Larnaka, and then
flew back to Cyprus before heading to Amman.
The Airports Authority spokeswoman said that she could confirm just two
of the four flights. (MORE)
The true stories of how American troops, killed in Iraq, actually died
keep spilling out this week. Now we learn, thanks to a reporter's FOIA
request, that one of the first women to die in Iraq shot and killed
herself after objecting to harsh "interrogation techniques."
(MORE)
-----
ARABS TURNING TO ASIA AND AWAY FROM U.S. FOR MEDICAL CARE -
TOP
MALCOLM FOSTER,
Associated Press, 11/2/06
BANGKOK Thailand - In 1999, Ali Saleh Ali al-Hamiri had eye surgery at
Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, one of many trips he and his family
made from the United Arab Emirates to the U.S. for medical
treatment.
But after Sept. 11, 2001, he and his relatives have been flying instead
to Bumrungrad International hospital in Bangkok, joining a growing wave
of Middle Easterners flocking to Southeast Asia for affordable, high
quality health care.
"I feel more comfortable in Asia," said al-Hamiri, 35, as he
sat on a sofa in the hospital's marble-floored lobby.
Tighter U.S. visa restrictions and fears among many Arabs that they will
be mistreated in the United States or Europe another traditional
destination for health care are key reasons behind the shift.
But the number of Arab patients traveling to Asia has surged as word has
gotten back to the Persian Gulf that the quality of medical care offered
at Bumrungrad and other top hospitals in Singapore and Malaysia is
similar to the U.S. and Western Europe and far cheaper.
Meanwhile, the U.S. health care industry is losing about $500 million a
year from the Arab world due to restrictive U.S. visa policies, the
Washington-based National Arab-U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated in a
2004 study. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEDERAL CHARGES URGED IN HATE ATTACK ON NY
MUSLIM Attackers: 'You Muslim terrorist. . .get out of the
country'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/2/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights and advocacy group today called on the Justice Department to bring
federal charges against a number of teens who attacked a Muslim man in
Brooklyn, N.Y., Sunday evening.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) said prosecutors are calling the
attack a hate crime. The victim, who will require reconstructive facial
surgery, said: "They were saying you Muslim terrorist. . .get out of
the country."
A court hearing for two of the alleged attackers is scheduled for Friday
in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
"The viciousness of this attack, coupled with the allegations of
bias-motivated slurs should be sufficient to bring federal hate crime
charges against the alleged attackers," said CAIR Legal Director
Arsalan Iftikhar.
Iftikhar said that CAIR yesterday called on religious and political
leaders to repudiate the growing Islamophobia in American society that
can lead to such attacks.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar, 202-488-8787 or
202-415-0799; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
VERSE
OF THE DAY: WHATEVER IS WITH YOU IS TRANSITORY -
TOP
"Whatever is with you is transitory, whereas that which is with God
is everlasting. We will certainly reward those who are patient (in
adversity) according to the noblest of their deeds."
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now will be a keynote speaker at CAIR's 12th
Annual Banquet, "American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing,"
November 18th in Arlington, Virginia.
WHAT: The Global Creative Leadership Summit will host a panel on
building a new understanding of the Muslim world through examining key
issues such as immigration/integration issues.
Panelists include Parvez Ahmed, Chairman of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations and Theodore Zeldin, President of the Oxford
Muse. CNN's journalist and terrorism analyst Peter Bergen will moderate
the panel. A 20-minute interview with Prince Turki, Ambassador of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States, will precede the
panel.
WHEN: Wednesday, November 16, 2006 from 11:45 - 12:30
WHERE: The Harold Pratt House
58 East 68th Street
New York, NY
Phone: 1.212.434.9576
Fax: 1.212.434.9877
(SAN DIEGO, CA, 11/3/06) - A representative of the San Diego chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Diego) spoke
yesterday before the Interreligious Council of San Diego (IRC San Diego)
on the topic of the origins of Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim
attitudes.
Members of the Interreligious Council received a copy of the CAIR 2006
report on "American Public Opinion of Islam and Muslims," a
public opinion survey that gauged anti-Muslim sentiment in 2005.
The presentation was concluded with a question and answer session in
which members of the Interreligious Council asked about how CAIR and
other mainstream Muslim organizations are combating the negative images
of Islam as well as drowning out extremist interpretations of the faith
as perpetuated overseas.
CONTACT: Edgar Hopida, Tel: 858-278-4547 or 619-913-0719, E-mail:
ehopida@cair.com
A group of about 600 people, mainly composed of students, attended a
discussion about U.S.-Muslim world relations, in which the four panel
members mentioned that understanding one another is the first step to
improving relations.
"The first thing the United States should do is listen," said
Vincent Cornell, professor of Middle East and Islamic Studies at Emory
University.
"Since we're talking about Islam and American foreign policy today,
I think it's important to point out Muslims feel they need to be seen
more but I look at it slightly differently. I think Muslims sometimes are
seen all too much and seen in the wrong way.
"What Muslims need is to be heard more."
The event, titled "The Future of U.S.-Muslim World Relations,"
was part of the Hope, Not Hate series, sponsored by Americans for
Informed Democracy, a group that works to increase college students'
awareness of world issues with events such as town hall meetings,
according to the group's Web site. . .
As the number of books written about Islam increased in recent years,
Sarwat Husain, another panelist, said she now travels more frequently to
speak across the United States.
Husain said the reasons for her speeches about Islam have changed in the
past five years.
"Before Sept. 11, it was more about introducing Islam and what Islam
is about," Husain said. "It was something I did for pleasure -
go talk about my religion, talk about my culture. Now, it is work. Now I
have to do it."
-----
CAIR-FL: GUBERNATORIAL
CANDIDATE ASKED TO REMOVE MUSLIM-BASHER -
TOP
(TAMPA, FL, 11/03/2006) - The Tampa chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Tampa) today called on GOP gubernatorial
candidate Charlie Crist to rescind his appointment of a Hernando woman
who said Islam is a "hateful, frightening religion" to a
campaign election coalition.
Mary Ann Hogan and her husband Tom Hogan made headlines this week when
they sent anti-Muslim letters to the editors and defended their views
that Muslims are "barbarians."
Mary Hogan also told the St. Petersburg Times: "The stated goal of
the Muslim faith is to kill us, the 'infidels,'" Hogan added:
"Even if they have gotten citizenship, they are not true Americans
in my opinion. They all want to kill us,"
In a letter to Charlie Crist, CAIR-Tampa's Executive Director Ahmed
Bedier wrote:
"With the election only a few days away we are concerned about your
close relationship to the Hogan family and would like to make sure that
you do not share their views. . .Our organization finds the Hogans'
comments deeply disturbing. Certainly, the comments are bigoted. As the
GOP candidate for Governor we call upon you and other political
candidates statewide to repudiate the ignorant anti-Muslim comments made
by Mr. and Mrs. Hogan."
"It is unacceptable for any candidate to associate themselves with
individuals that have extreme hatred for a religious minority," said
CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier. "Mr. Crist must do the
right thing by disassociating himself from Mrs. Hogan's comments and
removing her from his coalition."
Two months ago, Crist removed another Muslim-basher from his campaign
policy council, after repeated requests by CAIR.
BROOKSVILLE - The Republican Party of Florida is calling on County
Commissioner Tom Hogan Sr. to apologize for his derogatory comments
regarding Muslims.
Carole Jean Jordan, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Florida,
acknowledged that, while Hogan has served the local party well, "we
cannot condone your divisive remarks.
"Yes, our nation is at war with a group of individuals who twisted
the Islamic faith for their own horrific purposes," Jordan said in a
written statement. "This does not, however, give anyone the right to
paint all Muslims with a broad brush and the generalizations you made
were reprehensible.
Jordan said the state party asked Hogan to apologize and retract his
statements.
"Unfortunately, you refused to do so," she said. "Again we
ask you to formally retract your statement and apologize for your
remarks."
Hogan said Thursday he had not seen the letter. At press time, he did not
plan to issue an apology. He stands by his and his wife, Mary Ann
Hogan's, comments.
"We have never - neither one of us - mentioned a political
party," Hogan said. "We never made it political and now the
state party is doing that. I resent it on their part.
As a citizen, I've done nothing wrong at all and I don't know where all
this is coming from," Hogan added.
In a letter to Hernando Today, Mary Ann Hogan called Islam "hateful
and frightening." Tom Hogan Sr. said he agreed with his wife's
comments in the letter.
The letter, approved by her husband, was critical of Islam and of the
county for using county personnel and equipment to assist at a recent
Ramadan festival at the mosque…
Also Thursday, the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-Tampa) has called on Governor Bush to remove Hogan from
office.
Regardless of her very public involvement in Republican Party politics
for more than three decades, private citizen Mary Ann Hogan has a right
to communicate her opinions, as she did in a recent letter to the Times
in which she shared her distorted views about Muslims. Her assertions
that Islam is a "hateful, frightening religion" and its
followers are "barbarians" and "not true Americans"
is an appalling, but protected, expression of free speech.
Her husband, Tom Hogan Sr., has the same right. But when he, a Hernando
County commissioner, backs up his wife's words of hate and ignorance,
Hogan dishonors the office Gov. Jeb Bush entrusted him to occupy
temporarily after Robert Schenck quit unexpectedly in July.
Commissioner Hogan owes every resident in the county, and particularly
Muslims, a public apology. Moreover, Hogan's colleagues on the County
Commission should demonstrate their disapproval of Hogan by formally
censuring him at the next commission meeting.
. .
Tom Hogan's replacement will be sworn in Nov. 21, so the damage he can do
as a public official should be limited. But that leaves ample time for
members of the Muslim community, as well as all others who object to the
Hogans' insults, to register their outrage by demanding an apology and
this provisional public servant's formal censure by the full
commission.
In her letter to the Times, Mary Ann Hogan closed her venomous outburst
with "Politically incorrect and proud of it."
It was not just politically incorrect. It was bigoted and
repugnant.
"Building Bridges," a new half-hour interfaith talk show that
debuted Thursday, is being carried nationally by the Muslim-owned cable
channel Bridges TV. In metro Detroit, the channel is carried by Comcast.
The series will air at 9:30 p.m. Mondays, with reruns at 10 p.m. Fridays.
Michigan Muslim leaders occasionally appear on the programs. Rabbi
Bradley Hirschfield of New York is the cohost.
On the holiest day of the Jewish year, Rabbi Joseph Klein rose before his
congregation in Oak Park last month to deliver a stunning sermon in which
he apologized for working with local Muslim leaders and vowed to boycott
interfaith events.
He accused Muslim leaders of complicity in "hate-filled and
violence-promoting rallies" against Israel in Dearborn this summer,
referring to protests in which Muslims carried signs equating the Star of
David with a Nazi swastika.
The sermon was a thunderclap marking the edge of a storm that has been
building for more than a year as local Jewish and Muslim communities
pulled apart. Now, the tensions are open and obvious. Rabbis are avoiding
events attended by imams and, when they do show up, conversation often
becomes strained.
As a result, after years of pioneering efforts in southeast Michigan to
create a haven for dialogue among Jews, Christians and Muslims, metro
Detroit's world-famous interfaith tapestry is unraveling.
A month after they were spoken, Klein's words still are echoing across
the Internet, cut and pasted into e-mails circulating among Christians,
Muslims and Jews and leaving a trail of shock and sadness.
Meanwhile, another local Jewish leader urged a boycott of Thursday
night's premiere at a Dearborn Heights mosque of "Building
Bridges," a nationwide TV show about religious diversity, even
though the show is coproduced by a New York Jewish organization.
(MORE)
Five Jewish teenagers have been charged with hate crimes for attacking a
Pakistani-American man with brass knuckles in the Midwood section of
Brooklyn and calling him a "terrorist," officials
said.
Shahid Amber, 24, said in an interview last night he was eating ice cream
near a Dunkin' Donuts at the corner of East 15th Street and Avenue M,
when he was approached by a group of five teenagers at about 8:15 p.m. on
October 29. They knocked the ice cream from his hands, called him a
"terrorist" and told him: "Go back to your country,"
he said.
The teenagers held his arms behind his back and began beating him with a
pair of brass knuckles, breaking his nose and leaving his torso covered
in bruises, he said. Doctors told him he would need surgery to correct
the damage done to his face.
Police arrested the five teenagers soon after the attack. Three were
identified as Yossi Friedman, 17, Shulomi Bitton, 16, and Benjamin
Wasserman, 16. Two 15-year-olds that were arrested were not identified
because of their age. They all lived in the vicinity of the street corner
where the attack happened.
The alleged perpetrators were charged by the Brooklyn district attorney
with a number of crimes, including assault in the first degree, assault
in the second and third degree as hate crimes, gang assault in the first
degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a
spokesman said. For the most serious charge, assault in the first degree,
they face between eight and a third and 20 years in prison, the spokesman
said. . .
In visits to local mosques, Mr. Choudrhi said he was able to calm the
community, telling them not to let their emotions get ahead of them. The
Council on American-Islamic Relations has planned a press conference on
Monday, where Mr. Amber will speak about the attack. (MORE)
Umbar Islam shows the bloodstained jacket that was worn by his son Shahid
Amber, 24, when he was allegedly attacked by gang of Orthodox Jewish
teens because he is a Muslim.
Five Orthodox Jewish teens have been slammed with hate-crime charges in
the brutal beating of a Pakistani immigrant in Brooklyn.
"They hit me in the face with brass knuckles four or five times
while somebody held my hands," said the victim, Shahid Amber, 24, a
gas station attendant. "Then they all beat and kicked me. They were
screaming 'Muslim m-f-r. You m-f-g Muslim terrorists. Go back to your
country.' "
Amber, who was eating ice cream outside a Midwood Dunkin' Donuts when the
gang attacked on Sunday, needed 15 stitches on his broken nose and
reconstructive surgery.
Witnesses who called 911 said that 10-12 youths jumped him, a source
said.
Amber said the attack began after one of the group asked if he were
Muslim and he answered yes. Amber's father, Umbar Islam, 56, described a
brutal assault by boys in long black jackets, black pants and black hats.
(MORE)
FREMONT - Two weeks after a Fremont mother of six was shot to death in
broad daylight while walking with her 3-year-old daughter, members of the
community have moved from a state of shock to questioning the safety of
their city.
In response, the Santa Clara-based Council for American-Islamic Relations
has organized a public forum for tonight to address the aftermath of Alia
Ansari's slaying.
Co-sponsored by the Afghan Women's Coalition and the Islamic Society of
the East Bay, both based in Fremont, the forum will be from 7 to 9 p.m.
at Los Cerritos Community Center, 3377 Alder Ave.
Fremont Vice Mayor Steve Cho, Police Chief Craig Steckler and Carol
Russo, conciliation specialist with the U.S. Justice Department's
Community Relations Service, will be on hand to address community
concerns.
"We organized (the forum) in hopes of letting the community know
that there are resources available to them in case of a tragedy like
this," said Abiya Ahmed, CAIR's media relations coordinator and
organizer of the forum.
"Also, it's a response to the tragedy whereby we want to come up
with constructive ways to keep the community safe. (The community has)
been concerned, since two weeks have gone by, and we are wondering what
the progress of the investigation is."
City leaders and law enforcement officials will appear at a community
forum tonight to discuss the killing of Alia Ansari, a mother of six
gunned down Oct. 19 in the middle of the day.
Speaking will be Police Chief Craig Steckler, who will provide an update
on the police investigation, Mayor Bob Wasserman and a U.S. Justice
Department official. Questions will be taken from the audience.
Ansari, 37, was walking five blocks from her home to an elementary school
to pick up two children when a motorist jumped out of a car on the
residential street, shot her in the head and drove off.
Police said Thursday that they still have no suspects or motive. The
killing has sent chills through the region's Muslim community. They fear
that Ansari was targeted for the only thing that would have distinguished
her to a stranger, her hijab, the head scarf worn by some devout Muslim
women.
Police have identified someone as a "person of interest" in the
case, but he has not been named as a suspect.
The two-hour forum will start at 7 p.m. at Los Cerritos Community Center
at 3377 Alder Ave. in Fremont. Sponsors include the Bay Area chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of East
Bay and the Afghan Women's Coalition.
The Bay Area chapter of the nation's premier Muslim civil rights
organization is holding a community forum in Fremont tonight where the
public can ask questions of the city's police chief about the Oct. 19
fatal shooting of an Afghan mother.
Meanwhile, the family of victim Alia Ansari -- her husband, Ahmad, six
children ages 2 to 13 and a few other relatives -- have flown to their
homeland of Afghanistan, and have no immediate plans to return to
Fremont, where they have lived for two decades. . .
The community meeting is being held, said Abiya Ahmed, so the police
chief can address the concerns of members of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The group has been frustrated and
worried that the killing was a hate crime against Muslims, since Ansari,
38, wore a loose scarf on her head, called a hijab or chador, the day she
was killed.
"Such a crime affects the entire community, and people are obviously
concerned about their own safety, as well as about how to respond,"
said Safaa Ibrahim, CAIR's executive director in Santa Clara.
PLAINFIELD, Ind. -- Imam and scholar Muneer Fareed, who led a program to
teach Muslim youths about their religion, has taken over the day-to-day
operations of the largest Muslim group in the U.S. as the new secretary
general of the Islamic Society of North America.
Fareed, who began work Tuesday at the society's Plainfield headquarters,
taught at Wayne State University in Detroit until earlier this year. He
earned a doctorate in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan and
also has studied in South Africa, Saudi Arabia and India.
"He was an excellent teacher, an excellent administrator, and a very
good colleague," said May Seikaly, chairwoman of the Department of
Near East and Asian Studies at Wayne State.
The Islamic Society, formed in 1963, is an umbrella group that represents
Muslim associations for youth, college students, engineers and others,
and provides support to Muslim chaplains and North American
mosques.
Fareed also has served as an imam, or prayer leader, at Detroit-area
mosques.
"He brings both practical knowledge of lived Islam, as well as a
depth of scholarship to this position," Ingrid Mattson, who was
elected the society's first female president in August, said in a news
release. "In addition, Dr. Fareed has a good understanding of the
challenges faced by youth."
Fareed was one of the founders and core scholars of the American Learning
Institute for Muslims. The program based in the Detroit area is geared
toward Muslim high school seniors and college students and "seeks to
produce Islamically literate members of society that will have a positive
effect on Muslim society as well as the society at large," according
to its Web site.
Fareed also might be expected to reach out to black, U.S.-born Muslims.
In a September 2005 speech to the United Muslim Association of Toledo,
Ohio, he said American Muslims had a moral responsibility to strengthen
ties with black Muslims.
Fareed succeeds Sayyid M. Syeed, who will head ISNA's new Office of
Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington, D.C., after holding the
secretary general's post since 1994.
The Associated Press left a message Thursday at the Islamic Society
seeking an interview with Fareed.
President Bush reportedly said he would "understand" a
preemptive Israeli strike against Iran s nuclear sites.
Maariv, citing diplomatic sources, reported Thursday that French
President Jacques Chirac discussed Iran s nuclear program with Bush on
the sidelines of the recent UN summit.
Iran test-fires long-range Shihab-3
Asked by Chirac if Israel could attack Iran to prevent it getting the
bomb, Bush reportedly said: "We cannot rule this out. And if it were
to happen, I would understand it."
The only three survivors of the Chenagai madrassa attack, which killed 80
people on Monday, claim that the students there had received no military
training and were nearly all locals from the Bajaur tribal
district.
Since the attacks anger has mounted over what was the largest loss of
life in an attack on suspected militants on Pakistani soil and growing
suspicions that it was carried out on American orders.
The Daily Telegraph spoke to the three boys as Pakistan came under
intensified pressure last night to produce evidence to support its claim
that the destroyed seminary was "a terrorist training
camp".
The boys said that the students at the madrassa near Khar in the
country's remote tribal areas of the North West Frontier Province were
mainly seven to 15 years of age.
A retired priest committed suicide by setting himself on fire in a German
monastery in protest at the spread of Islam and the Protestant Church's
inability to contain it.
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FL GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE DROPS ISLAMOPHOBE Candidates of both parties condemn anti-Muslim
statements
(TAMPA, FL, 11/03/2006) - The Tampa chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Tampa)
tonight announced that GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist dropped
a Hernando woman who said Islam is a "hateful, frightening
religion" from a campaign election coalition.
Earlier today, CAIR-FL called on Crist to take that action after Mary Ann
Hogan, a member of the "Women for Crist Coalition," told the
St. Petersburg Times: "The stated goal of the Muslim faith is to
kill us, the 'infidels.'" Hogan added: "Even if they have
gotten citizenship, they are not true Americans in my opinion. They all
want to kill us."
In a statement sent to CAIR-FL, the Crist campaign said:
"While Charlie Crist respects Ms. Hogan's right to express her
political and religious beliefs, he does not agree with Hogan's views on
Islam. Charlie Crist believes that we must not confuse those who practice
any religion with a prayer toward peace with extremists who pervert
religion to further a radical cause. He will not condone bigotry or
discrimination in any form. For those reasons, Ms. Hogan will no longer
be affiliated with the campaign."
Jim Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor, had earlier issued a
statement saying:
"I condemn the offensive remarks uttered by Hernando County
Commissioner Tom Hogan and his wife, Mary Ann. Their hateful language
about Muslims has no legitimate role in public discourse and only serves
to further the cause of bigotry and intolerance that we should be united
in fighting."
"We thank both Mr. Crist and Mr. Davis for taking the appropriate
action in disassociating their campaigns from anti-Muslim bigotry,"
said CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier. He also thanked
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the state GOP for repudiating the
anti-Muslim sentiments expressed by Hogan and her husband.
Bedier said that two months ago, Crist removed another Muslim-basher from
his campaign policy council, after repeated requests by CAIR.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CONTACT: Ahmed Bedier, 813-731-9506; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
Calling all NASCAR fans: Meet at the mosque for fun and
fellowship.
When that happens, a friend suggested, is when we will know that Muslims
have been accepted in America.
With hundreds of thousands of American troops deployed to fight
terrorism, many Americans continue to tell pollsters that they distrust
Muslims. The daily violence in Iraq, of course, has taken a toll. So have
this year's furors over the pope's remarks and the Danish cartoon that
spawned riots in the Muslim world.
They're not like us, many Americans conclude after seeing Muslims
violently protest around the world on the nightly news. Yet, many
Americans don't realize that the Muslims they fear are teaching their
children, treating their illnesses, planning their city's new roads, even
fighting for Uncle Sam in Iraq. They are among our country's immigrant
success stories. They are converts who have found Islam more spiritually
nourishing. They are our neighbors. . .
Fifty years from now -- or maybe it will take a century -- Americans will
realize how well Muslims have served America. And, yes, I do believe the
day is coming when the average American, indeed, the average NASCAR fan,
will see nothing wrong in going to the local mosque for a social
gathering. It's just a matter of time. (MORE)
Nov. 13, 2006 issue - There's a new fashion on college campuses, but it's
not one you'll find at Abercrombie any time soon. It's the higab, the
traditional Muslim headscarf that denotes modesty and reverence to God,
and it's being worn by increasing numbers of young Muslim American women.
. .
The trend comes amid a historic spike in anti-Muslim discrimination in
the United States, and the higab has been the magnet for much of it.
Since 9/11, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed over the right to wear
higabs in the workplace and in photo IDs. "The higab is the walking
symbol of Islam," says Council on American-Islamic Relations
legal director Arsalan Iftikhar, who authored a report documenting
nearly 2,000 cases of anti-Muslim discrimination in 2006. (MORE)
When Brooke Samad converted to Islam, convincing her Sicilian Catholic
mother and Russian-Polish Jewish father that she knew what she doing was
hard enough.
But harder still was finding something to wear.
"I always considered myself a fairly stylish person," said the
Atlantic Highlands, N.J., resident. "When I became a Muslim and had
nothing to wear, for a few years there I was really
unstylish."
To fill the niche created by women like her -- young, professional,
fashion-conscious but committed to dressing modestly -- Mrs. Samad
founded her own design firm, Marabo, a year-and-a-half ago, and launched
her fall and winter line three weeks ago. (MORE)
---
VA: VEILS MAKE A MODEST STATEMENT -
TOP
For Muslim women, coverings symbolize humility and pride
Robin Farmer,
Times-Dispatch, 11/5/06
For Whittni Brown, wearing a hijab -- a veil covering her hair, neck and
ears -- is part of her religious conviction as a Muslim woman.
"Hijab has had different symbolic and political manifestations over
time, but in general, it is just the way we show our modesty and humility
to The Creator," said Brown, a senior at Virginia Commonwealth
University who chose Islam as her religion at 16.
Brown, 21, dismisses critics who say the veils are a rejection of Western
values.
"This is ludicrous. Hijab to us is like the habit of a nun. And
aren't nuns from the West? Do people see them as oppressed?" she
asked. "Wearing the hijab has nothing to do with a conflict between
East and West." (MORE)
OAK LAWN, ILL. -- The corridor of a bustling hospital is not the best
place for kneeling in devout prayer, many Muslim families and doctors
have learned. But praying in a chapel comes with its own set of problems:
forbidden pictures and statues of living beings, pews facing in the
opposite direction of Mecca, and worshippers wearing shoes on the floor
where Muslims kneel to pray.
So when a nondescript Muslim prayer room recently opened at Advocate
Christ Hospital and Medical Center in this Chicago suburb, families and
staff were "flying from happiness," said Refat Abukhdeir, the
hospital's Muslim chaplain.
"Usually you find a little quiet corner or some spot and hope nobody
trips over you," said Habibah Ayyash, 25, of Frankfort, Ill., who
was praying in the hallway on breaks from visiting her father-in-law in
the hospital until the prayer room opened earlier this year.
"Especially when someone is in the hospital, you're already down, so
it's helpful to have a room where you can sit and pray," Ayyash
said.
The room, which holds 10 to 15 people, is one of about a dozen that have
sprouted up in hospitals nationwide since the late 1980s in areas with
large Muslim populations, an informal survey found. (MORE)
NEW YORK -- The alleged hate-crime beating of a Pakistani man by a group
of Jewish teenagers has rattled the city's Muslim community and spurred
calls for a federal investigation by an advocacy group.
"It's an indication of the kind of thing that we're seeing as a
growing phenomenon, tied to a sharp rise in the anti-Muslim sentiment in
our society," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said of the
Brooklyn case. . .
The Brooklyn case came just days after the Oct. 19 slaying of an
Afghan-born mother of six in Fremont, Calif. Alia Ansari, 38, was gunned
down while walking in a residential neighborhood. Authorities have not
yet labeled that shooting a hate crime, but Muslim leaders have voiced
concern that she was targeted because she wore a headscarf.
Hooper said the two incidents come at a time of increased rhetoric
against Muslims in America, with vitriol found in letters to the editor,
on conservative talk radio and even in some politicians' talks.
His organization recently reported it had received almost 30 percent more
civil rights complaints from Muslims in 2005 than in 2004. The 1,972
complaints, which cover harassment, violence and discriminatory
treatment, were the highest number of complaints the group had received
in its 12-year history, according to its report.
The advocacy group has urged federal charges against Amber's accused
attackers.
"I think intervention by the Justice Department would send a strong
message that anti-Muslim attacks would not be tolerated in America,"
Hooper said. Justice officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.
(MORE)
NEW YORK -- The father of a 24-year-old Muslim man who was attacked
by a group of youths said the attackers asked his son whether he was
Muslim.
Unbar Islam said when his son answered yes, the attackers knocked his ice
cream out his hand and told him to go back to his country. The victim is
from Pakistan.
The father said the attackers broke his son Shahid Amber's nose, ripped
his jacket and told him that Jews ruled the United States.
(MORE)
FREMONT, Calif. (KCBS) -- Members of Fremont's Muslim community packed
into a forum style meeting last night to talk about last month's fatal
shooting of Alia Ansari.
The community is still reeling from the shooting, which took place in
broad daylight as Ansari walked with her 3-year-old daughter to pick up
her children from school.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, organized the
meeting in response to the Oct. 19 slaying. KCBS' Mark Seelig spoke with
the organization's spokeswoman, Shazia Jafri. (MORE)
The first couple of Hernando County's Republican Party find themselves
increasingly at odds with GOP leaders from around the state for comments
the pair made about Muslims.
Charlie Crist joined the critics Friday, condemning Mary Ann Hogan's
comments that Islam is a "hateful, frightening religion."
Crist's campaign unceremoniously removed Hogan, wife of Commissioner Tom
Hogan Sr., from its Women for Crist Coalition.
"Charlie Crist believes that we must not confuse those who practice
any religion with a prayer toward peace with extremists who pervert
religion to further a radical cause," said campaign spokeswoman Erin
Isaac. "He will not condone bigotry or discrimination in any form.
For those reasons, Ms. Hogan will no longer be affiliated with the
campaign."
A letter by Mary Ann Hogan to the St. Petersburg Times touched off the
political firestorm. The heated last days leading into the election have
fueled the controversy. . .
Also on Friday, Jim Davis, Crist's opponent, issued a statement
condemning the couple's remarks.
Ahmed Bedier, executive director for Tampa's chapter of the Council on
American Islamic Relations, said he was pleased at the swift response of
both gubernatorial candidates and other leaders from around the state.
(MORE)
Whether it's Charlie Crist or Jim Davis in November, the Bay Area
will win. TAMPA - Charlie Crist has distanced himself from an influential
Hernando County Republican who made anti-Islamic remarks earlier this
week.
According to the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, Crist dropped Mary Ann Hogan from a campaign election
coalition.
In a statement sent to CAIR, a representative of the Crist campaign
wrote: "[Crist] will not condone bigotry or discrimination in any
form. For those reasons, Ms. Hogan will no longer be affiliated with the
campaign." (MORE)
-----
CAIR-CHICAGO: GROUPS SEEK 'PROFILING'
CLARIFICATION FROM REP -
TOP
(CHICAGO, IL 11/03/06)- The Chicago office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations announced today that it has issued a letter,
along with several other diverse organizations, demanding a clarification
from Congressman Jerry Weller (R-IL, 11th congressional district) on his
recent comments about racial profiling.
In a recent debate against his opponent John Pavich, Congressman Weller
remarked: "if we know a Middle Eastern male has entered our
community, I believe our law enforcement needs to be able to go out and
look for Middle Eastern males, if that Middle Eastern male was part of a
jihadist movement and part of a terrorist threat to our nation,"
when asked what he would do about racial profiling.
Sadiya Ahmed, CAIR-Chicago Governmental Relations Coordinator,
said that the practice of racial profiling "creates a cycle of
discrimination that is difficult to break out of."
"Elected officials have the ability to protect the civil rights of
their constituents," remarked Ahmed. "Singling out a group of
people, Middle Eastern men, and encouraging law enforcement to seek them
out only encourages a dangerous climate of hate. Our representatives
should be the ones protecting people against such mistreatment in the
first place."
Muslims in the United States are hoping to make a difference during the
Congress elections next week. The Muslim population in the US numbers at
around 10 million, which is spread mostly in the states of New York,
Texas, and Virginia. The community could spell a difference between the
Democrats winning and losing.
Nationwide surveys shows that Muslim Americans are concerned about the
erosion of their civil liberties, human rights violations, unfair
immigration laws, and foreign policy.
"There's a little bit of frustration. There's a little bit of worry
about the future. We have enacted laws, which can identify an American
Muslim or an American citizen as an enemy combatant," Virginia
Muslim Committee member Mukit Hussain said. (MORE)
As Iraq slips further into chaos, the war's neoconservative boosters have
turned sharply on the Bush administration, charging that their grand
designs have been undermined by White House incompetence. In a series of
exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and
others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the
president himself.
The Bush administration has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects
held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the
"alternative interrogation methods" that their captors used to
get them to talk.
A welsh mp has been forced to withdraw his public backing for a
charity after learning its leading light has described Islam as 'wicked
and evil'.
Mark Williams, Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion, last week signed up to an Early
Day Motion - a Parliamentary petition - praising Operation Christmas
Child, a group that sends presents to deprived children abroad.
But he has asked for his name to be removed after learning from Wales on
Sunday that the charity, set up in Wrexham 16 years ago, was an
evangelical group which sends vast amounts of religious literature with
the toys.
The group is led by controversial US fundamentalist Franklin Graham - son
of evangelist preacher Billy.
Franklin Graham, a close friend of US President George Bush, has
described Islam as 'wicked, evil and not of the same God'. He has also
written about India, saying: 'Hundreds of millions of people locked by
the darkness of Hinduism... bound by Satan's power.'
A spokesman for MP Mr Williams said this week: 'He will be withdrawing
his name. He wasn't aware of the allegations and the practices of the
group.' (MORE)
Israel's new deputy prime minister on Sunday called for a near-total
separation between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land, sparking a wave of
condemnation less than a week after the far-right politician joined the
Cabinet.
Avigdor Lieberman's statements fanned fears that his inclusion in the
government would make it nearly impossible to renew stalled peace efforts
with the Palestinians and could damage already shaky relations between
Israel and its Arab citizens.
Lieberman's fellow ministers, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
quickly distanced themselves from his remarks. Ahmed Tibi, an
Arab-Israeli lawmaker, said the comments amounted to "a call to
ethnic cleansing."
In an interview with Israel's Army Radio, Lieberman said there was no
hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, so physically
separating the two peoples was the best solution.
He said Israel should give Israeli Arab villages near the West Bank to
the Palestinians stripping many of the residents of their citizenship in
the process in exchange for Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The
Arabs remaining in Israel would be allowed to keep their citizenship if
they passed a loyalty test. Arabs make up roughly one-fifth of Israel's
population.
"The answer is exchanges of land and populations and making a
homogeneous, Jewish country as much as possible," said Lieberman,
who lives in a West Bank settlement.
"I don't know why the Palestinians deserve a country that is clean
of Jews ... and we are becoming a binational country, where 20 percent of
the population are minorities. If we want to keep this a Jewish, Zionist
country, there is no other solution," he said. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NY RESPONDS TO BEATING OF BROOKLYN
MUSLIM -
TOP
(NEW YORK, NY, 11/6/06) - The New York chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), along with other civil rights and
community-based groups, will hold a press conference this morning in
response to last weekend's attack on Shahid Amber, a 24-year-old Muslim
beaten by a group of teenagers.
WHEN: Monday, November 6, 11 a.m. WHERE: Sockham Lounge, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 246, New York,
NY CONTACT: Omar T. Mohammedi, Esq., 212-725-3846, 917-273-2128 or
Maryam Sayar Akbar, Esq., CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director, 212-870-2002,
917-833-0272
Melanie Gadener was at home in Fremont three weeks ago when she began
receiving calls about the killing of Alia Ansari, the 38-year-old mother
of six who was shot in the head as she walked with her little girl
through a quiet Fremont neighborhood to pick up her children at Glenmoor
Elementary School.
Very quickly, Gadener was struck with the same suspicion as many others
in town. They wondered if Ansari was killed simply because of the way she
was dressed, in a loose scarf that some Muslim women wear to cover their
heads out of modesty.
"I was shocked and saddened, but I was not surprised," Gadener
told me when we met recently. "There is growing racism in Fremont,
and a lot of this has come out since 9/11." Whether or not Ansari's
head scarf had anything to do with why she was killed, it's significant
that so many people have no trouble believing it was the reason.
Support for Afghans
Gadener has been especially sensitive to these tensions since she set up
the Foundation for Self-Reliance, a non-profit organization that develops
programs to promote economic independence in the Afghan community. Over
the past three years, she has had a crash course in Muslim beliefs and
traditions.
"I've learned not to be afraid to ask questions and be honest about
my own ignorance," Gadener said. "We've got to bring the
conversation to the table."
In that spirit, she had an idea about how to memorialize Alia Ansari.
What if women of all religions pledged to wear a Muslim head covering, a
hijab, for one day? It would not only show support for the Ansari family,
but it also would be an intriguing social experiment. How might people
treat you differently if, for one day, the only thing different about you
was what you were wearing on your head?
Nov. 13 was the date chosen for "Wear a Hijab Day," and the
plan has taken on a life of its own. Gadener has been deluged with
messages of support from all over the world. Soon it became clear that
men wanted to participate as well, so the event's title was changed to
``Wear a Hijab or Turban Day."
Sikhs included, too
Reshma Yunus, who is active in the Muslim community and the founder of
Semah, a domestic violence-prevention organization based in Newark, said
she suggested adding turbans to the event because many Sikh men also have
been victims of the backlash since Sept. 11, even though they are not
Muslim. (MORE)
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, then Attorney General John Ashcroft
ordered the FBI to detain anyone who may have been in contact with the
men who were involved in hijacking three planes and crashing them in New
York, Washington and Pennsylvania and killing more than 2,700
people.
Agents arrested close to 5,000 Arab and Muslim men, about 800 of whom
were charged with violations of U.S. immigration laws. Most of the men
were eventually released or deported. However, five years after his
arrest, Ali Partovi still sits in an Arizona detention center.
The story of these men is told in "Persons of Interest," a 2004
documentary by Alison Maclean and Tobias Perse that features interviews
with the detainees and their families. Portions of the film will be shown
tonight at Ragtag Cinemacafe, as part of a presentation by Gulten Ilhan,
a professor of philosophy at St. Louis Community College at Meramec and
an expert on Islam and interfaith relationships.
"Targeting Muslim Rights: Private Provocation and Public
Action" will focus on the civil rights of Muslims in America since
Sept. 11, and how the media, religious leaders, politicians and others
portray people of Islamic faith in the U.S.
"This is about public education," said Ilhan, who is the
vice president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in St.
Louis. "Because I look at myself as the new Jew, the new Black,
or the new Japanese. There is still a lot of racial profiling and many
people are suffering because of their religious beliefs."
(MORE)
An African-American is expected to win election on November 7 as the
first Muslim member of the US Congress.
And if Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old criminal defence attorney, does
secure a seat in the House of Representatives, his district's many Somali
immigrants will have proven to be a crucial factor. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
VERSE: CONDUCT YOUR AFFAIRS BY MUTUAL CONSULTATION -
TOP
"(Remember that) whatever you are given (now) is but for the
(passing) enjoyment of life in this world - whereas that which is with
God is far better and more enduring. (It shall be given) to those who
believe and put their trust in their Lord, avoid major sins and shameful
deeds, forgive even when they are angry, respond to the call of their
Lord, establish regular prayer, conduct their affairs by mutual
consultation, spend (on others) out of the sustenance that We have given
them, and when they are oppressed, help and defend
themselves."
The Holy Quran, 42:36-39
VERSE: CONSULT IN ALL MATTERS OF PUBLIC CONCERN
"It was by God's grace that you (O Muhammad) did deal gently with
your followers: for if you had been harsh and hard of heart, they would
indeed have broken away from you. Pardon them, then, and pray that they
be forgiven. And consult with them in all matters of public
concern."
(Remember, as a U.S. citizen, it is your right to vote! Most states have
laws guaranteeing you the right to take time off work to vote.)
2. Bring identification, such as a driver's license or passport. Most
states require it.
3. If you would like a paper ballot, request it. You do not have to use
the electronic ballot if you don't want to.
4. When you are done voting...grab an "I Voted" sticker and
sport it. Wear it with pride.
5. Drive home safely, and congratulations on voting.
6. Call your family and friends and make sure they went to vote. Help
them to find their polling place.
7. Remember, if you don't vote, don't complain.
Amid copies of the Koran and Arabic calligraphy, a small American flag
sits on a table in a corner of Ahmed Rehab's office at the Council on
American-Islamic Relations here.
"I am proud to be American, and I really mean that," said
Rehab, who as executive director of the council's Chicago branch spends
his days handling civil rights complaints from fellow Muslims. "I'd
rather be a Muslim in America than anywhere else."
At first glance, such patriotism appears paradoxical. The United States
led the invasion of Iraq and passed the Patriot Act. It was here that the
war on terror was dubbed a war on "Islamo- fascists." But, for
now at least, the violent backlash is in Europe, not America.
The Sept. 11 attacks of five years ago have galvanized efforts by a small
but growing elite of Islamic intellectuals and young activists to find
their voice and carve out an identity that is as American as it is
Muslim. (MORE)
Spectators packed Hutchison Commons last Wednesday night to hear renowned
Islamic scholar John Esposito's talk entitled "Understanding Islam
in the Modern World," organized by the Muslim Students Association
(MSA).
Esposito, a professor of Religion, International Studies and Islamic
Studies at Georgetown University, rose to prominence after the 1979
Iranian Revolution, when academics took greater interest in politics of
the Islamic world.
Before Esposito spoke, vice president of the MSA and third-year Khalil
Qato encouraged those present to think forward to "a cold Autumn
night 20 years from now at the U of C" when students will hold our
generation responsible for resolving the current situation.
Ahmed Rehab, a software engineer and director of the Council of
American-Islamic Relations, as well as a frequent commentator on
Islamic issues, then took the podium. He said Islam is truly a Western
religion and will eventually find its niche in the West, but that a
misrepresentation of the religion, ignorance, and an Islamophobic bias in
the news media prevents that realization. (MORE)
(MIAMI, FL, 11/7/06) - On November 12, the Florida office of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) and the Muslim Students at
University of Miami will host a public event focusing on Hispanic Muslims
in America.
Imam Benjamin Perez, President of CALMA (California Latino Medical
Association), Imam Ali Siddiqui, noted peace and labor Activist and Mario
Nunez, Director of CALMA, will discuss the trend of Hispanics converting
to Islam.
"As the number of Hispanic Muslims grows, it is clear that the
American Muslim community is more diverse than many people might
imagine," said CAIR-FL Communications Director Melissa
Matos.
WHAT: Forum on Hispanic Muslims
WHERE: University of Miami's University Center Flamingo Ballroom,
1252
Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL
WHEN: On Sunday, November 12, 2006, from 5-8 p.m.
CONTACT: Melissa Matos, CAIR-FL Communications Director, 954-990-3644
melissa@cairfl.org; Rafael Alexander, 561-549-7440; Amir Abdelzaher,
786-853-9476
Interfaith banquet: CAIR-Sacramento Valley will host the fourth annual
American Muslims "Connecting and Sharing" Banquet at 5 p.m.
Saturday at the Hilton Sacramento Arden West, 2200 Harvard St.,
Sacramento. Tickets are $45 per person in advance and $60 at the door, if
available. For more information call (916) 441-6269.
An Internet campaign to boycott a holiday postage stamp is once again
circulating around Central Texas.
The stamp in question commemorates the two biggest Muslim festivals of
the year. Some residents say it's inappropriate.
An email message is all over the web, asking people to remember attacks
on the U.S. done in the name of Islam when it's time to buy stamps, and
not buy ones, commemorating Muslim celebrations Eidulfitr and Eid
Uladha.
Retired postal worker Ron Smith said, "From the little kids up,
they're trained to be a terrorist and for us to honor.
I'm sure there are good Muslims, but I just don't think it's appropriate
for our country to honor their holidays."
Mustafaa Carroll of the Council on American Islamic Relations
said, "I guess it's just become par for the course these
days."
Local Muslim leaders said a post 9/11 America hasn't been too friendly,
and they said being un-fairly lumped in with radicals in popular opinion
is nothing new.
Carroll said, "I'm more concerned with the general community, and
what it's going to look like in the years to come, because this war's
going to pass and people aren't always going to be doing this and we have
to get along after this is all said and done." (MORE)
CHICAGO -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations has urged a
Congressman to clarify controversial remarks he made about racial
profiling.
CAIR's Chicago office said Thursday it had sent a letter, along with
several other organizations, demanding a clarification from Rep. Jerry
Weller, R-Ill., about recent comments he had made about racial
profiling.
In a recent debate against John Pavich, his Democratic challenger in
Tuesday's congressional elections, Weller said: "If we know a Middle
Eastern male has entered our community, I believe our law enforcement
needs to be able to go out and look for Middle Eastern males, if that
Middle Eastern male was part of a jihadist movement and part of a
terrorist threat to our nation."
Sadiya Ahmed, CAIR-Chicago Governmental Relations Coordinator,
said that the practice of racial profiling "creates a cycle of
discrimination that is difficult to break out of."
"Elected officials have the ability to protect the civil rights of
their constituents," Ahmed said. "Singling out a group of
people, Middle Eastern men, and encouraging law enforcement to seek them
out only encourages a dangerous climate of hate. Our representatives
should be the ones protecting people against such mistreatment in the
first place."
This letter is in response to the Muslim bashing taking place in Hernando
County at the behest of Tom and Mary Ann Hogan.
All terrorists are evil, but not all are Muslim. Not all Muslims are
Arabic either, and to imply that the only evil people in the world are
Muslim or Arabic is sinful no matter your religion. Timothy McVeigh and
the Unabomber were white and not Muslim, but still terrorists.
Most rational people know that killing innocent woman and children is not
a religious sanction and to exaggerate and misdirect the residents of
Hernando County is appalling.
The Hogans' comments are inciting Hernando County to rise against its
Muslim residents, and since I am in the company of many Muslim people
every day who I respect and care for, I cannot just sit back and not
comment on evil when I see it. Hate is hate no matter what you try to
hide it as, and these comments are hateful.
They are also misinformed regarding a group of people. If you all
remember correctly, especially those who are aware of the Holocaust, then
you know that Hitler had an agenda, as well. I wonder if the Hogans'
agenda is to deport all the Muslims from this country?
Also, I believe I see our police directing traffic at all church
ceremonies and at Christmas parades, as well. Wouldn't that be misuse of
our community services, too, since it is for religious purposes?
Many of our Muslim residents are the doctors we visit every day and they
help us, not kill us. The Hogans cannot take back what they say, so if
you believe terrorists are evil, say it; but don't include only a small
percentage of people when you say it.
Muslims of our community are not committing crimes against us. Please
don't incite people to do such to them with thoughtless comments and
hateful misuse of your community positions.
(Cheryl Cuomo is from Spring Hill, Fl)
-----
NO-FLY LIST NEEDS SCRUTINIZING -
TOP
CAIR-CAN Comments on Passenger Protect Program
(Ottawa, Canada - Nov 6, 2006) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) is calling upon legislators to carefully review and
scrutinize the federal government's proposed no-fly list, also known as
"Passenger Protect." The program's regulations, which lists
persons who may pose an immediate threat to aviation security should they
attempt to board flights, is currently open to a 75-day period of public
comment.
Passenger Protect will be administered by a Transport Canada-led advisory
group. The group will create a "Specified Persons List" with
classified information provided by CSIS and the RCMP. Both organizations
have come under increasing criticism in their handling of national
security matters post-2001. The RCMP and CSIS were cited in the recent
Arar Inquiry Report, with the RCMP fingered as documenting and passing on
faulty information, likely leading to the detention and overseas torture
of Maher Arar.
"The Passenger Protect Program needs work on many levels. It's
questionable how individuals named under the Specified Persons List can
freely walk on the street when they are deemed to be an immediate threat
to aviation security," said Karl Knicker, Executive Director of
CAIR-CAN.
Currently, there are no systems proposed that will allow passengers to
access information and determine if they are on the Specified Persons
List.
"Secret information, not scrutinized by Canadian courts, will be
used to build Passenger Protect. In a post-9/11 context, it is obvious
how the no-fly list presents the real possibility of religious and racial
profiling," he added.
CONTACT: CAIR-CAN Communications and Human Rights Coordinator Sameer
Zuberi at 613-795-2012, or CAIR-CAN Executive Director Karl Nickner at
613-254-9704 or 613-853-4111
The Pakistani immigrant who was allegedly assaulted by a group of
Orthodox Jewish teens said yesterday he is still shaken more than a week
after the attack and fears others will become victims "if justice is
not served here."
Wearing bandages over his broken nose and his eyes still black-and-blue
from the Oct. 29 beating in Brooklyn, Shahid Amber warned yesterday,
"What can happen to me can happen to anyone."
"There is so much hate out there, and the hate is so strong that it
can lead to violence. I'm sure that if this is not stopped here, then
there may be other victims," said Amber, 24, adding he could barely
sleep and was having nightmares.
Five youths face hate crime charges in the beating of Amber, who was
eating ice cream outside a Dunkin' Donuts in Midwood when his attackers
"started hooting at me. They were shouting slogans - 'Muslim
terrorist' - and cursing me: 'Go back to your country,'" he
said.
Amber's attorney, Omar Mohammedi, said 10 other teens who "were
enticing, were encouraging the bias crime" also should be charged.
(MORE)
The lawyer for a Pakistani immigrant allegedly beaten by five Orthodox
Jewish teens on Oct. 29 in Brooklyn wants prosecutors to charge at least
five others believed to have egged on the attack.
Omar Mohammedi said yesterday that 10 or more people were present when
Shahid Amber, 24, was taunted, then jumped outside a Dunkin' Donuts in
Midwood.
"The ones inciting and encouraging the violence should also be
charged," Mohammedi said.
A spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said there may,
indeed, be more arrests.
Yossi Friedman, 17, Shulomi Bitton and Benjamin Wasserman, both 16, and
David Brach and Yitzi Horowitz, both 15 - each charged as an adult - face
multiple counts, including second-degree assault as a hate
crime.
A Pakistani man beaten on a Brooklyn street called for federal charges
Monday against the five teens charged in the attack, speaking out for the
first time since the attack two weeks ago. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the
following report.
"They were raising slogans, 'Muslim terrorists,'" explained
Shahid Amber, a victim of a hate crime. "[They] started cursing me,
[saying] go back to your country, scum bags, you just messed this country
up and all that."
Amber recalled how it all began. He was eating ice cream in front of a
Dunkin Donuts in Midwood, Brooklyn on October 29, when a group of
teenagers started yelling ethnic slurs at him. The 24-year-old immigrant
from Pakistan said the verbal assault soon became physical.
"One of them, he spit on my face," said Amber. "As I was
cleaning my face, I see a punch coming on my face with a brass
knuckle."
Amber was treated for a number of injuries, including a broken nose, and
soon after, the police arrested five teens, all of them Jewish, and
charged them with assault as a hate crime. But on Monday, Amber and his
lawyers joined several community organizations to say that is not enough.
They want the teens to face federal prosecution.
"I would like to make sure that they would be used as an example,
that if anyone else who wants to commit the same bias crimes, that there
is very strict law that would be applied against them," said Omar
Mohammedi, Amber's attorney.
Community leaders said Amber's case is not an isolated incident. They
said in recent years there has been an increase in the number of
anti-Muslim complaints. (MORE)
NEW YORK: The Pakistan Consulate-General on Sunday called for a thorough
investigation into an attack on a Pakistani-American allegedly by Jewish
teenagers.
Prosecutors have charged five teens with brutally beating the 24-year-old
Shahid Amber in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, last weekend.
"We have called on the relevant law-enforcement authorities to
investigate the case," Consul-General Haroon Shaukat told
APP.
Amber is quoted in local newspaper reports as saying that he was eating
ice cream outside a restaurant near his home on previous Sunday night
when a group of 10 to 15 began taunting him, calling him a
"terrorist" and other disparaging and profane words.
He said he tried to ignore them but they came over and one knocked his
ice cream out of his hand. "One of them spit in my face," Amber
said in a phone interview on Friday. "As I was cleaning my face, I
noticed a punch coming at my face with brass knuckles on it."
Criminal complaints said the teens then began to hit and kick Amber and
yelled: "Go back to your country and never mess with
Jews."
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading Muslim advocacy group,
also demanded an investigation, saying it's an indication of "the
kind of thing that we're seeing as a growing phenomenon, tied to a sharp
rise in the anti-Muslim sentiment in our society". "I think
intervention by the Justice Department would send a strong message that
anti-Muslim attacks would not be tolerated in America," Hooper
said.
With a bit of humor and storytelling, Imam Abdullah Antepli outlined the
basic beliefs and traditions of Islam Monday night to a crowd of nearly
100 at Somers Congregational Church.
Speaking before the group, Antepli, the head of Hartford Seminary's
Islamic chaplaincy program, drew similarities between his faith and those
of Jews and Christians. Like Christians, he said, Muslims believe in one
god, Allah, scriptures, apostles and a day of judgment.
"Judgment is pretty much like IRS auditing," he said, prompting
a burst of laughter. "If you're in the plus side, you go to the
sheep."
But a person who falls in the red, he said, "goes to the goats ...
I'm not sure why goats are a bad thing."
The Rev. Barry Cass, head pastor for the church, said he hired Antepli to
speak before his congregation after a couple of churchgoers attended a
similar presentation in West Hartford.
"It just seemed like a way of opening our minds," Cass said.
"We talk a lot about a thing we don't know anything about."
(MORE)
Muslim students put FBI and immigration officials on the hot seat Sunday
at a taping in Queens of a well known Pakistani talk show. NY1 Criminal
Justice reporter Solana Pyne was there as a panel answered questions
about everything from FBI training to the success of the war on
terror.
An unusual gathering even for a place as diverse as Queens, as a well
known Pakistani talk show host taped a program to bring back
home.
"There is an important question, what is the outcome of this war on
terror after five years," asked talk-show host Hamid Mir.
A room full of students asked questions.
"Are FBI agents or other government officials trained, or getting
trained to learn more about Islam?" asked one student in
attendance.
Answering them was a member of parliament from the United Kingdom, a
local imam, Muslim academics from both coasts, as well as the head of the
New York office for Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency,
and an FBI special agent.
"FBI Agents can't all look like me," said FBI special agent,
Andrew Arena. "They can't all be white guys. We have got to
diversify and that's very, very important. We train our agents from day
one in the academy to understand the Muslim faith." (MORE)
-----
UCLA LAW PROFESSOR KHALED ABOU EL FADL
APPOINTED TO ALFI CHAIR IN ISLAMIC LAW -
TOP
Business Wire, 11/7/06
UCLA School of Law Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl was named to the Omar
and Azmeralda Alfi Endowed Chair in Islamic Law, which was created
through the generosity of Dr. Omar Alfi and Mrs. Azmeralda Alfi.
Professor El Fadl, a 2005 Carnegie Scholar, teaches courses in Islamic
law, immigration law, national security law, investment law, and
terrorism and the law. He also conducts a seminar in human rights. Dr. El
Fadl has served as an expert witness in international litigation
involving Middle Eastern law, and in cases involving terrorism,
immigration law and political asylum claims. (MORE)
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza (AP) -- Israeli forces ended a bloody weeklong
operation in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun early Tuesday, leaving behind a
swath of destroyed homes, uprooted trees and streets muddied with sewage
water from pipes destroyed by tanks and bulldozers. (MORE)
THE US's handling of this year's war between Israel and Hezbollah
further destabilised the Middle East and set back hopes for peace, former
US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage says.
Mr Armitage, who is visiting Australia, said the US decision to allow
Israel's air campaign against guerrillas in southern Lebanon to continue
for six weeks gave strength to Hezbollah and its supporters throughout
the Middle East.
"It's inexplicable that we would hold (Israel's) coat for them and
let them do it," he said today in a speech at Parliament House in
Canberra. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. VOTERS REJECT ISLAM-BASHING, PROFILING OF
MUSLIMS CAIR applauds election of first American Muslim
congressman
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/8/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights and advocacy group today welcomed the rejection of
"Islam-bashing" and profiling as campaign issues in yesterday's
mid-term elections.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) also
applauded the election of Keith Ellison in Minnesota's 5th
Congressional District. He will be the first American Muslim in
Congress.
Ellison won yesterday's election by a more than two-to-one margin,
despite campaign attacks on his connection to the Muslim community. The
Star Tribune newspaper said his GOP opponent's "hateful attempt to
tie Ellison and his party to Islamic extremism" was
"reprehensible."
In an editorial endorsing Ellison, the Star Tribune noted: "The real
drama in this race is the way Republican Alan Fine has discredited his
own campaign with overwrought attacks on Ellison."
Candidates who were vocal supporters of "profiling" Muslims and
Middle Easterners lost elections in Wisconsin and Illinois.
In Wisconsin, 3rd Congressional District GOP candidate Paul Nelson
suggested looking for anyone who is "wearing a turban and his name
is Muhammad" when he was questioned about his call for profiling of
Muslims.
Republican candidate for Illinois' 17th Congressional District Andrea
Zinga said: "Profiling doesn't bother me if we are profiling the
people who. . .have caused the outrages against our nation and caused the
deaths of American citizens. . .We're talking about Mideastern
men."
In Pennsylvania, Sen. Rick Santorum lost his seat in the Senate
after targeting so-called "Islamic fascism" during his
campaign. Santorum even linked the Islamic concept of Jihad to Nazism
when he said: "Mein Kampf means struggle; jihad means
struggle."
And in Florida, both gubernatorial candidates repudiated
anti-Muslim remarks made by supporters during the campaign.
"The election of an American Muslim candidate to national office and
the rejection of those who promoted societal division and mistrust send a
clear message that the United States is a nation that embraces people of
all faiths," said CAIR Legislative Director Corey
Saylor.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR Legislative Affairs Director Corey Saylor,
202-488-8787, 571-278-4658, E-Mail:
csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR CONGRATULATES FIRST MUSLIM ELECTED TO
CONGRESS Keith Ellison wins by two-to-one margin in
Minnesota
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/8/06) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) today congratulated
Keith Ellison on his election to Congress in Minnesota's 5th District.
Ellison, who won yesterday's election by a more than two-to-one margin,
will be the first American Muslim elected to national office.
CAIR worked to mobilize American Muslim voters nationwide for yesterday's
mid-term elections. A CAIR survey released in October indicated that
Muslim voters are religiously diverse, well integrated in American
society, politically active, and lean toward the Democratic
Party.
"We congratulate Keith Ellison on his election to Congress and thank
American Muslim voters for turning out at the polls in Minnesota and
nationwide to support candidates of either major party who address their
concerns," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.
Awad said the results of yesterday's mid-term elections show that
American Muslims are stepping up their political participation
nationwide.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR Legislative Affairs Director Corey Saylor,
202-488-8787, 571-278-4658, E-Mail:
csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
"Do you think that you will enter the Paradise without such (trials)
as came to those who passed away before you? They encountered suffering
and adversity and were so shaken in spirit that even the Apostle and
those of faith who were with him cried: 'When (will come) the help of
God?' Ah! Verily the help of God is (always) near!"
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/8/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) was honored today to host a U.S. representative to the Vatican at
its Capitol Hill headquarters.
Christopher Sandrolini, counselor and deputy chief of mission at the U.S.
Embassy to the Holy See, received information about the Muslim community
and its successful integration into American society.
Sandrolini was also presented with a Holy Quran of the type distributed
through CAIR's
"Explore the
Quran" campaign.
-----
CAIR CONDEMNS ISRAELI
'MASSACRE' OF CIVILIANS IN GAZA -
TOP
U.N. asked to offer protection; U.S. urged to repudiate killings
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/8/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) today condemned an Israeli "massacre" of 18 Palestinian
civilians, including at least eight children, as they slept.
"This unconscionable and inexcusable massacre of Palestinian
civilians must be condemned by every nation that seeks peace with justice
in the Middle East. The United Nations must meet to devise a plan to
protect the civilian populations of Gaza and the West Bank from Israel's
brutal actions. And the United States should not remain silent in the
face of Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians. Lack of international
action will only serve to escalate tensions in the entire
region."
According to a report released today, a third of Palestinians killed
during recent Israeli attacks on Gaza have been minors.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com
There are times in the history of every nation when its people risk
turning down a dark road from which there is no easy return. The United
States stands at such a crossroads.
Five years after Sept. 11, 2001, Arab Americans and Muslims - and others
mistaken for them - are subjected to discrimination based on their
religion, names, skin color, clothing or language. Bias takes the form of
ethnic profiling, verbal harassment, mosque desecration and physical
violence. The Council on American-Islamic Relations recently reported
that anti-Muslim bias rose by 30 percent from 2004 to 2005 to a 12-year
high. The group recorded almost 2,000 incidents last year of anti-Muslim
discrimination, harassment and violence. The District of Columbia and
nine states, including Illinois, accounted for almost 79 percent of the
civil rights complaints.
In a USA Today/Gallup Poll released in August, 39 percent of Americans
polled reported feeling prejudice against Muslims. The same percentage
said Muslims, including those who are U.S. citizens, should be required
to carry a special identification card "as a means of preventing
terrorism in the United States." Twenty-two percent of those polled
said they would not want Muslims as neighbors.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that while the worst wave of
violence against Muslims and Arabs subsided three months after 9/11,
there has been a persistent pattern of hate crimes at rates higher than
those prior to 9/11.
For the estimated 60,000 Muslims who live in the St. Louis area, those
numbers take on real-life meaning. Two weeks ago, a Pakistani-American
man living in St. Peters awoke to find anti-Muslim graffiti spray-painted
on the family's garage door.
Unfortunately, The Rev. David Clippard chose to fan the flames of
intolerance and fear at an annual conference last week of the Missouri
Baptist Convention, held in Cape Girardeau. Mr. Clippard is executive
director of the state convention, a fellowship of 2,000 Baptist
congregations.
"Today, Islam has a strategic plan to defeat and occupy
America," Mr. Clippard told the 1,200 convention delegates.
"They are after your sons and daughters . . . Your freedom is on the
floor with their foot on it, with their sword raised, and if you don't
convert, your head comes off," he said to cheers.
Those remarks, and delegates' reaction to them, devastated Gulten
Ilhan, a Muslim who has dedicated her life to promoting religious
tolerance and understanding. She is vice president of the St. Louis
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a professor
of religion and philosophy at St. Louis Community College at
Meramec.
"I believe in freedom of expression, but with freedom comes
responsibility," Ms. Ilhan said. "Right now, Muslims are fair
game. People can say anything." (MORE)
Police in Edmonton are investigating a hate crime that targeted a mosque
in the city's north end last week.
Scraps of pig meat were left at the doorstep and front windows of the
Canadian Islamic Centre sometime after 1 a.m. on November 1, before
members arrived for 5 a.m. prayers.
The centre's president, Khalid Tarabain, called the incident a great
concern for community members, who have seen windows broken and eggs
thrown at the centre in the past.
"Muslims don't eat pork, it's forbidden. It's a religious
thing," he said. "It's not a vandalism or anything, it has a
meaning." (MORE)
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington
University, will speak on "The Heart of Islam" on Thursday
evening at Eckerd College.
During an interview this week, Nasr discussed Islam, misconceptions about
the faith, its attitude toward other religions and the potential for
harmony between radical Islam and the West.
Describe some misconceptions about Islam.
First of all, misconceptions in the West are very different from, say, in
Japan and China. . . . Islamophobia exists from the old days, when Islam,
in a sense, encircled Western civilization. From that has come the
following major misconceptions: First and foremost, that God could not
have sent a religion after Christ and therefore Islam is some kind of a
parody or diversion or falsehood.
Because Christianity is a religion whose central reality is Christ,
people when they are trying to attack Islam, they try to attack the
Prophet (Mohammed), thinking that he holds the same central position. So
that in attacking him, they will attack the religion.
Do women have rights in Islam?
Women have remarkable rights according to Islamic law and according to
the Koran. First, they are equal before the law. (MORE)
Some Northern Virginia girl scout troops are building bridges and closing
cultural gaps by sharing a hearty meal and a heritage.
The EID, a feast which celebrates the end of the Muslim month of fasting.
But this meal serves a greater purpose for the Daisy and Brownie troops
in Herndon, Virginia.
"You're sharing your culture with other people, and they tell you
about their own culture." says Girl Scout Ruqayya Abdullah.
Girl Scout Ava Poocopio says, "I like that we all get
together!"
The breaking of bread with Girl Scouts of other faiths is a yearly
tradition at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society or Adams Center.
Priscillia Martinez is one of the troop leaders. "They get to come
here and bond together as girl scouts." (MORE)
Seeking to capitalize on the publicity swirling around a high-profile
report attacking the role of the "Israel Lobby" in shaping
American foreign policy, an advocacy group that opposes America's close
relationship with the Jewish state is hawking a DVD on Amazon.com of two
recent public debates involving one of the paper's authors.
The Council for the National Interest Foundation, which Sunday published
its third full-page ad in the New York Times this year condemning
America's alliance with Israel, is poised this week to market "The
Tipping Point: Changing Perceptions of the U.S.-Israel
Relationship," according to the foundation's director, Eugene
Bird.
The DVD, which will sell for $14.95 on Amazon.com, features a lively
debate held September 28 at New York's Cooper Union that pitted, among
others, John Mearsheimer, a political science professor at the University
of Chicago and co-author of the controversial paper, "The Israel
Lobby," against former Clinton administration Middle East diplomats
Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk. Also included on the DVD is a recording of
Mearsheimer's August 28 presentation sponsored by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations held at the National Press Club in
Washington D.C. Mearsheimer's co-author was Stephen Walt, an
international relations professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of
Government. (MORE)
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) holds a panel
discussion on the influence of the Pro-Israel lobby. Participants are:
John J. Mearsheimer, Univ. of Chicago; Stephen M.Walt, Kennedy School of
Government; Nihad Awad, CAIR executive director; Corey Saylor, CAIR
government affairs director.
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIRST MUSLIM IN CONGRESS TO SPEAK AT CAIR EVENT
IN VA Keith Ellison will join other elected officials at
annual banquet
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/9/06) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) announced today that
Keith Ellison, the first
Muslim in Congress, will join other elected officials as a keynote
speaker November 18th at the Washington-based civil rights group's
12th Annual Banquet in
Arlington, Va.
CAIR's dinner, which in past years had sold-out crowds of more than
1,000, will feature addresses by Representative-elect Ellison (D-MN) and
Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Albert Wynn
(D-MD).
Other speakers at the event include a representative of the FBI and
Amy Goodman of
Democracy Now. Attendees will include many Muslim and interfaith leaders,
diplomats from Muslim nations and American Muslim community
activists.
Ellison won Tuesday's election in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District
by a more than two-to-one margin. He will be the first American Muslim to
hold elected office at the national level.
"We are honored to have the first American Muslim elected to
Congress offer his first major address during our annual banquet,"
said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: Explosion Destroys FL Muslim Family's Home / FL Rep
Supports Muslim-Bashing / Muslim Veterans to Lay Memorial Day Wreath /
NJ Muslims Vote for Democrats
HADITH OF THE DAY: GOOD DEEDS LEAD TO PARADISE -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "A believer never has
his fill of good deeds until he ends up in Paradise."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 421
The Prophet also said: "The Fire (of Hell) will not touch two pairs
of eyes - the ones that shed tears out of fear of (displeasing) God and
those that keep watch through the night in the cause of
God."
Police said they are investigating two suspicious fires in Brevard
County, including one that involved an explosion.
One fire broke out at a home in the 700 block of Altona Street in Palm
Bay at about 2:30 a.m.
Police said the fire and explosion caused up to $70,000 in damage to the
home, WESH 2 News reported.
"It appears that it was started by some sort of explosive. Gasoline
was poured in the dining room. The windows were blown out over 90 feet
from the structure," said Palm Bay Police Department spokeswoman
Yvonne Martinez.
The homeowner attends the same mosque that was targeted by a gunman in
September. Several shots were fired at the Islamic Society of Brevard in
Melbourne on Sept. 23. Nobody was injured in that shooting, and police
said the homeowner was at work during Thursday morning's fire.
Authorities said they are not investigating the fire as a hate crime. .
.
"We're looking at them as being arsons," Martinez
said.
Police are urging anyone with information about the fires to call police
at 321-952-3456.
PALM BAY, Fla. -- A Palm Bay house didn't just catch fire. It
exploded. Police said it was no accident.
Police said glass from the house shot all the way across the street
during Thursday morning's explosion at a house on Altona Street in
southwest Palm Bay.
The front lawn was left littered with items blown out of the front window
and door. Fire investigators were on the scene Thursday morning, taking
samples from inside the home. They are convinced the explosion was no
accident.
The explosion at the home was so powerful, the front door landed in the
front yard and shards of glass blew across the street.
Tamer Hassan was at work delivering newspapers when his home was broken
into and destroyed.
"It looks like someone went in there and took some stuff, but I
don't know why they would do this after they steal the stuff,"
Hassan said.
Investigators said someone set a fire inside the home and vapors from the
fuel likely caused the explosion. The family living there is Muslim, of
Egyptian descent, and they question whether it could be some sort of hate
crime. (MORE)
Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite on Thursday angrily refused calls by
a Muslim advocacy group to condemn a prominent Hernando County Republican
who called Islam a "hateful, frightening religion."
Brown-Waite condemned Gov. Jeb Bush and the head of the Republican Party
of Florida who last week demanded an apology from Commissioner Tom Hogan
and his wife, Mary Ann Hogan. On Friday, Gov.-elect Charlie Crist severed
Mary Ann Hogan's relationship with his campaign in response to a letter
from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
CAIR also sent a letter to Brown-Waite Friday, but she declined, through
her spokesman, to respond until today: "Mrs. Hogan expressed in her
statements the views of many of my constituents," Brown-Waite wrote,
"and while they do not encourage harmony in the community, they
should demonstrate to you how many United States citizens perceive your
faith."
CONTACT: CAIR-FL, Ahmed Bedier, 813-731-9506
-----
DC: MUSLIM VETERANS TO LAY MEMORIAL DAY
WREATH -
TOP
The Muslim American Veterans Association (MAVA) will conduct a
wreath-laying ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, Area 5 in
Washington, D.C., on 11 November at 0700 A.M. For more information
contact Chief Petty Officer Saleem Abdul-Mateen (US Navy, retired) at
301.213.2994.
More than 4,000 Muslim men and women serve in the military.
FL: CAIR CHAIR DISCUSSES POLITICAL
PARTICIPATION -
TOP
CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed today participated in a Florida panel
discussion on "Minority Participation in US Elections"
sponsored by the Office of International Visitors, Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Other Panelists Included:
* Mr. Jamal Jubran - 2006 President, American Federation of Ramallah
Palestine
* Dr. Henry Thomas - Associate Professor and Exec. Director of Florida
Center for Public and International Policy
* Mr. Pete Jackson - Executive Administrator, Office of Faith and
Community Based Partnerships
* Mr. Marc Mayo - OneJax Board of Directors and Attorney for Rogers
Towers PA.
* Ms. Bobbie O'Connor - OneJax Executive Director
International visitors attending the discussion included:
* Dr. Abderrezak Dahdouh, Member of Parliament, FLN Party (National
Liberation Front), Annaba, Algeria
* Ms. Nadia Bouali, Journalist, French language daily newspaper,
'Liberte,' Algiers, Algeria
* Mr. Khalil Ibrahim, Journalist, Al Ahram Organization, Egypt
* Mr. Salah El Din Hussein Soliman Abdel Khalek, Chairman, El Nakib
Center for Training and Democracy Support, Egypt
* Ms. Aisha S. F. R. Alqarawi, General Manager and Political Journalist
and Analyst, Kuwait
* Dr. Ahmed Touhami, President (Mayor), Urban Commune, Fnideq,
Morocco
* Mr. Rashid Said Al Harrasi, Member, Majlis Ash-Shura, Oman
* Mr. Saif Mubarak Al Rahbi, Member, Committee for Services and
Development of Local Communities, Majlis Ash-Shura, Oman
* Ms. Sahla Rabiah Al-Hareb, Secretary, Public Relations Department,
Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Qatar
* Mr. Hussien Mohammed A Ghtany, Political Editor at Al Riyadh
Newspaper's Jeddah Branch, Saudi Arabia
* Mr. Nabil Dolmaya, Teacher, Computer and Graphics, Institute of Afaq
for Computers, Hassake, Syria
MARION - Chantelle Blackburn, Hispanic ministry coordinator for St. Mary
Church, speaks often of peace. She admits that wasn't the word that came
to mind when she thought of Islam.
"(I thought) that it was a pretty violent religion and did promote
radicalism," said Blackburn. After taking an Arabic studies class at
The Ohio State University at Marion, she said she plans to be among those
trying to change that misconception.
The Marion Campus will host "Islam: The Misunderstood
Religion," a panel discussion, 7-8:30 p.m. Sunday in the OSUM
Student Services Building's Guthery Community Room.
The panel, which will be moderated by OSUM associate professor of
economics Hassan Aly, will feature Blackburn, OSUM French and Arabic
senior lecturer Zuheir Alidib and Council on American-Islamic
Relations Board vice chair Ahmad Al-Akhras as its panelists. The
event is free and open to the public. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-NJ: MAJORITY OF NJ MUSLIMS VOTE FOR
DEMOCRATS -
TOP
(TOTOWA, NEW JERSEY, 11/9/2006) - An informal poll of Muslim voters,
conducted by the New Jersey Chapter of the Council on American Islamic
Relations (CAIR-NJ), indicated that the vast majority in that state voted
for Democrats in Tuesday's mid-term elections.
CAIR-NJ contacted 100 Muslim voters from various districts to ask how
they had voted. Of 100 Muslim voters contacted in New Jersey, 77 said
they had voted for the Democratic Party candidates. This result is in
line with a recent CAIR poll of Muslim voters nationwide indicating that
American Muslims lean toward the Democratic Party.
"CAIR-NJ has been conducting voter registration drives across the
state of New Jersey in order to mobilize American Muslim voters,"
said CAIR-NJ Communications Director Afsheen Shamsi. "We are seeing
that American Muslims are taking an active part in the political process
in New Jersey and that their vote is a factor in the election of the
winning party." Shamsi said there are at least 18,000 registered
Muslim voters in the state of New Jersey
In the weeks leading up to the election, CAIR-NJ launched a nationwide
"Get Out the Muslim Vote" campaign that included phone banks in
election centers and distribution of Muslim voter guides.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
The quest to find a place in Seattle where Election Day counts took me
south on Rainier Avenue.
I headed through Columbia City to South Brandon Street and hung a
left.
There it was on the right, a white clapboard building with a sign in red
letters: Maka Mini Market.
Inside, the man behind the counter was putting bread into a plastic bag.
He weighed the question.
"How do I feel?" said Abdinasir Ali Nur.
He took a deep breath.
"Today is November 7," the merchant from Somalia sighed,
staring into nowhere. "I try to wipe this day out of my
mind."
Huh?
"That was the day."
I'd gone searching for someone who would find unique meaning in the idea
of rights and privileges and politics on Election Day 2006.
Nur's ugly anniversary had slipped my mind.
Five years ago, government agents cycloned through his market as part of
a nationwide sweep by the Feds targeting places suspected of transferring
money to Osama bin Laden's network.
This made big headlines.
Nur's market was in the same building as a wire transfer business caught
in the cross hairs of the Feds. Nur, 41, was guilty by proximity -- and
for being a Muslim in a time of strong anti-Muslim fears.
The raid flipped his shop, ruining his Halal meats close to Ramadan. The
store owner took a six-figure blow for damaged or spoiled inventory and
lost business.
Uncle Sam had burst through the door, waving papers and bearing guns and
smashing up his life.
Nov. 7, 2001, was a date he couldn't forget.
Nur may be back in business, but the sting lingers.
"I've been in the United States since 1988," he said.
"I've never, ever been in jail. I never do anything
wrong."
He saw I was puzzled by his mention of the raid.
"You aren't here to talk about that?"
I shook my head and apologized for forgetting the date.
I had come to check on a tip that Nur, who became a citizen last year,
had just done something quintessentially American.
His mood brightened.
"I diiiiiiiiid," he said, with singsong glee. "I voted
today. First time. I'll keep on doing it, Insha Allah."
Insha Allah is Arabic, meaning "if it is God's will."
This innocent man was once a victim of Bush-Ashcroft-Rumsfeldian zeal,
like so many Muslims in America after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001.
Now he has a voice in how we are governed -- a voice that counts.
(MORE)
---
MN: SURVEY EXAMINES MUSLIM VOTING
PATTERNS -
TOP
The survey explored demographic and political statistics of Muslims
nationwide.
Cati Vanden Breul, Minnesota Daily, 11/9/06
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/11/09/69819
On Tuesday, Minnesota became the first state to send a Muslim to U.S.
Congress.
Less than a month before Democrat Keith Ellison, a Muslim and the first
black Minnesotan elected to Congress, defeated Republican Alan Fine in
Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a survey indicating that
Muslim voters are concentrated in 12 states, Minnesota among
them.
According to the survey, out of all registered Muslim voters nationwide,
California had the highest percentage at 20 percent, while Minnesota came
in 12th with 2.8 percent.
Researchers took a randomized sample of 1,000 Muslim voters from around
the country and profiled their demographic information and political
attitudes.
The study is the first scientific survey of American Muslim voters, said
Corey Saylor, CAIR spokesman.
According to the results, nearly half of Muslim voters consider
themselves Democrats, while only 17 percent said they identified with the
Republican Party.
Although Muslims tend to agree with Republicans on social issues like
abortion and family values, Saylor said, they identify with Democratic
stances on civil rights.
"Post-Sept. 11, civil rights has become the No. 2 issue in the
Muslim community," he said. "In civil rights and civil
liberties we see far more from the Democratic side of
things."
A quarter of respondents ranked education as the most important issue,
with the conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia - including those
in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan - coming in close
behind.
"The Patriot Act and Iraq are two of the top issues that have pushed
Muslims away from the Republican Party," Saylor said.
In 2000, many Muslims voted for President Bush because of his pledge to
do away with secret evidence, but he has since lost support, in part
because he did not keep that pledge, Saylor said.
Sami Khwaja, president of the University Muslim Students Association,
said Bush's foreign policy has alienated Muslims.
"It's one of the major issues we have a problem with," Khwaja
said. (MORE)
For some 225 years, this country never felt any pressing need to think
about Islam, much less comprehend it. Sure, it rose from the same soil as
the faiths embraced by most Americans, its roots inextricably entwined
with Judaism and Christianity, but hey, as long as it was embraced by
less than 1% of the populace, the vast majority of us didn't have to give
it any more serious thought than we did, say, Buddhism or
Unitarianism.
Then came September 11, and in our struggle to fathom the horror of that
day, we came up hard against Islam. In considering the lives of the
terrorists, the cause for which they sacrificed themselves, we couldn't
avoid it. And yet, as a nation, we still didn't think about Islam. In our
rush to assign reason to incomprehensible tragedy, we just made it the
cause of our misery, as if the vile doctrine of hatred spewed by a
radical fundamentalist sect were representative of the faith entire. And
we've been content to leave it at that. It's like looking at Christianity
as if all its practitioners were snake handlers, but we do it all the
same. In the new drama Kneeling Down at Noon, a character spells it out
this way to a Muslim attending a U.S. university: "You believe
something that everyone has just decided to not
understand."
That play, which premieres this week at the Mary Moody Northern Theatre,
is an attempt to move beyond that collective attitude of willful
ignorance toward a sense of Islam's true nature, its spirit, history,
principles, the ways they are practiced, and the kinds of people who
practice them. (MORE)
Bridges TV, the first English language American Muslim television
network, is now reaching a wider audience of non-Muslims in the United
States. It began in 2004 as a premium pay channel, but has now been
picked up as a free service by several cable and satellite systems. The
move will help advance the major purpose of this network -- to build
bridges between American Muslims and their neighbors. (MORE)
As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, they are quietly saying
that the pro-Israel lobby needs to "do some work" to improve
relations with their party.
Democratic sources said that on several occasions in recent months, they
felt as if the American Israel Public Affairs Committee appeared to be
siding with the Republicans. In addition, some Democratic operatives
complain that Aipac should have done more to speak out against the
Republican campaign to paint Democrats as unreliable when it comes to
standing up for Israel's security.
Aipac officials deny that the lobby has been leaning toward the
Republicans, and its executive director and president issued a November 1
statement insisting that support in Congress for Israel would remain
strong regardless of which party is in power. But some Democrats
complained that the statement was released Wednesday afternoon, after
Jewish newspapers had gone to press with their last issue before the
elections. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
Documents unsealed in the Sami Al-Arian case Thursday raise questions
about an assistant U.S. attorney's motives for requiring Al-Arian to
testify before a federal grand jury in Virginia.
Al-Arian's Tampa attorney, Jack Fernandez, wrote that on Sept. 18 he
asked Gordon Kromberg, assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of
Virginia, to delay Al-Arian's transfer 30 days until after the Islamic
religious holidays of Ramadan.
According to a court motion filed by Fernandez, Kromberg responded:
"If they can kill each other during Ramadan, they can appear before
the grand jury, all they can't do is eat before sunset. I believe Mr.
Al-Arian's request is part of the attempted Islamization of the American
Justice System. I am not going to put off Dr. Al-Arian's grand jury
appearance just to assist in what is becoming the Islamization of
America." (MORE)
BONNERS FERRY - A Spokane man whose stepfather works in law enforcement
was sentenced Wednesday to 20 days on a work detail by a judge who
brokered a plea bargain - saying "boys will be boys" in
describing how a teenage girl was burned in a bonfire.
Brian Todd Davis, 21, was accused of saying "Jews burn" as he
threw 17-year-old Ilaura Fleck into a bonfire on July 27 during a beer
keg party on Katka Mountain in Boundary County.
In sentencing Davis, visiting 1st District Magistrate Debra Heise, of
Sandpoint, said she was ruling that a hate crime didn't occur because the
victim isn't Jewish.
"That makes me angry," the victim responded after the hearing.
"I do believe I was the victim of a hate crime."
She continues to experience nightmares about the fire and has lost trust
in others, she told the court.
The teenager, who suffered first- and second-degree burns on her legs,
arm and buttocks, likely faces expensive reconstructive surgery. She
attends high school in Bonners Ferry and lives with her father, Joe
Fleck, who's Roman Catholic. Her mother, who lives in Spokane, is a
practicing Muslim.
"Justice has not been served," said the victim's mother,
identifying herself as Haleema. "This is just the beginning; we're
not done fighting yet."
If convicted of aggravated battery, Davis could have faced 15 years in
prison.
Davis wasn't arrested after the incident and wasn't charged with a felony
hate crime as the victim and her family requested.
After two months of pressure from the victim's father, Boundary County
Prosecutor Jack Douglas filed a felony aggravated battery complaint
against Davis.
But at a preliminary hearing on Friday, Heise told the prosecutor she was
prepared to dismiss the felony charge if he didn't strike a plea deal and
allow the defendant to plead guilty to battery, a simple
misdemeanor.
Joe Fleck said he was told by the prosecutor that the judge was pressing
for the plea deal because she had two children of her own and considered
Davis' acts a youthful indiscretion, fueled by alcohol, describing it as
"boys will be boys."
That angered the victim and her family and sparked outrage among human
rights groups in Boundary, Bonner and Kootenai counties.
"We witnessed a shocking miscarriage of justice at the Boundary
County Court House," the Boundary County Human Rights Task Force
said in a prepared statement.
"It is inexplicable that after hearing the testimony, Judge Heise
would suggest reducing the charge and discounting the severity of the
crime," said the statement released by spokeswoman Christi
Kramer.
"We have a hate crime law, and that was a hate crime when he said to
her, 'Jews burn,'" said Marshall Mend, a longtime member of the
Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.
"It's a hate crime whether she's Jewish or not," said Mend. He
was critical of the prosecutor for not filing a hate crime charge,
stalling the victim and her family and urging them to "not make
waves."
"What kind of prosecutor is that?" Mend asked. "This is
not Nazi Germany. It's Idaho in the United States of
America."
Sentencing for Davis wasn't supposed to occur for several weeks but was
moved up to Wednesday, even though the victim hasn't completed medical
treatment and couldn't submit a bill for reimbursement.
The prosecutor urged the judge to send Davis to jail for 30 days, saying
he was "getting a big break." Restitution for the victim's
medical bills, ordered by the judge, will be decided at a future
date.
At the sentencing, Davis didn't address the court but apologized in a
written statement read by his attorney, Bryce W. Powell, of Sandpoint.
His attorney called Davis' friend, Jock Desmarais, who testified he saw
Davis "set down the victim" near the bonfire after picking her
up while the two "were joking around."
His testimony was disputed by the victim and prosecution witnesses who
testified at Friday's hearing. They quoted Davis as saying because
Ilaura Fleck's father was a Catholic and her mother a Muslim, "that
makes you a Jew. All Jews should be burned." Davis then picked
up Fleck and threw her into the bonfire, about 4 feet in diameter, the
witnesses said. (MORE)
BROOKSVILLE - When Governor-elect Charlie Crist heard one of his
supporters call Islam a "hateful and frightening" religion, he
kicked her off his election team.
Governor Bush also condemned Hernando Commissioner Tom Hogan's and his
wife for the remark.
Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite didn't respond until after the election,
then she rushed to the couple's defense.
"Ms. Hogan is entitled to her views, and her husband stood by her
side as a good husband should," stated Brown-Waite.
The congresswoman also attacked the Governor and the Governor-elect for
condemning the comment.
"Not every Muslim is a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim
except for Tim McVeigh," offered Brown-Waite.
"What about Eric Rudolph?" FOX 13 asked.
"Well except him too," said Brown-Waite.
"What about the Klan?" we asked.
"They're not doing terrorist activities right now. We're talking
about a group that wants to do away with our way of life. With all due
respect, I don't think there's any comparison," said
Brown-Waite.
We can find many non-Muslim terrorists, but Islamic groups say that's not
the point.
"She's actually standing up on the wrong side of the aisle,
defending bigotry and hatred," stated Ahmed Bedier with the
Council on American Islamic Relations. (MORE)
FBI Tampa Division Special Agent in Charge (Director) Carl Whitehead
speaking at the CAIR-Tampa 2006 Annual Banquet on 9/16/2006 at the Tampa
Convention Center.
During his talk, Mr. Whitehead thanked CAIR and Mr. Ahmed Bedier,
Executive Director of CAIR-Tampa by acknowledging Bedier's efforts
for helping keep open lines of communication with the FBI which helps
keep nation safe.
(COLUMBUS, OH 11/10/06)- An informal poll of Muslim voters, conducted by
the Columbus office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-Ohio) indicated that the overwhelming majority of Muslim voters in
that state voted for Democrats in Tuesday's mid-term elections.
Seventy-five Muslim voters from Ohio responded to a post-election survey.
More than 90 percent of the respondents said they had voted for
Democratic Party candidates. A recent CAIR poll of Muslim voters
nationwide indicated that American Muslims are leaning toward the
Democratic Party.
In the weeks leading up to the election, CAIR-Ohio launched a "Get
Out the Vote" campaign that included phone calls to more than 1,000
registered Muslim voters in Ohio.
Adnan Mirza, executive director of the Ohio chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said that exit polls conducted by CAIR
showed 90 percent of Muslims voting Democratic in the races for governor,
the U.S. House and Senate, and Franklin County commissioner.
"I think you can almost say it was a mandate on issues that had been
implemented by the Bush administration," he said.
Wiretapping, extradition and civil liberties concerns, such as profiling,
have cast Muslims in this country in a negative light and have had
"a major impact on our community," Mirza said.
"To see the first Muslim being elected to the House, especially
against the personal attacks he had to face in this election, speaks
volumes." (MORE)
---
CAIR-CHICAGO: RECORD NUMBER OF
MUSLIMS TURN OUT AT POLLS -
TOP
Sadiya Ahmed, CAIR-Chicago
On Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 200 volunteers poured into the Mosque
Foundation's basement where New Americans Democracy Project Fellow Haady
Taslim (a project lead by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and
Refugee Rights and co-hosted by CAIR-Chicago) waited anxiously to start
the day. It was Election Day and there was a buzz in the Bridgeview
community, as well as other surrounding communities.
The goal was simple: to bring Muslims in the southwest suburbs in record
numbers to the polls.
As a CAIR-Chicago pilot project to empower American Muslims and encourage
political engagement, the NADP was a major success with a record number
of Muslims not only registering to vote but turning out to the polls on
Election Day. A 50 percent increase in voter turnout in the Mosque
Foundation's Area (Palos 44) was the highest the area has seen and was
well above the expected turnout. Voter registrations in the area also
rose by 80 percent.
In neighboring areas, voter turnout with registered Muslim voters
increased significantly as well, with record turnouts in most precincts.
As a non-partisan campaign, volunteers and leaders ran into some
difficulties when it came to communicating with community members who
insisted on being told who to vote for. Voters were given the
CAIR-Chicago Voter Education Guide, which provided them with detailed
information on the candidates as well as the voting records of
incumbents.
For more information on the CAIR-Chicago's political mobilization
efforts, contact Sadiya Ahmed at
gov.relations@cairchicago.org
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 9 - Keith Ellison wore his religion lightly on the
campaign trail, mentioning it only when asked.
But Muslims across America, and even overseas, celebrated his election
Tuesday as the first Muslim in Congress, representing Minnesota's Fifth
District in the House of Representatives, as a sign of acceptance and a
welcome antidote to their faith's sinister image. . .
Many Muslim American activists hope Mr. Ellison will inspire other
Muslims to run for office, some even comparing his candidacy to John F.
Kennedy's breaking the taboo against a Roman Catholic's being
president.
"I think it has inspired American Muslims," said Adeeba
Al-Zaman, 23, who flew from her home in Philadelphia to Minneapolis to
volunteer to work in the last few days of Mr. Ellison's campaign.
"The fact that he won will probably motivate other Muslims that we
have a shot and we matter and we are a part of the fabric of this society
and we should be engaged because we have a chance."
Ms. Al-Zaman also noted that with Mr. Ellison in office, Muslims would
seem more normal, and that Congress and all Americans would see that
"we care about things like health care and education and everything
else that all Americans care about." (MORE)
(SANTA CLARA, CA, 11/10/06) - On November 11, the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA), along
with the Muslim Community Association (MCA) Youth Committee, will host
the fourth of a quarterly series of Youth Leadership Workshops, to be
held on Saturday, November 11, at the MCA in Santa Clara.
The theme for this workshop is Diversity, with a focus on prejudice
reduction, violence prevention, conflict resolution, and coalition
building. Speakers include Amna Sheikh, Executive Committee Member of the
National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Richard
Moss and Susan Parris from the National Coalition Building Institute
(NCBI) and Richard Hobbes, Director of the Santa Clara County Office of
Human Relations.
Also participating in the workshop will be members of the Campbell United
Methodist Church. Following the presentations and activities, students
will be taken to the Congregation Beth David in Saratoga, where they will
be given a guided tour of the synagogue by Rabbi Daniel
Pressman.
"The objective of these youth workshops is to promote a civic,
social and political voice and energy within the Muslim American
community," said Amina Ansari, CAIR-SFBA Program Manager
"In previous workshops, the themes have revolved around government,
media, and civil rights. This one in particular aims to educate the
students on cultural awareness, overcoming intolerance and hate,
addressing stereotypes and biases and appreciating every aspect of
diversity," Ansari added.
Registration, at $10 per person, is open until 5 p.m., Friday, November
10. (Lunch and field trip included)
WHAT: Youth Leadership Workshop #4: Diversity
WHEN: Saturday, November 11, 2006, 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Muslim Community Association, Women's Lounge; 3003 Scott Blvd,
Santa Clara, CA
CONTACT: Abiya Ahmed, CAIR-SFBA Media Relations Coordinator;
Phone: 408-986-9874; Email:
aahmed@cair.com
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-OHIO: AREA SOCIETY HOSTS ISLAMIC DAY -
TOP
Luncheon will mark statewide observance of Muslim tradition in Ohio
Colette M. Jenkins, Beacon Journal religion writer
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/15977471.htm
The Islamic Society of Akron and Kent is hosting the 19th annual
statewide observance of Islamic Day.
A luncheon will be at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Islamic Community
Center, 152 E. Steels Corners Road in Cuyahoga Falls.
"Muslims have a long tradition of living and working in Ohio and
this is a time to come together and recognize the achievements and
contributions made to the state by those of the Islamic faith," said
Ahmad Al-Akhras, a Columbus engineer and vice chairman of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations, America's largest Islamic civil
liberties organization.
Al-Akhras said the tradition started nearly two decades ago. This is the
first time the local Islamic society has hosted the observance.
(MORE)
MULLINS - Mikal Hasan grew up a Baptist boy in the Bucksport community,
but Thursday he represented Islam as a man wanting to educate others
about his faith.
He gave 22 members of the Rotary Club of Mullins a succinct lesson on
what he said was the true nature of Islam. (MORE)
The continuing influx of immigrants to the United States has meant a
proliferation of shops, restaurants and other businesses catering to
specific ethnic clienteles. For producer Odil Ruzaliev, VOA's Jim Bertel
has more on businesses reaching out to Muslims living in the U.S.
(MORE)
(OTTAWA, CANADA � NOV 9, 2006) � The Canadian Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) is calling on all Canadians to
press Prime Minister Steven Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter
MacKay, the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations and MPs to strongly
condemn the recent Israeli military offensive in the Gaza town of Beit
Hanoun.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A stunning new death count emerged Thursday, as Iraq's
health minister estimated 150,000 civilians have been killed in the war
about three times previously accepted estimates. . .
Previous estimates of Iraq deaths held that 45,000-50,000 have been
killed in the nearly 44-month-old conflict, according to partial figures
from Iraqi institutions and media reports. No official count has ever
been available. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
Islam has no strong prohibition against hunting, so long as the animal is
killed to provide food and not just for fun. The Quran teaches that God
created both humans and animals, and that animals exist for the benefit
of humans but also that they must be treated with kindness and
compassion.
The prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying: "Whoever kills a
sparrow or anything bigger than that without a just cause, Allah will
hold him accountable on the day of judgment." (Al-Tirmidhi,
Hadith 1108)
-----
DC/MD/VA: RESERVE YOUR TICKET
TO HEAR FIRST MUSLIM IN CONGRESS -
TOP
Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, will join other
elected officials as a keynote speaker November 18th at CAIR's
12th Annual Banquet in
Arlington, Va.
CAIR's dinner, which in past years have been sold-out, will feature
addresses by Representative-elect Ellison (D-MN) and Reps. Elijah
Cummings (D-MD), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Albert Wynn
(D-MD).
Other speakers at the event include a representative of the FBI and Amy
Goodman of Democracy Now.
WASHINGTON - Why is Al Qaeda trash-talking Keith Ellison?
In January, Ellison, 43, will become America's first Muslim congressman.
The Minneapolis Democrat, who converted to Islam while in college, got
56% of his district's vote in last Tuesday's election.
But since his victory, Osama Bin Laden's chattering goons have been
jeering, not cheering. . .
"Why would Al Qaeda embrace Keith's success? He's the opposite of
what they're about," said spokeswoman Bridget Cusick.
(MORE)
WHAT: The International Prayer for Peace Network to hold a prayer service
for peace in Iraq at a mosque.
WHEN: Nov. 12, 3 - 5 p.m.
WHERE: Islamic Community Center of Tempe, 131 E. Sixth St., Tempe,
85281
CONTACT: Bushra Khan (CAIR-AZ), 602-262-2247 or 202-276-9227
Midlands-area Muslims marked the end of the Ramadan holy month with a
food drive that netted 400 pounds of food for Harvest Hope Food
Bank.
At least one mosque will continue collecting food through Eid-ul-Adha in
January, which marks the season of the Haaj, when many Muslims make a
pilgrimage to Mecca.
The drive was sponsored by the S.C. chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, said Anisah Bagasra, a Claflin
University professor and CAIR board member.
If I would have known that Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite valued Mary
Ann and Tom Hogan Sr.'s characterization of the Muslims over her
responsibilities as a representative of all the people, I never would
have voted for her.
Although the Hogans slandered another culture, Brown-Waite supported them
and said they've shown "tremendous fortitude." What's worse,
however, is the reckless and unprofessional letter she wrote to Ahmed
Bedier. Her letter feeds prejudice in this country. What positive outcome
could she have accomplished from that letter?
And, please, do not insult our intelligence by saying the timing of your
letter was not related to the election. You would have lost my vote and,
I am guessing, plenty more.
When is it appropriate for elected officials to use a
"threatening" statement like "He is not going to get away
with it" (referencing her encounter with one Muslim who allegedly
"attacked" her religion)? What did she mean by "reasonable
Muslims?" What's a "reasonable" American - a Republican or
a Christian?
This is Webster's definition of terrorism: use of force and threats to
intimidate. If Brown-Waite thinks terrorism as a threat to the United
States is about the Muslim community only, she needs to look in her own
back yard.
The split that her party has created in this country is as equally
threatening and intimidating to our well being. Resign, Ginny. Retire
elsewhere and take the Hogans with you.
Marylou Doehrman, Spring Hill
Not all Muslims are terrorists
Re: Hogans are right about Muslims, Nov. 3 letter to the editor:
The Islamic religion is based on peace, just as many other religions.
Also, as in other religions, it has its fanatics. These are the ones who
hate and are very frightening.
There are Muslims who have twisted and defaced the Koran to fit their own
delusions of Islam. They also have used it to brainwash countless others.
You have no right to burn an entire people for the actions of a
few.
To say all terrorists are Muslim is like saying all Italians are
mobsters. What about the Irish Republican Army? I don't think many of
them are Muslim. What about the Earth Liberation Front? How many of them
do you think are Muslim?
This country has become great because of its tolerance and acceptance of
others. Tom and Mary Ann Hogan have not only offended their fellow
statesmen, they have done the same to their countrymen.
Sean McCazzio, Spring Hill
Politics of hate must be repudiated
Re: Commission should censure Tom Hogan, Nov. 2 Times editorial:
Thank you for calling for the censure of Tom Hogan Sr. and his wife, Mary
Ann Hogan, for refusing to apologize for their racist comments against
their fellow Americans of the Islamic faith.
Mrs. Hogan wrote a letter to the newspaper calling Muslims
"killers" and then defended her stance by saying "I don't
want to sound like a raving maniac ... they are barbarians"
By dehumanizing American Muslims, Mrs. Hogan is partaking in age-old
scapegoating and bigotry of the Muslim community as "maniacal
terrorists." In the process, she sounds exactly as she doesn't want
to ... a raving maniac!
That type of politics of hate must be repudiated by the Republican Party
of Hernando County and all peace-loving Americans, regardless of faith,
creed or color.
Ron Horgan, a pastor in the peaceful rural Indiana community of Warsaw,
might seem far removed from the riots that erupted this year over a
cartoon that insensitively depicted the prophet Muhammad or the furor
over Pope Benedict's quotation of a 14th-century source critical of
Islam.
But Horgan is not far off from one of the thornier questions facing
Christian denominations today: how best to relate to members of the
Muslim world.
Horgan leads a congregation of a conservative branch of Presbyterianism,
the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a denomination that conducts
missionary work among Muslims.
According to the denomination's Office of the General Assembly,
70?percent of its missionaries are engaged in bringing Christianity to
Muslim communities in the United States and abroad - a task that less
than four percent of Christian missionaries of all denominations
attempt.
Horgan knows some of the missionaries personally, and he supports their
efforts.
"I have friends right now in (the former Soviet republic of)
Kazakhstan working among Muslims there. They are actually involved in
planting a whole denomination of churches, to reach three different kinds
of Muslims," he says. (MORE)
Abdul-Malik is not a typical Irish Gaelic speaker. He isn't elderly,
rosy-cheeked, or particularly fond of wool sweaters -- and his Muslim
faith prohibits him from stopping at the pub for a pint of Guinness.
(MORE)
Nov. 10 - KGO - Police in Fremont are still investigating the murder of
an Afghan mother of six -- shot and killed last October 19th. There is no
motive, but some in the community have feared she was gunned down because
of what she was wearing -- a traditional Muslim dress. On Monday, some
women in the Bay Area will wear a veil or head scarf in honor of Alia
Ansari. (MORE)
An American engineer standing trial for spying and revealing secrets to
China has also been indicted for passing secrets to Israel.
The indictment filed against Noshir Gowadia, 62, a U.S. citizen of Indian
origin, does not provide details to the nature of the secrets passed to
Israel or to whom they were given. (MORE)
From date rape to racism to gay rights, America's universities have long
provided a forum for openly debating our most divisive and controversial
issues. so why can't they talk rationally about Israel?
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do not be people
without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will
treat them well and that if they do wrong you will do wrong. But
(instead) accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do
wrong if they do evil."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1325
The Prophet also said: "Blessed is the person whom God has made a
key for good and a lock for evil."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1366
-----
CAIR BANQUET
COUNTDOWN: JUST 5 DAYS LEFT TO RESERVE YOUR
TICKET -
TOP
Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD) will join other elected officials as a keynote
speaker November 18th at CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet in Arlington,
Va.
Other speakers at the event include a representative of the FBI and Amy
Goodman of Democracy Now.
CAIR CO-SPONSORS KAREN ARMSTRONG TALK ON
CAPITOL HILL -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/13/06) - On November 16, he Council for the
National Interest (CNI) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) will co-sponsor a Capitol Hill talk by Karen Armstrong on
"The Role of Religion in the Arab-Israeli Conflict."
WHAT: The Role of Religion in the Arab-Israeli Conflict
WHEN: Thursday, November 16, 2006, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
RSVP: To register, send an e-mail with your name, organization and e-mail
address to RSVP@cnionline.org or
call 202-863-2951. The building and room number will be provided to those
who register for the event. Lunch will be provided.
Karen Armstrong is one of the best-known and most popular writers on
religion today. She has authored 13 books, including the best seller
"A History of God." Armstrong's achievements as an independent
scholar focusing on the three great monotheistic religions, Christianity,
Judaism and Islam, have earned her a reputation as a major contributor to
interfaith understanding and respect.
Her books on Islam and the Prophet Mohammed have given many Westerners
their first clear and unbiased insight into the history and teachings of
this great tradition and its prophet. Armstrong has written a number of
articles for The Guardian. Her latest book, The Great Transformation: The
Beginning of Our Religious Traditions, was published in March 2006; her
next book, a revision of her biography of Muhammad, is scheduled for the
fall of 2006 from Atlas Books/ HarperCollins.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-FL, HERNANDO MUSLIMS TO
SPONSOR THANKSGIVING BASKETS FOR THE NEEDY -
TOP
(TAMPA, FL, 11/13/2006) - On Tuesday, November 14, the Tampa office of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Tampa) will announce
plans by the local Muslim community to sponsor distribution of
Thanksgiving food baskets to low-income families and veterans living in
that state's Hernando County.
The announcement will be made at the Hernando County Commission meeting.
The announcement will mark the 5th year that CAIR-Tampa and the Muslim
community teamed up to sponsor the food baskets. The distribution of the
food baskets will be handled by the United Way.
WHAT: CAIR-Tampa to Announce Muslim Sponsorship of Thanksgiving Food
Baskets for the Needy
WHEN: Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 9 a.m.
WHERE: Hernando County Courthouse, 20 N. Main Street, Brooksville,
FL
CONTACT: Ahmed Bedier, 813-731-9506,
abedier@cairfl.org
The Hernando Food Basket Program is part of CAIR-FL's "Muslims
Care" Campaign. See
http://www.muslims-care.org
-----
CAIR: MUSLIMS FINDING NICHE IN
POLITICS, NU STUDENTS SAY -
TOP
Dan Fletcher,
Daily Northwestern, 11/13/06
Last week's election of the United States' first Muslim congressman is a
sign of the religious group's newfound political activism, leaders of
Northwestern's Islamic community said.
During the Nov. 7 elections, Democrat Keith Ellison became the first
American Muslim to win national office when he beat Republican Alan Fine
in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District. While Ellison kept talk of
religion to a minimum during his campaign, his victory came in part with
support from national Muslim groups that have shown a growing interest in
electoral politics.
"The mentality has changed a lot," said Amir Siddiqui, a
Weinberg senior and president of the Muslim Cultural Student Association.
"When my grandfather came from Pakistan, he saw Muslims being
discriminated against and saw elections as getting into more
trouble.
"Now, the attitude is that even though there is discrimination in
America, Muslims need to be more active politically."
Ellison beat Fine by more than a two-to-one margin, as the Republican
split votes with an independent candidate. Ellis received endorsements
from diverse groups, including the Council on American-Islamic
Relations and the American Jewish World.
But Ellison's Muslim support base was audible at his acceptance
rally.
"Those of you who had to believe that we could all come together and
stay together, all cultures, all colors, all faiths, all people: I want
you to know this - God is good," Ellison said, sparking some in the
audience to cries of "Allahu Akbar."
Siddiqui said Ellison's victory comes at a time when American Muslims are
just beginning to vote in large numbers.
"There are something like 8 million Muslims in this country and it
used to be that barely any registered to vote," Siddiqui said.
"The number (registered) has gone way up and is still
increasing."
In October, the Council on American-Islamic Relations released the
results of a poll of 1,000 Islamic voters that found the group leaned
Democratic and was both younger and more educated than the average
American voter. It said about 47 percent of Muslim voters are between the
ages of 35 to 54 and 62 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher.
(MORE)
As Keith Ellison heads into his first term in Congress, he faces a
balancing act between his duty to constituents and the inevitable
pressure his new prominence creates to be a spokesman for all American
Muslims.
Already the balancing act is evident for Congressman-elect Keith
Ellison.
The newly elected Democrat has two agenda items this week in Washington:
He starts orientation today. Then on Saturday he will be the keynote
speaker at the annual banquet for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), a group that was a flashpoint in the fall
campaign.
Five years after 9/11 and with an ongoing raw debate about clashing
civilizations and Islamic extremism, Minnesota voters made history by
sending the first Muslim to Congress. Ellison downplayed the role of
religion in his drive for office, and he insists that residents of
Minneapolis and its Fifth District suburbs will come first. He
nonetheless acknowledges his overnight status change, pulling him to be a
spokesman for Islam in America.
His views on the Middle East are expected to carry more weight than a
typical freshman's, and Ellison already is hoping to make two trips to
the Middle East, one to Israel and another to Iraq.
"By default he will become a national symbol in the Muslim community
and a voice heard around the world, the message being America is open to
all people, including Muslims," said Nihad Awad, executive
director of CAIR.
If Abdullah Hassan were a U.S. citizen, he says he'd have likely voted
for the GOP in Tuesday's election.
"I like Republicans because they removed Saddam from power,"
said Hassan, a Kurdish asylee from Iraq.
However, more than a year after he's met all the requirements for
citizenship, Hassan is still waiting to be naturalized.
Hassan completed his citizenship interview Aug. 12, 2005, and that's
normally the last step before naturalization.
However, Hassan's name apparently hasn't been cleared from an FBI name
list, which is part of the background check for citizenship
applicants.
A person may be singled out if his name has surfaced in an investigation,
either as a target of the investigation, associate or witness, FBI
spokesman Paul Bresson said.
Fewer than 1 percent of the names submitted take longer to clear than the
normal six-month processing time between a citizenship application and
interview, said Sharon Rummery, spokeswoman for the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services.
"We regret people have to wait, but the American public demands a
thorough background check," Rummery said. "That's what the FBI
does."
However, Margaret Plane of the ACLU of Utah said it seems inconsistent
with security concerns to take years to determine whether or not a person
is a security risk.
"It's such a wide net, it's certainly catching a lot of
people," she said. "It does seem a disproportionate number of
people have Muslim-sounding names."
Federal law allows those who don't receive an answer within 120 days
after completing a citizenship interview to take their cases to court to
seek resolution either in favor of or against their application. .
.
Class-action lawsuits representing those who have waited longer are
popping up in other states, and in Utah some individual cases are being
filed. . .
The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago's Citizenship
Delay Project is helping Muslim immigrants individually and also is
pursuing a class-action lawsuit. (MORE)
On Monday, some Bay Area women-no matter their religious beliefs-will add
a new element to their morning routine: they will don the Muslim
headscarf that may have motivated the murder of a Fremont mother last
month.
These women-and the men who cover their heads on Monday with a hat,
yarmulke or turban-will wear headscarves to honor the Afghan-born woman
and demonstrate solidarity with her community.
"Wear a Hijab/Turban Day" will be celebrated worldwide on
Monday. In Fremont, the event includes a noon-time gathering at Central
Park where participants will observe an international moment of silence
for victims of violence.
A diverse panel of community leaders, including Fremont's mayor and the
executive director of American Muslim Voice, a Newark-based group, will
lead a talk on building a culture of peace and acceptance. American
Muslim Voice will distribute headscarves to attendees, who will have an
opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts.
The gathering will also honor the memory of Alia Ansari, 38, a Fremont
resident shot in the middle of the day on Oct. 19 while walking down the
street with her 3-year-old daughter. Ansari was on her way to pick up two
other children at their elementary school and was wearing a hijab, the
traditional headscarf worn by devout Muslim women.
Though the case remains under investigation, Ansari's relatives and local
Muslim leaders believe the killing was motivated by hate. They can think
of no other explanation for why someone would shoot the mother of
six-other than that she was wearing a hijab.
Ansari's murder has brought people of different faiths and perspectives
together from across the Bay Area.
At a news conference held Friday in San Francisco at the Immigrant Legal
Resource Center, representatives of several immigrant groups expressed
support for "Wear a Hijab/Turban Day," which is sponsored by
the Foundation for Self-Reliance, SEMAH and American Muslim
Voice.
"It's affected us all," said Shazia Jafri, communications
coordinator for the Bay Area Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR). (MORE)
Pastors David Wolfe and his wife, Linda Kusse-Wolfe, have been working to
bridge cultures and create understanding for much of their
lives.
In January, they will get another opportunity to do so when they travel
to Iran to study at a Muslim institute.
The Christian pastor and his wife plan to learn about Iranian culture and
aspects of Islam during their three-year stay in the country. They will
return to Martinsville during summers.
They will be guests of the Imam Khomeini Institute for Research and
Education in Qum, Iran.
According to the institute's Web site,
www.qabas.org, its objective is to
educate seminary students in the humanities so they can explore Islamic
perspectives.
The Wolfes will study and teach at the institute, said Kusse-Wolfe. They
will take classes in the Quran and Persian, the language of Iran. In
addition, Kusse-Wolfe said, they will have the opportunity to teach the
Christian Gospel to some seminary students at the institute.
They will teach students who already have a good knowledge of the New and
Old Testaments.
"There are professors in the Shiite seminary who are very fine Bible
scholars," she said.
And, she said, many Muslims actually have as thorough or better knowledge
of Christianity than some Christians. Kusse-Wolfe noted a study done in
North America found that more Muslims than Christians believe in the
virgin birth of Christ.
"They (Muslims) hold Mary and the prophets and Jesus in very high
esteem," she added.
That kind of information is common to hear from the couple. They are
"reading like crazy," about Iran, said Wolfe, who has been
chaplain at Memorial Hospital in Martinsville.
"With 9/11, we as Americans are realizing that we need to understand
other religious groups more," he said. (MORE)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court refused Monday to intervene to keep
an American facing a death sentence in Iraq from being handed over to
authorities in Baghdad.
Muhammad Munaf has been in military custody in Iraq since last year.
He was sentenced to death last month by an Iraqi judge for his role in
the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Baghdad. He claimed his
trial was flawed and his confession was coerced.
Munaf wanted justices to order military authorities to keep him under
their control until U.S. courts resolve whether U.S. forces can turn over
Americans who are suspected terrorists to the Iraqi government.
The court gave no explanation for its order Monday denying Munaf's
request. (MORE)
A cross-cultural group of 20 prominent world figures has called for
urgent efforts to heal the growing divide between Muslim and Western
societies.
The chief causes of the rift are not religion or history, they say, but
recent political developments, notably the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Their findings were presented to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at a
ceremony in Istanbul on Monday.
No other dispute had such a symbolic or emotional impact on people, he
said.
"We may wish to think of the Arab -Israeli conflict as just one
regional conflict among many. But it is not," Mr Annan
said.
"As long as the Palestinians live under occupation, exposed to daily
frustration and humiliation, and as long as Israelis are blown up in
buses and in dances halls, so long will passions everywhere be
inflamed."
The Alliance of Civilisations, which includes Anglican Archbishop Desmond
Tutu and former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, dismisses the notion
that a clash of civilisations is inevitable, but says that swift action
is needed.
The group argues that the need to build bridges between Muslim and
Western societies has never been greater. (MORE)
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday that any effort to stop
growing violence between Islamic and Western societies must include an
end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Annan spoke after receiving a report from a high-level group of experts
on ways to alleviate Muslim-Western clashes and
misunderstandings.
"We may wish to think of the Arab-Israeli conflict as just one
regional conflict amongst many," said Annan, who leaves his post at
the end of the year. "It is not. No other conflict carries such a
powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the
battlefield."
Annan said he would work along with his successor, Ban Ki-moon, to help
implement the recommendations of the report, which called for renewed
efforts toward the goal of establishing "two fully sovereign and
independent states coexisting side by side in peace and
security."
"As long as the Palestinians live under occupation, exposed to daily
frustration and humiliation, and as long as Israelis are blown up in
buses and in dance halls, so long will passions everywhere be
inflamed," Annan said. (MORE)
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' top human rights body will hold a
special session on Wednesday to consider a call by Arab and Muslim states
for action against the "gross human rights violations" of
Israel in Gaza.
The call for the meeting, the third special session held by the newly
formed Human Rights Council, was backed by 24 of the Council's 47 member
states, the United Nations said on Monday.
Arab and Muslim states said the meeting should "consider and take
action on the gross human rights violations emanating from Israeli
military incursions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the
recent one in northern Gaza and the assault on Beit
Hanoun."
Last week, 19 Palestinian civilians were killed in an artillery barrage
fired at the two of Beit Hanoun. (MORE)
Israel's military strikes on the town of Beit Hanun in Gaza, which left
19 Palestinians including women and children dead, have also destroyed a
766-year-old mosque.
In a statement to the U.N. Observer website, the imam of the An-Nasr
Mosque in Beit Hanun, Sheikh Sihda Abu Zreyk said that the mosque, which
was established in 1240, was completely destroyed during the Israeli
operation.
The mosque was built after the Um An-Nasr war with the Crusaders between
Gaza and Askelon, the imam explained. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR REPORTS TO COMMUNITY ON ELECTION
EFFORTS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/14/2006) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) today offered a report
to the Muslim community on its efforts to promote political participation
in the recent mid-term elections.
CAIR chapters
in 11 states participated in non-partisan election efforts. States with
"get out the vote" and other activities included: Arizona,
California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New
Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Other highlights of CAIR's non-partisan election activities
include:
* National: The creation of a database of some 400,000 American
Muslim voters developed by matching state records of registered voters
with an extensive list of Muslim first and last names.
* Arizona: 11,000 automated get out the vote calls were made.
* Florida: 10,000 voter guides were distributed at state
mosques.
* Illinois: More than 1000 Muslims were registered to vote in the
Third Congressional District. Two hundred Muslim volunteers also got out
the vote on election day in the Chicago area by knocking on doors and
making phone calls.
* Ohio: 1,200 get out the vote calls were made in the Columbus
area.
* Texas: More than 3,500 Muslims in the Dallas area were contacted
and urged to vote. More than 800 Muslims were contacted in the San
Antonio area.
* California: 500 posters were distributed to mosques and
businesses around the state urging Muslims to register to vote. CAIR-CA
also distributed a congressional scorecard and held a voter education
forum with candidates and representatives for and against propositions on
the ballot.
Results of informal exit polls in
Ohio and
New Jersey indicate that more than 75 percent of Muslim voters in
those states cast their ballots for Democrats in the mid-term
election.
According to a poll of registered American Muslim voters released by CAIR
in October, 42 percent said they consider themselves members of the
Democratic Party, 17 percent said they are Republican and 21 percent said
they do not align themselves with any political party.
"The American Muslim community is growing in its ability to mobilize
voters," said CAIR Legislative Director Corey Saylor.
"We are excited by the opportunity to spend the next two years
promoting American Muslim civic involvement and expanding our network of
energetic volunteers built in the last two elections."
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor,
571-278-4658, E-Mail:
csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
"(The truly virtuous are) those (who) fulfill their vows, and stand
in awe of a Day the woe of which is bound to spread far and wide, and who
give food - however great be their own want of it - to the needy, the
orphan and the captive, (saying, in their hearts): 'We feed you for the
sake of God alone. We desire no recompense from you, nor
thanks.'"
The Holy Quran, 76:7-9
-----
CAIR BANQUET COUNTDOWN:
JUST 4 DAYS LEFT TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET
-
TOP
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) will join other elected officials as a
keynote speaker November 18th at CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet in Arlington,
Va.
Other speakers at the event include a representative of the FBI and Amy
Goodman of Democracy Now.
Respect differences
U.S. Rep Blasts Muslim Official Nov. 10
As a Christian minister, I have been deeply involved for more than five
years with the Islamic community in the Tampa Bay area. Recently I have
also gotten to know Ahmed Bedier, who is leader of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations' Tampa chapter.
Among the many events I attended, I heard him eloquently respond to the
priest at a Catholic Church education seminar recently on the Muslim
religion at Espiritu Santo Church in Safety Harbor. I have never known
Bedier to be anything but sincere, hard-working, well-educated and
inimitably talented as a spokesperson for Muslims.
It seems to me not all that long ago it was also a popular social stance
to keep African-Americans down. . .that is, until we got to know them and
understand our interrelatedness. It is so spiritually immature to espouse
such bigotry, such ignorance, such hatred as do the Brown-Waites and
Hogans of this world.
My prayer is that we all start to grow up and understand that we are now
one world family and we need to respect each other's differences. Perhaps
a private meeting among Ahmed Bedier, Tom and Mary Ann Hogan and Rep.
Ginny Brown-Waite would produce this effect.
Comerica Bank plans to terminate on Wednesday the accounts of a Muslim
charity headquartered in Southfield that was raided two months ago by
federal agents, according to letters the bank sent charity
officials.
The move by the private bank against Life for Relief and Development
concerns Arab Americans and Muslims in metro Detroit, who note that the
Islamic charity has not been charged with a crime.
A vice president with Comerica Bank, Kathy Pitton, said she would not
comment about the charity's accounts, but added the bank has the right to
terminate any bank account with or without cause.
Federal agents raided the Life for Relief office on Sept. 18, along with
the homes and offices of some of the charity's employees, hauling away
documents.
The FBI would not say what agents were looking for, but charity officials
have said it might be related to relief work the group did in
Iraq.
Three days after the raid, Life for Relief officials received a letter
from Karen Davis at Comerica Bank, telling them "we are terminating
our relationship with you."
The letter, obtained by the Free Press, was addressed to Life for Relief
CEO Khalil Jassemm and stated that he had until Oct. 2 to close seven
accounts kept by the charity and Jassemm.
The charity has checking accounts with the bank and uses Comerica
services such as online banking. The organization has circulated millions
of dollars through Comerica Bank over the past decade, said Life for
Relief employee Mohammed Alomari.
Closing the accounts in such a short period would have been difficult,
especially since it was during Ramadan, a time when many Muslims give
money to charities such as Life for relief, charity officials
said.
Charity officials said Comerica agreed to extend the deadline to close
their accounts by Wednesday, after groups such as the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic
Relations expressed concerns. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-FL:
BROWN-WAITE SAYS HER CONSTITUENTS AGREE -
TOP
A letter resounding Mary Ann Hogan's remarks on Muslims, accepted by
some, denied by others, reach as far as the U.S. Capitol
Asjylyn Loder, St. Petersburg Times, 11/14/06
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/14/Hernando/Brown_Waite_says_her_.shtml
Take it from Ginny Brown-Waite: Eric Rudolph, the notorious "Olympic
Park bomber?" Not a Muslim.
Deadly, sure. Ideologically driven? Check. A terrorist, even?
Affirmative.
To Brown-Waite, that makes him one in a million - well, two in a million,
when you add in Timothy McVeigh, as the recently re-elected congresswoman
awkwardly explained in a Fox 13 News interview last week.
Otherwise, as Brown-Waite told the St. Petersburg Times, "it's
historically accurate that every terrorist has been a
Muslim."
If there's a key difference between soon-to-be-ex Sen. George Allen's
"macaca" comment and Brown-Waite's defense of Mary Ann Hogan
calling Islam a "hateful, frightening religion," it appears to
be this: Brown-Waite waited until after the election to speak out.
(MORE)
Ginny Brown-Waite has made a political career of knowing how to choose
her battles. From breaking ranks with her party about suing tobacco
companies while a state senator, to opposing the government's
interference in the Terry Schiavo feeding tube controversy, to supporting
federal funding of stem cell research, the congresswoman has often been a
shrewd and courageous legislator constituents can count on to be
concerned and candid.
But the 63-year-old Republican from Brooksville stained her reputation
last week when she defended the indefensible comments of a well-known
Hernando County couple who callously insulted an entire religion. By
mischaracterizing the controversy as an issue of free speech, and
allowing her apparent grudge against an individual to cloud her judgment,
Brown-Waite has fanned the flames of bigotry and discredited the 5th
Congressional District.
In a long-winded, antagonistic letter, Brown-Waite condemned the
Council on American-Islamic Relations and executive director Ahmed
Bedier for asking her to denounce comments made by Mary Ann and Tom
Hogan Sr., an interim Hernando County commissioner. The Hogans are
leaders of the local Republican Party. Mary Ann Hogan, who initially
complained about a county employee delivering rented children's toys to
an event at the local mosque, wrote a letter to the editor in which she
said that Islam is a "hateful, frightening religion," that
Muslims are "barbarians" and that "helping to promote the
Muslim religion is immoral and un-American." Her husband echoed his
wife's comments, and both have rejected pleas to apologize.
Gov. Jeb Bush, governor-elect Charlie Crist and the head of the
Republican Party of Florida, Carole Jean Jordan, along with the balance
of the Hernando County Commission, have decried the Hogans for brazenly
stereotyping all followers of Islam.
Instead of addressing the essence of the mean-spirited comments,
Brown-Waite is portraying the issue as an attempt by CAIR to quash the
Hogans' constitutional right to free speech.
She also is lashing out at Bedier, with whom she apparently has a history
of confrontation and distrust. In the process, she repeats some of the
same stereotypes as the Hogans and casually dismissed their skewed
opinions by saying only their remarks "do not encourage harmony in
the community." That is an understatement.
No one, including CAIR, has questioned the Hogans' First Amendment right
to free speech. But that right applies to everyone equally, including
CAIR and Brown-Waite. At the same time, the congresswoman must realize
that with the high office she holds comes the expectation that she choose
her words carefully and that those words do not malign whole groups of
her constituents. (MORE)
Mary Ann Hogan, wife of former county commissioner Tom Hogan Sr., is
right about one thing. The Koran, the Muslim holy book, does include
passages about, as Hogan put it, "killing infidels."
Take this line, for example: "Now when you meet the unbelievers,
smite their necks until you overcome them fully..."
Or this oft-cited, so-called "Verse of the Sword: "...lay the
pagans where you may come upon them, and take them captive, and besiege
them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place."
But, according to experts on Islam and members of the Muslim community,
Hogan and the many Americans who share her opinion err when they make a
blanket statement about the religion based on excerpts from the book
written in the 7th century - or on the actions of radical extremists who
interpret the Koran's words for their own violent purposes.
The words that seem so brutal must be taken in the context of Muslim
defending their faith from aggressors, experts say. The verses were
written in a military context exhorting the besieged Muslims to defend
themselves.
Despite a bloody beginning, Muslims say their faith is based on peace and
self-improvement, and does not allow or sanctify the killing of any
innocent person regardless of his or her religion. According to the Koran
and Hadith, the sayings of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, life is
sacrosanct.
In a world changed by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that is lost on
many Americans who equate the religion with violence, said Ahmed
Bedier, executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
"We understand it's rooted in ignorance," Bedier said.
The Hogans are different, Bedier said. As prominent Republican activists
with a long history of civic involvement, they should be better informed.
(MORE)
(OTTAWA, CANADA, 11/14/06) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) today welcomed survey results released by the
Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation that attitudes towards Canadian Muslims
have improved since 2003.
According to the survey, the more contact that Canadians have with Muslim
friends and colleagues, the more positive their impression of Islam and
Canadian Muslims were.
The survey reported that 75 percent of Canadians believe that Muslim
immigrants "make a positive contribution to Canada." Half of
Canadians have a positive impression of Islam. However, 53 percent of
Canadians said that they rarely or never have contact with Muslims. One
in three Canadians, 36 percent, think that Muslims are never or rarely
portrayed fairly in the media.
"Prime Minister Trudeau was a true Canadian visionary. His
commitment to multiculturalism made it possible for all Canadians to feel
that they are part of and included in the fabric of our society,"
said Karl Nickner, CAIR-CAN's Executive Director.
"It's important that we follow in his footsteps and fund education,
research and outreach programs on the Islamic faith and Canadian
Muslims.
"In the end, getting out there, meeting our neighbours, and spending
time with each other is probably the single most important thing we can
do to create real understanding and lasting relationships within Canadian
society," he added.
CONTACT: CAIR-CAN Communications and Human Rights Coordinator Sameer
Zuberi at 613-795-2012, or CAIR-CAN Executive Director Karl Nickner at
613-254-9704 or 613-853-4111.
A Chicago-area mosque hopes the creation of a new public garden next to
the Adler Planetarium will help bolster the image of Muslims as a
community engaged in the city's future.
Members of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview donated about $100,000 for
the development of the 1-acre garden along the lake. Bushes, trees,
perennials and a bronze plaque, which depicts a 1791 astronomer's
astrolabe in Iraq, have replaced the sod and barbecue grills that were
there last year.
On Monday members of the mosque, including its leader, Imam Jamal Said,
and his wife, Aisheh, a vice president of the mosque board, joined Mayor
Richard Daley and Parks Supt. Tim Mitchell at the garden for a
ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The project was the idea of Muslim businessman Talat Othman, who turned
to the Mosque Foundation about two years ago to help fund the
garden.
"I thought we needed to show something that's visible," he
said. "This will alleviate the perception of Muslims that they are
only concerned about themselves. It will also allow other Muslim groups
to emulate and contribute to society in a way that they have not done in
the past."
Men and women of various religions covered their heads with scarves,
yarmulkes or turbans Monday in solidarity with an Afghan woman who was
gunned down while wearing a traditional Muslim veil, an unsolved murder
that has sowed fear among immigrants in this Bay Area suburb.
Alia Ansari, a 37-year-old mother of six, was gunned down Oct. 19 in
front of her 3-year-old child while walking to pick up her other children
from school.
Police are investigating the case as a possible hate crime but they have
not determined whether the killer was motivated by the fact that Ansari
wore a "hijab" - the traditional head covering worn by Muslim
women.
Organizers of Monday's observance called on people throughout the San
Francisco Bay Area to cover their heads at work or school to honor and
foster comfort with religious or ethnic difference.
In Fremont, home to the nation's largest Afghan community, city officials
- some also covering their heads - gathered in a city park in the rain
alongside about 100 people of various religions.
"It's a show of respect," said Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman.
"We have a community that's proud of its diversity, and we honor
that."
No arrests have been made in Ansari's killing. But a 27-year-old man has
been held on an unrelated warrant since the day of the killing and has
been labeled a "person of interest," said Fremont Police Chief
Craig Steckler. He said the department is still considering the
possibility it was a hate crime.
"We won't tolerate hate crimes in the city of Fremont,"
Steckler said. (MORE)
Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on
suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in
civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal
front in the fight over the rights of detainees.
In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Richmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law being
used to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners
captured and held in the United States.
Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was arrested in 2001 while
studying in the United States. He has been labeled an "enemy
combatant," a designation that, under a law signed last month,
strips foreigners of the right to challenge their detention in federal
courts.
That law is being used to argue the Guantanamo Bay cases, but Al-Marri
represents the first detainee inside the United States to come under the
new law. Aliens normally have the right to contest their imprisonment,
such as when they are arrested on immigration violations or for other
crimes.
"It's pretty stunning that any alien living in the United States can
be denied this right," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney for
Al-Marri. "It means any non-citizen, and there are millions of them,
can be whisked off at night and be put in detention."
The new law says that enemy combatants will be tried before military
commissions, not a civilian judge or jury, and establishes different
rules of evidence in the cases. It also prohibits detainees from
challenging their detention in civilian court. (MORE)
As Israeli bombs fell on Lebanon for a second week last July, the Rev.
John Hagee of San Antonio arrived in Washington with 3,500 evangelicals
for the first annual conference of his newly founded organization,
Christians United For Israel.
At a dinner addressed by the Israeli ambassador, a handful of Republican
senators and the chairman of the Republican Party, Mr. Hagee read
greetings from President Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel
and dispatched the crowd with a message for their representatives in
Congress. Tell them "to let Israel do their job" of destroying
the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, Mr. Hagee said.
He called the conflict "a battle between good and evil" and
said support for Israel was "God's foreign policy."
The next day he took the same message to the White House.
Many conservative Christians say they believe that the president's
support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish
state, which some of them think will play a pivotal role in the second
coming. Many on the left, in turn, fear that such theology may influence
decisions the administration makes toward Israel and the Middle
East.
Administration officials say that the meeting with Mr. Hagee was a
courtesy for a political ally and that evangelical theology has no effect
on policy making. But the alliance of Israel, its evangelical Christian
supporters and President Bush has never been closer or more potent. In
the wake of the summer war in southern Lebanon, reports that Hezbollah's
sponsor, Iran, may be pushing for nuclear weapons have galvanized
conservative Christian support for Israel into a political force that
will be hard to ignore.
For one thing, white evangelicals make up about a quarter of the
electorate. Whatever strains may be creeping into the Israeli-American
alliance over Iraq, the Palestinians and Iran, a large part of the
Republican Party's base remains committed to a fiercely pro-Israel agenda
that seems likely to have an effect on policy choices. (MORE)
Six months after the acclaimed 'Moderation' conference in London, the
first-ever meeting of Muslim scholars and academics from across North
America starts in Washington D.C. today, Friday17th November.
Once again, the aims of the meeting are to develop a more moderate image
of Islam in the west and to improve integration of Muslim communities.
The event is part of a series of 'Moderation' conferences and follows the
successful London meeting, held in May. A major issue to be addressed in
Washington is how Muslim communities can integrate into the US mainstream
while maintaining their cultural and religious distinction. It is hoped
that role models such as Keith Ellison, the first Muslim Congressman,
will confirm to Muslims and non-Muslims alike that Muslims are key to the
future of the country.
The three-day conference will be attended by 120 academics and community
leaders from all over the US. The focus will be on how best to balance
Islamic identity with US citizenship and to highlight the great
contributions made by Islam and Muslims throughout American society.
Often accused of a lack of introspection and action in the face of
negative publicity, the American Muslim community, like their European
counterparts, will take the conclusions from the conference and look to
implement positive change in their mosques, cultural centres and youth
clubs.
The conference is organised and hosted by the Kuwait government's
Ministry of Islamic Affairs (Awqaf), whose aim is to act as an
intermediary to improve understanding and relations between the Islamic
world and the west as well as aid better integration of Muslims into
societies in which they live. Awqaf recognises the complex problems faced
by Muslims in US but firmly believes that the moderate and peaceful
nature of Islam needs to be given a much higher profile than it currently
receives.
The conference also intends to confront education and social issues of
cultural isolation among the young to avert potential radical movements
among America's 7 million Muslims. Those attending the conference are
concerned that if these important issues are not tackled head on, the
gulf between Muslims and non-Muslims will widen still further with
potentially damaging consequences. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
VA: AL-HEWAR CENTER SPONSORS DISCUSSION -
TOP
"The Etiquette of Dealing with Difference from an Islamic
Perspective"
November 17, 2006 Friday
WHAT: The Al-Hewar Center holds a discussion, "The Etiquette of
Dealing with Difference from an Islamic Perspective," with Zainab
Al-Alwani of Johns Hopkins University.
WHEN: November 17, 2006
WHERE: Al-Hewar Center, 124 Park Street SE, Vienna, Va.
CONTACT: 703-281-6277,
alhewar@alhewar.com; [Note: This
event is in Arabic.]
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
VERSE OF THE DAY: GOD'S GOOD PLEASURE IS THE SUPREME
TRIUMPH -
TOP
"God has promised to the believers, both men and women, gardens
beneath which rivers flow, to live therein forever, and they will have
beautiful mansions in these gardens of everlasting bliss. But God's good
pleasure is the greatest (bliss of all). That is the supreme
triumph."
The Holy Quran, 9:72
HADITH OF THE DAY: WHEN GOD INTENDS GOOD FOR A
SERVANT OF HIS -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "When God intends
good for a servant of His, He uses him for good." The Prophet was
asked: "How does God use him?" He replied: "He enables him
to do good deeds. . ."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 15
-----
CAIR BANQUET COUNTDOWN: JUST 3 DAYS
LEFT TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET -
TOP
Rep. Elijah Cummings will join other elected officials as a keynote
speaker November 18th at CAIR's 12th Annual Banquet in Arlington,
Va.
Other speakers at the event include a representative of the FBI and Amy
Goodman of Democracy Now.
NOTE: No tickets will be sold at the door. Reserve your ticket
TODAY!
-----
CNN'S BECK TO FIRST-EVER MUSLIM CONGRESSMAN:
"[W]HAT I FEEL LIKE SAYING IS, 'SIR, PROVE TO ME THAT YOU ARE NOT
WORKING WITH OUR ENEMIES'" -
TOP
Media Matters, 11/15/06
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611150004
On the November 14 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck
interviewed Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), who became the first Muslim
ever elected to Congress on November 7, and asked Ellison if he could
"have five minutes here where we're just politically incorrect and I
play the cards up on the table." After Ellison agreed, Beck said:
"I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I
feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our
enemies.' "Beck added: "I'm not accusing you of being an enemy,
but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that
way."
As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck previously
warned that if
"Muslims and Arabs" don't "act now" by
"step[ping] to the plate" to condemn terrorism, they "will
be looking through a razor wire fence at the West" and
declared that
"Muslims who have sat on your frickin' hands the whole time"
rather than "lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head"
will face dire consequences. (MORE)
CAIR-FL: FORMER GITMO CHAPLAIN TO
DISCUSS WAR ON TERROR, TORTURE -
TOP
(TAMPA, FL, 11/15/2006) - On Thursday, November 16, 2006, the Tampa
office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Tampa) and the
Muslim Student Association (MSA) at USF will hold a public forum to
discuss the Guantanamo prison camp and the use of torture.
Keynote speaker at the event will be former U.S. Army Chaplain James Yee.
The forum, which is free and open to the public, will also include a
panel discussion featuring ACLU Florida Board member Michael Pheneger and
CAIR Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier.
WHAT: MSA/CAIR-Tampa Guantanamo Prison Forum
WHEN: Thursday, November 16, 7 p.m.
WHERE: University of South Florida (USF), Phyllis Marshall Center
Ballroom (From E. Fletcher Ave, turn south on N. Palm Ave, follow signs
to Marshall Center.) MEDIA NOTE: Yee is available for interviews prior to
event. Please Contact Jamie Hammad at 813-486-2529.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 regional
offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.
Just about every Hernando County Commission meeting has some community
group being recognized for something. Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Islamic
community got its turn.
Muslims were honored for collecting food baskets for the needy at
Thanksgiving.
While these types of events are usually low key, there was plenty of
tension Tuesday.
That's because of an ongoing controversy that's split the Hernando County
community.
Two weeks ago, the wife of Hernando County Commissioner Tom Hogan wrote a
letter calling Islam a hate-filled religion.
Hogan supported his wife, and Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite defended
the comments as an accurate reflection of what many in the community
feel.
Hogan was not at Tuesday's presentation.
"It's a great irony that a commissioner that sits in this commission
that lashed out at Moslems that we're actually proving them wrong,"
offered Ahmed Bedier with the Council on American Islamic
Relations. (MORE)
Members of the Islamic community presented a $5,000 check Tuesday to
United Way which will be used to purchase food baskets for the needy this
Thanksgiving.
"Our faith, the religion of Islam, calls upon us to help the
needy," said Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who made
the trip to Hernando County for the annual presentation at the county
commission meeting.
This year's presentation received more attention than usual because of
recent remarks by Mary Ann Hogan, wife of former county commissioner Tom
Hogan Sr., referring to the Islam religion as "hateful and
frightening."
Tom Hogan Sr., whose last day on the board was Monday, Nov. 13, agreed
with his wife, who originally made the comments in a letter to the editor
of Hernando Today.
Several media representatives covered Tuesday's event and asked Bedier,
and other Muslim community leaders gathered at the courthouse, for a
reaction to the controversy that has now become a statewide
issue.
Earlier this month, CAIR called on Gov. Bush to remove Hogan from office.
Bush appointed Hogan in August to fill the unexpired term of former
commissioner Robert Schenck.
Bush, along with the chairwoman of the state GOP and county
commissioners, all condemned Hogan's comments.
Hogan never apologized nor did he step down.
But the controversy was refueled when Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite in a
television interview last week defended the Hogans' right to free
speech.
"We wanted to send a clear message to the public that these remarks
are unacceptable," Bedier said Tuesday
Bedier said Brown-Waite's recent comments hurt her and reflects badly on
her congressional district. (MORE)
An empty seat marked the end of the brief but controversial County
Commission tenure of Tom Hogan Sr.
His absence capped two weeks of alternating condemnation and kudos for
his support of a letter his wife wrote calling Islam a "hateful,
frightening religion."
Hogan also avoided a face-to-face confrontation with local Muslim
community leaders, who presented a $5,000 check for their annual
Thanksgiving food basket drive.
The Council on American Islamic Relations spearheaded efforts to
get prominent politicians to denounce the Hogan's views. So CAIR's
presentation to the County Commission of a $5,000 check Tuesday morning
would have made for an awkward photo opportunity.
It pays for 200 Thanksgiving food baskets for the needy, a donation the
local Muslim community has made every year since 2001, said Ahmed Bedier,
executive director of CAIR Tampa. (MORE)
Regarding Ginny Brown-Waite's outrageous claims that she speaks for her
constituents in order to defend her ignorant, bigoted opinions:
Brown-Waite Does not speak for me!
I am a registered Republican in Hernando County, and I am utterly
appalled at both Brown-Waite's repulsively uneducated views on the Muslim
religion and her despicable cowardice at waiting to let them be known
until after the elections Nov. 7. It is inconceivable that we voters
would believe her half-hearted "defense" that she didn't have
time before the election to go public with her prejudices.
The Republican Party of Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush and governor-elect Charlie
Crist all had time to decry Mary Ann and Tom Hogan Sr.'s backwater
bigotry in the week before the election, so there was no reason that
Brown-Waite could not have released a statement of her concurrence with
their uninformed religious bias. That may not have been the politically
prudent thing to do, but it would have been the right thing to
do.
It would have allowed voters like myself to realize we would never back
such stupidly vicious viewpoints. I have not always seen eye-to-eye with
Ms. Brown-Waite's opinions, but have been willing to overlook minor
differences. However, unsupported ignorance, a blatant unwillingness to
admit wrong, sneakily deceptive political games, and a completely
unwarranted pretentiousness have put me off for the last time.
Not only will Ms. Brown-Waite never get my vote again, she makes me wish
I could take back the last one.
Ginny Brown-Waite has made a political career of knowing when to choose
her battles. From breaking ranks with her party about suing tobacco
companies while a state senator, to opposing the government's
interference in the
Terri Schiavo feeding tube controversy, to supporting federal funding of
stem cell research, the congresswoman has often been a shrewd and
courageous legislator whom constituents can count on to be concerned and
candid.
But the 63-year-old Republican from Brooksville stained her reputation
last week when she defended the indefensible comments of a well-known
Hernando County couple, who callously insulted an entire religion. By
mischaracterizing the controversy as an issue of free speech, and
allowing her apparent grudge against an individual to cloud her judgment,
Brown-Waite has fanned the flames of bigotry and discredited the 5th
Congressional District.
In a long-winded, antagonistic letter, Brown-Waite condemned the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and executive
director Ahmed Bedier for asking her to denounce comments made by Mary
Ann and Tom Hogan Sr., an interim Hernando County commissioner. The
Hogans are leaders of the local Republican Party.
Mary Ann Hogan, who initially complained about a county employee
delivering rented children's toys to an event at the local mosque, wrote
a letter to the editor in which she said Islam is a "hateful,
frightening religion," Muslims are "barbarians" and that
"helping to promote the Muslim religion is immoral and
un-American." Her husband echoed his wife's comments and both have
rejected pleas to apologize. (MORE)
The controversy over Muslim women wearing veils or headscarves is
increasing in some parts of the world. Recently, Jack Straw, a prominent
member of Britain's parliament, ignited a debate in his country when he
said that Muslim women who visit his office should remove their veils. He
said it would improve communication, and called the veil a visible
statement of separation. The issue of veils, and sometimes the Muslim
headscarf, is also heating up in other places, including the United
States.
In England, a Muslim teaching assistant was suspended in October after
she refused to remove her veil, called a niqab, during school lessons.
She filed a lawsuit against the school. The court dismissed her claims of
religious discrimination and harassment but she won a victimization suit
against her school. Her case became part of a debate over the religious
identity of British Muslims.
Reacting to the case, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the veil a
mark of separation that prevents Muslim women from fully integrating into
society. More than one-and-one-half-million Muslims live in
Britain.
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe.
Four-and-one-half-million Muslims live there. In France, veils are banned
in schools along with other religious clothing and articles.
In Tunisia, a Muslim country, women are prohibited from wearing the
Muslim headscarf, or hijab, in public. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine
Ali says the hijab came to his country as an uninvited sectarian form of
dress.
That ban on the hijab sparked a recent Muslim protest at Tunisia's
embassy in Washington. A group of American Muslims called the prohibition
a violation of Islamic women's rights. . .
In the southern state of Florida, several women were told they could not
wear a veil for their driver's license photo.
Khadija Athman, from Kenya, works on Muslim civil rights issues for
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, a Muslim civil
rights group. "I think in terms of drivers licenses and passport
photographs it's reasonable to ask a person to have their face shown
because it's a form of identification," she said. "There is no
other way you can identify this person as this is the person who is in
this picture in the first place."
Ibrahim Hooper, Communications Director for CAIR, says the Muslim
holy book, the Quran, indicates women should dress modestly. He says many
Islamic scholars say women should cover their heads. He also says they
have the right to wear a veil.
"The vast majority of Muslim scholars, both past and present, have
determined that the requirements for a Muslim's women's attire is to
cover everything except the face and the hands. We're against any
restrictions on religious attire, or any time that the state would try to
impose a particular form of dress." . . .
Ibrahim Hooper says what a Muslim woman wears should be her choice.
"No one should be forced into any particular attire. But if somebody
chooses not to wear what is commonly regarded as Islamic attire, that's
their choice, and they shouldn't be attacked or abused because of
that." (MORE)
Along with all their other roles, Muslim women need to be responsible in
presenting themselves as representatives of Islam.
That was one message presented at a two-day conference highlighting
Muslim women's experiences and challenges at Saint Xavier University's
Chicago campus during the weekend.
More than 150 students, faculty and community members were present at
"Portraits of Women in Islam: Comparative Perspectives and
Challenges," which brought together national scholars and religious
leaders to explore the influence of Muslim women.
Ingrid Mattson, recently elected president of the Islamic Society of
North America, was the keynote speaker. Mattson is the first woman to
lead the Islamic society, the largest Muslim organization in North
America.
Women need to be fair and just, especially in positions of power, Mattson
told attendees.
And despite the misconceptions of Muslim women being oppressed and
powerless, Mattson said, there is a need to draw attention to themselves
as role models and persons of strength.
"We have a proximity to such a large Muslim community," Sister
Susan Sanders said. Sanders is the vice president of Saint Xavier and
conference coordinator. "The university can't be in a community and
ignore its neighbors."
Chicago has about 400,000 residents who are Muslims, according to the
Council on American-Islamic Relations. There are about 7 million
Muslims in the U.S. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-NY: PACE UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES
ON-CAMPUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST HATE, PROMOTING RESPECT AND UNDERSTANDING -
TOP
CONTACT: Christopher T. Cory, Executive Director, Public Information,
Pace University
212-346-1117, ccory@pace.edu, cell
917-608-8164
Note: Most sessions are open to media with press credentials. Please
contact the Public Information office for details.
"Not on My Watch" goal is to "encourage all of us to take
responsibility," says President David A. Caputo
New York, NY and Pleasantville, NY, November 14, 2006 - In the wake of
incidents in which two copies of the Qur'an were found in toilets and
other racial and ethnic slurs were found on its campuses, Pace University
today announced the start of a campaign to intensify its traditional
acceptance of all groups on campus regardless of religion, race,
ethnicity or gender orientation.
The incidents are under police investigation as hate crimes. President
David A. Caputo, called the campaign "comprehensive and
pro-active."
The effort is known as "Not on My Watch." Caputo said the name
stresses the need for active cooperation from each member of the
community, in actions ranging from understanding others to reporting
incidents. "The goal is to encourage all of us to take
responsibility," he said.
In its first few weeks, "Not on My Watch" will
comprise
* A three- hour panel discussion on sacred texts in all religions,
including the Bible and the Qur'an, on November 20 in Lecture Hall North,
One Pace Plaza, from 6 to 9 p.m. Taught by faculty members in the
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, the discussion will
explore: What is a sacred text?; How does reading a sacred text differ
from reading a secular text?; What - if any - responsibilities do we have
to texts that other people hold sacred?; Is it possible to desecrate a
sacred text?
* Two hour teach-ins on the Westchester campus in Pleasantville Tuesday,
November 28, from 1-3 pm, and on the downtown New York City campus
Thursday, November 30, from 3 to 5 pm. A faculty panel will discuss the
meaning of hate crimes and the impact that they have on the community. In
addition, the sessions will provide an open forum for dialogue about the
recent incidents and an opportunity for questions about different
cultures, groups, or practices. Information on Islam has been developed
in consultation with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
(MORE)
Al-Jazeera Intl. has all but conceded defeat in its effort to gain U.S.
distribution in time for its worldwide launch Wednesday.
Execs at the nascent English-language offshoot of the Arab broadcaster
said Comcast Communications pulled the plug on talks Monday on a deal the
net considered essential to gaining a beachhead in the U.S.
The Associated Press last week reported Comcast had pulled out of talks
but, in fact, negotiations continued, with Comcast offering to roll out
the channel regionally. Comcast is the dominant operator in the Detroit
area, which has one of the nation's largest Arab-American
populations.
But AJI execs were holding out for a full rollout across all of Comcast's
12.1 million digital subscribers (Comcast has 24 million digital and
analog subs), and they believed a deal was imminent.
"We thought we were just awaiting signatures. We feel like we've
been led down the garden path. It's a setback for us in the States, but I
don't want this to overshadow the fact we've had phenomenal figures in
the rest of the world," said one AJI employee who insisted on
anonymity.
Sources within AJI speculated the reasons for the pullout had to do with
U.S. uncertainty about Al-Jazeera's editorial agenda. Negative portrayals
of the situation in Iraq are widely thought to have contributed to the
Democratic sweep of the midterm elections.
But Comcast denied the decision had anything to do with politics.
"It comes down to a capacity question. We're not adding a lot of new
channels," said Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Moyer.
As of last week, Al-Jazeera reportedly also was in talks with Cox
Communications, but those won't come to fruition before
Wednesday.
Al-Jazeera also had hoped to get carriage on one of the two major
satellite TV operators, DirecTV or Dish Network. Dish wants to carry AJI
on its Arab-language tier, where it carries the Arabic Al-Jazeera.
DirecTV doesn't carry either net, but said it is "keeping options
open."
Even without U.S. distribution, Stateside auds will be able to see the
channel on broadband. (MORE)
Michael Fechter, whose reporting led to the decade-long federal
investigation of Sami Al-Arian, and Cherie Krigsman, one of the case's
federal prosecutors, are an item.
Fechter confirmed to Creative Loafing this week that he and Krigsman have
been romantically involved since shortly after the end of Al-Arian's
trial 11 months ago. He said the relationship did not color his reporting
on the case because he begged off writing any further Al-Arian stories
once he and Krigsman became romantically involved.
Fechter's newspaper, the Tampa Tribune, has long been accused of bias in
the Al-Arian case. The fact that Fechter is dating one of Al-Arian's
three lead federal prosecutors is sure to raise at least a few eyebrows
among critics.
The Fechter-Krigsman relationship could also revive legal acrimony about
a case that is still being fought out in federal court even this week,
months after Al-Arian pleaded to a single count of conspiracy. When told
of the relationship by CL, Al-Arian attorney Linda Moreno said, "I'm
shocked and stunned. We'll have to see what comes out about this and what
impact it might have on [Al-Arian's] case."
Fechter, when asked about his relationship with a federal prosecutor,
initially said, "I'm not sure that is anybody's business." But
when asked how people might perceive rumors that he dated Krigsman during
the trial, Fechter asserted, "It was not going on during trial. ...
Subsequent to the trial ending, we got together. Cherie had accepted a
job here previously, so she came back in late June or July and yeah,
we've been seeing each other since then."
Fechter did confirm that he had received a gift from Krigsman -- a shirt
from a U.S. embassy -- prior to the start of the trial. He said Krigsman
was thanking him for recommending a synagogue and that he gave the shirt
away. (MORE)
During the second Lebanon war, Israel made use of American-made cluster
bombs that left behind thousands of unexploded bomblets, even though
Israel Military Industries produces cluster bombs that leave nearly no
unexploded munitions. The main reason for the use of the U.S.-made
weapons: Israel uses military aid funds to purchase cluster bombs from
the U.S., and in order to buy IMI-made bombs, the Israel Defense Forces
would have to dip into its own budget.
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR-LA CALLS FOR PROBE OF UCLA TASER
INCIDENT Student given multiple stun gun shocks by campus
police
(ANAHEIM, CA, 11/16/06) - The Southern California office of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-LA) today called for
an independent investigation of an incident late Tuesday in which a
student at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) was given
multiple "Taser" stun gun shocks by campus police.
CAIR-LA was contacted by several UCLA students who expressed their
concern about possible civil rights violations by police
officers.
The incident began when the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was
asked to leave a computer lab after he failed to produce a student ID
during a random check. The entire incident was captured on video by
another student. While being stunned, Tabatabainejad informed the
officers he had a medical condition.
In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush
said:
"It is hard to see the justification for repeatedly using
pain-inducing weapons on a person who was apparently not a threat to any
officer or student. We call on state and national authorities, including
the FBI, to launch an independent investigation of this disturbing
incident. Given the circumstances involved, only an outside, independent
probe will ensure that the civil rights aspects of this case are being
taken seriously and will be addressed in an impartial
manner."
CAIR has 32 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.
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARITY -
TOP
During the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) final illness, his wife
Ayesha told him she had been too busy to distribute some coins he asked
her to give out in charity. Ayesha told him she was unable to distribute
the coins because she had been kept busy ministering to his suffering.
The Prophet called for the coins, and placing them in his hand, he said:
"What would God's Prophet think if he were to meet God, who is Great
and Glorious, while possessing these?"
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 586
The Prophet also told his companions: "Save yourselves from (Hell)
even if with half of a date (given in charity). And if that is not
available, then (save yourselves) by saying a friendly
word."
Southern California Islamic leaders are calling for an independent
investigation into Tuesday night's incident at the UCLA library where
campus police apparently stunned a student with a "Taser"
gun.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged "state and
national authorities, including the FBI" to investigate the incident
involving the 23-year-old Mostafa Tabatabainejad.
A camera phone captured Tabatabainejad being stunned repeatedly after he
allegedly refused repeated requests to show his student I-D and would not
leave a campus library.
Campus officials are investigating the incident.
But the American-Islamic relations group says an outside probe's needed
to make sure the case's "civil rights aspects" are taken
seriously.
(PHILADELPHIA, PA, 11/16/06) - Beginning December 19, the Philadelphia
office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Philly) will
offer a ten-part course on Islam, called "Understanding Islam &
Muslims through History and Jurisprudence," at the Foundation for
Islamic Education.
This course will approach Islam from a historical and jurisprudence
perspective, covering the foundations of the religion and then building
on the economic, political and cultural institutions that arose in Muslim
societies. It will cover the Golden Age of Muslim civilization and then
discuss its decline. Contemporary issues faced by Islam and Muslims will
also be covered. A final unit will be the involvement of the U.S. in the
Muslim world and its ramifications.
CAIR-Philly has offered the course through multiple educational and
interfaith venues, including Mishkan Shalom, Philadelphia PA, the
Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, Goshen Methodist
Church, West Chester PA and recently the Paoli Presbyterian Church, Paoli
PA. CAIR-Philly Chair Iftekhar Hussain will lead the course.
WHAT: Course: Understanding Islam & Muslims through History and
Jurisprudence
WHEN: December 19 - January 18, 2006, Tuesday and Thursday: 6:30-8:30
p.m.
WHERE: The Foundation for Islamic Education; 1860 Montgomery Ave,
Villanova, PA
COST: Free
REGISTER: CALL 215-592-0509 or write to
cairphilly@cairphilly.org
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-SFBA HOLDS 8TH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
WORKSHOP -
TOP
(SANTA CLARA, CA, 11/16/06) - On Saturday, November 18, the Council on
American Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (CAIR-SFBA)
will hold its 8th Community Empowerment Workshop (CEW), at the Muslim
Community Association (MCA) in Santa Clara.
The workshops are part of an educational initiative conducted by
CAIR-SFBA, in collaboration with the Bay Area Association of Muslim
Lawyers (BAAML) and Catholic Charities, aimed at engaging the community
in civic, social and political activism.
Guest speakers at the 8th CEW will include BAAML representatives Marwa
Elzankaly, who will address issues regarding the FBI, searches and
warrants, and Shah Peerally, who will inform the community on immigrant
rights. Also speaking will be Robert Yabes from Catholic Charities, who
will brief the community on available immigrant resources. Finally,
CAIR-SFBA staff will discuss the status of civil rights in America, their
effect on the Muslim community, and the resources CAIR has to
offer.
"Through our partnership we've reached individuals across the
greater Bay Area, and equipped them with the tools necessary for them to
advocate for themselves, should their rights be violated," said
Safaa Ibrahim, CAIR-SFBA Executive Director.
She added: "We've also addressed the current domestic, social and
political climate relating to misconceptions about Islam and the status
of Muslims in America today."
Seven workshops at various locations across the Bay Area have already
been conducted successfully. The workshops are free and open to the
public.
WHAT: Community Empowerment Workshop #8
WHEN: Saturday, November 18, 2006, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
WHERE: Muslim Community Association, Women's Lounge; 3003 Scott Blvd,
Santa Clara, CA, 95054
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 32 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.
Federal agents on Wednesday arrested 29 people, mostly Pakistanis, who
allegedly posed as Muslim religious workers to obtain special visas to
enter the USA.
The immigrants, arrested in Boston, New York City, Buffalo, Hartford,
Atlanta, St. Paul, Newark, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and
Harrisburg, Va., face civil immigration charges and could be deported if
they are found to have violated federal law, said Marc Raimondi,
spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Agents involved
in the investigation also arrested eight people on other immigration
charges, he said.
The arrests were part of a probe into several organizations that posed as
legitimate religious groups and filed false visa applications for the
immigrants under the Religious Worker Program, ICE spokesman Dean Boyd
said.
The immigrants paid fees, sometimes several thousand dollars, for the
fraudulent paperwork, Boyd said. He said he could not release the groups'
names because the investigation was continuing.
The Religious Worker Program allows churches, synagogues, mosques,
temples and other religious organizations in the USA to sponsor visa
applications for immigrants with specific religious training and
experience. The visas allow a legal visitor to work only in a
religion-related job for a limited time, generally no more than three
years.
The immigrants arrested Wednesday worked at non-religious jobs, Raimondi
said. Among them: gas station attendant, truck driver and factory
worker.
"If these allegations are true, it is sad to see people misuse the
religious-worker visa program in an attempt to gain fraudulent
immigration status in the United States," said Arsalan Iftikhar,
national legal director for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. "In a time where increased dialogue is needed between
people of all faiths, it is imperative that initiatives like the
religious-worker visa program continue to bring credible religious
workers of all faiths to America." (MORE)
David Cole, a professor of law at Georgetown University, says he believes
that the concerted efforts of Arab and Muslim civil society organizations
helped slow the erosion of civil liberties after 9/11.
"Groups like the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, groups
like the Muslim Political Affairs Council, the Council on American
Islamic Relations and more generic groups like the ACLU and the
Center for Constitutional Rights," he says, "[have focused] on
abuses that have been visited upon the Arab and Muslim community."
(MORE)
The headline in the New York Daily News was "Jihadists trash Muslim
U.S. rep."
The story cited "secret Internet chat rooms" where Al-Qaida
sympathizers deride Rep.-elect Keith Ellison as "the first Jewish
Muslim that goes to Congress," and a "fool" trying to
"deceive us."
Ellison, a Muslim, downplayed religion in his quest to win Minnesota's
Fifth District Congressional seat. He said he's committed to peace, and
has repeatedly denounced terrorism.
His spokeswoman told the News that the criticism was no surprise:
"He's the opposite of what they [the critics] are about," she
said.
Nihad Awad, executive director the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, a civil-rights group, said the Internet chatter is
unfortunate, but to be expected.
"Keith, by being the first, has made history," Awad said.
"It's not going to be without pressure."
The election of Keith Ellison to Congress is a victory for the 7 million
Muslims living in the United States. And it's a victory for
America.
Ellison will represent Minnesota's 5th Congressional District -- proof
positive of Muslim integration into American society.
A 43-year-old black state legislator, Ellison will be the first nonwhite
to represent Minnesota in Washington. And when he takes his seat in
Congress next January, he will also be the first Muslim to do
so.
Ellison's campaign brought people together from all walks of life. It
earned him diverse endorsements, from the Somali-American Democratic
Association to the American Jewish World newspaper.
Like members of other religious groups, Muslim-Americans are not
monolithic in their views.
Public opinion surveys conducted by the Council on American-Islamic
Relations reveal that Muslim-Americans tend to be left-leaning when it
comes to social justice issues, the environment and foreign policy, and
right-leaning when it comes to family values and taxes.
On issues like the war in Iraq, universal health care and increased
school funding, Ellison is in sync with the opinions of most other
Muslims. Yet his pro-choice stance on abortion, his support for gay
rights and his support for Israel are in sharp contrast to the sentiments
of most Muslims.
Ellison's election sends a positive message to the world. (MORE)
Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim
Public Affairs Council, will talk on "Overcoming Exclusion and
Bigotry in America" in a free lecture at 8 p.m. Saturday at the
Islamic Society of Milwaukee, 4707 S. 13th St. The council, with an
office in Washington, D.C., lobbies for American Muslims' civil rights
and has other activities. It denounced the Taliban in Afghanistan and
condemned suicide bombings in Israel, the Ayatollah Khomeini's call for
novelist Salman Rushdie's death and the attacks on the World Trade Center
and Pentagon. Al-Marayati was among 15 Muslim American leaders President
Bush met with after the attacks. Tom Heinen of the Journal Sentinel staff
spoke with him.
Q. You say bigotry is worsening at political levels and lessening at the
grass roots, where people get to know Muslims. The stereotypes?
A. That Islam is innately violent, oppresses women and is against Jews
and Christians. Those are what the hate-mongers are exploiting, because
they take an example of a Muslim who is extremist as if that is a
demonstration of Islam, not an aberration of it. (MORE)
-----
FALLING IN LINE ON ISRAEL -
TOP
Stephen Zunes, TomPaine.com, 11/15/06
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/11/15/falling_in_line_on_israel.php
[Stephen Zunes is a professor of Politics at the University of San
Francisco and the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the
Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press). He serves as Middle East
editor of Foreign Policy in Focus.]
The election of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate is unlikely
to result in any serious challenge to the Bush administration's support
for Israeli attacks against the civilian populations of its Arab
neighbors and the Israeli government's ongoing violations of
international humanitarian law.
The principal Democratic Party spokesmen on foreign policy will likely be
Tom Lantos in the House of Representatives and Joe Biden in the Senate,
both of whom have been longstanding and outspoken supporters of a series
of right-wing Israeli governments and opponents of the Israeli peace
movement. And, despite claims-even within the progressive press-that
future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a "consistent supporter of
human rights," such humanitarian concerns have never applied to
Arabs, since she is a staunch defender of right-wing Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert and his predecessor Ariel Sharon.
For example, when President George W. Bush defended Israel's assaults on
Lebanon's civilian infrastructure this summer and defied the
international community by initially blocking United Nations efforts to
impose a cease-fire, the Democrats rushed to pass a resolution commending
him for "fully supporting Israel." The resolution, co-authored
by Rep. Lantos, claimed that Israel's actions were legitimate
self-defense under the U.N. Charter and challenged the credibility of
reputable human rights groups. Although groups like Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch groups documented widespread attacks by Israeli
forces against civilians in areas far from any Hezbollah military
activity, the resolution praised "Israel's longstanding commitment
to minimizing civilian loss and welcom[ed] Israel's continued efforts to
prevent civilian casualties." All but 15 of the House's 201
Democrats voted in support. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-CAN SUPPORTS PRIME MINISTER'S EFFORTS TO
RELEASE CANADIAN HELD CHINA -
TOP
(OTTAWA, CANADA - NOV 16, 2006) - The Canadian Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) supports the Prime Minister's
efforts to seek the release of Canadian citizen, Huseyin Celil, currently
imprisoned in China.
Mr. Celil was first detained in Uzbekistan on March 26, only to be later
deported and imprisoned in China in June of this year. Mr. Celil's sister
has stated that her brother is currently being held in a prison for
political prisoners after being sentenced for 15 years. China does not
recognize his Canadian citizenship.
Celil is a known and vocal human rights advocate in defence of the Uighur
minority in the Xinjiang region of northwest China. According to Amnesty
International Canada, the Uighur people have been subject to numerous,
well-documented human rights violations at the hands of the Chinese
government.
When commenting yesterday on a cancelled meeting with Chinese President
Hu Jintao at the APEC summit, Prime Minister Harper made a point of
referring to Mr. Celil. The Prime Minister's meeting is currently being
rescheduled.
"When a Canadian citizen is taken from a third country and
imprisoned in China, this is a serious concern to this country," the
Prime Minister said.
"I think Canadians want us to promote our trade relations worldwide.
We do that, but I don't think that Canadians want us to sell out our
values, our beliefs in democracy freedom and human rights. They don't
want us to sell that out the almighty dollar," he added.
Mr. Celil has been held under arrest for 8 months, in two countries,
without being charged under a recognizable criminal offence. China has
yet to respect his right to have access to Canadian diplomats and
consular officials.
"The Prime Minister's efforts to see that Mr. Celil is released and
allowed to return to Canada needs the support of all Canadians,"
said CAIR-CAN Executive Director Karl Nickner. "Developing strong
economic ties with China is vital to ensuring that Canada's growing
interests in the Asia-Pacific region are protected. However, this cannot
be done to the detriment of fundamental human rights," he
added.
CONTACT: CAIR-CAN Communications and Human Rights Coordinator Sameer
Zuberi at 613-795-2012, or CAIR-CAN Executive Director Karl
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: CAIR-DC Banquet Sold Out / Muslim Students Upset
Over Posters at Yale / Taser-Shocked Student Claims Racial Profiling /
Muslim Women to Form Rights Council
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once went to see a young man who
was on his deathbed. The Prophet asked him: "How are you?" The
young man said: "I hope for God's pardon, but I am fearful because
of my sins." The Prophet replied: "These two things never
gather in the heart of a person at such a time without God granting him
what he hopes for and sheltering him from what he dreads."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 15A
VERSE OF THE DAY: FEAR AND HOPE
"Pray to Him with fear and hope. Surely God's mercy is always close
to those who do good to others."
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/17/06) - Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), CAIR's
12th Annual Fundraising Banquet on November 18th in Arlington, Va., is
sold out. No tickets will be sold at the door.
At the dinner, some 1,000 Muslim community members and activists,
interfaith representatives and diplomats from Muslim nations will hear
addresses by several members of Congress, a representative of the FBI and
by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.
Even though the dinner is sold out, CAIR still needs your
support.
With all the challenges currently faced by the American Muslim community,
now is the time to send in a generous donation, become a CAIR member or
renew your membership.
CAIR-CT URGES DIALOGUE IN RESPONSE
TO ANTI-MUSLIM POSTERS AT YALE -
TOP
(NEW LONDON, CT, 11/17/06) - The Connecticut chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) today called for increased
interfaith dialogue efforts at Yale University following an incident in
which anti-Muslim posters were put up on campus.
A cartoon on the unsigned posters depicted Islam's Prophet Muhammad with
a sword in one hand and a decapitated head in the other. Text on the
cartoon included the phrase: "Don't mess with Ahmadinejad's
nukes." (According to university regulations, students and groups
must identify themselves on any posters displayed on campus.)
The Yale Muslim Students Association plans to hold a dialogue in response
to the cartoon after the Thanksgiving break.
"It is important that students of all faiths are provided with a
safe and welcoming learning environment," said CAIR-CT Director for
Community Outreach Farah Refai. "Yale officials should work with
Muslim students to demonstrate through their actions that Islamophobia,
like all forms of bigotry, has no place on campus."
CAIR has 32 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-CT Director for Community Outreach Farah Refai,
203-623-4468, E-Mail:
farah.refai@yale.edu
There is concern on the Yale campus after someone posted fliers that some
are calling anti-Muslim.
It is the second time anonymous posters that many consider offensive have
been put up this school year.
This time, Muslim students on campus said they're the ones
targeted.
The Muslim Students Association took down the posters, which were in
various buildings on the elm city campus.
The fliers portrayed the prophet Muhammad with a sword in one hand and a
severed head in the other, and a quote bubble that said "don't mess
with Ahmadinejad's nukes."
-----
CAIR-CT TO HOLD TOWN HALL MTG
WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES -
TOP
On Friday, December 1, the Connecticut chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) will hold a town hall meeting with
members of the Muslim community law enforcement agencies to discuss civil
rights concerns. An FBI agent, as well as representatives from the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), will be present.
WHEN: Friday, December 1, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Crowne Plaza, 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell, Conn.
CONTACT: CAIR-CT Director for Civil Rights Hamza I.J. Collins at
860-995-6628 or Farah Refai, Director for Community Outreach at
203-623-4468. Seating is limited for this event.
Muslim leaders in the Boston area expressed outrage yesterday over the
arrest and jailing of two senior clerics in an alleged scheme that
provided religious-worker visas to immigrants who used them for secular
jobs.
Federal immigration agents on Wednesday arrested Hafiz Abdul Hannan, the
leader of the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell in Chelmsford, and
Muhammed Masood, the leader of the Islamic Center of New England in
Sharon, along with 31 other people nationwide.
Muslims who know the two imams said they were troubled that US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released few details of the
allegations against the men, both of whom are revered for their work
counseling families, leading prayer services, teaching the Koran, and
performing weddings and funerals.
"It's just so flabbergasting the way they would do this," said
Bilal Kaleem, associate director of the Boston chapter of the Muslim
American Society. "It hurts civil liberties, it polarizes the
community from society, and it's just not helpful in the long
run."
Yesterday, the Islamic Center of New England posted a statement on its
website decrying Masood's arrest. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-FL: DEMOCRATS SHOULD
SEIZE THIS OPPORTUNITY -
TOP
Change in course: What should the Democrats do? Which direction now?
Orlando Sentinel, 11/17/06
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
The American people spoke loud and clear for a change in course and a
change of drivers, too. The real winners in the last elections are our
democracy and the American people. Americans realize now that the
extremist neoconservative agenda of hate and war-mongering has only
brought war and death to our country and made our country and the whole
world more divided and unsafe than it has ever been in our recent
times.
Democrats should seize this opportunity and show leadership by fixing our
country's situation here and abroad by (among other things):
1. Bringing our troops back home; 2. Becoming an even-handed broker in
the Middle East conflict; 3. Reviewing the parts of the Patriot Act that
are damaging to our liberty and way of life; 4. Reviewing policies and
holding hearings on policies that unfairly target the Muslim community,
such as NSA wiretapping, and denial of visas to Muslim leaders who
advocate peace and justice, such as Yusuf Islam (known as Cat
Stevens).
Hopefully, the new Congress will now have the courage to change the
direction of our country and the world toward peace and
prosperity.
Sabiha Khan
Executive Director
Council on American-Islamic Relations, Orlando
A U.S. Muslim organization has called for a probe into the shooting of a
UCLA student with tasers.
The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, CAIR-LA, issued a plea Thursday for an independent
investigation of the incident Tuesday when Mostafa Tabatabainjead, a UCLA
student, was shot repeatedly with taser stun gun shocks by campus police.
The entire incident was captured on video.
CAIR-LA said UCLA students had "expressed their concern" to it
about possible civil rights violations by police officers in the
affair.
CAIR-LA said Tabatabainejad was asked to leave a computer lab after he
failed to produce a student ID during a random check. While
Tabatabainejad was being shot, he told the officers firing the tasers
that he had a medical condition.
In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said:
""It is hard to see the justification for repeatedly using
pain-inducing weapons on a person who was apparently not a threat to any
officer or student."
"We call on state and national authorities, including the FBI, to
launch an independent investigation of this disturbing incident,"
Ayloush said. "Given the circumstances involved, only an outside,
independent probe will ensure that the civil rights aspects of this case
are being taken seriously and will be addressed in an impartial
manner." (MORE)
The UCLA student stunned with a Taser by a campus police officer has
hired a high-profile civil rights lawyer who plans to file a brutality
lawsuit.
The videotaped incident, which occurred after the student refused
requests to show his ID card to campus officers, triggered widespread
debate on and off campus Thursday about whether use of the Taser was
warranted. It was the third in a recent series of local incidents
captured on video that raise questions about arrest tactics.
Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights
lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of "brutal excessive force,"
as well as false arrest. The lawyer also provided the first public
account of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library from the
student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23-year-old senior.
He said that Tabatabainejad, when asked for his ID after 11 p.m. Tuesday,
declined because he thought he was being singled out because of his
Middle Eastern appearance. Yagman said Tabatabainejad is of Iranian
descent but is a U.S.-born resident of Los Angeles.
The lawyer said Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library
but when an officer refused the student's request to take his hand off
him, the student fell limp to the floor, again to avoid participating in
what he considered a case of racial profiling. After police started
firing the Taser, Tabatabainejad tried to "get the beating, the use
of brutal force, to stop by shouting and causing people to watch.
Generally, police don't want to do their dirties in front of a lot of
witnesses."
He said Tabatabainejad was hit by the Taser five times and suffered
"moderate to severe contusions" on his right side.
(MORE)
A student who was shocked by a campus police officer's Taser gun after he
refused to show ID at a UCLA library thought he was being singled out by
the officer because of his Middle Eastern appearance, his lawyer
said.
Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights
lawsuit on behalf of the U.S.-born student, Mostafa
Tabatabainejad.
Tabatabainejad, 23, was shocked Tuesday night after arguing with a campus
police officer who was conducting a routine check of student IDs at the
University of California, Los Angeles Powell Library computer
lab.
Yagman said his client declined to show his school ID because he thought
he was being targeted for his appearance. His family is of Iranian
descent.
Police have said Tabatabainejad encouraged others at the library to join
his resistance, and when a crowd gathered, the officer used the stun gun
on him.
Yagman disputed that, saying Tabatabainejad started yelling to draw
attention after the police officer pulled out the Taser.
Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police
officer and later released on his own recognizance. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-CHICAGO: PRAYER
VIGIL FOR MISSING MUSLIM -
TOP
(CHICAGO, IL, 11/16/2006) - CAIR-Chicago announces today that Irfan Vora,
age 30, has been missing since November 10, 2006. Last known contact with
Irfan was that day as he was leaving home for Friday prayers. It is not
known if he made it to the prayers.
Three days later, Monday, November 13, his car was found and his case is
currently being investigated by the police. Family and friends are deeply
concerned as they have no other news of his condition or
whereabouts.
The family of Irfan Vora humbly ask that anyone who may have any
information regarding his whereabouts contact the local police or the
family directly. A prayer session will be held for his safe return on
November 17, 2006 at 7 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
WHAT: Prayer Vigil
WHEN: November 17, 2006 at 7 p.m. (immediately following night
prayer)
WHERE: Muslim Community Center, 4380 N. Elston Ave. (Elston &
Pulaski), Chicago, IL
NEW YORK (AP) - Muslim women from the United States and around the world
are meeting this weekend on forming the first international Islamic
advisory council for women.
The American Society for Muslim Advancement, the lead organizer of the
event, said the goal of the council is to promote women's rights that
advocates say are part of Islamic teaching.
"Women's rights often get debated in the press or they get debated
among scholars who are not women," said Daisy Khan, executive
director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which is based
in New York. "We feel there are many Muslim women who are coming of
age who have the scholarly background to be able to step up to the plate
to speak authoritatively about it."
The 120 expected participants in the gathering, which starts Friday,
include the Baroness Uddin, the first Muslim woman to enter Britain's
House of Lords; Ingrid Mattson, an Islamic scholar recently named the
first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America; and Dr.
Massouda Jalal, a pediatrician and political activist in
Afghanistan.
Over the next year, organizers will move toward forming an International
Shura Council of Muslim Women. "Shura" is Arabic for
"consultation." Muslim communities around the world form shura
councils, which play different roles depending partly on the country
where they are active. The many U.S. shura councils advise and try to
unify their local communities.
Khan said the goal of the women's council is to bring a religious
dimension to the Muslim women's advocacy already occurring
internationally. (MORE)
Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, is being allowed back into the United
States to promote his first new album in 30 years, "An Other
Cup." The 1970s singer happens to share his Muslim name with someone
on the government's "No-Fly" list and was refused entry to the
U.S. in 2004. His name has since been cleared, but Islam is shying away
from political controversy. Fox 411's Roger Friedman got a sneak-listen
at the CD (which includes a cover of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be
Misunderstood") and said, "There's nothing on 'Cup' that could
offend anyone and plenty of love and peace for everyone."
Nabila Nazli was standing at a window, dangling her newborn above the
sidewalk about 20 feet below. Flames were tearing through her
second-story apartment in Brooklyn yesterday morning, and she was
screaming for help.
Two men had raced to her aid, but they could not get into the wood-frame
building. Thinking fast, they stretched out a quilt as a makeshift
net.
Ms. Nazli dropped her month-old boy, tossed out his twin brother, and
then helped two older children jump from the windowsill. All four landed
safely.
But Ms. Nazli had a fifth child, a 5-year-old girl, who may have been
afraid to jump. Ignoring pleas from neighbors, she refused to leave her.
The mother and her daughter, Nimrah Naseer, were overcome by smoke and
were unconscious when rescuers reached them.
"She did a great job in saving her children," said Bob
Treiland, 47, a firefighter from Ladder 166 who drove the first truck to
arrive at the fire at 148 Bay 50th Street, off Cropsey Avenue, in the
Gravesend neighborhood.
"I guess I know where she is coming from," he said, adding that
he has two small children. "She would rather die than leave her
child up there, and it is just something about a parent's
instincts."
It was not until Firefighter Treiland and his colleagues arrived and
placed portable ladders against the building that they were able to climb
into the apartment, find Ms. Nazli and her daughter lying unconscious
about three feet apart in the front bedroom, and carry them out,
officials said.
Yesterday, Ms. Nazli and Nimrah were listed in serious condition at
Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where they had been transferred for
treatment of their injuries, officials said. The other children,
including the twins, Mugees and Mubeen, their brother Umar, 10, and
sister Shamail, 4, were listed in stable condition at Coney Island
Hospital in Brooklyn, officials said. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIRST MUSLIM CONGRESSMAN ADDRESSES CAIR
BANQUET Sold-out event raises more than $620,000 for civil
rights work
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/20/06) - More than 1,000 people turned out
on Saturday at the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) banquet in Arlington, Va., to
hear addresses by several elected officials, including Keith Ellison, the
first Muslim in Congress.
The event raised more than $620,000 to support CAIR's civil rights and
advocacy work on behalf of the American Muslim community. (Another dinner
held by CAIR's Southern California chapter (CAIR-LA) over the weekend
raised more than $430,000. Some 1,800 people attended that
event.)
Elected officials who spoke at the sold-out event included
Representative-elect Ellison (D-MN), as well as Reps. Mike Honda (D-CA),
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Albert Wynn (D-MD). Ellison and Jackson Lee
offered their addresses by video.
Saqib Ali, who was elected
to the Maryland House of Delegates (District 39) on November 7, was also
in attendance.
Other speakers included Special Agent in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr. of
the FBI's Washington Field
Office, Fairfax County
Police Chief Col. David M. Rohrer and Amy Goodman of
Democracy Now. Most members of
CAIR's national board also took part in the banquet, which was emceed by
Julia Shearson of CAIR-Ohio's Cleveland office.
Several Muslim community members received CAIR Islamic Community Service
Awards during the dinner. The annual CAIR Rosa Parks Civil Liberties
Scholarship went to Raashida Muhammad of
Stillman College.
"We would like to thank all those who, through their hard work and
generosity, made CAIR's annual banquet such a success," said CAIR
Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed. "Special thanks go to all those who
volunteered their time and talents to make the dinner
possible."
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever does not
thank people, does not thank God."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 897
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever seeks the
protection of God, give him protection. Whoever asks you in the name of
God, grant him refuge. Whoever does a good deed to you, reward him. And
if you do not find anything (to give), invoke God on his behalf until you
know that he has been rewarded."
The Prophet also said: "To whom a good deed is done and who says to
its doer, 'May God reward you with goodness,' also reaps the
reward."
Mohammad Malik, owner of Bismillah Halal Meat in Langley Park, doesn't
have Thanksgiving off. He will spend the day in his store, cooking the
food his Muslim customers want for the holiday - lamb and goat roasts and
pound after pound of rice.
But recently, more people have come in requesting something different:
turkey.
"I guess more and more people getting into that tradition,"
said Mr. Malik, 34, of Gaithersburg. "Just as an American, they are
celebrating Thanksgiving. I guess more people, Muslim people, are going,
'Why not have a turkey?"'
Although there is still no nationwide distributor of turkeys that are
"halal," or slaughtered according to Islamic law, halal food
stores in Maryland and around the country report increasing demand for
the birds as more Muslims immigrate to the United States and assimilate
into the mainstream. (MORE)
Five years after Muslim immigrants were abused in a federal jail here,
the guards who beat them and the Washington policymakers who decided to
hold them for months without charges are being called to
account.
Some 1,200 Middle Eastern men were arrested on suspicion of terrorism
after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. No holding place was so notorious as
Brooklyn's nine-story Metropolitan Detention Center. In a special unit on
the top floor, detainees were smashed into walls, repeatedly stripped and
searched, and often denied basic legal rights and religious privileges,
according to federal investigations.
Now the federal Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail, has revealed for
the first time that 13 staff members have been disciplined, two of them
fired. The warden has retired and moved to the Midwest.
And in what could turn out to be a landmark case, a lawsuit filed by two
Brooklyn detainees against top Bush administration officials is moving
forward in the federal courts in New York.
In response to the recent controversy resulting from letters and
statements about Islam and the county's support of religious activities,
the Human Rights Coalition of Hernando County will host a community
discussion from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Lake House, 1202 Kenlake Ave.,
Spring Hill. The theme: "Is Hernando County Truly a Melting
Pot?" Topics will include freedom of speech, religious intolerance,
prejudice and misinformation.
"We want to get a sense of how the community feels about these
topics and come to some consensus about how we are going to conduct
ourselves as citizens in order to make Hernando County a better place to
live and a true melting pot," said Walter Dry, chairman of the Human
Rights Coalition and moderator for the discussion.
"We want to figure out how we can live together as good neighbors
and citizens, regardless of what religion and ethnicity you are."
Among the confirmed panel members are Sheriff Richard Nugent, county
Commissioner Diane Rowden, Ahmed Bedier of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations and Wayman Boggs, president of the
Hernando County NAACP. (MORE)
Re: U.S. Rep. Blasts Muslim Official, Citrus Times, Nov. 12
I am again deeply disturbed by another of Ginny Brown-Waite's precipitous
actions.
I well remember her first call for disinterring our brave troops who
fought the Germans, died on French soil and were honorably buried there,
solely because France, Germany and other major allies declined to agree
with President Bush about attacking Iraq. Recently, she became critical
of the war in Iraq.
Now she is engaged in taking on the Muslims worldwide, turning Muslims
against America, as if we need more of her kind. This is being done
solely to defend a Republican Hernando County commissioner who made an
accusation against Islam as a religion.
As before, Brown-Waite fails to grasp the consequences of her position as
a federal government representative. Gov. Jeb Bush rightfully demanded an
apology from the county commissioner, but the commissioner and
Brown-Waite criticized the governor for requesting the apology.
This information was not available until after the 2006 election. She
will be up for re-election again in 2008.
On Nov. 19, exactly a month will have passed since the Fremont shooting
of Alia Ansari, mother of six.
Following the tragedy, there has been an immense show of solidarity from
the community at large. Unfortunately, there also have been false
allegations made against the Council on American Islamic Relations,
San Francisco Bay Area, and the Bay Area Muslim community.
The Muslim community derives no benefit from this crime being
hate-motivated; on the contrary, it would make the slaying even more
horrendous if Ansari was killed simply because of her faith.
As such, CAIR-SFBA repeatedly has emphasized that we hope this is not a
hate crime; we have called on law enforcement not to rule it out and to
investigate the crime in a timely and diligent manner.
Fremont police have not ruled it out. They have been cooperative and
reassuring, and the Muslim community understands that police are not at
liberty to divulge information about the investigation.
The Fremont City Council, too, has been quick to alleviate the
community's fears - fears that have been expressed not just by Muslims,
but by the general community; and fears that exist not because Fremont is
believed to be generally unsafe, but precisely because Fremont is
generally safe.
Is it not perfectly natural for the community, Muslim or not, to be
concerned for its safety after such a crime?
The community forum was held specifically so that law enforcement and
city officials could address these concerns. Far from being a
"farce," it served as a constructive platform that bridged the
communication gap between community members and officials. . .
Ansari was an Afghan and a Muslim, but let us not forget that she was
also a Fremont resident.
Accordingly, let us also not forget that the Bay Area is home to all of
us, and, hate crime or not, we are all in this together.
[Santa Clara resident Abiya Ahmed is media relations coordinator of
the Council on American Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
(CAIR-SFBA).]
AMY GOODMAN: Mostafa was stunned at least five times. That video you can
see on our website at democracynow.org for our radio listeners. Mostafa's
attorney, Steven Yagman, said he plans to file a Federal Civil Rights
Lawsuit, accusing the UCLA police of a brutal excessive force, as well as
false arrest. He said Mostafa initially refused to show his ID because he
thought he was being singled out because of his middle eastern
appearance. Mostafa's of Iranian descent, but a US Citizen by birth and a
resident of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, more than 200 UCLA students marched
to the University police station Friday, calling for an independent
investigation and the suspension of the officers involved. Hours later,
the University announced a veteran LA Law enforcement watchdog would head
up the probe. Merrick Bob served as Staff Attorney for the Christopher
Commission, which was formed to examine allegations of excessive force in
the Los Angeles Police Department after the Rodney King beating in the
early 90's.
Hussam Ayloush joins us now on the telephone. He's Executive
Director of the Southern California Council on American Islamic
Relations, which has also called for an independent investigation.
Welcome to Democracy Now!.
HUSSAN AYLOUSH: Thank you, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain what has developed from this point as of
Tuesday, when the attack took place?
HUSSAN AYLOUSH: We first received the report of the attack from various
students on campus. You can just look at the -- you know, we're getting
-- have the picture by listening today and the same thing with the
listeners. It's only when you watch the video that you feel how-- the
full extent of how disturbing the imagery is.
We were extremely disturbed and we immediately called for an independent
investigation, because we felt that such a disturbing incident requires
an impartial review and probe. And since then, initially, the University
announced an internal review, that would be conducted by their own
University of California Police Department. But I think, after the
actions taken by the students on campus, led by the Muslim Student
Association there and many supporting groups from Latino groups to
African-American groups and various social justice groups there, I think
the University realized how serious it is. I could say-I could say the
whole community is shaken by it, not only the student body, but
even--even the parents.
The whole community, because we as parents and the community sends their
children to the University thinking it's a safe place. This is not a way
to treat a student.
I mean, I will tell you how--what I heard from parents. People are saying
yes, maybe Mostafa was a little bit obnoxious. Maybe he wasn't too
compliant. We don't have the whole picture actually, but based on what we
heard from news report, it seems yeah, maybe initially he was asked for
an ID and he didn't show the ID. But he never, never showed any violence.
He was never threatening, to any of the officers or anybody else. So, if
the goal was to detain him, to hold him, there were enough officers at
that time to hold him and handcuff him. But there was no need to use the
taser on him. (MORE)
Hoping to calm the furor created when UCLA police used a Taser to subdue
a student studying in Powell Library, the university's acting chancellor
announced Friday that a veteran Los Angeles law enforcement watchdog
would head up an independent investigation of the incident.
Norman Abrams said he ordered the probe after the university received
numerous calls and e-mails from parents and alumni raising concerns about
the officers' actions during the videotaped Tuesday night arrest, which
has been widely seen on TV news and the YouTube website.
"I want to assure them that the UCLA campus is a safe environment.
Student safety and treatment are of paramount concern at UCLA,"
Abrams said. "We plan to move ahead promptly with a complete and
unbiased review." (MORE)
CAIR VICE-CHAIR TO
SPEAK ON US-ISLAMIC RELATIONS AT KENT STATE -
TOP
Americans for Informed Democracy at Kent State University presents
"The Future of US-Islamic World Relations," a talk on the
future of U.S.-Islamic world relations featuring Dr. Ahmad
Al-Akhras, president of the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio and
Vice Chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR).
WHEN: Monday, November 20, 2006 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Kiva
Free food will be served
Questions to be addressed include: What is the long-term strategy for
improving relations between the U.S. and the Islamic world? Are the U.S.
and the Islamic world currently on the right path?
An art auction on Saturday helped some Central Texas women picture a
better life.
A nonprofit that primarily serves the Muslim community hosted the art and
silent auction to benefit victims of domestic abuse.
Central Texas Muslimaat says domestic violence plagues all races and
ethnic groups, but may be especially difficult for Muslim women to come
forward and seek help.
"Domestic violence happens in the Muslim community just as much as
it happens in any other community," Adeela Gill of Central Texas
Muslimaat said.
The auction featured Arabic calligraphic art to raise money for their
Family Matters program, which connects abuse victims with culturally and
religiously sensitive resources.
"We have a lot of women that don't call for help because they don't
speak the language or they have cultural or religious feelings. They feel
that they won't be understood or pushed to do something they are not
ready for," Gill said.
The word "Muslimaat" is the Arabic translation that means a
group of female Muslims. CTM is the only organization devoted to the
specific needs and interests of Muslim women in Central Texas.
"The abuse is such that many women don't come forward. They take the
abuse for many years. It happens in every culture, every religion every
race and every age group," auction supporter Rafiq Saya
said.
CTM's program serves Muslims and non-Muslims, but they believe no woman
should ever be the victim of abuse. (MORE)
Muslims are being singled out for demonisation on a par with the
victimisation of Jews during the last century, the mayor of London
claimed today.
Unveiling new research indicating that 75% of those polled in the capital
support the right of Muslims, and those of other faiths, to dress
"in accordance with their religious beliefs", Ken Livingstone
criticised the "barrage" of attacks as an assault on freedom of
religious and cultural expression.
His comments coincide with the launch tonight of a high-powered
coalition, involving MPs, Muslim groups, trade unions and the campaign
group Liberty, to confront Islamophobia. The new coalition is supported
by figures from the three major parties, Sikhs, black-led organisations
and human rights groups.
Many leading figures are concerned about issues such as Jack Straw's
observations on Muslim women who wear the veil and criticisms from
ministers who say Islamic communities should do more to root out
extremists.
Mr Livingstone said: "Over recent weeks we have seen a demonisation
of Muslims only comparable to the demonisation of Jews from the end of
the 19th century. As at that time, the attack on Muslims in reality
threatens freedoms for all of us, which took hundreds of years to win -
freedom of conscience and freedom of cultural expression. Every person
who values their right to follow the religion of their choice or none
should stand with the Muslim communities today." (MORE)
The United States lacks sufficient intelligence on Iran's nuclear
facilities at this time, which prevents it from initiating a military
strike against them, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told
European politicians and diplomats with whom she has recently
met.
Rice mentioned three reasons why the United States is currently unable to
carry out a military operation against Iran: the wish to solve the crisis
through peaceful means; concern that a military strike will be
ineffective - that it would fail to completely destroy Iran's nuclear
capabilities; and the lack of precise intelligence on the targets'
locations.
U.S. President George W. Bush and President Jacques Chirac of France met
several weeks ago. Bush told his French counterpart that the possibility
that Israel would carry out a strike against Iran's nuclear installations
should not be ruled out.
Bush also said that if such an attack were to take place, he would
understand it. According to European diplomats who later met with Rice,
the secretary of state did not express the same willingness to show
understanding for a possible Israeli strike against Iran.
A month before the November elections, Vice-President Dick Cheney was
sitting in on a national-security discussion at the Executive Office
Building. The talk took a political turn: what if the Democrats won both
the Senate and the House? How would that affect policy toward Iran, which
is believed to be on the verge of becoming a nuclear power? At that
point, according to someone familiar with the discussion, Cheney began
reminiscing about his job as a lineman, in the early nineteen-sixties,
for a power company in Wyoming. Copper wire was expensive, and the
linemen were instructed to return all unused pieces three feet or longer.
No one wanted to deal with the paperwork that resulted, Cheney said, so
he and his colleagues found a solution: putting "shorteners" on
the wire-that is, cutting it into short pieces and tossing the leftovers
at the end of the workday. If the Democrats won on November 7th, the
Vice-President said, that victory would not stop the Administration from
pursuing a military option with Iran. The White House would put
"shorteners" on any legislative restrictions, Cheney said, and
thus stop Congress from getting in its way.
The White House's concern was not that the Democrats would cut off funds
for the war in Iraq but that future legislation would prohibit it from
financing operations targeted at overthrowing or destabilizing the
Iranian government, to keep it from getting the bomb. "They're
afraid that Congress is going to vote a binding resolution to stop a hit
on Iran, � la Nicaragua in the Contra war," a former senior
intelligence official told me. (MORE)
RAMADI, Nov 17 (IPS) - U.S. military tank fire killed scores of civilians
in Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, late Monday night, according to
witnesses and doctors. Anger and frustration were evident at the
hospitals and during the funerals in the following days.
Iraqi doctors and witnesses at the scene of the attack said U.S. tanks
killed 35 civilians when they shelled several homes in the Al-Dhubat area
of the city.
Ramadi, located 110 km west of Baghdad, has been beset with sporadic but
intense violence between occupation forces and insurgents for several
months.
On Tuesday, hundreds of people carried the 35 coffins of the dead to a
graveyard in a funeral procession which closely resembled an angry
demonstration.
"We heard the bombing and we thought it was the usual fighting
between resistance fighters and the Americans, but we soon realised it
was bombing by large cannons," 60-year-old Haji Jassim explained to
IPS at the burial. "We weren't allowed by the Americans to reach the
destroyed houses to try to rescue those who were buried, so certainly
many of them bled to death."
Jassim claimed that everyone killed was innocent, that they were not
fighters. He said that when he and others attempted to reach the rubble
of the destroyed homes, located near mosques whose minaret's loudspeakers
had broadcast pleas for help, "There was a big American force that
stopped us and told us the usual ugly phrases we hear from them every
day." (MORE)
Ask any foreign-policy expert how the West will know it is winning the
war on terror, and the likely response will be, "When the Islamic
world rejects radicalism." But just who are Muslim radicals, and
what fuels their fury? Every politician has a theory: Radicals are
religious fundamentalists. They are poor. They are full of hopelessness
and hate. But those theories are wrong.
Based on a new Gallup World Poll of more than 9,000 interviews in nine
Muslim countries, we find that Muslim radicals have more in common with
their moderate brethren than is often assumed. If the West wants to reach
the extremists, and empower the moderate Muslim majority, it must first
recognize who it's up against. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR CALLS FOR PROBE INTO DETENTION OF IMAMS
IN MINNESOTA Religious leaders handcuffed, 'humiliated' during US
Airways incident
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/21/06) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) today called for an
investigation into the actions of security personnel and US Airways crew
members during an incident in Minnesota in which six Imams, or Islamic
religious leaders, were taken off a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport because of "suspicious
activity."
[CAIR's Arizona office will hold a news conference Tuesday morning in
Phoenix in reaction to the incident. When: 9:30 a.m. (local time),
Where: CAIR-AZ Office, 202 E. McDowell Rd., Suite 165, Phoenix,
AZ, Contact: CAIR-AZ Civil Rights Director Mohammed AbuHannoud,
602-460-9987]
The Imams, who were questioned Monday evening by authorities and then
released, told CAIR that they were removed from the US Airways flight
"for no reason" and were "humiliated" by being
handcuffed and taken off the plane in the view of other passengers. They
suspect the "suspicious activity" cited by authorities was the
performance of normal evening prayers offered by members of the
group.
The detained Imams also denied media reports that they refused to leave
the plane or that they chanted "Allah" as they were escorted
from the flight.
US Airways is now reportedly refusing to allow the Imams to take
another flight.
All of the detained Imams, several of whom are from Arizona, were in
Minnesota to attend a conference of the North American Imams Federation
(NAIF). A representative of the
FBI was invited to attend the conference.
"We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security
personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping
of Muslims and Islam," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad
Awad. "We call on relevant authorities to investigate whether
proper procedures were followed by security personnel and members of the
US Airways flight crew."
Awad added that public prayer is not a threat to safety or security and
should not be viewed as suspicious or criminal activity.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR TO REACT TO 'FLYING WHILE MUSLIM' INCIDENT IN MINNESOTA Six Imams removed from US Airways flight apparently
because of prayers
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/21/06) - On Tuesday, November 21, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) will hold a news conference at
its Washington, D.C., headquarters in reaction to what the civil rights
group calls a "flying while Muslim" incident in
Minnesota.
WHAT: CAIR Reacts to Removal of Imams from US Airways Flight in
Minnesota
WHEN: Tuesday, November 21, 3 p.m. (Eastern) WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue,
S.E., Washington, D.C. CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com
Six Imams, or Islamic religious leaders, were taken off a US Airways
flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Monday night because
of "suspicious activity." The Imams, who were handcuffed and
questioned for several hours by authorities before being released, told
CAIR they suspect the "suspicious activity" cited by
authorities was the performance of normal evening prayers offered by
members of the group in the airport before boarding the flight.
The detained Imams also denied reports that they refused to leave the
plane or that they chanted "Allah" as they were escorted from
the flight. US Airways refused to allow the Imams to take another flight
or to assist them in obtaining tickets on another airline.
CAIR recently dealt with another case involving US Airways and its
refusal to transport a Muslim passenger following a similar incident in
West Virginia.
All of the detained Imams, several of whom are from Arizona, were in
Minnesota to attend a conference of the North American Imams Federation
(NAIF). A representative of the
FBI was invited to attend the conference.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HEARINGS ON PROFILING SOUGHT AFTER IMAMS REMOVED
FROM MN FLIGHT DHS office of civil rights opens review of 'flying while
Muslim' incident
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/21/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights and advocacy group today called for congressional hearings on
religious and ethnic profiling at airports after six Imams, or Muslim
religious leaders, were removed from a domestic flight yesterday in
Minnesota.
The Imams were taken off a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport Monday night because of alleged "suspicious
activity." The Imams, who were handcuffed and questioned for several
hours by authorities before being released, told the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) they
suspect the activity cited by authorities was the performance of normal
evening prayers offered by members of the group in the airport before
boarding the flight.
The detained Imams also denied reports that they refused to leave the
plane or that they chanted "Allah" as they were escorted from
the flight. US Airways refused to allow the Imams to take another flight
or to assist them in obtaining tickets on another airline. They
eventually obtained tickets on Northwest Airlines and are on their way to
Arizona.
All of the detained Imams, several of whom are from Arizona, were in
Minnesota to attend a conference of the North American Imams Federation
(NAIF). A representative of the
FBI was invited to attend the conference.
At a Capitol Hill news conference, CAIR Executive Director Nihad
Awad said today that security concerns are of "paramount
importance," but that the incident in Minnesota was apparently
triggered by prejudice and ignorance, not by real evidence of a threat to
passenger safety:
"CAIR is receiving more reports of 'flying while Muslim' and racial
profiling incidents from members of the Islamic community nationwide. We
therefore call for congressional hearings to deal with the issue of
racial, religious and ethnic profiling in our nation's airports.
"We also call on the Department of Justice and the Transportation
Security Administration to conduct thorough investigations into the
incident in Minnesota and to ensure that security procedures of US
Airways and other airlines conform to constitutional standards mandating
the protection of religious freedom and other civil
rights."
Awad said CAIR would be seeking a meeting with US Airways
officials to discuss the Minnesota incident and past complaints
against the airline by members of the American Muslim community.
He added that CAIR received a letter today from the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties saying it
has opened a review of the case as it relates to the actions of DHS
employees.
Hilary 0. Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington Bureau, said in
a statement:
"The NAACP is deeply concerned with the most recent incident of
Arab-Americans being removed from an airplane in Minneapolis after they
prayed. As much as all Americans are concerned with the threat of
terrorism and the security of our nation, for law-abiding Americans to be
abused and removed from the plane is deeply disturbing.
"This matter is unfortunately consistent with the experience of
African-Americans who have been detained while simply traveling on our
nation's highways, flyways and sidewalks. We encourage a thorough
investigation into the matter and call for the passing of the End Racial
Profiling Act, which is currently pending in Congress."
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE BEGINNING OF THANKSGIVING -
TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Saying 'Praise be to
God' is the beginning of thanksgiving. For anyone who does not praise God
has not thanked Him."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 729
Once when the Prophet was praying, he stood for so long that his feet
became swollen. His wife Ayesha saw this and asked him: "(Why do)
you do this (in spite of the fact) that (all) your sins have been
pardoned (by God)?" The Prophet replied: "Ayesha, should I not
(therefore) be a thankful servant (of God)?"
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1311
-----
CAIR-FL:
CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS TO SPONSOR THANKSGIVING LUNCHEON -
TOP
(MIAMI, FL, 11/1/2006) - On Thursday, November 23, the Florida office
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL), along with
the First Baptist Church in Sunrise and the American Black Caucus, will
sponsor a Thanksgiving luncheon for the Sunrise community.
The luncheon is part of a nationwide CAIR initiative called "Muslims
Care." "Muslims Care" is an annual campaign designed to
encourage volunteerism and community outreach.
"As Muslims, it is important that we contribute to our communities
and seek ways to build bridges of understanding between people of all
faiths," said CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali.
In another annual tradition, CAIR-FL will also take delegation of Muslims
to Mass at a local Catholic Church on Thanksgiving Day. CAIR-FL Executive
Director Altaf Ali will address the congregation.
WHAT: Thanksgiving Luncheon
WHEN: Thursday, November 23, 2006, 12 noon
WHERE: First Baptist Church in Sunrise, 6401 Sunset Strip, Sunrise,
FL
CONTACT: Altaf Ali, 954-272-0490 or 954-298-8214, E-mail:
altaf@cairfl.org
The Quran may figure more prominently than pilgrim sayings at Denver's
interfaith Thanksgiving service this year.
For the first time in the event's 100-plus-year history, Muslims are
hosting and planning the service.
"It will give it a different flavor, not truly a Protestant
structure where we have hymns and prayers," said Ibrahim Kazerooni,
a Muslim leader from Lakewood who heads an interfaith group, the
Abrahamic Initiative.
Mosques need to be available for daily prayers, so the 10 a.m. service
will be held at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, 1980 Dahlia
St.
Traditionally, the interfaith service draws hundreds of people en route
to celebrations of what is regarded as the quintessential American
holiday. The interfaith service was founded in the late 1800s by Temple
Emanuel, Montview Presbyterian Church and the Universalist Church.
Participating faiths have expanded to include Catholics, Buddhists and
various Protestant churches. While Muslim leaders have attended, this is
the first time they have directed the event.
The one-hour service will feature three imams reading from the Quran and
offering benediction, children from Crescent View Academy singing
religious songs and music by Muslim musicians. One of the imams will
offer the main sermon, which will talk about Thanksgiving in the Islamic
tradition.
This year, donations from participants will go the Muslim outreach
program Muslims Intent on Learning and Activism, which provides
assistance to Muslims who are impoverished or needy. (MORE)
There's a saying in the Islamic religion: "A person does not have
true faith if they sleep comfortably on a full stomach while his neighbor
suffers from hunger."
It embodies the spirit of charity and giving that will see almost 300
turkeys delivered to Emmett Louis Till Math and Science Academy in Hyde
Park today.
A line of parents is expected to snake around the elementary school
gymnasium to pick up one of the turkeys being donated by the American
Muslims for Activism and Learning, a Chicago area community
group.
Constance Gabb, a parent volunteer, has been overseeing the giveaway for
four of the six years AMAL has been making the special deliveries. She
said the popular program started small and has grown to provide the
Thanksgiving centerpiece for about a third of the school's 860
students.
"Oh, they so appreciate it," said Gabb of the parents who'll
line up early for today's pickup.
For many of the students, the donation makes their family Thanksgiving
gatherings possible.
"My family wouldn't be out buying one on our own," said Deborah
Robinson, mother of sixth-grader Brittany Garrett. "So I'm glad they
do it for you."
To the small house called the Lake House on Kenlake Avenue came the
people of the county. On a windy, jacket-cold night, they came to talk
about freedom of speech and misinformation, and religious and ethnic
intolerance. The title of the forum was a question: "Is Hernando
County Truly a Melting Pot?"
The Human Rights Coalition of Hernando County brought together a
13-person panel here Monday in the aftermath of the recent local spat of
public Muslim-bashing. The panel had whites and blacks and Muslims and
Christians and Jews and doctors and pastors and politicians. The emcee
was coalition head Walter L. Dry.
He said the evening was about listening. And learning.
In the room were nine tables of eight and then two rows of chairs near
the rear. The meeting hall was mostly full and the crowd was mostly
white.
The first topic was freedom of speech.
"If you're not free to speak," said Ahmed Bedier, the
executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, "then you're not free."
(MORE)
Their names were not mentioned but Tom and Mary Ann Hogan and Rep. Ginny
Brown-Waite were on the minds of everyone who attended Monday's forum on
religious and ethnic sensitivity.
"People of authority do not have the right to discriminate against
their constituency," said Ahmed Bedier, spokesman with the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose correspondence with
Brown-Waite earlier this month helped bring people's perception of Islam
to the local forefront. "If you violate that, you have no business
in office. You should go find another job."
The unrest began when Mary Ann Hogan, wife of former County Commissioner
Tom Hogan, wrote a letter to Hernando Today a few weeks ago criticizing
the county for allowing an employee to assist local Muslims with a
Ramadan event, suggesting it violated the separation of church and
state.
Ramadan is the Islamic holy month of prayer and fasting.
Bedier then wrote a letter to Brown-Waite, asking her to condemn Hogan's
letter. Instead, Brown-Waite sent a letter to Bedier condemning him and
"the actions of many (Muslims) who created these
beliefs."
Bedier was among the 13 panelists who participated in Monday's forum.
Brown-Waite was invited, but did not attend. (MORE)
Dr. Ahmad Al-Akhras gave one simple reason why Muslim countries
have issues with U.S. foreign policy.
"If you invade them (Muslim countries), they hate you,"
Al-Akhras said. "You help them, they love you."
The vice chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a
national Muslim civil rights organization, spoke to an audience of about
50 last night. The speech's topic, "The Future of the U.S.-Islamic
World Relations" tackled U.S. foreign policy in a post-Sept. 11
world.
Al-Akhras started off his speech saying the United States needs to
realize it is not in a bubble.
"What happens in the streets of Baghdad has influence on the streets
of London and the policies in Washington have importance in
Palestine," Al-Akhras said.
"I'm sure you have heard, 'Why do they hate us?' You have to ask
yourself is there really a blind hatred for the U.S.?"
Al-Akhras outlined the way he thinks the United States should change its
foreign policy. He said the federal government shouldn't lump all Islamic
groups together and the United States needs to recognize the elections of
Islamic governments in other countries.
"Around the world, reformers are being jailed, and we need to
support them," Al-Akhras said.
Al-Akhras also said terrorism has a direct link to poverty. He said a
large percentage of the Islamic world lives below the poverty
line.
"Given the situation, unless we truly succeed at eliminating
poverty, we can give up in support of democracy and reforms,"
Al-Akhras said.
After the speech, there was a question and answer session.
Al-Akhras was asked by an audience member about the influence of
non-democratic countries on Iraq if U.S. troops leave. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-PA JOINS ACLU PANEL ON RACIAL
PROFILING -
TOP
WHAT: Racial Profiling Panel
WHEN: Monday, November 27, 7 p.m.
WHERE: YWCA of Greater Harrisburg, 1101 Market Street
Featuring:
* Paula K. Knudsen, Esq., ACLU of Pennsylvania
* Dr. Shaun Gabbidon, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Penn
State-Harrisburg
* Samia Malik, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Harrisburg
Chapter
Plus, a screening of the ACLU Freedom Files: Racial
Profiling
Co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the YWCA of Greater
Harrisburg
CAIR-TX OFFERS WORKSHOP ON
ISLAM AND HEALTH CARE -
TOP
(SAN ANTONIO, TX, 11/22/06) - The San Antonio chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SA) recently offered a training
workshop about Islam to some 20 chaplains and interns at the Methodist
Hospital in that city. The training included an overview of basic Islamic
beliefs and practices as they relate to health care, demographics of the
San Antonio Muslim community, as well as the Islamic viewpoint on illness
and treatment.
The training was designed to assist the chaplains in understanding how to
accommodate religiously-mandated practices of Muslim patients during
their stay in the hospital.
"This kind of religious and cultural awareness not only assists in
providing better care of patients, it also makes Methodist Hospital a
more attractive option for Muslim patients who have a choice of health
care providers," said CAIR-SA President Sarwat
Husain.
Methodist Hospital Director of Clinical Pastoral Education Debra Whisnand
said: "It is an important provision of accurate information and
knowledge. We saw personal faith and issues. There was a good balance
between belief, values and demographic information."
CAIR-SA will be provide free copies of Quran and prayer rugs for the
patients and their families while they are hospitalized.
Nov. 21: The Council on American-Islamic Relations called Tuesday
for an investigation into the behavior of airline staff and airport
security in the removal of six Muslim scholars from a US Airways flight a
day earlier. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
The police report listed the incident as "Security-Other," but
some saw the detention of six imams at the airport here as a case of
"Flying while Muslim" - the idea that Muslims come in for extra
scrutiny when they fly.
The imams were removed from the flight to Phoenix on Monday night after
three of them said their normal evening prayers in the terminal in
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport before boarding, said Omar
Shahin, president of the North American Imams Federation, who was one of
the passengers removed. The passengers were among 150 imams who attended
a federation meeting in Minneapolis.
"It's discrimination," Shahin said, calling for a boycott of US
Airways.
It was just the latest incident in which passengers who were Muslim or,
in some cases, just not Caucasian were removed from a flight for
questioning. In August, a flight from Amsterdam to Mumbai was escorted
back to the airport by F-16 fighters because a group of Indians on the
plane had a large number of cell phones, notebook computers and hard
drives, and refused to follow the crew's instructions.
"In this country, there was a time that Catholics were profiled, and
they were stereotyped and discriminated (against), and Jewish
people," said Dr. Shahid Athar, a professor at the Indiana
University School of Medicine, who also writes and lectures on Muslim
interaction in the West. "It looks like it is our turn
now."
In the incident Monday, a passenger reported overhearing the imams
criticize the U.S. in Iraq and speaking angrily near the gate. The men
were interrogated by the FBI and the Secret Service. They had to fly a
different airline out of town on Tuesday after US Airways refused to let
them on any of its flights.
"Unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or
people perceived to be Muslims at airport, and it's one that we've been
addressing for some time," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for
the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The group planned to file
a complaint over the incident, Hooper said.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said the group has been receiving more reports of
profiling. (MORE)
Six Muslim religious leaders were taken off a US Airways flight in
Minneapolis on Monday evening and detained for several hours after some
passengers and crew members complained of behavior they deemed
suspicious, including prayers at the gate.
The incident prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations
and officials for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People in Washington to call Tuesday for Congressional hearings on racial
profiling and an investigation by the Justice Department and the
Transportation Security Administration.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Islamic advocacy group, said
this was hardly the first time Muslims had encountered problems with
stereotyping by the airline. "We seem to have received more
complaints against US Airways" than other carriers, Mr. Awad said in
an interview. Those complaints have come from Muslim employees and
passengers alike, he said.
Morgan Durrant, a US Airways spokesman, said the airline was
investigating the episode. But he said the crew had acted in accordance
with the company's policy for removing passengers, though he declined to
give specifics on the policy.
The six men detained, all imams, had attended a Minneapolis conference of
the North American Imams Federation. They were handcuffed by the police
and led off the flight, bound for Phoenix, after reports from passengers
and crew members of "unsettling" behavior, according to a
police report. One passenger had slipped a note to a flight attendant
that began, "6 suspicious Arabic men on plane," the report
said.
After being detained for five hours and questioned separately by federal
agents, all six men were released, said Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
One of the six, Omar Ahmad Shahin of Phoenix, said he had been questioned
for less than a half-hour. "This is the humiliation," said Dr.
Shahin, 45. "They found nothing. They found we had a good relation
with everybody." (MORE)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- US Airways said Tuesday it is
investigating the removal of six Muslim imams who were passengers on a
Monday flight heading to Phoenix, Arizona.
The clerics, who had been in Minnesota for a national imams conference,
were guilty of nothing more than "flying while Muslim,"
according to a national Muslim advocacy group.
The alert was raised after the men performed their normal evening prayers
in the airport terminal before boarding Flight 300.
A passenger who had seen them pray passed a note expressing concern to a
flight attendant, US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader told The Associated
Press.
The passenger thought the imams -- who were speaking in Arabic and
English -- had made anti-U.S. statements before boarding and "made
similar statements while boarding," said Russ Knocke, a spokesman
for the Department of Homeland Security.
Once on board, Knocke said, the six split up into groups of two and did
not sit in their assigned seats.
US Airways had the imams removed from the plane, and according to the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group,
the airline denied the clerics access to another flight and did not
assist them in obtaining tickets on another carrier.
"This discrimination should not stand," said Nihad Awad, the
council's executive director. "We call on religious communities,
civil rights movements and other people to stand up and speak
up."
He said the group was getting more reports of 'flying while Muslim' and
racial profiling incidents across the country.
"We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security
personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping
of Muslims and Islam," Awad said in an earlier press release calling
for an investigation. (MORE)
Minutes after their flight arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor International
Airport on Tuesday afternoon, five Valley Muslim leaders announced that
they had not been acting suspiciously before they were removed from a US
Airways flight in Minneapolis.
"The crime we did?" said Omar Shahin, one of the five.
"That we perform our prayer."
Meanwhile, a national Islamic civil rights group asked for an
investigation into the questioning of the imams in Minnesota, saying that
the incident was the result of "prejudice and ignorance, not by real
evidence of a threat to passenger safety." advertisement
Shahin is the imam, or leader, of the Arizona Cultural Academy, a mosque
and Islamic religious school in Phoenix.
The five men, several of whom are well-known in the Phoenix interfaith
community, said that they were taken from the plane Monday because they
are Muslim.
"I'm not asking the people to love my religion," said Marwan
Sadeddin, imam at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, "I'm
asking the people to respect the Constitution of the United States that
says I have the freedom of religion, the freedom of
belief."
Meanwhile, US Airways says it is looking into the incident.
"At this point, we're standing by what our employees did," said
Phil Gee, a US Airways spokesman. "We're going to investigate to
make sure what our employees did was proper. Certainly, they were removed
for a reason."
The five imams - Shahin, Sadeddin, Ahmed Shqueirat, Didwar Faja and
Mahmoud Sulaiman - were in Minneapolis for a meeting of the North
American Imam Federation, of which Shahin is chairman.
According to Mohammed AbuHannoud, civil rights director for the
Phoenix office of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, the
subject of the conference was outreach to the American community. U.S.
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to Congress,
attended the conference.
The national Islamic civil rights group called for an investigation into
the incident.
"CAIR is receiving more reports of 'flying while Muslim' and
racial-profiling incidents from members of the Islamic community
nationwide," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council
of American-Islamic Relations. "We therefore call for
congressional hearings to deal with the issue of racial, religious and
ethnic profiling in our nation's airports." (MORE)
---
CAIR: UPROAR FOLLOWS IMAMS'
DETENTION -
TOP
The removal of six Muslim clerics from a US Airways flight from the Twin
Cities set off a nationwide uproar, and the Department of Homeland
Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said it will
review the incident.
Bob Von Sternberg and Pamela Miller, Minneapolis Star Tribune,
11/21/06
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/826056.html
From now on, Omar Shahin won't be praying at the airport while waiting
for a flight.
"This was humiliating, the worst moment of my life," Shahin
said Tuesday, a day after he and five fellow Muslim imams were escorted
off a US Airways jet at Minneapolis-St. Paul International
Airport.
"To practice your faith and pray is a crime in America?" he
said.
The incident set off a nationwide uproar, and the Department of Homeland
Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said it will
review the incident.
Bloggers and talk radio buzzed about the need to be vigilant against
potential terrorists, while civil rights advocates and Muslim leaders
cried foul. The national Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) called for a congressional hearing about ethnic and religious
profiling at airports.
Locally, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the
Dakotas and the Somali Justice Advocacy Center questioned the
detention.
Bushra Khan, spokeswoman for CAIR's Arizona chapter, said,
"All these men did was pray, and it was misunderstood. The bottom
line is that they were Middle Eastern-looking men ... and that scares
some people." (MORE)
When six imams were kicked off a Twin Cities flight and barred from
another, a wave of outrage and cries of religious discrimination
followed.
Taken individually, the things the six men did - praying, talking about
Iraq, asking for seat-belt extensions - may have passed without
notice.
But their behavior Monday night at Gate C9 at Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport was enough to trigger one airline passenger to jot
a two-sentence note that would get the men kicked off one flight and
eventually barred from another.
It also brought in the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, launched a federal
investigation, prompted cries of religious discrimination, forced an
airline to review its policies and spurred a call for a boycott of the
nation's sixth-largest air carrier.
"The police came and took us off the plane in front of all the
passengers in a very humiliating way," said one of the men, Omar
Shahin, president of the North American Imams Federation.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, the nation's largest Islamic civil liberties group, said
the detention of the imams was the result of prejudice and there was
never a threat to passenger safety.
"CAIR is receiving more reports of 'flying while Muslim' and racial
profiling incidents from members of the Islamic community
nationwide," he said.
Awad called for congressional hearings into the issue. (MORE)
Imam Muhammad Musri, 39, is the president of the Islamic Society of
Central Florida. The organization has nine mosques in Central Florida.
There are six other independent mosques in the area. Musri, a father of
five, has lived in Central Florida for 13 years. He talked with Sentinel
reporter Jeannette Rivera-Lyles about the ways in which the more than
25,000 local Muslims serve their community and their struggles to
overcome stereotypes in a post-Sept. 11 world.
What is the biggest challenge the local Muslim community faces?
The Muslim community since 9-11 has had to do a lot of explaining because
the rest of the community has little information about Islam, the
religion, and Muslims, the people. We are being defined sometimes by an
event thousands of miles away that we had little to do with. All of a
sudden, we became the focus of the media. There was an avalanche of
reporting that progressively, over the years, has become more loose.
Labels are being coined every day to describe Muslims. The media are
being very irresponsible in differentiating between a faith that is 1,400
years old and political conflicts that are the product of the 20th
century.
Yet, it is true that people who call themselves Muslims have been
responsible for many acts of violence in recent times, especially in
Europe. What is happening there, and how is the Muslim community in the
States different?
The matter is not as simple as it appears on the surface. The situation
in Europe is the result of the Colonial age. They [Europeans] brought
people from Muslim countries . . . [to work] as laborers and servants.
They were treated as second-class citizens, not given equal rights.
Europe failed to integrate them. Those communities developed to become
ghettos. . . And now, when they feel pushed over the limit, they react
violently -- not because of Islam, but in spite of Islam. In fact, the
people doing this are ignorant about Islam. Muslims here [in the U.S.]
came by choice. They are educated and came as doctors, engineers and with
other professions because they love what America stands for. The freedom
and equality in America embody more Islamic principles than most of the
so-called Islamic countries. Europe is not living up to its principles.
The United States, domestically, is living up to its principles.
But is there a sense of responsibility among local Muslims to work more
closely with those in Europe in identifying and eradicating extremist
factions from within?
These issues are being addressed. But when the media are willing to go
full time with a tape of Osama bin Laden and prefer to ignore the voice
of American Muslims, then. . . [he throws his arms up in the air].
(MORE)
Congressman-elect Keith Ellison has shown incredible patience and
self-control in responding to a constant stream of bigoted comments and
personal attacks. But at what point will the rest of us stand up and say
to those who can't seem to get over the fact that Ellison is a Muslim,
enough is enough?
Attacks on Ellison have ranged from the bizarre and ridiculous to the
completely outrageous. I thought I'd just about heard it all, but then
along comes CNN Headline News "personality" Glenn Beck goading
Ellison on a so-called news program to "prove to me that you are not
working with our enemies."
When someone like Beck (who should be fired) feels so comfortable
parading his prejudice and ignorance on national television, we all need
to assess what kind of environment we're living in.
Ellison should not have to put up with any more of this nonsense, even if
he's willing to do so gracefully.
RICHMOND, Va. - When a local FBI agent wanted to make contacts in this
city's tight-knit Muslim community, he started knocking on
doors.
The agent didn't look, much less act, like a typical investigator. He
spoke Arabic and he wore street clothes, not the suit and tie favored by
many in the bureau.
"He seemed really friendly," said Muhammad Sahli, a U.S.
citizen approached at his home last month by the agent. "So I
invited him in."
But the agent's questions about international terrorist organizations
unnerved Sahli. The agent wanted to know if Sahli knew anyone with ties
to extremist groups. Sahli, a Muslim married to a Christian woman, said
he didn't.
"You ask yourself, `Why me?'" said Sahli, a 71-year-old retired
chemist. "When you've never had a visit from the FBI before in your
life, you feel a certain amount of anxiety, even though you've done
nothing wrong."
For many Muslim and Arab-Americans these days, meeting a FBI agent can be
an unsettling, even terrifying experience.
Beginning almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the FBI
began to root out suspected terrorists, and Arab and Muslim communities
became the bureau's top targets. Agents rounded up hundreds of people for
questioning. They raided Muslim charities, monitored mosques for
radiation and held refugees for months because of security
checks.
To regain the trust of Muslim and Arab-Americans, the FBI has embarked on
an aggressive national outreach program. The bureau's efforts, which
include mosque visits and one-on-one meetings, have become so pervasive
in certain cities that some young Muslim-Americans refer to the agency as
the "Friendly Brotherhood of Islam." (MORE)
-----
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453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
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Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
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HADITH OF THE DAY: FAITH HELPS IN FACING THE
MISFORTUNES OF THIS WORLD -
TOP
When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) departed from a group of
people, he would often say: "O God! Grant us enough fear (of
displeasing Thee) that it may serve as a barrier between us and our sins.
. .and grant us enough faith that it may help us to face the misfortunes
of this world (more) easily."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 265
-----
CAIR CONDEMNS ATTACK ON BAGHDAD NEIGHBORHOOD
-
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/23/06) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) today condemned an attack on a Baghdad neighborhood that left at
least 160 civilians dead.
The attack, using car bombs and mortars, was the deadliest act of
sectarian violence since the Iraq war began.
"We condemn this brutal and inexcusable attack on innocent
civilians and call for an immediate end to the ongoing cycle of sectarian
violence in Iraq. No cause can be served by acts that only serve to fuel
hatred and to promote further violence."
CAIR has 32 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 national Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com
Rep.-elect Keith Ellison says that the Iraq war has corroded human and
civil rights and that it's time to withdraw U.S. troops and start
rebuilding the country.
Ellison made the remarks in a video address to the annual Council on
American-Islamic Relations banquet in Virginia last weekend.
The Minnesota Democrat apologized for not being there in person. The
council had announced he would be a keynote speaker, but then Ellison
said last week he would not be able to attend because of a scheduling
conflict.
In the video, Ellison, who will be the first Muslim member of Congress,
urged the Muslim community to continue working on civil and human rights
issues. With the election over, he said the real work begins to empower
people and make certain all voices are heard.
"We must come together with other people in the community to talk
about the importance of civil and human rights in this period of time
when our rights have been so fragile and when so many of us feel the
sense of vulnerability," he said.
"It's particularly important for the Muslim community to step
forward with other Americans to stand up for the human and civil rights
of all people."
A "Taste of World Religions" will be the topic of a free public
forum at Napa Valley College on Nov. 30. It is sponsored by Beta Beta
Sigma Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the college honor society. It will be
held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. . .
The students have invited representatives of various faith communities to
be on a panel. The panel will include M. Macha NightMare, P&W,
representing Cherry Hill Seminary, the Covenant of the Goddess, and
Reclaiming, speaking about contemporary Paganism; Henry Michalski,
representing Congregation Beth Sholom of Napa Valley, speaking about
Judaism; Maxine Wright, representing Maha Karuna Buddhist Meditation
Center, speaking about Buddhism; Rev. Janet Garvey Stangvik, representing
Napa Valley Center for Spiritual Living, speaking about Religious
Science, and Basim Elkarra, representing CAIR of Sacramento
Valley, speaking about the Muslim faith, in addition to other
speakers. There will be time for questions from the audience.
DEARBORN -- With many Muslims traveling to and from Detroit Metro Airport
for major events in December, local leaders said they are concerned about
continuing friction at airports and the phenomenon many now call
"flying while Muslim."
The Hajj begins on Dec. 29, with thousands attending from Metro Detroit,
and the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle of North America
are holding their annual convention in Dearborn from Dec. 21-25.
"Our concern is that when there's a large delegation of Muslims
traveling from or to the city, when prayer time comes, they may be seen
as doing something suspicious, when in fact it is nothing but
prayer," said Dawud Walid, the local director of the Council on
American Islamic Relations.
Muslims generally have two kinds of prayer. One is a silent, often
brief invocation that may occur throughout the day. The other, which is
supposed to occur five times a day, involves some ceremony beyond simply
kneeling, as Muslims prostrate themselves, touching their foreheads to
the ground, in order to venerate God. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
'FLYING WHILE MUSLIM' -
TOP
When six Muslim leaders were pulled off an airplane this week, some
advocacy groups said it was another example of religious and racial
profiling.
Jessica Bennett and Matthew Philips, Newsweek, 11/22/06
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15856333/site/newsweek/
Nov. 22, 2006 - As a Muslim-American and president of the North American
Imams Federation, Dr. Omar Shahin is no stranger to the heightened
security of a post-9/11 world. On more than one occasion, the Phoenix,
Ariz., resident says he's been picked out of a crowd by the color of his
skin-interrogated, finger printed or detained. So when Shahin headed to
the airport Monday with five other imams for a flight out of
Minneapolis-where the NAIF had met for a conference-the group did
everything they could to avoid suspicion, according to Shahin. They wore
Western clothes, he says. The men spoke only English. They didn't book
their seats together. And when it came time to conduct their sunset-time
prayers, Shahin says, they did so quietly, and not all together-hoping to
avoid any unwanted attention.
But when the group boarded their U.S. Airways flight bound for Phoenix,
on which Shahin (a frequent flier on the airline) had been upgraded to
first class, they would never leave the ground. After finding their seats
and preparing for takeoff, Shahin and the other imams were escorted from
the flight in handcuffs after a passenger handed a note to a flight
attendant expressing concern over the group's "suspicious
activity," according to the airport police report.
The group was taken off the flight in handcuffs, and after several hours
of questioning by federal authorities, released. But though the airline
refunded their tickets, U.S. Airways-which released a statement Tuesday
saying it does "not tolerate discrimination of any
kind"-reportedly denied them passage on any of its other flights and
refused to help them obtain tickets through another airline. "This
was the worst moment in my life," says Shahin, who, after an
overnight delay, was able to get himself and his colleagues a flight on
Northwest Airlines. "When they took us off the plane, six big
leaders, it was very humiliating." U.S. Airways told NEWSWEEK late
Wednesday that it would not comment on the case beyond its issued
statement.
What was the group's suspicious activity? According to the report filed
by the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport police, the group's
loud chants of "Allah, Allah, Allah," initially drew the
suspicion of nearby passengers-one of whom said he heard the imams make
anti-American comments regarding the war in Iraq. Once on the flight, the
men-who allegedly boarded the plane with no carry-on luggage and used
one-way tickets-seated themselves in pairs, two at the front of the
plane, two in the middle, and two in the rear (all according to the
police report). The men, three of whom are U.S. citizens, two of whom
have green cards and one who has a worker's permit, also allegedly asked
the flight crew for seat belt extensions.
But Shahin, a lawyer, disputes many of these details. He says everyone in
the group had round-trip tickets that he had booked-and that he has the
documentation to prove it. The reason he was at the front of the flight
was because he was upgraded to first class because he's a frequent flyer
on the airline. And the reason he asked for a seatbelt extension? Shahin
says his 290-pound frame should make that obvious. As for the
anti-American remarks, Shahin says the group was talking about the
conference, which, ironically, was focused on building bridges to the
non-Muslim community. And to avoid this very type of incident, Shahin
says he'd already notified both the F.B.I. and local Minneapolis police
department of the NAIF conference, as a precaution, in hopes of avoiding
any problems. "What they claim [in the police report] is just not
true," he says.
Shahir and the North American Imams Federation say they’ve consulted
their lawyer, and have called for a boycott of U.S. Airways. They’re also
being backed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
a Washington-based advocacy group that has demanded U.S. Airways launch
an immediate investigation (which the airline says it has done) and has
called on the U.S. Department of Justice and the Transportation Security
Administration to conduct separate investigations of the incident. (CAIR
says it has received a letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties saying that it has
opened a review of the case.) “Since 9-11, we’ve seen a great number of
racial and religious ethnic profiling resulting in people being taken off
airplanes summarily because they are Muslim,” said CAIR Legal Director
Arsalan Iftikhar, who says the Imam case is another example of
“flying while Muslim.” “Reactions like this to Muslims praying really
strike at the heart of the fear and prejudice that’s still so prevalent
in this country.” (MORE)
BAKERSFIELD - Mohamed Ibrahim is a local religious leader who was
taken off a flight and detained for questioning Monday.
Ibrahim was removed from the airplane after another passenger raised
concerns about the six Muslim men praying in the airport.
He said this is a case of ignorance, while others believe there was
legitimate concern.
Ibrahim was trying to get to Bakersfield's Islam Center on Ming Avenue.
He said it took 27 hours of discrimination and frustration to travel
across the U.S.
"This is the most embarrassing, disappointing, and frustrating
minute in my life," he said. (MORE)
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, Imam Ahmad Shqeirat joined with
local Christian leaders to form the interfaith Tempe Emergency Assistance
Ministries, which provides food and other assistance to poor and homeless
families.
But when aviation personnel looked at the Tempe resident this weekend,
they knew nothing about the content of his character. They simply saw a
Muslim, and they were scared. (MORE)
---
STATE DEPT.:
HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT OPPOSES RACIAL PROFILING, OFFICIAL SAYS -
TOP
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 -- The U.S. Department of State's International
Information Programs issued the following press release:
By Stephen Kaufman USINFO Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it will review the conduct
of its employees who were involved with the removal of six Muslim imams
from a November 20 domestic flight bound from Minneapolis to
Phoenix.
Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke also told USINFO November
22 that the department is "opposed to the concept of racial
profiling," and its profiling techniques are based on suspect
behavior rather than targeting ethnicities or faiths.
However, Knocke said that U.S. commercial airline pilots, bearing
responsibility for the aircraft and safety of its passengers, are
"within their authority at any time" to request law enforcement
assistance, and "it's always better to err on the side of safety and
security than it is being wrong."
According to press reports, a passenger aboard a US Airways flight told a
flight attendant that the six men were engaged in suspicious behavior and
security personnel subsequently removed those six men from the flight.
The men were questioned by the FBI and Secret Service, and then were
released, according to press reports.
The men, who flew to Phoenix on a later flight, said they only were
praying, and the incident has been condemned by civil rights groups such
as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Security personnel are trained "to look for abnormal human behavior
that might suggest that an individual is attempting to get past our front
line personnel with nefarious intent. That is in no way racial profiling.
That is behavioral profiling," Knocke said.
The November 20 incident resulted in "a very inconvenient
situation" for the six imams, as well as the passengers traveling on
that aircraft, but Knocke said passengers need to be vigilant about
alerting authorities if they see anything they feel is abnormal.
"Ultimately, it seems that the information had led to a misjudgment,
but we're not going to be critical of that judgment," he
said.
He said that Homeland Security involvement in the incident was minimal
and that the six imams successfully passed through the same security
checkpoint screening procedures other passengers are subjected to
"without incident." Knocke added that any time a Homeland
Security employee is accused of engaging in racial profiling or other
inappropriate behavior, "our office of civil rights and civil
liberties will look into that as a routine matter."
The incident occurred at the beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday
period, when an estimated 25 million people are expected to board U.S.
airline flights.
US Airways said in a November 21 statement that it does not
"tolerate discrimination of any kind," and pledged a thorough
internal investigation into the matter.
"We are always concerned when passengers are inconvenienced and
especially concerned when a situation occurs that causes customers to
feel their dignity was compromised," the US Airways statement said.
The airline also pledged to "cooperate fully" with law
enforcement officials to "determine the facts surrounding the
incident."
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
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The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once said to his companions:
"Do you know who will go first on the Day of Resurrection to the
shade of God? (It will be) those who when given what is right accept it,
when asked for something give freely and who judge in favor of others as
they do for themselves."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1042
The Prophet once slept on a reed mat and got up with the marks of it on
his body. His companions saw the marks and expressed concern that they
should have made him more comfortable. The Prophet replied: "What
have I to do with this world? In relation to this world, I am like a
rider who shades himself under a tree and then (continues on his
way)."
Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family and friends, sharing good
food and remembering to give thanks.
But for some, that's not possible without a little help from
strangers.
That's where groups including American Legion Post 321, the Salvation
Army, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Broward
Sheriff's Office Fire-Rescue stepped in Thursday. . .
In Sunrise, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and American Black
Caucus hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon at the First Baptist
Church.
Altaf Ali, executive director of the South Florida office of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, also addressed the
congregation at St. Katherine Drexel Church in Weston. It was the fourth
annual Thanksgiving Day message at the church.
The lunch was part of the Council on American-Islamic Relations'
nationwide initiative,
"Muslims
Care," a campaign to encourage volunteerism and community
outreach.
"It's important that people of different faiths come together on
this special day and give thanks," Ali said.
As violence and tension continued unchecked in the Middle East on
Thanksgiving morning, Muslims, Christians, Jews and the non-religious put
away their newspapers, turned off their televisions and shared a
peaceful, common ground at a gathering in Denver. (MORE)
-----
ISLAM-OPED: LOVE FOR JESUS CAN BRING CHRISTIANS,
MUSLIMS TOGETHER -
TOP
IMPORTANT NOTE: This commentary was very popular with readers when
it was first distributed before Christmas two years ago. It is being
offered again this year for those publications that were unable to
publish it previously.
---
ISLAM-OPED is a 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.
Please consider the following commentary for publication.
CONTACT: ihooper@cair.com
TEL: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726 (c)
---
LOVE FOR JESUS CAN BRING CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS TOGETHER
By Ibrahim Hooper
Word Count: 569
[Ibrahim Hooper is National Communications Director for the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the
nation's largest Muslim civil liberties group. He may be contacted at:
ihooper@cair.com]
"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.
Christians and Muslims would do well to consider another verse in the
Quran reaffirming God's eternal message of spiritual unity: "Say ye:
'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.'"
(2:136)
The Prophet Muhammad himself sought to erase any distinctions between the
message he taught and that taught by Jesus, who he called God's
"spirit and word." Prophet Muhammad said: "Both in this
world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, the
son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are
different, but their religion is one."
When Muslims mention the Prophet Muhammad, they always add the phrase
"peace be upon him." Christians may be surprised to learn that
the same phrase always follows a Muslim's mention of Jesus or that we
believe Jesus will return to earth in the last days before the final
judgment. Disrespect toward Jesus, as we have seen all too often in our
society, is very offensive to Muslims.
Unfortunately, violent events and hate-filled rhetoric around the world
provide ample opportunity for promoting religious hostility. And yes,
Muslims and Christians do have some differing perspectives on Jesus' life
and teachings. But his spiritual legacy offers an alternative opportunity
for people of faith to recognize their shared religious
heritage.
America's Muslim community stands ready to honor that legacy by building
bridges of interfaith understanding and challenging those who would
divide our nation along religious or ethnic lines.
A former Catholic, Canadian-born woman who is a widely respected scholar
is arguably the most influential Muslim in America.
Ingrid Mattson, the recently elected president of the 43-year-old Islamic
Society of North America, is the first convert, first non-immigrant and
first woman to lead the largest Muslim umbrella organization on the
continent. Her rise to prominence comes as more women and native-born
Muslims are defining the faith, making Islam more of an American
religion. (MORE)
A Egyptian conference of Muslim scholars from around the world
declared female circumcision to be contrary to Islam and an attack on
women, and called today for those who practice it to be punished.
(MORE)
The last minute shop-a-thon was well in evidence at Bismillah Halal Meat
Market in Langley Park yesterday as customers hustled down narrow aisles,
eyeing bottles of rose water syrup, bags of rice and bins full of Islamic
prayer beads. But as a long line of Ethiopian, Somalian and Gambian
customers called out their orders for goat and lamb yesterday morning,
Bismillah's owner, Javed Malik, looked a little worried.
"Is there anyone here buying turkey?" he asked.
No one answered.
"Yesterday, it was so busy here. We had lots of calls. Everyone
wanted turkey," Malik said.
For the past three years, the traditional Thanksgiving birds have been
big sellers at Bismillah, one of a handful of Washington area shops that
sell turkeys specially prepared according to Islamic law. (MORE)
Christian prayer meetings have been cancelled at Surrey City Hall after
the prayer group published a letter critical of Muslims.
"We will not be having prayer services in council
chambers,"
Mayor Dianne Watts said after meeting with the group, Prayer Canada.
"We need to be tolerant and accepting of others."
A letter titled "Can a Muslim be a Good Canadian?" was
published in the group's newsletter. The anonymous author concluded that
a Muslim can't be a good Canadian because his religion doesn't allow him
to be. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
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In a recent talk at the Newman Catholic Center, David Bertaina discussed
the Islamic view of Mary, including stories that are told about the birth
of Jesus.
Bertaina, who is finishing his work on a Ph.D. from Catholic University
of America, spoke to about 35 people. He's living in Chico now because he
has family here.
He said there are many references to Mary in the Koran and that she is
also discussed in two other Islamic sources: the Hadith, a collection of
stories, and the Tafsir, commentaries on the Koran.
The stories of the Hadith seem to have emerged from "a common
Semitic milieu" involving Christians, Jews and Muslims in the years
after Muhammad founded Islam in the 7th century.
Mary has a special status in Islam, Bertaina said. She's mentioned 34
times in the Koran, more than any other woman.
She is described as exceptionally beautiful and embodies all of the
womanly virtues, he said. She is a model of piety and obedience to God.
Both she and Jesus are depicted as sinless. (MORE)
Recent events in my life have tested my faith, patience and even my
sanity. I'm the person who always seems to have it together, but lately I
feel as though I'm constantly struggling in every facet of life.
A verse in the Qur'an says, "Verily in the remembrance of Allah, do
hearts find rest." (Qur'an 13:28). One of my favorite verses, it has
always reminded me of God's mercy and the power he holds over our fates.
(MORE)
Six Seattle-area Muslims gathered in prayer Friday in front of a US
Airways ticket counter at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to protest
the removal of six imams from a flight in Minneapolis earlier this
week.
The prayer lasted eight minutes without incident.
"We are asserting the right of Muslims to be free of fear, free of
apprehension, to take an equal seat at the table," said Jafar
Siddiqui, a member of American Muslims of Puget Sound. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
MN: ELLISON SEEKS MEETING ON
REMOVAL OF CLERICS -
TOP
Congressman-elect wants to meet with US Airways and airport heads to talk
about why six imams were taken from a plane going from Minneapolis to
Phoenix.
Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/833707.html
Congressman-elect Keith Ellison wants to meet with executives of US
Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission to discuss the removal
of six Muslim clerics from a flight on Monday.
Ellison sent the letter to US Airways CEO Doug Parker and Jeff Hamiel,
executive director of the MAC, late Wednesday. As of Friday, no meeting
had been scheduled.
The pilot ordered the imams off the flight after their praying,
conversation and behavior alarmed several passengers and flight
attendants on the Phoenix-bound flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport. The incident drew national attention. The
Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties has said it will review the incident.
Ellison won election to represent the Minneapolis-centered Fifth District
earlier this month, becoming the first Muslim elected to Congress in the
country. The airport is within his district.
"While some constituents have understood the fears of the passenger
who reported the clerics' prayers as suspicious activity, many more have
expressed shock and surprise at what they perceive as
discrimination," Ellison wrote. (MORE)
Critics of American rap music say it glamorizes "thug" life,
and contains too many violent themes and profanity. But one Muslim rap
trio, known as Native Deen, is aiming to do the exact opposite with its
music. The American rappers incorporate the teachings of Islam to send
positive messages to their fans.
They may sound like any other American rap group, but listen closer and
you'll hear a big difference.
(singing) "I'm so glad to be M-U-S-L-I-M"
Native Deen is a Muslim rap group. Founding members Joshua Ahmad, Naeem
Muhammad and Abdul-Malik Ahmad are American-born Muslims all in their
mid-to-late twenties. Most mainstream rap music in the United States
talks about violence, drugs or sex, Native Deen's music is all about
Islam and what it means to be a Muslim-American. (MORE)
To explain to Brooklynites how God works in mysterious ways, Omar Abu
Namous, Imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, used an example
they would understand. He said all of those who wish they had purchased a
home before the city's real estate boom should not regret their actions
because God chose their fate for a reason.
That reason, he continued, may not be obvious, but God's action to
prevent them from making purchases that might have made them millionaires
does not indicate he is angry at them. It merely represents a
test.
"The value of wealth in Islam," Namous explained, "depends
on whether or not it has been earned lawfully and on whether or not it is
spent to further good objectives."
Good objectives include charity and helping others, not for recognition
but for the sake of goodness, Namous said. Furthering those goals helps
steer people toward a peaceful existence after death, and away from
eternal suffering, he said.
Namous's statements were met with wide eyes and smiles from a handful of
Christians, Jews and Muslims who sat in a circle around him for a
roundtable teach-in on wealth and poverty. (MORE)
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, N.J. -- Brooke Samad's contribution to high fashion
may not be as well known as Diane von Furstenberg's wrap dress or a Vera
Wang wedding gown.
But her long skirts with kick pleats and her kimono and Nehru jackets are
allowing Muslim women who want to dress modestly, as their religion
requires, to be fashionable at the same time.
A year and a half ago, Samad, 27, created Marabo, a clothing line that
she designs and sews herself in her small studio located in her home
along the central, Jersey shore. The clothing line is geared toward
Muslim women like herself who've had a difficult time finding suitable
clothing at the mall or in catalogs. (MORE)
After an extensive search, authorities have arrested and charged a
44-year-old Rockford man with two break-ins at a Schaumburg Township
mosque this year, according to Cook County sheriff's police.
(MORE)
EUROPE'S MUSLIM communities increasingly are portrayed -- especially by
European media -- as havens for religious intolerance that flourish
thanks to the overly tolerant policies of liberal governments. It's true
that until relatively recently, some Western European governments shrank
from confronting clerics or others who promoted extremist ideology or
encouraged terrorism. It's also true that some European artists and
politicians have been threatened or even killed for criticizing or
mocking Islam. But another important part of the dangerous increase in
tensions between Europeans and Muslims is the blatant bigotry of many
mainstream political leaders, journalists and other elites against Islam
and its followers. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
Enemies of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once sent a messenger
who, on arrival, accepted Islam. The messenger then told the Prophet he
would never return to those who sent him. The Prophet replied: "I do
not (want to create the impression that I would) break a covenant or
imprison messengers, so return (to them), and if you feel the same as you
do now, come back." The messenger later returned to the Prophet and
became a Muslim.
Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 1182
-----
RADIO SPOOF DRAWS SUPPORT FOR NAZI-LIKE
TREATMENT OF U.S. MUSLIMS -
TOP
CAIR says callers' reaction is a 'wake-up call' on Anti-Muslim
bigotry
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/27/06) - A parody of anti-Muslim bigotry on a
Washington, D.C., radio station drew support for treating American
Muslims in a manner similar to how the Jewish community was targeted in
Nazi Germany.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) said today that the reaction to
the parody is a "wake-up call" for religious and political
leaders who remain silent on the issue of growing Islamophobia in
America.
In his 630 WMAL program on Sunday,
November 26, talk show host
Jerry Klein seemed to
advocate a government program to force all Muslims to wear
"identifying markers." He stated: "I'm thinking either it
should be an arm band, a crescent moon arm band, or it should be a
crescent moon tattoo." (4:00) Klein said: "If it means that we
have to round them up and do a tattoo in a place where everybody knows
where to find it, then that's what we'll have to do."
(11:38)
[The program focused on public reaction to the removal of six Imams, or
Islamic religious leaders, from a US Airways flight in Minnesota last
week.]
Some callers to the program rejected discriminatory treatment of Muslims,
but others supported Klein's statements and even suggested that even more
severe measures be taken against American Muslims. "Richard" in
Gaithersburg, Md., said: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle
of their foreheads; you round them up and then ship them out of this
country, period." (15:58)
"Heath" in Upper Marlboro, Md., said: "I don't think you
go far enough. . .you have to set up encampments like they did during
World War II like with the Japanese and Germans." (23:50)
Later in the program, Klein revealed that his call for discriminatory
actions against Muslims was "baloney." Klein said: "I
can't believe any of you, any of you, are sick enough to have agreed for
one second with anything that I have said in the last half
hour." (25:15)
[IMPORTANT NOTE: Listen to the entire program. Jerry Klein was NOT
advocating discriminatory measures against American Muslims. He was
actually ridiculing and exposing anti-Muslim bigotry.]
"The public reaction to Mr. Klein's courageous parody should be
a wake-up call for American religious and political leaders who remain
silent in the face of growing anti-Muslim bigotry in our society,"
said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "Americans
of all faiths must come together to marginalize extremists and to
challenge ethnic and religious bigotry."
[Send a letter of thanks to Jerry Klein for exposing anti-Muslim bigotry
in our society. E-MAIL:
Jerry.R.Klein@abc.com COPY TO:
info@cair.com ]
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
There are certain things I have come to expect at Yale, whether it is the
familiar walkways and Gothic arches as we drift from classes to meetings
against a backdrop of elm, or the dining hall conversations laced with
intellectual debates as we sit facing portraits of the luminaries who
have come before us. Even the rivalries between the residential colleges
- and, lest we forget our Ivy League crown, the rivalry with our
Cantabrigian friends - is part of the constellation that somehow makes
Yale the city upon the hill it so comfortably alleges to be.
Of course, with its high prestige and cherished traditions, Yale also
carries with itself the raison d'etre of cultivating a campus culture
where the oft-professed commitment to diversity is celebrated; where
students organize around principles of solidarity, tolerance and respect;
and where, as an extension of all of the above, bodies, minds and souls
can feel safe. It is, proudly and unabashedly, a bastion of worthy
ideals.
But the feelings of safety and comfort evaded me on the morning of Nov.
15, when, walking out of class, I was greeted by a hurried collage of
blatantly racist, bigoted caricatures of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It
seemed, in those two seconds in which my mind went from the conjugation
of the subjunctive in Espanol to the absolute shock of realizing that the
tidal wave of anti-Muslim sentiment had hit home, that I was alone in a
campus of thousands. Was this really happening? At Yale? Do I really live
among and attend classes with students who think this? That a place as
forward thinking as Yale would harbor such inconspicuously racist
attitudes was appalling to me.
Indeed, the anonymous mass posting of these fliers, with no brave
commitment to dialogue or to understanding political and real-world
complexities, is something hardly fitting to the standards of our
community. Not only do the posters vilify Muhammad by tagging a
disgraceful depiction with an implication of terrorism, they show
ignorance of the life that the Prophet led, a life marked by compassion,
love and humanity. The depiction is also negligent of what Muslims at
large, but especially at Yale, stand for; the MSA at Yale has tirelessly
struggled to maintain a welcoming community where students feel free to
exchange their views and opinions - political, religious or otherwise. To
those behind these posters, I encourage you to attend events organized by
Muslim students at Yale. Please do not shut the door on dialogue by
making us face mute pictures, which, through their anonymity, silence
meaningful conversation, with no voices for us to address.
Altaf Saadi is a junior in Morse College and the president of the Muslim
Students Association.
Imams, ministers and a rabbi staged a "pray-in" demonstration
Monday at Reagan Washington National Airport and demanded an apology from
US Airways for barring six Muslims from a Minneapolis to Phoenix flight
last week.
The religious leaders called for an end to racial profiling, saying it
was unacceptable in America.
"These things are troubling to us," said Mahdi Bray, executive
director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. "Driving
while black, flying while Muslim, traveling with a Torah or getting with
Jesus."
Imam Omar Shahin, one of the six detained last Monday at the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said they hadn't done
anything suspicious. . .
On Monday, Shahin and a handful of other Muslims bowed down on rugs and
prayed in Terminal A near the US Airways ticket counter. Jewish and
Christian clergy also said prayers.
Hillary Shelton, director of the NAACP national office, called on
Congress to pass legislation that would end racial profiling. The bill is
necessary because airlines are unclear how to deal with racial and ethnic
profiling, he said. (MORE)
---
'WE CAN SECURE OUR HOMELAND AND
REMAIN TRUE TO OUR VALUES' -
TOP
Press Statement, 11/27/06
CONTACT: Michael McQuerry, Tel: (202) 225-3816
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of the
House Homeland Security Committee, released the following statement
regarding the 6 Muslim Imams who were handcuffed and removed from a US
Airways flight in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on December
20:
"Understandably, the Imams felt profiled, humiliated, and
discriminated against by their treatment, and US Airways' subsequent
refusal to allow them on any of its flights. I call upon both U.S.
Airways and the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights
and Civil Liberties to expedite the investigations they have begun into
this unfortunate incident and the conduct of the airline and other
government employees.
"The Muslim American Community has grown in size and prominence, and
is an integral part of the fabric of this nation. Muslim Americans share
the same values and ideals that make this nation great. Ideals such as
discipline, generosity, peace and moderation.
"Securing our homeland and protecting our national security is a
paramount national concern. But the tragedy of 9/11 cannot be permitted
to be used to justify racial profiling, harassment, and discrimination of
Muslim and Arab Americans. Such Conduct is not only deplorable but also
undermines our civil liberties and impedes our success in the global war
on terror. We must fight the war on terror without compromising our
freedoms and liberties.
"After the attacks of September 11th, our nation came together
instead of coming apart. We must continue to stand together as a unified
nation where all are treated equally under the law."
A Christian fellowship group is traveling from the Minneapolis airport to
the Valley after a religious conference. Shortly before boarding their
flight, the ministers and worshippers form a prayer circle and conduct
their daily devotion without preaching to anyone else in the
terminal.
But one witness wonders why these people would make such a public display
of faith unless they knew something about the safety of the plane. Were
they planning an attack? Did they just ask for God's blessing? The
nervous passenger passes a note to a flight attendant suggesting the
Christians are "suspicious."
Later, another airline employee will report overhearing some of the
Christians discuss their opposition to the Iraq war, and interprets the
statements as "anti-American."
Would Americans accept the airline's decision to eject the Christians
from the plane without further evidence of a threat? Would we nod with
approval as the Christians, understandably upset about their disrupted
trip, are led away in handcuffs and questioned for more than five hours
by the FBI and Secret Service? And would we still support the airline in
refusing to place the Christians on another flight after law enforcement
has cleared them of any possible harm?
The only reasonable answer to these questions should be "no,"
if we still live in the same United States originally colonized by people
seeking freedom from religious prosecution and intolerance. But too many
people have been answering "yes" since six Muslim imams found
themselves in this exact situation Monday. (MORE)
Not long after hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon on 9/11, a bullet pierced Hernando County's only
mosque.
No one was hurt in the incident, though the bullet did find an interior
wall near where a Muslim prayer leader often stands, recalled Capt.
Michael Maurer of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
"It could have been really bad if anyone was in there," Maurer
said.
The act was investigated as a hate crime. No one was ever
arrested.
Since then, Hernando County has been relatively quiet when it comes to
hate crimes against Muslims or other minorities, Maurer said.
But the Tampa chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) is sensing an increase in hostility against Muslims, said
executive director Ahmed Bedier, and wants to open a dialogue.
The group will host "A Town Hall Forum on Hate Crimes" Tuesday,
Nov. 28 at 6 p.m. at the Hernando County Shrine Club, 13400 Montour St.
in Brooksville.
Maurer will be among three guest speakers slated to attend. The others
are supervisory special agent Jody Norris of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's Tampa division, and special agent in charge Lance Newman
of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Tampa office.
The goal will be to educate the community about what hate crimes are and
to get feedback, Bedier said.
CAIR holds the forums throughout the country and decided to have one here
in the wake of the furor sparked by the comments of Mary Ann Hogan, wife
of former county commissioner Tom Hogan Sr., said Ahmed Bedier,
executive director of CAIR's Tampa chapter. (MORE)
As an American citizen, a father of two children, a Republican and a
Muslim, I'm pleasantly surprised that this great nation has chosen to
send a powerful message of freedom, integrity and determination by
electing Keith Ellison, who not only is a Democrat, but also the first
Muslim to be elected to Congress.
A month ago, Ellison and his wife visited the Muslim community in South
Florida. His presence in South Florida was an inspiration to so many
because it shows that we are contributing to the social and economic
fabric of this nation and enriching the political fabric of our country.
Given the fact that the family structure is an integral part of Muslims'
lives, it is especially noteworthy that Ellison's wife accompanied him on
this visit.
The civic-minded Muslims and people of other faiths who welcomed the
Ellisons to South Florida were motivated to know that for the first time
in the history of America, the possibility of a Muslim being elected into
office was an imminent reality.
Amid the many that were astonished to discover that a Muslim was elected
to Congress, there were many others who were not surprised. Recently the
Council on American-Islamic Relations released the results of a survey
indicating that Muslim voters are religiously diverse, well integrated in
American society and politically active. This survey illustrated a young,
educated, family-oriented, and civic-minded population.
Most interestingly, almost 90 percent of these constituents vote on a
regular basis and 84 percent believe Muslims strongly emphasize shared
values with their Christian and Jewish brethren. Like many other
Americans, we rank education, followed by civil liberties, as among the
most important issues.
As the saying goes, victory has its price. There has been much support
and praise for Keith Ellison as there was ferocity and scurrilous smear
tactics. Unfortunately, this has become one of the strategies of those
weak-minded in the political arena.
As we celebrate this milestone in American society, we are reminded that
success does not come easy and in most cases, this is the reality that we
all came to appreciate and admire. (MORE)
[Altaf Ali is executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations.]
The Muslim-American community in Houston should know that there will be
someone who will listen in the offices of the 22nd Congressional
District, U.S. Rep.-elect Nick Lampson said Saturday.
Lampson, who will take over Tom DeLay's former seat in January, said he
has never had as large an electoral base in any previous election as he
had recently.
He attributed some of that to the Muslim community, which he courted by
visiting mosques, homes of religious leaders and neighborhood
meetings.
"This is the largest Muslim-American community that I've been
engaged with in any election before," he said.
"My goal was to let them know me so that they would gain a level of
confidence that they'd be comfortable in voting for me and I believe I
won that confidence."
Lampson spoked Saturday at the Muslim American Society and Islamic Circle
of North America's third South Regional Conference, "Islam 2006:
Restructuring the Mind and Enlightening the Heart," at the Grand
Plaza Hotel.
He spoke about building relations with elected officials, an issue of
high interest among Muslim Americans in District 22 who perceived DeLay
as being hostile to their interests and unsupportive of their
concerns.
Muslim-Americans are gaining political clout throughout the country,
citing their 40,000 votes in Virginia that they think helped James Webb
in his successful bid to unseat U.S. Sen. George Allen. (MORE)
It was an awkward moment for Martin Ficke, the special agent in charge of
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York.
He was seated next to a member of the British Parliament for a panel on
the "War on Terror and the Clash of Civilizations." Why, the
moderator asked Mr. Ficke, was this prominent British citizen with a
diplomatic passport questioned for almost an hour when he landed at the
airport?
To the audience, filled with Muslim-American students, the answer was
obvious. His name is Shahid Malik, a Muslim name. "I've already
talked to him about it privately and apologized," Ficke said.
"It shouldn't have happened."
Across the country in conference rooms like this, as well as in local
cafes and community meeting halls, officials of the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI are reaching out to Muslim-Americans in
an attempt to bridge the huge gap of mistrust that developed on both
sides after 9/11. It's sometimes an uncomfortable process, as Ficke
found. It's also not being applied consistently across the country,
working well in some places - like New York, where the Muslim Advisory
Council meets regularly - and not so well in others. But
homeland-security experts and Arab- and Muslim-American leaders believe
such outreach is crucial to maintaining the nation's security and
strengthening its social fabric.
"9/11 created a pretty big divide and we still have a ways to go,
but there has been progress," says Arsalan Iftikhar, national
legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in
Washington. "With five years of retrospect at our disposal now,
we as a nation are able to see more accurately what are and what are not
effective law-enforcement initiatives and how it is important to reach
out to the Muslim-American community and make them feel as partners in
our society." (MORE)
A Muslim charity in Southfield that was the focus of a federal raid in
September has sued Comerica, saying the bank violated the charity's civil
rights by planning to close its accounts.
Life for Relief and Development also is challenging the constitutionality
of a section of the Patriot Act that allows financial institutions to
share information about suspected money laundering or terrorist
activity.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, asks for
an injunction that would prevent Comerica from giving other banks any
information it might have about the charity, the Detroit Free Press
reported.
Comerica Bank had told the charity that it planned to terminate the
accounts Nov. 15, but granted an extension.
Comerica Vice President Kathy Pitton declined to on the lawsuit.
FBI agents assigned to a terrorism task force searched Life's offices on
Sept. 18, seizing computer servers, donor records and other financial
documents. They also searched the homes of the charity's chief executive,
an ex-employee and two board members.
The FBI would not say what agents were looking for, but charity officials
have said it might be related to relief work the group did in Iraq. The
international Muslim humanitarian organization also is active in
Afghanistan.
No charges have been brought in the case. Life has sought to reassure the
Detroit area's Muslim community that it is legal to donate money to the
organization, which was founded in 1992 by Iraqi immigrants.
New TV news networks with truly global designs don't get launched too
often. They're hugely expensive to staff and operate, and their success
involves negotiating with cable carriers in different countries with
different audiences and different agendas. And frankly, the need for
their existence is always questioned - at least in the beginning - more
than it is applauded.
So it was certifiably noteworthy when, after several months' delay,
Al-Jazeera English (AJE) finally launched in mid-November, reportedly to
80 million homes worldwide.
As the English-speaking offshoot of the famously Arab-centric original,
the network was long-awaited by supporters, detractors, and the merely
curious alike.
The success or failure of the venture is more important than that of most
media startups. If AJE gains a sustainable foothold in the US market, it
will be the most revolutionary thing to hit the news business since Fox
News Channel and will fundamentally reshape the way that advertisers,
politicians, and the media itself relates to Middle Eastern people around
the world. . .
At the same time, AJE must make it a strong priority to get its offering
in front of American eyeballs. True, the entire English-speaking world is
its audience, and a big enough one that the station may be able to make a
go of it without depending on US revenue. But here is where the media
players play, and if its news cannot compete head-to-head in this
country, AJE is forgoing much of its potential impact on the public
discussion.
Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, says AJE's potential impact on the US is
huge, but it will take a groundswell of support to make sure the station
is seen.
'If the American public is exposed to a network with a different
perspective on international events, I think that will add to the
debate... that's going on at the international level,' he says. 'If
people let their cable companies know... that they do want to hear
different perspectives on international events, that could move the
process forward.' (MORE)
Uzma Siddiqi has visited many mosques, both locally and in other cities
where she's lived.
But none felt quite right for her.
Some, for instance, devoted 90 percent of their space to men's prayers
and activities, setting aside only 10 percent for women and
children.
But when she went to the prayer and gathering place of the Muslim
Association of Puget Sound, or MAPS, she saw that the space was divided
about 50-50 for men and women. There were women in leadership
positions.
"Those are subtle but important things," said Siddiqi, 40, an
engineer.
Leaders at the six-month-old MAPS, who are primarily younger Muslims on
the Eastside working in the high-tech industry, formed the group because
they want to encourage women to take leadership positions, hold regular
social and cultural activities in addition to prayers and religious
education, and organize activities for their kids that aren't necessarily
focused on Islam. They want to be more involved in their larger
communities.
MAPS, in part, is "trying to assimilate the Muslim into
America," said board member Marlina Soerakoesoemah, co-founder of
Azizah, a magazine for Muslim women. "For children, we are
definitely trying to make them feel proud of their American heritage.
They have to know this is their home." (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
ANTI-MUSLIM SLURS SHOUTED DURING DETROIT ASSAULT Authorities asked to probe attack as possible hate
crime
(SOUTHFIELD, MI, 11/28/06) - On Tuesday, November 28, the
Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-MI) will hold a news conference to call on local and national law
enforcement authorities to investigate an assault on a Detroit Muslim as
a possible hate crime.
The 51-year-old victim, who is of Egyptian heritage, was allegedly
dragged from his home on Monday evening and beaten by some 10 white
people shouting anti-Muslim slurs. The slurs reportedly included:
"You're a f**king Arab," "You're a f**king
Muslim," "You're not an American," and "Go back to
where you came from." The victim was transported to a local
hospital for treatment of injuries suffered in the attack.
WHAT: CAIR-MI News Conference Calling for Hate Crime Probe of
Assault
WHERE: 6361 Piedmont Street, Detroit, MI (in front of the victim's
home) WHEN: Tuesday, November 28, 4 p.m. CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418,
E-Mail:
director@cairmichigan.org
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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.
- END -
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim
Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail:
ihooper@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail:
arubin@cair.com
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
CAIR-NET: CAIR Rep Meets with Officials, Muslim Leaders in
France / DC Radio Spoof Draws Support from Muslims / Canceling of
Pro-Israel Speaker Sparks Controversy
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) recommended the supplication to
God: "I ask Thee for words that will guarantee Thy mercy, actions
that will make certain Thy forgiveness, a supply of every virtue, and
freedom from every offence. Do not leave me with a sin that Thou dost not
pardon, a care that Thou dost not remove, or a want that meets with Thy
pleasure that Thou dost not supply, O Most Merciful of the merciful
ones."
Al-Trimidhi, Hadith 401
-----
CAIR REP MEETS WITH
OFFICIALS, MUSLIM LEADERS IN FRANCE -
TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/28/06) - A representative of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is currently taking part in the
"Personnalites d'Avenir" (Personalities of the Future) program
in Paris sponsored by the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of
France.
CAIR National Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar was nominated to
participate in the program by French Ambassador to the United States Jean
David Levitte. During the week-long program in Paris, Iftikhar will meet
with senior policymakers and leaders of the French Muslim
community.
Another participant in the Personalities of the Future program is Nicole
Bibbins Sedaca, Senior Director for Strategic Planning and External
Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for the United
States Department of State.
In what Muslim leaders are calling a hate crime, a 51-year-old
Arab-American Muslim said he was beaten up at his Detroit home by a group
of men who repeatedly swore at him and told him to "go back to where
you came from."
Shafik Shoaib, a U.S. citizen born in Egypt, was allegedly attacked at
his home in Detroit on Piedmont Monday night, said Dawud Walid,
executive director of the Michigan branch of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
The assailants were a group of about 10 people who were white, Walid
said. While beating him, members of the group used slurs and swear words,
saying things such as "You're a (expletive) Arab," "You're
a (expletive) Muslim," and "You're not a (expletive)
American."
At one point, one assailant said that his "great great grandfather
was born in America...you're not an American," according to
Walid.
Walid said he was with Shoaib when he told his story to Detroit police
today.
Shoaib's wife and kids were in the house during the attack, Walid said.
(MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-FL JOINS LAW ENFORCEMENT
IN PUBLIC FORUM ON HATE CRIMES -
TOP
6 p.m. BROOKSVILLE - The Council on American-Islamic Relations,
the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Hernando
County Sheriff's Office hold a public forum on hate crimes.
WHERE: Hernando County Shrine Club, 13400 Montour St.
CONTACT: Jamie Hammad, 813-486-2529
WMAL Radio's Jerry Klein says he's not a bigot, but he admits he sounded
like one on Sunday afternoon. During his show, while talking about the
Muslim Imams who were kicked off of a flight last week he said the
government should force all Muslims to wear "identifying
markers."
Klein doesn't believe that. But he was trying to show the absurdity of
extremist attitudes.
His comments sparked a lively and disturbing debate. One caller who
didn't realize Klein was spoofing listeners said "not only do you
tattoo them in the middle of their foreheads, but you round them up and
you ship them out of this country period."
Another suggested Muslims should be "set up in encampments like they
did during World War II like with the Japanese and
Germans."
Klein says the comments were disturbing. A spokesperson for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations commended Klein for exposing
Muslim bigotry. They say it is further evidence that anti-Islamic
sentiment is growing in America.
The News-Sentinel was recently honored with a media integrity award by
the Council on American-Islamic Relations during the
organization's Sacramento regional banquet.
In bestowing the award, the council cited the News-Sentinel's in-depth
coverage of the arrest and trial of local Muslims throughout a federal
terror investigation and also noted the commentary of News-Sentinel
columnist Taj Khan.
The Nov. 11 banquet was held at the Sacramento Hilton. The keynote
speaker was Edward Peck, former ambassador to Iraq.
The University and Brown Hillel have announced that Nonie Darwish, an
ardent supporter of Israel with Arab roots, will be coming to campus in
the near future. This news - made public in a statement on Hillel's Web
site - comes after a flurry of criticism and media attention that
resulted from the announcement that Darwish's original appearance, which
was scheduled for this week, had been canceled.
In an e-mail to The Herald, Interim Vice President for Campus Life and
Student Services Rusell Carey '91 MA'06 wrote that he spoke "with
the students who initiated the idea of bringing Nonie Darwish to campus
and told them my office would sponsor such a lecture. They are proceeding
with planning it for early in the second semester."
Darwish, who was born in Egypt and raised in the Gaza Strip, is an
outspoken supporter of Israel and American policies in the Middle East.
She is the author of "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced
Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror," in which she
tells of her Muslim upbringing in Gaza and the anti-Israeli
indoctrination that she experienced there.
Concerns about the controversial nature of some of Darwish's writings as
well as funding and scheduling concerns led to the cancellation of the
original event, according to Yael Richardson '08, president of Hillel's
executive board. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-TAMPA JOB OPENING: CIVIL RIGHTS
COORDINATOR -
TOP
CAIR- Florida's Tampa office has an immediate opening for an experienced
person to fill the position of Civil Rights Coordinator. The full-time
position will be based in Tampa.
JOB DESCRIPTION: This person will be responsible (among other
responsibilities) for intake, documentation and investigation of
complaints of religious/ethnic discrimination.
QUALIFICATIONS: A college degree, (political science, social work,
paralegal). Minimum 2 years working experience in a related field. Detail
oriented, good interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to
work in a team. The ideal candidate will possess superior communication
(both verbal and written) skills, a solid understanding of issues
relating to Islam, and an outgoing and proactive disposition. Applicant
must also possess knowledge of general office procedures and software
applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc) and Internet research.
Experience of working with non-profit organizations and Muslim groups
will be an asset.
CAIR provides an excellent Islamic work environment and employee
benefits. Salary range based on education, skills and
experience.
CAIR offers health benefits for its full time employees. Applications
will be accepted until position is filled.
All those interested and eligible to work in US (citizens and legal
residents) are encouraged to apply with a comprehensive resume stating
education, work history, references. Please forward to
abedier@cairfl.org (subject line:
CIVIL RIGHTS COORDINATOR)
Attn: Ahmed Bedier
CAIR Tampa Chapter
8056 N 56th Street
Tampa, FL 33617
VERSE OF THE DAY: GOD'S MESSAGE NEVER CHANGES -
TOP
"Nothing is said to you (O Muhammad) that was not said to (all of
God's) messengers before you."
The Holy Quran, 41:43
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."
A Detroit man suspected of beating a 51-year-old neighbor while hurling
ethnic insults at him was charged Wednesday with home invasion in the
first degree and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.
Combined, the two charges carry a potential sentence of up to 30 years in
prison.
Ernest Domenech, 19 of Detroit, is expected to be arraigned in the case
later this afternoon, according to a news release from the office of
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
Shafick Shoaib, 51 of Detroit, said he was beated up on Monday at his
home on Piedmont by a group of men who made anti-Arab and anti-Muslim
remarks while assaulting him. Shoaib, a U.S. citizen, was born in Egypt
and is Muslim, while his alleged assailants are white. (MORE)
There are at least two versions of how Shafik Shoaib was beaten Monday
evening in front of his home in the Warrendale neighborhood on Detroit's
west side. One of them, if true, could constitute a federal
crime.
At a news conference Tuesday, area Muslim leaders called the beating a
hate crime. They allege that a group of 10 white men repeatedly swore at
Shoaib and told him "go back to where you came from."
But the neighbor involved in the incident, Kelly DuVall, 40, tells a
different story. She said Shoaib started the argument when he admonished
her about smoking on her front lawn near his children.
Both DuVall and Shoaib, 51, said this isn't the first clash between them
since DuVall moved to the neighborhood in February.
Detroit police have arrested one man, Ernest Domenech, 19, who lives in
DuVall's home and is engaged to her daughter, Angela.
At the news conference in front of Shoaib's Piedmont Street home,
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan branch of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations, said the men used profanity and slurs,
saying Shoaib is an Arab, a Muslim and wasn't American.
"They beat an American citizen like a dog in front of his
children," Walid said. "There is no excuse."
Walid said CAIR wants the incident to be investigated by local and
federal authorities as a hate crime. (MORE)
A Muslim rights group held a meeting Tuesday evening in Hernando County
to discuss hate crimes.
A Hernando County politician and his wife recently made some anti-Muslim
remarks, and Ahmed Bedier, the head of Tampa's Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said he held the forum to educate
the public on the contributing factors and consequences of hate
crimes.
Capt. Michael Maurer of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office says having
a meeting was a good idea, even though hate crimes aren't a big problem
in the county.
"And we're okay with that," Maurer said. "I mean, we're
lucky that hate crimes are not a front issue burner that we have to
address. That's a good thing and we like that."
According to the sheriff's office, there were five reported hate crimes
in Hernando County has had few hate crimes in recent years.
Hernando County in 2004. In 2005, there were two and so far there haven't
been any in 2006.
Representatives from the FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and
the sheriff's office also attended the meeting.
Interview: Jed Babbin, former undersecretary of defense, and Ibrahim
Hooper, national communications director for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, debate the issue of behavioral
profiling
ZAHN: Welcome back to our special hour, "When Faiths Collide,"
with the latest developments in a "Top Story" that's raising
very raw emotions about religious tolerance and racial
profiling.
You might remember, just last week, six Muslim clerics were forced off a
U.S. Airways plane in handcuffs, suspected of terrorist intentions. Well,
today, four of them boarded a plane to New York to tell their side of the
story. They will join me in a moment for an exclusive interview.
First, though, Dan Simon has more on a story that's still raising
uncomfortable questions tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They called it a pray-in, a
not-so-subtle jab yesterday directed at U.S. Airways, which removed six
imams from a flight last week in Minneapolis, after three of them were
seen praying in the airport terminal prior to boarding.
IBRAHIM RAMEY, MUSLIM AMERICAN SOCIETY: We are here simply to declare to
you and to declare to the nation that prayer and religious identity are
not sufficient grounds for removing individuals from aircraft.
SIMON: U.S. Airways says prayer had nothing to do with their removal. The
question, though, did the airline have legitimate reasons to take them
off, and prevent them from flying the following day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm asking you to please leave our ticket counter
right now.
OMAR SHAHIN, REMOVED FROM AIRLINER: I am going to leave. I am...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I have given you a number that you can
contact.
SIMON: CNN has obtained the police report, which includes the handwritten
note written by a fellow passenger, who claimed to have seen -- quote --
"six suspicious Arabic men on plane. All were together saying,
Allah, Allah."
SHAHIN: We did not chanting "Allah, Allah," or anything else,
while we are entering the plane or inside the plane.
SIMON: Omar Shahin, one of the six imams removed, handcuffed, and
detained for several hours, says that's just one of the many
misconceptions surrounding the incident.
For example, the complaining passenger also told police the imams --
quote -- "seemed angry, and mentioned U.S. and killing Saddam, and
then swore slightly under their breath."
Shahin denied all of that and that three of the imams had one-way
tickets. He says all the tickets were round-trip, and that he has the
documentation to prove it.
SHAHIN: You cannot put in the police report that they have one- way
ticket, while that's not true.
SIMON: The report also says that most of the six passengers requested
seat belt extensions, which some on the plane found suspicious, because
none of the imams appeared to need them.
One security expert defends the airline.
RICK SMITH, SECURITY EXPERT: But they have also got to understand, they
have got to be sensitive to the fact that they happen to be Middle
Eastern, and -- and that these type of things are going to happen to
them. It doesn't mean they have to happen in a -- in an unprofessional
way or they have to be treated badly.
SIMON: And the debate continues.
On Sunday, a Washington, D.C., deejay stirred the pot, by making what he
characterized as intentionally sarcastic comments that Muslims should be
forced to wear identifiers, like armbands.
And many callers piled on.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their
forehead. You round them up, and then ship them out of this country,
period.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SIMON: Shahin and the other imams are demanding an apology from U.S.
Airways. Its response isn't exactly what they want to hear.
(on camera): An airline spokeswoman tells CNN, she is sorry the imams
were inconvenienced, but not for its employees' actions. The one mistake
she does concede, not allowing the imams to fly the following day, after
they had been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: So, after all the headlines and heated controversy, four of the six
imams agreed to join us here in New York for this exclusive interview. It
is their first live TV appearance together.
We want to welcome Imams Omar Shahin, Ahmad Shqeirat, Mohamed Ibrahim,
and Marwan Sadeddin.
Great to have all of you with us tonight. (CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Imam Omar, let's go back and review some of the reports of
witnesses and airline officials -- one, you were praying collectively
loudly and repeatedly -- repeatedly saying, "Allah"; you were
making anti-American comments, criticizing the Iraq war, talking about al
Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
You switched seats, and then repositioned yourself to the front, middle,
and rear of the plane. And you didn't check any baggage.
Do you -- do you see how any one of these things might have raised the
suspicions of passengers and airline personnel?
SHAHIN: To be honest with you, this has hurt me more and more, because
U.S. Airways should stop smearing our image in front of people. We did
not do any or all of these. First of all...
ZAHN: Any -- any of them at all?
SHAHIN: Any of these. We did not enter the plane saying, chanting
"Allah, Allah" first. We did not change our seats, except Imam
Marwan Sadeddin, because he is blind. He needs help. We -- we did not ask
them for not -- unnecessary extension belt. As you see, we need the
extension belt. And we want to abide by the federal law. And
we...
ZAHN: What about -- what about saying you were upgraded when you got on
to the plane to first-class tickets, and even though you weren't ticketed
with first-class tickets, two of you parked yourselves in the first-class
section?
SHAHIN: They upgrade me, because I'm a (INAUDIBLE) member, and I have the
right, privilege to upgrade one of my friends. So, I asked them if there
is way to upgrade one of my friends, because he is an old man, blind,
need help. That's all what I ask for.
ZAHN: So, Imam Ahmad, are you denying that you did anything that would
have raised the suspicions of a passenger or someone working for the
airline?
IMAM AHMAD SHQEIRAT, REMOVED FROM AIRLINER: We are actually, almost all
of us, busy people, who travel all the time. This is not the first time
we travel.
And we did not do in this trip anything that is unusual or un- normal. We
did what we do all the time. We Muslims have to pray five times a day.
Once in a while, when we have to pray in the airport, we take a quiet
corner, and we do our -- our prayer.
If the prayer is night prayer, that would require that we say and done in
congregation. That would require for the leader of the prayer only to
say, when we bow down, when we move, to say "Allahu akbar,"
which is part of the prayer which was done in the terminal, not on the
plane site. ZAHN: Imam Mohamed, do you think, in the wake of 9/11, it is
the tendency of Americans to look at all Muslims as potential terrorists?
Is that how you feel when you're out in public? Is that how you felt that
day?
IMAM MOHAMED IBRAHIM, REMOVED FROM AIRLINER: I felt that after the
incident, but I didn't -- I didn't realize that there is something
abnormal that I took, because I -- all the time, I -- I practice my
religion. I pray in the airports, or even in the airplane itself.
Sometimes coming even from my country, I was praying in the -- in the
airplane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seated.
IBRAHIM: While seated.
Imam Marwan, how humiliating was this experience for you?
IMAM MARWAN SADEDDIN, REMOVED FROM AIRLINER: Well, I see that we did just
normal things. We entered the plane normal way. We have been seated. And
there's nothing unusual.
The seat belt extension is normal, to -- I wear eyeglasses, or
sunglasses. As you see, it's for my blindness. And I ask to change seat
to be next to one of the friends to be -- to be -- to get the
help.
But -- and there's a lot of lies -- live -- stories that been created by
the U.S. Air to have us look in a bad image to cover their mistake or
mess -- when they find themselves messed up.
ZAHN: Imam Omar, then, why do you think so many passengers reported those
observations that we included in the report that proceeded this interview
and at the top of the interview?
SHAHIN: Me personally, I encourage everyone, my -- my community, Muslims'
community, and other community, to report any suspicious
activity.
But we -- we have to be realistic. We have -- it should be legitimate,
suspicious. We should not let our imagination exaggerating and false
statements, like U.S. Air did.
ZAHN: And you think you were targeted simply because you were praying,
and -- and people jumped to a conclusion that potentially you were going
to harm them?
(CROSSTALK)
SHAHIN: This is the only reason.
And, if you go back to our background, I am personally the chairperson
for the police advisory board.
I did presentation for the FBI agent in Phoenix. I did presentation with
CAIR-Arizona to Yuma Air Force Base for more than 600 Marines. So, they
have to -- ]we have to have a system to handle this suspicious report
before we humiliate people.
ZAHN: Well, we will be following this lawsuit you have filed against U.S.
Air.
We appreciate your joining us tonight.
Imam Shahin, Sadeddin, Shqeirat, and Ibrahim, thank you...
OR: BRANDON MAYFIELD
SETTLES LAWSUIT AGAINST GOVERNMENT FOR $2 MILLION -
TOP
Anne M. Peterson,
Associated Press, 11/29/06
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Oregon attorney Brandon Mayfield, wrongly arrested
by FBI agents after the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings, has settled his
lawsuit against the U.S. government for $2 million, his lawyer said
Wednesday.
The lawsuit said Mayfield was wrongly arrested on the basis of
misidentified fingerprints. Mayfield, a convert to Islam, said he was
arrested because of his faith. He was held for two weeks in
2004.
FBI experts mistakenly matched a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators
in Madrid to Mayfield's after the March 11, 2004 train bombings that
killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500.
Mayfield was jailed on a material witness warrant but was released after
the FBI acknowledged the fingerprint were not his.
The government admitted in the settlement that it "performed covert
physical searches of the Mayfield home and law office, and it also
conducted electronic surveillance targeting Mr. Mayfield at both his home
and law ofice," according to a statement released by Mayfield's
attorney, Elden Rosenthal. (MORE)
Students at Yale Law School are suing the federal government to learn
more about Operation Front Line, a secretive program that is overseen by
the Department of Homeland Security and gathers information on
immigrants.
Daniel Freeman, a law student at Yale, learned about Operation Front Line
through a client who sought the help of one of Yale's free legal clinics.
The client was an immigrant living in Connecticut who had been
investigated through the program and arrested. Yale's Jerome Frank Legal
Services Organization, along with the Allard Lowenstein International
Human Rights Project, recently filed suit against the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security in federal court in New Haven, in an attempt to find
out more about the program's investigative techniques.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal
authorities have used immigration law violations to weed out possible
terrorists. Officials have kept much of their work secret, invoking
national security. The secrecy has raised concerns among civil rights
groups that investigators may be singling out immigrants based on race,
religion or ethnicity.
President Bush's program to spy on some Americans without a warrant has
been among the most controversial. In August, a federal judge in Detroit
declared the spying program unconstitutional but the spying continues as
the case winds through appeal. Another program requires all men older
than 16 from nations considered an "elevated security threat,"
to register. Nearly all have Muslim majorities. (MORE)
A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that key portions of a presidential
order blocking financial assistance to terrorist groups are
unconstitutional, further complicating the Bush administration's attempts
to defend its aggressive anti-terrorism tactics in federal
courts.
U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins, in a ruling released late Monday,
found that two provisions of an executive order signed Sept. 23, 2001,
are impermissibly vague because they allow the president to unilaterally
designate organizations as terrorist groups and broadly prohibit
association with such groups.
The ruling marks a victory for the Humanitarian Law Project and other
plaintiffs in the case, who are seeking to provide support for the
"lawful, nonviolent activities" of two groups designated
terrorist organizations by the U.S. government: the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
also known as the Tamil Tigers, in Sri Lanka.
They argue that federal anti-terrorism laws put charities and individual
donors at risk of prosecution for providing benign assistance to foreign
groups that have been added to the government's terrorism list.
David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who is helping to
represent the plaintiffs in the case, said the executive order and a
related federal statute improperly allow President Bush to create
"blacklists" and engage in "guilt by association."
(MORE)
-----
GOOD MORNING AMERICA WELCOMED "TALK-RADIO HOST" GLENN BECK
TO DISCUSS ISLAM, DIDN'T MENTION BECK'S HISTORY OF SMEARS -
TOP
Media Matters for America, 11/28/06
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611280014
Summary: Diane Sawyer hosted Glenn Beck on Good Morning America for a
discussion of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey and the pope's recent
comments on Islam. Sawyer identified Beck only as a "television and
talk-radio host ... who has said it's time for the world to stop buckling
to the pressure of radical Islam." She did not note that Beck is a
self-identified conservative who has a history of making derogatory
statements about Islam and Muslims. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
SAVAGE: TO
"SAVE THE UNITED STATES," LAWMAKERS SHOULD INSTITUTE
"OUTRIGHT BAN ON MUSLIM IMMIGRATION" AND ON "THE
CONSTRUCTION OF MOSQUES" -
TOP
Media Matters for America, 11/29/06
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611290005
On the November 27 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show,
Michael Savage declared that in order to "save the United
States," lawmakers should institute "an outright ban on Muslim
immigration" into the country. Savage also recommended making
"the construction of mosques illegal in America, and the speaking of
English only in the streets of the United States the law."
Savage made the remarks while discussing a November 20 incident in which
six imams were detained at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
after a passenger became alarmed that the imams were praying. The imams
were cleared of any wrongdoing. Savage claimed that the imams' prayers in
the airport -- and not the fact that they were asked to de-board the
plane -- constituted a "complete and total assault upon our civil
rights," adding that the Justice Department should "stand up to
these imams and possibly throw them out of the country for having staged
this attack at the airport against US Airways specifically to impose
Muslim views on society through civil rights and diversity
training." Savage also baselessly suggested that the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) planted the imams at the airport to incite the
incident, saying that "there's an email trail about how to do this
and it goes right into the ACLU and the other subversive
organizations." (MORE)
First we had Glenn Beck, now it's Dennis Prager. Rep. Ellison wants to
take his oath of office with his hand on the Koran. Now all hell has
broken loose among the wingnuts.
Multiculturalism is coming! Multiculturalism is coming!
This has nothing to do with multiculturalism. It has to do with religious
freedom and equal respect among all religions. Oh, and the Constitution.
The last time this came up was in a North Carolina courtroom in 2005,
when the judge in that case refused the request, which ended with the
state's highest court also throwing out the lawsuit that followed.
(MORE)
A Portland man hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will do what a Maine jury
would not, and allow him to seek damages from his former employer,
Jordan's Meats.
Abdul Azimi, who came to Maine in 1988 as a refugee from Afghanistan,
says he was subject to racial slurs and religious harassment on a daily
basis during the two years he worked for the company.
In a lawsuit in federal court, Azimi claimed that his treatment was a
violation of his civil rights, and a jury agreed. But the same jury found
that he was not entitled to any monetary damages from the
company.
This year, Azimi took his case to the First Circuit Court of Appeals and
lost, leaving the nation's highest court as his final resort.
Getting the Supreme Court to take the case is a longshot, but if the
appeal is successful, Azimi could have a new trial on the issue of
damages alone, and employers would be put on notice that they could face
heavy penalties for failing to stop workplace harassment, even if it does
not result in financial damages.
Azimi, 38, calls his two years at Jordan's a "nightmare." He
says he received threatening notes that attacked his Islamic faith, had
pork rubbed on his face by coworkers, and found a picture of Osama bin
Laden tucked into his gear. Now when he sees those same co-workers around
town, they laugh at him. (MORE)
A predominantly African- American mosque in inner-city Denver is
embarking on an AIDS prevention and education program, with an emphasis
on prison inmates about to be released, officials said Tuesday.
Funded with a $25,000 federal grant, the project will include a health
fair and prison visits to encourage HIV and hepatitis testing, said Imam
Abdur-Rahim Ali of the Northeast Denver Islamic Center.
A news conference is planned for 10 a.m. Friday at the Denver Interfaith
Alliance, 3030 N. Downing St.
The mosque is working with other Muslim organizations and the interfaith
alliance on a broader AIDS education effort in minority
communities.
Former President Jimmy Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid," is igniting controversy for its allegation that Israel
practices a form of apartheid.
As a South African and former anti-apartheid advocate who visits the
Palestinian territories regularly to assess the human rights situation
for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the comparison to South African
apartheid is of special interest to me.
On the face of it, the two regimes are very different. Apartheid was a
system of institutionalized racial discrimination that the white minority
in South Africa employed to maintain power over the black majority. It
was characterized by the denial of political rights to blacks, the
fragmentation of the country into white areas and black areas (called
Bantustans) and by the imposition on blacks of restrictive measures
designed to achieve white superiority, racial separation and white
security.
The "pass system," which sought to prevent the free movement of
blacks and to restrict their entry to the cities, was rigorously
enforced. Blacks were forcibly "relocated," and they were
denied access to most public amenities and to many forms of employment.
The system was enforced by a brutal security apparatus in which torture
played a significant role.
The Palestinian territories � East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza �
have been under Israeli military occupation since 1967. Although military
occupation is tolerated and regulated by international law, it is
considered an undesirable regime that should be ended as soon as
possible. The United Nations for nearly 40 years has condemned Israel's
military occupation, together with colonialism and apartheid, as contrary
to the international public order. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
info@cair.com
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Help your brother,
whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed." The Prophet was
asked: "It is right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should
we help him if he is an oppressor?" He replied: "By preventing
him from oppressing others."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 624
-----
CAIR: ISLAMOPHOBIA: ITS
RISING THREAT AND POLICY CHALLENGES -
TOP
Conference Presented by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy Brookings
Institution with support from the Institute for Social Policy and
Understanding and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
WHEN: December 4, 2006, beginning at 9:45 a.m.
WHERE: Brookings Institution, Stein Room
Welcome: 9:45 AM
Ambassador Martin Indyk - Director, Saban Center
Steve Grand - Director US-Islamic World Project
Muqtedar Khan - Program Chair and Senior Nonresident Fellow Bridging the
Divide Initiative
10:00 -10:45 Keynote: Deputy Assistant Secretary Alina Romanowski, Bureau
of Education and Cultural Affairs Department of State
11:00 - 12.30: Panel: The Rise of Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate
Crimes
Chair: Mr. Farid Senzai, Director of Research, ISPU
* Mr. Nihad Awad, Council on American Islamic Relations * Imam Mahdi Brey, Freedom Foundation of America
* Dr. Louay Safi, Executive Director, ISNA Leadership Center and
AMSS
1:30-2:30 Keynote: Mr. Dan Sutherland, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties Department of Homeland Security
2.30-4.00 Combating Islamophobia; Role for Government and Civil Society
Institutions
* Dr. Muqtedar Khan, Senior Nonresident Fellow
* Mr. Salam al-Marayati, Muslim Public Affairs Council
* Dr. Imad-ad-dean Ahmad, Minaret of Freedom Institute
"The spokesman for the imams -- or as I believe it's phrased in
their culture, 'designated liar'. . .
". . . profiling Muslims is more like profiling the
Klan."
---
SMERCONISH: NUKE MECCA AND MEDINA? -
TOP
Yo, terrorists: make our day
Michael Smerconish,
Philadelphia Daily News, 11/30/06
Do we need a nuclear deterrent to terrorism?
Nelson DeMille makes the suggestion in his new book, "Wild
Fire," whose sales are spreading like, well, its title. It debuted
at No. 2 on the Times bestseller list, No. 1 at the Wall Street Journal
and No. 1 at Publishers Weekly. . .
"We would automatically launch against the nation of Islam,
specifically against the cities of Mecca and Medina, and other places
like Damascus where we don't care for the government, and this would be a
deterrent against a nuclear bomb going off in America."
(MORE)
There's an awful lot of exciting news when you round the corner on Baker
Road. One of two big yellow signs announces a new neighbor is coming
soon.
K.I.A., that's the Katy Islamic Association, plan to build a mosque
here.
"It's not an appropriate place to have a mosque or church,"
said resident Barbara Simpson.
It isn't going over real well.
"As a house of worship, they shouldn't be disturbing the peace and
tranquility of 15 homes," said resident John Wetmore.
Neighbors tell us they're concerned about traffic and drainage and a
little fear of the unknown. Some of the homeowners even offered to buy
the land back for more than a million dollars. The K.I.A. doesn't seem
very interested in the offers.
"We're not going anywhere," said Katy Islamic Association
member Alvi Muzfar.
So it seems the community at the end of Baker Road has a pretty good
fight. But this fight has gone much farther than many between two
neighbors. You see in these fights, sometimes neighbors throw mud at one
another. In this instance, they're wallowing in it.
Craig Baker owns pigs. He's the guy behind the second big yellow sign on
Baker Road. That's the one announcing Friday night pig races.
(MORE)
---
MI: DIRECTOR OF THE
MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL RIGHTS PARKER ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING
ATTACK ON DETROIT MUSLIM -
TOP
US States News, 11/29/06
The Michigan Department of Civil Rights issued the following news
release:
Linda V. Parker, Director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights
(MDCR), has issued the following statement on behalf of the Department
following what appears to be an anti-Muslim attack of a Detroit man on
November 27th:
"The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is again compelled to speak
out against any and all acts of hate. According to a press release issued
yesterday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the men engaged
in the violent assault of a Detroit Muslim shouted anti-Muslim and
anti-Arab slurs during the attack. Although all acts of violence are
unfortunate, targeting victims based on religion and ethnicity has a
chilling effect on all members of that community.
On a related note, I am personally alarmed at the recent spike in
particularly egregious alleged hate crimes in Michigan. Over the last few
weeks Michigan residents have reported several serious alleged hate
crimes, including:
- In Van Buren Township on October 23rd, an African American couple
returned from a trip to find their residence severely vandalized,
including racial slurs and threats spray-painted onto the walls.
- In Grand Rapids on November 11th, an Asian man was beaten and remains
in a coma following an incident created by racially derogatory remarks
directed at the man and his friends.
While we will leave the investigation of the criminal allegations to
local, state and federal law enforcement authorities, the Department will
be engaged in victim and community support in the wake of these
tragedies. It is our hope that all involved perpetrators are brought to
justice, and that residents and leaders in Michigan act quickly to
confirm that acts of hate will not be tolerated."
Through the work of the Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crimes, MDCR works
to provide resources and training to local law enforcement, community,
civic and faith-based organizations who want to help fight hate and
intolerance in their community.
In addition, through MDCR's Crisis Response Team, the Department is also
available to provide support to victims of hate crime and communities
attempting to cope in the aftermath of such incidents.
Individuals, families, agencies or community members in need of support
should call our Department at (800) 482-3604 and ask to speak to members
of our Crisis Response Team.
For more information on the Department of Civil Rights visit the
Department's website at
http://www.michigan.gov/mdcr
Since Gaithersburg software engineer Saqib Ali was elected to the
Maryland House of Delegates this month, he has been flooded with calls
and e-mails from across the country asking: How'd you do it?
The calls come from American Muslims like Ali, who, longtime political
watchers and Muslim activists in the area say, is the first Muslim
elected to a statewide -- or districtwide -- office in Maryland, Virginia
or the District.
Although the 31-year-old made little of his faith during the campaign --
in fact, he bucked those who said he should put it on his campaign
literature -- he is part of a concerted march of Muslims into civic and
political life. His campaign was part of a push that began after Sept.
11, 2001, with worries about civil liberties and immigration policy and
has blossomed this year.
Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison became the first Muslim to be elected to
Congress. In the D.C. area, eight Muslims ran for office in Maryland this
year, significantly more than in previous years, although only Ali won.
And initial polling data and anecdotal evidence suggest that
significantly more Muslims in Virginia registered and voted this month
than in previous elections.
According to data gathered by the Muslim American Society and the
Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, the number of Virginia
Muslims who voted was up 13 percent from 2005. The vast majority of the
estimated 51,000 Muslims who cast ballots in Virginia voted for
Democrats.
There are no statistics from previous years on Muslim voters in Maryland,
but according to a post-election poll done by the Muslim American Society
and the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, there are about
50,000 Muslim voters in Maryland, three-quarters of whom voted Nov. 7. A
large majority voted for Democrats, the groups' data show. The Virginia
Muslim PAC is gathering voting data throughout the country.
(MORE)
US Airways is standing by the decision of one of its crews to kick six
Muslim clerics off a flight last week in Minneapolis because some
passengers believed that the men behaved suspiciously.
Some details about the incident remain murky, but two points are clear:
More than five years after 9/11, Americans still have little confidence
in how the government screens fliers; and Americans know so little about
Islam, and are so quick to reach for the worst stereotypes, that even
acts of prayer can take on sinister interpretations.
The six imams were heading home from a conference and, before boarding a
flight to Arizona, unrolled rugs in the terminal and said their evening
prayers. Some passengers claim that the men then talked about the war in
Iraq and spoke critically of the United States. Some of the men had
bought one-way tickets and checked no bags. Once onboard, some moved from
their assigned seats.
The captain refused to fly them. An airport police officer and a federal
air marshal agreed that the circumstances were suspicious and escorted
the six men off the airplane in handcuffs. The imams were detained, and
US Airways refused to honor their tickets or buy them new ones. All other
passengers were taken off the plane and rescreened. Authorities
eventually released the imams, and they flew home on another
carrier.
Given the heightened screening procedures in recent months, it's hard to
imagine what plausible threat the six men - one of whom is blind - posed
to the other 140 people aboard the plane. Fliers have to clear security
lists, surrender shampoo bottles, stand in bomb-sniffing booths and walk
shoeless through metal detectors. Would even strip searches be enough to
make some jittery travelers trust the system? In terms of subtlety, the
imams' behavior was hardly something out of the terrorism playbook. Their
public expression of faith was also an expression of innocence that some
passengers chose to ignore.
Superficial profiling does not enhance security. The most dangerous
terrorist groups, among them Al-Qaeda, know how to use profiles to their
advantage by recruiting against type. Security officials always will have
to make some close calls to protect the public, and so will airport and
airline employees. Mistakes are inevitable, but afterward it's important
that the victims of mistakes are at least made whole. The refusal of US
Airways to assist the imams after they had been conclusively cleared is
unacceptable.
Terrorism is the ultimate expression of intolerance, and Americans not
only must remain vigilant against the threat of attacks but also about
how we decide who is dangerous and who is just different.
My country's war against terrorism is being fought in many places: places
like Ramadi in Iraq, where al-Qaida extremists have won support from
local Iraqi tribesman, places like the provinces of eastern Afghanistan
where - dismayingly - the Taliban have been enjoying a resurgence against
NATO forces. Like many Americans - perhaps more than most - I follow the
latest news from these battlefields with great anxiety.
But my anxiety is a little different because I am a Muslim American, and,
to my horror, a most important engagement with the enemy took place last
week on U.S. soil. This battle lasted only two hours, and we emerged
bruised. The enemy, al-Qaida and other extremist forces, emerged
victorious. And you know what? They weren't even there. This battlefield
wasn't in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Last week, six Americans who are Muslim scholars were forced to leave a
US Airways flight because their presence on the aircraft made some other
passengers feel "insecure."
Two of the evicted passengers mentioned "Allah." One of them is
said to have prayed in the airport before boarding the aircraft. A
Christian may say the rosary before boarding a flight; a Jew may pray in
the ancient way of his people - all without much of a reaction. But these
five Muslims were kicked off the plane. They were even denied seats the
next day on the same airline - although the FBI had cleared them -
because the incident placed them on security list.
I am not sure what worries me more: the manifestation of public hysteria
that led to the expulsion of the passengers, or the fact that an airline
bearing the name of the nation - US Airways - could conduct itself in
this manner with impunity. (MORE)
[Dr. Hassan Makhzoumi is chief of pulmonary and critical care at St.
Joseph's Hospital in Towson and is the president of An-Nur Islamic
society and mosque. His e-mail is
hmakhzoumi@aol.com ]
-----
CAIR-MI PRESENTATION
ON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ISLAM AND MUSLIMS -
TOP
WHAT: Council on American-Islamic Relations presentation regarding
"misconceptions about Islam and Muslims."
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 30, 5 p.m.
WHERE: Kochoff Hall, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn
CONTACT: Dawud Walid, (248) 842-2247
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-SAN DIEGO REP
GIVES PRESENTATION ABOUT ISLAM AT LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL -
TOP
(SAN DIEGO, CA, 11/29/06) - On Wednesday, November 29, a representative
from the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-San Diego) gave a presentation about Islam and American Muslims at
El Cajon Valley High School in El Cajon, Calif., as part of the high
school's "Multi Cultural Week."
CONTACT: Edgar Hopida, Tel: 858-278-4547 or 619-913-0719, E-mail:
ehopida@cair.com
---
CAIR-CT TO HOLD TOWN HALL
MEETING WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES -
TOP
(NEW LONDON, CT, 11/30/06) - On December 1, the Connecticut chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) will hold a town hall
meeting to discuss civil rights concerns of the Muslim community in
Connecticut. An FBI agent, as well as representatives from Homeland
Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be
present.
WHEN: Friday, December 1, from 6:30-9:30 p.m.
WHERE: Crowne Plaza, 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell, CT
Please note that seating is limited for this event.
CONTACT: Hamza I.J. Collins, Director for Civil Rights at 860-995-6628 or
Farah Refai, Director for Community Outreach at 203-623-4468.
So far, after 10 weeks of trial, all that the U.S. Government can say
about Mohammed Salah and co-defendant Abdelhaleem Ashqar is that they
opposed the Oslo Peace Accords and that they didn't believe that their
Muslim children should mingle in peace with Jews.
Actor Mel Gibson and comedian Michael Richards said far worse about the
Jews and they haven't gone to jail for their anti-Semitism or racism. And
in case anyone hasn't noticed, the Oslo Peace Accords were a miserable
failure in part because Israel's governments dragged their feet on making
real concessions in what was supposed to be "land for
peace."
Well, the government did have the testimony of one Judith Miller, the
proven professional liar at the New York Times whose exposes on Iraq's
"weapons of mass destruction" are lies that are far more
criminal in nature than anything Salah or Ashqar have been proven to have
done.
Miller admitted that her access to Salah was facilitated by the Israeli
MOSSAD and Government. In other words, Miller has even less credibility
on this case than she does on the issue of WMDs.
Let's not get into the time she spent in jail for lying about the outing
of the wife of a diplomat who criticized President Bush's Iraq War
policies.
Salah is from Bridgeview, someone I have known for years. Ashqar is a
university professor from Virginia. Supposedly, according to FBI
testimony, they got together 13 years ago in Philadelphia to discuss ways
to "oppose" the Oslo Peace Accords. Ironically, Salah was in an
Israeli prison when the alleged "secret meeting" that was a
highly publicized anti-Oslo summit took place.
But don't let the facts get in the way of truth when the issue is the
failed American response to the terrorist threat.
FBI agents testified that Salah, Ashqar and others at the Philadelphia
meeting came together to explore ways to oppose the Oslo Peace Accords.
And, they admitted that no acts of violence were discussed or
planned.
Isn't the planning of violence a key component in a federal terrorism
charge? Obviously not in this case. (MORE)
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is accusing Israel of creating an
apartheid system in the West Bank and Gaza. The charge comes in his new
book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." We play an address by
Carter talking about the Palestine-Israel conflict, the role of the
United States and much more. Carter says, "Palestinians are deprived
of basic human rights, their land has been occupied, then confiscated,
then colonized by the Israeli settlers." Former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter is accusing Israel of creating an apartheid system in the West
Bank and Gaza. The charge comes in his new book "Palestine: Peace
Not Apartheid."
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been deeply involved in Middle East
policies for the past three decades. As president he negotiated the Camp
David Accords - which secured a lasting peace between Israel and
Egypt.
In his new book, Jimmy Carter writes, "Israel's continued control
and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a
comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land." (MORE)
Two of America's most influential Jewish organizations are gearing up for
their first direct confrontation with the incoming, Democratic-led
Congress. The topic: Democratic proposals for congressional ethics and
lobbying reform.
At issue are two key congressional perks, targeted for elimination, that
Jewish organizations rely on to achieve community goals: overseas
junkets, including dozens of trips to Israel each year, funded by Jewish
organizations; and an estimated $25 million a year in earmarked funds for
Jewish communal projects. Both the trips and the earmarked funding face
possible elimination as part of the Democrats' pledge to fight corruption
on Capitol Hill. (MORE)
-----
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: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
-----
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info@cair.com
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